Although paper cutting is a Chinese folk art that dates back centuries, few contemporary Taiwanese artists have incorporated the tradition into their work. Liu Shih-tung (劉時棟), however, does just that, and with extraordinary originality. His exhibition, Start From Eyes (始於眼), is being mounted at Main Trend Gallery (大趨勢畫廊).
The exhibit displays 36 of Liu’s mixed-media collage paintings. Some two-thirds of them combine Chinese paper cutting with collage elements on painted circular board backgrounds. The remainder employ the same materials except they are rendered on rectangular canvases.
Liu’s creative process is time-consuming and highly involved. He scours hundreds of books and magazines for suitable images and then cuts these into various shapes, such as animals, flowers and stars — imagery found in traditional paper cutting.
Before pasting the cutouts onto a background, Liu applies a layer of paint to the board or canvas as a foundation color. He then pastes the shapes onto the canvas, sometimes adding another coat of paint. In this way, he gradually builds up the painting layer by layer.
The layered effect is clearly visible in Left Foot, Right Foot (左腳，右腳). The canvas’ surface is painted white, on top of which are swaths of orange and yellow pigments. A palette knife was used to scrape away segments of the colors, creating a marbling effect. Paper flowers and leaves are layered between the coats of paint, which adds depth. A bird perches on a tree branch on the bottom left of the picture and faces another bird perched on a twig that juts out from the top left side of the canvas.
The composition and use of vibrant color in The Pure Fragrance Air Breezing the Flowers (清香風滿枝) is reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Chrysanthemums and Wild Flowers in a Vase. A cutout of a Chinese vase sits on the corner of a table, out of which orange, red and purple flowers seem to explode against a turquoise painted background.
WHAT:Start From Eyes — Liu Shih-tung Solo Exhibition (始於眼—劉時棟年個展)
WHERE: Main Trend Gallery (大趨勢畫廊), 209-1, Chengde Rd Sec 3, Taipei City
(台北市承德路三段209-1號)
WHEN:Until June 6
DETAILS:www.maintrendgallery.com.tw
From a distance, the large and rectangular Sprawl (蔓生) resembles Jackson Pollock’s later work. Up close, however, it is just as the title suggests: a dizzying array of creatures, shapes and colors, which are connected by a matrix of multicolored strips of paper— what Liu called “veins” — that branch out from the center to the margins.
The largeness and busyness of Sprawl make it difficult to interpret. But perhaps that’s the point as it is meant to reflect the contemporary world we live in. Like all of Liu’s works, however, the painting is a seamless merging of many styles.
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