This End Versus That End discusses the interconnection between seeing and being seen in photography. It is about how photography—providing an entrance to culture and male/female gaze—as one of the most direct creative languages, produces both images and the reference of how they are perceived. It is also about how images can form an imagination of genders that is like a kind of index, and an introduction to its cultural context. As for its visual presentation, this end of image is frankly displayed for its audience, while that end refers to a particular visual realm that belongs to the author, and thus represents an intuitive and diverse language of imagery with the posture of a producer in the creative context.

In this exhibition, to guide viewers into Chou’s diverse world of image in a way that is similar to reading an index, we particularly selected a series work.
In Red Sleep Bed, an item from older generation becomes a symbol and a metaphor through her direct closeup shot. Being more than a feeling of nostalgia for old things, it is a study of her life experience through these things and items. Thus the artist has created the diffêrance of image with her intuitive memory and nostalgia via photographic montage.
In the conceptual narrative language of Reflection/Nothingness, the drifting image displays a bizarre and slightly rootless background, rewriting our external visual experience of reality with a pragmatic approach; like a film festival with structure. As an experimental work, it is more like a kind of backtracking and denial of the era of information explosion and anxiety.
The Other End of the Red Cord demonstrates an imagination of marriage by unmarried women—the wedding dress becomes a mirror, while happiness is the narcissistic wish. This piece is a fictional depiction of the repression of women from a culture with prejudice. A wedding dress may symbolize women’s desire for marriage; it can also be a sign of invisible restrictions and irony. Perhaps this series may stimulate viewers to contemplate that the term “Leftover girl” signifies description of a single state as well as sexism.

As the photographer penetrates through a cultural perception via her image, clicking the shutter button takes more than a moment of time; it requires the photographer’s presentation arrangement of the image. Using photography as a meaningful tool in the world of representation, Chou represents another kind of cultural language through photography. In her creation, all the motifs and themes are in mutual referencing connection under the arrangement via her viewing window. It is seemingly her intention to detach her image from stereotypical historic point of impression. The text structure of her artistic expression places the metaphor out of sight via photographic techniques; her work wanders at the boundary of the invisible, roaming about the distinction between seeing and being seen, whether it is about a visible body or a metaphorical gender issue.

Chou’s images present a rearrangement of the existing world through photography, which provides her work a characteristic of self-reflective ideal. Her photographic work is like a message without a code, in Roland Barthes’s words. Fro her, photography is like a way to quest for self, on a creative journey that provides a free yet steady artistic expression through which she can unpretentiously express in a visual language of her own. The meaning in her work is not limited within the visible; its weight of memory and consciousness brings us to contemplate, and hence, to create a kind of imagination—an interrelationship between gender, material, and society.

The title Behind the Image signifies an innovative concept and its continuation throughout Liu Yao-bin’s work over these years as a photographer. It suggests the misconception of visibility in the core of photography, as a confirmatory experience to a present viewer, the authenticity of image does not suggest representation of reality but the way which the photographer interferes in the world of reality. The title also suggests an invisibility, which responds to the reoccurring motif of female as maternity and primitive memory, and thus implies the existential truth of a desire behind the symbol of female body through a sophisticated glimpse. The invisibility of image refers to total transparency of every image at the presence of its subject, it echoes the photographer’s interference to meaning, although coming across a representation, the contemporary digital images demonstrate a pastiche of the mind of its creator.

The representative characteristic in Liu’s photographic work surpasses the visible reality, presenting his grasp in image themes with an invisible posture; as a response to contemporary art feature and its irreversible destiny, these works stand on the edge between producing and feigning. The 3 series In Bloom, Not a Flower, Bóng-tshī and Zhao Di, Hiding is no Equal to Forgetting are selected on display in this exhibition, for a series of work contains the developing context of how the artist created a connection between art pieces and himself in the images. The gaze upon affection and gender has always been the core essence of exploration in his works. Rather than merely an aesthetic judgement in the perspective of direct phenomenon of sex and desire, his photography skillfully applies a visual language with profound cultural meanings in his allegories of image; it wanders between the realm of intuition and of reality, in it exists a dual-affection of a subconscious subject with desire on female as a kind of maternal attachment and dependance, albeit dreamy. As the photographer wrote in his artist statement: he wishes to elaborate his own ideas and concepts via a language of images… for one must wear his mask and cope with his workplace in the world of reality, while seeing is not equivalent to understanding.

