Masters of Space– The Legend of a Sculpture City

In the development of art in the Taichung area, sculpture has long been a representative field, earning the reputation of “Sculpture City.”

To celebrate the advent of the Taichung Art Museum, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government commissioned curator Hsiao Chong-Ray and his team to curate “Masters of Space – The Legend of the Sculpture City” based on the research results from the academic project, “Modern Sculpture Art in Central Taiwan (2018).” The exhibition aims to highlight the achievements, characteristics, and current state of modern sculpture art in Taiwan, particularly in the central region, illustrating Taichung’s century-long reputation as the “Sculpture City.”

The exhibition comprises seven key categories: stone sculpture, wood sculpture, bamboo carving, ceramics, metal sculpture, soft sculpture, and mixed media, showcasing a total of 63 artists, each presenting one artwork. By maximizing the variety of media, forms, and styles, this exhibition effectively illustrates the developmental characteristics of sculpture in the greater Taichung area, including “the parallel systems of academic education and apprenticeship, the concurrent development of modern and traditional sculpture, and the thriving of landscape and public art.”

The exhibition is organized by the birth years of the artists: Dadun Gallery (V) displays works by 18 artists born before 1944; Dadun Gallery (VI) showcases works by 27 artists born from 1945 to 1959; and Dadun Gallery (VII) exhibits works by 18 artists born after 1960.

To commemorate this large-scale sculpture exhibition, a special publication has been created that includes a brief history of modern sculpture in the greater Taichung area and plates of the exhibited works, vividly capturing a remarkable chapter of Taichung’s sculpture art. It is also hoped that, in the future, sculpture in Taichung will continue to unveil more extraordinary chapters.