Fascinated by human perception and experience, Chang Hua (張驊) explores and discusses reality and the subconscious in his solo show Fluttering Scene (浮動景致). Wandering the boundary between realism and abstraction, Chang’s oil paintings possess a silent narrative that forms its own consciousness.
■ Yiri Arts (伊日藝術), 4-1, 5, Ln 768, Bade Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市八德路四段768巷5號4樓之1), tel: (02) 2786-3866. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm
■ Until July 30
Photo courtesy of Elsa Art Gallery
Harmonics (泛音), a joint exhibition by Katsuyoshi Inokuma (?熊克芳) and Tetsuo Mizu (水島哲雄) form a contrast to Yayoi Kusama and Yishitomo Nara’s showcase at the gallery (till July 20). Inokuma, visually conjures the styles of Mark Rothko and Hans Hoffmann in his own twist with organic rectangular shapes and the use of coffee powder in combination with acrylic paint on board. Mizu’s oil paintings feature geometric color blocks, which exhibit a deeper resonance to Inokuma’s more sentimental style.
■ White Stone Gallery (白石畫廊), 1 Jihu Rd, Taipei City (台北市基湖路1號), tel: (02) 8751-1185. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm
■ Until July 30
Photo courtesy of White Stone Galler
Wu Yu-pei (吳育霈) will show her new ceramic sculptures at the group show Dust Language (塵世語言). Featuring large and small-scale works, the young artist is known for her precision and detail, which enables her to challenge the limits of the medium. Her Clay and Glaze series resemble ancient artifacts and offers a different take on meaning of ceramics.
■ Elsa Art Gallery (雲清藝術中心), 8F, 33 Dexing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市德行西路33號8樓), tel: (02) 8866-1213. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 8pm
■ Until July 30
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art
Lu Jyun-han (盧俊翰) applies a pop sensibility to traditional Chinese landscapes in Like Mountains Like You (樂山者樂). Lu’s playful take on Taiwan’s landscapes reminds me of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Paul Klee. His acrylic on canvas paintings are detailed and imaginative and invite viewers to re-embrace nature.
■ Star Gallery at Meet Art Space (藝星藝術中心 藝聚空間), B1, 4 Alley 17, Ln 170, Sec 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段170巷17弄4號B1), tel: (02) 8773-0633. Open daily from 1pm to 9pm
Photo courtesy of Yiri Arts
■ Until July 23
Liu Tsung-jung (劉宗榮) is known for his hyper-realistic oil paintings. At his new exhibition, The Mirror of Love (如鏡), Liu’s use of strong motifs from art history combined with his self portraits results in a seemingly romanticized martyr complex that forces the viewer to ponder their relation to the world in terms of politics and social movements.
■ Galerie F&F, 206 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路206號), tel: (02) 2368-8158. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 5:30pm
Photo courtesy of the artist and curator
■ Until July 29
Faces of Light marks British artist Jessica Rayner’s debut in Taiwan. Known for catching lights in various forms — photography, drawing and installation — her passion for finding the link between perception and meaning results in visually mesmerizing work. Her ongoing project of whether or not a work of art can relay the artist’s intention is as intriguing as the works on display.
■ 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
■ Until Aug. 15
Chen Ko-wei’s (陳科偉) warm color oil paintings of gorgeous female nudes are currently on display in the show Gorgeous Illusion (瑰麗的虛幻). Chen’s portraits of almost bionic women are a result of his interest in the cross section of humanity in virtual spaces. His interpretation of perfect bodies and his philosophy of beauty raise questions about the future direction of our species.
■ Hsinchu 241 Art Gallery (新竹241藝術空間), 6F, 241 Zhongyang Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市中央路241號6樓), tel: (03) 533-7945. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until July 30
Three series of Chang Chia-jung’s (張家榮) oil paintings and works on paper are currently on view at Uncertainty of Daily Routine (不確定的日常). Chang’s use of imagery from classic art history in Tower of Bable is a direct reference to Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s depiction of the biblical edifice. In his Prologue series, as opposed to the realistic and saturated palette he’s known for, his portraits on paper have captured the naivety of childhood.
■ Sunshine Gallery at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing FAP 14 P3 2F(陽光藝廊 臺灣積體電路公司晶圓十四廠P3廠2樓), 1-1, Nan-Ke North Rd, Tainan Science Park, Tainan City (台南市台南科學工業園區南科北路1-1號), tel (06) 505-6688. By appointment. Open Mondays to Fridays from 8:30am to 5:30pm
■ Until Sept. 28
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