Liu Keng-i’s (劉耿一) creative philosophy and artistic styles are the focus of Aria of Life (生命感知與詠嘆), a retrospective on the artist’s life and work. Sixty paintings, some of which resemble Honore Daumier’s moody naturalism, while others the mature impressionistic landscapes of Paul Cezanne, as well as dozens of pieces of handcrafted furniture that range over many contemporary styles, will be on view. A lecture on Liu’s life and work will be held on Feb. 19 from 2:30pm to 4:30pm.
■ 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), tel: (02) 2595-7656. Open daily from 9am to 10pm. General admission is free
■ Begins Saturday. Until April 3
Chinese artist Xu Jiang (許江) recalls his time spent as a teacher in rural Fujian during the Cultural Revolution in Deep Song of the Sunflower Garden (葵園深歌), a series of oil paintings and sculptures in which sunflowers become an emblem for the essence and spirit of China.
■ Tina Keng Gallery (大未來耿畫廊), 15, Ln 548, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路548巷15號), tel: (02) 2659-0798. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4:30pm. Until Feb. 27
Liu Yung-jen’s (劉永仁) new series of paintings employs a unique approach to the medium. Liu’s earlier abstract works were built up using acrylic and oil paint; with his Mot Arts show he adds beeswax and lead. The combination of the vibrant yellows of the beeswax and the stark tones of the lead offer a range of colors that the artist says traditional painting materials cannot replicate.
■ Mot Arts, 3F, 22, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段22號3樓), tel: (02) 2751-8088. Open daily from 11am to 9pm
■ Until Feb. 13
Magnificent Artistic Annals (鼎藝千秋) is a commemorative exhibit focusing on the work of Liang Ting-ming (梁鼎銘), Liang Yu-ming (梁又銘) and Liang Chung-ming (梁中銘), three brothers who did much to visualize the propaganda of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Known in art circles as the “Three Marvelous Liang Brothers (梁氏三傑),” the show traces the development of their art, which consists mainly of ink paintings that glorified China’s past and war paintings that served the nationalists’ cause after they fled China. In addition to the paintings, the exhibit includes historical documents and memorabilia.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號), tel: (02) 2361-0270. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. General admission is NT$30
■ Until Feb. 13
For those interested in Taiwan’s mid-20th-century military history, the Armed Forces Museum, a 15-minute walk from the National Museum of History, is currently showing The Brave in the Upper Air (高空的勇者), an exhibit that recounts the courageous Black Cat Squadron (黑貓中隊). The members of the squadron flew U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft into enemy territory — dangerous missions that saw each member making a will in advance. Their story is told through posters, paintings and historical documents.
■ Armed Forces Museum (國軍歷史文物館), 243, Guiyang St Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市貴陽街一段243號), tel: (02) 2331-5730. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 9am to 5pm. Admission: Free
■ Until Feb. 26
Birds brings together the ceramic sculptures of Swiss artist Genevieve Meylan. The nine angelic white birds are dotted with tiny holes and embellished with colorful mosaics that serve as emblems of life and death.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, Yinge District, New Taipei City (新北市鶯歌區文化路200號), tel: (02) 8677-2727. Open daily from 9:30am to 5pm, closes at 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is Free
■ Until Feb. 13
A new series of psychologically rich oil paintings of young women by Chinese painter Lai Yuan (來源) is currently on view at Elsa Art Gallery.
■ Elsa Art Gallery (雲清藝術中心), 3F, 1-1 Tianmu E Rd, Taipei City (台北市天母東路1-1號3樓), tel: (02) 2876-0386. Open daily from 1pm to 7pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays
■ Until Jan. 30
Flower in the Flower (花語畫) is a group exhibition of paintings that juxtaposes expressionist and realistic representations of flowers.
■ Wingrow Art Gallery (萬國際藝術公司), 5, Ln 175, Daan Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市大安路一段175巷5號), tel: (02) 2325-8253. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Jan. 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
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