East or West? And what's the difference?

Recently among artists, curators and critics in Taiwan's art circles there has been discussion about the differences in Western and Eastern aesthetics and perceptions. In our media-saturated world formed by Hollywood movie images, the question that many Taiwanese artists ask themselves is: Can today's artists have an Asian perspective. And if so, is an Asian point of view different from a Western one?

Two exhibitions currently on view unwittingly explore this issue, as the three artists are from Taiwan, yet were educated in art institutions in the US.

The medium of choice for these artists is photography.

For her exhibition at TIVAC titled Minutiae, Kuo Hsiu-li (郭秀莉) displays black and white gelatin silver prints that show in exacting detail found natural elements such as dried seeds and bones, while her colorful C-Prints record rusty tools left behind in dusty cabinets. She is fascinated with Western medical photography, which strives for realism. Unfortunately the subject matter isn't as interesting as her technique.

Also at TIVAC are works by Huang Yachi (黃亞紀) who studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York and has moved between various cities such as Kobe, New York, Taipei and Shanghai. Her nomadic lifestyle made her aware of the need for good housing, so she started to collect the real estate flyers that announced utopian-style living and fantasy lifestyles. The reality is often different.

Huang created The Model House as a way to explore the concept of the ideal home. Each image of a home or building is blurred with a greenish tint, as if a sickly pallor has descended on an idealistic idea of home. In this way Huang criticizes media imagery that sells a box and calls it an ideal living situation.

Exhibitions at IT Park tend to have long introductions that border on the poetic. This exhibition is no exception and the title almost prepares you for the viewing experience.

Los Angeles-based artist and Yale graduate Arthur Ou's (歐宗翰) photography exhibit is called On Every New Thing There Lies Already the Shadow of Annihilation.

Where Huang's work is quickly recognized and easy to digest, Ou's is like a puzzle that needs to be decoded and deciphered. For a start, the exhibition title sets the tone for what is to follow.

The key word "annihilation" is often repeated at the same time as nuclear explosion. Here Ou refers to the obliteration of experience due to the illusory nature of memory.

He works like an archeologist digging up artifacts via his conceptual photography and sculptural installations, that include a cabinet of ceramic artifacts, a 3D architectural model of a building and lighting fixtures.

Overall, his attention to the most minute detail enhances the viewer's sensory perceptions of the surrounding environment. But Ou's archeology is an archeology of the present moment, as a way to preserve the "now" -- before we forget it.

After looking at these artists' works, categorizing these images and artistic thoughts as Western or Eastern seems a futile endeavor.

Exhibition notes:

What: `The Model House' by Huang Yachi; `Minutiae' by Kuo Hsiu-Li

Where: Taiwan Internat ional Visual Arts Center (TIVAC), 1F, 29, Ln 45, Liaoning Street, Taipei (台北市遼寧街45巷29號1樓)

Call: (02) 2773 3347

Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12pm to 9pm; Saturday to Sunday, 12pm to 6pm, to Dec. 21