Artwork Appreciation
Asarum macranthum, known in English as “wild ginger,” is a plant native to Taiwan. It has huge heart-shaped leaves and unique flowers, and lives on ground-level in forests; you have to push aside branches and leaves of other plants to find it, so the artist, Lie Wei-Zheng, feels that it is a very shy plant. To faithfully reproduce such native plants, Lie began to engage in the “scientific drawing of plants” and through long practice mastered the art of rendering plants more accurately. This work may be described as an attempt to extend scientific drawing into the field of metalworking. Lie also deliberately retains the shape of the roots, the yellowing of the leaves, and the holes left by the insects that feed on them. He used one of the oldest metalworking techniques, known as “flower-knocking.” The textures of leaves and the joints between the petals and calyx had to be figured out through countless experiments. A single plant may require thousands or even tens of thousands of strikes. Lie used his body to feel every change in the metal and record every bend and twist in the plant. This process amounted to the most poetic dialogue between him and the plant.