Exhibitions

Air Surprise: An Aerial View of Heterogeneous Landscapes in Modern and Contemporary Taiwan and Japan

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2017.10.18 - 2018.01.13

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展覽日期 Dates|2017. 10. 18 - 2018. 01. 13
開幕時間 Opening Reception|2017. 10. 18 (18:30 - 20:00)
(*策展人與出席藝術家將進行開幕導覽 (*Curator and attending artist will hold a guided tour)
展覽地點Venue|台北日動畫廊 galerie nichido Taipei

藝術家 Artists|裴公慶 Bui Cong Khanh,陳伯義 Chen Po-I,莊宗勳 Chuang Tsung-Hsun,高俊宏 Kao Jun-Honn,小出猷重 Koide Narashige,林玉婷 Lin Yu-Ting,里見勝藏 Satomi Katsuzo,阪田清子 Sakata Kiyoko,梅原龍三郎 UmeharaRyuzaburo(按姓氏字母順序排列 listed under alphabetical precedence)

*特別感謝 Special Thanks:藝術家林書楷 Artist Lin, Shu-Kai,鳳甲美術館 Hong-gah Museum 

策展人 Curator|龔卓軍 Gong Jow-Jiun


Text/ Gong Jow-Jiun

“Staging air surprise to depict the prospect.” This is a sentence written in “Beijing Diary”by Kyoto born painter UmeharaRyuzaburoon the 2nd of September, 1940. After finishing one of his paintings Chang-an Street, he started to prepare a new creation of the Beijing Forbidden City(紫禁城) with an aerial perspective from his residence Hotel Beijing(北京飯店). This upper viewpoint reveals a different yet interesting taste with the Tainan Painter Kuo Po Chuan(郭柏川), who also painted Beijing Forbidden City from Jinshan(景山), the mountain situated at the northern side of the subject. However, when we further look at the painting “Autumn of Beijing”which Umehara made in 1942, we may notice that the original perspective of portraying the view from the west-side window on the fifth floor of Hotel Beijing has leveled up, further turning towards the severe atmosphere of Beijing`s Autumn. Here, the blankscape gradually became the main theme of the painting. In 1943, Umehara`s“Beijing View” presented the proportion of Beijing Forbidden City in an even smaller scale; besides the artist`s well-balanced technique of mineral pigment and gouache, we can also see the window frame painted at the edge of the work. This inevitablystrengthens the existence of the frame of the painting, and expresses the limitation of an aerial perspective at the same time. “Beijing View” not only backs up the self-referential aspect of modern painting, but also highlights the pure blankness of the sky revealing in front of the artist.

This exhibition starts from this idea of “Staging air surprise”under the “blankness of the sky”, and tends to see modern and contemporary art as a physical “blank space”. In fact, such blankness, which is not at all pure in its essence, includes three unavoidable characteristics in specific.First, it stages a surprise attack towards the inevitable aspect of historical and material factors of painting in modern art history. Second, it strikes towards unavoidable issues such as empire, war, colonial domination, and cultural competitions between Taiwan and Japan, as well as Taiwan and Japan against China. Lastly, this air surprise tends to look at Taiwanese contemporary art from a bird`s-eye view, and to look at the diversity of aerial perspectives by tracing and including the context from Japan, Okinawa, to Vietnam.

“Air Surprise” includes works made byJapanese modern painters UmeharaRyuzaburo, Koide Narashige, and SatomiKatsuzo. The three works present respectively a self referential perspective of modern painting, elements of Sinology existing in Mount Penglai, and the colors and air surrounding European mountain cities. In addition, Works by four Taiwanese artist, including Kao Jun-Honn’s“Ncaq • Taiwan Live Scenes”, a new series combining long term investigation and past archives; Chen Po-I’s photography ofHongmaogang Village and China Town situated in Taiwan; Chuang Tsung-Hsun`s“Along the River Park During the Qingming Festival - Closed Today”, an appropriation and reinterpretation of the famous“Along the River Park During the Qingming Festival” from the National Palace in Taiwan“; and Lin Yu-Ting`s new creation from her Cake series thatfocus mainly on the Taiwanese railroad scenery. These works are presented simultaneously as an approach to correspond to the idea of “landscapes” in the eyes of those Japanese modern painters. As the heterogeneityof landscapeoften leaves it`s trace in modes of architecture or scenic views, this exhibition also shows anidiosyncratic composition within Japan, China, Europe, as well as differences in the life experiencesof locals and diasporas. Lastly, with paintings and installation works by Vietnam artist Bui Cong Khanh, and crystals-like sculptures made from various materials by Okinawa artist Sakata Kiyoko, we are able to see different landscapes even from a similar bird`s eye view. Likewise, there exist numerous changing sceneries between Taiwan and Japan, as if there is always infinitely a thing within a thing; an endless blankness under the vast blue sky;flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water.

Through this exhibition, we hope to provide a window that leads to a view of Heterogeneous Landscapesin Modern and Contemporary Taiwan and Japan.

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