Rently, writer and artist Cyrus Lambrecht has published an exhibition review on *CUP on Wu Chi-Tsung’s solo exhibition EXPOSÉ at Galerie du Monde. In this article, Lambrecht discusses on chances and coincidences in Wu Chi-Tsung’s art.
Curator Ying Kwok introduced during the press preview that the aim of the exhibition is to unveil the production process of Wu Chi-Tsung’s works that applies cyanotype photography. After being able to see the behind-the-scenes, Lambrecht quoted John Locke’s theory named Tabula Rasa to describe the exposure process. The term literally means ‘blank board’ as a comparison to human’s mind before experiences, which resembles blank Xuan paper, while the wrinkles and sunlight exposure resembles experiences in a person’s life. Hence, the whole process as well as what finally emerges and remains on paper, the landscape-like imagery, are interesting metaphors for life.
Photos credit to the writer
若世界上所發生的事情，都只是一種偶然與巧合，人們所堅持的一切，會否也只是一段徒勞無功的過程？我們可能因為無法控制一些事情的發生，而感受到一刻的脆弱和無力感 —— 但就是當中一份偶然發現的驚喜，讓我們堅持自己的信念和執著。台灣多媒體藝術家吳季璁，在世界畫廊（Galerie du Monde）以「現」（Exposé）為主題，展出一系列採用了氰版攝影和宣紙的畫作。透過獨立策展人郭瑛重視空間劃分的策展風格，呈現出時光荏苒與物是人非之間的一刻旖旎景象。
Lately Wu Chi-Tsung has donated his new work Wrinkled Texture 096 to theAsia Society for the 2021 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards Art Auction. Proceeds of the auction will be supporting Asia Society’s global Arts & Culture initiatives. The auction is now live and will close on May 5, 2021 at 8:30 PM (ET).
The Asia Society’s purpose is to navigate shared futures for Asia and the world across policy, arts and culture, education, sustainability, business, and technology.
About the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
The Asia Arts Game Changer Awards is a signature event honoring the Asia Arts Game Changers. Every year, major art collectors, artists, gallerists, dignitaries from the art world, and Asia Society trustees and patrons gather to celebrate contemporary art in Asia and honor artists and arts professionals for their significant contributions to contemporary art.
Past honorees include: Cai Guo-Qiang, Hon Chi Fun, Abir Karmakar, Krishen Khanna, Bharti Kher, Kimsooja, Lee Ufan, Liu Guosong, Nalini Malani, Nyoman Masriadi, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Rashid Rana, Shahzia Sikander, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Do Ho Suh, teamLab, Wucius Wong, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi, and Zhang Xiaogang.
All proceeds from the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards support Asia Society initiatives worldwide.
近日，吳季璁向位於美國紐約的亞洲協會捐贈了新作《皴法習作之九十六》以支持2021年Asia Arts Game Changer Awards 線上藝術拍賣，所得款項將支持亞洲協會的全球藝術與文化項目。拍賣現已上線，並將於2021年5月5日美國東部時間20時30分結束。
關於Asia Arts Game Changer Awards Asia Arts Game Changer Awards旨在表彰在亞洲藝術界做出突出貢獻的人士。每年，著名的藝術收藏家、藝術家、畫廊經營者以及亞洲協會的受託人和讚助人匯聚一堂，慶祝亞洲的當代藝術的發展，並表彰藝術家和藝術專業人士對當代藝術的重大貢獻。
Works of Wrinkled Texture Seriesand Cyano-Collage Series will be showcased in Frieze New York represented by Sean Kelly Gallery. Parallel to the physical fair at The Shed, Manhattan, May 5 – 9, 2021, an Online Viewing Room will open from May 5 – 14.
About Frieze
Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles.Frieze London takes place every October in London’s Regent’s Park. In the US, the fair has been running on New York’s Randall’s Island since 2012, with its inaugural Los Angeles edition taking place February 2019.[2][3] The fair was launched by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, the founders of frieze magazine, and is led by Victoria Siddall, global director of Frieze Fairs. Frieze Art Fair features more than 170 contemporary art galleries, and the fair also includes specially commissioned artists’ projects, a talks programme and an artist-led education schedule.
Opening Mar 24, 6 ~ 8 p.m., 2021 Public Days Mar 25 ~ Jun 13 Zoom Talk Mar 31, 8 p.m. HKT Venue Galerie du Monde, 108 Ruttonjee Centre, 11 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong
HONG KONG – Galerie du Monde is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Wu Chi-Tsung: Exposé, curated by Hong Kong based Ying Kwok. Wu’s work explores light and time, and ways to recreate traditional art forms and aesthetics without losing the spirit. In Exposé, curator Kwok leads us on a journey to discover the correlation between Wu’s Cyano-Collage series and these concepts.
Born in Taipei in 1981, Wu received his BFA in 2004 from the Taipei National University of the Arts, where his training from an early age in the practices of Chinese calligraphy, ink painting, watercolor and drawing were furthered. After decades of creating experimental ink paintings, Wu turned to photography, video and installations to apply his aesthetics in classical landscapes.
Wu created his first Cyano-Collage in 2015, a further development of the earlier Wrinkled Texture series which he started in 2012. Both series explore the process of “recording light” on Xuan paper (Chinese rice paper). From Wrinkled Texture to Cyano-Collage, Wu showed he could somehow manipulate the unpredictable, creating beautiful illustrations of the relationship between man and nature.
Wu began the Wrinkled Texture series with the intention to reinterpret the traditional Texturing method (Cun Fa) of Chinese landscape painting. Instead of using ink and brush, Wu utilizes a classical photographic technique – Cyanotype, to treat his Textures. Wu first soaks the Xuan paper with a photosensitive solution, and then exposes them to sunlight for 30 minutes, while at the same time crumbling and shaping the paper into various forms and wrinkles. This exposure process is random and uncontrollable as the light intensity and the sun’s angle is different every day, at every hour.
