Long lauded by the local art community for his ability to create large perplexing, at times shocking, yet always eye-catching installation artworks, artist Wu Yu-tang (
Changing his name in 2001 from Wu Cheng-hsiung (
PHOTOS COURTESY OF EAST GALLERY
The retrospective exhibition plots the artist's gradual shift from still life to the absurd and dreamlike -- or from student to artist, as Wu likes to describe it.
Along the way, the display gives viewers an interesting glimpse into the development of the artist's world.
Beginning with collection of basic portraits created while studying in France in the early 1990s and concluding with works such as the mind-boggling Cockroach Home (
So contrasting are the works, in fact, that the exhibition has all the appearance of a joint exhibition, offering visitors a smorgasbord of shapes and forms to enjoy.
Although the current exhibition might leave Wu's less mainstream fans scratching their heads as to the relevance of a portrait of a young girl to Wu's artistic development, the aim of the exhibition is two-fold and really quite straightforward.
Not only does he see it as an opportunity to reach out to Taiwan's more conservative art crowd, more importantly, the holding of such an exhibition is one of the few ways in which Wu can make a living as an artist.
"It's alright creating installation works in which I get across a point of view or concept and make the viewer think in ways he or she has never done before, but such works don't sell," stated the artist. "People want a painting to hang on their wall not an installation piece littering their entire house."
While making no bones about his desire to sell a few paintings in the coming two weeks, Wu also hopes that the exhibition will lead to a better understanding of the basis for many of the eccentric ideas he incorporates in his more outlandish installation works.
Wu's strange worlds have included a stomach-turning look at skin diseases, Department of Dermatology (
"I have no problem with being known as the guy who creates the weird and wonderful installation pieces," Wu said. "But I'd like people to recognize me as an all-round artist rather than some crack-pot who simply creates offbeat, three-dimensional worlds. I'm an artist and, well, artists use many mediums."
Art Works by Wu Yu-tang (
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