Taiwanese Genius Sculptor - Shih Li-Jen | Zhu Lili


Most of us in the art circle of Taiwan know that president Shih Li-Jen established "Modern Art Gallery" in Taichung, Taiwan in 1982, but outside from the circle few people knows that Mr. Shih has also engaged in art creation of sculpture and painting. Until 2008 when he leapt forward into Beijing and established "Found Museum" for promoting leading contemporary artists, he developed himself an ideal kingdom for art creation in China. In 2010, his theme sculpture which is full of artistry and humanistic care, Rhino Family, was mounted in Jing'an Sculpture Park in Shanghai. It is also awarded one of the most popular sculptures in Shanghai by internet voting. In art circle of the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, we begins to call him sculptor Shih. 


Rhino the Public Art Sculpture


In the late autumn of 2011, a magnificent stainless steel rhino was mounted in front of the Kelti Square in Sinyi District, Taipei, and this sculpture is one of his masterpieces. His two giant rhino figure sculptures, Run to Victory and Rhino Boy, were both mounted near the entrance of "Flowers in Changhua of Fitzroy Gardens (former Sizhou Flora Expo Park, the total area occupies more than 120 hectares) in Changhua on January 28, 2014 


Shih had told me that "rhino" is his constant subject for creation. Rhino has been living on earth for more than sixty million years that it has existed on earth before the age of prehistory and one of the oldest species in the world. It was used to be considered divine beast in ancient Chinese culture, and the ancient oriental had thought that it was the incarnation of the divine beast, Kylin. It was documented that Rhino was a symbol for wealth and welfare. And now it is currently listed as one of the World Conservation animals subjected to the highest respect among animals. By structuring the theme around "Rhino", he has made a series of work: Harley Rhino, King Kong Rhino, Run to Victory, Rhino Boy, Rhino Family, and so forth. His works are the code for verifying that his inspiration are advanced with time, and leads him from classical realism to modern language to accomplish a coherent process of artistic spirituality of heritage and development.


The Run to Victory is a sculpture representing the role of father in the series of rhino family with a very strong body modeling a distinguished leader, while the tail is transformed into a torch modeling a symbol of victory and representing the mighty willing of a daddy to fight for his family, to take the responsibility for remaining a family and the heritage. The Rhino Boy sculpture was modeling vivid and dynamic with the front legs bending as if it is running and jumping, and a witty smile. The pretty and lively rhino look forward to the future with confidence and affectionate with his daddy, Rhino Dad. Except rhino, he also produced sculptures of naked female and Taiwanese native dog, and the unique features painting of cheetah.


With "revealing archaic in modern, backtracking to ancient for creating contemporary", Shih delivers "modern and contemporary" managing concept for his own gallery, and extends to his creation for sculpture. Hence, everyone is allowed to experience archaic by his rhino sculpture. From the form, painting, quality, verve, and the rest for modeling emotional aesthetic or appearance of visual perception save the chunky size, we will have a glimpse of elephant statue (BC 1600-1100) of Shang Dynasty, unearth in the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, or rhino and elephant bronze statues (BC 1400-1100) of the late Shang Dynasty. Or think of the rhino vessel of the Warring States period (475-221 BC) unearthed from the tomb of Zhongshan King in Pingshang, Hebei, and savor its aesthetic. Or compare to the zun in the shape of rhino, now collected in National Museum of China, in Warring States Period of Qin (around 3 BC), excavated from Doumacun, Xingping, Shaanxi Province or the wine vessel of Western Han Dynasty, the King Kong Rhino is much more overwhelming with the Gold and silver inlay cloud-patterned rhinoceros Zun. No doubt that there is similar spiritual image with the world's eighth wonder, Terracotta Warriors of Mausoleum of the Qin Emperor.


In order to express the aesthetic of "modern and contemporary", Shih's artwork 0f the sculptures interacted with reality, then here comes the shape of rhino which does not deviate from the original creature to testify about the visual image and also in coordinating with academic requirements for the scale of modeling aesthetic that allow having a conversation with the object. Neither the shape of the rhino sculpture copied from the natural image for reality, nor a transformation of a natural object. It shaped the selected object and refined the spirit from it for modeling that did not set a structure to interpret the aesthetic in delicate, elegant, vulgar, amusing, humorous, ridiculous, ironic, exaggerating, and critic characteristic and so forth. Yet, under its mighty and sturdy appearance, the power of "modern and contemporary" affects venerably.


My Opinions of Modern Art


  The sculptor Shih has been engaging in western and oriental art in Taichung since 1982. He is quite aware of that western art historians has considered the modern sculpture and painting are equally important in current status. The art of sculpture generally emphasizes the form or the concept divided into "natural aesthetic" and "cultural aesthetic".


The "natural aesthetic" was inspired by the original appearance of nature for creation, such as the sentiment of primitivism or expressionism paintings, which are created according to the original form but emphasis on spontaneity, free willing, involuntariness, unconsciousness, and sentiment. That is to say, it is with antique representation or spiritual quality of abstract shape, which relies on experience, instinct, lyricized illusion, fantasy and enjoyable willing to graft with image being painted and depict the concept of modern sculpture. Examples are as follow:Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1908), André Derain (1880 - 1954), Jacob Epstein (1880 - 1959), Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966) R. Duchamp Villon (1876 - 1918), K. Schmidt – Rottluf (1884 – 1976), Constantin Brancusi (1876 – 1957), Henry Moore (1898 – 1986), B. Hepworth (1903 – 1975), etc..


