Crown of the Sea General Installation Art by Yu Liang Chen

Crown of the Sea General Installation Art by Yu Liang Chen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Bronze A' Design Award in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design Competition Category.

BronzeFine Art· 2020

Crown of the Sea General Installation Art

by Yu Liang Chen

Client: NewLocal Art Studio

Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Fine Art Category

13,697

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #97588

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Crown of the Sea General Installation Art

Crown of the Sea General is a public art installation located in Kouhu Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan. The installation measures 10 meters long, 3 meters wide and 4 meters tall. A stainless steel frame and cement mortar form the shape, while glossy glazed tiles, fragmented ceramics, pebbles and mirror glass cover the surface. Benches inside the structure offer shade and rest, and white gravel around the base invites children to play. Patterns from indigenous, Han and Japanese cultures are combined. The crown encourages respect for marine resources.

The Recognition

About the Bronze A' Design Award

Crown of the Sea General Installation Art is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Crown of the Sea General Installation Art is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Crown of the Sea General Installation Art splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.

Image Analysis

Color Temperature: WarmSymmetry: VerticalBackground: No Clear Backdrop

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Located in Kouhu Township, Yunlin County, it not only takes on the elements from patterns of various ethnic groups, but is also equipped with practical functions, including benches for resting in the interior of the installation which provide sun-ray-shielding function, and white gravels paved around for children to play with which enhances the chances to interact with people and then to pay attention to issues of environmental protection and the ocean.
Dimensions & Packaging: The installation measures 10 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 4 meters tall. We apply the common construction method of Taiwanese modern temple roof, which comes in dragons and phoenixes, and also take the features of materials into consideration. Besides, artisans who are expert on making the exterior of temples such as legendary figures, statue of deities, auspicious animals are invited to work together.
Tags: Installation art, Gazebo, Multi-cultural groups, Marine Resources, Environmental protection issue
Production Technology: We took stainless steel bar and net as the frame, cement mortar as the molding material. The surfaces were applied with glossy glaze tiles, fragmented ceramics and close-lightly pebbles, and pottery plates as well as pot lids were embedded in as design to increase fun. Then mirror-pane glass formed the exterior, strengthening the perception toward the combination of tradition and modern.
Design Challenge: Trying to combine modern art design and traditional craft, the design team especially invited molding masters and fragmented ceramic artisans constructing temples in southern Taiwan. Because of that, the design team spent a great amount of time communicating construction methods and related details, including design proportion, fragmented ceramic coloring, format, construction procedures, etc., which challenged the past designing and constructing experience of the designers and artisans.
Research: The figure was set in the elements from mythologies. The crown came from Giant Groupers, which is a part of Taiwanese aquaculture. Indigenous, Han, and Japanese signs are introduced. The theme color is shades of red, which is a symbol of luck and happiness in Taiwan; black, white, and golden frame reveals a sense of exquisiteness from Japanese culture; the Mountain Patterns, which belongs to indigenous tribes in Taiwan, taking blue, green, and orange to represent atmosphere, sea, and land.
Inspiration: In order to remind people of the importance of respect while using marine resources, the idea of the Sea General came from the traditional folk religion, the Sea Goddess, Mazu. It symbolizes that to save the environment damaged by human beings, the Sea General sacrifice its own life and leave behind the crown to remind people of the meaning of cherishing the planet, correlating with the issue of marine resources preservation and climate change.
Project Duration: The project finished in November, 2019 in Yunlin County, Taiwan.
Operation Flow: Crown of the Sea General looks like a character coming out from fantasy novels, deepens the visual perception to reach the goal of warning people that our future environment might face the fightback of nature. As for the colors, the design team chose to use prevailing decoration elements from traditional Taiwanese temples and deity statues and particularly commissioned professional Koji Pottery workmen to produce low temperature glaze kilning fragmented ceramic and tiles.
Team Members: Yu-Liang Chen
Image Credits: Cheng-Mao Liu