Cyano-Collage 094 will be exhibited at Exposé 《氰山集之九十四》將於《Exposé 現》中展出
The paper is then flattened and washed in a water tank in the studio for an hour to fixate the exposed textures. This is the most intriguing part of the entire process, as it is the moment when Wu sees the outcome – the different textures and possibilities. The treated paper becomes a record of time, light, and human gestures that is marked with folds and different shades of blue.
One out of dozens of treated Xuan paper is selected by the artist. At the beginning, Wu was focused on creating a dialogue with traditional Chinese landscapes. Thus, in that period, Wu selected images that remind him of classical landscape paintings by Chinese masters. Gradually, Wu developed other references – real life landscapes, nature, or abstract paintings. It could be anything. As Wu’s practice evolves, his imagination of this series of works transforms.
Rather than limiting himself to a single sheet of Xuan paper and uncontrollable compositions, Wu discovered a new way to create his imaginary scenery on a bigger scale through experimental collages. Each Cyano-Collage is composed of many pieces of Xuan paper, individually pasted onto the canvas by Wu, and then sealing each layer with acrylic gel before adding a new one. Sometimes, Wu adds plain white Xuan paper to create depth or to erase part of an image, leaving large areas of blank space in order for the subject to leap from the painting – this is one of the most important techniques in traditional Chinese painting, termed “Liu Bai”. Wu then finishes the painting with a UV-protection varnish for long-term preservation.
Xuan paper, also known as Chinese rice paper, is a very unique medium. Compared to drawing paper or watercolor paper, Xuan paper is much thinner, more absorbent and versatile. Hence, the artist could make lots of textures through repeated crumbling. Over the past decade, Wu has studied and experimented with several dozen types of rice paper, from different origins, with varied thickness, textures, and paper making process. Wu has saved all these testing papers in his studio, and he revisits them from time to time to “read” them again and find new inspirations. A selection of these raw materials will be presented to the public for the first time in Exposé.
Exposé, the second solo exhibition of Wu Chi-Tsung at Galerie du Monde, unveils the complicated and unpredictable process behind his Cyano-Collage through an immersive viewing experience. Whether it is a painting, an installation or a video, there is always a transparent aspect in Wu’s work. It is this honesty that is so inviting, allowing for such powerful bodies of work to be fully experienced by the audience. Wu’s practice also inspires us to carry on traditions and recreate new readings of classical techniques and aesthetics. Ancient or contemporary, they shall continue to cross-pollinate and together grow into a new realm.
On Mar 31st, an online artist talk was held between the artist and curator Ying Kwok when the duo shared their first meeting at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in Manchester back in 2011, and how they brainstormed, developed and presented this new project together at Galerie du Monde.
香港 － 世界畫廊（Galerie du Monde）將舉行台灣藝術家吳季璁於香港的第二場個展「現」。策展人郭瑛將引領觀眾揭開《氰山集》背後既繁複又偶然的創作過程，探索吳季璁與時間和光線之相搏鬥、磨合與交融的靜態作品。對吳季璁而言，光是他創作中的催化劑，而時間則是他的暗房。他以「時光」為手段，探索東西方傳統技法和媒材的可能性，以當代的視角延續中國水墨的美學精神，創造出連接不同文化、過去和現在的獨特藝術語言。
“A perfunctory gaze will perhaps write off Wu Chi-Tsung’s ‘Exposé’ exhibition as a simple series of mountainous landscapes; this perfunctory gaze would be wrong. Curated by Ying Kwok, ‘Exposé’ deep-dives into an extraordinary wrinkled-paper technique that mimics that of valleys, troughs and crevices; minute, natural-appearing details that would happen upon any geographic rendering. The textured cyano-collage process used, however, is completely randomised, with each fold and crease on Xuan paper a happy accident.”
In the recent exhibition review “10 Must-See Art Exhibitions In Hong Kong In April 2021“, Talter Hong Kong has listed “Exposé” as one of the must-see exhibitions in Hong Kong this April. Below is a quote from the report:
Cyanotype was invented to duplicate engineering drawings and was one of the first ways of creating photographic images in the 19th century.
But in 2012, Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung invented his own cyanotype process by crushing the light sensitive paper, exposing it to light and flattening it. This creates an illusion of traditional Chinese landscape painting when, in fact, it’s Wu’s contemporary interpretation of landscape paintings.
Exposé, curated by Ying Kwok, showcases Wu’s Cyano-Collage series and explores its relationship to traditional art and aesthetics.
March 25 to June 16. Galerie du Monde, 108 Ruttonjee Centre, 11 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong. Find out more at galeriedumonde.com
We are proud to share that Wu Chi-Tsung has made a contribution to the Asian Cultural Council (ACC). By donating the proceeds of Cyano-Collage 082 in collaboration with the Sean Kelly Gallery, he wishes to express his gratitude to the long-term generous support of ACC.
The Asian Cultural Council has supported cultural exchange programs for practicing artists, scholars, and arts professionals since 1963. In 2013, Wu Chi-Tsung was granted a six-month ACC Fellowship to travel from Taipei to research contemporary art practices in New York. During his fellowship, Chi-Tsung deepened his awareness of diverse cultural and artistic practices and has further developed his multi-cultural and timeless art language ever since.
About Asian Cultural Council
The Asian Cultural Council advances international dialogue, understanding, and respect through cultural exchange activities in Asia and the United States to create a more harmonious and peaceful world. This mission is accomplished through fellowships and other programs that support individual artists, scholars, and arts professionals.
To date, ACC has supported over 6,000 exchanges across 26 countries and regions, and 16 artistic disciplines. As a grantmaking and grantseeking organization, ACC raises funds from individual, foundation, and corporate donors. ACC also convenes arts leaders, fostering dialogue around the importance of cultural exchange in developing understanding and respect across international and cultural borders.
