Wu has dedicated over 40 years of his life to the art of gold and wood carving. His pieces have made their way into exhibitions and public and private collections around the world, most recently appearing at Houston Museum of Natural Science in the U.S. following a run at Bowers Museum in California last March.
“Exhibiting my art in prominent U.S. museums is an honor and a dream come true,” Wu said, adding that he wants the international community to know Taiwan’s strengths lie not just in technology but also in cultural and creative industries.
Ant Treasure Bowl, 2021, is Wu’s latest artwork featuring his favorite insect.
Wu, who was born into a farming family in 1956, moved to Taipei City at 16 to work at a furniture store while teaching himself woodcarving. Inspired by the treasures at the metropolis’s National Palace Museum, he spent two years exploring various subject matter and honing his technical skills in hope that his own work would one day earn a coveted place at the facility.
While musing on sources of artistic inspiration one evening, Wu saw seven tiny ants pushing a lizard egg up an almost vertical soil slope. Fascinated by the subtle beauty of their body features, Wu decided to use the insect as model for his work, becoming a keen observer of ants’ behavior, habits and division of labor from then on.
After numerous experimental attempts, Wu finally succeeded in carving an anatomically correct wooden ant in 1978. His solo exhibition at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 1984 garnered critical acclaim for the extraordinarily lifelike representations of the insect and earned him a cascade of invitations to display his art at prominent institutions, including a stretch of 12 consecutive years at NPM starting in 1986.
Morning Glory, gold and bronze, 2009.
During that period Wu also took to reading Buddhist and Taoist scriptures and practicing meditation. His search for enlightenment propelled him to explore issues surrounding life, death, eternity and transcendence, which became integral themes of his later work.
Always in search of new artistic challenges, Wu began working with gold in 1991 to test the limits of his capabilities with larger, more complex pieces in a new material. His hard work paid off in a milestone achievement when NPM acquired his gold sculpture Prosperous Descendants for its collection in 1993, making him the first living artist to have his work purchased by the internationally renowned museum.
Magical Lotus, gold, 2016.
Wu has rarely sold any of the 60 total wooden sculptures created over the course of his career. He prefers to wield his talent to promote development of the country’s creative fields rather than for personal commercial gain, the artist said.
“My ultimate goal is to establish a museum to preserve my works for future generations,” Wu explained of his choice. “Life is short, but art is eternal.” (E) (By Kelly Her)
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(This article is adapted from “Natural Touch” in the January/February issue of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)