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Life inspires the art of A-Kan
The East Coast artist believes art needs to be made by observing life with his own eyes and by confirming the experience with his own feet
By Derek Lee
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Aug 18, 2005, Page 13
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A-Kan believes art should originate from the feelings of human life. These examples of his art show his playful nature.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOKI
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Kan Shing-yi (甘信一), aka A-Kan, usually spends his afternoons smoking and chatting with friends and visitors at his art gallery, which used to be a rundown two-story house near Hualian (花蓮縣). Now there is a smart sign JOKI (拙而奇) outside and it is a comfortable place to hang out.
The art gallery, founded in 1996, is on the East Coast and has a view of the Pacific Ocean. A-Kan's staff serve tea or coffee and simple meals to visitors, as many of them have likely traveled a long way to find the gallery. On a cozy porch at the back of the establishment, visiting guests find canopied seats and tables.
It's a relaxing place to spend some time in the summer, sipping freshly brewed coffee and appreciating the Pacific Ocean scenery, as waves crash onto rocks and if you're lucky, dolphins or whales can be seen passing by.
Alternatively you can take the Shiti Harbor (石梯港) whale watching tour, which starts off on dry land just five minutes away from the gallery. On the tour, more often than not, tourists will find different groups of dolphins swimming curiously around the boat in the middle of the ocean.
A-Kan is a slim, middle-aged man with a small moustache who often wears a white peaked cap. He has been creating works of art in Hualian for more than 20 years and has married a woman from the Amei tribe.
Driftwood from the ocean, cobblestones on the seashore and manmade copper tubes are the three major components of A-Kan's multi-media art pieces.
"Stone symbolizes antiquity since it existed a long time ago. Wood implies life for the reason that it has annual rings; and copper, a product of modern science, stands for technology and the future of human society," A-Kan says.
His overriding idea is to utilize natural and ancient substances with a touch of modernity to show human history through the creation of art.
A-Kan's Art Chair series is full of stylish humor and combines practical usage and beauty. Those who have seen Art Chair can clearly see the artistic touches that have been applied to the chairs. The result of such art comes from a sophisticated thinking about the relationship between people and furniture before such a piece is produced.
Another of A-Kan's series of pieces is Seaward, which uses big and small fish, carved and polished from seaside cobblestones, as an image to echo the sound of the ocean, which A-Kan believes to be the origin of life. Many of his other works such as Zen and the Turandot series are so creative and witty that one would find it hard to not be overwhelmed by such artistic ingenuity.
Some of A-Kan's artworks are not just appreciated by ordinary visitors to his gallery but also by the wealthy and powerful, who happen to be collectors of his works. Such rich and famous fans include the Tsai family, which owns the newly renovated Sheraton Taipei Hotel, the Wu family which owns the Shin Kong Group, construction tycoon Nita Ing (殷琪) and various other
collectors.
Once upon a time A-Kan was given the opportunity to stay in Germany to create art, but he decided to leave after a short period of time due to lack of inspiration from the country.
Connie Lin (林育卉) of the Broadcasting Development Fund has been collecting A-Kan's art for the past three years. She says she is most impressed by the down-to-the-earth nature of A-Kan's works.
"A-Kan has been able to apply simple and natural media to all of his works and yet through his creative ways of working things out I can imagine that he constantly tries out different methods to solve problems. This kind of working attitude reminds me of Taiwan," Lin says. "Whenever people down here encounter a difficulty they seek out various ways to overcome it. It is this same powerful imagination that is driving the country and its people to look forward to a better future."
Another local art commentator Lin Chia-hua (林佳慧) is more precise about how A-Kan creates a piece and how it connects with the buyer.
"[The artist] has produced his artwork from his imagination and from feelings that he has about life. He first puts into use his ingenuity to dissect compositions or the constituents of a physical object. He then executes every dot, line and irregular shape from the new composition to set free [the object] from the bondage of physical appearances, to let his newly created art piece speak directly to the viewer's heart and mind."
Big feet and big black eyes are two prominent elements that epitomize the spirit of A-Kan's works, which articulates endless curiosity towards life.
Laheici (拉黑子．達立夫) is an internationally known artist in his 40s, also from Hualian, and knows A-Kan's works well. He believes that it's the natural setting of the East Coast that has inspired A-Kan and the way he develops his art.
"A-Kan's multi-media masterpieces stand out noticeably from the others. He is very keen to adopt ideas, both from the creative ways modern cartoons are produced and also using the latest scientific technology to ingeniously formulate the surrealistic configurations of his works of art. Yet, too many series may give people the impression of repetitive works of a similar artistic style," Laheici says.
A-Kan claims, however, he enjoys creating mainstream artworks and does not appreciate art intended for highbrow audiences only. He believes that a person needs to observe life with his own eyes and to confirm the experience with his own feet. This is the only truthful way to comprehend the rich and versatile aspects of life, he says. All art, as it is perceived by the artist, should originate from such feelings of human life, he adds.
The artist is now trying to introduce glass bottles of different shapes and colors as the fourth component to his experimental flower vase series. In A-Kan's eyes his decorative art pieces will comfort people in the same way a pleasant environment soothes the the mood.
Factbox:
What: A-Kan's JOKI
Where: 3, Shihmen, Gangkou Village, Fengbin Township, Hualian County (花蓮縣豐濱鄉港口村石門3號).
How to get there: Drive along Provincial Highway 11 from Hualien City, about 10 minutes after reaching Fengbin Township but before arriving at Shihti Harbor.
Open: 10am to 5pm, everyday.
Contact: (038) 781 616
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