Xia Jiunn-na's
Since then, Xia's works have been regulars at major auctions and become part of museum collections in China and abroad. Her works so enthralled the Chinese art world that she was praised by the Chinese media in the same breath as Xu Bei-hung
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHIN DER JYU GALLERYN
Xsia's trademark paintings of pensive fair-skinned young women wearing elaborate dresses and lounging inside splendid chambers has come to Taipei's Chin Der Jyu Gallery
The first aspect of Xsia's work that is likely to intrigue viewers is the ostensibly European subject matter and technique, unusual for a Beijing-based Inner Mongolian who attribute her inspiration to daily life as a housewife. What saves Xia's works from being mere replicas of Renoir and Balthus, whose influenced Xia acknowledges, is her emphasis on atmosphere and the projection of her own character onto the canvas, which is a quintessentially Chinese concept.
Still, Xsia's subject matter does set her apart from her contemporaries in China whose works more often focus on society.
"The modernity of Xia's paintings does not lie in the desire to shock or to express bitterness but in providing a respite for people leading a busy life. People who are drawn to her paintings long for a world of tranquility and grandeur they cannot find in real life. One look at the young girl with a poodle will make them smile," said Lee Shu-fang
Xia says her life and work remained unaffected by this sudden rise to fame, like the imperturbable world in her paintings. Xia's round-faced young women, their wavy dresses adorned with pearls and lace, seem to be eternally reading or enjoying afternoon tea. Xia's sunlight is always hazy and diffuses warmly through a window or garden shades. A lone woman, or sometimes one accompanied by a female friend, is always surrounded by wildly blooming flowers.
For Xia, who paints on fleeting intuition, these subjects express best her moods and thoughts. "Although I've also painted men and landscapes, I prefer painting women. I feel very close to them, as if I can confide in them my every passing thought," Xia told the Taipei Times. "Also, I just find girls and flowers beautiful. They are pleasing to the eye."
These subjects are also mysterious to Xia. She describes her painting process as being spurred on and controlled by a supernatural power to lay brush after brush on canvas until an ethereal background is born, at which point she is lead to reveal the people already hidden among the brush strokes. The world in which her subjects blissfully dwell, Xia said, is created by a will not of her own.
Xia sees painting as a way to satisfy her perpetual need for conversation with herself. If her monologues happen to express beauty and comfort, it's just another lucky coincidence in the history of art.
What: A Classic New Visual Field - Xia Jiunn-na's Art Show
Where: Chin Der Jyu Gallery, 14, Lane 199, Hsinyi Rd., Sec. 4
When: until Dec. 8
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and