November 27, 2010 - Get to know 夏愛華 Aihua Hsia: ICFAC Artist at Art Basel

November 27, 2010

Get to know 夏愛華 Aihua Hsia: ICFAC Artist at Art Basel

In the fall of 2009, Aihua Hsia took up  residence in the forests of Northern California, a perfect place to explore natural spirits and the lifeblood of her work: lacquer. And just a few months later, she moved to New York, which has its own set of deities and demons. A juxtaposition of work emerged from her experience in both locales, as Hsia continued to sculpt the Datsukanshitu figurines for which she is highly regarded. In California, they emerged ethereal – light and playful – while in New York, the city’s cultural and societal weight bore down on her icons. Datsukanshitu, a Buddhist tradition, employs a technique that builds sculptural form through the application of organic lacquer paint, which heavily relies on temperature and humidity for the drying of each unique layer. In a process that requires a lengthy meditation on form, function and beauty, thirty layers and several months often coalesce before a single figurine is complete. In New York,  the lacquer came out duskier and weightier: weather or the spirit’s natural path?
Sculptural deities and natural spirits – these have become an integral part of the mysticism relayed in the emerging design and craft coming out of Taiwanese artists steeped in tradition, yet confronted by the modern world. No other artisan coming out of Taiwan embodies its alchemy better than Aihua Hsia, whose work not only challenges the notions of boundaries and containment within the human psyche, but also explores the collective unconscious of shared human essence. “In China and Japan, people collect lacquer from trees – they believe the sap is just like human blood; they believe statues made from lacquer contain special spirit or power,” Hsia said. “I use this technique to not only evoke something that is lost in people’s mind, but to also find things in common between the ancient and present day.”
Exhibited in conjunction with Yii, the major Taiwanese art and design show taking place December 2-5, 2010 during Miami’s Art Basel, Hsia will uncover in “Aihua Hsia: In Between the Dormant and Subliminal.” Hsia’s work has been nationally and internationally exhibited at Gifu Municipal Culture Center, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan; the White Box Gallery, New York. Hsia was born in Taipei Taiwan in 1973, and received a BFA in Sculpture at National Taiwan University of Arts and an MFA in Sculpture at Okinawa Prefecture University of Arts.
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 7pm – 10pm Buena Vista Building, 180 NE 38 Street, Space 120, Miami Design District