奇美博物館 | CHIMEI Museum

“Due to the fact that I lived the simple country life as a child, so I always had a very deep affection for my home village. After serving in the government for many years in my adult life, I have come to further understand the peoples’ cultural life from a completely different angle. Especially due to the fact that I have headed up the restoration of San Hsia Ching Shuei Tsu Shih Temple for over thirty years, so I have attained an even deeper understanding of Taiwan folk art, and from this I have developed a deep and subtle affection for all things in my environment. The village people are content with their lives, good natured and sincere, hard-working and able to endure hardships, these qualities give one a cordial and intimate impression, and this has continually spurred me on in my painting endeavors, to take the thing which I truly love and display them on the canvas. It may be said that their sincere and warm-hearted lives have enriched the inner depth of my painting. My goal and ideal in painting has been to portray the subject matter which I loved and which has moved me, in this way I have naturally and uniquely found my own direction and style.” (The Oil Painting of Mei-Shu Li, 1982)

Chuang Shu (1914-1997), was an artist who had not been duly appreciated for a long period of time. Due to his background as a member of the Communist Party in his earlier days and as a former professor at the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts, Chuang kept in low-profile, particularly after the 228 Incident, as a little-known graphic artist working at the Kaohsiung Fishermen’s Association upon his returned to Taiwan after WWII. His work, Refugees, created in 1982, depicts the image of people at that time, young and old, carrying all their belongings fleeing. Though with simple and plain brushworks, the painting conveys a kind of heart-touching sentiments. (Text/ Hsiao Chong-ray)

Hsieh Hsiao-de (1940-), a member of the post-war generation, went to France for further studies after graduating from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University. After he returned to Taiwan in 1976, he became a bright rising star in Taiwan’s art world with a painting series of “jingwei sieshih.” His Reasonable Massacre in this exhibition portrays the traditional custom of “offering the largest pig as a sacrifice” in his Hakka hometown, demonstrating the artist’s reflection upon the conflicts between traditional culture and modern environmental protection. (Text/ Hsiao Chong-ray)

The bikini-clad women painted by Chen Hilo are portrayed as if the lens of a camera are exploring the artistic beauty of each models’ physique. Chen is passionate about depicting the female form on beaches. He is skilled at using airbrush and brush stroke techniques to portray women's soft and delicate skin. Pores with droplets of sweat, and even the fine hair on skin are spray painted onto the white canvas. The luscious female bodies present bouncy, lifelike flesh, challenging the fine line between art and eroticism. (Source : Official website of TFAM Collections)

By using highly realistic techniques, Ku Chung-Kuang’s works form fantastical visual effects through the contrast, arrangement, and combination of objects and themes. Although he put much effort into pursuing abstract forms of creation from 1965 to 1976, later on his focus has still been on realist paintings of the countryside. (Source : Official website of TFAM Collections)

Three sharp arrows pierced the cold, hard plaster statue, with blood spilling from these wounds. Through the jarring crimson, a surreal atmosphere is concentrated powerfully on the picture, creating an impact between the reality and illusion. The painter used a super-realistic technique to create the lifelike texture of still-life. On the inorganic plaster, the organic droplets of blood that flow from the arrow wounds form a mythical climax. (Source : The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Collection)

The landscape painting of jingwei sieshih in Taiwan reached its peak in the mid-1970s thanks to the sweeping trend led by Wyeth. One of the representative painters in Taiwan back then was Han Wu-lin (1947-2009), who graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts). His paintings depict rocks, sand fields, and grasses from an overlooking perspective, presenting to viewers images seemingly lifeless. but actually rich in potential of life. (Text/ Hsiao Chong-ray)

In the work Left + Right, the artist used a rational and objective attitude to carefully depict the object, so that the picture could achieve a state of perfection and flawlessness. The spaces and layers within the picture are well-defined, with precise expression of textures and surfaces so that the depicted objects deceive our eyes with their close resemblance to reality. The artist even considered the way the lighting of the exhibition venue may reflect on the image, and the viewer cannot help but want to go closer to observe as our existing visual cognition is fully challenged. The creative themes of Szeto Keung often make use of trivial everyday objects and materials, such as photographs and thumbtacks, serving as a testament to his creative ideal that “the traces of everyday life form the meaning of life.” At a glance, these materials appear to have been placed within the scene at random, but they have actually been painstakingly laid out. Then, through the firm willpower and precise realist painting skills of Szeto Keung, these objects are re-presented on the flat canvas, imbuing this artwork with fascination through rigorous form and absolute rationality. (Source : Official website of TFAM Collections)

