Currently on view at Frees Art Space is Feng Chi 2016 Hantoo Art Group Exhibition (?起2016悍圖社聯展) a joint exhibition of paintings by members of art collective, Hantoo Art Group (悍圖社). The collective was founded in 1998 to examine Taiwan’s history and folk culture and promote freedom and democracy through the creation of artworks that often employ dark humor. Included in the lineup is Chen Ching-yao’s (陳擎耀) titillating — and bordering on the pornographic — paintings of school girls in skimpy skirts wielding rifles. Also on display are Kuo Wei-kuo’s (郭維國) freakish self-portraits which depict him in contexts taken from vices found in Chinese and Western mythology, as well as Lee Min-jong’s (李民中) colorful and whimsical paintings of cats and lions.
■ Frees Art Space (福利社), B1, 82, Xinsheng N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生北路三段82號B1); tel: (02) 2585-7600. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 11am to 7pm, Saturdays 1:30pm to 9pm, closed Sundays and Mondays
■ Until Oct. 15
Photo courtesy of Liang Gallery
Those who love Marvel comics and superhero movies might enjoy Liu Po-chun’s (劉柏村) solo exhibition, Metamorphosis of Ironman (金剛變), at Chini Gallery. Liu’s steel sculptures depict Iron Man in superhero-like situations. Like his previous work, Liu explores the environmental impact of industrialization, as well as the adverse and potentially dangerous conditions it creates. But as the title suggests, Liu also believes in the ability of humans to transform and change for the better — we just need to muster our inner superhero.
■ Chini Gallery (采泥藝術), 48, Lane 128 Jingye 1st Rd, Taipei City (台北市敬業一路128巷48號), tel: (02) 7729-5809. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:30am to 7pm
■ Until Oct. 23
Photo courtesy of Frees Art Space
Let Us Not Be Sad Anymore (我們不要傷心了) is an apt title for Jian Yi-hong’s (簡翊洪) latest solo exhibition at Michael Ku Gallery. Jian, who uses traditional ink wash painting as his medium, depicts pent-up feelings of failure and disappointment through his tiny characters. Some paintings depict mental patients in straightjackets, others show people in violent and abusive relationships, while some paintings are more introspective, such as one where people are congregating around a grave. But Jian’s work is not as depressing as it may initially seem. Though many of his tiny characters appear to be either sadists or masochists, they are still very cute, if not silly and endearing. Jian, after all, doesn’t want us to be unhappy.
■ Michael Ku Gallery (谷公館), 4F-2, 21, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段21號4樓之2), tel: (02) 2577-5601. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Oct. 23
Photo courtesy of IT Park Gallery
Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu’s (劉文瑄) latest exhibition, which opens at IT Park Gallery tomorrow, is a little different than her previous work. A Perhaps Hand (像一隻也許的手) explores the psychological effects of traveling, though Liu strays from subdued, pastel hues in this series of installations. Rather, her bright metallic digital prints are inspired by traditional ink wash paintings on rice paper that she came across at a flea market in Kyoto, Japan.
■ 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
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Oct. 29
Photo courtesy of Michael Ku Gallery
Lin Hung-hsin’s (林宏信) iconic white-powdered faced flaneurs with vapid gestures are back, this time at Liang Gallery in A Collection of Microcracks (微量裂解的總和). Flaneurs are essentially well-dressed men who wander the streets and serve as detached observers. The exhibition, which includes a selection of Lin’s paintings since 2012, highlights widespread disillusionment with city life, and how the Internet in particular has only bred distrust and misunderstanding, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Lin suggests that these are the “microcracks” in our society — flaws so tiny that we don’t notice them at first. However, the word “collection” in the title might also indicate deeper, systemic social issues.
■ Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心), 366, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路366號), tel: (02) 2797-1100. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Oct. 30
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
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