Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置 by Yu Liang Chen

Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置 by Yu Liang Chen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award 铜奖 in 美术与艺术装置设计 Competition Category.

铜美术· 2020

Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置

by Yu Liang Chen

Client: NewLocal Art Studio

A' Design Award 铜奖 Winner in 美术 Category

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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 公共艺术装置

《海将军之冠》是一件坐落于台湾云林县口湖乡的公共艺术装置。装置长10米、宽3米、高4米,以不锈钢骨架与水泥砂浆塑形,表面则以亮面釉砖、陶瓷碎片、卵石与镜面玻璃拼贴覆盖。结构内部设有座椅,提供遮荫与休憩空间,基座周围铺设白色砾石,吸引儿童前来游戏。作品融合了原住民、汉人与日本文化的纹样元素。这顶冠冕呼唤人们珍视并尊重海洋资源。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铜奖

Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置是 A' Design Award 铜奖得主，这是授予以创造力、独创性和敏锐见长的杰出设计的极具声望的认可。铜奖得主是技艺娴熟、创意惊人的作品，印证了其设计师丰富的经验、想象力与机智。预计Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的物品，兼具显著的专业性与创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铜奖的设计融入艺术、科学、设计和技术领域的最佳实践，并因注重细节而出类拔萃。Crown of the Sea General 公共艺术装置出色地满足需求，触动渴望，迷住情感，并吸引好奇心。

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