Los Angeles, the land of smoke and mirrors. Pop artist Jonathan Paul, aka Desire Obtain Cherish, makes a tack-sharp and satirical statement about his hometown in a solo exhibition, Addict. The show collects 12 pieces — like celebrity glamor shots made up of colored pills — that depict a world in which gratification is instant and image consciousness borders on obsession.
■ Bluerider Art, 9F, 25-1, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (北市仁愛路四段25-1號9樓), tel: (02) 2752-2238, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Dec.10
Photo courtesy of Asia Art Center
The Poetics of Polyphony (複調的詩學) is a two-gallery retrospective on leading abstract painter Yang Chi-hung (楊識宏) of Taoyuan County. On view at Asia Art Center (亞洲藝術中心) are Yang’s seminal paintings from the 20th century, from representations of the self to explorations of civilizations and archeology that were heavily influenced by Yang’s experiences in New York. A second exhibition at Asia Art Center Taipei II features Yang’s most recent works, a return to Eastern ink calligraphy informed by abstract expressionism. Yang is a US National Studio fellow and winner of the Outstanding Asian Art Award from the Governor of New York.
■ Asia Art Center, 177, Jianguo S Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市建國南路二段177號), tel: (02) 2754-1366. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6:30pm
■ Asia Art Center II (亞洲藝術中心二館), 93, Lequn 2nd Road, Taipei City (台北市樂群二路93號), tel: (02) 8502-7939. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6:30pm
Photo courtesy of Yi&C Contemporary Art
■ Until Dec. 7
Japanese contemporary photographer Kouhei Hirose presents Yokushiroku (欲視錄), a visual record of street life in Tokyo and Taipei. In 30 black-and-white images of pedestrians, he exposes private desires that are habitually suppressed.
■ 1839 Contemporary Gallery (當代藝廊), B1, 120 Yanji St, Taipei City (台北市延吉街120號B1), tel: (02) 2778-8458. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 8pm. Free admission
■ Nov. 23
Wormhole: Geo-attraction (蟲洞: 地緣引力) is a mixed-media exhibition featuring Chen Fei (陳飛), Gao Ludi (高露迪) and 14 other top artists from China’s young adult demographic. Curated by Sun Dongdong (孫冬冬), works here exemplify thematic concerns of this generation, which is shaped like none before by Web 2.0 and China’s meteoric rise, according to the gallery notes. Spanning film, graphics and installation, the show also provides a survey of the latest stylistic transition in Chinese contemporary art.
■ Lin & Lin Gallery (大未來林舍畫廊), 16 Dongfeng St, Taipei City (台北市東豐街16號), tel: (02) 2700-6866. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Nov. 23
Pang Kang-long (彭康隆) presents a new variation on contemporary ink painting at his solo show Romance of Trees, Flowers and Stones (花木述石). Each of the 20 paintings features individual plants painted with a time-consuming dotting technique until no white space is left on the canvas. From afar, the dots materialize into a scene, and up close they form surprisingly micro-fine details of individual grass clusters and leaves. Pang is a native of Hualien County best known for avant-garde contemporary approaches to traditional landscape painting.
■ Yi&C Contemporary Art (易雅居當代空間館), 22, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷22號), tel: (02) 2781-3131. Open Mondays to Fridays from 10am to 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 2pm to 6pm
■ 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
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