As part of its second anniversary celebrations Taipei's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA, 台北當代藝術館) is currently holding the first installment of a special season of works by some of the nation's leading contemporary artists.
Entitled, "TAT@mocataipei -- Taiwanese Artists Today" (台灣藝術家個展), the series will run until mid-Nov. It will incorporate both solo and joint exhibitions by seven local artists whom the institute considers to be the brightest of the nation's younger generation of contemporary artists.
The season began earlier this week with Su Meng-hung's (
Material Paradise sees Su undermining and recreating a selection of well-known Western still life works along with some better-known Chinese paintings of birds and flowers.
While undeniably eye-catching, Su's reworking of Western works is at times odd and at others crass.
What Su's Western-style art lacks in sense, his computerized revamped Chinese art makes up for in beauty. One of the most vibrant of these works is his computerized and pink spot speckled adaptation of the Ming Dynasty work by Chen Hung-shou Flower and Butterfly.
In stark contrast to Su's exhibition, Tu's The Beauty and Mystery of Bu Num Civilization Revealed sets out to humor viewers with a spoofy take on archeological finds and the way in which they are exhibited.
Tu's rather outlandish work begins in Tainan County, where, while building a new dormitory for the Tainan National College of the Arts in 2000, engineers unearthed remnants of a long lost civilization.
Known as the Bu Num, the ancient peoples walked the Earth some 30,000 to 50,000 years ago and created some rather interesting art works along the way.
Like all archeological exhibits, Tu's begins with an introduction to the history of the peoples and photographs of the dig itself with the artifacts in the places in which they were unearthed.
Including clay figurines in the form of Bu Num deities that look remarkably similar to those created by Egyptian and Persian stonemasons with the addition of artists mannequins, as well as rocks carved with Bu Num hieroglyphics that look remarkably like the wingdings, the artist's imagination has run riot.
Of course, none of what Tu leads viewers to believe is true. There never was a Bu Num civilization. And though it's all a complete spoof and viewers might be left scratching their heads as to why anyone would go to such lengths to create some nonsensical civilization, Tu's exhibit is guaranteed to amuse.
Material Paradise: Su Mung-hung Solo Exhibition and The Beauty and Mystery of Bu Num Civilization Revealed will run until Sept. 28 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (
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