奇美博物館 | CHIMEI Museum

Academy training just happens to be the tradition preserved by the Russian Academy of Arts, especially when it comes to the field of restoration; it is further subdivided into many subfields that help with improving realism techniques. So I would like to be like the old masters - study the cool tones of skin under natural light and find an understanding of the rich crimson red of living organisms, as well as under the solid curriculum on the detailed analysis of art, with the same curiosity like those who had explored the human body in the Renaissance humanism.

I often use microscope and follow chemical reports of museum artworks to gain a scientific understanding on the art creating process of the people from the past. Without the convenience of modern art material stores, how did people from the past produce such refined works? How did they make detailed observations on the real features of the subject? These questions were answered since the start of my Academy training - from the camera lens black box principle, the collision of alchemy collision to produce colors, the medieval school of primary colors; these tell us that people from the past in fact also had science.

Inspired by scientific forensics, I also set out to pursue the science of the past, re-creating the procedures and reproducing the past to pursue the science of painting - the science of the binding media and climate, the science of formula for the decorative gold paint on frames, the science of oxygenation of the oil film and the oil absorption rate of the pigments, and the science of restoration using varnish to retouch the colors.

This painting series integrates life experiences through the visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory senses amid images, with the characteristics of nature then digested by inner subjective thoughts to form a "soul's world of senses." The fluidity of color is used to capture lighting and scenes, transforming fleeting moments into moving artworks richly imbued with emotions.

I have always focused on the emotions hidden deep inside men as a whole. Under the surface of human forms lay the sprits that are almost holy, mysterious and cannot be put into words. Such spiritual condition is complicated – chaos and order, faithful and treacherous, liberation and imprisonment – I often find myself on the extreme sides of the balance with an inexplicable gap in between, where my works can be found. It can be seen as a mysterious game to reach the other side of the extreme, and my works are in presume of the nature of life.

Chung-Ying Hou is always fascinated with the altering world. He applies the simple symbol of hand to represent the complicated world with a Chinese traditional concept that recognizing the whole universe from observation of part. In his works, the images of hand are extension of human that is able to perceive, measure, symbolize, and represent the relation between human and world. Further, he intends to redefine human self through various forms of creation about hand.

In the creative process, I try to experiment based on the concept of space, hoping to create that beautiful ideal world in my mind, where my own life experience serves as a source of inspiration. What I am looking for in daily life is also the sustenance of the soul.

In my works, people, object and things that I like often appear, such as young girls, aliens, and cameras, etc. These symbolize the social phenomenon which I care about, and the reason why they often show up in my creative themes. In my paintings, backgrounds such as rivers, seas, and sunset often appear, they are the perfect symbols for conveying emotion. Rivers and sunsets are like the flow of time or the flow of life, the base tone of the image is the classical theater-style atmosphere, while the young girl is an avatar so that the viewers can easily become a part of the scene and act out their role in the mime. The creative works come one after another, without ceasing.

From 2009 to 2016, I have always used the still life form to express the image. I wanted to present a mellow and quiet atmosphere with simple flowers and plants, and to express my views on life, interpersonal relationship and life changes with such a portrayal. Since the solo exhibition WhispersLike Poems ended in 2016, I started to think about the development possibilities for my work, I wanted the appearance of the works to be closer to my inner state.

With regards to the image elements of the new series, I wanted to depict the relationship between the outdoors and indoors, and not just a purely outdoor scene. This idea came from my previous series. Now the outdoors scenery has become the focus of the painting, the image is structured around a window that looks out to the outside scenery, while the indoor elements represent my own personal space and perspective. I have become an observer and the city has become my object of observation. In the new series, I was guided by the scenery outside of the window, where I found a point of balance between "I want do it" and "I can do it" and retained the traces of sketching and strokes of the brush. During the painting process, it felt like I have returned to the places I have visited before, as if I was exploring it and visiting the places that are much more subtle. Many ideas were inspired during this experience. At this moment, I am exploring a new city, at the same time, I am also exploring myself.

The work focuses on the concept of ecological conservation. With the rapid development of science and technology, people are moving towards a high degree of industrialization, which is followed by ecological destruction. After global warming leads to climate change, the balance between ecosystems will also be facing threats. Many of the animals and plants that are under conservation will also become extinct.

