Her works are centered around form as the core of expression, drawing inspiration from the postures of life such as plants and seashells found in nature. Through capturing visual experiences that have been deeply gazed upon, she creates lifelike images that evoke inner vibrations.
If we examine everyday life closely, we will find that everyday trivialities, however insignificant, are integral to our seemingly expansive surrounding environment. Whether it is the seashells brought onto the beach by tides, roadside plantains scorched under the sun, or grids produced by crisscrossing threads of textile, these things constitute the ordinary days that we often take for granted. Micro Perception calls attention to these details, often overlooked under the framework of the metanarrative, to re-examine intangible clues and awaken our inner feelings. The exhibition features three young artists born after 1980: TSAI Meng-Chang, Aya KAWATO, and LEONG Hoi-Sa. Their works highlights the delicate and continuous narratives, from gazing into individual cosmoses and perceiving memories of the environment, to experiencing delicate sentiments from visual nerves and life energy. By connecting these snippets and moments of life into a tapestry of feelings and emotions, with the hope to remind this fast-paced society of a crucial truth: the essence of this world is often found in these small yet profound details.
The metanarrative continues to influence modes of understanding and behaviors in the world today. French philosophers Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984) both critiqued the inadequacies and limitations of the metanarrative. Lyotard argued that the metanarrative attempts to explain all knowledge and experiences in a unified way but it fails to encompass the diversity and complexity of reality. He thereby argues for the significance of “petits récits,” or small narratives, which can better reflect and liberate individual experiences from the constraints of the metanarrative. Foucault, on the other hand, pointed out that the metanarrative often ignores natural chaos and disorder, forming a power that suppresses individual events and phenomena, thereby overlooking the diversity of reality. Through the works of the three artists, this exhibition explores the micro perception and challenges the metanarrative. It attempts to unveil the neglected and subtle details in life, and encourages deeper appreciation for the small yet profound elements that constitute our everyday experiences.
The Invisible Signifiers: The Subtle and the Pure
“The house, the stars, the desert – what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible.” This passage from The Little Prince reveals the signifiers and the signified between the micro and the macro, the fictional and the real.
In the Between series, TSAI Meng-Chang continues to document the verdant whispers of the land. Since he began the series of The City Without Railway in 2021, he has focused on common plants found in Taiwan’s streets and alleyways, such as plantain, elephant’s ear, dragon fruit, and Marabutan trees. These plants, instead of disappearing in the changing urban landscape, tend to grow wherever there is soil. Through his work, TSAI visualizes memories and everyday snippets, delineating connections between individuals and society. In his painting, seemingly insignificant details becomes traces of memory, whispering about the passage of time and the remanent of the past. The presence of these plants not only speaks to the resilient life of nature but also reflects people’s attachment to and longing for nature and memory in a rapidly developing city. Tsai’s work creates an eternal dialogue between city and nature, reality and memory, as well as individual and society. It brings the spectator’s attention back to the small yet captivating things amidst urban life’s hustle and bustle.
Kyoto-based artist Aya KAWATO is professionally trained in textiles and holds a PhD in Media Art from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Kawato combines the traditional Japanese textile called the “Oshima Tsumugi,” Op Art, and neuroscience to create her work. She consistently explores an experimental aesthetic responding to the theme of “the controlled and the uncontrollable.” Kawato starts by using a computer to simulate perfect compositions. However, as she creates silk screens and applies ink, imperfections gradually emerge from the structural patterns. Finally, she applies the acrylic paint by hand, leaving faint brushing marks that reflect human intervention. Kawato states, “I believe we might not truly see the things in front of us. Or the same objects might be seen and experienced differently by different people.” Using a distinctive gradient effect and optical illusion, her works change as the distance between them and the spectator varies. Through her work, Kawato explores the ideas of control, visual experience, and the beauty of imperfection while continuously guiding the audience’s thinking to explore and question vision through her experiments with different media and scenes.
LEONG Hoi-Sa was born in Macao and currently lives in Taiwan. Focusing on stone sculpture, her work contemplates plastic forms inspired by living plants and seashells in nature, through which she attempts to capture image that evoke palpitating feelings in visual experiences. By giving meanings to organic forms of plants or seashells, she transforms them into stone sculptures, embedding ideas of permanence and impermanence, as well as germination and disappearance. Her sculptures embody an everlasting quality that transcends time. For Leong, the process of carving stone indicates gradual yet vivid physical perceptions that bring an encounter with a tranquil inner world through attention to detail. In sculpture making, she continuously explores the combination and contrast of different materials, using metaphorical forms to visualize the currents of feelings. She hopes the audience can freely adjust their distance from her works and their viewing angles based on their own pace, engaging in individual dialogues through touch and sight. Her work derives not only from observing and interpreting living forms but also from her profound portrayals of the inner experiences that emerge from human consciousness.
Indeed, beauty emerges from what lies beyond these signifiers and what they represent. As stated in the The Little Prince, their beauty lies in the invisible—the profound feelings, memories, and meanings that imbue the visible things in this world with intangible value and the beauty of everyday life.
