Gesichtslandschaften (Landscapes of Faces, 臉孔風景) is a joint show of portraits by two Taiwanese painters trained in Germany. Kuo Chih-hung (郭志宏) reproduces people in photographs without strict fidelity: Every color is slightly over-bright and every line a bit too firm, so that each “reproduction” becomes a frozen image of a Magical Realist landscape. Wu Yih-han (吳逸寒) depicts family and friends with neutral faces and uncomplicated poses — sitting or standing — against different paisley backdrops. Her subjects’ emotions are not in the face but in the miniscule details, like the subtle string bra on Ana.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣藝廊), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號), tel: (02) 2599-1171. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6:30pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 3pm. Until Sept. 29
Photo: courtesy of Aki Gallery
El Salvador Nueve Mujeres En Las Artes Visuals (El Salvador’s Women in the Visual Arts) is a retrospective show that spotlights notable Salvadorian women painters of the 20th and 21st centuries. Featured artists include Rosa Mena Valenzuela, Nicole Schwartz, Negra Alvarez and Julia Diaz, who founded El Salvador’s first art gallery, the Galeria Forma. Many of the works borrow themes from the country’s traditions, landscapes and political circumstances. El Salvador, Central America’s smallest country, has a turbulent history marked recently by a 12-year civil war.
■ Zhi Qing Exhibition Hall (志清廳), National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂), tel: (02) 2343-1100, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Sept. 29
Photo: courtesy of the Central America Trade Office
The Brilliance of Oil Pastel (彩蠟凝艷光) is a solo exhibition of three-dimensional pastel paintings by Wang Jan-min (王建民), a Taipei-based artist. Wang creates his signature 3D effect by carving designs on a smooth wooden board, then applying the oil pastel in deep strokes so that the texture is rich yet airy.
■ Art Den (藝研齋), 3F, 309 Xinyi Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市信義路四段309號3樓), tel: (02) 2325-8188. Open Tuesdays to Saturday from 10:30am to 6:30pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 3pm
Before Leaving (離去之前) is how two cities — Taipei and the Czech Republic’s Cesky Krumlov — appear in the artist’s final glance at them before departure. Chiu Chih-hua (丘智華) builds a tableau using paper scale models, digital prints and video works at the FreeS Art Space (福利社), a gallery for rising artists in experimental mediums. Miniature trees and building replicas are chilly and white, a physical manifestation of grief over losing a home and the thrill of the upcoming unknown.
■ FreeS Art Space, B1, 82, Xinsheng N Rd Sec 3 (104台北市新生北路三段82號B1), tel: (02) 2585-7600, open Tuesdays to Fridays from 11am to 7pm, Saturdays from 1pm to 9pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 7pm. Until Oct. 5
June 9 to June 15 A photo of two men riding trendy high-wheel Penny-Farthing bicycles past a Qing Dynasty gate aptly captures the essence of Taipei in 1897 — a newly colonized city on the cusp of great change. The Japanese began making significant modifications to the cityscape in 1899, tearing down Qing-era structures, widening boulevards and installing Western-style infrastructure and buildings. The photographer, Minosuke Imamura, only spent a year in Taiwan as a cartographer for the governor-general’s office, but he left behind a treasure trove of 130 images showing life at the onset of Japanese rule, spanning July 1897 to
One of the most important gripes that Taiwanese have about the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is that it has failed to deliver concretely on higher wages, housing prices and other bread-and-butter issues. The parallel complaint is that the DPP cares only about glamor issues, such as removing markers of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colonialism by renaming them, or what the KMT codes as “de-Sinification.” Once again, as a critical election looms, the DPP is presenting evidence for that charge. The KMT was quick to jump on the recent proposal of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to rename roads that symbolize
On the evening of June 1, Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) apologized and resigned in disgrace. His crime was instructing his driver to use a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon. The Control Yuan is the government branch that investigates, audits and impeaches government officials for, among other things, misuse of government funds, so his misuse of a government vehicle was highly inappropriate. If this story were told to anyone living in the golden era of swaggering gangsters, flashy nouveau riche businessmen, and corrupt “black gold” politics of the 1980s and 1990s, they would have laughed.
In an interview posted online by United Daily News (UDN) on May 26, current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was asked about Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) replacing him as party chair. Though not yet officially running, by the customs of Taiwan politics, Lu has been signalling she is both running for party chair and to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. She told an international media outlet that she was considering a run. She also gave a speech in Keelung on national priorities and foreign affairs. For details, see the May 23 edition of this column,
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