Currently on display at Metaphysical Art Gallery is God’s Tear Drop (老天爺的淚珠). South Korean artist Kim Tschang-yeul’s, who is one of the “founding fathers” of the Korean monochrome movement known as Danseakhwa, initially started painting tear drops to symbolize the process of healing after the Korean War. Little did he know that he would spend his entire career painting water droplets — tiny ones, plump ones, droplets set against various backdrops such as old scrolls and newspaper clippings. Water to Kim symbolizes life and death, birth and rebirth, and his droplets, which exude a calming, trickling effect, are also eerily realistic.
■ 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 March 12
Photo courtesy of TKG+ Projects
As a child, Chen Chien-jung (陳建榮) was fascinated by the instruction manuals and diagrams depicting how to assemble the different parts of a toy rather than the actual toys themselves. He derives inspiration from these manuals and diagrams in his artwork which will be on display in his latest solo exhibition Well-Lighted Rooms (明亮的房間) at Project Fulfill Art Space. Chen’s paintings are both architectural and poetic. Detailed lines and measurements are overlaid with seemingly slapdash, pastel-colored brush strokes. His paintings also thread two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality.
■ Project Fulfill Art Space (就在藝術空間), 2, Alley 45, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷45弄2號), tel: (02) 2707-6942. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Opens Sunday. Until April 1
Photo courtesy of TKG+ Projects
Galerie Nichido celebrates its 90th birthday with Take a Line for a Walk (線性漫遊). The exhibition, which includes works from the likes of Andy Warhol, Janaina Tschape and Jasper Johns, derives its title from a saying by Swiss-German expressionist-surrealist artist Paul Klee. The saying alludes to capturing quick vignettes or everyday scenes. The artworks to be displayed are mostly simple but telling. Warhol’s drawings of daisies, for instance, juxtaposes bright-colored lines with dark backgrounds to create a pop art effect that begs viewers to see the beauty in flowers in a different light.
■ Galerie Nichido Taipei (台北日動畫廊), 3F, 57, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段57號3樓), tel: (02) 2579-8795. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until April 8
Photo courtesy of Project Fulfill Art Space
Taipei-born activist artist Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中) shows his mellower side in his latest solo exhibition, Eight Days a Week (週休八日), opening at Tina Keng Gallery tomorrow. Yao, whose past work includes public urination (to make a political statement of course) as well as photo-documentation of Taiwan’s “mosquito halls” — abandoned public property — turns his focus to childhood imagery, cartoons and pop culture. Yao says his worldview changed after having two daughters and that doting sentiment shows in his latest paintings such as Superman Daddy, where a man seems to be teaching his two children — who are wearing capes — a couple of fight moves.
■ 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
■ Opens tomorrow. Until April 9
Photo courtesy of tina keng gallery
Those who are into black-and-white dystopian imagery will want to check out Chinese artist Jiang Zhi’s (蔣志) solo exhibition at TKG+ Projects. One Is All, All Is One (我們) explores the relationship between human beings and their natural/psychological landscapes, while alluding to themes such as anxiety, greed and desire. As the exhibition title suggests, we are one with our psychological state — the Chinese title simply means “we.” However, Jiang’s work is far from poetic or pensive and viewers sense something sinister about his message, notably, to not let our thoughts consume us and eat us up. Put simply, overthinking isn’t healthy.
Founded by Kuo I-chen (郭奕臣) earlier this year, STUPIN, which stands for studio-pin, is a platform for artists from different countries to swap studios. Opening at TKG+ Projects tomorrow, STUPIN.ORG showcases Kuo’s work that was produced in Portuguese artist Filipe Cortez’s studio in his hometown of Porto. Cortez, meanwhile, has been working in Kuo’s Taipei studio. While Kuo’s previous work focused on aliens and robots, he seems more attuned to his natural surroundings in his latest installations, though the subject of memory still looms large.
■ TKG+ Projects, B1, 15, Ln 548, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路548巷15號B1), tel: (02) 2659-0798. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
Photo courtesy of Galerie Nichido
■ Both exhibitions open tomorrow and are until April 16
Photo courtesy of Galerie Nichido
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located