During his first Taipei solo show in March, artist Jason Cole Mager exhibited a piece where, for the first time, he used humor to address his usually serious themes exploring Taiwan’s politics and complex history. Titled Cultural Colonization, Have a Nice Day, it depicted repeating symbols of the Japanese rising sun juxtaposed with the logo for the Japanese-owned 7-Eleven.
Based on this single work, Mager has created 23 new pieces for his latest exhibition, “Culture, Company & Consummation” (結·地·企) at Taipei’s Shalon Shalom (你好沙龍). He will discuss his work at the space tomorrow with Kenneth Lin (林志鴻), chief editor of Art Collection + Design magazine.
Having lived in Taiwan for nearly a decade, Mager’s work has become increasingly personal and embracing of local culture, this time incorporating the colorful floral cloth now known as “Hakka fabric” — as his wife is part-Hakka.
Photo courtesy of Jason Cole Mager
Her stories of this fabric being used for bedding, curtains and tablecloths and its eventual wear and tear inspire several paintings that appear to be bleached, creating a painterly space, Mager says. He adds that these works do not necessarily inform the viewer of their source, but encourage discourse as the fabric’s familiarity and alteration raise questions.
Other paintings directly expand on the 7-Eleven theme — one image uses the Chinese characters for “seven” and “eleven,” as Mager questions why the logo, ubiquitous in Asia, is not made to be read by the local community. Another replaces the seven with an eight and the eleven with the word “lucky,” a nod to the local superstition surrounding the number.
-Artist talk tomorrow at 7pm at Shalom Shalom, 3, Ln 165, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市新生南路一段165巷3號)
Photo courtesy of Jason Cole Mager
-Exhibition runs until Nov. 5
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
When 17-year-old Lin Shih (林石) crossed the Taiwan Strait in 1746 with a group of settlers, he could hardly have known the magnitude of wealth and influence his family would later amass on the island, or that one day tourists would be walking through the home of his descendants in central Taiwan. He might also have been surprised to see the family home located in Wufeng District (霧峰) of Taichung, as Lin initially settled further north in what is now Dali District (大里). However, after the Qing executed him for his alleged participation in the Lin Shuang-Wen Rebellion (林爽文事件), his grandsons were
I am kneeling quite awkwardly on a cushion in a yoga studio in London’s Shoreditch on an unseasonably chilly Wednesday and wondering when exactly will be the optimum time to rearrange my legs. I have an ice-cold mango and passion fruit kombucha beside me and an agonising case of pins and needles. The solution to pins and needles, I learned a few years ago, is to directly confront the agony: pull your legs out from underneath you, bend your toes up as high as they can reach, and yes, it will hurt far more initially, but then the pain subsides.
When Angelica Oung received the notification that her Xiaohongshu account had been blocked for violating the social media app’s code of conduct, her mind started racing. The only picture she had posted on her account, apart from her profile headshot, was of herself wearing an inflatable polar bear suit, holding a sign saying: “I love nuclear.” What could be the problem with that, wondered Oung, a clean energy activist in Taiwan. Was it because, at a glance, her picture looked like someone holding a placard at a protest? Was it because her costume looked a bit like the white hazmat suits worn
RSS