As Roland Barthes proclaimed, vision is the most mysterious among all senses, it is on the other side of the spectrum from knowledge, because magic lies within vision. Liu transferred from the career path of being a professional pharmacist to the role of a photographer, and having been through losing his mother he begun to ponder the sexual attachment of maternity. He reviews his personal history and memory through creative process, and thus constructs this kind of Lacanian lack of his own interpretation in the world of photography. Hence he constructed a paradox of seeing and being seen through the seemingly in sight character of image, and thus demonstrates that the moment a viewer sees an art piece, they see their inner truth.

I see value in Liu’s photography, not only for his representative ability in emotional expressions, but also for his capability to see things via a viewfinder, allowing viewers to connect with the truth of his memory and the perception of seeing through his image creation while being aware of the invisibility character of photography himself.

Henri Rousseau had stated—if God truly is observing man from the heavens disinterestedly, then man should seek thyself while living in the world of uncertainty, and discover the value and the possibility of their own existence by holding a learning, questioning attitude toward every piece of knowledge about oneself.

The exhibition Mind, Minor Matter is titled according to my personal observation on and perception of the artist’s work throughout many years. The artist presents highly poetic works ever since his History of Plants series and his works strike you as if they are images from negative films. He has been constantly attempting an exceedingly inactive posture through his work, like an unknown, invisible author as his work is done. In the past, to provide perspectives on acknowledgment and seeing, many works referred to being-for-others. While the common technique in art academies of presenting artwork as a trendy, contemporary expression has often neglected the basic materialistic features of the work, in this exhibition, with a still attitude, art materials return as what they are themselves in the artist’s hand. It demonstrates the artist’s profound experience while he was facing his materials and canvas.

From merely natural elements to the existence of art form in canvas—the artist, albeit being an artist with an art school training background, persistently explores the materiality of/in his media during his creative process. While the materiality is transformed into created images—there is a conceptual attachment to the visible realm—this art may be more than a coexistence to its creator’s idea, but also becomes a difference, restored by concept and produced with artistic media via the artist’s concepts. As the artist had said himself, he intended to detach himself from the work. Perhaps for an artist his own work often disguises itself as another extension to his ego. Thus his work is also just a naked, personal expression by an artist, which wanders along the echoes of thoughts via the reproduction and the qualitative change in materialistic terms, and its purpose is to conquer the versatility of material in the name of art. Yet the artist portrays a submissive, humble view of life in the core of his art.

No material matter can be fully detached to human souls, the existential meaning of matter manifests ultimately through man’s soul. I believe it is the same logic—how God exists in every man’s heart and a man without the perception of his heart is merely a representation of the human body. As it is said by the existentialists, to understand oneself one must learn through inner experiences. The expression of artistic ideas ought to be a personal creation; those applied materials are not meant to be detached from the artwork itself, but to express a relationship of dialogue between man and his object via motionless presentation. As the artist himself once said: “My paintings are basically restoring the features of my media(materials) and, instead of using techniques as means to manage my materials, they have the materials as their own characteristics.”

Distance of light．Unknown land: Liao Chin-Hsiang Solo Exhibition

John Berger wrote in his book Ways of Seeing: ”Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.

“But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relationship between what we see and what we know is never settled.”

Thus painting is created under this uncertainty.

The core of my creation is about binary tension—subject versus object, continuity versus discontinuity and light versus shadow, as I search for the difference (which is unknown) that lies in the distance in between them.

Meanwhile the binary tension in subject/object, reality/fiction, continuity/discontinuity and light/shadow makes them one, for they do not exist against the other. The binary pair completes and complements each other.

And the uncertainty between them is a distance produced by time.

After piece of scenery (a realm unknown) is seen, it becomes a blurred image of memory, of picture and of painting. Now it is the painting itself.

As time goes by, I continuously force myself in a certain distance. Due to my curiosity to the unknown, I explored, experimented with and investigated the spontaneity created by automatism on my paintings in progress continuously. This is for the purpose of creating the possibility of a binary pair in tension. I ponder the distance between my thinking and my work; but this distance in itself is seeing.

The distance of light is not a discussion about light in physical aspect, nor is it the light from Western art history which is widely discussed. It signifies the distance that occurs in between a painting and the sight and mind of its viewer. It is the inner interpretation of the painting by its viewer.

I apply pearlescent silver paint for the purpose of forming this distance between viewers and paintings. This produces a polarized light effect on canvas, which varies at different viewing distance and angles. Due to this effect, viewers may shift their distance from the work and thus recognize this distance.

