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Shentan Lane, on the southern edge of Zhushan Township near Little Yellow Hill, is planted everywhere with lotus and four-season water-lilies; the place feels like a fairy-tale paradise. Chang Shu-yu is the owner of the Shengtan Lotus Fields Pottery Studio. A native son of Zhushan, Nantou County, Chang grew up a country boy, yet he harbored a deep love for drawing; casual doodles first set him on the path of creation. After the awkwardness of childhood and the struggles of youth, he resolved to devote himself to art shortly after completing military service. ■ Devoted to Painting and Clay Sculpture Rural childhood enriched Chang’s creative wellspring; every new work plucked viewers’ heartstrings and won awards. In 1992, still only thirty, he mounted a solo exhibition of Western painting at Taichung Municipal Cultural Center—encouragement that launched his professional career. Along the way he explored both painting and sculpture. Painting, he feels, is planar art expressed in two dimensions, whereas three-dimensional sculpture conveys inner tremors while demanding attention to multiple viewpoints; its formal demands are stricter, yet it grants the artist greater expressive freedom. Chang’s sculptural output has been widely admired: the 2003 “Rhapsody of Little People,” the 2004 “Scenes of Life,” and the 2008 “Shadow • Contemplation” series are among his representative works. ■ Rustic Honesty, Beauty in Imperfection Chang’s works are mostly figurative, their colors rendered in slip or matte glaze for a subdued, un-showy texture. Without deliberate refinement, the traces left by his bamboo knife reveal pores and muscle lines that breathe with lifelike tension, inadvertently exposing the tragic beauty of human imperfection. “This world is far from perfect,” Chang says. “Leave a bit more space in the work.” Hovering between exaggeration and restraint is a solemn, tragic air; scenes reminiscent of Lu Xun’s Ah-Q reverie continually stir the viewer’s soul—evidence of Chang’s creative success. In the “Shadow • Contemplation” series, flickering shadows are cast directly onto the pieces; with “conscious” and “subconscious” readings diverging, figure and shadow intertwine in ambiguous intimacy, the shifting relationship mirroring the capriciousness of real-world humanity. Who is the true protagonist of the work? The question highlights the pluralism of Chang’s artistic vision. ■ Crafting Landscapes, Sharing Friendship It is hard to imagine that an artist of such incisive work retains the simple nature of a countryman. Chang also loves landscape design; every vista around the Lotus Fields Pottery Studio is his own handiwork. Surrounding the ancestral home are roughly two hectares planted with lotus ponds, water-lily pools, and ecological wetlands, connected by wooden walkways, small bridges, and pavilions—a veritable utopia. To welcome kindred spirits, the once-pure studio has become a charming garden café whose alluring atmosphere draws many visitors, though to protect his creative time it opens only on weekends. Passionate about promoting ceramics, Chang regularly gives live demonstrations at public events and in his own studio. (Text and images courtesy of the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute)