Shawn May and Felicia Rodrigues have a plan to liven up a Saturday afternoon in Taipei. The expat artists are holding Exposure, an outdoor art fair that takes place tomorrow in the courtyard of Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村百里廳).
May, who has lived in Taiwan for two and a half years, sums up Exposure as the perfect day of leisure. “What’s better than great art, live music, excellent food and a day drinking in the sun?” he told the Taipei Times.
May and Rodrigues initially started Exposure as a way to showcase their work, as well as that of like-minded artists. May specializes in gig posters and T-shirt design. Rodrigues says she left Toronto for Taiwan three and a half years ago because she was looking for “inner growth and experience.”
Photo courtesy of Felicia Rodrigues
“When I first came to Taiwan, I really didn’t know what was going on in the art scene,” she said. “But since moving here, my art has blossomed and I’m quite impressed with what Taiwan has brought out of me.”
The pair held the first Exposure in June last year to rave reviews, which led to a second one in October. The event also features live music (tomorrow there will be four acoustic artists). They met only shortly before the first event, but quickly clicked as a team.
“We split the duties to get everything ready,” May said. “Felicia is fantastic in dealing with all the artists. She handles getting all of their deposits [for the venue]. I deal with the venue and making sure we get all the right equipment lined up. I’m the nuts-and-bolts guy; she’s the people person.”
Photo courtesy of Felicia Rodrigues
The DIY effort behind the event has been personally gratifying for Rodrigues.
“Many artists, myself included, had never done an art show or gallery, so there were many questions to answer,” she said. “As I was checking out the artists’ profiles, I was truly amazed and inspired with everyone’s skills. I got to meet a lot of amazing people that had interesting thoughts and ideas. Bringing together 22 artists is a little nerve-racking and hard work, but worth it in the end. It makes me happy to see that the reason Exposure was created is reality.”
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July
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