The absolute model plays a foundational role on "cultural aesthetic". It is recognizing the artwork has no longer a representational object but to create a fact with the same intensity. It refers to the appearance of an object to paint emphasizing its characteristic and distinctiveness. The artist implicates the pictorial space and color, and withdraws imagery and ideas from one's own divine form of life experience to bring out the modern feature of metaphysical philosophy. The examples for non - figurative art are: Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism, Kinetic Art, Abstract Expressionism, Minimal Art, Anti-Minimal Art, etc. The artists including Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954), G. Balla (1871 - 1958), I. V. Klioun (1873 - 1942), Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916), Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881- 1973), H. Laurens ( 1885 - 1954), J. Storrs (1885 - 1956), A. Archipenko (1887 - 1964), V. B. Rossiné (1888 - 1942), Jaon Miró (1893 - 1983), L. Moholy Nagy (1895 - 1946 ), Henry Spencer Moore (1898 - 1986), L. Fontana (1899 - 1968), J. Dubuffel (1901 - 1985), D. Smith (1906 - 1965), G. Segal (1924 - 2000 ), Edualdo Chillida (1924 - 2012), Fernandez Arman (1928-2005 ), D. Judd (1928 - 1994 ), Sol. Leweitt (1928 - 2007), C. Odenbug (1929 - ),R. Morris (1931 - ), and others. The thought involved in metaphysical philosophy are Freud's Psychoanalytic Theories, Lacanian Psychoanalysis in Structuralism, Phenomenology of Martin Heidegger, Existentialism, Hermeneutics, and Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre, and others. With the thought of above which, it is to strengthen the awareness, ideas, and purpose of creation for non-spontaneous, self-reliance, autonomy, self-discipline, consciousness, sense and beyond sense. Both the background is similar to the distinction between sensibility of Lyrical Abstraction and sense of Geometric Abstraction.


Abstract art was born at the beginning of last century in 1910. The style had separated from figurative interpretation depicting the natural appearance accordingly and influenced inherent nature of the sculpture creation environment. The appearance of modern sculpture is changing with more and more techniques, subjects, forms, medium, and variety manifestations applying in it and also increasing the style in variety which tends to more abstract and more like two-dimensional form. Although the modernistic sculpture intended to return to tradition, it was no longer belonging to traditional art. For it had implemented rational consciousness and experience against irrational elements. The artist gave up those academic aesthetic and creative elements such as anatomy, proportion, symmetry, balance, and others, even the sculpture represented an object. On the contrary, it emphasized on non-material factors involving time, kinetic energy, process, wind force, speed, gender, view, inner quality, the tension between in and out, and others.


Unlike painting applying on a surface, the form and structure of modern sculptures "occupy, attach to, beautify, and exist a certain space", and it is also a "physical space" subjected to a materialized sculpture. The structure is absolute creativity under the free willing of an artist  


Modern sculpture also picks spiritual topics for use involving loneliness, silence, emptiness helplessness, intangibility, alienation, desolation, and other circumstances. It is a result of illusion beyond the concept of Darwinian evolution theory, a definition from an given form that does not regard as the object, or even a time tracks that are required in the circulation of an organic substance as development, growth, putrefaction, disintegration, and decadence. Though the landscape sculpture in the city has interacted with the beholders and united the architecture into one, the sculpture still takes the correspondence between objects seriously that allows both the sculpture and beholders staying at the same space as separate individual units to preserve its own subjective value of the aesthetic of the sculpture and the aesthetic structure and innovative form.


The most common example is Pablo Picasso. He developed synthetic cubism which cut fragments of metal, wood, cardboard, iron, rope, newspaper, cloth, and other found objects to past into compositions, marking the first use of collage in fine art. Other examples are the futurist artist, Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and the theory of Futurism in 1909, which glorified themes which are associated with live, mechanical, and organic dynamism and synthesized them into a whole by optical illusion. It fixed the moving object, seeking the continuity movement immobile with tracking mark, forming dynamic sculpture, and rendering painting to shift into a shape of sculpture completely. Max Bill was a sculptor and one of the founders of German Staatliches Bauhaus, an art school. Because of his exploration of seeking a symbol that is concise, simple, clear and harmonious to interact with the nature of the universe, he then turned his attention to create sculpture, and went further for architecture, industrial design, and art education that led him a versatile artist.


Shih's Sui Generis Sculpture


Shih's subject for rhino artworks break the awareness in creation of above mentioned artists. He is sui generis: as to the subject, rhino is one of the most endangered animals in the world and have the nature in common with our world. His recent artwork, King Kong Rhino is characterized in geometric aesthetic form. There are two sloping triangular forms on its back that Shih called the design the back of Kylin which was inspired by the myths and legends saying that thousands of years ago rhino represented Kylin. The rivets and armor covering on the body is applying with many pieces of block for cutting technique of the sense of quantity. The rivet is a product of modern industrial civilization, while the armor represents a symbol of strength and loyalty in ancient China. The most outstanding part is the titanium horn which is upright reaching to the sky, as a sign of progress, persistence, and future. His scenic sculpture is between representational and non-representational form, and much closer to representational. However, his sculpture is not in a traditional and restricted form, or a memorial statue. It is a sculpture that is creating for participating in any landscape, any features of nature, or urban public living space, and it also allows combining with artificial environment. Based on location, condition, material, shape, proportion and other configurations to match with position, sunshine, transportation routes, and other visual effects accordingly, the sculpture allows responding to the environment of where it is located with harmonious interactions, and creating a brand new landscape.


Neither the sculptures of Shih relay any chapter in the history of western modern sculpture, nor are restricted by the history of western sculpture, not even mention suffered by the aesthetic norms and baptism from any art school in Taiwan. Still you can find that his sculpture harmonizes with the post-modernism of western sculptures and the tracks of great oriental history. Such rhino sculptures have been mounted in many major public areas. Therefore, he is worthy of the title of genius sculpture among Taiwanese sculptors.


The article is taken from "Fine Art in China" in Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, March, 16, 2014