The Glenfiddich Distillery, famed for its single malt scotch, is also home to one of the more innovative international artist residency programs, which began in 2002. It all started when the company wanted to establish a corporate art collection at the distillery.
The artist residency, which is located in the several empty houses on the distillery premises, provides funding, accommodation and studio space for eight artists every summer and stipulates that residents have to create an artwork for the collection. Artists are asked to draw inspiration from Glenfiddich's brew and the local environment.
Taiwanese artist Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中) spent his three-month residency creating mainly ink drawings combined with gold leaf on handmade paper. The framed results are on display at the IT Park until Dec. 8
PHOTOS:COURTESY OF YAO JUI-CHUNG
The exhibition opening last week at the IT Park was attended by the residency's director, clad in a kilt and sporting dreadlocks.
The residency - located in Dufftown, Scotland, with a population of 2,000 - was a contrast to the hectic pace of Taipei life, which Yao is used to. The artist, who is well-known in the capital's art circle, helps run the nearby VT Art Salon, has published several books, makes videos, photos and drawings and teaches at a university. The Scottish town's slow pace and the country's pre-Christian roots sparked Yao's frenetic burst of creativity.
The drawings include depictions of Yao's hobbies - bathing in hot springs, mountain climbing, appreciating nature, playing chess - while referring to classical Chinese painting from the late Ming Dynasty.
PHOTOS:COURTESY OF YAO JUI-CHUNG
Yao's previous work took a critical view of Taiwan's turbulent political and social situation. In his new works, he has continued painting his dog-faced characters, which represent cynics and devils. Yet, these drawings seem to be the weakest of the series, perhaps because they illustrate the contentious dichotomy of local politics and lose any poetic feeling.
Yao's strongest drawings are those that reference Scottish mythology, ancient Pictish stone circles, the dramatic Scottish highlands and Chinese landscape painting.
Wonderful: The Holy Ridge under the Milk-way, a figuratively-shaped mountain that is formed by intensely worked black ink scribbles, shows the artist's erratic, quick-handed movements. Gold leaf rivulets stream forth from mysterious inner mountain sources. This huge mountain range dwarfs a red-cloaked figure who appears to be at one with nature, enjoying the heavenliness of the scene.
PHOTOS:COURTESY OF YAO JUI-CHUNG
Graphically, Wonderful: Crossing the Taiwan Strait by a Leaf is a perfect work of art. White crested waves grasping the air like greedy hands are finely delineated in black lines and carry a delicate Buddha-like figure on a small gold leaf.
The mystical Wonderful: Looking the Waterfall in Tain-Da-Na is a good example of Yao's merging of Scottish and Chinese landscapes. It feels like a real place, but also a dreamlike, imaginary landscape.
Yao, who abandoned the classical for the avant-garde, was pleasantly surprised to rediscover the richness of traditional art. It was his studied knowledge of the past that helped him create something new. And that is probably one of the best reasons to have an artist residency program. I'll drink to that.
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 When Coca-Cola finally pushed its way into Taiwan’s market in 1968, it allegedly vowed to wipe out its major domestic rival Hey Song within five years. But Hey Song, which began as a manual operation in a family cow shed in 1925, had proven its resilience, surviving numerous setbacks — including the loss of autonomy and nearly all its assets due to the Japanese colonial government’s wartime economic policy. By the 1960s, Hey Song had risen to the top of Taiwan’s beverage industry. This success was driven not only by president Chang Wen-chi’s
Last week, on the heels of the recall election that turned out so badly for Taiwan, came the news that US President Donald Trump had blocked the transit of President William Lai (賴清德) through the US on his way to Latin America. A few days later the international media reported that in June a scheduled visit by Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) for high level meetings was canceled by the US after China’s President Xi Jinping (習近平) asked Trump to curb US engagement with Taiwan during a June phone call. The cancellation of Lai’s transit was a gaudy
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade