The perfect city unfolds and unravels

By Susan Kendzulak
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Thursday, Nov 03, 2005, Page 13

Top, untitled work from Pan Jen-sung. Above, Lu Ming-Te's Media is Everything, Neon Light. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE TAIPEI FINE ARTS MUSEUM

Art rapidly, so how to present their art collections with a fresh perspective is a big question for museums. One way is to re-contextualize the artwork, that is, to take specific pieces of art from the collection, put them together with other works in a surprising or unique manner and exhibit it under a theme or concept.

Alien Land -- Metropolitan Variations is such a show with artworks taken from the museum's collection of mainly modernist-style art.

Taking premise from Thomas Moore's novel Utopia, with the concept of the perfect city, curator Chien Chen-yi (錢晨一) seeks to exhibit art that glorifies the city while also exposing its dark underbelly -- since every city has its dystopic side: crime, pollution, poverty, and so on.

As a result Chien came up with three categories: "Geometric Cities," "Lost Spaces," and "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" in order to present views about a city that is seen, against one that is unseen.

The works on view are mainly two-dimensional rectangular works that create an overall monotone-type of rhythm with paintings being of two types: figurative representation and concrete abstraction. Therefore there are not many surprises for the viewer.

However juxtaposing the famous artist Hsia Yan (夏陽) with the infamous artist Lee Ming sheng (李明山) produces a perverse little thrill. Lee gained notoriety for urinating in the museum's foyer during an exhibition of Dadaist art in the late 1980s. This was part of a series of protests featuring bodily functions that were said to be a response to the bureaucratic way the museum was administered then.

On view is his installation titled Love River, Inner River, Tamshui River, which is of IV drips filled with blood red paint over stacks of small stretched canvasses.

Geometric Cities, an area of loosely painted abstract paintings that hint at urban skylines also shows how traditional calligraphy painting merged so beautifully with modernism, resulting in paintings that combine the past with the future.

Chang Yung-tsun (張永村) gained local acclaim with his series of densely painted ultramarine blue cityscapes that liken the intricate urban environment to a jungle. Ku Ping-hsing's (顧炳星) huge ink scrolls of geometric skyscraper patterns gives Chinese ink painting a new twist as flat black areas of ink resemble New York high-rises, while also maintaining the scale of a Chinese landscape painting. Photographs and graphic prints are included under the theme Lost Spaces. Ho Ching-tai's (何經泰) black-and-white

photos document people who are down-on-their-luck, such as skid-row drunks and leprosy victims.

While Arthur Tress' colorful Cibachromes show that pollution is a byproduct of city living. In the poetically-titled Like Sunken Drums of Waste and the Toxins They Contain, Even Sun and Rain Could Take the Life They Now Sustain shows a fish tank filled with luminous skulls and glowing eyes, while in the background factory chimneys spew out toxic plumes of smoke.

The section titled Hard-boiled Wonderland is for artworks that show the alienation that some people seem to feel living in the city. However, the paintings seem to reflect the feeling that individuality emerges out of the masses, showing that an individual does have a unique and joyful voice in a heavily populated environment.

One that stands out with its simplicity and timelessness is Lu Ming-de's (盧明德) neon sign that says "Media is Everything." Ne This brightly colored statement not only is relevant to today's world, but also succinctly sums up the exhibition.

What: Alien Land -- Metropolitan Variations
Where: Taipei Fine Arts Museum,181, Zhongshan N Road, Sec 3, Taipei (台北市中山北路3段181號)
Telephone: (02) 2595 7656
When: To Jan. 8