The Delicate Stirring of Everyday Emotions
Narrating the Endless Feelings in Everyday Life
Perception begins with sensing and then knowing.
If we examine everyday life closely, we will find that everyday trivialities, however insignificant, are integral to our seemingly expansive surrounding environment. Whether it is the seashells brought onto the beach by tides, roadside plantains scorched under the sun, or grids produced by crisscrossing threads of textile, these things constitute the ordinary days that we often take for granted. Micro Perception calls attention to these details, often overlooked under the framework of the metanarrative, to re-examine intangible clues and awaken our inner feelings. The exhibition features three young artists born after 1980: TSAI Meng-Chang, Aya KAWATO, and LEONG Hoi-Sa. Their works highlights the delicate and continuous narratives, from gazing into individual cosmoses and perceiving memories of the environment, to experiencing delicate sentiments from visual nerves and life energy. By connecting these snippets and moments of life into a tapestry of feelings and emotions, with the hope to remind this fast-paced society of a crucial truth: the essence of this world is often found in these small yet profound details.
The metanarrative continues to influence modes of understanding and behaviors in the world today. French philosophers Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984) both critiqued the inadequacies and limitations of the metanarrative. Lyotard argued that the metanarrative attempts to explain all knowledge and experiences in a unified way but it fails to encompass the diversity and complexity of reality. He thereby argues for the significance of “petits récits,” or small narratives, which can better reflect and liberate individual experiences from the constraints of the metanarrative. Foucault, on the other hand, pointed out that the metanarrative often ignores natural chaos and disorder, forming a power that suppresses individual events and phenomena, thereby overlooking the diversity of reality. Through the works of the three artists, this exhibition explores the micro perception and challenges the metanarrative. It attempts to unveil the neglected and subtle details in life, and encourages deeper appreciation for the small yet profound elements that constitute our everyday experiences.
The Invisible Signifiers: The Subtle and the Pure
“The house, the stars, the desert – what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible.” This passage from The Little Prince reveals the signifiers and the signified between the micro and the macro, the fictional and the real.
In the Between series, TSAI Meng-Chang continues to document the verdant whispers of the land. Since he began the series of The City Without Railway in 2021, he has focused on common plants found in Taiwan’s streets and alleyways, such as plantain, elephant’s ear, dragon fruit, and Marabutan trees. These plants, instead of disappearing in the changing urban landscape, tend to grow wherever there is soil. Through his work, TSAI visualizes memories and everyday snippets, delineating connections between individuals and society. In his painting, seemingly insignificant details becomes traces of memory, whispering about the passage of time and the remanent of the past. The presence of these plants not only speaks to the resilient life of nature but also reflects people’s attachment to and longing for nature and memory in a rapidly developing city. Tsai’s work creates an eternal dialogue between city and nature, reality and memory, as well as individual and society. It brings the spectator’s attention back to the small yet captivating things amidst urban life’s hustle and bustle.
Kyoto-based artist Aya KAWATO is professionally trained in textiles and holds a PhD in Media Art from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Kawato combines the traditional Japanese textile called the “Oshima Tsumugi,” Op Art, and neuroscience to create her work. She consistently explores an experimental aesthetic responding to the theme of “the controlled and the uncontrollable.” Kawato starts by using a computer to simulate perfect compositions. However, as she creates silk screens and applies ink, imperfections gradually emerge from the structural patterns. Finally, she applies the acrylic paint by hand, leaving faint brushing marks that reflect human intervention. Kawato states, “I believe we might not truly see the things in front of us. Or the same objects might be seen and experienced differently by different people.” Using a distinctive gradient effect and optical illusion, her works change as the distance between them and the spectator varies. Through her work, Kawato explores the ideas of control, visual experience, and the beauty of imperfection while continuously guiding the audience’s thinking to explore and question vision through her experiments with different media and scenes.
LEONG Hoi-Sa was born in Macao and currently lives in Taiwan. Focusing on stone sculpture, her work contemplates plastic forms inspired by living plants and seashells in nature, through which she attempts to capture image that evoke palpitating feelings in visual experiences. By giving meanings to organic forms of plants or seashells, she transforms them into stone sculptures, embedding ideas of permanence and impermanence, as well as germination and disappearance. Her sculptures embody an everlasting quality that transcends time. For Leong, the process of carving stone indicates gradual yet vivid physical perceptions that bring an encounter with a tranquil inner world through attention to detail. In sculpture making, she continuously explores the combination and contrast of different materials, using metaphorical forms to visualize the currents of feelings. She hopes the audience can freely adjust their distance from her works and their viewing angles based on their own pace, engaging in individual dialogues through touch and sight. Her work derives not only from observing and interpreting living forms but also from her profound portrayals of the inner experiences that emerge from human consciousness.
Indeed, beauty emerges from what lies beyond these signifiers and what they represent. As stated in the The Little Prince, their beauty lies in the invisible—the profound feelings, memories, and meanings that imbue the visible things in this world with intangible value and the beauty of everyday life.