If there’s anyone who can make smoke from gunpowder look beautiful and intriguing, it’s young painter Lai Yue-hong (賴岳宏). His solo exhibition, entitled Gunpowder Routine (煙硝日常), is currently being held at Taipei’s Dynasty Gallery. The protagonist in Lai’s abstract paintings appears to be a hero in a space suit, always emerging triumphantly from the flames, whether he’s drifting away in a hot air balloon or sprinting from the damage. Lai’s color palette varies, ranging from maroon hues to icy blue, the result of which gives the sceneries he depicts an otherworldly feel.
■ Dynasty Gallery (朝代畫廊), 41, Leli Rd, Taipei City (台北市樂利路41號), tel: (02) 2377-0838. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until July 30
Photo courtesy of Dynasty Gallery
Aki Gallery is currently featuring The Spiritual Journey of Chinese Photographers (中國青年攝影師的精神之旅), a joint exhibition by young Chinese photographers Zhang Xiao (張曉) and Zhang Kechun (張克純). Both artists deal with water motifs in their photography for this particular exhibition. Images of the former Zhang’s work are taken from his book, Coastline, which is a visual documentary of his four-year trip, from 2009 to 2013, along China’s coastline from the mouth of the Yalu River (鴨綠江) in Liaoning up north to the Beilun River (北侖河) in southern Guangxi province. He captures scenes of people swimming, farmers tending the fields and gargantuan buildings popping up in construction sites by the coast. The latter Zhang photographs similar scenes along the Yellow River, which is often dubbed China’s “cradle of civilization.” Factories, sand castles, and fishermen all feature in his pictures. Many inferences can be drawn from the photographs, including criticisms of industrialization and modernization which bring about environmental pollution. Or maybe they just want to capture pretty beach scenes before they become obsolete.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣藝廊), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號), tel: (02) 2599-1171. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6:30pm
■ Until July 31
Photo courtesy of Aki Gallery
Sculptor and jewelry-maker Wu Ching-chih (吳竟銍) has a solo exhibition opening at Taipei’s A Gallery tomorrow. Entitled Pollen Cluster (孔聚), the exhibition includes a selection of Wu’s lovely sculptures made with copper, bronze, enamel and wood to resemble magnified pollen colonies. The “pollen clusters,” as he calls them, allude to the stress of urban life and disconnect with nature. We build parks and plant trees but are still boxed in apartment buildings and office spaces. Far from being grotesque or depressing, though, Wu’s sculptures are luminous and beautiful, and resemble wearable brooches and pendants.
■ A Gallery (當代一畫廊), 22, Alley 36, Lane 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷36弄22號), tel: (02) 2702-3327. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 6pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Aug. 20
Photo courtesy of A Gallery
There’s a hodgepodge of exhibitions taking place at the National Museum of History this summer, from retro paintings to painted earthenware of silly figurines inspired by characters from Chinese opera. Also on display are the works of jade artist Tu Kuo-wei (屠國威). The exhibition, which is entitled A Heartening Wave: The Jade Art of Tu Kuo-wei (鼓鼓生風─屠國威玉作藝術展), consists of 100 of Tu’s jade sculptures, all apparently inspired by — but not necessarily resembling — drums. The sculptures are stunning in their simplicity — no grotesque figures here. They also vary in color, from emerald green to cool beige and greenish-black.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號), tel: (02) 2361-0270. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until Sept. 18
Photo courtesy of A Gallery
The theme of this year’s Museum-School Collaborative Exhibition (2016館校合作成果展) organized by MOCA is Assembling the Urban Imagination (拼裝城市的想像). The group exhibition at MOCA Video Underground at Zhongshan MRT station is a collaborative effort between the museum staff and students and art teachers from various elementary, junior and senior high schools around Taipei. As the exhibition title suggests, students were asked to illustrate (or collage, sculpt, film) what urban life means to them. Issues such as community development, urban planning and historical memory were explored, though presumably by older students. The little ones created mostly colorful, cheery artwork.
■ MOCA Video Underground (藝術一條街), Zhongshan Metro Mall Exit R9 TV Corridor (捷運中山地下街 R9 出口電視牆), tel: (02) 2552-3720
■ Until Aug. 28
Photo courtesy of MOCA Taipei
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