Taiwanese-Swiss artist Una Ursprung (許常郁) will show her new oil and acrylic spray paint on canvas paintings at her solo show Accomplishing A Forest (一座森林的完成). In these new works, Ursprung’s use of two different paints form a dual narrative, enticing visitors to imagine a world weaved by various viewpoints.
■ Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心), 366, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路366號), tel: (02) 2797-1100. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm.
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Oct. 1
Photo courtesy of Da Xiang Art Space
White Stone Gallery presents Japanese artist Shozo Shimamoto’s mix medium works in Shozo Shimamoto X AU (嶋本昭三 X AU), which will feature expressionistic abstract acrylic paintings with household paint, glass-fragments and film sheets, as well as a variety of other objects. As one of the first members and key thinkers of Gutai, a prestigious Japanese art group and movement, Shimamoto formed an early international network with American artists like Jackson Pollock and Ray Johnson.
■ White Stone Gallery (白石畫廊), 1 Jihu Rd, Taipei City (台北市基湖路1號), tel: (02) 8751-1185. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm.
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Sept. 24
Photo courtesy of River Art
The Core (核心) is currently showing Chiu Dou’s (邱掇) abstract acrylic paintings. Sometimes mixed with the use of charcoal and pencil, Chiu’s works are often monochromatic and his control of layers of light is also very intriguing, enabling an examination of painting’s intrinsic nature.
■ Gaiart (㮣藝術), No. 9-4, Pu-Cheng Rd, Taipei City (台北市浦城街9-4號), tel: (02) 2363-2000. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1:30pm to 7pm.
■ Until Sept. 17
Photo courtesy of White Stone Gallery
Lee Cheng-hsun (李政勳) will show his abstract acrylic paintings in a show of new works called Time in Transience (忽忽). In his large horizontal painting The Day Will Come Again, Lee conveys the closeness and distance among human interactions and the relations between humans and nature. Lee’s work shows an exceptional sense of time, with the geometric fragments forming an unseen web of inter-dimensional grids.
■ Nan Gallery (南畫廊), 3F-7, 200 Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段200號), tel: (02) 2751-1155, Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6pm
■ Opening tomorrow at 3pm. Until Sept. 24
Photo courtesy of Liang Gallery
Peggy Wu (吳美琪) will take part in Aura Gallery’s Summer Showcase II with her brightly saturated photography of her still-life prints. Her arrangement of mirrors in the composition suggests a contemporary version of works by the likes of Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso and Rene Magritte. In Wu’s 2017 work, XYX — A Moveable Feast #1-2, t raises questions of ephemerality and eternity while fresh fruit and mirrors hint at the inevitable mortality of life.
■ Aura Gallery Taipei (亦安畫廊台北), 313, Dunhua N Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段313號); tel: (02) 2752-7002. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from noon to 7pm
■ Opening today from 6pm. Until Sept. 16
At the summer group show, Nothing But Happy (快樂進行曲), visitors will see Huang Ming-chang’s (黃銘昌) large oil painting Leisurely Floating (2004). As one of the most prominent landscape painters in contemporary Taiwan, his work offers a raw and down-to-earth vision of the nation’s culture and agricultural history, which recalls a nostalgia similar to contemporary works by Yeh Tzu-chi (葉子奇) and Hong Jiang-po (洪江波).
■ 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), tel: (02) 2771-3236. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm
■ Until Sept. 24
A Gaze into the Illusory Transformation (凝視的幻化) will showcase Chu De-hua’s (曲德華) painted stainless steel mesh sculptures. As opposed to the traditional approach to sculpture, Chu’s signature style of using industrial building materials that merge two-dimensional and three-dimensional planes. The resulting sculptures give off a sense of lightness and an illusion that they are floating.
■ Da Xiang Art Space (大象藝術空間館), 15 Boguan Rd, Taichung City (台中市博館路15號), tel: (04) 2208-4288. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 8pm
■ Until Oct. 8
What I Hear (聽見) features ink and color on paper paintings by Chiang Hsin-ching (江心靜) at River Art in Miaoli County’s Sanyi Township. Chiang uses multiple techniques of contemporary ink painting that blend styles East and West. Emmy Award-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton has created a musical suite for the solo exhibition. By integrating poems, paintings and music, the exhibition represents the voices that echo in the artist’s mind.
■ River Art (大河美術), 305 Shuimei St, Sanyi Township, Miaoli County (苗栗縣三義鄉水美街305號), tel: (037) 876-576. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opening tomorrow from 2pm to 5pm. Until Oct. 15
Cheng Ching-hsiang (鄭青祥) turned a small triangle of concrete jammed between two old shops into a cool little bar called 9dimension. In front of the shop, a steampunk-like structure was welded by himself to serve as a booth where he prepares cocktails. “Yancheng used to be just old people,” he says, “but now young people are coming and creating the New Yancheng.” Around the corner, Yu Hsiu-jao (饒毓琇), opened Tiny Cafe. True to its name, it is the size of a cupboard and serves cold-brewed coffee. “Small shops are so special and have personality,” she says, “people come to Yancheng to find such treasures.” She
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
Hannah Liao (廖宸萱) recalls the harassment she experienced on dating apps, an experience that left her frightened and disgusted. “I’ve tried some voice-based dating apps,” the 30-year-old says. “Right away, some guys would say things like, ‘Wanna talk dirty?’ or ‘Wanna suck my d**k?’” she says. Liao’s story is not unique. Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics show a more than 50 percent rise in sexual assault cases related to online encounters over the past five years. In 2023 alone, women comprised 7,698 of the 9,413 reported victims. Faced with a dating landscape that can feel more predatory than promising, many in
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) attendance at the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPP) “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War” parade in Beijing is infuriating, embarrassing and insulting to nearly everyone in Taiwan, and Taiwan’s friends and allies. She is also ripping off bandages and pouring salt into old wounds. In the process she managed to tie both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) into uncomfortable knots. The KMT continues to honor their heroic fighters, who defended China against the invading Japanese Empire, which inflicted unimaginable horrors on the