For Multiplicibus, or the Treaty of the Instinctive Accumulation (脈衝光生活整形美學藝術崛起), French artist Stephane Gautier employs heterodox materials such as plastic, wood and newspapers, following in the tradition of the “new realism,” an avant-garde collective active in France during the 1960s. He assembles found objects into monochrome sculptures and collages, both real and mythic, that inventory and map the memories of childhood.
■ Ever Harvest Art Gallery (日升月鴻畫廊), 2F, 107, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段107號2樓), tel: (02) 2752-2353. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Nov. 27
Photo Courtesy of Ever Harvest Art Gallery
Tsai Jheng-wei (蔡政維) will hold a solo exhibition of new sculpture at 99 Degrees Art Center beginning on Saturday. Cast from copper, his sculptures of dancing figures evoke the playfulness and freedom of childhood.
■ 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5樓), tel: (02) 2700-3099. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Dec. 4
Photo Courtesy of MOT Arts
Bow Without an Arrow (張弓無箭) comprises a new series of stainless steel and bronze sculpture by prolific Chinese artist Zheng Lu (鄭路). Zheng’s sculptures meditate on his fascination with Chinese calligraphy as well as the tension between presence and absence, and movement and stillness.
■ 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 11:30am to 8pm
■ Until Dec. 11
The Asia Art Center (亞洲藝術中心) hosts Greatness of Spirit (大氣), an open-air exhibit that brings together 20 large-scale and smaller-sized bronze sculptures made by Li Chen (李真) from 1998 to the present. Trained in the craft of Buddhist statuary and himself a devout Buddhist, Li’s work is imbued with spiritual notions articulated through the aesthetic traditions that emerged in Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty religious art. Building on this classical foundation, Li imbues his work with modern sculptural techniques that the artist hopes will speak to a new generation of believers and art lovers.
■ Liberty Square in Taipei. For more information call: (02) 2754-1366
■ Until Dec. 4
Beyond the Frontier of Color and Form (形色版圖—抽象藝術五人展) brings together five abstract artists working in sculpture and painting since the early 1980s who combine Western abstract thought with Eastern spiritual philosophy. The artists include Lee Tsai-chien (李再鈐), Tsong Pu (莊普), Chu Teh-i (曲德益), Hu Kun-jung (胡坤榮) and Kevin Yu (游克文).
■ 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 Dec. 3
Taiwan’s Horse Dance Theatre (驫舞劇場) and France-based Volume-Collectif team up to present Successor, a series of sound installations and performances held every weekend at Huashan 1914 Creative Park until the end of the month. Using various sound devices — parabolic loudspeakers, polystyrene plates filed with transducers — they produce “listening situations that allow the audience to explore architecture and its resonances,” according to the press release. Extracts of the performance will be presented today from 2pm to 3pm.
■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park, E2 (華山1914, 東2館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號), tel: 0918-763-576
■ The exhibition is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Performances are the same days at 7:30pm. Until Nov. 27
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
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
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