Nature Reversal

Paintings of Samuel Bossini / Hsiao Mei / IChin Liao

Date: 2020.01.10 - 03.08
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 - 19:00
Venue: YIART
Add: 5F-4, No.150, Sec. 1, Heping W. Rd. Zhongzheng Dist, Taipei, Taiwan
Tel: 886-2-2332-9008

"Reversal" reveals the individual pathway of three artists in their respective realms in painting. Yet the springhead of their creativity is the true meaning of nature, inaction, and return to simplicity.

The three artists are of different artistic realms and backgrounds. Nonetheless, the content of their creations happens to layer around the essence of nature and the process of seeking to complement their self-spirit and merging with their works. Their expression is unrestrained and natural without any pretense, being wholly oneself. Perhaps it is this absence of affectation in the works that attracted me, and I hope that the audience can also immerse themselves in their “natural" world.

Samuel Bossini - the representative of Argentina contemporary artists and major poets.

In "Natural World" that captures games, he explores the construction of the ordinary soul of the body. In draw in the air a hand, the lines are read under the mantle, where in the ceremonies and their silences, a part of the forest is discovered. There destiny is lightly challenged, perhaps because the spirit is transformed or because it is weary.
-Samuel Bossini in Natural World.

Bossini's paintings are inspired by "Natural World", a collection of poems he wrote. He believes that every reality has its abstraction, and he needs to express it through painting. Poetry and painting go hand-in-hand with each complementing the other. Through the in-depth exploration of painting, the abstract mood of the poetry is expressed. Aldo Pellegrini, a noted Argentina poet and art critic once said, "Poetry expresses in words that speech can not say." So I think that through his paintings, Bossini also hopes to express the "language" that is lacking in his poetry collection.

"I drew when I was a kid," Bossini said. His paintings are intuitive. His spontaneity springs from his accumulation of rich personal life experiences, and his rough strokes convey strong emotions. Under Bossini paintbrushes, each plant becomes full of vigor and life-like, as if declaring their experiences and mood of the moment. The interweave of intense colors fails to hide the poetic infusion of the poet in the paintings, and his works speak.

Mixing is more important than words. Love is more important than words. Close your eyes until the fruit is squeezed and rendered apart. Therefore, drench its juice on dry land.
--Poem by Samuel Bossini in Natural World.

Using the pseudonym Pablo Narral, he has published several books such as "The Sound and Fury", "For a Night Party", "Dark Earth" and "Natural World". Quite active in the Argentine culture, he is a member of the editorial board for the Spanish version of the famous novel Último Reino. He also conducts interviews on visual arts and photographs for the Caballo de Lata Magazine. His poems have been published in newspapers and magazines in South America and the United States. Currently he is in charge of the poetry festival in the International Book Fair, and his works are collected by many European and American collectors.

Magical Nature - Hsiao Mei

I became acquainted with the works by Hsiao Mei in her solo exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2009. Large blocks of brilliant colors conceal the details of fine objects. The animals in the canvas are particularly free and wild, and coexist with humans in the natural ecology. The scenes are very realistic, yet her handiwork is very magical. They instantly reminded me of the magical realism of Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez, a writer representative of Latin America. Although recording the story of the Buendia family in South America, his narrative is filled with myths and absurdities. Likewise, the magnificence and boisterousness of Hsiao Mei's paintings make her an extraordinary magical realism artist in Taiwan.

Born in Chiayi, she began living in Brazil, then Switzerland, Spain and France for almost a total of 10 years since 1987. She regards travel as a creative nutrient, and her works bear strong local customs and myths. In the unique colors of her paintings are temples, mythical beasts and magnified tiny plants. Having lived in the mountains for a long time, the richness of the natural environment is the nutrients with which Hsiao Mei uses to create a variety of objects and happenings in her magical gardens.

It was only when I visited her home in Puli that I realized why the animals in Hsiao Mei's paintings are scattered in every corner. In her courtyard enclosed by plants were all kinds of adopted stray cats, and in a small side yard next to her studio were three native Taiwanese dogs. Halfway through our conversation, another cat came sauntering down from upstairs, and I lost track of the number of animals.

The characteristic of her works is the composition with a bird's-eye view of the world. Each piece of work seems to indicate an event happening. With unconstrained layouts and intense colors, the painting nevertheless appear harmonious. In a large number of Hsiao Mei's works, the co-existence of people and creatures in nature made me think of the recent forest fires in California and Australia. Human's excessive exploitation of natural ecology has not only threatened co-existence in the natural world, but has also resulted in the near extinction of many animals.

The coexistence of humans and animals is an issue for reflection. Her works are full of emphasis on the primitive, with humans riding on animals or walking around unclothed, or animals and humans celebrating together. Sometimes I see her paintings as an adventure story, but also a tale of fantasy.

The mysterious ambience in her works is richly entwined with folk customs and styles. This time, the new portraits by Hsiao Mei are even more sublimated to a realm where humans, animals and nature are integrated. Like a ghost, her works are hauntingly appealing.

"Relationship" is my theme of discussion - IChin Liao

IChin Liao was born in New Taipei City, Taiwan in 1987. In 2013, she received her MFA in painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. While studying in the United States, IChin Liao learned how to improve her creative skills. Injecting philosophical ideas into her creations, she intuitively conveys the present and real feelings of the artist, making her works a daily poetic recitation.

Sitting on her spacious studio desk is a book by Susan Sontag that she is currently reading. In the upstairs of her coastal apartment in Hsinchu, her studio is tidy and peaceful. Stacked in the various corners of the studio like intriguing pages of a private diary are manuscripts by the artist. Each page of manuscript records the moods of the moment, sometimes a soft strain of melody, sometimes transforming into a tug-of-war between lines and spaces, and sometimes a settling after a struggle.

Bathed in the twilight of the Taiwan Strait, IChin Liao's works are directly or indirectly inspired by nature and the progression of time. Having studied in San Francisco, the artist is influenced by the automatism pursued by the action painting style of American abstract expressionism. Her paintings also manifest her meticulous observations. Sometimes in the midst of painting, she would completely flip her canvas around until she is satisfied with the angle. In addition to pursuing "relationship" in the content of her canvas, it is evident that IChin Liao endlessly seeks to break through with new ideas. Through daily life experiences and firmer philosophy, her paintings are marked with intuition and emotion, making her works seem like an poem in abstract.

"'Relationship' is the theme I want to discuss: The relationship between time and space, the relationship between material conversions, and even the relationship between smell and emotion."

Curator: Lingyi Cheng