Wu Chi-Tsung with fellow grantees in New York in 2013 2013年，吳季璁與其他ACC受獎人在美國紐約
自1963年起，亞洲文化協會（Asia Art Council，後簡稱ACC）持續資助亞洲藝術家、學者與從業者的各項文化交流活動。2013年，吳季璁獲得了來自ACC的駐地支持，在紐約進行了為期六個月的駐村活動。紐約多元的文化氛圍豐富了他對於藝術的理解，也啟發了他此後的創作，超越區域文化和時代性的限制。為了支持這個深具啟發性的國際交流計畫，吳季璁近日與尚凱利畫廊合作，向ACC捐贈了《氰山集之八十二》的銷售收入，期待能夠藉此鼓勵與支援年輕藝術家的藝術創作與國際發展。
Cyano-Collage 024 at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2018 《氰山集之二十四》於2018年巴塞爾藝術展香港展會展出現場
We are honored to share that Wu Chi-Tsung’s Cyano-Collage 024was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (AAM), one of the world’s finest collections of Asian art located in the U.S.
Cyano-Collage 024 was the featured artwork for Wu Chi-Tsung’s solo exhibition, presented by Galerie du Monde, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2018, where it made its debut. In 2019, when he was awarded the winner of the inaugural Liu Kuo-Sung Ink Art Award, this work was the piece selected for exhibition.
Scaled 180 x 360 cm, the Cyano-Collage 024 was the artist’s first attempt on such a considerable dimension on a single panel. It took him several months to conduct experiments from selecting papers that involve interesting details to connecting them into a poetic scenery. Besides, it was the first time that he challenged a dual-color composition, which contributed to a deepened depth of field.
Cyano-Collage 024 was exhibited at the Liu Kuo-Sung Ink Award, 2019 《氰山集之二十四》於2019劉國松水墨藝術大獎中展出
On acquiring the Cyano-Collage 024, the Asian Art Museum organized an online event that allows art-lovers to learn more about the production process of the work, as well as the artist behind it.
In conversation with Senior Associate Curator and Head of Contemporary Art Abby Chen, Wu Chi-Tsung presented a virtual tour of his Taipei studio through this video, a brief introduction of his life as an international artist who has studios in Taipei, Berlin and Saigon, and a thorough demonstration of the process and behind-the-scene stories of the Cyano-Collage Series.
Studio team in Taipei after the online event 工作室團隊於活動現場
Poems about shadow | Interview with artist Wu Chi-Tsung
Recently, Wu Chi-Tsung was interview by the DFUN magazine, a magazine featuring design, architecture, fashion and art based in Taiwan. The report features Wu Chi-Tsung’s unique aesthetic in his works featuring light and shadow, and how the artist has been using them to transform the exhibition space into a poetic world. The report was published on the 2020 Spring issue of the magazine.
The report introduces Wu Chi-Tsung’s exploration of working on various media as an international artist traveling among his studios in Taipei, Berlin and Saigon. Next, Wu Chi-Tsung shares his experience in the installation Edge of Light that he cooperated with Chen Shu-Chiang. Scaled 30 meters long and 10 meters wide, it took great effort to have the work installed in an abandoned train garage. By doing this, the artists have created an immersive experience for the audience allowing them to fully appreciate the magic of light and shadows. In the end, speaking of the relationship of light and shadow, Wu Chi-Tsung states that ‘light is the fundamental fact for us to perceive the world, and shadow metaphorizes or visualizes the substantiality of materials’.
Recently, Wu Chi-Tsung was invited by Sean Kelly Gallery to shoot a short video namedIn the Studio. In this abstract yet frank video, Wu Chi-Tsung presents a poetic dance with one of his favorite materials – light. Employing long-exposures, he is visualising the battles and joys in search of inspiration as he follows the guidance of a beam of light in his once pitch-dark studio.
Let there be light. For Wu Chi-Tsung, light is the catalyst in his art, and time devoted in his darkroom allows beauty to gently appear. British video artist David Hall coined the term ‘time-based art’ in 1972, which refers to the art forms that require a certain amount of time to be fully revealed. While the concept was devised with traditional art forms such as paintings and sculptures in mind, and also emphasized the duration of time and the scale in space, Wu Chi-Tsung tends to interpret it in a reversed way. He deliberately uses time as a tool to blur the boundary between new media art and traditional art and to redefine moving and still images.
Long Time Exposed Landscape, 2004 長時間曝光的風景,2004
The necessity of long exposure is shared in most of Wu Chi-Tsung’s still works, such as the Cyano-Collage Series, the Wrinkled Texture Series, and the Long Time Exposed Landscape. Therefore, these works all contain a considerable scale of time and momentum. They have become a living fossil in which a complete time axis is fused together.
In Chinese, the phrase that represents a long period of time is Shiguang (時光), which is a combination of the words for Time (時) and Light (光). The considerable time that Wu Chi-Tsung spends battling with, adapting to, and coping with time and light is a key feature of his works. He tends to focus on simple techniques and daily objects, still he devotes himself to research time and light and applying his learnings to the original material and turning it into something completely different from, and even opposite to, commonplace perceptions.
Wu Chi-Tsung tend to transfer daily objects into poetic sceneries of Eastern aesthetics 宣紙在陽光下呈現出屋漏痕般的自然筆法
As one of the furthest-developed works so far, the Cyano-Collage Series demands a large amount of ‘exposed paper’ for paper-reading and collage. As hours of sunlight reacts with the cyanotype chemistry on the Xuan paper, the ordinary wrinkles on the paper transcend their physical features and gain a similar spiritual quality as in traditional ink painting. After this, the artist observes the textures and folds of every paper, to ‘read’ and contemplate them, and pick the ones that evoke and inspire the artist the most. For this precious ‘decisive moment’, which is almost one in a hundred, processing and storing paper have become a daily routine.
