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4~ Seclusion and metamorphosis, Author: Xie Zhufen
5~ Beauty of Light Touch Author: Ericamigo Wu
6~Going with Flow Author:Tamkang University~炫光志
【Artist Snapshot】
4~ Seclusion andmetamorphosis, Rebirth from woodcarving
文｜謝祝芬 Xie Zhufen 攝影｜林育緯
《Mirror Media》Financial and economic figure Feb/17/2018 10:30
Born in Pingtung, Ping-Cheng Lianghas been a person with avant-garde thinking starting young age. He founded Stupid Bird Painting Society, questioning traditional art and challenging existing frameworks, and he is a winner of the Lion Art Young Artist Award. In late 1980’s, Liang went to New York for further study and finally he realized all of a sudden that the place where he was born was the source of his art and life. After returning to Taiwan, he started a career in interior design and architectureconstruction. After several years of running business amidst setbacksand hunker-down, he settled in Sanyiliving asa recluse andregained his passion for art creationto develop unique artistic languages in wood sculpture. Under Liang’sburins, a piece of heavy wood stock would be turned into tender and graceful book pages or utensils with beautiful curves. The sketch-like texturesand grains on the surface of his sculpture exemplify his “weight-reducing” techniquesand have heaviness of the bulk materialremoved.
“Quite a number of sculptors have been thinking how to give trees life, but in fact each tree shall have its own look. I intend to show original personalities and appearances of the wood.”What Liang wants is to make artistic creationstogether with the trees rather than putting our own thoughts on the trees forcefully. As Liang once put it, “During the process of carving, we can clearly see that each piece of wood is like a human and each has its ownpast. What I intend to do is to dialogue with the wood and retain its original appearances.”Inthe eyes of an ordinary sculptor,a piece of wood with bored cavitiesis not a good choice, but Liang will use such cavities in his creations. “In the beginning of my carving, what this piece of wood would become isusually not decided yet. The idea in my mind would become more and more clear as the carving work proceeds.”To carve in compliance with characteristics of the wood is the philosophy of creation Liang has learned from wood.
5~ Liang Ping-Cheng Befriends Wood to Gives It a Beauty of Light Touch
04:10, March 21, 2015, China Times
Ericamigo Wu 吳垠慧／Taipei
Wood is more than just the material for the sculptures of Warrior God Guan Yu and Bodhidharma. It can also become books, scrolls and pages flipping in the winds, as weightless as silk scarf. The Taiwanese artist Liang Ping-Cheng transforms the seemingly heavy wood into the visual language of slimness and lightness. By releasing the weight of the wood, he also sets himself and the audience free from the psychological stress.
After his first encounter with wood sculpture at the age of 40, Liang swapped his oil paint brush with a sculpture knife and replaced his canvas with wood. Sixteen years on, he remains enthusiastic as ever. His solo exhibition, "It" Flips, Space-Integral Series” is currently held at Art House. More than 20 of his best-known works since 2001, including “Gravity Release”, “Wings飛行”, “Unity合”, Utensil & Anti-Utensil, “The Doors門” are showcased.
“Wood is as imperfect as humans. It is important to go with the flow. I discover, not create.” Liang explains that his sculpturing is the process of befriending wood. He does not draw sketches or designs. “I work with wood. Different from clay, wood used to be trees, alive. My sculpture follows the trace of life. So, I can work with decayed wood.”
Liang was graduated from Department of Fine Arts, Chinese Culture University in 1985, with a major in painting. During that year, he staged an improvisational painting exhibition at Jia-ren Gallery for 27 days by painting all over the ceilings and floors of the gallery. When he lived in seclusion in Sanyi, he started to explore the new possibilities of wood sculpture. It is, again, going with flow, that becomes the pillar of his three-dimensional artworks.
“Why does wood have to look sold, solemn and spherical? Is there a way to make wood sculpture light and weightless?” This was how Liang created “Gravity Release” by making slim wood slim beautifully curvy.
