The printmaking arts and crafts shop MBMore is currently exhibiting Aura: Young Japanese Artists’ Print Exhibition (日本青年藝術家9人展), an exhibition by nine Japanese artists. The works on display range from delicate etchings of birds perched on trees to dainty ladies dressed in frilly, feathered ensembles. It’s one of MBMore’s more modest exhibitions, with each piece of artwork being the roughly size of a small greeting card. However, in an era where digital art and giant-sized installations are being trumpeted, it’s refreshing to see old techniques such as woodblock prints and etchings still being used by young artists. The artworks also add to the shop’s homely vibe.
■ 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 Jan. 17
Photo courtesy of MBMore
Beitou (北投) today is known for its natural hot springs and resorts where lovebirds go to canoodle. But if you’re a history buff, you’ll notice the signs around Thermal Valley (地熱谷) explaining the how sulfur — a property said to make your skin as smooth as a baby’s — came to be found in the area. Fascinated by this history, artist Yu Ji (于吉) created a series of videos, sculptures and installations tracing its discovery in Beitou (also known as Pataauw) for her latest exhibition at Mind Set Art Center, entitled Diary of Sulfur Mining — Pataauw (採硫日記 — 上卷). Her work conjures the sense of the thrill from an archaeological discovery or scientific expedition while still managing to be artistically minimalistic. Also, be sure to see if you can smell the sulfur in some of Yu’s sculptures.
■ Mind Set Art Center (安卓藝術), 16-1, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段16-1號), tel: (02) 2365-6008. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 6pm
■ Until Jan. 24
Photo courtesy of Lin & Lin Gallery
Huang Pei-Ju’s (黃珮如) colorful, splotchy paintings and Christophe Prat’s dreamy, pastel hues complement one another perfectly in their latest exhibition, Deja Vu, which opens at Galleria H tomorrow. Seen from afar, Huang’s paintings resemble ink blotches, but from up close, cityscapes and the silhouettes of people become visible. The Paris-born Prat uses a similar color palette, though his paintings, by contrast, are more minimalistic, consisting of single-color squares and rectangles. While Huang’s work serves to befuddle the viewer and make them ponder inquisitively, Prat’s work has a rather calming effect instead.
■ Galleria H (恆畫廊), 12-1, Ln 58, Xinsheng S Rd, Taipei City (台北市新生南路一段58巷12-1號), tel: (02) 3322-2553. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Jan. 31
Photo courtesy of Mind Set Art Center
When young Chinese artist Xie Fan (謝帆) made the switch from oil painting on canvas to oil painting on silk, some thought he was absolutely nuts (to say it’s difficult to paint on silk would be an understatement), while others thought the move was ingenious. Xie said he switched materials to better understand and preserve his heritage (of course), but the results are actually quite stunning. From billowing trees in dark forests to lush mountains peeking out from under layers of fog, Xie has managed to achieve a volume, depth and contrast between background and foreground that’s hard to achieve when painting on a surface as stubborn as silk. The simple scenes he depicts are as haunting as they are calming. Xie’s artwork can be seen on display starting tomorrow at Lin & Lin gallery in an exhibition entitled Xie Fan — One and A Half Years (謝帆 — 一年有半).
■ 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
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Jan. 31
Japanese artist Hideki Kimura has been making waves in his country’s printmaking scene since the 1970s. Lately, he’s also been experimenting with painting on tiles, as well as filling entire gallery walls with lots of traditional-style fish motifs. Kimura’s style and palette spans a wide range, from opaque blues and grays to vibrant deep-red and gold hues. Kimura says of his tile paintings: “I think that it is disappearing, nothing.” Profound. His latest exhibition, Misty, which is held at Taipei’s Galerie Grand Siecle, includes a selection of his opaque, “disappearing” tile paintings.
■ Galerie Grand Siecle (新苑藝術), 17, Alley 51, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷51弄17號), tel: (02) 2578-5630. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Until Feb. 21
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
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
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