After coming across photographs of 3-D pavement art on the Internet a few years ago, 21-year-old university student Catherine Liu (劉愷玲) longed for the opportunity to see such incredible work in person. On a weekday afternoon in May this year, Liu was about to board a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train at Taipei City Hall Station for the commute to school when she saw a huge 3-D airbrush rendition of an amusement park adorning the station platform. “Looking at 3-D pavement art and experiencing its charm is a terrific feeling,” she says. “I really enjoyed standing on the painting and striking poses as if I were riding the Ferris wheel or roller coaster.”
The captivating piece, which measured 8 meters by 12 meters in size, was created by Taiwanese artist Su Chia-hsien (蘇家賢), who also goes by the pseudonym Tu Lung (圖龍). Su’s 3-D work was part of an art project initiated by the Taipei City Government to decorate MRT stations and provide passengers with a pleasant environment. The project was also designed to highlight the opening of the Songshan Line at the end of this year.
The city government commissioned LeftBrain Marketing Communication in Taipei City to plan the art project. Ayu Cheng (程詩郁), the firm’s chief executive officer, says LeftBrain approached the job with the idea that the MRT is not just a mode of transportation, but a way to explore Taipei. The company found five artists from varying fields to showcase pieces at five MRT stations featuring characteristics of the city that would pleasantly surprise passengers, she says. The five works, which included Su’s creation, were displayed from May through July. “While 3-D pavement art in public places is fairly common in many countries, it’s rare in Taiwan. We were glad to find a street painter of Su’s repute for our project. His work captured the attention of many MRT passengers, especially younger ones,” Cheng says. “Su’s exceptional technique, ingenious design and bold use of color produced an intriguing work that invited viewer interaction and made the depicted scene realistic.”
Train Station has made the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung a local landmark. (Photo courtesy of Su Chia-hsien)
The 46-year-old Su spent a month painting the amusement park at his warehouse in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan before moving the completed work to the MRT Taipei City Hall Station. He says that he chose his subject matter for its merry, festive atmosphere and to illustrate what a fun city Taipei is. In addition to a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, coffee cups and dolphins, which Su included as theme park attractions, the painting also depicted Taipei 101, Taiwan’s iconic landmark. “Commuters waiting for trains could relax and enjoy themselves by interacting with the painting or posing for photos,” he says. “Hopefully, my art also impresses visitors to Taiwan and leaves them with unforgettable memories of their trip.”
Visitors to museums can usually only appreciate the art on display from a distance and are not allowed to touch the pieces, Su says. On the other hand, 3-D street art is accessible to everyone as it is produced or installed in public locations and designed to allow direct public interaction. That is why this art form has a broad appeal, he adds.
Creative Journey
Making a 2-D work of art that creates a 3-D optical illusion, engages the viewers and pulls them into an imaginary world is a very technical artistic challenge. However, three decades of experience in various art-related disciplines helped Su master the process of painting anamorphic images. He says that he developed a keen interest in art at an early age growing up in Kaohsiung, so he decided to study art and design in high school. During his secondary school years, he began to hone his skills in art forms such as ceramics, oil painting, photography, sculpture and woodworking, developing a particular interest in the three-dimensional expression of space that is found in sculpture. Upon graduating, Su initially designed and built light fixtures before moving on to creating studio sets in the television industry. He also produced installation works, paintings, sculptures and toy figurines over the years, consistently working on one artistic endeavor or another until he eventually discovered 3-D street painting.
Su and his painting, Revolving Ladder (Photo courtesy of Su Chia-hsien)
The artist says he first noticed examples of 3-D chalk art in Europe and the United States via the Internet about six years ago and considered giving the art form a try. However, it was not until American artist Kurt Wenner, who is widely recognized as the originator of 3-D pavement art, came to Taiwan at the invitation of the Kaohsiung City Government to demonstrate the practice in May 2010 that Su took decisive action. Wenner’s Ocean Dragon Palace at Glory Pier in Kaohsiung City drew crowds of curious onlookers and pushed Su to take up 3-D painting.
“At that time, when [local] people talked about 3-D street art, they thought only foreign artists were capable of producing a good piece. That motivated me to delve into this art style in an attempt to create works that could change that general perception,” Su says. “Meanwhile, I figured that since anamorphic painting basically remained unexplored in Taiwan, I’d have a better chance at success if I worked hard and fast enough to develop related techniques.”
Hong Jun-yuan (洪俊源), a fine arts teacher at National Feng-Shan Senior High School in Kaohsiung, first met Su in 2008 at a local graffiti art festival and recalls being impressed by the artist’s creative energy and down-to-earth personality. After Wenner’s visit, Hong wanted to demonstrate that local artists were capable of producing this type of artwork as well and thought immediately of Su, having once seen a lifelike drawing of a vase created by the artist. The teacher consequently asked the artist to create a 3-D painting on the Feng-Shan campus. After two laborious weeks, Su completed Crustal Fractures in the Arctic, a 6-meter-by-15-meter painting that highlights environmental issues and was just the breakthrough that he needed to build his reputation as a 3-D street artist. “Su’s work caught the attention not only of students and teachers in our school, but also the media, and due to the news coverage, we got a lot of inquiries about his painting,” Hong says.
