Jason Shih has been awarded the Platinum Prize in Contemporary Sculpture at the Golden Arc Design Award 2025 Season 1 for his dynamic and emotionally charged work Chasing—a tribute to energy, willpower, and the radiant spirit of youth.
Inspired by Halley’s Comet and a lifelong passion for celestial phenomena, Shih’s sculptural language draws from both the cosmic awe of his adolescence and the fiery physicality of metalwork. “I’ve been chasing light since I was a teenager,” he reflects. “Whether it was the tail of a comet or the sparks from a forge, I’ve always been drawn to brilliance—both literal and symbolic.”
In Chasing, red and blue flames curve and dance through space—the red symbolizing external intensity and radiant heat, while the blue core evokes inner energy, precision, and restraint. “The red is the energy released. The blue is its microcosm—focused, internal, and essential,” says Shih. “Together, they mirror life: brilliant, contradictory, always in pursuit of something just ahead.”
Emotionally, Chasing expresses a powerful ode to youth—what Shih calls the “golden years.” Through its sweeping motion and shimmering lines, the piece captures the unbounded freedom, restless ambition, and fierce beauty of that time in life. “Youth is rebellion, freedom, and unstoppable energy,” he says. “To youth—an eternal light that never fades.”
Philosophically, the sculpture explores the tension between chaos and order, emotion and discipline. The curves, at once erratic and harmonious, reflect the inner contradictions of human experience and the poetic relationship between the self and the unknown.
“I hope viewers feel the playful rhythm—but also sense the underlying spirit,” says Shih. “It’s not just form—it’s a state of mind, alive in motion.”
Jason Shih - Chasing
Full Interview
What inspired the symbolic use of red and blue flames in conveying energy and willpower?
In 1986, when I was in junior high school, I was obsessed with Halley's Comet. I yearned for the long tail that cut through the sky in the deep night sky. In high school, I joined the astronomy club and chased meteor showers everywhere. I still remember the beautiful exclamations that slipped through the starry sky in the middle of the night.
I started playing with electric welding and acetylene cutting in college. I liked the large amount of sparks flying when the high-temperature burning gas cuts the steel plate. I played forging in New York in graduate school. There was fine snow flying outside the workshop, but the iron pieces in my hands were baking in the blazing coal in the blast furnace with intense light and heat. The red flame is the light and heat emitted by energy, and the extreme blue fire core is the introverted energy microcosm. While constantly chasing light and heat, life radiates brilliant energy and also reflects a gorgeous and beautiful new world.
What emotions or inner transformations were you hoping to express through the contrast between light, heat, and restraint?
The good years are like golden youth, dazzling and brilliant. Youth is a rebellious soul, unrestrained glory, enthusiasm can make wind and rain unstoppable, fighting spirit can ride the peaks and waves. To youth - the never-ending freedom and light.
Is there a particular visual element in the work that holds personal or philosophical significance for you?
The poetic interpretation of time and space images is also a state of mind understanding of the relationship between the self and the object. Between form and meaning, the artist pursues the profoundness of conciseness and reflects the eternal simplicity and tranquility of the original heart.
Was there a guiding spiritual or conceptual framework that shaped the development of this piece?
Order in chaos is a state of mind, whether internally or externally, showing the intricate style of current emotions. The well-organized yet erratic curves meander inadvertently and fly in the leisurely. The ups and downs record the complex emotions and the process of making choices. People's thoughts are often contradictory, and so is the organic journey of life.
What reflections or feelings do you hope audiences experience when they encounter this piece?
The streamlined volume seems to be playful, but it is actually free and intriguing. The spirit hidden in it is like a lively state of mind, vividly expressed in the spatial expression of form and meaning.
