WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 25, 2019 25
Sunnyside artist creating amazing artwork
Photos courtesy of Tang-Wei Hsu
Grover Cleveland STEM club wins bridge-building contest
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Students from the Grover
Cleveland High School STEM
Research Club took home fi rst
place out of the Queens schools and
seventh in the city in the Envirothon
on April 12.
The team also won fi rst place in the
Regional Bridge Building Contest on
March 16.
Each year the New York City Soil
and water Conservation District
organizes the Envirothon, an
outdoor environmental science
contest involves five categories:
aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife
and current events.
To compete, students walk to
diff erent stations to answer topicspecific
questions, at least half
of the which involve the use of
equipment or maps, or audio/visual
identifi cation.
Grover Cleveland High School
will now advance to the state
Envirothon at Hobart and William
Smith Colleges in Geneva May 22-
23.
Jeevan Bastola, who won first
place at the Regional Bridge Building
Contest on March 16, traveled to the
2019 International Bridge Building
Contest at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore to represent the team.
The competition tested bridges
using a hydraulic press, which
Grover Cleveland students were
familiar with.
Bastola’s bridge weighed in at 13.4
grams and held 35.14 kilograms
before cracking, for an effi ciency
of 2,674 times the bridge’s own
mass. Bastola won 18th place out of
52 competitors from around the U.S.
Only 41 bridges actually actually
made it through qualifi cation, as
the bridge specifi cations this year
were especially challenging.
BUZZ
BY LOIZA HUERTA
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Tang-Wei Hsu’s artworks have
been described as “colors
exploding in outer space.” The
versatile Taiwanese artist is certainly
making a bang in the art world.
The 39-year-old Sunnyside resident
has been commissioned by New
York City offi cials to create public
sculptures locally and he’s held
exhibitions around the world, selling
some works for nearly six fi gures.
“Contemporary art with a mix of
animation and graphic design” is
how Hsu categorizes his artwork,
which includes drawings, paintings
and sculptures. By combining his
Asian culture with his architectural
training, he is able to create complex
and abstract artworks.
Hsu’s artistic pursuits began in
his native Taiwan at age 10 when he
took up drawing. His artistic ideas
emerged from his cultural heritage
and childhood experiences.
“There is great Japanese infl uence
in Taiwan. Growing up, anime and
Japanese comics like Pokémon were
a big part of my childhood,” Hsu
explained. “… and I wasn’t a city kid. I
grew up in the countryside, so I think
that’s where my imagination started
to run wild.”
Hsu initially believed architecture
would be a good outlet for expressing
his creative talents. Aft er obtaining a
bachelor’s degree in architecture at
the Shih Chien University and an MFA
in visual arts at the Tainan National
University of Arts, Hsu went to work
as an architect. But, during his fi rst
project, he felt as if the architectural
process didn’t allow him to express
his creativity to the fullest extent.
“When you join the architecture
environment, you can either work for
a company or in an offi ce space. You
can’t really design much. It’s quite
boring,” Hsu said, laughing. “I knew I
had a special set of skills and I wanted
to create so much more.”
An artist abroad subsidy from
the Asian Cultural Council allowed
Hsu to pivot to a career as a full-time
artist and relocate to New York City,
where he now lives with his wife
and three children. He’s since made
a name for himself both locally and
internationally.
Hsu was commissioned by the
Department of Transportation
(DOT) and the International Studio
and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in
New York City to create his acclaimed
sculpture, “Monkey Magic.” The
anime-inspired sculpture made a
temporary appearance from July
2013 to March 2014. It was displayed
on Ninth Ave. and 36 St Manhattan,
N.Y. Hsu’s goal was to make the
sculpture look like monkey’s hanging
and waving “hi” to the people
walking by.
According to “Asian in NY,” a blog
about leaders in Asian networking
and multicultural entertainment,
the sculpture was a big success. The
blog noted: “Wendy Feuer, assistant
commissioner of urban design and art
at the DOT and Dennis Elliot, director
and founder of the ISCP are very
selective about the arts displayed
in public. Hsu’s ‘Monkey Magic’
has attracted many passersby,
especially during the peak hours of
New York City in the morning where
people are traveling on foot or cycling
in the bike lane.”
Hsu also collaborated with three
other artists on a public art sculpture
that was rated, “New York’s 10 Best
Public Art Installations for Fall 2015”
by Artnet News. The sculpture,
named “The Moment,” was organized
by the Museum of Contemporary Art,
Taipei and the Taiwanese American
Arts Council as part of the “Art in the
Park” program. Inspired by Buddha
and made from materials such as
fiberglass, bamboo and feathers,
the sculpture was displayed in
Flushing Meadows’ Corona Park in
Queens from September through
November 2015.
Hsu is working on two new projects.
One involves installing a sculpture in
an airport in Taiwan. The sculpture
will depict a collection of colorful
suitcases with detailed paintings
imprinted on them. He is also in
the midst of creating a sculpture
in a swimming and diving arena
in Taiwan. His goal is to have the
sculpture resemble “the moment a
diver splashes into the water.” He
has been working on this project
for about six months and has been
traveling back and forth from
New York to Taiwan.
Hsu’s artwork can take anywhere
from four months to a year to
complete. The process is not like a
regular 9-to-5 job.
“It’s not an easy process, especially
with public art projects,” Hsu said. “It’s
a group eff ort. I need to create a plan
and a proposal, then a presentation
to have my idea approved. Once my
proposal gets accepted, there are
people who transition my designs
into a computer, which then go
into a factory so we start to build
the shape.”
In his spare time, Hsu utilizes his
experience and success to support
other international artists. Non-profi t
organizations ask Hsu to help new
artists by donating his artwork and
assisting them with their projects.
“No one helped me when I started
out so I try my best to help new artists
with organization and design,” he
said. “My advice for anyone thinking
about becoming an artist is that they
need to really enjoy it and work
very hard, everything else will
come naturally.”
Photo credit: Envirothon
coach Krishna Mahabir
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
