Ju Ming: "Style can not be learned outside, but within oneself."
Ju Ming at work
Zhou Xun lamented in the movie "Coquettish women have the best life": "When I used to learn sculpture, I like Ju Ming because he cuts very quickly without any thought." However, Ju Ming's skillful moves, which seem to have no thought or hesitation, actually contain the twists and turns of his life. Ju Ming's sculpting life has gone through a transition from studying with Li Jinchuan, a traditional temple sculptor, to Yang Yingfeng, a modern sculptor from Taiwan, China, from rural sentiments to Tai Chi purity, and from nature to the human world. Although his artistic style has changed, his original intention has not changed. As he said, "Art is practice." The Tao lies in nature, and the source of the heart is the home.
Ju Ming's "Shepherd Boy and Cow", 24×14×6cm, 1975
Ju Ming's "Guanyin", Bronze sculpture , 77×38.5×60cm, circa 1997-1992
15 years old • Chuqi Engraving
Ju Ming's real name is Zhu Chuantai, Born in Taiwan, China in 1938, he was the 11th child in his family. When he was born, his parents were 92 years old in total, so he was nicknamed "Ninety-two". Coming from a poor family, he received his first and only academic diploma when he was 13 years old. He then began to help the family and work as a clerk in a grocery store.
At the age of 15, he learned carving and painting techniques from Li Jinchuan, a carver at the Mazu Temple (Ci Hui Palace) in the town, and started Ju Ming's carving career. During his initial schooling period, Ju Ming not only learned the art of carving but also practiced painting. After three years and four months of learning, he gained experience as a carver and began to try to participate in art competitions. Ju Ming is not limited to the proficiency of craftsmanship, but also hopes to find a path leading to artistic creation.
Ju Ming, "Tai Chi Series: Single Whip Down", wood sculpture, 86×49×77cm, 1976
Ju Ming, "Tai Chi Counterpositions", three-dimensional bronze sculpture, left 74×50×33cm, right 61×69×43cm, 1991
Ju Ming's "Tai Chi", bronze, 41×23×18cm, 1995
30 years old • His artistic style changed to
At the age of 30, Ju Ming became a disciple of Yang Yingfeng, a master of modern sculpture in Taiwan, China, and began a leap from traditional craft sculpture to artistic creation. Yang Yingfeng emphasized the spirituality and spirit in aesthetics. He taught Ju Ming to abandon the techniques and forms that he had mastered, abandon form, get rid of realism, and retain the charm. During the eight years under Yang Yingfeng's tutelage, Ju Ming gradually mastered the characteristics of aesthetics and appreciated the essence of art. His works such as "Working Together", which are full of local images, have won him numerous awards in the domestic art world. But he did not stop exploring styles. As he began to practice Tai Chi, Ju Ming gradually developed the "Tai Chi Series" with both weight and movement. This series deepened Ju Ming's artistic level, simplifying "form" but adding "spirit" .
Ju Ming, "Skirt Story", 54×52×46.7cm, 26.2kg, 2006
Ju Ming, "Skirt Story", 95.8×53.5×40cm, 41.7kg, 2006
Ju Ming, "Swimming", stainless steel, 74.7×75.2×51.6 cm, 36.3kg, 2009
42 years old • No Confusion
42 years old, Ju Ming went to New York alone to study. At the same time, he also began to create his human series of works. The active and free artistic atmosphere in the United States gives the Ju Ming Human Series a diverse and open character. In the 1980s and 1990s, his Tai Chi series paralleled the Human World series. The Tai Chi series is more "formed" according to "intention", from tangible to intangible, with both physical and spiritual similarities. The orientation of the Human World series is very modern, casual and free, and all kinds of worldly living beings can be easily grasped in Ju Ming's hands. Not only has there been a transformation in the subject matter of creation, but also in terms of media, he has tried many materials such as wood, clay, sponge, bronze and stainless steel.
Ju Ming "Tai Chi Series - Tai Chi Arch", bronze sculpture, 279×10500cm, 2000
Ju Ming Art Museum
Ju Ming Art Museum was officially established on September 19, 1999. It is currently the largest outdoor art museum in Taiwan, China.
