Curator
Zeng Yao-Sheng

Lecture
06.20 SAT 15:00

‧ Presenter │ Zeng Yao-Sheng x Liao Ren-Yi ╳ LIU Yung-Jen

A Practitioner of Time．LIÚ Yung-Jen is renowned Taiwanese abstract artist Liú Yung-Jen’s first solo exhibition at Chini Gallery. Born in Chishang in Taitung County, Taiwan in 1958, Liú graduated from the Accademia di belle Arti di Brera di Milano, Italy. His painting style has evolved from lyrical expression to abstract composition that explores the experiences informed by changes that seem transient at first yet constant in reality. He proposes “the concept of breathing” that suggests breathing and painting can be mutually complementing. By adding beeswax and lead foil (piombo) in oil paint, he is able to create a semi-transparent shine and a sense of warmth to express the unique spirituality found in sealed memories.

The experience of serving as a curator at Taipei Fine Arts Museum contributes to the artist’s habit of observing, studying and introducing other artists’ works and life stories that in turn enrich in his own creative work, making him one of the few artists capable of both curatorial and creative works in the Taiwanese art scene. This exhibition foregrounds Liú’s thinking and perspective as an artist and features his oil paintings and sculptures to examine how he has moved from ink to oil and between 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional creations. Freeing himself from the restraints of art forms, the artist has embraced simple, pure forms and rational segmentation of colors to evoke the sensibility to living memories.

The elements depicted in the oil paintings on view in this exhibition mainly originate from the haystacks and lotus seed pods from the artist’s memories, which are transformed into triangular symbols orbiting through arcs, turning 3-dimensional spaces into 2-dimensional images. The gradual transformation of the natural field is serene and slow as the cosmos. With glistening stars scattered across the canvas, the images are reminiscent of fractions of the infinite space-time, and in between each inhale and exhale, the cycle of life goes on and on. Moreover, Liú extracts two elements from his images – lotus seed pods and chairs – that reveal distinctive curves and spaces/interstices to create the buoyant, agile quality of his new sculpture series of 2020.

This exhibition looks into Liú’s uncomplicated, perceptual role as an artist instead of his rational, curatorial mind. With the structure of lotus roots, the artist frees oneself from enclosure. To realize one’s ideas with vigor and proficiency is indeed the true nature of “a practitioner.”