ARTISTS
Yuyu YANG, JU Ming, YEH Tzu-chi, DONG Shaw-hwei, LI Chen, Etan Pavavalung, David Brian Smith
VIP PREVIEW
08 May 2025 (Thu) 14:00 - 17:00
VERNISSAGE
08 May 2025 (Thu) 17:00 - 20:00
PUBLIC ACCESS
09 May 2025 (Fri) 11:00 - 18:00
10 May 2025 (Sat) 11:00 - 18:00
11 May 2025 (Sun) 11:00 - 17:30
* IDEAS FORUM | Global Indigeneity | 10 May (Sat), 13:30 - 15:00
Speaker: X Zhu-Nowell (Executive Director and Chief Curator, Rockbund Art Museum), Abhijan X (Artist, Curator and co-founder of the Forest Curriculum), Etan Pavavalung (Artist), Cheang Shu Lea (Artist), Dondon Hounwn (Artist)
Asia Art Center will participate in the 2025 Taipei Dangdai Art & Ideas, presenting a curated selection of works by seven leading artists from Taiwan and abroad at Booth A06 in the Contemporary section. The lineup includes Yuyu YANG (Taiwan, 1926-1997), JU Ming (Taiwan, 1938-2023), YEH Tzu-chi (Taiwan, 1957-), DONG Shaw-hwei (Taiwan, 1962-), LI Chen (Taiwan, 1963-), Etan Pavavalung (Taiwan, 1963-), and David Brian Smith (UK, 1981-). Rooted in the context of new Eastern aesthetics, the presentation will concurrently feature contemporary artworks from Europe, America, and Taiwan.
Among the highlights, Yuyu Yang's stainless steel sculptures demonstrate his transformative approach, turning heavy materials into light, soaring forms through techniques reminiscent of papercutting. His renowned series Advent of the Phoenix evolved from this concept, blending traditional culture with personal memory, and stands as one of Yang's most iconic creations. Ju Ming's Taichi Series–Taichi Arch, developed since 2000, draws from the essence and physicality of Taichi Series, refining it into a profound artistic language. His Taichi Series originally began in the mid-1970s, translating the spirit of Taichi into a unique visual vocabulary and life philosophy. Yeh Tzu-chi's new painting Before Grain Full · Hualien (2024-2025) captures the lush mountain landscapes of Hualien using meticulous egg tempera blended with oil techniques, reflecting the subtle emotional currents stirred by the April 3, 2024 Hualien earthquake. Dong Shaw-hwei presents a selection of oil paintings and watercolors created over nearly a decade, spanning her signature series such as Black Table, White Table, Sketches, Abstractions and Watercolors. Her works not only merge classical and modern elements but also establish a fresh style within the new genre of still life. Li Chen presents several sculptures from his series of Mundane World, a development from his earlier Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether series. While this latest series builds upon the aesthetics of 'Monumental Levity' and incorporates the ink-black element seen in his previous works, its figures exude a carefree and ethereal flair that subtly alludes to the worldly burdens they carry. It is only after experiencing the highs and lows of life's various phases that the artist has come to realize that the deepest complexities of one's inner world often remain concealed beneath the surface.
Etan Pavavalung, a Taiwanese Paiwan artist, exhibits works from his distinctive Trace Layer Carve Paint style. Developed in response to the 2009 Typhoon Morakot disaster, this style weaves together the ideas and processes of tracing, layering, carving, and painting, serving as a form of 'Contemporary Inscription' to help rebuild the collective spirit of his people. In addition to the presentation at the booth, Etan will also participate in the panel "Ideas Forum: Global Indigeneity" on 10 May. This session focuses on how Indigenous artists and curators use artistic practice to reconstruct cosmologies, challenge dominant epistemologies, and respond to their cultural realities. Through case studies from museum curation, forest-based knowledge networks, and community-driven cultural transmission, the conversation opens up a dialogical space across geographies and cognitive systems, showcasing the co-existence and interweaving of multiple worldviews.
British artist David Brian Smith's large-scale canvases carry out the spirits of traditional English landscape paintings with a twist of highly imaginative and narrative compositions as well as a radiant technicolor pallet. Having come from a farming family in Shropshire, Smith is known for his depiction of pastoral scenes, intricate and delicate brushworks, and the use of heavily woven herringbone linen, which refers to his family's heritage.
Asia Art Center continues to promote our long-term vision for the global art scene, bringing emerging and established artists who are receiving attention in the international contemporary art world. Through diverse backgrounds and life experiences, these artists articulate personal visual vocabularies and narrative styles to explore philosophy, everyday life, and the intricate relationship between humanity and nature.