This awareness of distance may furthermore kindle their inner interpretation and senses, so that they can hold a dialogue or an interchange with the paintings.

The distance of light lies in between sight and soul.

Plasmodesmata: Solo Exhibition of Metal Handicraft by Hsiao-Meng Su

In the process of forming a unique style by acquiring skills on my creative journey, every reflection and each rearrangement of my works has surprised and moved me. I deem the marriage between Eastern culture and modern creations of metal handicraft a necessary condition to breathe new life into traditional metal handicraft. This tradition lasts only via a continuous transformation of rearranging customs. My quest is to maintain the existence value of my cultural root as I create a new style of art out of it.  Hence, in my late works, I continuously endeavor to combine my cultural background with these modern creations, as I probe into the historical context of metal handicraft culture, along with their connections to and differences from contemporary metal art work—including its historical meaning in the context of the traditional society and lifestyle, and the symbolic meaning of applying metal handicraft.

The Islands and Civilization: Chuang Lain Dung Solo Exhibition, 2020

Islands and their stunning charm have been nurseries to countless civilizations and their majesty. Nurtured by age and history, every island is filled with incomparably abundant imaginations, being a medium that delivers histories and cultures. Through this artist’s deliberate observations and perspective, the mountains, rocks, forests and trees are faithfully painted, representing the scenery on islands; meanwhile the underwater realm provides the artist a place for wild, limitless fantasies. The conjunction of the two worlds creates the parallel between, the overlap and the unison of reality and fantasy, and thus brings forth the tenacious vitality of the island in depth and weight.

Hence—as a Taiwanese, contemporary ink painting artist who was brought up in the culture of an island—the present, the past, the future, the reality, the fantasy and the possibilities of islands have become Chuang Lain Dung’s latest creative themes. Through them he reflects on his own living environment, as well as tracing the historical context of Taiwan, the island country. By traveling to islands of diverse images around the world, he has comprehended the trails of progression to human civilization. He began this journey looking for distinctions, yet found a reoccurring truth; an outer pursuit has eventually lead to a personal, inner narrative. The realistic and the abstract images of island have provided Chuang a broad, independent space for creation and an outlet for emotional catharsis. Via shaping imagery of mountains and waters from the islands, which is interwoven with an image of human history’s progress, Chuang seems to be communicating the inseparable interdependent relation between life, the earth and history.

Chuang’s art is divided into several series. The first is about the correlations between an island and its architecture. This series considers the issue of age difference, which is presented by a variety of architecture styles. Be it a traditional Chinese palace with courtyard, religious temples, people's housing, or modern, urban skyscrapers—Chuang first faithfully captures the exterior appearance of its structure, then he removes the element of architecture and rearranges the picture into a new image. Hence architecture becomes a significant symbol to the transition in civilization in this series. The parallel connection between island and primitive signs is the second series, in which Chuang searches the symbolic, historical meanings of ancient symbols as the primal sources of island’s origin. He interposed his artistic perspectives into the entire value of human evolution, and thus all these symbols, without the distinction of being eastern or western, have collectively become a series of code narrated by the language of painting. The third series is about the symbolic relation between island and animals. By the fantastical fusion of crouching animals and the rocks of mountains, the fierceness, the tenacity, and the force of animals are together represented as an analogy to the liveliness of island. The fourth series is the interdependent relation between the distinct islands, which, mainly deal with his contemplation about the shaping of island by time, space and distinction. And the basis of this series of contemplations is the different look of the same place, formed by the different perspectives of looking at the islands. Thus these four series demonstrate the diverse, ineffable charm of island with a variety of distinct aesthetics.

During this refreshing, late autumn day, Chuang Lain Dung’s latest works in 2020 will debut at 102Art Gallery, Tainan. We sincerely invite everyone who is an art enthusiast to participate in this event.

Status versus Circumstance: Solo Exhibition of Hwang Yue-Sheng’s Printmaking Art

The original motive of the artist’s creation and inquiry, is an attitude of questioning— questions about life’s surroundings, society’s value system, environmental damage, and the rivalry and the deceit that lie within humanity. Such questions have brought forth the artist’s inner anxiety, and a sense of fear towards the outward realm. The effect of this anxiety and fear eventually results in questioning the existence of oneself, as the content of his works is constantly about a doubtful self—I vs. non-I, the self versus being selfless; I in existence, in absence, being revealed or being concealed.

