Old-school paintings from Taiwan's 1970s

By Diana Freundl
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Sunday, Feb 29, 2004, Page 19

Koo Chung-knang expresses a return to the simple life in Taiwan in Spring Day with a Brick House. PHOTO COURTESY OF TFAM:

After the psychedelic experience of the 1960s most European and US artists continued their avant-garde trends of challenging the public's interpretation of reality. Taiwanese artists, however, tuned in to the socio-political climate of their own country, turned on the artistic realism and dropped out of the Western modernist

movement.

Juxtaposing mediums, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館) has mapped out the development of Taiwanese fine art during the '70s in its current exhibition, Reflections of the '70s: Taiwan Explores Its Own Reality (反思七十: 年代台灣美術發展).

During the 1950s and 1960s many intellectuals were infatuated with Western thought, singing English songs and watching English films. "However following changes in the island's diplomatic relations in the early 1970s [loss of its right to represent China at the UN and an end to official relations with Japan and America] there was a dramatic rise of national consciousness. Several artists began to travel around Taiwan to personally experience and understand the situation in the agriculture, fishing, manufacturing and mining industries," said Liu Yung-jen (劉永仁), co-curator of the exhibition.

Comprising than 200 pieces from 44 artists, visitors can be slightly overwhelmed with contrasting styles and moods. However, in an attempt to maintain continuity the museum has organized the works into five themes.

At first, "Return to the Roots," suggests a naive orientalization with several paintings of rural settings unspoiled by modernization. Development that was taking place in rural communities all over Taiwan, however, is not overlooked, with oil paintings of partially torn down homes and newly constructed factories polluting the cities.

As the cosmetic makeup of Taiwan's cities change, from small villages to blossoming cities, viewers are taken back to a more simplistic life in "The Rustic Life."

Here the walls are filled with the work of notable self-taught artists, such as Hung Tung (洪通) who embraced indigenous customs in his works.

Perhaps least visually stimulating section of the exhibition is "The Sublimation of Clay," with a few interesting sculptures interlaced among a large selection of ceramic bowl-like pieces. It is worthwhile to note, however, that it was this period that saw clay first emerge as a medium of artistic creation in Taiwan.

Somewhat is a painting of New York's Mercer Street in the fourth section, "Meticulous Insight," which contains several works from Taiwanese artists residing in America during the 1970s. Although the exhibit's theme of a search for a true Taiwan identity appears to have been momentarily lost with random paintings of New York's cityscape, there is a common thread of artistic realism that runs through all the pieces in this section, leading to the final area, "Focus on Concern."

It is here that visitors get a snapshot of Taiwan in the 1970s. Photographers explored the urban decay of the cities and traveled to villages of indigenous peoples to show all sides of social change.

Though times it seems there are too many contrasting themes lumped under one decade-size umbrella, each section has its own merits and the whole exhibit deserves a thorough examination by anyone wanting to explore the reality of Taiwan.

For your information :
Reflections the '70s: Taiwan Explores its Own Reality will run through May 9 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 181 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 3, Taipei (臺北市中山北路３段１８１號).