Suikang Zhao’s creation is transforming the University Health Center into a work of art that speaks many languages.
The forged steel sculpture that Zhao and his assistants are hammering, torching and bending is a layering of words University students submitted that represent healing in many languages.
The flowing design will lead students into the front entrance and up the stairs to the Counseling Center. Two more pieces unify the newly renovated building by adorning both courtyards with similar, albeit different colored, sculpture. The art is created from simple materials: 1 inch wide by one-eighth inch thick steel. Once shaped, the steel is powder coated to add permanent color.
Zhao himself is a man of great vision.
“I live in a different reality. It’s a very bizarre experience,” Zhao said.
Zhao grew up in China and finished his schooling in the United States. He said he has had to purge himself of some of his Chinese culture, while learning to appreciate it at the same time.
“Every reality has its own rule, its own role,” he said. “It’s like a web and we interact with things we don’t understand. They are interrelated – things that have nothing to do with each other.”
Zhao believes cultural overlap is inevitable in the world.
“We are literally on top of each other. That’s the roots of my artwork,” he said.
Each word is created using a torch to heat the steel and then bend it in a curvaceous and flowing manner. The pieces are then overlapped.
“They say, ‘Who’s going to read it?’ I say, ‘I don’t care,’” Zhao said. “The beauty is about its ambiguity. We don’t understand everything. If we did, it would be pretty boring.”
University senior Reagan Hauswald has been working with Zhao by welding the pieces together.
“When they all come together, you might be able to pick out little pieces, but you can’t read all of them because they are overlapping and some are in different languages,” she said. “When we put all the cultures together, we might not understand everything that’s going on, but it’s still very beautiful.”
Hauswald, who holds a degree in welding, is an art major focusing on sculpture. Working with Zhao has been a learning experience for her, but she said it’s also a lot of fun. Hauswald puts in four to five hours every day, but Zhao and his two assistants work even longer.
Zhao is determined to have the installation finished by Aug. 25. He has another public art project lined up in Kansas, so he and his crew work from 8 or 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight. They take a break in the middle of the afternoon to nap and avoid the sun.
Zhao, an instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, has public art installations in many cities.
“Most people can only do one thing – be an artist or a teacher,” Zhao said. “You have to kill yourself. Me, I have no life.”
An Oregon law passed in 1975 requires publicly funded building projects that cost more than $100,000 to put aside at least 1 percent of their funds for public art. Operated by the Oregon Arts Commission, the Percent for Public Art Program facilitates the selection of an artist as well as a design.
“Really this project was unusual because there was a lot of community and campus involvement in generating the source work for the artist to work with,” said Saralyn Hilde, the project coordinator for the Oregon Arts Commission.
Hilde sent out the call for artists and helped to create the panel that eventually selected Zhao from five other finalists.
“The other thing that is unusual about this project is he’s fabricating the piece on site. It’s all hand worked and truly a unique, one-of-a-kind piece,” she said.
Zhao said he does a lot of site-specific installations. While many artists will work in a studio, Zhao has encountered some unique challenges in creating the piece on-site.
Zhao found many supporters in Eugene who he says have made it possible for him to complete the project. One of them is Lee Imonen, a local artist and art instructor at Lane Community College.
Unable to bring a studio with him, Zhao found he needed a vise table during the first few weeks he was in Eugene. Imonen was kind enough to loan Zhao his studio to work in.
“Lee helped me so much,” Zhao said. “I don’t know how to thank him.”
Zhao also encountered challenges working in a foreign city. When he was attempting to purchase the steel for the project, a local provider told him they would only deliver the steel if he had a forklift available. Imonen helped here as well.
Zhao prepared to borrow Imonen’s trailer to transport the steel himself, but was told by the company he was not allowed to pick it up. Imonen arranged to have the steel shipped to LCC, where a forklift was available, and then loaded it on a trailer and brought it to Zhao.
Imonen is not the only person who has helped Zhao. Counseling and Testing Center employee Michele Leasor loaned him a car to use while he is here and Gwen Jansen, also a testing center employee, is letting Zhao and his crew stay at her house for free.
Part of the panel that selected the project, Jansen said she is excited to see the final product.
“We really wanted it to speak to all students,” she said. “It’s become more of a community art piece.”
Zhao’s installation will stay right where he put it.
“You cannot move this piece,” he said. “It’s integrated into the community and it’s integrated into the building.”
As Zhao described his installation in the south courtyard, Jansen commented, “This is more than you proposed.”
Zhao answered, “Yeah, I don’t care.”
Zhao said he often finds himself contributing his own money to projects like this one.
“Projects like this, I don’t get a penny,” he said.
Zhao said being from a socialist country instilled in him a different value of money. While some artists must live on the commissions they get, Zhao does not. When costs escalate, Zhao said some artists will just shrink the project.
“That’s why you get really shitty public art,” he said. “I teach, I get a paycheck. It’s okay, I don’t have to live on it.”
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