Chu Teh-i (曲德義) is showing his latest abstract paintings at the solo show A Space between Dimensions (居間的維度). Chu’s unique style of combining two or multiple canvases to group single-colored planes with his more fluid abstract tableaus in saturated color blotches is an aggregation of reason and sensibility. The emulsifier that blends the two seemingly unmixable opposites creates aesthetic balance.
■ Double Square Gallery (雙方藝廊), 28 Lane 770, Beian Road, Taipei City (台北市北安路770巷28號), tel: (02) 8501-2138. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:30am to 6:30pm
■ Until Oct. 29
Photo courtesy of Double Square Gallery
Chen Fei-hao’s (陳飛豪) solo exhibit, Ineffective Myth (失效的神話), features video installations as well as architectural sketches printed on acrylic panels. Chen’s work cleverly examines Taiwan’s post-World War II history, and while he addresses actual history, he also explores the possibility of histories that never were.
■ Dynasty Gallery Space B (朝代畫廊B館), 43, Leli Rd, Taipei City (台北市樂利路43號), tel: (02) 2377-0838. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Oct. 28
Photo courtesy of Dynasty Gallery
Teng Pu-chun’s (鄧卜君) solo show, Rock the Dream, Spirit of Ink (墨幻搖滾), synthesizes elements of traditional Chinese landscape painting. Twisted Spring Water and Greenstonesfish for the Green Clouds (2016), for example, draws inspiration from ancient cosmological theories and flourishes them with contemporary ideas on aesthetics.
■ 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
■ Opening tomorrow. Until Oct. 19
Photo courtesy of Chini Gallery
In Beyond Daily (未知的日常), Cheng Nung-hsuan’s (鄭農軒) uses portraiture to examine social interaction and identity. The faces of his subjects are either absent or only partially visible. Cheng seems to suggest that the viewer projects their own visage onto the canvas, effectively replacing an absence with a presence.
■ Jing Lu Gallery (靜慮藝術) 124 Jinjiang St, Taipei City (台北市晉江街124號), tel: (02) 2369-2608. Open Tuesday to Saturdays from 1pm to 7pm
■ Until Oct. 21
Photo courtesy of Licence Art Gallery
Ku Chi-chun’s (辜琪鈞) video installation, which shows her painted flowers in a kaleidoscope video that changes with the viewer’s movement, will appear as part of The 16th Taichung Tsaimo Festival (第十六屆台中彩墨藝術節).
■ Taichung City Tun District Art Center (台中市屯區藝文中心), 201 Daxing Rd, Taichung City (台中市大興路201號), tel: (04) 2392-1122. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5:30pm
■ Until Oct. 22
Photo courtesy of Jing Lu Gallery
Chang Chih-cheng (張志成) is showing his new oil paintings at Licence Art Gallery in Tainan. “Painting is a form of self-indulgence,” Chang has said. For him, balance is an art; with positive, there’s negative. In this series of works, brightness and darkness serve as a metaphor for seeking harmony.
■ Licence Art Gallery (東門美術館), 203-1, Fuqian Rd Sec 1, Tainan City (台南市府前路一段203號1樓), tel:(06)213-1897. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Until Oct. 22
Ke Wei-kuo (柯偉國) is showing ink-on-paper paintings at the group show Mandala of Ink Art (水墨曼陀羅). Ke describes one work, Borrowed World (2017), as a peaceful respite in an otherwise frenetic urban environment.
■ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA, 高雄市立美術館), 80 Meishuguan Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市美術館路80號), tel: (07) 555-0331. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm.
■ Until Oct. 29
British artist Gareth Bunting is showing his color ink-on-paper works at the group show Time Traveler’s Memory (白日夢遊記—時空旅人的回憶). Nature Bound, for example, is an ink on silk triptych with each frame representing life and death.
■ Pier-2 Contemporary Art (駁二當代館), 1 Dayong Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市大勇路1號), tel: (07) 521-4899. Open Mondays to Thursdays from 10am to 6pm, Fridays to Sundays and national holidays from 10am to 8pm.
■ Until Oct. 29
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
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
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located