Untitled 1973

This steel sculpture by Taiwanese artist Yuyu Yang serves as a mirror of the surrounding environment and aims to harmonize man and his environment. Yang refers to his work as “lifescapes” rather than as sculptures due to their spiritual effect on viewers.

The shiny, 12-foot-high, 4,000-pound disk stands upright and seems to fit perfectly into the cutout of the square, matte slab next to it. Looking through the cutout and into the reflection of the disk, the viewer is given the illusion of deep space and of internal tension in the juxtaposition of the shapes and textures of each free-standing piece.

Yuyu Yang was a prominent artist in China and Taiwan. Yang worked in a myriad of media including paper, bronze, wood, cloth, clay, and stainless steel. In the 1990s, the artist turned almost exclusively to stainless steel, a material which he felt allowed him to fluidly express the spiritual themes and values reflected in Chinese philosophy such as the oneness of the individual and his or her surroundings.