Sculpture

2018

Length:37.7 x Width:55.4 x Height:25.3 (cm)

Chung Chun-Hsiung (1939-2021, Taichung) earned his degree in Foreign Languages and Literature from Fu Jen Catholic University. He studied painting under several influential artists, including Wang Erh-Chang (1919-2005), Yang Chi-Tung (1906-2003), and Li Chung-Sheng (1912-1984). Chung was a prolific and versatile creator, working across ink painting, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, and public art. He participated in numerous artist collectives such as the Eastern Art Association, the Modern Eye Art Association, and the Central Taiwan Sculpture Society. As founding chairman of the Ting-Shih Chen Modern Art Foundation, Chung played a vital role in advancing modern art in central Taiwan.
Contemplation explores the act of human thought through an abstracted, playful reinterpretation of the human form. Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese paper-cutting, Chung deconstructs the figure into flat components—torso, limbs, and head—before reassembling them into a semi-abstract composition. The figure reclines with arms extended skyward and feet firmly planted, its proportions deliberately distorted and simplified to evoke a childlike sense of wonder. Crafted from iron rods and sheet metal, then painted in a solid color, the work’s raw, almost naïve appearance reflects the interplay between rational structure and emotional spontaneity—core to the human experience of thinking. Chung first sketched the figure, then created cardboard mock-ups to refine the shape, before executing the final piece in cut and painted metal. The result is a sculpture that feels both weighty and whimsical, serious in its theme yet lighthearted in its form—a visual metaphor for the complex and sometimes contradictory nature of contemplation itself.

Accession number:20200100077