奇美博物館 | CHIMEI Museum

American wildlife photographer Paul Bannick also uses photography as his medium, focusing particularly on the lives of owls and woodpeckers. The 13 owls displayed in this exhibition were all taken in endangered habitat in the United States and Canada. Bannick is aspired to present nature as it is and captured the owls living in the wild as the way they truly are. He hopes that his art will inspire more people to be willing to join in the effort to protect these owls. Protection and conservation are the ultimate message that comes with his images.

Artist Webstie：http://www.paulbannick.com

The name of his company, Bito Studio, was taken from the English word "beetle." We believe that nature provides him the nutrition for creativity and gives him the ability to speak about nature. In Wild in Motion, Liu uses eight screens to present nature from eight different perspectives. Whether looking at all eight screens together or looking at each individual screen, either perception has its own role and content. Each of the motifs, shapes, color blocks and movements on the screen derives from physical characteristics of insects, fishes, birds, and animals. Although appearing different from one another, viewers can always find similarities among them. The company wishes to lead viewers to appreciate the design of nature, such as symmetry, contrast, rhythm, and harmony, and to open up viewers’ perspectives on nature.

Studio Webstie：http://bito.tv

Young Taiwanese sculptor Yu-erh Chen has loved animals all her life. Her art often serves as a voice for animals. The three pieces in the exhibit have the common characteristic of a connected animal and human body, conveying the message that humans and animals are the same. Both can think and feel, and both have unique individuality. Yet, as the development of industrial revolution began, humans deviate further away from nature, leading them to hurt animals and become immune to animals’ deaths. Perhaps only through visualizing a merged body of humans and animals, could people truly realize the feeling and plight of animals. Cheng wishes to share, through her art, the natural rhythm of co-existing with animals. 

Artist Webstie：http://yiriarts.com.tw

Another pressing environmental issue is the huge quantities of garbage people produce every day. Statistics show that humans are producing far more garbage than the amount earth can withstand. 27 years ago, Gilles Falisse was reflecting on this, and began to use recycled materials in his works. He urges for a logical recycling, and believes that many items are still reusable and should not be recycled as "rubbish." He believes that recycling should be for items that truly have no further use. In July, 2015, an American dentist paid for safari on which he hunted and killed a lion called Cecil. His actions prompted widespread resentment, and Falisse decided to commemorate Cecil with a sculpture, hoping to create discussions on this event. The artist expressed that the reason he used only recycled materials to construct the work was to show his disagreement with people who believed that money gave them the right to rule the world. He specifically chose to make Cecil's mane with rifle butts to show that weapons could be used other than satisfying the primitive enjoyment of hunting. There are two sides to everything; all views can be changed as time progresses. However, the mission of saving the Earth is urgent and should be faced with all humanity immediately.

Artist Webstie：http://www.falisse.net/index.php/zh-tw/

Japanese artist Sayaka Ganz works with very special materials for her art. She recycles waste plastics used in everyday life and classifies them by color. She then cuts and glues them together, transforming pieces of recycling wastes into vivid animal sculptures. When viewing her works up-close, viewers will notice the various types of plastics incorporated in her art. Looking from afar, however, everything blends together into an organic whole. The plastic wares used in her works are bended, scarred, and faded. They came from old stores, garbage, or donations from others. Recycling trash and recreating them into exquisitely beautiful moving art pieces, Ganz produces a brilliant artistic vision of much admiration. She believes that artists today have an important mission to carry out—and that is to bring nature back into people’s lives. The beauty she perceives in nature is direct and heart-warming. She aims to generate the same experience to her viewers through her art in hopes to bring them to revisit the relationship between humans and nature.

Artist Webstie：http://sayakaganz.com

The creative experience of Taiwan design group haoshi designs also comes from everyday life. The group is made up of designer Hao-chun Yang and several other young people. Yang believes in the existence of beauty and fun in every trivial part of life. He strives to elevate the “good things” in everyday experience, which becomes his focal design and his way of designing daily use items. Yang says growing up in Muzha, he often had the company of animals as a child. When he designs, "animals" naturally become a source of inspiration. Yang's exhibiting works are the Swallow Clock, Cuckoo Clock, and Dove Light. He installs flying swallows in 12 different positions onto the wall. The swallows’ wings reaching out as if thrusting them forward in the air, implicating that time cannot be stopped and reminding people to make most out of every moment. Swallows also has auspicious connotation of prosperity and hope. The designer hopes that the work will not only bring good fortune to the user and owner of the clock, but also leave something with each person who sees it, throughout their lives.

Studio Webstie：http://www.haoshi.com.tw/tc/

Han Li took the internet by storm in 2013 with his Tiny People Holding Signs, and later became a favorite of many. He says, "Holding a sign up to cheer someone up is something that stirs the human spirit." Perhaps it is this positive and warm feeling that has made Li a designer everyone likes. In this work, Li uses humor to depict 10 protected Taiwan animals -- the macaque, the pangolin, the wild boar, the sable, the sika deer, the Asiatic black bear, the clouded leopard, the stone tiger, Reeve's muntjac, and the mikado pheasant. Clad in tourist clothing and holding the exhibition signs, they are, on the surface, supporting the exhibition, but reflecting, at the same time, the sorrowful state of animals. Li conveys in his art that animals travel because they have been forced to. Travel, for them, is actually a matter of survival. The work points out the current ecological issue in Taiwan.

