Extraordinary Asia, Islands of Art

By Eileen Hsiao

Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory at Tainan National University of the Art

“Extraordinary (fei fan)” is a word derived from the 15th chapter of Li Tong’s biography “Book of the Later Han”.  Describing an extraordinary appearance and upright character along with grand magnificence, it highlights the stance and position of Soka Art within the Asian art market.

The “Extraordinary - 25th Anniversary of Soka Art” exhibition presents a history of art in chronological order by assembling 44 of the most influential artists from the contemporary Asian art world. The exhibition shows the changing of the times and the emerging prominence of a number of artists. From modern art crossing over to postmodern aesthetics, the 100 collected works bring together contemporary masters with artists from the younger generation. Taking advantage of the unique geographical location of Taiwan, the 400-year-old southern port city of Tainan interweaves Asian culture of Korea, Japan and Beijing to the north and south to Southeast Asia. As a border region, Taiwan acts as a gateway to the ocean, to the world, and a reference point in the interpretation of new outlooks in contemporary art and cultural traits. This 25th anniversary exhibition throws a spotlight on the progress of Asian art as a whole, blurring the concept of national identity. Under the name Inter-Asia, it shows how Soka Art in its 25 years has been a prophet of aesthetics and the possessor of excellent foresight of Asian art markets under a global economic system.

With “Inter-Asia” as the core narrative, every artist has incorporated the regional characteristics of their society, politics, history, culture and art into their works. From a cultural economy perspective, the structure of the art market is made up of collectors, dealers, artists and their works. Apart from acting as a medium, Soka Art also records art history chronologically and provides a basis for discussion of the authenticity of art and its differences. This exhibition features the godfather of Chinese modern painting, Lin Fengmian, from a 100 years ago.  His Lady Playing Moon Guitar is a painting featuring a unique style and holds symbolic importance as a work of its time. We also see the works of Chinese abstract masters, Zao Wouki and Chu The Chun, both students of the Hangzhou Academy of Arts (renamed: China Academy of the Arts). Both artists immigrated to France where they gained prominence and subsequently became members of the Academie des Beaux-arts. Their works are widely recognized in western art circles and often fetch astonishing sums at auction. Zao Wouki combines the Chinese philosophical concept of daxiang wuying with oracle bone scripts and interlinks them with western abstract art concepts, creating an acrylic work using a technique of splashed ink and wrinkled rub. Its rich colors provide a strong visual impact to viewers. Chu Teh Chun’s abstract illustration reads like Chinese poetry with its use of freehand brushstrokes. From the written perspective of Taiwan art history, you can see the rare and elegant Nihonga painting Calling Spring by one of “the three youths of the Taiwan Exhibition”, Lin Yu Shan. The painting by Yang San Lang references modernist painting in Taiwan art and a colonial history influenced by the Japanese organization Nikakai before World Wart Two.

Hong Ling, an artist that Soka Art has supported for a long time, has just completed his “Hong Ling: Beauty of The Nature”, the world touring exhibition as well as hosting the Hong Ling Retrospective Exhibition and Academic Conference of Chinese Painting at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Using western acrylic mediums to narrate the languages of the east, his work breaks from a sense of earthiness to travel far beyond the mountains and seas, giving the piece great visual tension. While representative artist of the “85 New Wave - the First Movement in Chinese Contemporary Art”, Mao Xuhui gives his own context of life narrating his longing for loved ones in the purple coloring and tailoring scissors and mannequin representing departed souls. The artist uses the tip of the brush to recall the past, removing the sharp criticism associated with Chinese culture and replacing it with a sense of reverence and warmth. These two artists represent Soka Art’s long-term observations of contemporary art.

Monochrome painting is considered a vital part of abstract and contemporary art in post-war Korea. Korean artists equipped with an eye for criticism created a sense of Korean identity from the country’s western culture influences, and the re-construction of its identity from its colonial past. Thus monochrome painting is created with a sense of narrative. Park Seo Bo, the godfather of Korean monochrome painting, established a style using the elements of three colors using repeated smearing to create a physical entity. Ecriture No.901201  uses Korean paper with adhesive paste in which the paper is squeezed until a solid material is formed.

