Ju Ming (Zhu Ming)

incised with the artist’s signature in Chinese, dated 95 and numbered 2/10

Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner 

Hakone, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Ju Ming, 1995, p. 21, different edition exhibited
Macao, Temporary Exhibition Gallery of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Sculpture Exhibition of Ju Ming: Taichi & Living World Series, 2005, p. 36, different edition exhibited
Hong Kong, Times Square, Ju Ming Sculpture Exhibition, 2006, cover, p. 47, different edition exhibited

This work is overall in very good condition except some minor patination across the overall body.
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From Homeland to Taichi: The Art of Ju Ming

‘My artistic career has been like the growth of a tree: Homeland is its root, and Taichi its branches.’

Ju Ming, excerpt from The Aesthetic of Ju Ming by Pan Xuan

Renowned internationally for his sculptural language, Ju Ming was raised in a simple rural community in Yilan, Taiwan. He devoted himself to sculpture at an early age, studying the carving of wooden temple icons with Lin Jinchuan. Later he turned to personal and artistic expression in the Homeland series, which depicts peasants at work and domesticated animals like cows and chickens. In 1976, he departed from the realism of this series and embarked on the semi-abstract Taichi series, which expresses the Eastern philosophical and aesthetic notions embodied by taichi, such as ‘harmony between heaven and humans’, ‘mutual engendering of yin and yang’, ‘simplicity overcoming complexity’, and ‘letting go of form once meaning is obtained’. Ju Ming has been a persistent pioneer in the world of sculpture, redefining the accomplishments of his predecessors and of himself and forging a unique path forward.

Johnson Chang of the Han Art TZ Gallery began a long-term collaboration with Ju Ming in 1982, and later promoted his art in many international exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the Ayala Museum of Manila in 1984, at the Singapore History Museum in 1986, and South Bank Cultural Centre in London in 1991. Ju Ming was the first Asian artist to be featured at the Centre during the first decade of its founding. His unique modern artistic vocabulary has earned him global renown. In this sale, we are proud to offer Ju Ming’s 1991 wood sculptures Taichi Boxing (Lot 1028) and Rooster and Hen (Lot 1030) and the 1995 large-scale bronze sculpture Taichi Series: Thrust (Lot 1029), which showcase the richness and dynamism of the artist’s mature work of the 1990’s.

Nativism and Confucian Ethics

Although Ju Ming began to focus on the Taichi series in 1976, he did not give up on the Homeland series, which as he said was the ‘root’ of his art. Completed in 1991, Rooster and Hen is representative of his return to Homeland in the 1990’s. Here he boldly departs from the fine detailing and smooth polish typical of folk craft and purposely leaves signs of cutting and carving throughout the cock and hen. The natural grain and texture of the wood are also preserved. Ju Ming’s sculpting is more decisive than before, quickly articulating the fierceness of the cock with its piercing eyes and upturned tail. The round and substantial body of the hen effectively convey its motherhood, and indeed she nurtures several chicks on her shoulder and beneath her wings. The parental love and care is palpable. Ju Ming’s anthropomorphic treatment of the chickens conveys a Confucian ethics of familial relations. As the critic Jiang Xun comments, the work ‘conveys feelings that are earthy and relatable, without any heroism, without the arrogance of genius, but rather with infinite humility, generosity, and diligence.’ This is why the work is harmonious, lively, and affecting.

Overcoming complexity with simplicity: Modern Sculpture in a Xieyi Style

‘Channeling the xieyi aesthetics of Chinese literati art and reinterpreting Chinese expressionism, Ju Ming creates modern art that is rooted in China. Moreover, the themes of his Taichi series are grounded in Chinese symbols, and translates traditional deities into vernacular and commonplace images of yin and yang forces.’

Johnson Chang

Taichi Boxing is the culmination of Ju Ming’s 15-year pursuit of the Taichi series. For the artist, the highest state of taichi is ‘relaxation’ and ‘solidity’; it is a martial art that fosters stability, inner strength, and the fusion of energies. Inspired by the philosophy and rhythms of taichi, He translates the xieyi spirit of the Chinese ink tradition into sculpture, transforming complexity into simplicity, emphasizing intention and spirit over form. The earliest works in the Taichi series represented unitary subjects, but in Taichi Boxing we see two figures. The one of the left stands firmly on the ground, his arms in a blocking posture as if about to release energy. The figure on the right lunges with his palms thrusting forward. The pair creates an enormous circulation of energy, their interaction manifesting the principles of yin and yang. Rough sculpting marks articulate the figures’ clothing and movement. Ju Ming condenses consecutive motions and the breath and spirit of the two figures into a single instant, achieving a miraculous and unforgettable balance between dynamism and stillness.

Cosmogeny in a Bronze Sculpture

After finishing the wood sculptures in the Taichi series of the 1970’s, Ju Ming began to explore ways to transcend the inherent size limitations of wood. He experimented with carving figures out of styrofoam and then casting them in bronze. His technique in and language of bronze sculpture matured over the next decade. In 1995, Ju Ming was invited to mount a large-scale solo exhibition at the Hakone Museum of Art, which has a capacious sculpture garden renowned in Asia. For this exhibition Ju Ming created many large-scale sculptures, including the 123-cm-tall Taichi Series: Thrust.

Since the Qing dynasty, a song entitled Dashouge has circulated widely in taichi circles. It describes the classic scenario of two practitioners ‘pushing hands’, solidly grounded as they redirect and dissolve each other’s force with their upper limbs, cycling between motion and stillness. This is the very scenario that Ju Ming has captured. He has distilled the taichi practitioners’ state of being and their resonant absorption into a few evocatively sharp lines and minimalist but substantive blocks. He reinterprets tradition in a modern manner: the figures are unmoving and yet dynamic like the false mountains of classical Chinese gardens. As Michiaki Kawakita, former director of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, once said, ‘Ju Ming has weight and substance. In this he is similar to modern Japanese sculptors. Ju Ming has dynamism, and in this also he is similar to modern Japanese sculptors. But among Japanese sculptors no one has reconciled both qualities like Ju Ming.’ The simultaneous substance and dynamism, perfectly embodied by Taichi Series: Thrust, is the key distinction of Ju Ming’s art.

Indeed, Taichi Series: Thrust is recognised as Ju Ming’s representative masterpiece. The sculpture exists in 10 versions. The Hakone Museum of Art solo exhibition aside, these have been exhibited in Ju Ming’s 2005 solo exhibition organised by the Provisional Municipal Council of Macau, and at his major exhibition at Times Square, Hong Kong in 2006.