Studio Webstie：http://upuptoyou.com

As the Westerners said, "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself." Japanese artist Kazuaki Harada's works exemplifies this quote. He enjoys making people laugh and loves surprising them. He uses a "simple structure" to express "humor" and "movements that surprise people.” He says that things around him like language, music, and conversation with his wife are all his inspirations. This year the Chinese zodiac animal is the monkey. Echoing the zodiac animal and the exhibition theme, Let’s Dance! Animals, the artist has created a cheerleading monkey. Utilizing wooden gearing mechanism to allow the monkey dance, the cartoon-like monkey shows the boundless imagination the artist has for his work to spread happiness around him.

Artist Webstie：http://nizo.jp

Taiwanese paper sculptor Hsin-fu Hung chooses to feature Taiwan's indigenous fish species in his works. Each one is created from a single sheet of paper, and this very ordinary medium is cut, fitted, and made three-dimensional in his hands. For this exhibition, Hung presents 13 marine species living in the seas around Taiwan, and even installed an appropriate habitat for the marine lives. If looking closely, viewers will find a tuna chasing a dolphinfish, a flying fish popping out from the water surface, and starfish, crabs, hermit crabs, and coral hiding in the reef. Hung believes that observing animals and the way they live is crucial to creating a work that will touch the viewers. Hung hopes that his paper works will help to spread knowledge about environmental preservation and the unique qualities of Taiwan’s ecology and culture to everyone.

Artist Webstie：http://www.3dpaper.com.tw

Korean artist Yong Ho Ji also uses recycled materials (waste tires) to create art. Ji has three pieces in this exhibition: a gorilla head, a deer head, and a lion. His animal heads are inspired by hunting trophies hung on walls. He hopes to express that these symbols of power are not "beautiful" but rather gruesome and bloody, which is why his animal heads appear sorrowful and contain a faint expression of accusation. Ji also creates animals with a valiant appearance and image. The lion in this exhibit is structured with steel skeleton and covered with cut-up tires. In order to emphasize the size and energy of the lion, he enlarged the lion's incisors and chin and dramatized its legs and muscles on the neck, making it appears closer to a prehistoric animal. The artist pays careful attention to the movements of animals, the details of muscles, and the lines of facial expression. Implementing different treads of tire, he created an art piece that is full of many beautifully and carefully woven details.

Artist Webstie：http://yonghoji.com

Global warming and climate change are issues that our generation must face. The result of a warmer climate is the melting ice caps. Polar bears are on the front lines of this impact. Taiwanese illustrator Kuo-cheng Liao has taken his favorite animal, the polar bear, as the theme of this project. Through his art, he attempts to draw viewers’ attention to the issues on polar bears’ survival. In simple strokes and gentle colors, Liao’s drawings begin with a healthy number of polar bears inhabited on earth, but as time passes on, these bears gradually disappear. Eventually, only two of them are left on a block of thin ice, facing the danger of death. Finally, ice has vanished completely from nature and became a piece of object on display in a museum. A group of surviving polar bears, ironically, look at the piece of ice exhibited in the museum, learning about the place they once called home only through the means of a museum.

Artist Webstie：https://www.instagram.com/savage0502/

Standing tall on the northwest of the museum building is a pink French bulldog of 6.5-meter in height. This is the work of Taiwanese designers Ya-wei Wang and Pei-chun Shih's Libertè Design Studio. The design company focuses on improving and developing items for daily use, and has chosen wire as its medium and animals as the theme. Completed works are not only useful but also decorative.

Its designers hope to provide viewers the perspectives of animals, with humans looking up at dogs, instead of dogs looking up to humans. This not only gives viewers a different visual perspective and psychological take-away, but also serves as a reminder that dogs are humans' best friends. Dogs interact closely with us and provide numerous psychological and even biological benefits. A dog is a member of a family, and is not to be discarded lightly.

Studio Webstie：http://www.libertedesign.tw

Chia-ching Lin, a Taiwanese artist, uses cardboard for his work and has clipped together 170 flying horses in this exhibition. His horses form a rainbow flying across the sky. They are galloping ahead furiously, some have grown unicorns, and some have grown wings. They are turning into spirit animals that fly across time. Each of them represents courage, and each of them represents the artist himself. Gathering up enough courage, anyone can venture into any corner of the universe. All we need is the willingness to change, then the world will be still full of hope.

