Asia Now 2020 invited Chi-Wen Huang (founder of Chi-Wen Gallery) to curate a platform of Taiwanese Art, bringing together artists and galleries from Taipei. Participating artists include Su Misu, YU Cheng-Ta, River LIN, SU Hui-Yu, ZhHANG Xu Zhan, LIN Guan-Ming, SHI Jin-Hua and their representative galleries Chi-Wen Gallery, Double Square Gallery, Project Fulfill Art Space and Mind Set Art Center.

YU Cheng-Ta, Su Misu, River LIN
presented by Chi-Wen Gallery

Born in 1990 in Taipei, Taiwanese photographer and performance artist Su Misu is known for her practice in exploration of gender, BDSM and LGBTQ+ topics. Coming from a medical background, she’s interested in “the synthetic”, “the unnatural”, and other embodiments, using photography, video and performance to discuss the struggle between what is real and what is illusory. Su Misu is highlighted in a current CNN Style article on Taiwan as creative haven for LGBTG art.

Yu Cheng-Ta, who works primarily with non-professional actors in staged performances. Yu has developed a body of work that deals with the interstitial spaces and humorous misunderstandings that arise when different languages and cultures collide. Developed through the character of FAMEME, a Taiwanese farmer drawn to New York City to promote durian, Yu’s latest project depicts an outsider’s quest for fame and acceptance in American culture, which will be presented at Taipei Fine Arts Museum from 1st August to 18 October, 2020.

Born in 1984 in Taipei, River Lin is an independent curator and artist working across the fields of performing and visual arts. Out of artistic boundary as strategy, River’s work includes site-specific performance, theatre, dance, and installation making. River concerns culture differences between generations, the contemporary psychological state, and the performative body in ritual process.

SU Hui-Yu
presented by Double Square Gallery

Su Hui-Yu is fascinated by the intricate tapestry interwoven by images, media, history, and daily life. In his videos, he explores both mass media’s impact on viewers, and the projection of viewers’ thoughts and desires onto media. He draws from his experiences of being surrounded by media that range from movie, TV culture, advertisement, state apparatus, terrorism, self and other, body, projection of desires, and illusion and reality. Recently, Su’s interest in old books, from which he re-reads, revises and appropriates texts for his work, has led him to a new understanding of physicality, existence, and history.

ZHANG Xu-Zhan, LIN Guan-Ming
presented by Project Fulfill Art Space

Born into the popular century-old Hsin-Hsing Paper Sculpture Store in Xinzhuang, Taipei County, 1988, Zhang Xu-Zhan specializes in creating a riotous profusion of paper effigies ranging from luxurious mansions and oversized paper dolls to paper-pasted mythological animals and flowers. The artist is also proficient in employing diverse media such as drawing, stop-motion paper doll and multi-channel video installation to create animations, videos, experimental films and extended images. His artworks not only revolve around absurd and bizarre images, but also encapsulate his wry observations on strange social phenomena and the cul-de-sac his family business (memories) faces. In other words, the artist’s works feature the unending decay and the post-revelry companionlessness that serve as part of his life’s rich tapestry. 

Focusing on video and photographic processes, Lin Guan-Ming’s art practice reflects on the relationship and possibilities of time and memory through image manipulation and the production process.

SHI Jin-Hua 
presented by Mind Set Art Center

Born on the island of Penghu in 1964, Shi Jin-Hua is a conceptual and performance artist currently lives and works in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Being a type I diabetic, monitoring and recording physical conditions and insulin injections have been parts of his life since he was 17. Confronting the stern matter of life and death all the time, Shi treats his own body as an instrument for artistic execution. His practice relates closely to measuring and recording, reflecting the extraordinary spirit. He has participated in Taipei Biennial and Asian Art Biennial. Public collections owning his works include White Rabbit Collection, Australia, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts ,Art Bank, Taiwan and Fidelity International. A major solo exhibition of the artist, Lines – Contemporary Religious Art by Shi Jin-Hua, was held at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in October, 2017.