A quick two day visit to Taipei, on my way from Changchun to Tokyo. My brother also flies in and we spend the weekend with our aunt. She took us to an exhibit at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, "Cloud of Unknowing," a consideration of the East Asian city from architectural and environmental angles, with seven installations by Taiwan, mainland, Japanese and South Korean architects and artists.
ink paintings of CY Lee, Taiwan's most prominent architect today (Taipei 101, Beijing Olympics dragon hotel, etc etc) and sort of related to our family.
Painting by Chi-Kwan Chen, a legendary Taiwan architect who studied with Walter Gropius and built one of the first structures with a parabolic roof (a chapel at university in Taiwan). I loved this ink study of crabs in a pot.
There was an installation by Japanese artists, architects and photographers. Above, a garage door on a Tokyo side street. Below, manhole covers. Manhole covers are the inspired icons of the "rojo kansatugatu" (roadway observation study), a kind of post-modern movement of artists founded in the 1980s who were into street-scapes. One has to admit, Tokyo does have some interesting manhole covers.
(photo by John Ngai)
making dumplings (xiaolungbao) and fried donuts (youtiao). The "cook" is self-portrait of the artist, who totally gets it.
This painting of the CCTV tower in Beijing (which my cousin once told me is called "big pants crotch" (da ku cha) by the locals) is part of a kitschy series using Mao-era poster style to mock the 'big brother' dimensions of current Chinese life.
1 comment:
I love this.
Post a Comment