Blue and White Vase has a simple image composition, where the focus of the picture first falls on the various utensils arranged on top of the altar table - the copper tea pot, the large plate depicting a fish, the tall candle-holder, the small bowl holding red fruit, and the blue and white vase with the fish-scale pattern. The attention then turns to the sumptuous silk cloth and the cloud patterns carved on the front of the altar table. The overall color scheme of the painting is yellow-brown, while the color and patterns of the blue and white porcelain reflect the scintillating quality of light and warmth in the air. It also depicts the various shades of different porcelain and their history, revealing calm and serene elegance among the textured and layered shades of colors. ( From Taipei Fine Arts Museum Collections Catalogue: 1992-1993, Lai Ying-Ying, 1992-1993) (Source : Official website of TFAM Collections)

“For the works in the Banana Series, Juo You-Ruei spent a total of three years (1973 - 1976), and the entire series was exhibited together for the first time at the United States Information Service Library (now American Cultural Center Library) in 1975. In epic-scale paintings, Juo depicts the life journey of these fruit heroes who earned a large amount of foreign exchange for Taiwan in the 1970s, from the stage of a young bud, to unripe green, ripe yellow, and finally decay. These extremely realistic giant objects, more than ten times the size of their real counterparts, create a powerful visual shock. This impact is not only brought about by the surreal feeling of their larger-than-life size. Through precise and detailed painting techniques, these ordinary fruits, though found everywhere in Taiwan, force the audience to gaze at the short and irreversible life course, beginning from birth all the way to demise. To the surprise of the artist, the sexual association of bananas’ appearance not only led to dissension from moral defenders at the time, but the series was also honored as a pioneer of Taiwanese feminist art in the 1990s.
 

In Banana Series: 7, life has traversed half of its journey. Even though the art piece by itself is detached from the overall theme of the series, and despite these are nothing but ‘bananas,’ one is utterly astonished by simply looking at the tearing clefts, split peels and protruding pulp. If we say that artists find an interpretation or perspective of life and its fragility from the depicted object, then the stripping, gnawing, and impairment of the Banana Series: 7 can be said to represent the endurance towards vicissitudes, pain, and even mutilation. Especially when portrayed though such precise and thorough techniques, the images are vivid and austere, with absolutely no sentimentality, yet also direct, sharp, and ruthless.” (Source: Pan Hsien-Jen, interpretation from National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2012)

Huang Ming-chang (1952-) went to France for further studying after he graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese Culture University in Taipei. After he returned to Taiwan, he became a representative landscape painter of jingwei sieshih in Taiwan with a series of paintings depicting rice field scenery in fine details. (Text/ Hsiao Chong-ray)

A graduate of Chinese Culture University, Yeh Tzu-chi (1957-) went to the US for further studying. In this exhibition, his work demonstrates how he applies the classical painting techniques of staining to depict the tranquility, heaviness, and deepness of ridged mountains in Taiwan. (Text/ Hsiao Chong-ray)

I like to repeatedly visit locations which are imbued with specific spiritual meanings, such as the agricultural, industrial, fishing, and mining regions in Keelung and Beiyi of Northern Taiwan. These are places where I can experience changes in the industries, rise and fall of social structure, conflict between tradition and innovation, and the awakening awareness to the crisis of environmental and ecological development. I hope my works can evoke people's sense of belonging to the land and culture and serve as an incentive and expectation for my personal creative vision.
 

The photos of the works are taken from settings around Taiwan, as a record of special or abandoned buildings. Spatial structures are re-organized to form a new story, where fantasy and make-belief elements are added to the original setting, some of these elements are juxtaposition of space and time, or even fictional and fabricated future ruins. I like the freedom and lack of restriction in flights of fancy, I see ruins as a symbol of creativity.