Ju Ming

Ju Ming was born in Maioli, Taiwan, where he studied as an apprentice under Master Chin-Chuan Lee, the Buddhist statuary craftsman, working on restorations of the Mazu temple. Ju won several awards and prizes working in the traditional Taiwanese folk art style at the Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibitions in 1966 and 1967.

Shortly thereafter, he began studying under the tutelage of Taiwan’s most eminent Modernist sculptor Yuyu Yang (1926-1997). With his new mentor, Ju began working on large-scale Abstract works and exploring new materials such as copper, iron, stone, stainless steel, sponge, and ceramic. Thanks to Yuyu’s support, Ming inaugurated his first solo exhibition at the National Museum of History in Taipei, Taiwan in 1976, which was a huge success.

Ju received various awards and recognitions for his talent. In 1977, the Tokyo Central Art Museum in Japan hosted Ju’s first international exhibition. Ju’s most famous body of work, the Taichi series, is inspired by his personal practice of Taichi boxing.

In 2007, Ju was awarded the 18th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, following a long list of honors. A few of the institutions in which the artist has exhibited include the Hong Kong Arts Center, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum,and the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Paris. The artist’s work is permanently on view at The Ju Ming Museum in Chinshan in Taiwan, which houses many of his monumental sculptures.