The COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the globe in 2020 has interrupted many human activities and connections. International trade has become stagnant, and interpersonal contact has been restricted. Many people are forced to isolate themselves at home over long periods as a way to fight the COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, the pandemic also prompted many long-term foreign workers to return to their hometown, and back to the familiar embrace of their families. While re-adjusting to their new lives back home, communicating and getting along with family members as well as maintaining and enhancing the quality of home life have become important.

Soka Art will hold the "Healing Amusement Park-Artists Joint Exhibition" from 5th May (Sat.) to 30th May (Sat.), 2020, exhibiting works of artists from various Asian countries, including Li Rui, Lin Baoling, Liang Quan, Chen Shuxia, Naofumi Maruyama, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Koda Chie, Makoto Aida, Yuree Kensaku, and Catur Binapra Setyo.

Here are some wonderful facilities in the park: Speed Waterslide, Colorful Bungee Jumping, Garden Trains, Time Travel Machine, Lazy River, Fairy Tale Theater, Digital Market, Youth Paintball Field, Peek-a-boo Haunted House, and Light & Shadow Carnival. After reading these, are you tempted?

This exhibition focuses on the concept of Asian contemporary art. Soka is the first art gallery to introduce Southeast Asian art to galleries in Taiwan, showing works from Indonesian artist Agus Suwage, Thai artist Natee Utarit and Filipino artist Gabriel Barredo. Their unique styles are ahead of their times, yet incorporated with local cultures and traditions. Soka has a close relationship with the art industry in Japan and Korea. We have hosted tours for prominent minimalist Korean artists, becoming the very first art organization in Taiwan to exhibit Korean minimalist works. This time, we present Park Seo Bo’s famous “Ecriture” series from his earlier works and contemporary Korean ink artist Moon Bong Sun’s works. Representing the Japanese contemporary art are works of Yayoi Kusama and Yoshitomo Nara, who both are trend-setting and well-known artists.

Between May 9th and June 14th, Soka Art will play host to, “Bifurcation” a contemporary art exhibition with participating artists from both China and Taiwan. The exhibition includes 17 pieces from six young artists: Lin Bao Ling, Zhang Tian Mu, C. C. Chang, Wang Meng Sha, Peng Hui Ting, and Yang Hong. The media they use ranges from black ink, to color ink, to acrylics, which is a highly uncommon modern use of medium in traditional Chinese ink art. Meanwhile, their styles incorporate landscapes, memorandum, portraits and imitation; truly displaying the freedom of contemporary Chinese ink art. Paired up as a dialogue between two people, the six artists present their works through three subtopics: “Landscapes and Sceneries”, “Borrowed Qi and Earned Authority” and “Trance and Serenity.”

Ten artists are invited to take part in the Measurement of the Other --Contemporary Art from Taiwan, including Yang Mao-Lin, Lee Ming-Tse, Tao Ya-Lun, Lai Chiu-Chen, Chen Ching-Yao, Wu Chi-Tsung, Chu Chun-Teng, Fan Yang-Tsung, Chen Wan-Jen, Chen Ching-Yuan. Except Chu Chun-Teng who is now studying at Goldsmiths College for over one year, they are native artists born, brought up, studying, living and working in Taiwan, with their age between 26 years old and 57 years old, and the media for their creation including painting, sculpture, photography, video, computer graphics, digital video production, mechanical dynamics and devices. They are expecting to take this rare opportunity to demonstrate a variety of characteristics of the contemporary art from Taiwan rater completely and in a diversified way from the aspects of generations, creative ideas and contexts, to do the accumulative basic work well for future long-term exchanges of contemporary art.