Fifth Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Award-winners announced

The fifth Lihpao International Sculpture Biennial Awards hosted by Lihpao Cultural Arts Foundation announced the final result on the online platform on October 30. This year’s theme is “INFINITY.” Although the COVID-19 epidemic is raging around the world, it still attracts 318 entries from 46 countries to participate, and the number has hit a ten-year high.

The Spanish artist Nando Alvarez’s work Water Dance inspired by the changing elements of nature, such as water or wind, won the first prize. Nando Alvarez used stainless steel with the stability and solidity to express the shape of thin slices flying in the air and reflects the feeling that the artist is looking for in his mind. For winning this award, Nando Alvarez also recorded a special video and said: “When I learned that the work was in the final round and could visit Taiwan, I already thought it was a very big award! But unfortunately, because of the epidemic, I cannot get it in person. I really hope that after the global situation is stable, I can go to Taiwan, appreciate this beautiful place, and meet with the Lihpao Cultural Arts Foundation.”

The winner of the Tsai Yun Prize is Taiwanese artist, Zong-Mu You. He won the award for his work Shell·Spin 21. Zong-Mu YOU used wood to show that the spiral in the circle produces an effect like an infinite symbol which is no beginning and no end. Keep moving forward, endless loop. The winner of the Enterprise Award is Taiwanese artist, Chien-Ting Lin, works Companion Species through the excessive twist between the break and the continuation, and instantaneously condenses and extends the action in different spaces, showing another level of sublimation. The two winners of the “Prize for Excellences” are Taiwanese artist Chih-Hang Lin and Bulgarian artist Liliya Pobornikova. Chih-Hang Lin’s work Squashing 22 expresses the concept of “reproducibility” and “sustainable use,” traveling and tracing back on the timeline; Bulgarian artist Liliya Pobornikova’s work is based on the theme of the biennial award “Infinity.” In the name, taking nature as the creative inspiration, through the “circle” as the main shape, the balance, harmony and unity of nature are regarded as representing the cycle of seasons, life, and the sun. It also shows the infinite time and infinity of nature. The power and infinite possibilities.

Lihpao Cultural Arts Foundation invited well-known sculptors and critics from Britain, Japan and Taiwan to be the jury of this Biennial awards. Including the British sculptor, environmentalist and also a professional underwater photographer, Jason deCaires Taylor, President of Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts, Hatano Izumi, and Taiwanese sculptor-Hsu-Tong Han, Professor of Fine Arts Department of National Taipei University of the Arts Chi-Man LAI, Professor of History Department of National Cheng Kung University and also a famous critic of Taiwan, Chong-Ray HSIAO, and the chairman of Lihpao Group, Pao-Tien Wu. We look forward to enhancing the professionalism and quality of this international sculpture biennial Award through mutual cooperation between industry, government, and academia.

The jury said: “About the first-prize works, the interesting part is that it resembles splashes of water and has a lively water drop shape, which will give you a feeling of joy . When looking at the stainless steel reflection, the works will be more diverse. From different angles, the reflection will change, and it seems to have a feeling of movement.”

The Lihpao International Sculpture Biennial Awards is organized under the cooperation and assistance of the Netherlands Office Taipei, Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, Department of Sculpture of National Taiwan University of Arts, and the School of Fine Arts, National Taipei University of the Arts. Through creation, art can carry infinite light and glory, allow more outstanding works to be seen, and show the infinite possibilities of art under the epidemic through the language of sculpture. Lihpao Cultural Arts Foundation will try to infuse bountiful energy of making arts into Taiwanese society while make the most of corporate social responsibility so as to attain the spirit and purpose of sustainable culture care with a more open-minded heart.