Etan Pavavalung Solo Exhibition: Thinking in the Nature

Curator/ Artist: Etan Pavavalung

A famous Irish dramatist goes by the George Bernard Shaw mentioned that “The body is always in the end. In addition to thinking, there is no beautiful and interesting things to stay, because thought is life.” Thought is the fundamental element of human behavior and interaction, and it allows people discover, comprehend even describe things around the world through abstractive and conceptual analysis toward the current world. Though, these ideal philosophies may not share the common ground with the indigenous Taiwanese Paiwan tribe that is known as “Pu-Varung”. The definition of “Pu-Varung” can be comprehended through its individual meaning of each character. (The word “Pu” has the inner meaning of possessing, and the word “Varung” has the meaning of inner aspiration, thought and wisdom) Hence if two words come together, it represents a unique human character of this Taiwanese indigenous tribe. In Taiwan, there various indigenous tribes, among them, pu-varung is well-known for been the wisest philosopher. People from this tribe are well familiar with the use of idioms for things around them. For instance, sentence “the wind is fragrant” literately mean the wind smells good, but there another inward meaning for describing that the air without contamination. Also, the phrase “the dawn stole a glance at us” can be translated and understood literately as the dawn saw us. But its inward meaning stands for “time comes and goes, but people still need to continue to think. To the people of Pu-Varung, thoughts are mysterious matters that come with creativity. These hold the signs of anticipation of the things which a person is about, or will face in the reality and future.

The quote “Thinking in the Nature” is the criticism which the artists have toward the air pollution in Taiwan. Artists who hold such quote generally express their thoughts concerning the damage and inconvenience which the air pollution brought for the society, with exhibition. This quote also encourages Taiwanese people to be recognized as part of the world citizen who share the common ground of preserving and perfecting the concept of nature environment and preservation. Based on this concept, the artistic piece “ve-ne-cik” by the Taiwanese artist Etan Pavavalung presents the fundamental thoughts that the people of Pu-Varung have for the nature and its pricelessness. It also defines that the nature needs to be preserved by all mankind, should people seek for a pure land without contamination. This kind of attitude and thought have become the most precious wisdom of Taiwanese indigenous people.

In the nature, the flow of the air becomes the wind that blow onto our face from time to time. The air and the wind are the greatest thing that were given by God to preserve and keep the balance between the mankind and the nature. Therefore, we all must hold onto this concept so that the nature may last.

Al Andalus - Spanish Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition

The relationship between Spain and Taiwan can be traced as far back as 1626-1642, during which Spain ruled Northern Taiwan. The architecture and foreign culture of the time seeped into Taiwan culture. The three Spanish art giants, Picasso, Miró, and Dali, went on to influence the art context of the entire world.

Taiwan is currently going through a process of ethnic fusion and cultural tolerance. Working in collaboration with Gallery Weber-Lutgen, 102 Art Gallery will be presenting contemporary works by Spanish artists from January 9th to February 11th, 2018.

The Gallery Weber-Lutgen was established in 2007 and is situated in the historical town of Sevilla. Throughout the years, Sevilla has continued to evolve from a traditional town into a space with innovative artistic achievements, transforming into a birthplace for the latest art trends in different fields. The gallery manages more than 20 artists whose works span across various styles and forms of modern and contemporary art, including visual art, performance art, installation art, oil paintings, and sculptures. The different aspects of the creative process allow a view of the work and diverse styles built on top of a variety of cultural differences.

102 Art Gallery has long been committed to contemporary culture and art. It is our hope that our discoveries in art will allow more artworks to be seen. We understand that great art is not always easily understood, accepted, and loved by contemporary viewers, but our deep-rooted enthusiasm and perseverance (or even calling) encourages us to press on. We hope that this art collaboration with Gallery Weber-Lutgen will present new perspectives and cultural horizons to viewers.

The Art Meditator: Tsai Hsien-Yiu

by Ye Chu-Sheng

A multivariate, technological environment presents us with a variety of issues to probe into, while multivariate art methods and media leave artists with the major question of how to choose the best expression. Moreover, as life and the surroundings change, art demands constant innovation through mindfulness and the co-existence between the self, the environment, and nature. Paintings reflect the inner state of the painter; it is inevitable for the work to relate to the mental state, including issues such as the outlook towards life, values, and personality, of its creator. Therefore, when an artist is fully immersed in his or her work, the form of the artist truthfully manifests through artistic methods. It is not easy to lead an organized lifestyle between teaching, administrative work, and creative work; but Hsien-Yiu is among the few who manages to achieve this. Due to his attention towards the expression of natural materials and his fragmented work schedule, Tsai Hsien-Yu tidies his materials and tools on a daily basis so that he can enter the state of concentration in his studio within the shortest time possible. Tsai started studying materials when he was a student and manages to apply materials that are far from traditional and conservative. Tsai’s materials are all collected from nature and not art stores, refined and perfected with the precision of a scientist to return to the authentic and natural stated through materials.