Once the weight is let go, the object becomes so light that it can fly. This is how “Wings 飛行” came to life. “It is like throwing a silk scarf to the skies and watching it gently floating down”, said Liang.“Illegible Book” is a parody about the loss of reading habits in modern life. “Books are not read. Only looked at.”
His recent work, “Connection” draws inspiration from the void status of between the praying hands. The two wood pieces are combined with two different shapes. “Particles are connected to become everything and anything in the universe. It is the primal force of life.”
6~ Going with Flow
Tamkang University
The Chronicle:Bright Star Arts Association 炫光志
1.Life Story
The teenage Liang Ping-Cheng was not too different from most of his peers, enjoying life and running away from school. Art was not considered a serious pursuit. He only became a hardworking student when he entered the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese Culture University after the completion of military services. The memory of his youthful days was one of the ingredients of Liang’s future work. In university, he was deeply inspired by two professors, Jun T. Lai and Guo Da Wei. The academic training has significant influence on Liang, especially with control and sensitivity with materials. During his sophomore year in 1983, he won the Eighth Lion Art New Artist Award and formally launched his career as an artist.
After graduation and with enthusiasm, Liang decided to go to New York, the center of fine arts, to study. In fact, the whole city was his classroom. He found that the streets of New York were richer and more interesting than lectures. He met the most brilliant minds and the worst human beings from all over the world. As many people say, New York is not part of the U.S. New York is a world of its own. You can only feel it by being in New York. The best talents from different countries are drawn here. Liang hanged out in the streets because there was so much fun and so much to learn. Classrooms and museums bored him. Even the world-renowned galleries could not attract him. One day Liang walked by a tall building and suddenly realized that everybody in New York was an artist. Studios and exhibitions are everywhere, and he seemed not required. He realized that his art and life are still in Taiwan and his homeland is the source of his inspirations. With this idea in mind, he took his wife and leave New York, after spending nearly two years there. He knew that he had unfinished business as an artist in Taiwan.
Back in Taiwan, Liang was involved in interior design and hotel planning & management. His income grew from meager to massive, until it became a numbers game. So, money was no longer an issue, but the mind was. This experience taught him to be humble. It seemed that he was on a roll, but he was not happy when waking up at night. Liang knew that there was no art there. That was where he belonged, and he would return to the creative path. Only that this time it would be different.
2.Family
Liang is the anchor of his family. He is very protective of them. When he speaks with his wife, his tone is soft and tender, different from his usual cool. Sometimes he tries to make her laugh. They respect each other, without hiding any secrets. They remain as intimate as newly-weds although they have been together for more than 20 years. They have one daughter and one son. After all the ups and downs in life, Liang remains concerned with how his children grow and develop.
In 1998, Liang moved to the mountains of Sanyi to start his wood sculpture. At that time, his son Joy was studying in the elementary school. He remembered everything back then.
Life was tough in the beginning, without many essentials. The only road back home was not paved with asphalt. It was a stony and muddy lane. There was no water heater, so they had to boil some water, mix it with cold water, jump into the tub and quickly finish the bath. Of course, there were many bugs and mosquitos on the mountains. Sometimes even snakes. Life was not easy but Joy got used to it. There was a small pond in the yard, beaming with life. He loved to watch the lively tadpoles. Joy said he may be the only child in Taiwan that saw tadpoles growing into frogs. Although life was not rosy, it was still full of happiness. This was why Joy was able to handle problems that children of the same age would not normally encounter. It was also the reason why Joy shares some personality traits and attitudes with his father. It was perhaps not by nature, but by nurture. Both Liang and his wife were busy working for money. So, Joy’s sister, eight years older, did not live with them but stayed with Liang’s mother-in-law. Liang’s wife went to work every day, so Liang took care of Joy at home. Joy said he really admires his father. He could see his father’s persistence and perseverance when they lived in Sanyi. Liang does not live a bohemia life as other artists. Nor does he succumb to social pressures by losing his artistic integrity. He has a regular and disciplined schedule, doing his work every day: sculpturing, painting and teaching Joy to do homework. What is most remarkable is his resistance to opinions from the art community at that time and insistence on the development of his own style. This attitude is perhaps what makes Liang today. Joy was deeply inspired by his father. He learned a lot from spending time with his father. Maybe they do not talk much but they influence each other.
