South Korean contemporary artist Kwon Ki-soo returns to Metaphysical Art Gallery with a new series of floral paintings called Are You Waiting for Me? Kwon’s canvases blend Korean painting techniques and motifs, with more than a passing resemblance to children’s comic books, to symbolically illustrate South Korea’s creative tradition of artists relying on their own impressions of nature to express a transcendent image of what is actually seen.
■ Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2711-0055
■ Until Feb. 7
In This Is Hong Kong (這是香港), over a dozen artists from the special administrative region ponder the changes that have taken place since its handover to China in 1997. The group show, located in Room 102, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), makes use of video installation to reflect on politics, history, architecture, post-colonial issues and daily life in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, on the museum’s fourth floor, celebrated Amis artist Rahic Talif (達立夫) presents Fali-yos 颱風, his latest meditation on nature, which probes the effects that typhoons have on Taiwan.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), Taipei National University of the Arts (台北藝術大學), 1 Xueyuan Rd,
Taipei City (台北市學園路1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm. Tel: (02) 2896-1000 X2432
■ Until March 28
Colors is a new series of paintings by contemporary Japanese artist Mamiko Uematsu. Her solid-color panels, rendered in earthy tones, suggest varying degrees of emotional intensity.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2F-3F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號2-3樓). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm. Tel: (02) 2507-7243
■ Until Feb. 13
The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts celebrates the upcoming Lunar New Year with Welcome Happiness in the Year of Tiger (寅春納福 — 虎年年畫特展), an exhibition of festive prints, which traditionally feature themes of good fortune, longevity and wealth. The display of folk art includes interesting historical anecdotes such as how the development of lithographic technology led to the rapid growth of Lunar New Year prints.
■ National Taiwan Museum of the Arts (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wucyuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm. Tel: (04) 2372-3552
■ Until April 11
The video installation works by this year’s winners of the Taipei Arts Awards (台北美術獎) — Chang Huei-ming (張暉明) for Watching Dust in the Sunlight (在陽光下觀察灰塵), Ni Xiang (倪祥) for Compensation Soon (很快就補償), Chang Li-ren (張立人) for Model Community (模型社區) and Tao Mei-yu (陶美羽) for Language (語言) — are currently on display in Galleries D, E and F of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM).
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM — 台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm
and Saturday from 9:30am to 8:30pm. Tel: (02) 2595-7656
■ Until March 7
Contemporary Taiwanese photographer Wu Shang-lin (吳尚霖) displays his snaps of city streets and the people who inhabit them in his solo show Portrait of Cities — Space of Remembrance (城市肖像 — 回憶之境).
■ The Gallery (畫廊), 71 Jhongjhang 4th Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市中正四路71號). Call (07) 281-5025 for a viewing
■ Until Feb. 21
Nirvana (超脫) is a series of oil paintings by Chou Yao-tung (周耀東) of Chinese mountainscapes, but with a twist. Expanding the boundaries of this conventional art form, the peaks take the form of erect penises, reaching up to the sky.
■ Sin Pink Pier — Absolutely Art Space (), 2F, 64 Dayong Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市大勇路64號2F). Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm. Tel: (07) 533-2041
■ Until Feb. 7
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
There is perhaps no better way to soak up the last of Taipei’s balmy evenings than dining al fresco at La Piada with a sundowner Aperol Spritz and a luxuriant plate of charcuterie. La Piada (義式薄餅) is the brainchild of Milano native William Di Nardo. Tucked into an unassuming apartment complex, fairy lights and wining diners lead the way to this charming slice of laid-back Mediterranean deli culture. Taipei is entirely saturated with Italian cuisine, but La Piada offers something otherwise unseen on the island. Piadina Romagnola: a northern Italian street food classic. These handheld flatbreads are stuffed with cold
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
Oct. 14 to Oct. 20 After working above ground for two years, Chang Kui (張桂) entered the Yamamoto coal mine for the first time, age 16. It was 1943, and because many men had joined the war effort, an increasing number of women went underground to take over the physically grueling and dangerous work. “As soon as the carts arrived, I climbed on for the sake of earning money; I didn’t even feel scared,” Chang tells her granddaughter Tai Po-fen (戴伯芬) in The last female miner: The story of Chang Kui (末代女礦工: 張桂故事), which can be found on the Frontline
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