For his debut at Art Basel Hong Kong, Taiwanese artist Hsu Yunghsu – and the Taipei gallery that represented him – decided to go big. Really big.
The centerpiece of his six works on display at the art fair is “2021-3”, a stoneware sculpture with swirling, cocoon-like parts that Mr. Hsu kneaded and squeezed with the force of not just his fingers, but his entire body. The work is approximately 3 meters high and 2 meters wide and consists of two 650-pound pieces stacked vertically, making it far from a typical work of art to make a journey of any length to a global art fair.
Still, “2021-3” is typical of the unconventional art that Mr. Hsu (pronounced: SHOO), 67, is known for, and his ambitious way of shaping, coiling and squeezing. Liang Gallery in Taipei, which will also feature seven other artists in its section, including video artist Ting Tong Chang, will exhibit two other clay and three porcelain sculptures by Mr. Hsu ranging in length or height from less than a foot to nearly five feet. Each has a similar motif: swirling masses of what you might think of as a group of cells, with light and shadow dancing from dozens of angles.
The sculpture “2021-3”, whose title simply indicates that it is the third work of art that Mr. Hsu produced in 2021 resembles a giant, wavy sponge crossed with a patch of coral reef. With its technique written large, it has thousands of its fingerprints covering the smooth surface, kneaded into the clay. The cascading ovals and curves are stacked, but the thickness of some segments is only about a centimeter or about a third of an inch, creating a delicacy that seems to defy gravity.
“I always want to use my body to express my ideas, and by iterating and stacking, my ambition is to identify how far I can push myself and the material,” Mr Hsu said in a telephone conversation through an interpreter from his studio in Tainan City, southern Taiwan. “I keep making holes in the structure with my bare hands. This work documents my relationship with the clay and my commitment to create a visual ‘wow’ moment for the viewer.”
It’s a bold approach in a 40-year career that involves taking more than one risk. mr. Born in 1955 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Hsu graduated from teacher training in the 1970s and worked as a teacher and professional musician, becoming a master of the guzheng, the classical Chinese zither. After 22 years of teaching primary school and barely qualifying for retirement, he left education in 1998 and began studying ceramics at Tainan National University of the Arts in 2003.
Since changing his profession, Mr. Hsu has had artistic residencies in Taiwan, South Korea, China, Japan and the United States, and his works have been exhibited internationally. He has earned accolades, including the Grand Prix at the 2008 International Ceramics Competition in Mino, Japan, where his work triumphed over more than 3,200 works by artists from more than 50 countries and territories. Last year, he was also a big winner at the Taiwan Ceramic Awards, which honor the country’s artists.
“What makes Hsu different from other artists is how he uses his body, and the repeating and stacking shows his willpower and the sheer physicality needed to create his works, but there’s also a lightness to everything,” said Weng Shu. – Ying, an independent curator who will host ‘Ingenuity in Minimalism’, a year-end exhibition at Liang Gallery where Mr. Hsu will be on display. “Anyone who stands in front of any of Hsu’s works will be blown away by the size and detail of what ceramic art can be. That is why he has been awarded within and outside Taiwan.”
Adeline Ooi, the Asia director of Art Basel, also finds Mr Hsu’s sculpture distinctive. “It looks deceptively simple, but the process of making it with clay is painstaking and demanding,” she said.
Mr. Hsu’s techniques range from flattening a clay surface by throwing the entire weight of his body into it to gently squeezing tens – or even hundreds – of pieces together. Like ‘2021-3’, many of his works from recent years have swirling, empty pods that feel safe and inviting. They have become his central visual language.
The size of “2021-3” makes it difficult to show outside of Taiwan, said Claudia Chen, the director of Liang Gallery, which marks his eighth visit to Art Basel Hong Kong, “and we didn’t just want to preserve Hsu’s reputation as a ceramist. , but also the magnitude of the work he produces. We really wanted to show this to the world, and this art fair is a great way for people to learn about Hsu and Taiwanese art in general. As a gallery, Liang wants show what great artists we have in Taiwan and celebrate the great freedom they have in their creative process.”
For Mr Hsu, his debut at Art Basel Hong Kong is both an honor and an opportunity to be exposed to visitors from all over the world, some of whom may be initially surprised by “2021-3”.
“People may find the format intimidating and fear it will collapse, but the sheer volume of the piece and the delicacy of all angles allow the viewer to feel its energy,” said Mr. Hsu, who will not attend the art. fair due to Hong Kong’s strict quarantine rules during the coronavirus pandemic. “But I see it all as a portrait of not only the limitations of myself and the material, but also the strengths in both of us that can be surprising at times.”
