Fu Guei Tan Yuan Arts and Culture (富貴陶園) is currently holding exhibitions for Li Shing-lung (李幸龍) and Sun Wen-ben (孫文斌), two of Taiwan’s top ceramicists. Li’s show, titled Color in Wood Firing (柴顏觀色), presents a rich display of mountainscape sculptures that emphasize the multiple layers of engraved patterns to contrast texture and color. Sun’s Forms of Tea (茶型) meditates on Taiwan’s tea culture with elaborately crafted pots, cups and trays.
■ Li Shing-lung will be exhibited at Fu Guei Tan Yuan Arts and Culture (富貴陶園), 96-98 Chongqing St, Yinge Township, Taipei County
(台北縣鶯歌鎮重慶街96-98號).
Tel: (02) 2670-3999. Sun Wen-ben’s work is on display at Fu Guei’s second showroom at 11-13 Taocih St, Yinge Township, Taipei County (台北縣鶯歌鎮陶瓷街11-13號). Tel: (02) 2679-6903. Both locations are open daily from 10:30am to 8pm
■ Exhibitions end on March 21
Before heading off to Fu Guei Tan Yuan Arts and Culture, be sure to give yourself a firm grounding in the history and development of Chinese ceramics with The Magic of Kneaded Clay: A History of Chinese Ceramics (摶泥幻化—中國歷代陶瓷展), currently on view at the National Palace Museum. The exhibit examines Chinese ceramics from the perspective of various glaze colors and how glazes evolved at different kilns, as well as how official models of decoration formed over time. The exhibition is divided into five sections: Pottery and Porcelain, Neolithic Age to the Five Dynasties, Song to Yuan Dynasties, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.
■ National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221 Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市至善路二段221號).
Open daily from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (02) 2881-2021. Admission is NT$160
■ Ongoing
Beyond Vision: Highlights of Abstract Paintings From the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Collection (異象—典藏抽象繪畫展) offers viewers a solid overview of Taiwan’s abstract art scene through the work of 65 artists. From the calligraphic experiments of the 1950s and 1960s up to the self-reflective examinations of the post Martial Law period, the 142 works on display reveal the vibrancy and depth of this art movement in Taiwan. Meanwhile, in the museum’s basement, China-born Taiwanese artist Lo Fong (羅芳) demonstrates her deep respect for nature in Embracing the Heart (懷抱心宇), a retrospective show. The landscape painter combines the free expression and mood of Western expressionism with the rigid strictures of literati painting to create works of wild serenity.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wuchuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (04) 2372-3552. Admission: Free
■ Beyond Vision ends Friday. Lo Fong exhibit ends March 7
Taiwanese ink painter and founding member of the Fifth Moon Group, Liu Kuo-song (劉國松) continues his avant-garde approach to this traditional Chinese art form with Nature as Mental Transformation (寸心運大化). Liu’s landscape paintings combine traditional forms with a palette bordering on pastel and are informed by an abstract sensibility.
■ Sincewell Gallery (新思惟人文空間), 2F, 37, Ming-je Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市明哲路37號2樓). Open daily from noon to 10pm. Tel: (07) 345-2699
■ Until March 21
Chinese contemporary sculptor Zhan Wang (展望) reinterprets the work of Dutch architecture firm MVRDV in the sculptural installation Urban Arcadia. Zhan reconstructs 24 of MVRDV’s works and combines them to create a Chinese landscape of stainless steel.
■ MOT Arts, 3F, 22 Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段22號3樓). Open daily from 11am to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2751-8088
■ Until May 30
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