Yuan Hsin-Yuan : Two Trees and a Flock of Birds: Solo Exhibition

Two Trees and a Flock of Birds continues Yuan Hsin-Yuan's long-standing sculptural practice centered around wood as both material and emotional language. Through quiet and understated forms, the exhibition reflects on the subtle and often indescribable distances that exist between oneself and others. Using the warmth and texture of wood as a point of departure, the works explore relationships that are at once intimate and distant, as well as the fleeting moments of tenderness and emotional clarity that unexpectedly emerge within everyday life.

For the artist, the "other" does not refer solely to another person. It may also suggest a relationship, a memory, an emotional condition, or even an unfamiliar part of the self that has yet to be fully understood. Yuan Hsin-Yuan's practice often begins with sketches drawn in her notebooks, where she records gestures, figures, and fragments of scenes encountered in daily life. These observations gradually evolve into sculptural figures: standing bodies, gazing figures, people seated in boats, raised hands, or quietly reclining forms. Stripped of overt expressions and narrative details, these figures remain restrained and contemplative, embodying emotional states that resist simple definition.

Crafted primarily from camphor and birch wood, the sculptures retain the warmth, grain, and subtle fragrance of the material itself. Rather than concealing the nature of wood, the artist embraces its texture and presence, allowing the material to become inseparable from the emotional atmosphere of the works. The expressionless faces of the figures may appear calm or detached, yet they carry a deeper sense of human vulnerability and sincerity. Their simplified clothing and gestures further invite viewers to project their own memories and emotions onto the sculptures.

Each work and spatial arrangement within Two Trees and a Flock of Birds functions as a quiet vessel for contemplation and feeling. Warm wooden surfaces coexist with reflective mirrors that shimmer yet remain cold, alongside translucent, water-like forms that evoke stillness and distance. Together, these elements construct an environment suspended between external reality and inner perception, encouraging viewers not only to observe the works, but also to reconsider their own emotional relationships with the surrounding world.

Rather than offering fixed narratives or conclusions, Yuan Hsin-Yuan's sculptures create space for reflection through a restrained and gentle visual language. Beneath the apparent simplicity of everyday moments, the exhibition ultimately speaks to experiences shared by many: closeness, hesitation, solitude, and the quiet act of looking toward others from afar.