61 years old • The Master
After twelve years and all his life savings, Ju Ming completed the largest work in his life - Ju Ming Art Museum in 1999. He used the abstract form of "Tai Chi Arch" to perfectly interpret the flow of Tai Chi's charm and draw a successful conclusion to the Tai Chi series. The "Human World Series - Three Armies" took four years to create more than 300 military statues, forming a matrix that combines sculpture, installation and action art, and also makes the Human World series more complete and mature.
Ju Ming's "Rest", bronze, 249×110×127cm, 2002
Ju Ming's "Human World Series-10 Groups", bronze, 72.6×166×115.8cm;
61.1×68.1×177.2cm; 72.1×82×160cm, 2011
77 years old • Human cultivation
Now 77 years old, Ju Ming still maintains a strong passion for creation. On April 11, 2015, Ju Ming's "Carving the World·2015 Ju Ming Art Exhibition China Tour" debuted at Chengdu IFS. It presents many of Ju Ming’s human series works. Year after year, day after day, Ju Ming always insists on realizing kindness in artistic labor and selflessness in artistic work. Every bit of life has contributed to his artistic practice of depicting the human world.
Ju Ming's "Shopping Series", bronze, left 90×84×157.5cm, right 105.5×82.5×148cm, 2007
QA
Harper's Bazaar: What were your thoughts when switching from the "Tai Chi Series" to the "Human World Series"?
Ju Ming: I have sculpted a lot of "Tai Chi Series", and I feel that there is baggage when creating. "Tai Chi" was not invented by me but by Zhang Sanfeng . When I was carving, the spirit of Tai Chi and the posture of Tai Chi must not be missing. I feel like I am no longer free to create. No matter how hard I work, I will be trapped by these problems and find it difficult to perform. I don’t think it’s good for an artist to have too many creative themes. Therefore, I want to summarize the "Rustic Series" and "Tai Chi Series" into one, which is the human world. My creations from the "Country Series" to the "Tai Chi Series" to the "Human World Series" have never left the theme of "human beings". In fact, they are all in the human world. Turn on the TV and see that something new is happening every day, everything is there, it is constantly changing, and no day is the same. This is the human world.
Harper's Bazaar: Why did the "Human World Series" gradually begin to be mainly white in 2007?
Ju Ming: I have been doing a lot of works that have too many colors for a long time. I want to get rid of them, mainly white, add a little bit of black, not so bright, and return to the feeling of mainly sculpture.
Harper's Bazaar: Why did you first think of establishing the Juming Art Museum?
Ju Ming: Art museums can preserve works completely and permanently, providing exhibition space and long-term maintenance and care. As an artist, it makes a lot of difference whether I have an art museum of my own. The audience can also clearly see the creative process from the beginning of my art career to the present. But I don’t have a particular preference for any part of my work, just like a parent doesn’t have a preference for one of their children.
Bazaar Art: What do you think of the current artistic creation atmosphere and ecology?
Ju Ming: It doesn’t matter whether the market is good or bad. The fact that my works have become more expensive has nothing to do with me. I eat the same three meals a day, live the same life and sculpt, nothing has changed. Art creation is not like work in the ordinary sense. There is almost no need to rest. You have to think about it when you are carving, and when you are not carving. Creating is not a pleasure for me, but a responsibility. I will keep doing it until I can't do it anymore.
Bazaar Art: What other hobbies do you have in life besides sculpture?
Ju Ming: I like nature, and my creations have never left nature. What I am exhibiting at Chengdu IFS this time is the "Human World Series", and the human world is also a part of nature.
Bazaar Art: The latest creative ideas?
Ju Ming: My recent creation is the "Human World Series·Prison" series. After so many years of carving, I feel that I don’t have many themes that express human nature. The little things in life are the little things in life, and shopping is shopping. That's it.
Bazaar Art: Yes, you said that "cultivation is the daily realization and practice in daily life."
Ju Ming: Cultivation is not exclusive to religion. My opinion is that all walks of life should have an attitude of practice.Doing business, making art, and doing things must be faced with an attitude of spiritual practice. Only an attitude of spiritual practice can make you innovate and enable you to research and develop. Art is also a kind of research and development, developing your own style. Style cannot be learned outside, but within yourself.
