Bronze Sculpture

Left: 41 × 32 × 27 cm. 16 1/8 x 12 5/8 x 8 5/8 in; Right: 32 × 42 × 25 cm. 12 5/8 x 16 1/2 x 9 7/8 in.

Left: Signed in Chinese, and dated on the back of the right leg;Right: Signed in Chinese, and dated on the bottom of the right leg
Edition: This is an artist proof

PROVENANCE
Kalos Gallery, Taipei
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a certification of authenticity issued by Taipei Kalos Gallery with signature from the artist

Combining Humankind with Nature
Ju Ming’s Taichi Philosophy
“Ju Ming’s Taichi is vivid and powerful, as it symbolizes the silent powers of the universe. The Taichi series does not depict specific images, but instead represents metaphysical powers, the essence of all things. This is the realm that is pursued by true religious art.”
—Johnson Chang
The Taichi series is an important milestone of Ju Ming’s artistic career; it indicates the maturity of his style. For it, he gave up the realistic carving techniques utilized in the Nativist series and started to create abstract works by “abandoning [his] own thinking and consciousness and throwing [himself] into spontaneous creation.” His themes also changed from historical religious figures to the yin and yang and taichi, popular and representative symbols of Oriental culture. During the same period, British artist Henry Moore was also applying new abstract thinking to explore the meaning of anthropology and nature. Interestingly, as Moore abandoned Constructivism and Surrealism in favor of the Gaia concept while creating his classic Mother and Child series, Ju was inspired by the concept of the “Great Unity of Heaven and Man” found in the ancient Chinese text known as the I Ching. Mother and Son and Taichi represent the differences between Western and Eastern philosophical concepts, as Moore saw people living in the embrace of nature while Ju saw humankind and nature as one. In the early 1980s, after the success of Taichi, Ju continued to try his hand at various styles, media, and sculpting techniques to give his works the experimental characteristics of Western contemporary art. For quite a long time prior to this, there were no Oriental artists engaged in experimental sculpture — Ju Ming filled this gap.
Choosing taichi as the theme of his creation was in fact an accident. During the early days of Ju’s study with Yoyo Yang, Yang believed that Ju was too thin and lacked the strength needed for sculpting. He suggested that he practice taichi to strengthen his body. After doing so for several months, Ju was inspired to start exploring the concept of yin and yang and to create a series of works with taichi as the main theme. At first, he carved basic stances made by one person, but later, he turned to showing two figures in corresponding positions before finally, what made the series famous, starting to create abstract shapes. During this auction, we are honored to present the following works of the Taichi series: Sweeping out Cloud (Lot 758), Pushing Hands (Lot 757) and Kumite (Lot 756), all three classic pieces from the 1990s.
Delicate but as Unmovable as a Mountain
Compared with Sweeping out Cloud, the protagonist of Pushing Hands appears to be steady and introverted. Its arms are slightly bent, with one hand turned towards its body and another pushing forward. Its left leg is bent as it squats, and its right leg seems to be straining, as if in the middle of a motion, causing a reaction going from the heel toward the waist, which soon leads to a movement of the limbs. It can be seen that the protagonist is caught in a moment of going from static to dynamic, hanging between balance and imbalance. At first sight, the work seems to be a wooden carving of a figure performing the “pushing hand” posture, but in fact, it is a metal casting of a foam mold. During the demolding process, the artist gently peeled the mold off, leaving the soft, delicate foam-like texture on the chilled metal. Ju cleverly used three materials of varying characteristics and weights to create an extremely natural effect. This not only reflects his extraordinary creativity, but also marks his mastery of modern sculpture.
The Yin and Yang: Offense and Defense
Unlike Western art, which focuses on posture in action and the intensity of movement, the Taichi series focuses on the process of action. The artist uses lines, angles, and geometric shapes to form the main body of the work and static postures to express movement. This series Kumite (a set of two pieces) shows two humans engaged in battle. One throws a punch, and the other one squats to avoid the attack. Although the size of the two characters is different, their movements and strength have reached a harmonious balance, reflecting how the yin and yang complement each other in taichi philosophy. Art historian Michael Sullivan eloquently evaluated Ju’s Kumite by saying, “Taichi is a form of ritual combat in which two figures actively oppose each other. In his Taichi series, this conflict of forces is explicit, existing in the dualism of the figures who thrust and retreat, give and take, in a dynamic relationship with one another. An invisible electric current seems to flow between them. The philosophy of yin and yang no longer is confined to a single entity, but in the relationship between two opponents … the force and tension between the opponents becomes the source of energy, joining them together like a magnetic force. Ju Ming’s works intensely express this hidden energy.”

Price estimate:
HKD: 750,000 - 950,000
USD: 96,200 - 121,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 1,156,400