Young Art Taipei (台北國際當代藝術博覽會) is back this weekend, for the seventh year in a row, showcasing art from emerging artists under the age of 45. Held at the Sheraton Grande Hotel, participating galleries from Taipei include Aki Gallery, ArtDoor Gallery, Bluerider Art and Chini Gallery. As always, there is a diverse range of work, traversing the styles from contemporary, modern and traditional art. This includes landscape paintings rendered into pop art style, as well as comical caricatures painted on traditional silk scrolls. Galleries such as Aki have done a particularly good job at curating quirky, whimsical pieces by artists from around the world using different mediums. Among these are Lian Yu-pei’s (連瑜佩) colorful sculpture of a mini rhino and Takafumi Yagi’s sketch of a chandelier that looks as though it’s composed of color pencils.
■ Sheraton Grande Hotel (喜來登大飯店), 8-9F, 12, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路一段12號8-9樓)
■ Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 8pm. Admission: NT$160 to NT$450
Photo courtesy of MBmore
Have you ever wanted to jump on beds and play hide-and-seek in the furniture labyrinth that is Ikea? Well, now you can. Not at Ikea, unfortunately, but at Wang Te-yu’s (王德瑜) interactive solo exhibition, No 80, at IT Park Gallery. The Hsinchu-born artist, who Culture Trip Web site says creates “balloon art inspired by aliens,” takes her colorful airbags which fill up entire rooms. All art, even silly art needs to have meaning, and to Wang, the bouncy beings represent the guts and bellies of aliens from horror movies. She labels her exhibitions numerically (this is her 80th one), which can be seen as a satirical take of the nonsensicalness of giving a name to art exhibitions.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2F-3F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號2-3樓), tel: (02) 2507-7243. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm
■ Until May 9
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art
Last weekend, Bluerider Art held a hipster pop-up store featuring jewelry made by British artist Zoe Scutts, the works of British photographer Nick Veasey and sneakers by Japanese footwear brand Shoes Like Pottery. If you missed it, do not fret because some of the products are still on display at the gallery. Entitled Wear It, the minimalistic-themed exhibition explores the idea of meshing fashion and art. Scutts uses white porcelain and limited colored glaze to create her necklaces which also double as wall art when unstrung. Her work has a matt, earthy feel, resembling twigs and sea urchins. Meanwhile, Veasey is known for his X-ray imaging. He X-rays anything from coke cans to motorcycles and undergarments, but it’s his X-ray images of high-heeled shoes that are featured in this exhibition. Finally, Shoes Like Pottery produces luxury-wear shoes fired in a kiln which are then hand-sewn by craftsmen. Their pottery shoes share the limelight with Scutts’ jewelry-wall art and Veasey’s X-ray heels.
■ Bluerider Art (藍騎士藝術空間), 9F, 25-1, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段25-1號9樓), tel: (02) 2752-2238. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until May 9
Photo courtesy of Aki Gallery
In Transit (過境) is a dual exhibition by Chen Yen-yi (陳妍伊) and Kang Ya-chu (康雅筑) at Taipei Artist Village. Supported by the Artist-in-Residence program, the artists took up residencies in New Zealand and Thailand respectively, and the exhibition features their work inspired by the natural environment and local cultures found in those countries. Chen incorporates wool, images of kiwi fruit and Maori tattoo motifs in her work, alluding to the three things New Zealand is most famous for — sheep, kiwis and Maori culture. Far from being stereotypical, though, her drawings and photographs uses symbolic images of New Zealand as a contrast to life in the sprawling metropolis of Taipei. In a similar vein, Kang uses cow leather to create sculptures that resemble luxury purses and plush seats in order to highlight the universal struggle to reconcile tradition and modernity.
■ 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 Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm
■ Until May 17
Photo courtesy of MBmore
MBMore, a printmaking arts and crafts store in Taipei’s Datong District (大同區) that occasionally showcases cute and quirky art, is taking visitors on a trip down memory lane with their latest exhibition, The Good Old Days (小時光). Featuring wood carvings by female artists Chang Hui-chieh (張慧潔) and Ko Yen-ju (葛晏如), the exhibition evokes a feeling similar to flipping through old photo albums and reminiscing about happy times in a vain attempt to reclaim youth. Chang employs lots of baby blue and calm turquoise colors in her woodcuts of roadside and household scenes to create a warm family feel. Ko, on the other hand, uses grayish hues to depict Parisian-style buildings with flirty couples peeking out from doors and windows. However, both styles are very feminine and homely.
■ MBMore (岩筆模), 32-1, Chifeng St, Taipei City (台北市赤峰街32-1號); tel: (02) 2558-3395. Open Tuesday to Sundays from 1pm to 9pm
■ Until May 24
The 1960s was a time of disco pants and psychedelic prints. Evidently, bright colors and swirly patterns had an influence on pottery as well. The Yingge Ceramics Museum is currently showcasing Graham Finch’s collection of 1960s Poole Pottery from England. Poole Pottery was a manufacturing company based in a town named Poole in Dorset that was known for their geometric, psychedelic patterns on colorfully glazed, hand-thrown vases. The concept behind this wacky, eclectic pottery stemmed from designers Robert Jefferson and Tony Morris, as well as master thrower Guy Sydenham. Poole Pottery is known for its distinctive style, with no two pieces looking alike. Called Cool and Collected (沉靜與陶), the exhibition at Yingge includes 150 pieces from Finch’s extensive collection.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, New Taipei City (新北市文化路200號), tel: (02) 8677-2727. Open Mondays to Fridays from 9:30am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:30am to 6pm, closed first Monday of the month
■ Until June 7
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