Taiwanese artist Lee Kuang-yu's (李光裕) bronze sculpture "Thinker (思惟)" was donated to Singapore’s nature park Gardens by the Bay earlier this month, by the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore and Taipei Business Association in Singapore. The sculpture which will be displayed permanently in the Cloud Forest has generated considerable attention since its opening, including from the Singaporean Prime Minister and Culture Minister.
"Thinker" was amongst the 16 sculptures by Lee exhibited in Singapore back in August 2020. It is Lee’s signature work that pays homage to French sculptor Auguste Rodin's masterpiece of the same name. In Lee’s reinterpretations of this classic work in Western sculptural history, he approaches this from calligraphy which embodies the essence of traditional Chinese culture. Instead of realistically portraying the subject with volume, Lee uses calligraphic lines to delineate a person immersed in contemplation and outlines this image in three-dimensional space.
Singapore's Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong (唐振輝) attended the donation ceremony and unveiled the plaque on Apr. 9 with Francis Liang (梁國新) of the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore as well as other representatives from Gardens by the Bay and Taipei Business Association in Singapore.
Minister Tong later expressed his gratitude in a Facebook post, "The sculpture was one of the few specially brought out of Mr. Lee's studio in Taipei. We are grateful to the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore and the Taipei Business Association in Singapore, with the support of Chini Gallery, for donating this piece for all in Singapore to enjoy."
Last year in June, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) also posted a photograph of the sculpture on Facebook alongside other photos he took on a visit to the Gardens by the Bay.
In an interview with Central News Agency (CNA), Lee said he is delighted to donate his work to the Gardens by the Bay. He explained that his work focuses on the importance of thinking, "Through thinking, we will know how to achieve progress in terms of peace and rational behavior among people as well as between people and nature."
(Photo Courtesy of Chini Gallery)