Perhaps in the eyes of Hsien-Yiu, the creative process has turned into a practice that disciplines and refines the temperament, a process that continuously and repeatedly reflects on the inner and outer state of being, allowing him to guide the gaze inward, probe into the essence of nature and life, and reach a state of ease. The topics that catch his attention all come with discourse and research, and all of his works reach a certain quality and quantity. Throughout each stage, Tsai’s works are linked together with a common elegance; each created using natural materials and conducts a profound examination towards the evolution of nature. This process makes the artist similar to an alchemist; the process of creating art is a part of the work and Tsai’s meditation practice, with hopes that the work and creator can become one.

The works of Tsai Hsien-Yiu can roughly be sorted into four categories: material, philosophical, natural, and botanical. Black world, awarded with the 1986 Lion Art New Artist Award, was inspired by the mixture of charcoal and glue, materials used by intellectuals when writing and painting, capable of creating various effects and forms. However, Tsai seems to be unconcerned with the endless possibilities but instead focuses on ways to simplify the works. Tsai places the works in a container under the sun for the water to evaporate, leading to the glue to merge with the charcoal, creating the crystallization of ink. Natural shapes and cracks form on the crystal, leaving a rough surface with enchanting shimmer. Existence and non-existence are one, both leading to infinite possibilities and imaginations. Different artistic expressions are capable of shattering traditional painting elements and structures, direct and pure at the same time.

Life & Death: Revert (1989-1993), The Dynamic of the Primitive World (1993-1995), and  A roc (1996-1998) are philosophical reflections on life. The law and pattern of natural phenomena display the endless cycle of life where birth eternally accompanies death, constantly changing, like the perspective of the giant bird, seeing far and wide. All living creatures are tiny beings in the face of the vastness of the universe. It is nearly impossible to express questions about how to live a fulfilled and meaningful life through paintings or words; contemplations such as these may only be investigated through human wisdom. The artist uses organisms, symbols, and designs from the natural world to construct his image. The brushstrokes create a fluid background filled with mobility that forms a mysterious and poetic aura.

Exhibitions that explore the mystery of the natural world include The Magnetic Fields Image (1999-2001), Polar Region: The Mysterious Territory of Ice and Light (2005-2007), Sound of Natural (2009-2010), Falling on White (2011), Falling Leaves (2012), and Forms of Tree (2013-2015). The most extraordinary aspect of these exhibitions is its ability to present its uniqueness throughout different occasions. The physical qualities are observed through the eyes, while the metaphysical is seen through other senses, such as hearing and touch. Despite its mode of existence, human senses have limitations. Tsai Hsien-Yiu continues to expand into the unknown, developing endless possibilities. Whether the themes are old, new, good, or bad, is not worthy of consideration, since old and new are merely differences in concepts. The focal point is how the themes are applied and transformed. Personally, I am incredibly fond of Tsai’s works, but the career of an artist is a marathon, and I look forward to how Tsai expands his works. All of the issues above are important for an artist. The mentioned series of works used a variety of materials and automatic color techniques to grasp the changes and mysterious qualities of light and color; the artist’s nuanced examinations on plants lead to a sense of empathy towards the condition of the plant. The blooming and withering of flowers exist in a cycle, a state that also applies to other entities of this Earth. In the face of the forces of nature, one can only lament and praise. This positivity allows us a glimpse into Tsai’s attitude and perspective towards life.

As the name suggests, the exhibition The Reincarnation of Plants focuses on the concern towards plants. The collection of works showcased in this exhibition is great for plant catalogs used in observation and research purposes and contain sophisticated artistic qualities and techniques. The complex pictures handle the sophisticated composition of the images, with a coherent color scheme that doesn't emphasize realistic lighting and space, compressing the dramatic effects of the vision. This method expresses the subtle changes between sense and sensibility. The artist adopts an attitude not different from an alchemist when using colors; the color pigments are extracted by the artist himself and display a humble, deep, warm quality. The artist continues to discover new materials; for instance, the color black seen in the paintings are not created by oil pigments but scraped charcoal, soot, and glue, ground together and applied to the canvas. The artist is unique in the usage of pigments, and the special colors bring out different effects, allowing the artist to continue to expand and develop his methods. Before this, traditional artistic expressions require hand-painted methods, and works are reviewed according to the completeness of the image. However, as always, artist Tsai Hsien-Yu proposes a different concept and approach. Tsai often focuses on a certain theme but does not proceed with objective observation. Instead, Tsai adopts an openness that is almost automatic where the pigments roam freely on the canvas, allowing the colors to create natural changes, and only making revisions in the final stage. I believe this to be a good method because this process encourages creativity and presents alternative possibilities from the original process.

Perhaps viewers will wonder why the botanical series are presented as flat images, without any sense of three-dimensional quality. I suppose this has to do with what Tsai wishes to express and the theme that he is interested in. When observing his work, I feel as if Tsai is depicting a plant within a fossil, which is naturally different from the living plants we see in the natural world, with vibrant color and intense lighting. The plants are instead, enwrapped with magma, hence its flat, print-like appearance. Some friends of mine share their thoughts on why Tsai’s works emit a sense of peacefulness that guides the viewer into contemplation. They believe that the artist removes the dynamic elements from the image, approaching the images with a sense of humbleness that encourages viewers to enter a state of tranquility. When observing the works, it is as if we are from the same tree, the “form” of the tree that Tsai emphasizes. This form evolves into different trees filled with leaves. What is the reason behind so many trees? For Tsai Hsien-Yiu, “a single leaf equals a tree, while a whole tree is seen in one leaf,” forming his view on plants throughout natural laws. Viewers notice the withering, birth and death, the unending cycle of life through the appearance of leaves; each ending is a new beginning, silently filled with energy. This process of leaves – trees – body – senses – expression is similar to the practice of a meditator, creating the artwork of reflection and introspection, presenting the best through the balance between art and mind.

Oasis: Group Exhibition of Zhi-Hao LO, Yi-Ting SU, and Wei-Wen CHEN

We all have a secret Utopia hidden deep in our hearts, a land that allows us to roam freely, filled with dreams in their purest forms. This space is like an oasis in the desert, safeguarding all that is good. Three young artists, Zhi-Hao LO, Yi-Ting SU, and Wei-Wen CHEN, present their own spiritual oasis through varying painting methods, sharing the most profound moments and allowing us to inspect ourselves through the annotations of lush lands, resonating to the oasis in the hearts of viewers.

Zhi-Hao LO uses elements from the natural world to reflect phenomena that surround daily life. Symbolic objects are placed within the works in different compositions to articulate the nuanced state of ongoing or completed incidents, connecting and echoing the simplest human interactions. LO’s paintings emit a light and burdenless atmosphere that allows viewers to inspect the works in a relaxed manner; viewers may realize that what the works depict are familiar states in our own lives.

Yi-Ting SU searches for everyday materials or objects that have the possibility of harboring memories. SU’s works attempt to discover familiar landscapes within memories of traveling between urban and countryside settings. Throughout the travels, clear and blurred memories constantly flash by; the works are endeavors of the artist to search for a method to document fleeting moments amid perplexing realities and memories. The fiber material used in the works have become a carrier for memories, reproducing the lucid and blurry perspectives of life. The personal urban images are presented through the reproduction methods of fiber images.

With windows, Arowana, and aquatic plants, Wei-Wen CHEN weaves a land of intertwined time and space. The windows separate reality into interior and exterior times and spaces while the Red Arowana pass through history with a mysterious and ancient veil, gracefully, elegantly, and freely moving between the fluidity of time created by the aquatic plants, waving with the tides. Since everything leaves a mark, with the changes in space and the proceeding of time, memories become profound, creating a unique four-dimensional space.

Internal Visions and Responses of the Mind: Chuang Lien Tung Solo Exhibition

When examining the existence and appearance of concrete objects through their external characteristics and extending deep into meaning through clarifying internal states, we apply the vision of the physical eye for the former, and vision of the mind in the latter. The vision of the physical eye observes objective form, understanding regularities and experiencing appeals, while the vision of the mind develops subjective interpretation with thoughts continuously circulating and imaginations endlessly extending.

Chuang Lien Tung’s 2017 exhibition displays new understandings towards the vision of objects within the external world. By combining the visual and imagery speculation on the vision of the eye with that of the mind, Chuang conducts the internal vision towards the inner state of mind. With implications of external objects and the multiple possibilities in the relationship between that object and other objects, the artist infers a painting vocabulary that conforms with the current social environment and expresses personal subjective consciousness and image interpretation.

Therefore, the images depicted in Chuang’s works are all agents for transmitting messages. Apart from the metaphorical vocabulary of the image themselves, the works are also spokespersons for specific meanings. This meaning might refer to a reflection of the essence of humanity, but also a discussion that probes into social phenomena. Naturally, investigations targeted at the core of the problems are profound observations of life of artist Chuang Lien Tung. Hence, the images have become a reflection of the artist’s transference and expressions that not only match personal states of the mind but also reflect collective opinions. The correspondence of the “Turtle” can be the variation of any object or transformed into any composition, filled with freedom of imagination. The self-observation through “Fish” either inflates or belittles the self, reflecting with either clarity or obscurity, presenting authentic representations of the different appearances of life in this world. The mutual influence between the “Lizard” and “Statue of the Buddha,” the self-transformation of the “Flower” and the “Butterfly,” all express the differences between varying perspectives.

“Internal visions” are inner sensations reflected by observations on the eternal world, while “responses of the mind” are expressions displayed from the induction of the mind. In the eyes of the painter, the rule of circulation in the universe and the state of operation in the world are hidden in the lives of tiny creatures.

   “Sin Titulo: Hsieh Chi-Chang Solo Exhibition” is the display of a series of works inspired by my living aesthetic abroad and life experiences after returning to Taiwan. As the creative process unfolds, simple scribbles and graffiti transform into energies of abstract plastic arts, attempting to construct realistic space and document memories using symbols, abstract calligraphy, and incidents of everyday life.

In general, western philosophy tends to stress the discussion of concepts and the analysis of language, viewing philosophy as pure speculation and discourse. Chinese philosophy, however, focuses on personal experiences and the cultivation of body and mind, interpreting philosophy as a way of life. In other words, Chinese art emphasizes metaphysical beauty, while western art is a series of pursuits aimed at changes in form. Noting this difference, I have combined the concepts and expressions of Chinese and western art in my works. Professor Liu Feng-Jung reviewed my works in his article as: “a unique annotation of form and color that conveys the artist’s accomplishments in ink and wash paintings, western aesthetics, abstract paintings, and the artist’s training and education in Spain. Hsieh applies the western concepts of instinct, emblems, symbols and forms, imaginations and psychoanalysis, and Kant’s theory of play, while also stressing the arrangement of illusion and reality, black and white, or the configuration of the subject and background, movement of brushstrokes, and the flow of curved lines. Geometric boats, buildings that symbol the home space, or floating shapes that are both semi- and non-figurative are seen within the abstract works of the artist, giving the viewers a sensation as if merging into the vast and void world of ink and wash paintings…”

   This exhibition presents the “Travel and Architecture Series,” “Calligraphy and Nature Series,” and “Abstract: Sleep Diary Series.” These works were completed between 2013 and 2016. Some were finished after on and off work; some works took months to complete, while others took up to one year. After going through construction, destruction, and reconstruction, the memories of the manuscript undergo recollection and free coverings. Ultimately, the artist’s subconscious usually becomes the source of inspiration. This drawing pattern born through intuition and playful expression results in mixed lines and symbols that hint to time and space, intertwining and forming into “quasi-maps.”

Diaries and unconscious graffiti drafts remind the artist of past events. Without planning and arrangements in advance, everything gradually comes to form along with the creation process. From the moment the paintbrush touches the surface, the small portion gradually extends into shape, slowly growing at will in space. With calligraphic graffiti and shapes that form occasionally and automatically, I pay attention to the nuances throughout the creative process, hoping that the final work will be able to present the painting process, just like the scene of an ongoing march.

With silhouettes of boats, houses, and ladders that resemble the shape and form of written characters, I attempt to create an atmosphere that involves symbolic elements. These are symbols of memories and emotions, also documentations of emotional traces. The black silhouette designs, calligraphic graffiti, mechanic lines, and contrasting colors, scatter randomly on the image as if a moving map. The spilling of oil-based liquids creates an ambiguous dialogue with space. This mystical atmosphere quietly motions and continuously extends through the density, size, and color of lines, continually stretching and covered with mingled images and lines, naturally displaying the motives of the artist. The strong emotions carve deep into the works, growing and spreading, giving missions to the symbols of the scene.

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.