Yeh Chu-sheng (葉竹盛) laments the devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot in 88 River Elegy (88河殤). The focal points are a large-scale installation fashioned from driftwood left behind after the typhoon, as well as Yeh’s characteristic sea-and-river-themed sketches and two-dimensional mixed-media works. The sketches in this series serve as a record of the artist’s creative process, giving viewers a closer view into the full context in which these works have emerged.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wucyuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (04) 2372-3552
■ Until Dec. 27
Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang (蔡國強) has taken over the front lobby of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum for his exhibit Hanging Out in the Museum (泡美術館). The 35 works on display are drawn from international museums and private collections and include three new works created for this show. A series of activities and programs complements the works on display. The exhibition highlights the artist’s background and development, his creative process and his objective of making art more accessible to the general public.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路3段181號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays. Tel: (02) 2595-7656. Admission: NT$250
■ Until Feb. 21
Wang Ya-hui (王雅慧) chronicles her real-life experience of living in Taipei in Rainbow and Bow (彩虹與弓). Collage-like fragments of rainbows, buildings and imaginary figures each serve as pieces of a puzzle onto which viewers can impose their own narrative structure.
■ Galerie Grand Siecle (新苑藝術), 17, Alley 51, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷51弄17號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2578-5630
■ Until Dec. 27
Internationally renowned video artist Chen Chieh-jen (陳界仁) returns to Main Trend Gallery with Empire’s Borders I & Military Court and Prison (帝國邊界 I & 軍法局), two videos that explore his recent experiences with borders and history. Empire’s Borders I, the first of two videos, draws on the artist’s own difficulties of obtaining a visa to travel to the US. The second video, Military Court and Prison, uses the repurposing of a prison as a human right’s park as a microcosm for Taiwan’s modern history.
■ 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). Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2587-3412
■ Until Jan. 23
Utmost Esthetics: Styles From Taiwan Artists (台灣藝術家的風格) is a group exhibition of sculpture and painting by five established artists: Chu Wei-bor (朱為白), Lee Tsai-chien (李再鈐), Chen Ching-jung (陳景容), Chen Yin-huei (陳銀輝) and Liu Kuo Sung (劉國松). The show seeks to provide viewers with a glimpse of the artists’ works and demonstrate how the country’s rich landscape and urban spaces have influenced their creativity.
■ Angel Art Gallery (天使美術館), 41, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段41號). Open daily from 10am to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2701-5229
■ Until Nov. 29
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located