Joy is now a chef in a French restaurant, because he studied in Kai Ping Culinary School. He was not good with schoolwork, so his teachers encouraged him to learn a skill. Joy found his calling in the culinary school. In fact, he was selected to participate in international competitions overseas and won many awards.
Joy also has a DJ dream. He has been learning from a teacher and working on his own music by doing live shows all over Taiwan. This is perhaps the insistence he has learned from his father and dedication to what he enjoys doing. What is more important is how to realize your dreams. Joy also wondered why the world is so unfair and some people have it easy. He needs to try so hard and does not always get the same returns. His teacher listed to Joy’s complaints and said, “Only the useless complains about unfairness.” This remark has heavily influenced Joy’s life and kept him going forward.
3.Art
Liang as a person and as an artist is not separable. His art is him, and he is his art.
Liang’s wood sculpture starts with his relocation to Sanyi. From the peak amid hustle and bustle to a small town of wooden fragrance, Liang was exploring the meaning of being an artist and creating artworks. This was a change, and a process. He wanted to discover the meanings of creative arts outside the pure aesthetics and discourse. At this juncture, his behavior and etiquette had changed completely. Perhaps he did not know, but the local people could see it. In the eyes of old masters, an artist was born. His work is original, and he knows about the theory. He is humble, modest and diligent.
In 2011, Liang’s first solo exhibition in Taipei, “Possibilities of Wood, Imaginations of Sculpture” 木的可能、雕的想像was held in InSian Gallery. This event was a concluding remark Liang made on Sanyi. Except for “Gravity Release”, all the other five series were at display for the first time: “Book & Illegible Book”, “Utensil & Anti-Utensil”, “Whisper in Forest”, “Mask” and Metallic Works金屬鑄造.These are the typical dialectics post the San-yi period: books that are not books, utensils that are not utensils, species not from the earth, masks that are not masks.
4.Aesthetics of Inversion~
Speaking of Liang’s wood sculpture, his aesthetics of inversion spring to mind. His aesthetic theory comes from the dialectics of functionality removal. “Utensil & Anti-Utensil”is a work pure on the beauty of utensils, without worrying about their purposes. “Book & Illegible Book” expresses how books are for viewing in the era of the Internet as people are not reading physical books anymore. “Whisper in Forest” abandons the rationality of evolution. Creatures are carved along with the original grains of wood, so they look somewhat like the species on the earth but not exactly. Masks are no longer the decorative gear for faces. They allow the audience to get to know themselves. The learning in life is to take off all the masks and only keep the true wisdom. Liang describes his work as an aesthetics of inversion. The starting point of creativity is the pure beauty and nature of objects.Humans created a plethora of items as necessities in life. At this point, functionality was important. How they looked was less relevant. As new utensils replaced old ones over time, pure beauty began to emerge. For example, all the treasures in museums are impractical. The aesthetics of inversion is the core of Liang’s artistic theory. It underpins the creation of all his works.
5.Going with Flow~
Going with flow is Liang’s unique approach to sculpturing. Flow refers to a nature of life. Liang believes that everything has life, emotional and unemotional. As everything is constantly changing, he uses all his senses to communicate with wood. With his imagination, it starts with sight, followed with touching, hearing and smelling to feel the once-alive wood. He feels when he is sculpturing. It is a natural process, without thinking. It is interacting with wood. Liang said, “Wood is as imperfect as humans, and should go with flow. I am discovering, not creating.” He described his sculpturing a process of making friends with wood. He does not produce sketches or designs. He said, “I work with wood. Different from clay, wood used to be trees, alive. I carve along the traces of life, so I can work with decayed wood.” This is similar with his improvisational painting when he was young.