Mr. Sun Yu-li, Architect-turned-Sculptor, was the winner of the prestigious 1991 Republic of China (ROC) Modern Sculpture Award. He was also a Merit Award winner of the IBM Art Award 1990.
He works with bronze, the bold and unsophisticated material which the sculptor describes as soft, warm and close to the heart. His method of sculpting, which he developed, is unique. Instead of using the conventional clay, he uses cardboard shapes, stacking up layers, and slowly building and shaping them. This method characterizes his quest for simplicity. The search for the origin of the first 'dot', from which comes the line, and then the plane, and finally the volume, which becomes the physical embodiment of his ideas.
His works have been described as simple but yet profound; shapes that have evolved from basic and primitive forms, revealing his deep understanding of the oriental philosophical view of space and his inner quest for life's higher order, blending yin and yang, void and solid.
Only when a person comes face to face with Sun's works will he fully comprehend the mind of the Artist and his purpose of keeping the sculpture simple. For therein lies a statement of hidden power.
1. Personal Data
2. Education
3. Professional Qualifications
4. Selected Solo Exhibitions
5. Selected Public & Private Collections
Toh Lam Huat - Deputy Chief Editor, Lainhe Wanbao
Sun Yu-li's sculptures are not just 'sculptures'. They are not a mere expression of forms. They are an inquiry into the original state of forms. His is an effort to grasp the consciousness of a primitive civilisation. It is an attempt to incarnate the origin of aesthetics.
His artistic soul strives to reach the primal state of man in order to inquire about that instance when heaven and man meet , that mysterious point of genesis where he will experience first hand the fullness of the origin of creativity and emotion. The experience is like being thrown naked into an ice cold river. The shivering and the pounding cold are real. There is no pretending. It is then pure human instinct and consciousness surface allowing one to touch and feel the mysterious facts of the origin of the power of motivation.
Sun Yu-li is not on any delusory quest. He is a sober architect equipped with a high degree of rational professional skill and maturity. Therefore he can throw off the cloak of emotional fanaticism that might come with his search for the origin of creativity. In between such cool rationality and hot fanaticism, Sun Yu-li calmly examines himself critically. And he walks steadily and surely like legendary Chinese mythological figure 'Kua-Fu who chases the sun', untiringly pursuing a goal.
The Chinese has a saying "Great wisdom needs no polishing". It is the pious concept of aesthetics of remote eastern antiquity. In order to incarnate this heavy and bold Sun Yu-li uses the simplest of forms to show the metaphysical sparks that flash when heaven and man meet.
Standing in front of Sun Yu-li's cast bronze sculpture with fixed attention, one feels the awe-inspiring freezing cold and burning hot, the heavy and spry contrast of the yin and yang concept. The contrast makes his works look precarious, like an upside down pyramid standing on its apex, yet they are secure and stable.
"When the mind reaches the limit, the universal truth is revealed" (Shang-Shu Da-Yu-Mo). The state of standing precariously on a fine point is most soul-stirring and sober. What you see from here is not an easily understood " truth of life"'(I-Ching Ji-Zhuan). In this uncertain state 'when truth reveals itself, It is a trance-like ' manifestations (Lao Tze Chapter 21). Man suddenly understands the possibility of returning to original purity and simplicity.
"To know" the heavenly principles one should be pure and natural, free from obstacles and boundaries in the mind, transcending all existing knowledge and reaching the origin of wisdom. Then only can this pleasant surprise of knowing the truth and the clear calmness found in the deepest of man's soul be touched.
This is the self-examination process and thread of thoughts of Sun Yu-li's sculpture world. It is characterised by his sculpture's contrasting bright and dark surfaces. In this aspect Sun Yu-li's sculptures are like him, an unbounded individual towering in the vast barren universe. It has a heavy quality of life, bemoaning the state of the universe and pitying the fate of mankind. A lofty spirit of remote antiquity forging into the future. With his sober understanding of such a quality and spirit comes a delightful worldly satisfaction.
In the world of his imposing bronze pieces exists an intrinsic quality which is bright, beautiful and abundant, like the dawning of a new day. At the horizon, nature's secret, which cannot be concealed, is revealed bit by bit. An intrinsic quality that makes a person carefree, just like seeing an honest smile reflected in a quivering stream.
At the first sight of Sun Yu-li's sculptures, we can feel the dense and cohesive force of Chinese philosophy, such as his works 'Heaven and Earth' and 'Cycle'. It comes from the ancient Chinese belief that 'Heaven is a circle and Earth is a square', a concept which is man's response and answer after introspective thinking of nature.
In his works titled 'Kiss' and 'Yin Shang', we can feel the waves of graceful lines of a style from the Han Dynasty era. The lines are mysterious and wavering like water swirling, blending freely, so one can experience a great, bright and smooth vitality.
The works belong to two different periods. An inheritance of the past which is ushered into the future. It is an incarnation of the thoughts of aesthetics from an earlier period carried over to a later period.
