Initiated and Writing－Contemporary Taiwan Eastern – Gouache Painting.

Exhibition by Chan Chien-Yu, Lee Chen-Hui and Kao Yung-Lung

Exhibition Organizer: Kao Yung-Lung

The development of Gouache Painting in Taiwan after transferred from Japan can be divided into several stages: Initial Stage (1895～1923), Taiwan Governor Art Exhibition (1924～1945), Taiwan Art Exhibition (1946～1972), Name Rectification Stage (1972～1985) and Academic Stage (1985～ ). During the Taiwan Governor Art Exhibition, it is the splendid golden age for Gouache Painting, and encountered the dispute of “Legitimate Chinese Painting” during the Taiwan Art Exhibition stage, it had declined down until the campaign of Name Rectification emerged after the abolition of martial law. In addition, Taiwan had entered the Democracy Stage, thus it could be taught and re-developed in academic education systems. Historical traces of Gouache Painting exactly reflect to the changes in Taiwan’s culture and politics.

From early Japanese Official Art Exhibition styles with pursuing local characteristics to greatly intake the performance techniques of Western Painting, as well as blended with water-ink panting’s styles, the development of Gouache Painting style had influenced by different cultures and painting styles to show a mixing and fusion style, and it has become one of painting styles for presenting Taiwan’s diversified cultural characteristics.

During several decades since 1960s, Gouache Painting has been in the enclosed and private school system, self-heritage, fossilized and standardized performance styles for a long time, which is difficult to cope with new artistic thoughts. Until 1990’s, Taiwan’s Gouache Painting started having a new transition pattern, and its change has come from the Gouache creation in academic education systems and new painters’ involvement, which broke the enclosed and conservative Gouache heritage, and used modern thought to create the new styles for Gouache. According to their efforts, Gouache Painting has rapidly and splendidly developed in recent years. In many and frequent official activities and exhibitions, the Gouache Painting has become a complete and independent section, as well as become a painting style, together with the water-ink painting, of representing oriental painting.

This exhibition invited 3 Gouache painters who initiated Taiwan’s Gouache Painting restoration:

Chan Chien-Yu (1952～), who has been addressed respectfully as “Postwar Taiwan’s Godfather of Gouache Painting Education”, and could be considered as the major driving force of Gouache Painting Renaissance. His artworks are mainly the silk scroll, and on the basis of Fine-Brushwork Ink Painting and blended with Gouache material techniques to create an innovative pattern. His delicate and elegant art styles have become a paragon of Taiwan’s Gouache Painting. 

Lee Chen-Hui (1961～): Inspired by Lin Chi-Chu when he studied in Tunghai University, and went to University of Tsukuba, Japan, after her graduation, who was one of those first batch students studying in Japan after the 50-year stoppage since the Japanese Occupation. She brought those performance techniques of the contemporary Japanese painting and initiated the technique revolution of Taiwan’s Gouache Painting.  Her artworks are in the combination of metal foils, ink colors and rock colors to present the transition of reality and imagery and life embracing. In addition, her ecriture feminine characteristics has continuously influence the tendency and direction of the contemporary Gouache Painting.

Kao Yung-Lung (1962～): In his early stage he was well-known with the Ink-and-Water Painting in the painting world, and later he changed to make Gouache creation, and researched on the making of ancient heavy-color painting materials and performance technique in Tibet, Xinjiang, Japan and Europe. With the creation concept of making innovating out of ancient arts, his artworks with rich texture and complicated techniques had beyond general Gouache patterns, as well as added his broaden and experienced visions, thus his artworks all have tremendous momentum. He is a unique painter in Taiwan’s Gouache Painters.

Gouache Painting has limited to the operating property of medium and tool for a long time, thus it is difficult to be popularized. However, the boundary of current Taiwan’s Gouache Painting has continuously expanded, penetrated and influenced on various fields. Restoration of Taiwan’s Gouache Painting represents a cultural awareness, these 3 masters, Chan Chien-Yu, Lee Chen-Hui and Kao Yung-Lung, had put great efforts in Gouache Education, and initiated a new era of Taiwan’s Gouache Painting. Their artwork styles had not only led the tendency and direction of contemporary Gouache Painting, but also showed the Gouache Painting to be one of the restored painting styles in 21st century. More nobly reflection and vision, on the basis of diversified integration, they used new innovation thoughts to perform the real self’s cultural spirit.

Vigor Style of Chin Up

I have lived in Kaohsiung with simple life since 1972.  I upheld an attitude of "everyone is frivolous throughout his young life", also, I have experienced life of "crying for poverty" and "be brave to every accident”. I have witnessed too many circumstances where people attack with each other to strive for more power, be desirous about complicated social fairness and justice, also labeling myself a lot and posting with symbol. In artistic creation, regardless of deconstruction and dialectics of the materials, or artistic expression of symbol, we have repeatedly flipped and transform for being innovative; I always create problems on my own, then, resolve them one by one ranged from "withered landscape", "humanity series" to "dark complex" and even "multimedia-based contemporary ink painting", rich and wonderful, strange and strong.

