Honeymoon (甜蜜蜜) presents a new series of avant-garde Chinese landscape paintings by Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中). In this exhibit, Yao, more commonly known for his photography and installation, appropriates masterpieces from Chinese art history and recreates them as personal narratives.
■ 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
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4:30pm. Until May 29
Photo Courtesy of Mot Arts
Ten Years On (廖繼春獎十年聯展) is a group exhibition presenting the work of artists who have won the Liao Chi-chun Oil Painting Award (廖繼春油畫創作獎), a prize established a decade ago in memory of the artist and educator. Artists include Kuo Wei-kuo (郭維國), Chen Meng-tze (陳孟澤) and Chu You-yi (朱友意). The exhibition will include awarded artworks along with each artist’s recent creations, as well as seven works by Liao from the museum’s collection. Ten Years On also includes photographs, brochures and introductory essays collected from previous editions of the award.
■ 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 9:30am to 10pm. Admission: All exhibits free except Monet Garden (NT$270)
■ Begins on Saturday. Until June 12
Photo Courtesy of TFAM
Inspired by Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, The Glimmer From the Chink (縫隙中的幽微) presents new paintings by Tung Hsin-ru (董心如). These abstract expressionist works poetically depict imaginative and spiritual landscapes in which Buddhist symbolism and iconography can be discerned.
■ Project Fulfill Art Space (就在藝術空間), 2, Alley 45, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷45弄2號), tel: (02) 2707-6942. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4pm. Until May 29
Goethe Art Center is currently holding a solo exhibit of work by Chang Yi-hsiung (張義雄). Chang’s oil paintings cover a broad range of styles and themes, including impressionist landscapes, cubist still lifes and realistic depictions of flowers.
■ Goethe Art Center (哥德藝術中心), 295, Tiding Blvd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市堤頂大道二段295號). For a viewing call (02) 2658-8787
■ Until April 30
Four Taipei Artist Village resident artists examine the connection between human beings, material objects and cultural symbols through photography, video installation and sculpture in Art Supply I (藝術補給 I). The four artists are Chen Cheng-tsai (陳正才) and Chou Meng-ping (周夢蘋) from Taiwan, Kim Meek from New Zealand and Isaji Yugo from Japan. Stop, Communicate and Listen, a video installation and performance by Chou, will be presented every Saturday from 4pm to 5pm throughout the exhibition period. Meek will discuss his digital photography in a talk on Saturday from 2pm to 4pm. Chen will give a lecture about his video sculpture, The Angle, on May 6 from 2pm to 4pm.
■ Barry Room, Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村百里廳), 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號), tel: (02) 3393-7377. Open daily from 10am to 7:30pm
■ Until May 15
Fire — The Art of Welding (雕火—焊接藝術) is a group exhibit of metal sculpture by five of Taiwan’s top sculptors, including Chen Ting-shih (陳庭詩), Hsiung Ping-ming (熊秉明), Lee Tsai-chien (李再鈐), Huang Ming-che (黃銘哲) and Wu De-chun (武德淳). The works on display range from the geometrically abstract works of Lee and Huang to the representational works of Chen.
■ 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), tel: (02) 2587-3412. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until April 30
Tomorrow the Taipei Contemporary Art Center (TCAC) hosts Who Is Afraid of Ai Weiwei? Ai Weiwei’s Artistic Practice and Social Resistance — A Panel Discussion With Screenings of His Documentary Films (誰怕艾未未:艾未未的藝術行動與社會抵抗 — 紀錄片播放與座談會) at which the Chinese artist and his recent detainment will be discussed. Panelists include critics Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志) and Manray Hsu (徐文瑞), as well as visual artist Chen Chieh-jen (陳界仁).
■ Taipei Contemporary Art Center (台北當代藝術中心), 160-6 Yanping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市延平南路160之6號), tel: 02-2311-2626. Tomorrow from 7:30pm to 10pm
■ The event will be conducted in Mandarin, with English translation available if necessary. Admission is free
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
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
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