Elsewhere: Paul Gauguin brings together 50 works by the primitivist artist whose vibrant paintings of Tahiti helped usher in the modernist liberation of form and color from the constraints of the past. The show contextualizes Gauguin’s achievements by also displaying 25 works by 16 artists from Brittany’s Pont-Aven School and Les Nabis group — disciples who played an important role in the subsequent art movements of Fauvism and Abstract Expressionism. Borrowed from more than 10 museums, foundations and private collections, Elsewhere is the first solo exhibition of Gauguin’s oil paintings, prints, bronzes and wood sculptures to be shown in Taiwan.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM — 台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Until Aug. 8. Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays. Tel: (02) 2595-7656. Admission: NT$270
■ A lecture on Gauguin’s work will be held in TFAM’s auditorium on Saturday beginning at 2:20pm. Until Feb. 20
Photo courtesy of TFAM
Huang Hua-chen’s (黃華真) series of paintings and installations in The Family Album: If Hungry, Curry on the Table (家庭相簿 — 桌上有你喜歡的咖哩飯) visualizes family remembrance and nostalgia. Huang’s work, often arranged to resemble a picture album — a mother holding a child, a young man dressed in military fatigues — explores contemporary society.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓). Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 8771-3372
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Jan. 9
Photo courtesy of TFAM
The Invention of Loneliness (寂寞及其所創造的) is a joint exhibition of work by Gwenda Chi (紀佩君) and Li Shiang-ying (李香瑩). Chi’s sculptures of distorted and elongated figures are a humorous take on the fear of the unknown. In Li’s sexually charged paintings, human body parts are placed in food packaging and displayed as appetizing cuisines that are eerily lustful — a statement, perhaps, about hedonism.
■ Sakshi Gallery (夏可喜當代藝術), 33 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街33號). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1:30pm to 9:30pm, Sundays from 1:30pm to 7:30pm. Tel: (02) 2516-5386
■ Until Dec. 12
The Tang Dynasty is often viewed as a golden age of artistic activity, which, according to the National Museum of History, “all ethnic Chinese should be proud” of. Imperial Treasures — Relics of Famen Temple Underground Palace and the Flourishing Tang (盛世皇朝祕寶:法門寺地宮與大唐文物特展) is comprised of 120 sets of artifacts that cover the era’s political, economic, religious and cultural spheres through gold and silver vessels, Buddhist ceremonial objects, murals, ceramics and bronze mirrors.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2361-0270. General admission is NT$30
■ Until Jan. 9
Estranged Rhythm (疏遠的節奏) is a new series of works by geometrical abstract artist Tsong Pu (莊普). In this show, Tsong retains his emblematic dappled brushstrokes, but broadens his palette.
■ 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 Dec. 11
Monologue Under the Sunlight (日光下的獨白) brings together four artists working in sculpture, installation, drawing and painting. Though the show lacks a unified theme, the works seem to collectively meditate on Taiwan’s natural beauty, particularly its flora.
■ Sing Art Gallery (新心藝術館), 67 Shengli Rd, Tainan City (台南市勝利路67號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 8pm; closed Mondays, Nov. 18 and Dec. 12. Tel: (06) 275-3957
■ Until Dec. 19
Call for submissions
From now until Jan. 16, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (KdMoFA) is accepting applications for its artist-in-residency program. Residencies last from two weeks to two months and the museum provides accommodation, a studio and facilities for the artists as well as a support team. Taiwan passport holders are not eligible to apply.
■ For details visit kdmofa.tnua.edu.tw
■ Until Jan. 16
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