Hyperrealism Art in Taiwan (Chimei Museum)
- Valerie Lee Tong
- Apr 8, 2019
- 4 min read
I've not been writing blog for the pass 1 years as you can see . . . I'm in Taiwan studying Plastic Art at Dayeh University! 2018 has been a life changing year for me, I was so busy preparing myself for Taiwan and adapting to the cultural here, especially the language and people around here. Thank God all of them were really friendly and nice and I came here with my previous university classmate so at least . . . I don't face all the problems alone HAHAHA!
Another reason was because of graduating with a Diploma in Malaysia, I was able to do credits exemptions/transfer so . . . I would only need to study 2 and a half year instead of 4 years to graduate with a Bachelor Degree. With that, I began my studies here as Year 2 (2nd semester) student, which was actually a not so good idea because I had to pick my major already for the next semester as it's going to be my 3rd year, I mean can you imagine that you're still confused with the syllabus here, not knowing all the lecturer's and already you have to choose a major! (You can choose from: Stone Carving, Wood Carving, Ceramics, Installation Art, Metal Work, Weaving/Fabric Art, Lacquer Art, Curating, Painting). Fortunately, because we had a strong painting background from Sunway University and faith brought us together with my now 师徒导师 (Teacher mentor) , we successfully went into Painting Studio.
Well, of course my life in Taiwan is not all about studies and academies only, there are lots and lots of fantastic art museum and galleries that I would like to share with all of you! For that let's not waste time, let me introduce the one that I went to recently and I'll let you know the rest of them next time in another post (if I have time) . . .
Have any of you been to Tainan? I've always thought that the place was more rural than Taichung but surprisingly they are not! It kinda fits between YuanLin (the town near my place) and Taichung City. Although the buildings are old but never judge the book by its cover because the alleys were the treasures! I guess it was because the price of the shops there were cheaper, owners have enough money to renovate the place and together with other shop owners, the alley became a little wonderland.
It was a 2 days 1 night stay in Tainan, our main goal was to actually visit the Chimei Museum. The western-like architecture building which mostly consist of Western art, musical instruments, weaponry and natural history. Most of the galleries are permanent collection while there is one gallery having temporary exhibition. A this time, on 2019.03.17 - 2019.06.11, they will be showing "Hyperrealism Art in Taiwan" exhibition.
My lecturer was the one who let us know about the exhibition as most of the Taiwan prestigious Realism artists's works will be exhibiting during these time. This event is to celebrate 30th of Chimei Arts Award, and also to celebrate the artistic creation of fine realism of modern Taiwan. Their technique of realism were so fine and detail that there were no traces of brushstrokes which made the works beyond reality! This exhibition mainly features paintings and sculptural works that will be divided into four thematic sections: “Humanity”, “Still-life”, “Landscape” and “Dream”.
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Most of the works were astonishing! If you do not look closely, you would really though that all of them were photographs/real items instead of paintings or sculptures.
One of the artists who kept my eyes on his painting for a long time was 司徒强 Keung SZETO, one of the artists which my lecturer highly recommended. Now I know why my lecturer said he was one of Taiwan most prominent artists, his depiction of the object was so precise, the textures and especially the shadows were really accurate. The viewers around me whispered "Were those tapes pasted? Are those real? Or painted?" To take the everyday objects, carefully rearrange, and painted it in such realistic way . . . a painting you can never miss . . .
These 2 were also the artist my lecturer always introduce, he said "In that painting, you can able to see the best peanuts of Taiwan! Because he chose all of them one by one." Chin-Chia LIANG painted about his land, from food, things and even plastic bag. All of the still life that he had painted represents the taste of his land. You can see the difficulty of painting from his work, not only the fruits were specifically chosen, but he had to arrange and accurately painted them out!
Chung-Ying HOU is the artist of these paintings, I love when the artist just focus on the posture of the hands and creating a symbol from them, overall its like going into another world yet it was actually just a part of the human body. 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.
Yes people, these are not REAL shoes, they are shoes carved out from wood! Pei-Chen YANG skillfully record the things around him by carving them out, observing and replicate them precisely. Such patience needed indeed . . .
I do really love this piece, the textures, lines, spiritual forms, simple colors that describe her landscape. This piece really gave me a calm, meditating feeling. Wan Shih LIN painted her memories of the sea from her hometown by incorporating the contemporary post-minimalism. Such a simple work yet under the lights you could see different colors and effect from different angles. I've always enjoy looking at abstract work, they gave feelings instead of a direct message which really give lot's of freedom of imagination for viewers.
Here are some of the other works that I would love to share with you.
Paintings:
Sculptures:
This exhibition have really taught me a lot and also some of the works have questioned us "What is Realism?". I am in awe by how accurately and precise the artist create their work, they use realism as their expression in art. Through their work you can feel their patience and how strong is their observation. Overall I am truly satisfied and it's an an eye-opening experience for me!
Till we meet next time Chimei!
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