Taiwan Today

Taiwan artist Hsu Yunghsu’s prodigious works flout traditional conventions of ceramics. 

Entering the studio of ceramist Hsu Yunghsu (徐永旭‬) in Guantian District of southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, visitors are dwarfed by the vastness of the space. The unusual size allows the workshop to house the largest kiln in Asia and Hsu to fashion his immense creations. Characteristic of the magnitude of the artist’s works is a set of two pieces standing nearly five meters tall and weighing two tons. Shaped from strips of clay, the pair simply titled 2019-1 took center stage at “A World Made Light,” Hsu’s solo exhibition held at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA) in the southern city in 2019.

“It’s both physically and technically difficult to create pieces on such a large scale,” the 66-year-old artist said. “But I find the process immensely rewarding. For me, it’s a transcendent experience.”

Never one to back down from a challenge, Hsu is among Taiwan’s most distinguished ceramists. His work garnered him a Grand Prix prize in 2008 at the prestigious International Ceramics Competition in Mino, Japan, in which more than 3,200 pieces by artists from over 50 countries and territories contended for honors. Hsu was also a major winner at the 2021 Taiwan Ceramic Awards hosted by Yingge Ceramics Museum in New Taipei City, at which he received an Excellence Award, the country’s ultimate accolade for local artists.

Hsu’s achievement owes much to his keenness for exploring new frontiers. His passion for ceramics first emerged in his late 20s while he was teaching at an elementary school in Kaohsiung. The desire to follow his heart ultimately resulted him quitting teaching in 1998 after 22 years in the profession. Hsu was undeterred by the fact that he was only three years away from qualifying for retirement. “The urge to make art full time was too strong to resist anymore,” he said.

Defying Norms

Hsu was already well known as an artist in Taiwan prior to his career change, with several top awards under his belt from ceramics competitions held around the country throughout the 1990s. Notable works from his earlier years include a series of dance-themed pieces, many of which appeared in his first solo exhibition held in Kaohsiung in 1996. “At the time, it was rare to see ceramic artwork incorporating dynamic lines like the ones I used to portray duos and trios in the throes of dance,” Hsu said. “I wanted to push boundaries by trying something different.”

Another of the artist’s standout early series depicts humanoid chairs with torso-shaped backs and pointed feet. According to Hsu, the set is inspired by the boisterous political climate during Taiwan’s democratic transition. “Everyone was vying for their own place in society,” Hsu said. “The chairs represent the ever higher positions people kept striving to attain.”

At the age of 48, Hsu decided to pursue a master’s degree in applied arts at Tainan National University of the Arts. In the course of his studies, he was repeatedly challenged to rethink his creative approach, prompting him to look closely at his inner self as he formulated new artistic visions. Hsu stopped making figurative pieces in the mid-2000s, with his Myth series marking a transition to wholly abstract works.

At the same time, the artist felt a growing need to break free of the perceived limitations of the ceramic medium, with the most remarkable deviation being the phenomenal size of his creations. “Most ceramics can be displayed in a cabinet or on a small stand,” said Hsu Hui-hsuan (徐嘒壎), assistant professor at Tunghai University’s Department of Fine Arts. “But many of Hsu’s pieces stand directly on the ground and require viewers to walk around them to engage fully with the work.”

The ceramist has also designed large wall-mounted artworks. One such piece titled Evolve • Exuberance is permanently displayed in Taipei New Horizon Building, a major cultural and creative hub in the capital. The 2014 artwork is one of Hsu’s most ambitious projects to date, with one of the two sections stretching six meters long.

Creative Process

In order to achieve the rigidity required to shape his large works, Hsu often uses preprepared pieces of semi-dry clay, which he kneads into thin strips and bowl-like shapes before interlacing them to form complex patterns. The consequent sculptures are often full of holes and gaps that readily attract nesting birds and bats when they’re placed outside, much to Hsu’s delight. “When I start a piece, more often than not I don’t know exactly what the end result will look like. Each is a new challenge because I always want to try something different,” he said.

According to Hsu, his abstract works are the result of his effort to transcend prior achievements. “They’re essentially residues left behind as I continuously reinvent myself,” the artist said, adding that the vast majority of his abstract pieces are accordingly titled based on the year they were made and their place in that year’s sequence of works.

Due to the deeply personal nature of his artistic process, Hsu creates every piece completely on his own, without the help of assistants. The numerous fingerprints left behind on the clay surface are a unique signature enhancing the distinctiveness of his works. To show the marks more clearly, he leaves the ceramics unglazed.

Nita Lo (羅潔尹‬), head of KMFA’s research and development department, sees the prints as proof of the artist’s deep dedication to his craft. The characteristic trait of Hsu’s works was also a major factor in the selection of the sculpture 2007-6 as a winner at the 2008 competition in Mino. Tunghai’s Hsu is similarly touched by the artist’s determination to strive for transcendence. “Whenever I see his pieces, I see the persistence of a devoted artist,” she said.

Having undergone a complete career makeover at the age of 43, the ceramist knows what can be achieved through hard work and willpower. By the end of this year, a total of 44 of the artist’s solo exhibitions will have been held in Taiwan and abroad, with the pieces on display evolving as Hsu progresses along his personal journey. “Viewers might find my more recent ceramics have an ethereal feel, even becoming translucent in parts as they get thinner,” the artist says. “It’s my hope that the works challenge people’s thoughts on the possibilities of the art form.” 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw