Chiayi, the southern city known, among other things, for its stone carvings of monkeys, is now host to a contemporary art exhibition at the Chiayi Cultural Center (until Jan. 30th) that features mostly paintings and installations from its native artists.
Curator Tsai Mei-wen wishes "to expose the local viewers to newer forms of art that they may have never experienced" and to give an opportunity for Chiayi's contemporary young artists to show their work. Besides the indoor exhibition, Tsai included a huge outdoor painting plus ongoing one-person shows at an abandoned warehouse by the train station.
Arriving at the Cultural Center, you immediately notice Chen Shih-ming's 10- by-20 meter canvas installed on the front of the building. Not quite a mural since it is not painted directly on the wall and not quite a painting because the "painted" areas are actually computer print-outs of a few rectangles of bright solid colors or paint-splatters, this huge, predominately white, canvas is affixed to the exterior wall by steel frames and will remain in place for at least six months.
Indoors, the fourth floor of the center is devoted to painting. Cheng Shu-Tzu and Lo Hsueh-jung make appealing abstract pictures that hint at European-styled Modernist works as seen in the work of Cezanne and Kokoschka, while Cheng Chien-chang draws on his native Taiwanese culture. In "Spiritual Genetic Code," two proud farmers are linked by a head dress that is also part of the sea. For Cheng, the sea is deeply spiritual and many of his paintings incorporate its imagery. In the background of the painting, assorted historical scenes of Taiwan (in black and white) are depicted: the church, government buildings, the fishing industry, aboriginal art and the local fauna.
Su Wang-shen's paintings literally depict a dog-eat-dog world. In one, several dogs nonchalantly look on as another appears to drown in a swimming pool. His fighting black and white dogs almost seem like yin-yang symbols, but ultimately act as metaphors for beastly human behavior.
Chen Chieh-yi shows painterly work that ranges from the representational to the abstract. In "Big Feast," a mischievous monkey steals food from a table and a crazed two-headed creature attempts to break free of its cage in "Chain-link Fence." Yet, it is the pinkish abstract works that stand out.
Chen creates depth and shallow space simultaneously while allowing for the spontaneity of paint drips.
The third floor contains room-sized installations. WangTe-ho's fun piece of florescent strands suspended from the ceiling is popular with children who enjoy running in the dark space to see the day-glo "Hello Kitties" swinging from several strands. Close to the ceiling, clusters of origami deer gather while recorded ambient sounds of an altercation with police is aired.
Lu Ming-shih's bucolic installation consists of dried leaves and dirt that cover the floor and figures made from sphagnum moss dot the walls. Large Styrofoam red beetles lean on the huge balls of moss. The crunchy sound of the leaves and the earthy smells immediately transports one to a fairy-tale forest. Lu's art practice and choice of materials can be seen as an extension of his work on a plantation as an environmental activist.
Another earthy work, Huang Buh-ching's pastoral installation at the Alternative Space ended on January 9th. Rejuvenated by his recent representation at the Taiwan Pavilion in the 1999 Venice Biennial, Huang continues to draw with caltrop, a kind of thistle, by adhering its sticky brambles to a rough cotton canvas to make images such as an innocent boy's portrait and a silhouette of a shady tree. An abandoned bike wrapped in straw stood near dried grass stuck out of rusted bedsprings. Bound wild husks of grass swing suspended from the ceiling and halved oil barrels filled with contaminated water give you that eerie sense of the off-limits place, a place perhaps near train tracks or desolate lots, areas that are prohibited, but which hold forbidden pleasures and mystery.
For your information
Chiayi City Cultural Center, 275 Chunghsiao Rd.,
Chiayi; tel: 05-278-8225 and
Alternative Space, first set of warehouses, left of the train station at 37 Peihsing Rd.
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