Figurative painting here and now

Recently, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has started exhibiting part of its collection in thematic exhibitions -- a great way to learn about Taiwan's modern history as told through art. Figurative painting in Taiwan is divided into five areas and these take the viewer through the story of Taiwan's diverse painting history and features 120 works by 70 artists.

The first theme is "Naturalism-Objectivity," which mainly consists of landscape painting. This inclusion seems strange, as in Western art history classes it is taught that figurative painting is the depiction of the human form. For local painters, however, there did not seem to be separate categories as the body and the landscape were interchangeable subjects for them.

The impressionist school of pain-ting began to influence Taiwanese painters in the 1950s. It also coincided with the New Art Movement of the Japanese colonial period (1895 to 1945) when artists depicted material objects in naturalistic ways. Even though the techniques may have come from outside influences, the subject matter was unique to Taiwan and included images of farmers, village life, and the water buffalo -- which soon came to symbolize Formosan life.

Yen Shui-long's (顏水龍) Landscape of Orchid Island (1984) glows with an inner light and even though it was painted in 1984 it is so bucolic and far removed from the high-tech life we often associate with Taiwan that it seems as if it was painted in a previous century. Lin Yu-shan's (林玉山) gouache of two heads of cattle also stands out with its sense of pastoral beauty.

Under the theme "Altered Forms-Simplification," more lyrical and fanciful paintings appear. Wu Hao's (吳昊) whimsical painting of dancing maids best exemplifies this theme. Chen Jing-rong's (陳景容) Three Muses (2005) is an unintentionally humorous attempt at allegorical painting. Chang Yi-hsiung (張義雄) tackles the difficult subject of clowns and his portrait of a mime shows a sad person with a white face. Ho Chao-chu's (何肇衢) Jiufen has a rhythmical cubist-like patterning.

As nativist literature began to influence the local visual arts during the 1970s, painters began to use Western painting techniques such as photorealism to portray Taiwan's grassroots culture. "Native Consciousness-Photorealism" is a grouping of paintings that depict Taiwan's unique local flavor.

As neo-expressionist painting swept Europe and North America in the early 1980s, the passionate forms of expressive brushwork had a major influence on Taiwanese painters. However, these artists had strong ideas about Taiwanese identity and were concerned with the contemporary political and social issues, as martial law was beginning to lose its grip. Under the theme "Historical Subjects-Neo-Expressionism" many of the works by these critical painters refer to the local history of coloni-zation and the struggle in the search for a native identity.

Yang Mao-lin's (楊茂林) Zealand ia Memorandum L9305 and Wu Tien-chang's (吳天章) Homage to the Un-known Hero -- Commemorating the 228 Incident are two noteworthy examples. Chang Chen-yu (張振宇), Chen Tsai-tung (鄭在東) and Yan Ming-huy (嚴明惠) are the most well-known figure painters of this generation.

The last theme of the exhibition is "Virtual Realities-New Figurative Forms" and highlights the pluralist nature of the local art scene in the 1990s. As more artists studied or traveled abroad, they brought back diverse cultural influences. Wu Yung-chieh's (吳詠潔) We Can Really Fly shows the influence of new media and pop culture. Kuo Wei-kuo (郭維國) is known for his haunting self-portraits and in Yellow Silk Robe he appears as a larger-than-life demon.