All of these phenomena illustrate the interaction and impact between ecological conservation and human beings, and these damages may even threaten the survival of human beings. For example, unusual phenomena such as landslides and erosions have occurred in many areas around Taiwan, even the climate has changed due to the greenhouse effect. These phenomena fully demonstrate that human beings are closely related to the environment. Therefore, maintaining the ecological balance between animals, plants, and mankind is an important issue that people must pay attention to.

On the other hand, it is hoped that while thinking about the different image compositions, I could bring about more stimulation to my own creative content and attract people's attention by means of realist painting, and thus advocate the importance of ecological conservation.

My parents were laborers, construction workers; from my early years, I accompanied them to construction sites. Items from these areas of my childhood memories ­ brick clay, cloth gloves, screws, etc. ­ were the tools that sustained my parents' lives. Presumably, they are mundane or unsightly to the eyes of pedestrians, but to my current, artistically keen self, every object has a relationship to life and society, and carries rich emotion and warmth. Thus, they have become important mediums and themes in my work, conveying the most profound significance. The pleasure, the strenuousness, the workers' toil in the construction sites, reveals that despite the labor and hardships of work, there still exists the capacity to smile~

I love painting and I like performing magic ! The painter realizes the illusion through painting, and the magician turns the reality into an incredible illusion. Painting is like magic, and the painter is like a magician, intentionally guiding the viewer into the illusion of creation, trying to give the audience some surprise, which is the embodiment of self-projection in the role conflict through artistic practice. The painter realistically depicts the form, observes the things as the idea, and feels the mood with closing eyes. Through the post simulation, the picture painted resembles the real world, which has been realized concretely through oil painting medium. Similar to magicians, painters apply methods to make things look real. However, no matter how authentic is the imitation, painting and magic are ultimately a kind of operation. I have always believed that realistic art is just like a magic, capable of flipping the concepts of "having picture means having truth" and "seeing is believing."

Communicate my own thoughts and opinions on certain current social phenomena through my love of the realist painting expression.

The oxidation process of nature is a permanent and irreversible chemical change. The use of cling film is a means of delaying oxidation. This series of works uses cling film as a prologue, and the use of oxidation suppression in resisting the change of an object's substance as a concept, in order to symbolize a form of conflict between self-awareness and external influences.

As we grow, self-awareness and external influence are constantly in conflict. Young people are not willing to integrate into this overly-realistic society saturated with ideas of evolution, but our body is like a ripe fruit that cannot resist gravity and falls to the ground, while our mind is also forced to grow against the backdrop of the times. I want to express the emotion of the powerless atmosphere in which change takes place amid psychological and pragmatic conflict.

Based on my life experiences in childhood and the feelings toward the environments of the times, I discuss the spiritual consciousness expressed in art creation, reappearing the intuitive imagination in subconsciousness through the association of sense perception and the connection of life experiences that are inspired by the enlightenment of nature. Besides, I combine the mutual simulation of self-subjective and objective substance to further discuss the art performance of mind intention infused into creation. And I reset objective images and sense experiences in memories associated with the misplacement of time and space, condensing optical illusion of nature in scenes after scenes. Through the understanding of life attached to the environments of natural scenery and modern civilization, my works rebuild the field of time and space and create new space-time illusions. I also discuss metaphorical social issues from various levels, observing the mind affected by social changes. My works are memory, recording, and fantasy, even more the searching, reflection, and reward toward the meaning and value of life.

Most of my creative themes have come from my personal life experiences, where the small things of everyday life are reflected in the paintings, and these repetitive appearances in our daily life are often deep and intriguing. On the path of realist painting, I have often felt deeply that the painstakingly depicted portrayals have surely been constructed through the artist's skillful hands, extraordinary observation skills, and adherence to scientific concepts and abundant imagination. For me, realist painting is not simply maintaining the excitement that is seen in the image. In fact, one can catch a glimpse of the symbols and hints that the artist wishes to provide to the viewers as clues through the content and objects in the painting. In turn, allow the viewers to use these clues to create links to their own life experience and touch their inner feelings.

The two works, "Vanguard" and "Isolated Island," describe the creative mindset of two different periods. "Vanguard" is full of combative force towards painting, even when trapped in paint, one still needs to keep moving forward, there is no room for compromise. "Isolated Island" appears as a bleak and uninteresting place, but it is actually a quiet paradise away from the hustle bustle. Deep into the night, the online activities of the Lonely Island is only about to begin, I form connections with others from my Lonely Island.