However, the "carrying over" is not the result of a sedulous effort to change but it has evolved and is revealed unconsciously from the continuous process of thinking and creation. What he has achieved has coincided beautifully with the path of ancient Chinese thoughts. It is not an unexpected coincidence but rather an inevitable course. This seemingly "chancing upon" is like when you "search hard in vain for something but turnaround and find it in the least expected place " . It is an inexpressible reason of spiritual instinct but one still seethe traces of pride and satisfaction of a purposeful effort.
It is interesting to know that Sun Yu-li was once engaged in a science; being an architect. How could he have managed to break from the shackles of highly logical discipline into this remote philosophical path of eastern antiquity?
Sun Yu-li grew up in Taiwan. He was a child of nature, he liked mountains and the seas. By chance he lived near the famous sculptor, Professor Yuyu Yang whom he visited often and witnessed how the professor incarnated through 3-dimensional art, his intimate understanding of nature.
Years later, Sun Yu-li went into the architecture profession which included practice and teaching, fulfilling what is expected of him fully and satisfactorily. However, as he went through one architecture project after another, swimming in the bustle of human affairs of modern society, his interest in the path of man from ancient times somehow germinated.
He started to feel that both architecture and sculpture are forms of art dealing with 3-dimensional space. But an architect has a social and moral responsibility that follows him like his own shadow. Rather than burden his soul or be gradually numbed and sink into the swirl of daily existence which he cannot escape, he chose the carefree life of a sculptor.
In order to sculpt with the minimum of hindrance, instead of using clay, he stacks up shaped layers of cardboard to give form to his inner most feelings and thoughts. For his finished work, he prefers bronze, the first metal used by man during the period which was also the beginning of written forms of language, when man first became aware of aesthetics.
"By using my own hands to create each sculpture is similar to architecture, where I also created in 3-dimensional space. You have total control over the ideas and the thoughts of yourself. There is satisfaction and gratification to myself. Therefore I can relax and concentrate on my creations." he said.
However if creation is only to seek consolation and satisfaction for the mind then one cannot set aside the limits of life's sentiments. A Japanese writer once said, "Art symbolises one's depression". In that case art is only at the perceptual level.
However the driven force contained within Sun Yu-li's sculptures is a quest for knowledge and a pursuit of thoughts. He seeks to move away from only simulating forms. Looking past the endless forms existing in the mundane world, he reaches for the core that controls the very fundamental forms from which all other forms originate. Through this, he hopes to bring about an re-emergence and re-appreciation of the original force of human creativity. In other words a new impetus for a new understanding of life.
For this reason, he prefers basic forms such as the circle and the square which were the first forms to be adopted and mastered by primitive man of the earliest civilisation.
He believes that in this world, there are many barriers to a ideal society. And they cannot be overcome through formal communication. It is only by elevating man's thinking to the metaphysical level and using a language of a higher order, can ideas be exchanged freely and clearly. It is for this very purpose that Sun Yu-li had placed such an emphasis on returning to the origin of creativity.
The basis of his logic of thinking is founded on what he had gained from a long-term analysis of topology. Since the early '80s while he was doing research in Sydney University, he started to develop a strong interest in the spatial aspects of topology and geometry.
In the last 10 years, in order to reason the relationship between the dot, line and plane, and its theoretical structures, he reached into I-Ching.
He-Tu and Luo-Shu all of which relate to matters concerning the origin of man. He sought to uncover the hidden principles of it, and tried to detach himself from dogmatic philosophies and the illusory and unreal aesthetic perception of art, and control the very original roots
from which the real world phenomena is derived
Sun Yu-li likes the way the philosopher Shi Zou Sheng puts it, "Set your heart simple, direct, peaceful and rapt. Then you will arrive at the universe of entirety and see the natural and solemn structural world in neat formation. A pious world is pure, direct and honest and it is in lines, planes and volumes."
"It is not emotion, it is not love of nature, it is not humanism, it is not what people describe as lasting appeal, it is none of these. It is a solemn world when man surmounts a subjective self. "This is the pulling force and moving aspect of Sun Yu-li's sculptures.
Living in the modern city of Singapore, Sun Yu-li keeps a wooden house by the sea on an undeveloped island where he frequently goes, spending the nights with the stars, the moon and his thoughts about life by himself.
As an artist, the creative process, rather than romantic, is painful. It is like what his work "Predestined" reveals. Two full and rich half circles on each side cautiously but steadily extending out and trying to touch. At the point of completing this touch, both are stretched to the maximum, a circle of life's vitality is born.
In this kind of spatial attempt to incarnate, the artist explores the remote antiquity by the modern mind. It is a fundamental symbol of mind that surpasses languages, a true pulling force, a harmony of aesthetics, a moving of kindness and honesty, a meeting point of solid and void. There is predestination.
Predestination is just a beginning, he shall come face to face with a feeling that is ancient. And he will face the excitement of memory and harmony.
Sun Yu-li's works are the culmination of all these.
The founder of geometry Descartes said "Give me a dot and I will revolve the world."
In Sun Yu-li's sculpture, we can faintly perceive the meeting point of lines and volumes, we can feel that that 'dot' of origin is glimmering and floating.