Magnum photographer Chang Chien-chi (張乾琦) returns to Chi-Wen Gallery with a new series of photographs titled Burmese Days (在緬甸的日子). In this exhibition he turns his lens to Myanmar, a country run by a military regime and obsessed with Buddhism, where every male “enters the monastery sometime in their life to complete his monkhood,” and “astrologers are treated like rock stars and publications touting predictions for the coming years are among best sellers on newsstands,” writes Chang in his artist’s statement.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓), tel: (02) 8771-3372. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until March 24
Photo courtesy of Chi-Wen Gallery
Hsu Yung-hsu (徐永旭) re-examines his own creative process in Becoming‧Refrain (周流‧複歌), a solo show of 32 new sculptures to be displayed at Tina Keng Gallery’s Neihu (內湖) location. Building on his previous work, Hsu deconstructs his medium by manipulating (pressing, pushing, tearing, layering) and repeatedly stacking the clay so as to build a mass of abstract shapes. The resulting sculptures balance immense forms with delicate flourishes, “transcend[ing] the intrinsic limitations of clay,” according to the gallery’s press release.
■ Tina Keng Gallery (耿畫廊), 15, Ln 548, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路548巷15號), tel: (02) 2659-0798. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4:30pm. Until March 18
Photo courtesy of TFAM
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) will open two exhibitions on Saturday. Time Games: Contemporary Appropriations of the Past (臺灣當代‧玩古喻今) brings together 150 works, dating back to the early 1990s, by 23 contemporary Taiwanese artists working in mixed media, painting and installation. According to the museum’s press release, the artists “recreate works of art through the processes of deconstruction, aggregation … and dissimulation” to express different points of view on the individual, society and current events. Journey Through Jiangnan (行過江南) traces the pivotal moments of Chen Cheng-po’s (陳澄波) artistic career. Chen, a pioneer in the development of modern art in Taiwan who passed away in 1947, was the first Taiwanese painter to be selected to participate in Japan’s Imperial Art Exhibition. Most of the works to be displayed are from his Shanghai period, a time when he was trying to blend Western and Eastern aesthetics to create a new visual language. Nudes, landscapes and figurative painting will be displayed alongside ink paintings that were given to Po by his many friends and admirers.
■ 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), tel: (02) 2595-7656. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm and until 8:30pm on Saturdays. Admission: NT$30
■ Both shows begin Saturday. Time Games ends June 10; Journey runs until May 13
Metaphysics in Metallic Luster presents a new series of hyperrealistic paintings by Dutch artist Maarten Verhaak that depict cars, office buildings, freeways and airports. Verhaak’s use of perspective directs the viewer’s attention to details that may otherwise be overlooked: a tiny dent in a fender, for example, or a city scene reflected off the surface of a car. But in spite of his photorealist style, his paintings are not reproduced in exact detail. The intentional omission of certain elements thus guides the “viewer’s gaze on to the subjects the artist wants us to see,” according to the gallery’s press release.
■ Art Door Gallery (藝境畫廊), 5F, 36, Ln 164, Hulin St, Taipei City (台北市虎林街164巷36號5樓), tel: (02) 2345-6773. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 7pm
■ Until March 4
Looking for a new kind of sensory experience? If so, you might want to check out Descriptions of Hearing (聽覺摹寫), an exhibition of sound and video installation by seven artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Italy and Spain. According to curators Liao Chien-chiao (廖芊喬) and Linda Lai (黎肖嫻), the group show attempts to go “beyond pure imitation or reproduction of hearing,” so that participants can expand their scope of “perception through words, imagery and behavior, and engage in the creation of a pure sound art.” An “object theater” performance titled Toward the End (暮) will be held on Saturday at 3pm.
■ Digital Arts Center (台北數位藝術中心), 180 Fuhua Rd, Taipei City (台北市福華路180號), tel: (02) 7736-0708. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission: Free
■ Until March 25
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