Master sculptor Hsieh Tong-liang was the first artist in Taiwan to receive the privilege of not having to be examined in the National Art Exhibition. One of his students was the illustrious modern sculptor Li Chen, whom he taught how to sculpt the human body. In the joint exhibition The Pioneers of Taiwanese Artists, 1941-1950, hosted by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in 2013, Hsieh was the only sculptor of his generation to be invited. His well known bronze piece “Walk Alone” (another cast), created in 1984, was featured at the exhibition.

The bronze sculpture Walk Alone is a part of Hsieh’s Metamorphosis series (1981–1985). The body is elongated and deliberately flattened, yielding a special proportion. The works in the Metamorphosis series seek to embody the pressure, tension, hollowness, and loneliness of modern man in the urban jungle. Upon witnessing Taiwan’s economic boom in the 1980s, the artist felt that people were too busy to appreciate the joy in life. The most notable works in this series include “Look Forward” and “Walk Alone”, which are in the permanent collection of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, as well as the pieces “Indistinct”, “Leisure”, “Music from the Flute”, and “Sorrow”.