YUAN-SEN KUO(1970-)
Experience
- M.F.A., Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts
- B.Ed., Interdisciplinary Program of Technology and Art, National Tsing Hua University Nanda Campus
- Presidential Resident Staff / AIT Hall Design Team, Ministry of Defense, International Affairs Division
- Member of the Public Art Review Committee, Ministry of Science and Technology, Executive Yuan
- Member of the Expert Committee on Visual Arts, Ministry of Culture, Executive Yuan
- Member of Visual Arts Procurement/Jury, Cultural Affairs Bureau and Development Department, Hsinchu City
- Member of the Public Art Installation Project of Hsinchu Science Park/Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park
- National Central University/National Defense University, and other public art installation plans/execution/selection committee
- Founder of the Glass Arts of Taiwan, and full-time teacher of visual arts at Gau Feng Elementary School, Hsinchu City
Exhibition
| 2003 | Group Exhibition/City Glass Beads Touring Exhibition/Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo |
| 2004 | Group Exhibition / Sendai International Glass Art Festival – Kyohei Fujita Museum of Glass / Japan |
| 2005 | Group Exhibition/ART TAIPEI 2005 International Art Fair “Taiwan Art – Self-debate and Identity of the Region” / Taipei World Trade Center |
| 2005 | Solo Exhibition/ Yuan-Sen Kuo Glass Art Creation “Solo Group Exhibition”/ Hsinchu City Cultural Affairs Bureau |
| 2006 | Group Exhibition/ART TAIPEI 2006 International Art Fair “Asian Youth Art – Metamorphosis and Anomaly” / Taipei World Trade Center |
| 2007 | Solo Exhibition/ Yuan-Sen Kuo Glass Art Creation “To the Essence”/ National Taiwan University of the Arts |
| 2008 | Group Exhibition/International Glass Art Festival Outdoor Installation “Rainbow Promise”/Hsinchu, Taiwan |
| 2009 | Solo Exhibition/From the Past to the Future/Hsinchu City Glass Museum |
| 2010 | Group Exhibition/ International Glass Art Festival/ Golden Glass Award/ Parent-Child Exploration Museum/ Outdoor Installation Art Exhibition/ Hsinchu, Taiwan |
| 2010 | Group Exhibition/Taiwan Living Aesthetics Movement Project “Glass Connoisseur Life”/National Chiao Tung University |
| 2011 | Solo Exhibition/ Yuan-Sen Kuo Glass Creation “Aurora Quest”/ Tsinghua University, Taiwan |
Awards
- Hsinchu City Distinguished Teacher / Hsinchu City Mingchi Award / Taiwan
- Hsinchu City Distinguished Teacher of Art Education / Light of Art Education Award / Taiwan
- Golden Glass Award, International Glass Art Festival, Hsinchu City, Taiwan / First Place, Mixed Medium Category / Taiwan
- The 3rd Public Art Award, Ministry of Culture, Executive Yuan / Best Curatorial Award / Taiwan
- Public Art Installation Project at Taipei MRT Songshan Airport Station / First Prize / Taiwan
- Public Art Installation Project for the New Construction of Qingzhai (Student Housing), National Tsing Hua University / First Prize / Taiwan
- Public Art Installation Project at Guanghua National Middle School, Hsinchu City, Taiwan / First Prize / Taiwan
- Taoyuan City Donghu Elementary School Public Art Installation Project / First Prize / Taiwan
- Dongda Flying Park Public Art Installation Project / First Prize / Taiwan
- Kinmen Shen Feng Gang Campground Public Art Installation Project / First Prize / Kinmen
Reflection of Life
2009
Crystal Glass
20*17*55CM / 20*17*47CM
In “Reflection of Life,” the delicate pink face symbolizes the richness and splendor of life, a purpose that people strive for; while the incomplete brown face symbolizes that life is inevitably a process that will return to dust. Success and loss go hand in hand, life and death co-exist, this is the truest reality of life. This work is made of fire-resistant plaster sculpture surrounded by mold, and cast with crystal material and kiln burned at 870℃. Unlike other materials, which are often sculpted and shaped on the surface of the material, this work is hollowed out to express the see-through artistic qualities of glass, allowing light to enter the volume to produce subtle light and shadow effects.