Takashi Murakami’s Eye Love SUPERFLAT uses a range of symbols to satirize and criticize economic consumption. Other Japanese works include classical artist Yayoi Kusama’s sculptures while Odani Motohiko and Iida Kiriko tell folklore stories with a magical touch and Yoshitomo Nara portrays manga-inspired bad girls. Flowers That Bloom at Midnight is a psychedelic 3D rafflesia by renowned 60’s New York avant garde artist, Yayoi Kusama, the polka dot queen. It is a creation made from fiberglass and metal. Hollow: What Rushes Through Every Mind by Odani Motohiko imitates burning white flames piercing the clouds to pull you into a dream.

On the southern side of the artist island chain, there is Gabriel Barredo from the Philippines and Handiwiman Saputra from Indonesia. These two artist’s backgrounds evident Soka Art’s 2006 shift towards the Southeast Asian market. Gabriel uses three forms of mixed media. The stacking of radiant golden decorative elements brings a dramatic touch to the piece, combining the sacred and blasphemous, as weird and bizarre looking humans form the concepts of Life and Death.

Contemporary art is a difficult concept mainly due to philosophy’s neglecting of art. In 1984, American philosopher Arthur C. Danto confirmed the death of art, yet artists still formed a proposition by adopting a cultural point of view, reflecting on the human plight under the new millennium’s system of globalized liberalism. Art represents the very essence of the human soul. Artists reveal the desires we cannot avoid along with unwanted memories. Then, with the magical power of the brush, they eliminate all sense of alienation. Living in a post-truth information age, the vast masses of information annihilates the truth, thus social networking creates a feeling of a lack of a sense of place.  This emptiness makes contemporary art the utopia that we are evading and resisting. Taiwan contemporary art exhibitions feature the metal sculptures of Hsi Shih-Pin and the artistic group Art of Prospection. Hsi Shih-Pin’s metal sculptures are icy-cold and derive inspiration from totem poles and mythological creatures. The hollowed skeletal bone structure is constructed in a linear way with limbs placed in a motion of flight.

In the digital age, the eight member collective Art of Prospection consisting of Wang His An, Tseng Yong Ning, Hsieh Mu Chi, Lin Guan Ming, Lin Hsien Jun, Gao Ya Ting, Huang Wan Ling and Liao Zen Ping, utilize their bodies to perform brush strokes in mid-air, creating unique visual landscapes. “Pictorial turn” is a characteristic element of contemporary globalization and the information society, daily life with elements of globalization, visualization and commercialization. In Le visible et l'invisible, Maurice Merleau Ponty discusses that the term “world’s eye” means that our bodies and the world we live in is indivisible. Our body shares the same flesh with the outside world and we transgress along with the process. The art collective responds to the transgression of flesh by using hand strokes to draw different movements and thus to express the desires and pain of the body, using group strength to resist the dimensions of dissociation and transgression.

The transfiguration and development of Asian art presents localization amidst globalization.  Creating spallation and differences in the roots of a community of the imagination within a modernist cultural economy.

In Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization anthropologist Arjun Appadurai describes how globalization affects the contemporary world and states how mediascapes can produce complex metaphors in proto-narrative reality. In spite of alienation from one another, the media can create a sense of intimacy. In de-territorialization, a globalization concept that not only closes the gap between knowledge elites, relationships between producer and consumer also change, and national identity becomes a blurred line. The flow of text and cross-cultural similarities of taste create a concept of localness through exposure to local experience. Therefore, Taiwan and neighboring islands with a colonial past and an acculturation of visual culture make it possible to distinguish cultural differences.

Majestic is the best word to describe this exhibition at the Yun Feifan Arts Museum. The exhibition presents art works ranging from ink, acrylics, ceramics, mixed media and sound installation to digital photography.  In terms of artistic creation and materials, it shows the full range of contemporary art and gives a glimpse into how contemporary art in Asia has developed in the wake of modernism. Soka Art invigorates the arts market of Tainan. “Extraordinary -  25th Anniversary of Soka Art” serves as a rare collection that highlights past eras of differing cultural backgrounds, much like a colorful and eye-catching midsummer blossom in the middle of an Asian island chain.