The Mindful Creator
An homage to Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming, whom I interviewed in Taipei before he died
What started off as woodcarving has turned into international acclaim and almost a lifetime of cultivation with a sweep of media, including unforgiving materials like bronze and marble, for the prolific Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming.
Ju, born in 1938 in a wee township called Tongxiao in the Miaoli county of Taiwan, is in the purest sense of the word - a true artist. In order for a sculptor to carve well, Ju says that one needs knowledge and cannot just replicate others’ style otherwise one is simply an artisan. But insight like this into life and art has come after years of practice that humbly started with an apprenticeship at age 15 with then prominent sculptor and master woodcarver, Lee Chin-chuan, at the Temple of the Empress of Heaven.
As the youngest in his family, his childhood nickname was Jiu Er (九二), which means ninety-two in English, to dedicate his parents’ added up ages of 92 when he was born.
Following the apprenticeship Ju hankered for the big city and throughout the 1950s continued sculpting in the cities of Keelung and Tongxiao as a young man finding his voice. In 1959 he eventually turned all his practice into a viable business – finally employing apprentices and successfully selling to clients in the mecca of Taipei. Love of course, found Ju, and in 1961 he married a girl from his hometown Chen Fu-mei. One of his now most famous works “A Girl Playing with Sand” was done for her. But business wasn’t always successful for Ju who lost his factory but in turn realized that he was an artist wanting to practice his craft and not in fact a “businessman.” And for just over ten years Ju did exactly that - he practiced with the mentorship of renowned Taiwan sculptor, Yuyu Yang (who was also the one who advised him to take up Tai chi as a way of developing mental and physical discipline - which then starts to infuse his work).
“Art does not stem from studying, but from practice. And practice stems from life and nature” said Ju. The artist has quietly practiced this very craft through accolades, including various awards, misfortunes, and even the opening of the self-funded Ju Ming Museum built from scratch near Taipei.
The museum is Ju Ming’s largest artwork to date. He personally designed the architecture, landscapes, wirings and plumbing. Not only did he purchase the property to build the museum, but he also donated over 2000 pieces of his own works and personal collection to the museum for the public to view. Starting from the ground up, it took Ju Ming 12 years to finish the construction work and he had turned a vacant land into a sculpture park. The museum officially opened in 1999, planting the seeds of art in the soil of Taiwan.
Always clad in blue jeans and a checked shirt he described his practice to be “how one must rediscover the self and call the lost self back home in order to foster one’s essential nature.” And so one of the most noticeable attributes of the gray mustached artist’s work and mind is his deep love for nature. Nature in Ju’s sphere does not necessarily refer to mother nature; he here included “humans can be nature, the way we live everyday can be nature”. Ju described nature to be his teacher: “I look to nature for guidance in everything - I don’t necessarily think in artistic terms but rather in terms of nature or the connections to life.”
The examples that the artist gives regarding nature and life are less obvious for an artist necessarily but could easily sound like the insight and wisdom that would come from perhaps a Buddhist monk: “Everybody says tigers are so fierce, but humans are actually far more brutal. When a tiger has a full stomach, you can sleep beside it and it won’t lay a paw on you.” In fact Ju believes that the study of art must be like a “monk cultivating higher consciousness: mindfulness of Buddhist practice must be applied to everything in life, from eating, to dressing to sleeping - no other thoughts are permitted.” The 1980s and 1990s were when Ju started to truly reflect this mindfulness in his work. From the “Taichi Series” that “drew heavily on the art’s boxing forms” to the “Living World Series” which began in 1980 Ju was cascading away from form and was becoming more interested in the idea that was steering the work.
What has changed over the course of roughly 40 years for his “Living World Series” is not only the depiction of humans in all their diversity through sculpture – but also the materials used in doing so. From ceramics to bright figures made up of bronze, wood that is painted, foam rubber, and stainless steel Ju continues to challenge his ability to use materials and make them his own as he creates these oddly familiar characters from our world. The constant factor however in his work has been his insight into the awareness of humanity as he creates his work. In 2004 Chen Chi-Nan, the Minister of Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan of Taiwan, praised Ju as “a genuine and unique world artist from the land of Taiwan - the leader of the world of sculpture.”
A 2010 version of the series entitled “Living World Series – Imprisonment” is an extension of his “evolving aesthetics and artistic philosophy”. This three-sculptural set symbolizes what he calls the three axes of life philosophy – that of “imprisoning others, being imprisoned by others, and self-imprisonment.” The implications according to Ju are that even though we as humans acquire challenges we have the right to “choose.” A key left on a cage right on the artwork serves as a reminder of this exact choice.
I did ask Ju what he wanted to do next with his life and he said, “I will keep working on the ‘Living World Series’ till I grow old, because it is so interesting and there is so much to present.” In fact Ju said “I want to keep doing it even in my next life.”
And thus I hope he is doing exactly that right now.
Milestones
1966 “Attractive to Each Other” awarded the excellence-for-sculpture prize at the 21st Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition.
1976 His first solo exhibition at the National Museum of History,
1998 Accolades for a life’s work and his contributions to the arts from Fok Ying Tung Award From The Fok Ying Tung Foundation in Hong Kong.
2000 Juming Museum won the 14th Tokyo Creative Award, Foreign Award.
2003 An Honorary Degree of Doctor of Art at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei.
2004 The Lifetime Executive Yuan Cultural Award.
2007 The 18th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, Art and Cultures Prize.