For his installation and video works that are more qualified to be called ‘time-based art’, time seems to be wasted or irrelevant. It moves forward, yet sometimes cycles; it goes by, yet sometimes stalls. As a reversed interpretation of time involving the artist’s understanding of Asian philosophies, these works have contributed to the complicity of the artist’s exploration of temporality. For instance, the Still Life Series, the Landscape in the Mist Series, and the Dust share a similar sense of stillness, in effect an almost nerdy gaze. Although these works last up to ten minutes, the visual message conveyed by the film tends to be relatively monolithic, as if they are a still frame stretched to fit a time axis. Nevertheless, it is exactly the seemingly meaningless gaze and the ostensibly wasted time that reveals the artist’s obsessed fascination and adamant aestheticism towards the object before the camera. Give it time.
The Dust at Light Interdiction, Kunstfest Weimar 2019 in Germany 2019年《灰塵》於德國威瑪藝術節展出現場
近日，吳季璁受尚凱利畫廊之邀，拍攝了短片《在工作室（In the Studio）》。這段抽象而坦誠的影像堪稱吳季璁與光共同呈現的雙人舞，他通過長時間曝光的技法將自己在創作中找尋靈感的過程具象化為獨自在漆黑的工作室中跟隨一線微光的指引摸索前進。
Wu Chi-Tsung shares his daily musings about working and staying motivated during this difficult time from his studio in Taipei, Taiwan as he participates in the #inthestudio program launched by @seankellyny.
In this abstract yet frank video, Wu Chi-Tsung presents a poetic duet dance with one of his favorite material, the light. Together they’ve challenged the boundary between moving and static images. Once again, Chi-Tsung explores how joyful and imaginative the relationship between an artist and his studio could be.
HOW ARTISTS ARE DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC: INTERVIEWS WITH WU CHI-TSUNG AND HSI SHIH-PIN AT THEIR STUDIOS
Recently, Wu Chi-Tsung was interviewed by Artco on ‘how artists are dealing with the pandemic’. He shares that the studio is taking this opportunity to optimize the administrative and production management, as well as start reserving materials and equipment in advance in case there will be a further lockdown in Taiwan. Also, Wu Chi-Tsung is grateful that his studio has been in a healthy financial status thanks to the help and suggestions of their accountant, which ensured the normal operation studio during the special time.
Besides, Wu Chi-Tsung also stressed the importance of health to an artist. He has been working out in his studio during the closure of public gyms.
On May 4th, Wu Chi-Tsung was invited by Taipei Dangdai and held a virtual tour that allows audiences to have a close look at his Taipei studio.
The live stream program is part of the ‘Taipei Connections’, a digital platform launched by Taipei Dangdai in partnership with Ocula aiming to nurture ongoing connections between the Taiwanese arts community and galleries at this time of limited travel and in-person meetings. Bringing together a diverse mix of galleries from Taipei Dangdai’s latest edition, the inaugural Taipei Connections will showcase a series of richly contextualized artworks for the public to explore.
During the 55-minutes-long live stream, Wu Chi-Tsung and Taipei Dangdai Co-Directer Robin Peckham showed people around his studio and talked about Wu Chi-Tsung’s internationally-minded prospects of the studio.
Recently, Wu Chi-Tsung has set up a new studio in collaboration with Vietnamese artist Cam Xanh in Saigon, Vietnam as a significant step of his internationally-minded exploration. Speaking of his third studio after Taipei and Berlin, Wu Chi-Tsung says, ‘I’m curious about the early stage of an art world, such as in Vietnam, everything happens and develops rapidly. I am grateful to witness and be part of this great historical moment as a member of this intimate and energetic community.’
Chi-Tsung met Cam Xanh in Korea in 2016 on the Asia Young 36 exhibition and was later invited by her for an artist residency in MoT+++ which she co-founded. During the residency, the space was presented as superimposition and coincidence of the two sites – Wu Chi-Tsung’s studio and a public art space – that opens to the public and enable the viewers to see the working progress. This year, inspired by this experience, Wu Chi-Tsung’s Taipei Studio managed a residency program for Italian artist Saverio Tonoli and conducted their collaborated event.
Lately, Saverio Toloni is now resides at A. Farm Saigon, an international artist-in-residency space established by Cam Xanh and run by MoT+++ and San Art teams.
Shooting scene of the Still Life Series in 2019 《小品系列》2019年拍攝現場
Besides, Wu Chi-Tsung relates to the context of postcolonial criticism and self-reflection towards its cultural identity in Vietnamese art. Last year, Wu Chi-Tsung shot new Still Life Series in Vietnam inspired by local culture and nature. Among them, the Still Life 012 — Buttercup tree was collected by the Nguyen Art Foundation.
Wu Chi-Tsung’s Wire V is now on view in the group exhibition Password 0~1 at the studio. Due to the restrictions during the pandemic, please contact [email protected] for visiting details and to make appointments. Moreover, please visit the online +1 trash to see more MoT+++ collections.
Established in 2018, the Nguyen Art Foundation was born from a desire to better serve the artistic community of Vietnam. It was founded by Quynh Nguyen, under the advisory of Cam Xanh (pseudonym of Thanh Tran Ha), artist and founder of MoT+++. Since its conception, the foundation has worked to build an alternative infrastructure for the arts in Vietnam, and construct the base for what it hopes will form Vietnam’s first museum of contemporary art. The foundation aims to expand the possibilities for contemporary art in Vietnam by facilitating global exchange that enriches not only individual practices, but engages the overall growth of the Vietnamese art scene.
The Still Life 012 – Buttercup Tree was shot during Wu Chi-Tsung’s residency at MoT+++ in 2019, and was inspired by the local culture and nature of Vietnam.
We both found our inspirations from the other side of the world
Installation view of “Beyond the Now, Away from Here” in Wu Chi-Tsung Studio
T= Saverio Tonoli W = Wu Chi-Tsung
How did you know
each other?
T: We met in an opening
studio event, 2017 in Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany. Walking through
the studios, Chi-Tsung’s work caught my eye immediately as I was looking for
someone who also uses Xuan paper like I do. Paper became our main topic for the
rest of the night. The rest came spontaneously: we kept in touch, visited each
other’s studio and did a project in Berlin together. We already had the idea of
this residency program since 2018, and finally managed to execute it now.
