Gajah Gallery
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Monday, September 06, 2004
The Singapore Art Museum, together with the Juming Museum in Taiwan, and iPreciation (an artists’ group in Hong Kong), present ‘Ju Ming 2004-05: Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai’, a multi-venue exhibition in each city featuring more than 60 works by Ju. The exhibition in Singapore, which includes works from the ‘Living World’, and ‘Taichi’ series displayed at various locations, including the Museum of Art, Orchard Road and Changi Airport, ends Sept 19. For further information, visit www.museum.org.sg/SAM/exhibition.
JU Ming, or Ju Chuan-tai, was born in 1938 in Tunghsiao on Taiwan’s West Coast. When he was 15 years old, he apprenticed with a famous wood craftsman, Lee Chin-chuan, for three years before setting up on his own, producing religious statuary and figurines of myths and legends.
In 1967, Ju approached Taiwan’s leading modern sculptor, Yuyu Yang (1926-1997) and persuaded the master to take him on. Yang introduced the young student to public notice when Yang turned over his own exhibition slot at Taiwan’s National Museum of History to Ju.
That exhibition was the first of many successes. Ju established himself as a leading Taiwanese artist in the nativist school that emphasised local cultural influences.
In the 70s, he started his Taichi series, which moved away from the nativist style towards a contemporary one.
In 1981, Ju went to study and work in New York, where he began his Living World series.
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