In addition to the public passageways of commuter trains and airport terminals, Lai has also installed work at financial banks often incorporating Chinese principles of Feng Shui design and symbols.
In Friendliness is Conducive to Business Success for the Bank of Taiwan, Lai installed a chandelier-like sculpture that looks like bamboo grown upside-down as that symbolizes fortune and growth. Her intentional placement of light, color and shape was also done to enhance the space's magnetic field to create an area conducive to financial success.
One point that emerges in the exhibition is that in order to be a successful public artist, one must wear many hats: that of businessperson, interior designer, one familiar with architecture, and one who can gauge the public in order to make work that is accessible, non-offensive and consistent.
While working with a limited palette of bright primary and secondary colors, neon lighting and simple organic and geometric shapes, Lai proves to be that type of artist.
Exhibition notes:
What: Jun Lai Public Art Solo Exhibition
Where: Taipei Fine Arts Museum,181, Zhong-Shan North Road, Section 3, Taipei (
Tel: 2595-7656
When: Now through Feb. 13, 2005,Tuesdays to Sundays, 9:30am to 5:30pm. Closed Mondays.
More information: http://www.tfam.gov.tw; www.junjunart.com