W: From the very
beginning, we were talking about Xuan paper. Every time I visit Saverio, I
always bring a different kind of Xuan paper for him to test the material, and
eventually I came up with the idea to invite him to Taiwan so
that he could have a period of time to research more about Xuan paper.
I learned that the
title of this exhibition ‘Beyond the Now, Away from Here’ comes up
from your discussion. How would you two interpret it?
T: Both of us revisit
traditional techniques in our art practice. Other than works on paper, I
developed a variation of the Fresco – mural painting, making it more simple to
paint and install and at the same time to enhance its freedom of movement. This
gave us the input to to transform the studio space through our artworks and
question the “here and now”, working on time and space.
W: We hope to present a detached experience to the audiences that merge the culture of Europe and Asia, and art practices of classic and contemporary. Our idea is to combine all the things to have a new dialogue.
(To Chi-Tsung) Is
this the first time you open your studio to the public for an exhibition?
W: We would like to take
the opportunity of the Taipei Dangdai Art Fair that brings international
audiences and professionals to Taiwan. This year, we want to do something new
in our studio and host a party here in order to directly meet people. Moreover,
I hope that we could show the possibilities of what artist studios could do and
how exhibitions could be to the Taiwanese art world. At the moment, most
artwork you see in Taiwan are completed and displayed in white cubes and
visiting artist studios is always considered to be private. However, I think
that art is about the whole thing and can’t be concluded by the final “art
piece” only. We want to open our studio to let everyone see the art
practice. This time, we will divide the studio into different functions
on different floors during the exhibition, and make this space like an
alternative space with abundant content. It would give people a special
experience of the art-making.
(To Chi-Tsung) How do you consider
the role and possibility of an artist studio in the art world?
W: To host an artist residency program as an artist studio ourselves this time, I am inspired by my residency experience in MoT+++, Vietnam, the director of which herself is also an artist. At that time, we turned the exhibition space into a studio-like environment, and the exhibition was more like an open studio. It was a very interesting concept and I received many positive feedbacks.
The position of
artist studios has changed a lot in a few decades. Nowadays you see more and
more artist studios getting bigger with multi-functions. It is not only a space for simply
producing art, but a center to form the networks in the art
world. Compared with institutions, the artist studio could gain more
independence and flexibility in communications and executions. Besides, we are
proud that we are financially independent so as to make things happen.
Hopefully our experience could inspire other people and contribute to the
diversity of the Taiwanese art world.
(To Saverio) We saw on your Instagram that
you’re working on new works for this exhibition. Are they inspired by your
experience during the residency in Taiwan? If so, what are they?
T: Normally I enjoy working alone and consider the status of isolation
essential for me. Finding materials and new providers, joining a talkative
unknown group of artists, having to limit your working space and adhere to
inevitable social conventions makes it challenging to recreate the proper
working conditions. But this one is more of a private collaboration residency:
I get a lot of support from the studio and plenty of isolation! Besides, Taiwan
is beautiful free country with amazing landscapes and fruits.
Parallel
my ongoing development on abstraction in painting, my work brought me here to
study ink tradition and research on paper. With the expertise of FENKO
Catalysis Chamber (www.fenko.com.tw) – one
of the most important material lab in
Taiwan producing paper – I can
push to extreme ways some treatments on paper, with gravity and folds. I am
looking forward to the exhibition to share my journey with international
audiences.
(To Saverio) How
was your cooperation with FENKO?
T: FENKO expands the use of paper in many different fields, one of which is the open collaboration with artists, and they research endlessly new materials and possibilities. FENKO’s expertise has been very precious to me, from consulting wide range of paper materials, packaging to paper preservation. Together we’ve found a perfectly suitable paper for one of my main works in the show, Self-absorbed on the rocks, painted on the cliffs of the Yilan coast of Taiwan. In this work, the large roll of paper is made wet and folded into the structure of the cliff, then ink-washed to extract its structure, volume and essence. At the last stage in the studio the paper is washed and flatten again. It is not hard to imagine that this specific work needs a very strong and flexible paper, due to the extreme treatment it undergoes on sharp rocks and having to be folded, washed and dried several times. The absorbing qualities of the paper is also very important. The paper has been designed for this purpose. My collaboration with FENKO will continue for three other pieces of the series, one of which will be performed in the following weeks on the south Vietnamese coast.
Saverio with Paper & Conservation Consultancy Szuhan Wang and director Lino Lee from FENKO Catalysis Chamber
Clearly both of you
are experts on media and materials, and you both have interests in natural
phenomena and daily objects. However, you reach art through the opposite route:
Chi-Tsung learned painting first and get in touch with photography later in
college; whereas Saverio grew up with photography and later experiment with
painting and other media. How do you think about each other’s art?
What would you say about the similarities and differences between
your art?
T: Our attitude towards
art is similar, nothing strictly political, social or personal but “beyond” and
“away”. Everything in our art is about matter and perception. As we work with
similar materials, we often discuss certain techniques and difficulties we
encounter. For example, we both mount Xuan paper on canvas which differs from
the tradition, so we always discuss how to mount and coat.
W: I think that the most interesting and fundamental part of both of us is that we are both painters, that is to say, our mentalities are both based on paintings. And we are both interested in water-based things. I use western techniques to express eastern sceneries, and Saverio is into eastern materials. We both found our inspiration from the other side of the world. I think this kind of connection is beautiful.
Nevertheless, the
direction of how we approach art is different. I don’t do ‘painting painting’.
My priority in art is media art, but I use
painting as a mentality to meditate on everything while Saverio deals with
painting itself.
T: Yes. My starting point was to work with my dad
in the darkroom in our garage, where he showed me how the image is revealed.
