Crazy islanders

Taiwan an island of lunatics? That's the question asked by a group of artists whose works are currently being exhibited at the Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (TIVAC 台灣國際視覺藝術中心). Graduate and undergraduate students from the Taipei University of the Arts chose the theme themselves and, with the help of curator Dawn Liu (蹓董), selected works that highlight what they see as Taiwan's inhumanity and lack of art.

The 16 young artists represented in the exhibit, Crazyman Islanders (瘋人島) are not trying to denigrate Taiwan, but, in their own words, offer a "madly candid expression of a deep-set love for the island on which they live and the sense of responsibility they feel for it." They wish to do no less than "save their nation through art" by doubting and criticizing the aberrations of contemporary Taiwanese society.

The problem is that only a very few of the pieces on offer address any aberrations or raise suspicion that Taiwan might, in fact, be an island of lunatics. The artists may have had as much in mind when creating their pieces, but the finished products are either off-base from the chosen theme or too abstract to register in viewers' minds. What, for instance, does Wang Yu's (王午) lovely ink prints of potted plants say of the nation's inhumanity? I searched every branch and stem in one print for the ubiquitous rendering of a leaf shaped like Taiwan (it's in several others' works) but found none. A Taiwan-shaped leaf dangling alone on a branch, I thought, might signify the island's international isolation. All you see instead is an excellent ink print.

And that's the case with most of the works in Crazyman Islanders. The impression left with viewers is that these young artists are each already fine craftsmen, but their works do little to strike out at Taiwan's inhumanity or lack of art. Perhaps the reason is because Taiwan isn't all that inhuman, nor does it lack good works of art. The exhibition huffs and puffs, but at nothing in particular. (An aside: For a memorably piercing take on the theme "inhumanity", visit Gunther Uecker's installation of nail-ridden works inspired by the riots that took place in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art through the coming week.)

The craftsmanship inherent in Crazyman Islanders goes a long way towards accomplishing the exhibit's other stated goal, namely changing the traditional impression of conservatism and restriction in Taiwanese printmaking by choosing novel ways to present the prints. For proof, check out the several three-dimensional and bas-relief prints on display.