Open Territory
ART TAIPEI 2025 is set to open. As the global art industry undergoes a pivotal shift, Taiwan--a vital Asia-Pacific hub, local artists translate their experiences into a global dialogue, acting as both witnesses and cultural mediators.
➤ Chao-Liang SHEN_Tsukiji Fish Market
Chao-Liang SHEN ( b.1968 ), his nearly 30-year documentary photography project on the Tsukiji Fish Market was a fateful encounter. His Tsukiji Fish Market (1993-2022) series, with its immersive, proximate, yet detached lens tension, transports the viewer back to the bustling yet orderly auction site, imbued with the atmosphere of the Showa era. This market, once the largest of its kind in the world, is not only summoned back from history in SHEN's works but also seems to be reborn, simultaneously memorializing the artist's distinct journey in his long-term pursuit of photography.
➤ Chao-Liang SHEN_Tsukiji Fish Market
➤ Chao-Liang SHEN_Tsukiji Fish Market
➤ Chao-Liang SHEN_Tsukiji Fish Market
Chien-Chiang HUA ( b.1975 ) depicts collective activities in Taiwan through a method of "no sketching" and "rapid brushwork," emphasizing the immediate collision of spontaneity, physicality, and social issues. His inspiration is drawn from events like the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival and the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage, juxtaposing elements of democracy and folk customs. The repetition of characters in uniform attire implies an anxiety of the individual being compressed into a "social screw" within the collective, thereby questioning social power structures and the standardization of identity.
➤ Chien-Chiang HUA_Breeze in My Heart_Gouache、Acrylic and white ink on canvas_91 x 116.5 cm_2021
➤ Chien-Chiang HUA_Spring Breeze_Gouache on canvas_91 x 116.5 cm_2020
➤ Chien-Chiang HUA_The Pink Date_Gouache on canvas_91 x 116.5 cm_2024
Yih-Han WU ( b.1982 ) often depicts women and children, using watercolor to outline their forms with the flowing of the paint, thereby blurring the line between abstraction and figuration. The bodies in her works are no longer objects of discipline and gaze but sites of self-expression. The attachment and tenderness nurtured in motherhood reveal that the body politics of women are not limited to resistance but also encompass endurance, care, and ethical contemplation, revealing the coexistence of fragility and resilience within motherhood.
➤ Yih-Han WU_Untitled_Watercolour and ink on paper_57 x 38 cm_2024
➤ Yih-Han WU_Cupid and Psyche_Watercolor on paper_71 x 50 cm_2016
➤ Yih-Han WU_Untitled_Watercolour and ink on paper_76 x 57 cm_2024
➤ Yih-Han WU_Hercules and Omphale, after Francois Boucher_Watercolor and ink on paper_76 x 57 cm_2021
Willy VERGINER ( b.1957 ), his work is like an unfinished fable. In his serene figurative sculptures lies a silent protest against the imbalance between industrial civilization and the natural ecosystem. A sharp division of color splits the body in two, like a rift between the artificial and the natural, coldly revealing the contradictions of the world we inhabit.
➤ Willy VERGINER_Volo e tutto sembra rosa_Bronze, acryl color_21 x 78 x 30 cm_2025_ed.2_7
➤ Willy VERGINER_Butta l_acqua sui piedi_Linden wood, acryl color_52 x 59 x 24 cm_2025
➤ Willy VERGINER_Guarda te fiorita_Linden wood, acryl color, burnt linden, iron_167 x 51 x 64 cm_2025
Akiko SUMIYOSHI ( b.1981) applies color with delicate brushstrokes, leaving extremely fine lines against the backdrop of tin and gold foil, further accentuating the presence of flora and fauna. The tranquil animals and lush climbing plants in her paintings construct a subtle subject-object relationship, exuding a genuine "aura" and reflecting the complex web of life woven by humans and other beings.
➤ Akiko SUMIYOSHI_Frame frame _Sloth_Acrylic, silverleaf-paper on panel_33.3 x 33.3 x 2.2 cm_2022
➤ Akiko SUMIYOSHI_Little flow (Geoffroy_s cat)_Acrylic on cotton canvas_33.3 × 33.3 × 2.2 cm_2024
Having studied the restoration of traditional Buddhist statues, the works of Yoshimasa TSUCHIYA ( b.1977 ) continue the soul-soothing aura of such statues. He takes real and mythical animals as his subjects, inlaying their eyes with crystal and glass, which transforms them into a cycle of gazes, allowing the viewer to feel their divine charm.
➤ Yoshimasa TSUCHIYA_Dragon_Painted camphor wood, crystal_45 x 41 x 17 cm_2025
➤ Yoshimasa TSUCHIYA_Goat_Painted camphor wood, labradorite_59 x 27 x 17 cm_2025
➤ Yoshimasa TSUCHIYA_Deer_Painted camphor wood, crystal_34 x 26 x 10 cm_2025