From then I started to substitute light with ink, with Italian materials,
eastern materials etc. I always see the possibilities of painting in
photography. When I work digitally on images with photoshop, I regard it as an
alternative way of painting. )
I suppose it’s going
to be the first exhibition you attend in 2020. Do you have any new year
resolution on art, or to say, what would you like to explore more in the
following year?
T: In this year,
Inspired by my experience here I’m would like to open a second studio in
Taipei, I’m working on it. After joining another residency in Saigon by A.Farm
I will come back to Berlin in June and begin to understand what I have
experienced in Asia during this months. Exploration will go on as usual.
W: It has been 20 years
since I entered university in 1999. I started the studio three years ago and we
have made amazing achievements. I have been focused on my art outside Taiwan
and would love to be considered as an international artist rather than a
Taiwanese artist. I wish this experience of working
internationally with my studio could be a model to share with the art world in
Taiwan in the near future. Moreover, I look forward to launch more collaboration programs and to make use of the
resources we have in Taipei, Berlin and Saigon. We have much to share about our
network and experience in these three cities.
Interviewed and translated by Wang Tianyi Planning and Proofread by Julian Chu
薩：鳳嬌在許多不同的領域開拓了紙張的用途，他們其中的一個嘗試便是與藝術家的合作，研究新的材料和可能性。本次，鳳嬌身為紙材顧問，為我在選紙、包裝和紙張保存方面提供了非常多寶貴的建議。我在鳳嬌的協助下，為這次展覽最主要的作品之一《Self-absorbed on the rocks》找到了理想的紙材，這幅作品是我將宣紙鋪佈在宜蘭海岸的峭壁上進行創作的。在岩壁上，我將大捲宣紙浸濕，將之按照岩壁的紋理折疊，再用墨水染色令岩壁的紋理、質感與量體在紙面顯現。最後，回到工作室後，宣紙被水洗並壓平。可想而知，這樣的處理工序對宣紙的強韌性與靈活性都有極高的要求，這樣才能受得了尖銳岩壁、多次折疊、浸濕與乾燥等極端技法。紙張的吸水性也非常重要，而這次使用的紙則完美滿足了上述要求。我還會在將來的三件作品中繼續與鳳嬌進行合作，其中一件我將在未來幾周內在越南南部海岸完成創作。
《Self-absorbed on the rocks》創作過程，使用鳳嬌的薄頁麻紙（ABA Lean Natural）
Cyano-Collage 077 is on display in Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong
Date Mar 5 – Apr 18, 2020 Artists Fong Chung-Ray, Michael Müller, Wesley Tongson, Juan Uslé, Wang Gongyi, Wu Chi-Tsung, Stella Zhang Art Basel Online Viewing Room: Mar 18 – 25, 2020，click here to view Venue 108 Ruttonjee Centre, 11 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong
The exhibition showcases a diverse group of seven abstract artists, in exploration of the artistic dialogue between the East and the West in the postwar era and the growing acuteness of cross-cultural exchange. Covering multiple generations from the 1960s to the present, Galerie du Monde presents the exchange between Euro-American abstraction and East Asian art and philosophy, featuring the pioneer ink artist from Taiwan’s Fifth Moon Group – Fong Chung-Ray, lyrical abstract painters – Juan Uslé from Spain and Wang Gongyi from China; conceptual artists – Michael Müller from Germany and Stella Zhang from China; and young Taiwanese multimedia artist – Wu Chi-Tsung.
This time, Chi-Tsung’s most recent exploration of the Cyano-Collage Series, the Cyano-Collage 77, will be debuted, in which he challenged himself again to render the composition in round. Embracing the aesthetics of both traditional Chinese still life painting and the Tondo (circular art) that peaked in 15th Century Renaissance Italy, it adventurously broadened the possibilities of the series with its deft interpretation of the East-West nexus.
VIP Preview: Jan 16, 2 pm – 5 pm
Public Days: Jan 17 – 19
Venue: Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1 (4 Floor)
Sean Kelly Gallery｜Booth D05
Galerie du Monde｜Booth A04
Wu Chi-Tsung’s work will be presented in Taipei Dangdai Art Fair 2020 by Sean Kelly Gallery and Galerie du Monde. During this time, Sean Kelly Gallery will present a debut of a Still Life Series and the Cyano-Collage Series, and Galerie du Monde will show the latest work of the Wrinkled Texture Series and the Cyano-Collage Series.
Work of Saverio Tonoli in Taipei. Using the hemp paper of Fenko Catalysis Chamber, photo credit: Sylvia Lee and Saverio Tonoli
Opening Party: Jan 17, 8:30 pm – midnight Public Open: Jan 17 – Jan 19 Venue: No. 34, Ln. 223, Sec. 3, Chongqing N. Rd., Datong Dist, Taipei City 103 (Wu Chi-Tsung Studio) Paper & Conservation Consultancy: Fenko Catalysis Chamber
Wu Chi-Tsung Studio is delighted to present “Beyond the Now, Away
from Here”, a collaboration between our Artist-in-Residence Saverio Tonoli and
Wu Chi-Tsung.
In the exhibition, Saverio
will be showing his new artworks created during the three-month residency. The
title pays tribute to the shared interest of the two artists that merges the
aesthetics of the East and the West and reinterprets traditional and
contemporary art forms.
“What if art came into being differently…?” The exhibition allows
the audiences to rethink the nature of materials such as Xuan paper, ink,
fresco and cyanotype, to consider its origin, and to discover the possibilities
of fusing styles and cultures.
Differ from typical white-cube exhibition spaces, the exhibition
takes place at Wu Chi-Tsung studio where both artists work. Sketches, materials
and artworks are scattered around the studio from the ground floor to the
rooftop providing a vertical journey that shows the artists’ experiment and
working process to the public.
The exhibition marks the first artist residency program hosted by
an artist studio in Taiwan. Wu Chi-Tsung introduces that ‘Taiwan is an ideal
entrance to east Asia for international artists and audiences because it
combines multiple cultural influences of the region while being easily
accessed. Moreover, as an artist studio, we tend to possess higher flexibility
in hosting another artist. I hope that it could open up more possibilities and
contribute to the diversity of the art world in Taiwan’.