Artistic creation is foundation of mankind and nature enjoying honor jointly; it is also the soul of time. My masterpieces share glory of nature, breathing together that they are closely related to the pulse of society; it has idea belonging to philosophy, also reflection on sociology. The research made on art is not limited to the work itself, but should discuss more social situations, as the vacuum state or surgery of transplantation or window culture is not about flesh and blood, and I only rely on sensitive genes and origin of idea seed with anxiety.

I am getting old and intend to take some rest; however, I cannot stop…

In recent years, the social and political transformation in Taiwan changes, but, it was not vigorous or brilliant as the martial law period after 1987; on the contrary, it is like a circus tightrope game, dangerous, absurd, and helpless....  Is the tragedy fate of Taiwan an ordained "void" image?  If so, how to express it with "reality"?

All activities from the sales of national land, food safety issues to urban city redistricting process can trace back to a monster reforming culture..., and the style of hero brevity in our consecutive eagerness of facing glory is expected to "act with mighty wind and broad cloud", however, it became confusion throughout blurred vision, and all of these have become the decoction of medicine; certainly, the lyric writing of personal life also is used to tell a joke with irony tone and exaggeration, so narcissistic in the trend. Being arrogant, not like an artist with purity of style, I realized such coldness and peevish is not good for the art gallery and wife, hence, the art gallery had rare invitation to me, as only “boring work” would make others have a “mixed feelings".

Anyway, except for transcription of scripture, I had nothing to do but obsessed myself with painting in the studio over the last year. "102" was courageous to declare a solo exhibition with invitation dispatched. A promise worth one thousand in gold, and “102” is not tolerated in those new works; however, not only “six circles”, but also “five worlds” exist in a dozen of works. There is "wisdom" and "ignorance" exaggerated therein, but I always develop myself throughout works, so that "Bodhi" is filled in my life and the social environment in Taiwan, and culture and art at hometown can be enlightened. The attitude I uphold in the face of reality with "humanitarian" is applied to "look into the world", and "artistic interpretation", which is very hard, lonely; however, I was happy to hide among brown painting materials of the studios in the dilapidated military dependent community, thinking of the scene in the "Monument in Shabby Home" composed by Liu, Yu-Xi, “Adjust my plain zither, reading gold scripture, neither with the chaos of string disturbing my ears, nor exhaust formed by a variety of tasks", or let me daze and look at

 a body with chin up

 strength of character after death

                                                                                          Hong, Ken-Shen        2016.7

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

Aren’t we living in the same time as Charles Dickens describes in A Tale of Two Cities?

The circulation of information and substances is getting faster but our soul is becoming emptier than ever. Through the memory of time hidden in the scenery, the more internalized and deeper way is applied to explore the creator’s expression of scenery in mood/eye. “Mood Scenery” is therefore a theme generated on the premise of this inspiration.

For Fan, Sih-Ci, the artistic creation is a process that is mysterious as well as beyond description. The journey is carried out without burden. It is simple and clings to the original aspiration. In the journey, lines are the way she cognizes her own creation. Straight lines and curves come across it in silent and moving rhythm, using body to communicate with it. Because of it, the fast pace of the world slows down. She finds a new way to connect with the world.

Hsu, Shih-Pei interprets time and space through drawing and words. She expresses the profound and touching resonance through the hierarchy of life in heart. In a restless world like this, she listens and faces the silent voice in heart.

Tsai Yi-Chieh’s work is created based on city landscape. She is inspired by the way that people in urban cities are used to gazing upon scenery through diverse image frames. She uses saturated colors and plastics material to draw various modified and edited scenery pictures placed within our daily contemporary view.

Different life experiences and growing backgrounds make distinctive descriptions of mind. In the time like this, three artists interpret the world they see through creation, which also enables the viewers to take a glimpse of the life scenery in three artists’ heart.

“I rarely use words to express my thoughts, painting is the tool to I use to express my ideas and thinking.” Lai Mai-Hua states the purpose of her artistic concept from the very beginning. Actually, there are many more ideas in her sensitive mind. She has long been used to recording her daily experiences through painting. Flowers, a passing cloud, a new moon, the ocean, music, literature and indeed any lovely things in the life can all inspire her to create. To become an artist capable of expressing beauty was her ambition from childhood, thus, flower, leaf, seed, eye … natural features appear throughout her work as creative elements, painted in delicate brushstrokes and gentle lines, and containing many shades of colour.

Lai´s works are full emotion and imagination, with influences from feminism and expression of the subconscious mind through surrealism; thus the composition of her paintings is bright, vivid, varied, and vibrantly-coloured. These come together to create a strongly individual character, which sets out Lai´s passion for life and leaves the viewer affected with a fierce tension. In her work, flowers, masks, human figures and animals are often interweaved closely, laid out in a way to suggest a sexual meaning.

“I don´t mind people thinking my painting symbolise sex” Lai said, “Sex is a big deal for human beings, sex is a kind of naturalness.” Art critic Lu Yung-Chi recognises Lai as significant in Taiwanese native feminism: “Lai´s feminism originates in her instinct of conscientious initiation, not as part of a trend or a movement of ideology. It looks like it is not very theoretical, but just because of that, the artist comes across as more righteous and bold.” Above all Lai´s work is full with emotion and feminine delicacy, which expresses her thoughts and feelings about being and existence; on some occasions it shows surpassing beauty, on others it unveils a fearful secrecy.  It touches a chord with the viewer.