Faith brings together two artists who each examine religion. Chen Hui-chiao’s (陳慧嶠) geometrically abstract mixed-media (table tennis balls, cotton, steel and acrylic paint) installations show her fascination with dreams and astrology, and optimistically suggest a logical force directing the universe. The sculptures of Indonesian artist Titarubi question social values that dictate gender roles, particularly the clothing that Muslim women are expected to wear. Her glamorous dresses serve as “dissension against a male-oriented society where women are taught to be more mindful of their appearances than their minds.”
■ 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
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 7pm. Until Jan. 9
Photo courtesy of A Gallery
Though its title, On the Road (迢迢路), may evoke road trips through North America, Chen Shun-chu’s (陳順築) series of photographs follows the ideas contained in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment,” though here Chen’s subject matter is the forms and textures of Penghu (澎湖) absent of the human subject that so preoccupied Cartier-Bresson.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm. Tel: (02) 2507-7243
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 7pm. Until Jan. 1
A Sterile Room (無菌室) presents the latest oil paintings by Huang Yi-sheng (黃頤勝). Huang’s representational paintings of sparrows and sheep in pastoral settings imagine a bygone age of simplicity. Huang says his art forms an alternate reality founded on the world we are familiar with.
■ A Gallery (一畫廊), 22, Alley 36, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷36弄22號). Open Mondays to Saturdays from 1pm to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2702-3327
■ Opening reception on Friday at 5pm. Until Jan. 8
Masters of Modern & Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting (中國近現代水墨畫名家特展) brings together a number of well-known living and deceased Chinese and Taiwanese artists to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China’s founding, which serves as the exhibit’s time frame. The exhibition juxtaposes the various styles of these ink painters to delineate the development of the form, from the traditional to the modern to the contemporary. The work of early China-trained practitioners, including Lin Feng-mian (林風眠) and Chang Dai-chien (張大千) — who would later fall under the rubric of abstract expressionism — are shown alongside the work of later Taiwan-born, Japan-trained practitioners such as Lin Yu-shan (林玉山).
■ 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. Admission: NT$30
■ Until Jan. 2
A Contemplative Journey (苦行觀化-劉文隆山水畫展) showcases the ink paintings of Liu Wen-long (劉文隆) from 1999 to 2008. Liu’s vivid portrayal of towering mountains and rugged rocks follow the traditional approach to literati painting. However, his works are distinguishable by their unique composition and perspective, depicting close-range details of the landscape in some places and providing panoramic views in others.
■ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館), 80 Meishuguan Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市美術館路80號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (07) 555 0331. Admission: Free
■ Until Dec. 28
From Heroic Expression to Resplendent Color (從狂狷豪邁到絢麗色彩) is a retrospective exhibit on Walasse Ting (丁雄泉) that offers a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career from the 1950s until his death earlier this year. Ting experimented with many styles —especially abstract expressionist and neo-figurative painting — over his long career before arriving at his more mature works, which focus on traditional subjects such as women, flowers, plants and birds.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 10pm; closes at 6pm on Mondays. Tel: (02) 2595-7656. Admission: NT$Free
■ Until Feb. 13
The Great Master of Fairy Tales: the Hans C. Andersen Bicentenary Exhibition is an ideal exhibit for anyone who enjoys a good yarn. The exhibition focuses on the life and works of Andersen through animation and walls of over-sized books.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (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 through Sundays from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (04) 2372-3552. Admission: Free
■ Until Feb. 20
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
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would