Taiwanese artist
Tung Ming-Chin is a master of transforming wood into pensive, emotive sculptures. His smoothly polished pieces transform as the viewer moves around them, slowly revealing surprises. Often dealing with themes of inner emotion and the subconscious mind, his sculptures regularly show figures trapped within the wood, pressing themselves against the outer layer in an attempt to break free.
His 2013 work Breath is a metaphor for “the transformation of a physical space into an inner psychological space affected by vision.” Below the wooden humps, which almost emerge from boxes like tortoise shells, limbs subtly jut out and lead the viewer to ponder the mystery encased within. In Inner Turmoil, the artist transforms wood into seemingly thin tissue paper nailed to a wall. From within, a person is pushing against this barrier, testing the limits of the space. This negative and positive space created by the figure can be viewed as a way to explore his inner unrest.
Other sculptures use familiar cultural symbols, such as in Between Round and Square: Past, Present, and Future. Here, Ming-Chin plays with the forms of a traditional jade cong and jade bi, which symbolized earth and sky in ancient Chinese culture. By using these familiar forms, he’s able to play on nostalgia while looking toward the future.
© 2019. All images are copyrighted © by Tung Ming-Chin. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only.
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| Mr Tung Ming-Chin |
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| 2008, The Birth of a New Hero |
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| 2008, The Birth of a New Hero |
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| 2009, A Stack of Heads |
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| 2009, Inner Turmoil |
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| 2009, New Lonely |
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| 2009, New Lonely |
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| 2009, New Lonely |
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| 2009, Self-Portrait |
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| 2009, Self-Portrait |
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| 2009, Self-Portrait |
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| 2011, Changes Inside the Forest |
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| 2013, Between Round and Square- Past, Present, and Future |
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| 2013, Between Round and Square- Past, Present, and Future |
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| 2013, Breath |
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| 2013, Breath |
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| 2014, Bowls in a Bottle |
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| 2014, Dishes |
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| 2014, Happy couple |
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| 2015, Conflict in the brain |
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| 2015, Empty |
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| 2015, Empty |
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| 2015, Empty |
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| 2015, Leather Concept – Character |
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| 2015, Leather Concept – Character |
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| 2015, Leather Concept – Character |
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| 2018, the soul of the object no. 3 |
My favourite out of these is Breath. It looks so tight and the pose itself is one of strain in the back to add to the tension, it's also so subtle and dependent on correct anatomy.
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