Mitsuhiro Ikeda paintings evoke a sense of calm reflection, exploring the space between reality and imagination. Since his time as a student, he has received a large amount of international recognition from well-known arts instututions due to his unique painting style, and is one of the most closely watched up-and-coming contemporary Japanese artists. Although "Portrait of Place" will be Mitsuhiro Ikeda's first solo exhibition held in Taiwan, his work had already been exhibited at the 2014 Art Taipei, and received a large amount of recognition and acclaim during that time by both art collectors and critics.

This exhibition employs Mr. Zong Baihua’s concept of “moving the world”, and, to achieve this, three artists from different regions and eras were chosen. They are IIDA Kiriko from Japan, Tao Fa from Yunnan, and Dong Lin, who just graduated from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts with a major in sculpture. They present three different kinds of “beauty” by “moving the world” in their own ways. In the face of the gradual loss of aesthetics in contemporary art, we respond with an opposite direction. We simply start with the artists to inspire the audience’s “moving emotions”, then come seek beauty in the three artists’ “moving the world” at Soka. Through “moving the world”, the three artists make “beauty” an objective existence. First, they influence the audience visually. Then, they elevate the audience’s life and make it more interesting.

Zeng's early works originated largely from the society in which he lived and his own life experience. Series of works from that time,「The Header」, 「Youthful Era」 and 「Cosplay」, mainly take young people and children as the subjects for each painting. The spatial structures have a lonely feel of distance, yet the spirit of the subjects carry an innocent gaze. This kind of expression lets the audience return to the feeling of being lost, helpless and in a deep state loneliness during one's youth. Zeng was able to perfectly fuse the conflict of apathy and innocence.

Zhao Bo’s works record his perceptions of life and society. He used to create perfectly beautiful surreal dream worlds, but now he’s deconstructing this dream-world style he created. In its place, he creates fantasy patterns of consciousness in a state of truth, asking his audience to enter a deeper state of thought.

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.