Cheng's Pray for Luck deserves a special mention as much for the statement it makes as for the quality of the craftsmanship. Using long strips of copper wire that become hair attached to a copper body suspended in the air, the work symbolizes the influence of luck in Chinese society.
But the work is ambiguous. On first glance it appears as a child in the womb or a naked woman suspended torturously from above. Only after the staff explains the symbolism behind the knot and color of the metal does it become apparent that it is a positive statement about fate.
Though overall the works display a high degree of skill, the exhibit suffers from a lack of thematic purpose. What has brought the artists together in this exhibition has more to do with where they live than the statements they are making with their works.
The name of the exhibit was inspired by the varieties of cactus that were brought to Taiwan from abroad and through an evolutionary process, propagated in the arid regions of the islands' south. Similarly, though all the artists originally hail from central and northern Taiwan, they now all live in the south — suggestive of a different kind of evolution.
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