On the lawn around the edges of Muse Lake is a work by another Kaohsiung artist, Ding-zan Liu. He excels at creating works from discarded metal. For this exhibition, he chooses to display his pots and pans series. The artist of the exhibition turns the discarded into magical allure. Liu's creative inspiration comes from life. He takes unwanted kitchen utensils, such as spatulas, spoons, and forks, and makes them into sculptures of dragonflies. Liu’s work manifests a gender breakthrough, hinting a story of a housewife stuck in the kitchen who breaks loose from her mundane life and flies free like the dragonflies, just as the dragonflies have broken free from being discarded kitchen utensils. Placing them on the lawn by Muse Lake, the metal dragonflies shine along with the reflection of sunlight and sway along with the blow of the wind. Whether view from close up or far off, the sight is exciting and unusual, full of creativity and cleverness. All are a tribute to Liu's ability and aesthetics.

Artist Webstie：http://www.shute.kh.edu.tw/~steelart/int/int.htm

The artist who personifies animals is the Spanish artist Yago Partal. Partal is known for his Zoo Portraits. In this exhibition, he exhibits his 22 portraits of endangered species. He dresses them and poses each of them, highlighting the individuality of different types of animals. His art also makes an ironic comment at how people like to dress animals up, and how they are addicted to fashion. To create the realistic appearance of a photo portrait, Yago collages photos and adjusts colors into consistent shades. As a result, the animals look as if they are taken directly from a camera. The artist hopes that his works will get people to better understand the world of animals or inspire them to protect them.

Artist Webstie：http://www.zooportraits.com

Taiwanese artist Yi-chang Sung likes to use his camera to record the lives of Taiwan's birds. Yet, more than recording, he uses digital skills to turn his records into pieces of artworks. Each work goes through the filter of the artist's aesthetic experience and transforms into a work that is both realistic and impressionistic. Sung’s photos are poetic and resonate with the aura of Chinese landscape paintings. Through his works, Taiwan’s unique species, usch as the blue magpie, the little egret and the Japanese white-eye are thrust into the spotlight on stage, with each movement and gesture beautiful and dynamic.

Artist Webstie：http://www.johnnfish.com/about.aspx

Taiwanese artists Er-ping Tsai and Er-hsin Tsai are brothers who grew up in a small town in Yunlin. When they were young, butterflies, grasshoppers, and dragonflies were their playmates, and nature was their playground. To them, nature is home. This concept was passed down from their father. This exhibition can be said to be a synopsis of the two artists' lives.

In this exhibit space, Taiwanese artists Er-ping Tsai and Er-hsin Tsai have created a world of insects. Younger brother Er-hsin Tsai works in scrap metal to create insect habitates, with delicate trees, grasses and plants swaying in the breeze, as well as many other beings. On the other hand, the elder brother Er-ping Tsai utilizes ceramics, metals, and multimedia to create various types of insects. The space is further complemented with various different types of insect sounds, as if transplanted into a night forest.

Artist Webstie：http://j10asia.com

American artist Jeffro Uitto lives on the West Coast of the United States. He has been collecting driftwood for many years. He believes that driftwood is embedded with life, and he hopes to give them a new value with his art. Jeffro’s works call out to people to love and treasure all things. Animals in nature inspire him to imagine, and the pure and simple qualities of animals are touching to him. Uitto's rhinoceros is pieced together, without grinding or cutting, and without any support system. Wooden pegs and wooden fasteners are all that holds the giant animal together. The rhino's skin, eyes, ears, body, horn, and the four powerful legs standing strongly on the ground all show the amazing amount of time the artist spent to collect the most suitable pieces of driftwood for this dynamic, realistic, and moving rhino.

Artist Webstie：http://www.jeffrouitto.com

Yu-sen Wang was born and raised in Penghu. He is familiar with all types of fish, plants, and marine lives that live in the ocean off the islands. For this exhibition, Wang created a large ink painting showcasing the marine animals he grew up living with. He uses Chinese ink painting techniques to portray each animal's shapes and forms. The wave-shaped composition of the general flow of movement incorporates two letters "V" within the painting, signifying "double victories." Wang hopes that the Taiwan’s fishery industry could move toward establishing fishery tourism to relieve the pressure on fishing and the fish populations. This will simultaneously create a win-win situation for Taiwan’s fishery industry as well as protect the environmental resources.

Skilled at knitting, Taiwanese artist Li-chen Chang tells stories with color and line. Her works are like her, full of enthusiasm and narrative. She enjoys bringing elements of nature into her drawing classes with children, and stimulating their imagination through storytelling. Sunlight, air, water, animals, and plants bring her energy and warmth. They are also her source of inspiration. 
A few years ago, she visited Hokkaido, Japan. This trip inspired her to create this artwork in the exhibition. During her stay in Hokkaido, one early morning, she looked out from her window and saw wild foxes hunting in the snow. They noticed her before long, and their eyes and hers interlocked. They looked at each other for a long time. Meanwhile, birds in the forest flew off in alarm at the presence of the predator. The encounter with the foxes left her a deep and unforgettable impression. Chang uses knitting to express her experience. In her work, foxes, preying on the birds, are ready to attack at any moment. Animals hiding in the surrounding plants represent the forest, like a setting in a fairy tale. The colors are rich and story-like, attracting people’s attention without them realizing it.