Shida Kuo 郭旭達
The Still, Protruding Moment
Shida Kuo , living and working in New York City, has dedicated himself to sculpture in ceramic and to two dimensional works in various media for decades. Shida Kuo's gentle earth-ware, frequently augmented by a protuberance, contains elements of warm simplicity while the appendage is shy or modest yet alluring or even lyrical. We would like you to appreciate these exquisite art works. In the pandemic during the limited travel period, he has managed to have a solo exhibition in Taipei. As is widely known, Taiwan had done an excellent job of controlling the virus, so galleries and museums did not close there.
Shida Kuo is a Taiwanese-born sculptor living and working in New York City. He holds a B.F.A. in Painting from National Taiwan Normal University (Taipei, Taiwan) and a M.A. in Studio Art on Ceramic Sculpture from New York University. He has taught in the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University since 1993. His sculptures and paintings have been in numerous national and international exhibitions , most recently at Eslite Gallery in Taipei.
Shida Kuo‘ s ceramic sculpture, and other two dimensional art works are each unique, all of them being reticent, organic and displaying a geometric form. What strikes viewers is that the work is simultaneously powerful yet reserved. The smooth body part exerts a force conditioned by the protrusion which is somehow still in harmony with the rest of the work. The total effect is not austere but reminds us of Kuo's own warm, witty, gentle manner and attitude. The work's very form conveys action, or even antics, that hang on the act of observing, so the viewer's reaction to the art has both outward and an inward components. Hence the amusing behavior induced in the spectators becomes an important but subtle component of any exhibition of this art - in addition to its careful, delicate, ordering, organic beauty.
In looking over these works which echo and complement each other, one recognizes same delicate identical structure of a sluggish pulling of an extrusive part, which is joined in mutual deceit; the pulling away intimating a threat and a moving away from the larger part.
In some cases, a deep recess is filled with paint white, while the projecting part is painted a dark tone and may evoke either nipples or phalluses. Those rest in the confidence that might be self sufficiency. in lyric moods of exaggerated, self advertising.
- Luchia Meihua Lee, curator
Statement by Shida Kuo
It puzzles me why certain forms and some particular types of material always possess more visceral power over me than others. Similarly, I am curious how people of different origins and backgrounds respond to forms and materials in an identical way. Is that an evidence of homogeneity of mankind as a collective species? It seems to me that those shared experiences of emotional and spiritual impacts created by forms and materials have been articulated by our bodies even before they could be understood by our minds. It is a collective sense of deja vu for mankind, repressed by consciousness but persistent in our veins. Drawing was the primary method of communication before the invention of languages. Wasn’t drawing initially based on observations of the nature? What was the process, then, in which nature was transformed into shapes and lines?
I am driven by these related questions, and cannot help trying different angles when approaching those natural creations. I attempt to locate the essence of forms, as a whole or as configurations of fragments. Those fragmented, unfinished forms are stored in my head, waiting to spring up from the entity called “I” after a series of conflicts, contradictions and convergence among themselves, until they emerge as a new form of completeness.
My work from the past years demonstrates this creative process. Instead of making any statement through my work, I have played a faithful recorder, using only my sensitivity to materials and undisguised techniques, just to catch the forms that might have been otherwise left in oblivion.
I use primarily ceramic and wood for my work because human beings have used these two materials for thousands of years regardless of cultural or racial differences. They are close to us in many ways and thus are the best material for me to convey my ideas.
Current Exhibition:
Shida Kuo: Un/Form, De/Intellectualize 郭旭達：離形去知
■exhibition at the Eslite Galler y, Taipei, Taiwan (誠品畫廊)
■from June 06 to July 26, 2020
Click here to view the exhibition at Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
趙琍談郭旭達 https://youtu.be/oSBER-MmA98
More information: Shida Kuo
Portfolio website: http://shidakuo.com/
youtube: https://youtu.be/84UbAcA3hiw