Chinese artist Chao Hsiu-huan (趙秀煥) paints more than 12 hours a day when she’s not teaching in Beijing or Taipei. Though her paintings depict beautiful blossoming flowers and serene landscapes, they are the product of intense feelings of loneliness and despair. Mirrored Transience (侘寂花鏡) is an apt title for her solo exhibition at Caves Art Center. Her paintings — simple and alluring as they seem — are a reflection of thoughts so complex they cannot be verbalized. The feeling that nothing in nature or life lasts forever also permeates her paintings. Her color palette shifts from cool, pastel tones of daytime to dark, celestial hues of night, muddling the viewer’s perception of time and instilling in them a greater appreciation for life.
■ Caves Art Center (敦煌藝術中心), 91, Fujin St, Taipei City (台北市富錦街91號), tel: (02) 2718-2091. Open daily from 11am to 7pm
■ Until May 28
Photo courtesy of caves
Lin & Lin Gallery’s latest exhibition, Borders and Beyond (溢界 × 邊線), explores the idea and evolution of Taiwanese identity through the various viewpoints of several artists. Chen Ching-yuan (陳敬元), who is known for his “activist art” during the Sunflower Movement, suggests through his paintings of monster attacks and ample use of motifs such as bullseye and weapons, that humans are prone to conflict and destruction. Hsieh Mu-chi (謝牧岐) is known as much for his flamboyant dress sense as he is for his anti-Chinese National Party (KMT) activism. Hsieh’s latest work explores the concept of deception. From afar, his paintings look like lush, tropical scenes; up close there are elements that are grim and out of place. Comic book artist and toy designer Lai Chiu-chen (賴九岑) takes a pop culture approach with his signature goofy, globular-shaped cartoons, suggesting that soft power can influence people’s thinking as much as hard power.
■ 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
■ Until June 11
Photo courtesy of MBMore
Husband and wife duo, Pan Chin-jui (潘勁瑞) and Lay May-hui (賴美惠), explore the simple pleasures of island life in their latest exhibition, Diary of the Island (島嶼.日記), at printmaking shop MBMore. While both artists critique urban development, especially the negative effect it has on the environment, Pan’s black-and-white letterpress exudes an ominous feel, while Lay’s colorful etchings of fruit are more hopeful and suggest the promise of a better future. Both artists skillfully convey the notion that although Taiwan is a beautiful country, its inhabitants seem to have lost touch with nature.
■ MBMore (岩筆模), 275, Nanjing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市南京西路275號), tel: (02) 2558-3395. Open Tuesday to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until June 11
Photo courtesy of Lin & Lin Gallery
Even if you’re a staunch non-believer of the supernatural, Linda Connor’s haunting black-and-white photographs may have you questioning your beliefs. A sampling of the American photographer’s work taken from around the world over many decades are on display at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. Many Years: The Photography of Linda Connor (很多年:琳達・康納攝影展) looks at the importance that different cultures attach to spirituality and ghosts. Connor photographs sacred and historic sites from Thailand to Peru, documenting religious rites and rituals, as well as everyday life. Even if these places aren’t haunted, her photographs look like they are from a different era, exuding an eerie but also awe-inspiring feeling of time standing still.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市學園路1號), tel: (02) 2896-1000 X 2432. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm
■ Until June 18
Photo courtesy of MBMore
It’s a busy week for TKG+ Projects with two new exhibitions. 91 Square Meters of Time (時間91平方米) by Wu Chi-yu (吳其育) examines the concepts of time and memory in relation to Taiwanese history and politics. His video installations make use of oral history, which to him is a process of unearthing lost memories. Wu also incorporates into his art stories from Orchid Island’s Aborigines, who have had a very troubled history.
Also on display at TKG+ Projects is Backseat Boulevard (後座大道) by Jao Chia-en (饒加恩). Another exhibition dealing with Taiwanese history and politics, it’s composed of three of Jao’s works that address the intersection of history and memory, in particular how personal memories of historical events conflict with the official state version. The title is derived from a passenger’s perspective from the back seat of a cab. As Jao describes: “You can see the direction, you know where you’re headed but you have no control over how you get there.” This fatalistic attitude is translated into Jao’s video installations and watercolor paintings.
■ TKG+ Projects, B1, 15, Ln 548, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路548巷15號B1), tel: (02) 2659-0798. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
Photo courtesy of TKG+
■ Until June 25
Photo courtesy of Lin & Lin Gallery
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