Light City
2009
Sodium Calcium Glass
16*13*63CM
Sunlight pushes to the horizon
The misty grayness subsides
The rounded sun
Shades interweave the brilliance of dreams
Chanting the glory of life
The hymn of light, the sculpture of luminance
Softly hums in the urban streets
Silence of sunlight
2009
Sodium Calcium Glass
30*30*7CM
Light travels through the millennia
Piece by piece, they pile up behind me
Knocking on my coldness with warmth
This is my most glorious gesture
Thus, I embrace the light with my astringency and become one
People have touched me with their sharp eyes
My transparent skin suffused with light
The brightness of the daylight seeps out
Flowing into the splendor upon the earth
Spectra
2009
Sodium Calcium Glass
86* 28* 40CM
Light is the beginning of creation and symbolizes the commencement of life. As white light passes through a prism, it is refracted and dispersed into a variety of colors, a continuous belt of light from red to violet known as the “spectrum of light”. In order to present the vibrant texture of the glass, the colored glass is cut and interspersed with clear glass in the center margin of the color to demonstrate the differences between the “primary colors of light” and the “chromatic light” that appears through the colored glass. Following the arrangement of the colored glass and the stacking of three layers, the glass is completely melted at a high temperature of approximately 790°C. The final expression of the three overlapping pieces creates the beauty of bright colors in the form and visual appearance of the glass in multiple layers.
Living Water
2009
Sodium Calcium Glass
15*56*28CM
Transparent appearance, crystalline body
We recognize each other from somewhere
But your origins are a trickle of water
Mine begins with a rolling lava
But I am hard as a diamond and you are soft as wool
I am too cold compared to you
I’m not convinced
The trickle broadens after the most penetrating cut
While I am tempered by the flame
I extend your fleeting figure into eternity
Breath
2009
Boron glass
200*65*130CM
Since the beginning of time, I have waited
The Earth cowers in your generous embrace
Peacefully and quietly, without a trace
A presence that does not exist
I am a transparent dream of breath
In this dream, you play with me and blow bubbles
Floating coiled like a child
Slow, don’t jump like you’re boiling
I will envelop all your dreams
Even your breathing, and being seen
Sound of Sundown
2009
Crystal glass
30* 6* 50CM
Walking into the ancient forest of pine trees
The golden light of the setting sun streams into the forest
Despite the golden glow
It fades into the silent, cold night
Glass is the container of light. This work contains crystal glass castings kilned at a high temperature of 870℃, allowing light to create another space in the glass of different thicknesses, in order to present the natural and subtle beauty of light and shadow within the glass body.
Pale Moonlight
2009
Crystal Glass
35* 7* 46CM
In the silence of the night
I pick up a handful of moonlight
The beauty of tranquility and solitude
It is unforgettable
This work adopts crystal glass casting at a high temperature of 870℃ to create the aesthetic of gradation of light and shadow inside the glass by applying variations in the thickness of the glass volume, creating a pure vessel of light, fully demonstrating the artistic qualities of light transmission and refraction of glass.
When the veil was rent
2009
Crystal Glass
40*10*20CM
Separated by a veil
Are the inner room and the outer room
A white face that is concealed from the fire and wind
The clouds were silent when I bowed my head that day
I knew not that the wall had been overthrown and the tower of Babel had been erected.
Only the veil cracked and a high-pitched sound stirred the heavens.
After this day, the door of the solitary prison came down
The past, the present and the future are transformed into strokes of a brush
There is only one name written over and over again
“I am the Way, Truth, and Life.”
Peace Cup set
2016
Glass bottle – cut, sandblasted
8* 35CM
Taking the form of a bottle, a cup is crafted by carving a discarded wine bottle into a cup and endowing it with new life. This work is based on the biblical parable of “Don’t put new wine in old bottles”, which encourages people to replace the old self with the new. The Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit are engraved with sandblasting as an eternal reminder of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy , peace , patience , kindness , goodness , gentleness , faithfulness and self-control, all of which envelop the breath of life to bring about rebirth and tranquility.