The application of symbolism and metaphor in his work signifies the artist’s invisibility and absence, being in correspondence to Jean-Paul Sartre’s view, in which nothingness does not suggest nonexistence—it is consciousness itself, and consciousness is remarkably proactive and originative. The quality of nothingness of consciousness mainly suggests that consciousness is always hidden and unrevealed while it has the infinite capacity to deny every being through nullification. The consciousness attains its own authentic existence by nullifying other beings. Constantly, consciousness nullifies the beings apart from itself, and thus demonstrates its powerful vitality. In other words, it is the process in which the artist nullifies the surrounding things, being and existent events apart from himself that manifests the artist’s true essence of existence and the appearance of his true self.

In the thematic exhibition Status versus Circumstance, the artist attempts to put scenes and objects from distinct time and space in parallel, or misplace them into a pastiche. This exhibition brings about an attitude of question through its seemingly real yet fictional wanderings and its inconsistent, conflictual facade and core, hence [its content] fluctuates between the being and the nothingness of Ego. The Ego seemingly exists within the status, and hides during a circumstance. Altogether , Status versus Circumstance is aimed at reflecting a series of pseudomorph of interpersonal relationships—whether it is being intended or unintended.

The current joint exhibition, Maison et Univers gathers selected works from Weng Meng-Yu’s and Huang Pin-Ling’s latest creations. Weng exquisitely elaborates images of house via her works while Huang’s art is lyrical sceneries of the universe. The distinct themes and portrayal of these two artists’ styles echo the philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s words from House and Universe, chapter 2 of The Poetics of Space—that house is our conscious residence and initially, our mini universe; and universe, the background which holds and surrounds the house, is also a projection of our mental state.

Weng’s works often include several interwoven layers as means of space, ideology and memories. The interior rooms and the sceneries outdoor may present, now and then, one’s mental state, as well as visions of future or shroud of night in the past. Being a necessity in her pictures, the window view serves as an outlet, which she has developed, for feelings.

Huang’s landscapes are conversations between body, perception and memories.

The sceneries she faces and sketches are those of impressions, what she attempts to capture is the experiences of perceiving which, fresh in one’s memories, remains invisible. Whether in a fast pace or a lower one, her lyrical strokes draw the contours of thoughts while running fluid oil paints. The layers of white paints on canvas create an expansive view in wilderness, demonstrating the majestic myriad of phenomena in this universe. And those exquisitely tinted shades along with the leaving of white space—they seem like breaths of the mountains or the ripples as wind blows on the waters.

As time passes and her senses are reshaped, Huang, at a steady yet genial pace, delivers the rhythm of inner thoughts via the shades of universe.

(texts from articles by Wong Jing-You and Chang Kai-Chun)

Aura ˙ Punctum: Tai Ming-Te & Tai Hung-Lin Joint Exhibition

A creative dialogue between father and son, compensating for the silent spaces in their conversations and relationship.

Tai Hung-Lin published a selection of works centered around “90’s Anxiety” in the past, and his photography works capture fleeting moments of light and shadow. The abnormal, wild, and exciting moments represent the generational anxiety among the 90s in the face of fast-changing information. The blurry images of female bodies hint to fear and sex, creating object symbols that form a sense of eeriness and abruptness, inciting sensual stimulation, and provoking restless and acute nervous sensations. The still life image installation series builds a dialogue between blank spaces and chaos, intertwining his own bodily hair with complex emotions.

Throughout more than 30 years of his creative career, Tai Ming-Te often refers to himself as having “transformed into a drawing machine that documents the times through sentiment and unremitting creativity.” Tai’s “Self-portrait” series refers to memories that are parallel to the times, forming autonomy through self-reflection and self-mumbling. The series is different from previous works that avoid the self and depict scenes of dilemma and reality and finally returns to creating artworks for the self, just like the return to authenticity. These works, which are born through in-depth conversations with the self, have become a message board and memorandum for the future self. The artist believes the honesty of the works will surely evoke resonance among viewers.

The drawing intent is linked with the self and society through pictorial transformations and practices. Layered with life memories and political parallax, these works are a response to the formation of the land’s cultural dynamics and atmosphere. Self-portraits Solo, Recovering the Emperor’s New Clothes, Data and Portraits, and Masquerade uses the human face spider as a metaphor for the self. At the same time, the amusing alterations in personality and limbs become ineffable visual punctum and issues. (Article by Tai Ming-Te)