Gaining an awareness of environment through art

Taking the lawn for a stroll? The answer to the somewhat satirical question is where the theme of this exhibit lies. Artist Onion Hsu, (yes, Onion) is getting people to think about the environment they live in with his installation pieces, hoping that viewers will envision new ways to foster environmental protection.

This exhibition showcases Hsu's modern sculpture works created between 1990 and 1997, when he studied in Italy. A total of 20 sculptural installations, made of metal, wood and plastics, focus on "the bird" as the symbolic object to express the entangled and conflicting sentiments that people have about their environment, ranging from reality and idealism to romance and contradiction, expectation and disappointment.

Hsu uses the bird to traverse the wide-ranging thoughts and reflections that humans have on the environment.

The title piece of the installation is about a flock of birds riding on a bike, taking their favorite lawn with them. The birds, which in this case represent humans, are trying their best to find or create a clean spot to satisfy their needs and expectations of an ideal environment.

Another piece called "Silent Forest" consists of several installations of trees and birds, a scene that says only nature will keep people and other creatures alive. "Street Lamp" is inspired by a total blackout on the island in the summer of last year. It's a light, humorous piece that shows birds on a toothpick container working together to light a lamp, a theme of cooperation that extends to the teamwork needed to reinstate order during chaotic events.

Hsu, 47, is a long term journalistic photographer and modern sculptor that believes deeply in art being part of life. In the early 1990s, he went to Milan and studied sculpture and industrial design. The city itself and the people's attitude toward nature and art proved to be an important source of inspiration.

"The Italians have such a positive attitude and outlook toward life, art and their environment," Hsu says.

"The fact that they try to maintain the good things in life is a great motivation for creativity and fostering of a strong sense of aesthetics," he said.

As winner of the first sculptural competition from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum back in 1985, Hsu has changed quite a bit in his style of presenting art. He has made a greater effort to improve the design quality of his work as well as implement a higher conceptual appeal. He used to shoot photos in a documentary style, but nowadays he is concentrating on art design and conceptual work, especially in his sculptures.

"I try to present the reality, the status quo of the society and the environment in my sculpture," Hsu says. "But at the same time, I am also putting my hands on what rewards me in reality; things that the cold, hard market accepts."

Keeping it in the family

The Shih family has art in their genes. The father, A-di (施並致), mother, Kuo Ya-mei (郭雅眉), and son, Samuel Shih (施宣宇) have all gained fame with little or no classical training in the arts field. So visitors to the show will see ingenious ideas with strong local flavor, without the influence of western academic discipline.

The father has been a self-taught artist for 30 years, dabbling in philosophy, religion, and meditation as influences for his oil paintings.

"I am more creative but have a really bad memory," says A-di. "I don't like institutions and being engineered to follow a curriculum." Using the fish as a symbol, A-di puts down what he calls "the images of the mind" on the canvas. His brightly colored paintings, 29 of which are on view at the gallery, have a surrealistic feel to them and convey his ideas about life by blending concrete objects in nature, such as fish, waves, stars, and the moon.