Artist Dennis Hwang uses avante-garde and surreal techniques to create reproductions of traditional landscape paintings. The painting integrates bright colors and light lines to imitate the landscape and dynamic side of things. Not only do his works portray relaxing natural landscapes, but they also add a touch of excitement, showing his free and easy going personality, full of vitality but isn’t playful. In his works, women, horses, and landscapes often appear in his works. We can find tradition, innovation, the integration of East and West thinking, his personal style, and unrestrained characteristics that bring visual enjoyment and pleasure to the audience.
Mr. Hwang became famous at a young age and has won many awards. He continuously receives exhibition invites. Early on, he used batik to portray abstract surrealism. Later, he was able to get in contact with the US Department of State. Since then, he had settled in the US for more than 40 years and began to paint with acrylic. After returning to Taiwan 9 years ago, he started a new piece, which focused on a local landscape theme, using traditional ink painting brushwork and bright colors to paint the scenery of Taiwan.
Leaving New York and Returning to Taiwan
Mr. Hwang returned to Taiwan in 2011 due to the fact that he drank so much coke that he had more than 10 broken teeth and needed treatment. At first, he didn’t intend to stay in Taiwan for a long time, but he unintentionally stayed at the Brother Hotel on Changchun East Road for 7 years. At that time, he didn’t want to waste time, so he rented a place as a temporary studio. During the treatment period (apart from seeing the dentist), his plan was to travel across the north and south of Taiwan from beginning to end, re-learning what Taiwanese culture was.
He originally had no plans to stay in Taiwan, but was drawn to the scenery of his hometown, so he began to have thoughts of staying. His wife, Lily, laughed at his enthusiasm for returning home. He announced that he would leave and told his wife that he only had three months to pack. He hadn’t handled his housing in the US and had unexpectedly come back to Taiwan. This was Mr. Hwang’s plan.
Although there was no plan, Mr. Hwang admitted: “I wanted to stay at the time because Taiwan is my hometown and it is comfortable and familiar.” An old friend of his, said loyally: “You don’t have a place to live so I’ll give you a place.” When abroad, the only way to say hello to a foreigner is to give them nod, and nothing else. Additionally, he was seeing the whole society change. Danshui’s scenery has also changed and is different from when he was young and went sketching with 席德 。Encountering today’s Danshui, Mr. Hwang could tell the changes of those landmarks and what they were originally used for.
Creative Ideas
Mr. Hwang said that his creative ideas are based on modern realism methods, as he tries to see/understand the style with intention. Following the realistic form, Hwang thinks about whether beauty is uncommon, whether the cultural conditions are sufficient, what the historical status is, whether or not it is necessary to paint, and if painted, whether it needs to be different. Finally, the natural surprise of the subconscious mind is used to add and remove certain aspects, in order to achieve the postmodern and beauty.
Under the tutelage of Zhongsheng Li, he received an education on surrealism, along with the artist Chung Chun-Hsiung. The teachings advocated for the use of spirits to direct creation (like a dream). The image of the dream is removed, combined with art, made into reality and practice to fully open one’s imagination.
Brustwork has always been a tool for language as a means to achieve a goal. From the details, to the shape of large objects, it must be based on the training of basic skills. One must work hard before they can break through and recreate. Overtime, the appearance is naturally full of traditional Chinese colors, and the content is coupled with the childlike life of cartoons, achieving postmodern works that keep up with the times.
Mr. Hwang said that when he looks at things, his imagination runs wild. Although his works are based on realistic landscape scenes, they are full of ghost totems and unusual colors. Surreal totems fill the entire picture. For example, when depicting Mount Guanyin, he didn’t portray reality in a straightforward manner, but used a sense of beauty to stimulate his audience, making his works both childlike and full of joy. The patterns consist of smiles, and Hwang said: “isn’t it exactly like how Tamsui Square is at night, with lots of people singing, dancing, and performing?” It is in fact a group of happy demons and monsters. Mr. Hwang’s reality reflects his observations of society and space. The focus is on the object depicted and his reflections, whether it is a person, Mount Guanyin, or Huangshan mountain.
After a trip abroad, he gained an understanding of Western art and thinking. Contemporary Western art is influenced by Pop Art and includes cartoon elements. This trend has also become popular in Taiwan, and may have been mixed with Japanese pop culture. However, his patterns and creations are not based on this context, but are based on Eastern art imagery. Compared to wholeheartedly learning about the West, Hwang believes that painting emphasizes new visuals and the most important thing is to have one’s own cultural heritage. Looking at ancient landscape paintings, he is able to find that his creations possess Chinese culture.
Horse, woman, and landscape
Horses, women, and landscapes are elements that Mr. Hwang often uses in his works. He laughs as he explains that this is a commercial activity, especially the horses, because audiences and collectors like horses. In this horse-themed exhibition, Hwang received an unexpected response and since then, he has had a special connection with horses. Originally, it was believed that he was a horse, but in fact he was a snake.
But as long as one observes him for awhile, it’s not too far-fetched to say that he’s a horse. He was born in mainland China and went to Taiwan when he was young. He then lived in the United States and then returned to Taiwan. Even in China, he often went out to sea. He felt that he had been running around ever since he was a child, and regarded himself as a horse.