During his residency, Saverio has been working on his poetic imagery
between painting and sculptures, testing local Xuan papers, with the expertise
of Fenko Catalysis Chamber, by generating comprehensive solutions to the
relationship between Tonoli’s needs and exclusive preservation paper materials
for storing protection. Along with the creation of special plasters for his
fresco paintings. Through understanding customer needs and apply this insight
across their works to identify and implement the new ideas and strategies
necessary to succeed.
‘In Taiwan, I’m struck by the landscape and of course by the ink and paper knowledge, I learn and absorb like a sponge. I am finding more extreme ways to treat paper and plaster, and to regulate ink with gravity. I am looking forward to the exhibition to share my journey with international audiences’, says Saverio.
Saverio Tonoli (b. 1984, Italy) crosses different techniques in
his painting practice such as ink brushwork, fresco techniques and processes on
different papers. He grew up in the darkroom where he started observing the
behaviors of liquids and chemicals on images, which he then translated over the
years into painting.
Wu Chi-Tsung (b. 1981, Taiwan) combines traditions and
contemporary art forms from the East and the West. His work transforms daily
objects into poetic images, and spans across different media, including
photography, video, installation art, painting and set design.
Exhibition Planning：Julian Chu Copywriting：Wang Tianyi English Proofreading：Fredrik Nornemark Exhibition Site Assistant：Hao-Yun Dong
薩維里奧・托諾利在台創作作品，使用鳳嬌催化室的麻紙，圖 / Sylvia Lee 與Saverio Tonoli
Cyano-Collage 064, 300 x 600 cm, presented in Art Basel Miami Fair
Art fairs need to continuously stay fresh, even Art Basel in Miami Beach, which has a reputation for being the art world’s favorite party. Looking to add a bit of zest to its exhibition program, this year the fair is inaugurating its new Meridians sector to present large-scale works and performances in the refurbished Miami Beach Convention Center’s 60,000 square-foot Grand Ballroom.
“From what I’ve observed in the past, the curatorial and museum crowd has gotten tired of coming to Miami for only booth presentations, but by bringing more of a curatorial edge to it, I’m hearing that curators are more excited to attend this year,” Ben Strauss-Malcolm, a director at Pace, which has two artists—Adam Pendleton and Fred Wilson—in the show, tells Galerie.
Presenting 34 large-scale sculptures, paintings, installations, performances, and film and video projections by an international group of established and emerging artists, the projects were chosen by a selection committee and have been organized by the show’s curator, Magalí Arriola, the director of Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo.
With a focus on artists and works from the Americas—although its somewhat broader in this initial year because not as many galleries applied—the show addresses issue of race, gender and immigration, which are topics that are floating around the greater art world. “Many of the works are content-loaded, which is an exciting part of it,” Arriola shared by phone from Miami, where she was already working on the installation. “I’m happy with the space and layout and the individual projects. I believe these bigger works give viewers a chance to grasp what’s behind the artists’ proposals. There are overarching themes that echo between the varied works, which makes the whole section quite compelling.”
Chi-Tsung Wu’s Cyano-Collage 064 Sean Kelly
To create this sublime blue mountainous landscape, artist Chi-Tsung Wu employs age-old methods in the most innovative of ways, combining a 19th-century photographic printing process known as cyanotype together with the tradition of ancient Chinese landscape painting. To begin, Wu first coats chemically treated crumpled sheets of thin Xuan (rice) paper with an emulsion that turns the paper a deep blue after being exposed to light, before flattening them and collaging the hundreds of pieces onto linen canvas. With no predetermined design in mind, the artist constructs the imaginative scene, which simulates traditional Chinese mountain water (shan sui) paintings, as he goes—becoming a witness to the making of his work. Having a kind of tie-dye effect on the rice paper allows him to create the jagged rocks and snowy peaks and valleys that lend a modulated look to the layered landscape.
Sean Kelly is delighted to announce that the gallery now represents Wu Chi-Tsung.
Wu Chi-Tsung’s innovative
work features a broad range of media including photography, video, installation
and painting, in which he combines traditional and contemporary forms and methodologies
to explore perceptions of the physical and natural worlds. Trained from an
early age in the practices of Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink painting,
watercolor and drawing, Wu Chi-Tsung worked for many years in a traditional
idiom. Following a period spent creating experimental ink paintings, he turned
to video, installation and photography, finding in these new media compelling
conceptual stratagems that spurred new and dynamic approaches to making images.
These have included films that conceptually translate traditional cut-branch
flower paintings into time-based moving images and his recent Cyano-Collage
Series, in which he connects Eastern and Western culture and art to
integrate traditional aesthetics with startling contemporary language. On
joining the gallery Wu Chi-Tsung said, “I’m
pleased to be joining Sean Kelly, which has a legendary history and program,
featuring amazing artists from all over the world.
Sean Kelly states, “We are delighted that
Chi-Tsung is joining the gallery. We included him in a group exhibition this summer
and were profoundly impressed by his conceptual and artistic
process, in which he combines contemporary techniques and traditional Chinese
methods to create a unique amalgamation of different cultures, the past and the
present.”
Wu Chi-Tsung currently
lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan and Berlin, Germany.
He was the recipient of
the Liu Kuo Sung Ink Art Award, Hong Kong and Taiwan (2019). In addition, he was
awarded the WRO Media Art Biennal (2013) and Taipei
Arts Award (2003). He was short-listed for the Prudential Eye Awards, 2015; the
Artes Mundi, 2006. His work has been included in international exhibitions at
institutions such as the Mori Art Museum, Japan; National Museum Cardiff, United
Kingdom; the Long Beach
Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art Contemporain,
Luxembourg; the Museo Del Palacio De Bellas Artes, Mexico and the Central
Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Art Museum, Beijing, China; Shanghai Art Museum,
China; Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea; Minsheng 21st Century Museum,
Shanghai, China; the Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, China; the Hiroshima
City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; the Ullens Center for
Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China; the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; amongst others. His work is included in renowned
collections such as Xie Zilong Photography Museum (XPM), the Post Vidai
Collection, M+ Hong Kong, and the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection.
