Chen Hsien-tung’s (陳顯棟) solo exhibit, Symphonic Poem (交響詩篇), extols the beauty of nature with fine, elegantly textured paintings with perfectly proportioned blocks of color. Though the lines, shapes and colors woven into the painting resemble the visual vocabulary of abstraction, the presentation of these images differs from that rational style, and instead creates a kind of “symphonic poem” embodying elements of Chinese philosophy. Imagine the abstract landscapes of Chien Chang-ta (簡昌達) combined with the expressionist canvases of Chu Teh-chun’s (朱德群) middle period.
■ 99 Degrees Art Center (99 藝術中心), 5F, 259, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段259號5F). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2700-3099
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 2pm. Until Oct. 31
Although dust implies an ending, for the group of artists who come together in Dust: LuxuryLogico (灰塵�豪華朗機工), it represents a beginning. The exhibit of new media art brings together Lin Kun-ying (林昆穎), Chen Chih-chien (陳志建), Chang Geng-hau (張耿豪) and Chang Geng-hua (張耿華) as a collective of artists who distill their ideas into a single work of sculptural installation made from plastic and metal that bears a strong resemblance to an enormous pholcid, a kind of spider commonly known as daddy longlegs.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號2樓). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm. Tel: (02) 2507-7243
■ Until Oct. 23
Every year the reputable Juming Museum holds a themed exhibition as a means of exploring the current state of sculpture. Keywords: Latent Sculpture, Renting, Scenario (關鍵字:潛雕塑、租借、劇本) brings together nine emerging sculptors to ponder contemporary sculpture practice and the “chaotic position” that it holds in contemporary art. The show presents 22 works ranging from the concrete to the highly experimental, as well as an on-site installation.
■ Juming Museum (朱銘美術館), 2 Sishihu, Jinshan Township, Taipei County (台北縣金山鄉西勢湖2號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm, closes at 9:30pm on Saturdays. Call (02) 2498-9940 for more information
■ Until Nov. 14
Your Memories Become My Memories. I Will Remember You! (我的記憶 也成為我的記憶我會記得你). Though the exclamatory nature of the exhibit’s title may seem a little shrill, Wang Tzu-yun’s (王姿云) multimedia (oil, film paper, wood) paintings of cafe life suggest a carefree existence freed from the constraints of work.
■ Butchart Contemporary Art Space, 155, Linong St Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市立農街二段155號). Open daily from 11am to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2820-9920
■ Until Oct. 18
China-born, US-based painter Guan Zeju (關則駒) says his canvases are a reflection of the images in his mind. Isn’t that the case for every painting? Regardless, Guan’s realist studies of women in various positions — a ballerina warming up in a studio or a nude lying languidly on a divan — are psychological portraits rich in allusion (and color), and exhibit a keen understanding of the female anatomy and the play of natural and artificial light.
■ Imavision Gallery (晴山藝術中心), 13F, 224 Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段224號13樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2773-5155
■ Until tomorrow
A series of oil paintings by veteran artist Pan Peng-pian (潘蓬彬) are currently on view at Meihe Art Gallery (美和藝術中心). Pan’s vibrant impasto canvases of quaint villages, urban centers and landscapes follow in the early impressionist tradition of Georges Rouault and Marc Chagall.
■ Meihe Art Gallery (美和藝術中心), 8F, 369 Fuxing N Rd, Taipei City (台北市復興北路369號8樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 6600-3698
■ Ends today
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and