Walking around the geometric abstraction exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, one explores the varieties of Taiwanese abstract art, as well as examining the melding of Western concepts with Eastern philosophy that created a unique movement in Taiwan.
The Lyricism of Form: Geometric Abstraction highlights more than 50 pieces from 14 Taiwanese artists and spans the history of the movement in Taiwan from its onset in the 1960s to the present day.
Near the entrance of the exhibition is Chen Shiu-ming's (
Hu Kun-jung's (
Artists such as Richard Lin (
Images of folk art are also rich in Shiy De Jinn's (
From a postmodern perspective, Chang Cheng-jen (
When viewed as a whole, there doesn't seem to be a common thread underlining the exhibit, nor is it arranged in any particular order, chronological or otherwise. It does, however, examine the numerous influences -- both Western and Chinese -- that lead to a variegated abstract movement in Taiwan. The exhibit also provides an impressive overview of the group of artists who constructed the movement.
Equally interesting is how these pieces, which were originally influenced by works from the late 19th century, have become commonplace, mass-produced interior designs in bars, clubs and local homeware stores around the globe.
Exhibition notes:
What: The Lyricism of Form: Geometric Abstraction
Where: Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館) 181 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 3, Taipei (臺北市中山北路３段１８１號).
Telephone: (02) 2595 7656
When: Until Oct. 10, Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30am to 5:30pm. Closed on Mondays
By 1971, heroin and opium use among US troops fighting in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions, with 42 percent of American servicemen saying they’d tried opioids at least once and around 20 percent claiming some level of addiction, according to the US Department of Defense. Though heroin use by US troops has been little discussed in the context of Taiwan, these and other drugs — produced in part by rogue Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) armies then in Thailand and Myanmar — also spread to US military bases on the island, where soldiers were often stoned or high. American military policeman
Under pressure, President William Lai (賴清德) has enacted his first cabinet reshuffle. Whether it will be enough to staunch the bleeding remains to be seen. Cabinet members in the Executive Yuan almost always end up as sacrificial lambs, especially those appointed early in a president’s term. When presidents are under pressure, the cabinet is reshuffled. This is not unique to any party or president; this is the custom. This is the case in many democracies, especially parliamentary ones. In Taiwan, constitutionally the president presides over the heads of the five branches of government, each of which is confusingly translated as “president”
An attempt to promote friendship between Japan and countries in Africa has transformed into a xenophobic row about migration after inaccurate media reports suggested the scheme would lead to a “flood of immigrants.” The controversy erupted after the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, said this month it had designated four Japanese cities as “Africa hometowns” for partner countries in Africa: Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. The program, announced at the end of an international conference on African development in Yokohama, will involve personnel exchanges and events to foster closer ties between the four regional Japanese cities — Imabari, Kisarazu, Sanjo and
Sept. 1 to Sept. 7 In 1899, Kozaburo Hirai became the first documented Japanese to wed a Taiwanese under colonial rule. The soldier was partly motivated by the government’s policy of assimilating the Taiwanese population through intermarriage. While his friends and family disapproved and even mocked him, the marriage endured. By 1930, when his story appeared in Tales of Virtuous Deeds in Taiwan, Hirai had settled in his wife’s rural Changhua hometown, farming the land and integrating into local society. Similarly, Aiko Fujii, who married into the prominent Wufeng Lin Family (霧峰林家) in 1927, quickly learned Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and
RSS