10/08 Sat
15:00 Opening
Chen, Kuang-Yi (Dean of Fine Art College, National Taiwan University of Arts) Ｍade an opening statement

10/29 Sat
15:00-16:30 Lecture
‧ Presenter │ Song Sheau-Ming

Co-sponsors
Jo Hsieh Arts Foundation
“None-Space” - In Memory of Jo Hsieh (1967-2017)

Celebrated Taiwanese abstract artist Jo Hsieh was born in Taiwan in 1967. In 1991, she went to London for education. She received her master’s degree from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 1998, and her doctorate from the Falmouth School of Art in 2002. In the same year, she was awarded the First Prize of the Art Review Arts Award. Hsieh was the “Royal College of Art LADY,” an honor conferred by the British Royal Family. Most sadly, however, Hsieh passed away at the age of fifty on September 20, 2017. 

Hsieh lived in the UK for over two decades. Her work is integrated with a dialectic and her understanding of art history, philosophy, psychology, and Chinese Confucian thinking, which she has transformed using diverse media, such as pigment, pastel, pencil, screen printing, etc., to boldly explore enigmas revolving around consciousness and existence, demonstrating her idiosyncratic visual vocabularies and philosophical tendency. Throughout Hsieh’s creative career, her most important theory has been the “None-Space,” which marks her explorative transition from the visual space to a psychic one. The development in artistic creation and spiritual practice enabled her to break the spiritual bind and launch an inner journey of self-liberation. Blue has served as the fundamental color in her thought process, in which she experimented expression of light, shadow, and visual space. Later in her career, she shifted to a rare blue mineral pigment, which she would directly smear onto the canvas to create her signature blue space that is mystically profound and serenely devout. This exhibition features three art series by the artist, namely, the “Music,” “Space,” and “Pigment” series, to unveil the spiritual dimension of the “None-Space.” Inviting the audience to be immersed in the pure psychic intensity engendered by structure, color and material, the exhibition unfolds a fundamental process of thinking about existence that transcends space and time in visual tranquility. 

Hsieh dedicated her life to the betterment of her artistic and innovative work. Her efforts and determination enabled her to create more than one thousand works that greeted the world with a diverse style and philosophical meanings. These works have not only embodied a spirit in challenging herself and her passion and perseverance to surpass her own work, but also highlighted the unique value of her abstract creations. In October 2022, Chini Gallery celebrates the 10th anniversary, and specially organizes The Blue Overture — In Memory of Jo Hsieh to express our remembrance of and love for this remarkable artist, while engaging more art enthusiasts to be once again immersed in the pureness and beauty of her art.