100 pieces of violins, each of more than a hundred years history, with painted totems - this is the largest installation art in the Art Revolution Taipei (A.R.T) this year. Upon entering the front door, you “smell” a touch of woody scent, “see” the smooth, flowing lines of artwork, then “listen” with "heart" to a concert. With the wonderful sound of music flows through the years... This series work is tilted the "Love Across Centuries". It is the work of Art Director Lee Sun-Don.

Lee Sun-Don Contributes His Creativity
Love Across Centuries is in Exhibit

The Art Revolution Taipei's VIP Night was held on May 17th. The exhibition began on the 18th and will be displayed till the 21st. It will still be in the Taipei World Trade Center Hall 3 this year. The preview has already begun.

"I want you to listen to the sound of 10,000 years." When Lee Sun-Don said this to the staff last year, everyone was confused and uneasy in the heart: Sound? What does it have to do with art? Where to find the sound of 10,000 years? Until Lee Sun-Don instructed to buy violins of more than 100 years history, and to collect 100 pieces, the staff suddenly realized that 100X100 is 10,000, isn't it? Following the instruction, the staff immediately contacted the European and American violin merchants like crazy, and even their warehouses were rummaged.

Economic Daily News: A.R.T. Installation Art Displays the Sound of Ten Thousand Years

Lee Sun-Don is no stranger to the violin. He played violin when he was young. He also composed and was a finalist in the 18th Golden Melody Award for "Best Composer of Traditional and Artistic Music." During the creation process, whenever he touched the piano of the 1800s, he could not help but try it first. "These violins are lives. They are more dusty than you and me." Lee Sun-Don emphasized in the interviews that they are made in Europe. Each one has more than 100 years of history and have experienced two world wars. Some of them went overseas to the United States. Some of them remained silent in the warehouse for one or two decades. They may have been displaced with the luthiers. They may have been thrown on the side of the road, cracked, and repaired. They may have been used to play in weddings... may have been used to play in funerals... and long before the production, the wood was cut from a tree in a distant mountain to take back as a backboard, and it had been air-dried for decades or even a hundred years...

They came across the sea to get to Taiwan and were treated as unique lives. Lee Sun-Don said: "It's not that you draw whatever you want to draw. You have to look at how it looks, what it has appeared to be, to put forward its verve." He took a violin and called it "Buddha Light Shines upon All," because the middle of the board just had a bright yellow area, like a fire light, so an oil lamp was painted under the fire light.

He picked up another violin and said, "This is what I like very much," he said. The title is "Moon Elegance, Mountain Breeze, Zen Flair, Electric Wind." Once you hear the moon elegance, you know that the situation is night because the backboard is dark. It is the color of the night. I then drew a man meditating in the middle of the night, turning on the nostalgic Datong electric fan. In order to set off the simplicity of the entire violin, "I drew the electric fan popular in the past, not the air conditioner."

Picking up another "Samadhi of Ultimate Freedom", he said: "This backboard looks like it is the daytime, the color is light, so I drew a bicycle. If you take a ride at night, no light, you will be afraid to hit something, you will be very nervous to ride on it. It's not comfortable."

Meaningful Patterns
Inspirational Design

In addition to matching the vibes of each violin, the creation of the "Love Across Centuries" series has a difficulty. Not only you cannot modify any stroke, but also as Lee Sun-Don said: "You can only use a single color - white, and you have to be able to express the three dimensions." The sequence of painting is very important. Take “The Wonderful Dharma Treasure” for example. You have to draw the lines of poems under the ten barrels of wine first and then paint the ten wine barrels in order to present the fullness of the wine barrels. Another example is the drawing of a train. Be careful about the position of the crossbar. If you are not careful, you will not show the hollow of the wheel.

The contemporary characteristic is also the focus. The totem on this violin "Quantum Entanglement" talks about the latest physical discovery. Lee Sun-Don explained that a pion contains a positron and a negative electron. When the positron is spinning in one direction, the negative electron will spin in the other direction. It is strange that no matter how far apart, when the positron changes, the long-range negative electron also changes. This phenomenon is called by the physicists as "entanglement." We are used to the term "resonance."

How to change? To observe it. Experiments show that when you do not observe it, the particle will move freely, passing through to form a horizontal line; when observing it - putting a glass in front of its path, it will pass through as a particle, and all particles will hit on the same point. Even if you put down the glass behind it on its path, you still get a point. "The future can change the past." Lee Sun-Don stressed that this is a very amazing discovery.

At present, people do not know why, but it is known that there is this phenomenon used by so some people. They found a group of sick elderly people around the age of sixty, seventy, or eighty. They were moved into a village. The village was transformed into the same environment as it was decades ago when they were young . There were no mobile phones, computers. They listened to radios, watched black-and-white television, even the chopsticks were exactly the same as before. As a result, the "entanglement" phenomenon occurred. It took only one year for 99% of the people to get well. Their body functions were back to the condition of at least a decade ago, or even more than two or three decades ago. He said: "This is from a medical journal published at the beginning of the year."

The "Love Across Centuries" series is still being previewed. At the sight of the 100-year-old violin, there are always people asking for an on-site test. Fafa Chu of the X-Power Gallery said that it is especially the doctors' group. Many doctors in Taiwan learn to play violin when they are young. They usually come together to play the violin. "We don't accept test at the scene. However, collectors can rest assured that we find experts to tune every week. The tone of each is very good."

Is it easy to play with a violin having the totems painted on it? Will the totems be damaged? Carol Chou, chairperson of the Art Revolution Taipei, explained at the preview: “It will not be damaged. Prof. Lee himself plays the violin. When designing the totem, he has avoided the parts that will touch the body when playing.”

Is it suitable for people who do not play violin? Carol Chou said: "It was originally a work of art." People who can't play the violin can also use the fingers to play the strings.
 

[2018/05/07 Economic Daily News] @https://money.udn.com/money/story/8967/3127158