JU MING (ZHU MING, Chinese, B. 1938)
JU MING (ZHU MING, CHINESE, B. 1938)

Single Whip

细节
JU MING (ZHU MING, CHINESE, B. 1938)
Single Whip
signed in Chinese; dated and numbered '97 4/9' (incised on the lower back)
stone sculpture
38.2 x 19.5 x 25.2 cm. (15 x 7 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
edition 4/9
Executed in 1997
来源
G. Zen Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Private Collection, Asia
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by NPO JUMING Culture & Education Foundation.

拍品专文

"The Chinese traditional way alone would be too conservative, but the Western style alone would be lacking in tradition. But Taichi has an international language which people understand and appreciate."

Intrinsically connected to the artist's physical and mental practice of Taichi, Ju Ming's Taichi series is best represented by its gradual abstraction through transformation of an action in physical exercise into spiritual training, accompanied by unstoppable energy of the inner human power. Ju Ming captures each lively moment of serial movements that are ultimately completed into a gigantic expression that reflects one's soul and philosophy through a channel called "body".

Balance between Yin and Yang and harmony of "Qi" (氣 , vital energy of life), the most fundamental themes of eastern philosophy, are emphasized in simplified geometrical figures with reduced delineation of details in all four present lots of Ju Ming's Taichi series. In Single Whip (Lot 420), executed in stone in 1997, two opposite concepts, "motion" and "stillness", establish an overall balance of grandeur energy from the weight of stone. not only wood and stone, the materials he borrowed from nature, but also bronze, an artificial material, successfully captures Ju's spiritual connection with nature, as shown in two Taichi Series (Lot 421 & Lot 419) executed in bronze. Taichi Series (Lot 419) particularly highlights Ju's mastery of flawlessly outlining the natural flow of "Qi" in bronze, the heavy man-made metal.

Ju's emphasis of the spiritual dialogue with Mother nature, the universal theme throughout his Taichi Series, is best visualized in the obvious axe-cut strokes over the camphor wood of Taichi Series (Lot 418), created in 1991 in Ju's middle age. The wood is itself a witness of life and time in nature, shaped by the seasonal and environmental changes, as evident in its grain, lines and scars. His mentor and fellow sculptor Yuyu Yang was impressed by the beauty of "Ju's flowing lines through the natural grain of the wood and the form executed with such an assured gentleness and humility."

In Taichi Series (Lot 418), the weight of the figure is centered on the left foot and leg and conquered by the power of gravity, one of the most basic yet powerful providence of Mother nature. Contrast between the right leg held up high for the imminent offense and the heavy weight of the left leg best visualizes an oxymoron: vibrant "stillness". a withdraw backward that comes before the next bigger and stronger movement forward reflects the idea of refrainment, emphasized in eastern philosophy. Universal throughout his Taichi Series, absence of the figure's facial expression or physical detail and the body structure detailed with various planes placed in different angles again reinforce the idea of avoiding excess and leave a room for the viewer's own interpretation of the scene.

In his signature Taichi series of great variation in size, medium, and subject, Ju Ming seamlessly fuses traditional Chinese art and Western abstractionism and juxtaposes eternity, the essence of nature, with moments of vibrant movements of human body, visualizing the flow of time and the dynamics of space.

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