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Photographers manage to blur boundaries of art

By Vico Lee
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004, Page 19

A scene from Chen Ching-yao's Ass Hole series. PHOTO COURTESY OF MOCA

Spellbound Aura is not just a photography exhibition. It is an exhibition about photography, all its possibilities and its influences on other media," said Yao Ruei-chung (姚瑞中), co-curator of Spellbound Aura: The New Vision of Chinese Photography (出神入畫: 華人攝影新視界) currently on show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台北當代藝術館).

As the difference between photographers and artists have blurred, the exhibition includes sculptures, installations, videos and an oil painting. Yao teamed up with Zhu Chi (朱其) in selecting working from 25 artists from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to show the latest developments in photography in the greater-Chinese world.

"In photography, anything is possible these days. There is unlimited freedom but also greater challenges," said Huang Tzi-chin (黃子欽), an artist at the show.

"All the three places [China, Taiwan and Hong Kong] have developed into matured economies and all the artists have become versed in digital images and made use of performance art concepts in their works. This exhibition is aimed at presenting these trends in the greater-Chinese world," Zhu said.

Photographers from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait may both use similar technologies and share an inclination toward carefully staged tableaus, but their artistic expressions and subject matters are different.

Zhu sees strong personal styles in the works of young Taiwanese artists. Chen Ching-yao (陳擎耀) and Lee Shih-yi (李詩儀), who, for example, deal with sex and imported Japanese pop culture respectively in narrative photo series that starred themselves in costumes. Their colors are more "groovy" and their moods are hedonistic, Zhu said.

Chinese artists appear more concerned with the clash between traditional culture and modern life. Miao Xiaochun (繆曉春), for example, dresses up as Confucius walking through the streets of one of China's tens of thousands of medium-size cities. He walks past a sculpture factory, filled with large statues of ancient Chinese and Roman personalities. The sculptures stand in awkward contrast with the gray electric poles and shabby shops next to the factory. Miao's Confucius seems fragile and out of place in the dirt-co-lored landscape.

"China is changing fast into a commercial society. Everyone is seeking fast money. Manufacturers produce sub-standard goods to cater to the fast-expanding market. The products are sometimes so badly made that even the manufacturers cannot stand them. Roman statues are one of the fashionable products churned out to cater to the consumers of cheap glamor," Zhu said, explaining the background of Miao's work.

"The fast pace of China's social, economic and cultural changes have been a weighty issue that calls out for artists to deal with. In recent years, artists have changed too. They have realized that these changes are irrevocable and may not necessarily be negative. They just want to point out the issues without expressing their stance on them," Zhu said.

Spellbound Aura: The New Vision of Chinese Photography will run through May 2 at Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei (台北市長安西路39號).
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