This weekend, Galerie Nichido Taipei (台北日動畫廊) opens a rare group exhibition of modern and contemporary works from Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan and Vietnam. Curated by Gong Jow-jiun (龔卓軍), Air Surprise: An Aerial View of Heterogeneous Landscapes in Modern and Contemporary Taiwan and Japan (向空中突襲: 台日現當代異質風景的藝術鳥瞰) features landscapes from early 20th century to the present that push the boundaries of art language and historical perspectives. Japanese painter Ryuzaburo Umehara’s oil painting Beijing View depicts the artist’s perspective of Beijing’s Forbidden City from his elevated hotel room. In this painting, the empty sky dominates the composition while the Chinese palace plays an accompanying role in the overall scenery. Chuang Tsung-hsun (莊宗勳) also references Beijing’s authority in his scroll painting Along the River Park During the Qingming Festival, Closed (清明上河園區。今日公休), in which he adds contemporary features to a treasured Qing Dynasty landscape panorama housed in the National Palace collection. Kiyoko Sakata’s Hair Brush No.10 is an absurdist hair comb that poetically addresses Okinawa’s complex relationship with Japan. Providing multiple perspectives, the exhibition explores the historical issues of imperialism, war, colonial domination and the cultural relationship between Japan, Taiwan and China.
■ Galerie Nichido Taipei (台北日動畫廊), 3F-2, 57 Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段57號3樓之2), tel: (02)2579-8795. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Through Jan. 13
Photo courtesy of Puerta Roja
One of Taipei’s main art staples, Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), will be opening its new Tianmu space this weekend with a punk-spirited group show Parklife. Taking its title from a Blur song of the same name, the exhibition reflects upon the unique urban setting of Tianmu and look towards the prospects of future engagement with its community. The new gallery space is a former residential house that has a history of foreign tenants. Retaining its function as living quarters, owner Joanne Huang (黃其玟) keeps the space casual and hopes to run it as if she were inviting artists and guests into her space for art occasions. The opening exhibition features 20 artists, including a screening of Chang Chien-chi’s (張乾琦) film The War That Never Was, Heidi Voet’s meticulous sculptures made out of plastic bags and a special performance by sound artist Huang Da-wang (黃大旺).
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 1F, 32 Lane 2, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6, Taipei City (台北市中山北路六段2巷32號1樓), tel: (02)2837-0237. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 6pm.
■ Today through Nov. 30 (Opening today and tomorrow)
Photo courtesy of Nunu Fine Art
Entering its 24th edition this year, Art Taipei boasts participation of 123 galleries that collectively showcase a range of 3,000 works from artists worldwide. Visitors may expect a mix of distinguished galleries operating within the Asian regions, including Chinese heavy hitters ShanghArt (香格納畫廊) and Beijing Commune (北京公社). ShanghArt is showing renowned painter Geng Jianyi (耿建翌) and younger contemporaries Li Shan (李山) and Chen Wei (陳維). Beijing Commune is returning this year with its repertoire of new generation artists, including Hu Xiaoyan (胡曉媛), Wang Guangle (王光樂) and Yang Xinguang (楊心廣). Taiwanese strongholds Eslite Gallery (誠品畫廊), Lin & Lin Gallery (大未來林舍畫廊), Asia Art Center (亞洲藝術中心) and SOKA Art Center (索卡藝術中心) are also offering a range of modern and contemporary works. Lin & Lin is presenting an interesting lineup of artists including Sanyu (常玉), Hsia Yan (夏陽), Chen Chieh-jen (陳界仁), Kuo Wei-kuo (郭維國) and Liu Wei (劉煒). In addition to the main gallery section, also check out the fair’s public art program curated by Annie Ivanova, as well as the emerging artist program that includes eight solo exhibitions of upcoming artists to watch.
■ Taipei World Trade Center Hall Exhibition Hall 1 (台北世界貿易中心一館), 5 Xinyi Rd Sec 5, Taipei City (台北市信義路5段5號), tel: (02) 2725-5200.
■ Today through Monday (Today from 2pm to 7pm; tomorrow and Sunday from 11am to 7pm; Monday from 11am to 6 pm)
Photo courtesy of Ga
As part of the Tua-Tiu-Tann International Art Festival (大稻埕國際藝術節), Tua-Tiu-Tann Aramono Exhibition: Taiwanese Daily Objects (大稻埕荒物展:台灣人的日常器物) presents local and imported arts and crafts that tend toward the Japanese tradition of Aramono. Literally translated as “primitive objects,” Aramono is a craft discipline that promotes an unpolished and natural aesthetic. From hand-made wooden spoons, metal pots and plates, ceramic tea ware to bamboo woven baskets, the show includes a range of daily artifacts that have played an intimate role in Taiwanese life over the last century. The show includes objects created by young and old craftspeople, including senior artists from Dadaocheng (大稻埕), a historical area known for its preservation of traditional crafts. The show is accompanied by weekend workshops that offer hands-on experience of Aramono crafts.
■ Earthing Way (地衣荒物), 34 Minle St, Taipei City (台北市民樂街34號), tel: (02) 2550-2270. Open Wednesdays to Mondays from 10:30am to 7:30pm
■ Through Nov. 30
Photo courtesy of Earthing Way
Lin Tian-miao (林天苗) is a prominent Chinese female contemporary artist active since the 1980s. Catch her first Taipei solo exhibition at Nunu Fine Art (路由藝術), which includes works from her iconic series Seeing Shadows (看影) that feature atmospheric scenery inlaid with cotton and silk thread. Lin is known for her masterful use of thread to create monochromatic and often haunting installations that speak to her identity as a woman. She uses thread as a way of reclaiming her relationship with the past; as a young child, her mother would task her with spooling cotton. In her artistic practice today, the process of winding thread around objects allows Lin to enter a space for self-reconciliation. Her solo exhibition features a range of sensibilities; from subtle manipulations of thread and cloth to more colorful castings in resin. In More or Less the Same (可能一樣), Lin presents a surreal archeology of miniature sculptures that combine the form of human bones and machine parts.
■ Nunu Fine Art (路由藝術), 5, Ln 67, Jinshan S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市金山南路一段67巷5號), tel: (02) 3322-6207. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 12pm to 7 pm
■ Tomorrow through January
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
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s
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