In his solo exhibit Very Hard (很辛苦), Chou Yu-cheng (周育正) appropriates images from mass media to criticize how they are produced. According to Chou, the innumerable images that bombard our visual environment deserve further scrutiny. His photographs offer a different narrative on contemporary consumption.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2599-1171
■ Until Jan. 31
Saint Everything (眾物昇天) is a solo exhibit by Chen Wen-hsiang (陳文祥). In his digital images, Chen seeks to recreate drawings of artistic muses, such as Venus and Guanyin (觀音), to illustrate the universal nature of artistic creation.
■ La Chambre Art Gallery (小室藝廊), 31, Ln 52, Siwei Rd,
Taipei City (台北市四維路52巷31號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2700-3689
■ Until Jan. 31
Painter Shih Yi-shan (施懿珊) positions himself as a biologist studying nature to find deeper truths about human behavior in Once Human (聽說，我們曾經是人類). Shih’s delicate paintings of blooming flowers and vast seascapes offer much for reflective souls.
■ Galerie Grand Siecle (新苑藝術), 17, Alley 51, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷51弄17號). Open Tuesdays
to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2578-5630
■ Until Feb. 11
Chen Yu-zhi (陳昱志) depicts completely nude men and women in various poses in his solo exhibition at Ping Pong (乒乓). Chen’s photo-realist paintings depict pairs of young Taiwanese who stare directly at the viewer in an almost confrontational show of sexuality.
■ Ping Pong (乒乓), 290, Zhongyang N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中央北路二段290號). Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2895-8883
■ Until Sunday
Tsai Hsien-yiu (蔡獻友) continues his examination of Taiwan’s environment with a new series of oil paintings at Kaohsiung City’s Show Gallery (小畫廊). The solo show depicts the richness and variety of the country’s flora.
■ Show Gallery (小畫廊), 166, Shizhong 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市市中一路166號). Open Thursdays to Mondays from 1pm to 7pm. Tel: (07) 215-0798
■ Until Feb. 11
Harmony Mask is a series of oil paintings by contemporary Lithuanian artist Sigitas Staniunas. Staniunas’ surreal paintings draw on a vocabulary of mythical figures placed in dreamlike landscapes.
■ Alot of People (一票人票畫空間), 63-1 Yongkang St, Taipei City (台北市永康街63-1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 10pm. Tel (02) 2358-3713
■ Until Jan. 30
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
Mongolian influencer Anudari Daarya looks effortlessly glamorous and carefree in her social media posts — but the classically trained pianist’s road to acceptance as a transgender artist has been anything but easy. She is one of a growing number of Mongolian LGBTQ youth challenging stereotypes and fighting for acceptance through media representation in the socially conservative country. LGBTQ Mongolians often hide their identities from their employers and colleagues for fear of discrimination, with a survey by the non-profit LGBT Centre Mongolia showing that only 20 percent of people felt comfortable coming out at work. Daarya, 25, said she has faced discrimination since she
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