Cyano-Collage 064, 300 x 600 cm, will be presented in Miami
Meridians Opening (by invitation only)
Tuesday, December 3, 2019, 4pm to 7pm
VIP Preview (by invitation only)
Wednesday, December 4, 2019, 11am to 8pm
Thursday, December 5, 2019, 11am to 3pm
Public Days
Thursday, December 5, 2019, 3pm to 8pm
Friday, December 6, 2019, 12 noon to 8pm
Saturday, December 7, 2019, 12 noon to 8pm
Sunday, December 8, 2019, 12 noon to 6pm
Venue
Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, FL 33139
Wu Chi-Tsung will be participating in the Art Basel Miami Beach represented by Sean Kelly New York. As the first Taiwanese artist that is shown in this art fair, Wu Chi-Tsung will be presenting his new work of the Cyano-Collage Series at the Meridians section, a new section that focuses on sculptures, paintings and video installations of large scales. As is introduced by curator Magalí Arriola, works of this section will provide reinterpretations towards race, gender, and regions.
Magalí Arriola, a curator and critic based in Mexico City, has been named director of the Museo Tamayo in the Mexican capital. According to the Mexican newspaper La Razón, Arriola will take up the role on September 17. The publication also reported that one of Arriola’s priorities will be increasing the international reach of the museum.
Arriola was chief curator at the Museo Tamayo from 2009 to 2011, and during that time she organized exhibitions of work by artists such as Roman Ondák, Claire Fontaine, Adriá Julia, and Julio Morales. After her tenure there, she worked as curator at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, which opened in 2013 and has since become one of the city’s most important spaces for contemporary art. For the Museo Jumex, she curated a show focused on James Lee Byars.
Between 1997 and 2000, Arriola worked as chief curator at the Museo Carrillo Gil in México City and, in 2006, she was visiting curator at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco. Some of her curatorial credits include the 2008 Panama Biennial, the group show “Prophets of Deceit” (2006) at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, and “What once passed for a future, or The landscapes of the living dead” (2005) at Art2102 in Los Angeles.
Arriola will curate a new section called “Meridians” at the 2019 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The presentation will spotlight large-scale works of various mediums, including sculpture, painting, and installation. She has contributed to publications such as Poliéster, ArtNexus, Parachute, Exit, Spike, Afterall, and Manifesta Journal.
「藝匯經線」展區開幕（僅憑邀請）
2019年12月3日（星期二) 下午4時至晚上7時
貴賓預展（憑邀出席）
2019年12月4日（星期三）上午11時至晚上8時
2019年12月5日（星期四）上午11時至下午3時
公眾開放
2019年12月5日（星期四）下午3時至晚上8時
2019年12月6日（星期五）中午12時至晚上8時
2019年12月7日（星期六）中午12時至晚上8時
2019年12月8日（星期日）中午12時至下午6時
地點
邁阿密沙灘會議中心，1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, FL 33139
Exhibited in Photofair Shanghai in last September, Wu Chi-Tsung’s Cyano-Collage 068 was collected by Xie Zilong Photography Museum. Located in Changsha, the museum is prestigious for its symbolic architecture and professional interpretation of photography art.
Xie Zilong Photography Museum (XPM), located at Zone D of Yanghu Wetland Park in Changsha City, was founded by Mr. Xie Zilong, photographer, Chairman of Hunan Photographers Association and President of LBX Pharmacy Chain Co. Ltd., with an investment of 150 million yuan. As the largest non-profit photography museum in China, XPM was officially opened to the public for free since September 16th, 2017.
Designed by the famous architect Mr. Wei Chunyu, Dean of the School of Architecture of Hunan University and his team, XPM has a floor area of 10,600 square meters and was made by a one-off cast in fair bare concrete—it’s a return to the essence of architecture and art and a rejection and subversion of the flashy architectural language prevailing today, allowing the audience to feel the art of photography through the building. Of the four floors, the first one is the Art and Cultural Space with Zhinong Bookstore, Zhinong Café, a Japanese restaurant, a multifunctional hall and a water-viewing deck inside; the second and third floors are professional exhibition halls of 4,000 square meters with display walls as long as 1,000 meters, the tallest of the walls is 10m and the longest 40m and with professional German Erco display lighting; the fourth floor is a full set of a top-class Swedish Profoto high-end photo studio and a gallery.
As a professional and high-end world-class museum of photography, Xie Zilong Photography Museum integrates collection, exhibition, academic research and exchange and is dedicated to building a platform for the art of photography in China and to promoting the development of Chinese photography art.
Wu Chi-Tsung’s video installation works Still Life 011 – Tsubaki and Still Life 012 – Buttercup Tree were recently collected by Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, the first collection in Turkey which is a member of IACCCA (International Association of Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art). The collection, which was established in the 90s, was initially focused on Modern and Contemporary Turkish Art. Yet with the inclusion of international contemporary artists such as Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt and Jim Dine in the 2000s, it underwent a change and eventually shifted its focus towards New Media Arts with the inauguration of Borusan Contemporary as a public museum. Photo courtesy of Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul
吳季璁錄影裝置作品《小品之十一茶花》《小品之十二彎子木》日前被Borusan Contemporary Art Collection收藏。Borusan Contemporary Art Collection是土耳其首家加入IACCCA協會（國際當代藝術收藏集團協會）的當代藝術收藏機構，於20世紀90年代成立，初以收藏土耳其現當代藝術為中心，進入21世紀後，機構正式以公共博物館形式開放，收藏也轉向為關注國際藝術家、尤其是活躍於新媒體藝術領域的藝術家。
