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Goodbye 20th century

The second floor of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum is divided according to decade and features some of the best oil paintings made by Taiwan artists. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

A selection from the TFAM's permanent collection offers a look at Taiwan's art over the last century

Two terrific shows currently running in Taipei sum up the 20th century in very different fashions. The first at Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is an attempt to write Taiwan's art history, not in print, but in 117 master paintings from the institute's permanent collection. The second show is at Dimensions Art Center, where an assortment of 25 works showcase the diverse culture of Taiwan's contemporary art scene at the end of the last century.

TFAM's retrospective show, called "Highlights from the Permanent Collection," looks back at 100 years of art in Taiwan, covering ground-breaking material such as Huang Tu-shui's (黃土水) 1926 plaster sculpture Sakya and Chen Cheng-po's (陳橙波) 1927 oil painting Streets Scene on a Summer Day to contemporary pieces like Yao Jui-chung's (姚瑞中) 1997 Attacking the Mainland Action Series and Hung Tung-lu's (洪東祿) 1999 Pretty Soldier: Sailor Moon.

A series of woodcut prints by Hou Chun-ming at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum looks in graphic detail at the theme of sexuality. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

The exhibition is spread out over two floors of the museum, with eight halls on the second floor separated according to decade. Highlights of the show include masterpieces such as Liao Chi-chun's (廖繼春) Courtyard with Banana Trees (1928) and Lee Shih-chao's (李石樵) Happy Farmers (1946) which offers a nostalgic window on the scenery and people of Taiwan in the 1940s. On the first floor are pieces by 13 contemporary artists some of whose works have been showcased at the Venice Biennial.

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum's current show features classic works such as this 1944 sculpture by Chen Hsia-yu. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Most of the first floor artwork takes an angst-ridden look at society, challenging social norms and values through mixed media presentations that range from video installations to computer-aided print outs. Yao, for example, humorously touches upon the issue of the tense relationship across the Taiwan Strait, while Hung, centers his themes around Japanese comic characters that are the only company of many children of working parents. Provocative woodcuts by Hou Chun-ming's (侯俊明) and Huang Chih-yang's (黃志陽) Space Series (1992), which feature scrolls with images of beast-like humans, touch on taboos such as sex and morality. Touching on the issue of the media and society, Wang Jun-jien's (王俊傑) multimedia installation uses repeated images to issue a scathing critique of crass contemporary commercialism.

Look into the mouth of this plastic dog by Peng Hung-chih and you will see yourself eating dog food. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TIAIPEI TIMES

For your information

Lee Yi-chuan reproduced an oversized board game to comment on pervasive commercialism in modern society. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

What: Highlights from the Permanent Collection
Where: Taipei fine arts museum, 181 Chung-shan N. Rd., Sec. 3, Taipei (台北美術館,台北市181中山北路3段)
When: First floor until March 25, second floor until July 8

At Dimensions Art Center, modern artists take a jaded look at the 20th century

"Passion for the Good Old Days" at Dimensions Art Center, with its 25 pieces, offers a sort of off-Broadway contrast to TFAM's retrospective exhibition.

Hung Tung-lu's piece featuring Japanese comic book characters, left, is one of the highlights at Dimensions Art Center's current exhibition. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

This irreverent contemporary art show says goodbye to the 20th century by being fun and dynamic, and reminds one of the recently-closed Taipei Biennial at TFAM. Drawing from a variety of sources, this lively show displays the cultural mix evident in Taiwan's contemporary art. The only overlap with TFAM's Highlight show is a mixed-media installation depicting Japanese comic book characters by Hung Dung-lu (洪東祿).

The eight featured artists, each with their unique and idiosyncratic style, are placed under two categories: passion for childhood and passion of self. Some of the self-portraits are highly personal, sometimes verging on narcissistic, while others make sarcastic critiques of society and people.

Installation artist Hung Yi's (洪易) has created four-layered acrylic boxes, one of which is a model of a teahouse with the facade of a police station, suggesting that policemen prefer to sip tea, rather than patrol the streets.

Peng Hung-chih (彭弘智), another installation artist, made a dog sculpture which requires the viewer to kneel and look into its eyes. Inside the dog one sees a video of oneself as a dog eating dog food. At this point, the viewer recognizes the significance of the sound of a dog eating which is piped incessantly through the gallery's sound system.

Lee Yi-chuan (李宜全), a contemporary artist who recently returned from a two-month stay at the OMI art village in New York, made an enlarged board game which portrays commercialism and gambling as pervasive elements of our lives.

For your information

What: Passion For The Good Old Days
Where: Dimensions Art Center (帝門藝術中心), 2F, 341, Sec. 4, Jen Ai Rd., Taipei (臺北市仁愛路四段341號2樓)
When: Until Feb. 28
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