Curator

楊心一

Memorial

2017.12.02

Venue

Chini Gallery

Thank you for using your own life to show me the pure and eternal nature of art.

—Vincent LIN, General Manager of Chini Gallery

Jo Hsieh was born in Taiwan in 1967. She went to study in London in 1991, first obtained her master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, then her doctorate from Falmouth College of Art, and eventually settled down in the UK.  Returned to Taiwan and continued to make art in 2015 and passed away in September, 2017

Jo’s oeuvre can be divided two periodic groups, which are her early Free Abstraction and the monochromatic Blue Period. The works of the free abstract stage had a surrealist abstract quality; she was also influenced by Western abstract masters, in particular the “musicality” stressed by the Kandinsky school. In 1997, Jo began to move onto mono-chromatic painting. She gradually transitioned to even purer geometric abstract to express boundless time and space that she called None-Space. Later in this stage, she gave up ordinary paints and adopted a rare blue mineral pigments that she applied directly onto the canvas with her hands. At the center of the paintings, there is a circular symbol like seen in calligraphy, forming a light blue halo like a mysterious eye. This is an extension of the calligraphic character of the Free Abstraction period work early in the artist’s career, however, she used a more intimate creative method that emphasized physicality to create a tranquil and reverent space, like gazing deep down the soul. For Jo Hsieh, art functioned as an interface for her to experience the world. One can only enter her art world through her artistic language, which allows people to comprehend her thinking about time and space as well as perceiving her struggles about faith and emptiness.

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.For Hsieh, an artist who has given her life to a pure and remarkable artistic practice, Chini Gallery specially curates this exhibition and offers more art enthusiasts a chance to further understand this outstanding female abstract artist from Taiwan. Her work has materialized the essence of her life, and her spirit will live on forever.