Currently on display at printmaking shop MBMore is Emotions Outside Habitation (居所之外), which features Lee Hsuan-pei’s (李宣霈) linocuts of modest but whimsy homes. Lee drew his inspiration from wandering the streets and alleys of Taipei and noticing the demolition of old homes and construction of new ones. He uses pastel hues in some prints and black and white in others, though the effect in each is similar — mysterious and nostalgic.
■ MBMore (岩筆模), 275, Nanjing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市南京西路275號), tel: (02) 2558-3395. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Nov. 6
Photo courtesy of Mind Set Art Center
Sound artist Hsu Yen-ting (許雁婷) draws inspiration from the ocean. Waterland (水上樂園), developed during Hsu’s artist residency in the port city of Freemantle in Western Australia, is now on exhibit at the Barry Room at Taipei Artist Village. The project explores various sounds from ripples in water to crashing waves as well as the different effects the ocean renders on us, including calm and fear. Hsu says she was constantly reminded of the beaches in Taiwan during her stay in Freemantle.
■ 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 Nov. 6
Photo courtesy of Mind Set Art Center
On view at Galerie Pierre in Taichung is A Space Between Us (我們), a joint exhibition organized by IT Park Gallery in Taipei featuring the works of various artists including Wang Te-yu (王德瑜), Tu Wei (杜偉) and Hsieh Ta-liang (謝大良). Wang is known for her giant inflatable airbags, “balloon art inspired by aliens,” she calls them, which fill up entire rooms and are meant to be interactive as visitors are welcome to dive into them. She labels her work numerically, and the one at Galerie Pierre is No. 87. Tu’s ideas are equally kooky. The conceptual artist, who once recreated IKEA living rooms as part of an art installation, works with lasers in his current installation. His laser lights are displayed alongside Hsieh’s work, which consists of sprawling pipes laid on the ground.
■ Galerie Pierre (臻品藝術中心), 35 Jhongcheng St, Taichung City (台中市忠誠街35號), tel: (04) 2323-3215. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 9:30am to 6:30pm
■ Until Nov. 26
Photo courtesy of MBMore
Opening tomorrow at Bluerider Art is City Symphony, a solo exhibition by American artist Bryan Ida. Ida, who initially trained as a musician, discovered his love for painting in the late ‘80s. His paintings, which make use of bright colors and overlapping geometric shapes, convey a feeling of warmth reminiscent of his native southern California. Ida’s latest series focuses on the word “littoral,” which refers to water that is close to the shore. He uses this idea as an allegory to demonstrate other types of collisions such as humans and nature, urban and rural.
■ 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
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Nov. 26
Photo courtesy of IT Park Gallery
Every Island from Sea to Sea: Recent Philippine Art (諸海各島:菲律賓藝術聯展), which opens at Mind Set Art Center tomorrow, features the works of various Filipino artists. The country was successively colonized by Spain, the US and Japan, and themes such as national identity and the idea of home and belonging have long piqued the interest of Filipino artists. Buen Calubayan’s paintings explores the Philippines’ fraught history through interweaving personal and cultural histories. The themes in Marc Gaba’s artwork are equally exhaustive but interconnected, covering democracy, migration and his own Christian faith. His painting, Antiterrorism (Empire) takes a critical look at American “imperialism.” Also in the show is Marina Cruz, who is known for her super-realistic depictions of old, tattered dresses worn by her mother and aunt. She explores her own identity by recording and reviving these vintage garments. The exhibit is curated by Patrick Flores, art studies professor at the University of the Philippines, who will be speaking at the gallery tomorrow afternoon.
■ Mind Set Art Center (安卓藝術), 7F, 180, Heping E Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市和平東路一段180號7樓), tel: (02) 2365-6008. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 6pm
■ The curator talk is tomorrow at 2pm, opening reception is at 4pm. Until Nov. 26
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50