文 / Chi Ti-Nan
"Modern art" is portrayed in all its glory in the "minimalist" environment provided by IT Park Gallery. This is a gallery that has played an important role as a facilitator, enabling local art to lay down its own modern art roots, in the period after the introduction of western modern abstract art in the 1960's. Nevertheless, as part of the raging torrent of global art, there still remains much room for the further development of contemporary Taiwanese art.
In the late 1980's an old style flat-roofed building situated on Yitung Street in Taipei City, close to Yitung Park, was turned into an art exhibition site. However, the relatively anonymity of the gallery is preserved by the fact that the external wall is covered by a large advertising hoarding that makes it a task to find what was to start with a very narrow entrance and stairway. One is immediately struck by the contrast with other bright and shiny new art galleries. However, IT Park Gallery (known in art circles as simply - IT) has played and continues to play a very special role in the art community in Taiwan.
The original intention in establishing IT Park Gallery was to provide a space where modern artists, unable to find either respect or opportunities to exhibit their work, could breathe freely and meet like-minded people. As a result of this intention, it immediately came to be regarded as something of an "alternative" venue in Taiwanese society.
Despite having overcome many operational difficulties in the decade it has been open, and receiving much recognition for its work from both local and international artists, the development of Taiwanese art has its own traditional pulse, very different from modern western art concepts and forms. As a result it has still proved impossible to incorporate the two. In consequence, "IT Park Gallery", located in late 20th Century Taiwan, remains an extremely embarrassed heterodox utopia, a sacrificial altar of heretics, a sacred embassy.
The young artist Chen Hui-chiao has been an important contributor to and cultivator of the transformation of IT Park Gallery. Ever since the difficult early period when the gallery was first opened, Chen Hui-chiao has met and got to know an older generation of artists that began congregating at IT Park early on, to raise aloft the standard of "minimalism". Thus she spent uninterrupted hours discussing and debating with artist friends their latest works and eagerly reading discourses and commentaries on the latest happenings in the world of art.
About two or three years ago, Chen Hui-chiao took the first big step of holding her first solo exhibition. At that time, the most popular issue in cultural circles was that of localization, and different creative styles lent towards the diverse expression of a representative narrative. As a part of this trend, Chen Hui-chiao's works seemed extremely cold and neat, reflecting a degree of purity concealed within the IT Park world.
At that time another popular topic of discussion was "Female Art" and as a woman with no orthodox art training, Chen Hui-chiao immediately attracted much attention. The repeating elements of her work; needles and thread, dry flowers, fighting fish, velvet, water, feathers etc, were often put forward as clues to her female character.
Apart from this however, we have also seen Chen Hui-chiao's energy used in abundance on other more industrial materials, including glass, plexiglas, steel plates etc. As a result, production costs for her work are high and the technical demands made of the artist unusually severe. It should be emphasized that Chen Hui-chiao's use of such industrial materials in no way comes second to the more feminine characteristics others have chosen to focus on.
In her recent solo exhibition Chen used sheets of glass and plastic of a thickness greater generally than that used in engineering, to produce glass boxes of different shapes and sizes. She then placed the feminine theme objects generally used in her works into these solid yet delicate boxes. This action is reminiscent of placing valuables in a jewel box and as such reflects the intent to collect. As a result, the work reveals that the intention to deposit is more important than the choice of the objects themselves, and gives perhaps a more comprehensive view.
Whilst the works of Chen Hui-chiao are easily understood as part of the development of Taiwanese modern art, as a contemporary Taiwanese artist her work must also be analyzed from the current perspective of contemporary Taiwanese art.
In the "minimalist" environment of IT Park Gallery, the spirituality and abstract form of "modern art" is clearly on show. First and foremost an artist's creative work is intimately related to his or her state of mind. Only after passing through an absolutely personal inner spiritual refinement can external shape be established. Thus, the difference between focussing on content and form gives rise to different schools of art.
Chen Hui-chiao's work on the other hand is in a period where it wanders between a sort of "surreal" dream world and "minimalist" formalism. Minimalism for her represents the nature of art, whilst the "surreal" on the other hand is the reality of life. As such, we see sumptuous thinking and severe religious discipline in parallel, expressed without regret in actual works.
This exhibition contains several large glass water tanks, arranged in the space used in a set order. Walking between these and looking down through the water which fills each tank to the brim, one sees installed in the bottom of each one a slide picture of blue skies and white clouds. The layer of still water has almost no effect on the meaning of the image, according it a strong penetrative strength. At this point the glass water tank installation is a witness to the power of spirit, surpassing the traditionally closed box of memory and embarking on the path of modern art wherein dreams are raised to the level of pure thought.
When compared to other contemporary Taiwanese artists, Chen Chiao-hui's approach approximates more to the respectful attitude towards art of academia, upholding the basic line of modern art. On the one hand this reveals the extent to which "IT Park Gallery" upholds current orthodoxy in art, on the other hand however, we can also see how Chen Chiao-hui declare the value of modern art through her own actions.
At first glance the excessively precise production of Chen Chiao-hui's work gives one the impression of decorative adornment. The pieces assembled by technicians are also completely bereft of any sign of the artist's own hand. As such, we are unable to immediately trace the line of creation and everything looks like some kind of finished product waiting to be delivered. This highly finished state is something one rarely sees from local artists. In a current artistic environment needing to be saved through its own energies, this gives full testament to the artist's search for perfection. However looking at Chen Chiao-hui's future development, I sense a slight fatigue behind the work. The stimulus and restlessness of artistic creation seems to have been tamed by the principle of refinement, and as such it will be difficult for new motivations to make themselves naturally felt.
Strictly speaking the work of Chen Chiao-hui to a greater or lesser degree highlights a bottleneck in the development of modern Taiwanese art. In the decades since the introduction of modern abstract art concepts in the 1960's, the local art community's understanding of modern art has remained very unclear. In the 1990's "IT Park Gallery" has served as a link between past and future, very much helping modern art to establish roots in Taiwan. Nevertheless, as the unceasing torrent of global art rushes ever forward, the future of contemporary Taiwanese art still requires much work. Here I can only express my hope that Chen Chiao-hui will stride boldly on to the next level of restlessness and pursuit. |