Painting women has always been a creative element for him. The discussion of the body in Western culture does not directly involve pornography, and encourages him to create more works about women. Some of his works showcasing women are also in the collection of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. In recent years, he would go to Hangzhou once a month and make travel arrangements. The mountains he would see (large and small) on his trips naturally became inspirations for his artworks. In terms of visual effects, horses, women, and landscapes are combinations of lines and colors, and they resonate with each other.
Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green. Bright Colors
When talking about why his works are always full of bright colors, Mr. Hwang half-jokingly replies: “it’s because I’m lazy, I just use whatever color I see”. One should be spontaneous with the colors they use. The main colors are red, yellow, blue, and green, and the 2nd color from those are secondary and combined. He believes that color has an acoustic sound effect, and achieves the effect of new materials and new expressions. Because he loves to use colors, his former teachers had restricted him to using only back and white. Having used only black and white, he was naturally able to paint well with other colors, because he knew how to adjust and younger students asked him for advice on how to use color. He believed that the main colors and color schemes of his works were related and also competed with each other.
Color is challenging because it is scientific and modern, integrating history from ancient times to the present. Mr. Hwang first used batik as a creative medium, using beeswax to create cracks. After the wax has cooled, natural cracks will appear on the surface which allows the pigments to seep into the cracks and create lines. Through the overlay layers dyed with different color blocks, he used red, yellow, blue, and green. However, because of the strong smell of batik, he stopped using it and switched to acrylic paint.
Creative Elements from Different Periods
Mr. Hwang, who has been creating all his life, was asked about the different factors that affected his creations during different periods in time. He answered that the line of sight was different, including the environment that changed its perspective. “When I was young, I went to Zhongbu Cross-island highway, and during that time, the road was being built, the workers were digging, and people were connected to the stones. It meant that it wasn’t surrounded by a scenic spot, and was separated by a few feet so that people couldn’t enter. Now they can only look at the scenery from a distance” Hwang said.
In the past, you and the target faced each other directly, just like you were sketching from life. Now, the norm is to use color and lines. Hwang’s brushes are soft and produce light lines, just like a musical score. He believes that art and music are connected, and the resonance of music is like the relationship with the object being depicted.
His arrival in New York in 1971 coincided with his decision to stop using batik and he started exploring with creative phases again. He started by inspecting rags on the streets of Soho, stacking them with images and cloth or used clothes for collage. He thought about the relationship between different cloth, the relationship between the materials, and modernization (these kinds of visual aspects). There is an artwork in the album that depicts minimalist high-rise buildings with white windows. This shows a different side of Mr. Hwang that his audience hasn’t seen before. This journey of searching has taken 10 years, and only then did it reveal itself again in the exhibition. He met Walasse Ting in the US, an artist who also studied there. At first, everyone thought they were Japanese. Dennis, Walasse, and Hilo Chen were known as The Three Musketeers, and their fame has swept the Taiwanese art world. Some people will discuss how his style of work has changed too much, but he personally denies it. Those elements and colors are continuations, and they are all from his own point of view. After experiencing many changes in society and living environment at home and abroad, it is difficult to create in a fixed style, and Mr. Hwang’s creative style does not restrict him within set boundaries.
Advice for Young Taiwanese Artists
Mr. Hwang reminds young artists not to forget their roots. If you’re abroad and from the UK, you will go back to the UK when you become famous. You will not stay in the US. The US is a good place to display your strength, because people from all over the world are there, and there are also potential sellers and galleries. If you do well abroad, your performance after returning home will certainty be good, and there will be support and attention after establishing a reputation. Those who go out to carve out a career for themselves will eventually come back. Therefore, we cannot always absorb Western culture and not absorb Eastern artistic thinking. Taiwan’s local culture is worthy of praise.
He emphasized that we cannot be completely influenced by the West and “we should have our own views on color and we shouldn’t be affected by how the West views colors.” The development of color in the West is based on scientific principles and the relationship between light and color. The East uses sensory perception for color, a big difference from the West’s use of color. The two sides of cultural thinking are different, and one isn’t more superior than the other. Westerners also say: “why do you learn from us? We are circling back to learn from you because batik is full of Eastern style colors.” Many art schools in the US have invited Mr. Hwang to teach them because they don’t know the technique, so they all learn it from him.
Mr. Hwang has been associated with art all his life. He said, where he goes doesn’t make much of a difference to him; as long as he has a place to create art, it is enough. Having established himself in the US, he decided to return to Taiwan, regain a new understanding of the environment and culture, and continue to express his views in creative ways. He does not deliberately reserve traditions, nor is he pursuing ancient attitudes. Rather, after experiencing with many materials and styles, he is using modern trends, diverse environments and areas (throughout the past and present), with art to record the present as well as social dialogue.
Solo Exhibition of Dennis Hwang
Duration: 2021.02.24 - 03.31
Opening: 3.7 at 14:00 pm
Lecture: 3.13 14:00 PM Speakers: Chu-Yuan Lee, Dennis Hwang, and Peter Shyong
Venue: Dimensions Art Center
Photo: Provided by Dennis Hwang/Photographed by YiArt