The 3-D depth of Su’s paintings, such as Smile Manor, invites viewer interaction. (Photo courtesy of Su Chia-hsien)
Su’s growing reputation brought further requests to produce 3-D art, and his creations have since been displayed in venues such as the Kaohsiung MRT (KMRT) Formosa Boulevard Station and Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung City, as well as Taipei Cinema Park, Dajia Riverside Park and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in northern Taiwan. His work has also been shown at commercial events and featured in locally produced films and music videos. Hong is happy that Su has received all these offers in recent years that allow him to showcase his talent to a wider audience. “Applying the skills he has perfected over time, and with his aesthetic sensibilities and clever use of color, Su creates believable, visually pleasant stereoscopic images,” Hong says. “He’s definitely the top 3-D street artist in Taiwan. His lively and sophisticated works of art truly serve to beautify the environment and raise people’s spirits.”
To demonstrate the popularity and verisimilitude of Su’s 3-D artistic creations, Hong cites the artist’s enormous 2010 mural Train Station, which depicts two trains, one on either side of a platform, with a cat lying on a step at the top of a set of stairs leading beneath the platform. The multitudes of visitors drawn to the Pier-2 Art Center to view the piece have helped turn the area into a local landmark complete with its own urban legend—local residents report having seen a pack of stray dogs run at the image of the cat and smack into the painted wall.
Hong also points out that, in an era of computer-generated images, Su does not shy away from the physicality of creating art by hand. “With his endurance and passion, Su embraces the challenges of producing 3-D street paintings,” Hong says. “While making a large-scale piece on asphalt or a wall, oftentimes the artist has to squat down for hours, climb up and down a scaffold under the scorching sun or work into the wee hours. I admire his energy, dedication and professionalism.”
After spending three decades honing his artistic skills, Su is able to create 3-D paintings that engage viewers in an imaginary world. (Photo courtesy of Su Chia-hsien)
Urban Interaction
Jimmy Zheng (鄭子靖), a promoter in Taipei who organizes graffiti competitions and street dance events for young people, is another admirer of Su’s artistic abilities. “Su has produced a number of cool pieces with stellar visual effects that solicit viewer interaction,” Zheng says. “I’m amazed at how he manages to create such stunning 3-D images and believe that his work deserves more publicity.” As such, through his network of art, culture, street dance and youth associations, Zheng is bringing Su’s art to the attention of public and private organizations in a bid to increase the artist’s opportunities to display his work.
Three-dimensional street painting, Zheng opines, is a great form of public art, one that can animate city streets and bring fun to passers-by, inhabitants and tourists alike. “When walking down the street and looking around, we often see buildings and walls covered with advertising billboards and propaganda,” he says. “Much more needs to be done to improve our urban environment. In this regard, street painting that doesn’t require a hefty investment and can last for years is worthy of promotion.”
Zheng and Hong both call for greater government support for talented local artists like Su by commissioning them to design and produce works for public places. Such a move would benefit not only the artists, but also members of the public, who would be able to enjoy art in their everyday lives, they add.
Shen Yu-mei (沈玉梅), manager of Apeuls Coffee at Formosa Boulevard Station, says her company invited Su to create a 3-D pavement artwork in front of the café in late 2010. “We thought it’d be nice if we could bring the elegance of our baroque interior designs to the outdoor space. Our proposal instantly won the support of Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp. [which oversees the KMRT system],” Shen says. “The baroque architecture and street scenes in Su’s piece complement the interior design of our café and embellish a public space.”
Metro passengers often stop to take a closer look at the artist’s 3-D sidewalk painting, and domestic as well as foreign tourists make a point of including a visit to the café on their itineraries. “Formosa Boulevard Station is now known for not only hosting the largest single-piece stained glass creation in the world, Dome of Light, which was designed by Italian-American artist Narcissus Quagliata, but also the awesome 3-D street painting created by local artist Su,” Shen says. “Su’s work has helped boost the visibility of our café, something we hadn’t been expecting. We’d like to see more of this type of creativity displayed in Kaohsiung because it enhances the city’s artistic and cultural landscape.”
Su has come a long way to get to where he is today, and remains dedicated to his creative and innovative pursuits. In the future, he hopes to achieve even higher levels of artistic excellence and gain more widespread recognition. “In the past, I had to take any assignment offered to me in order to make a living. But now, thanks to an improvement in my financial situation, I can afford to be selective and reject commercial projects that don’t involve culture and creativity,” Su says. “I aim to develop a signature style so that when people view my art, they can immediately recognize that it’s my work.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw