In today's era of rapidly flowing information, where the boundary between reality and the virtual grows increasingly blurred, painting as a creative language has become a space for artists to explore the self, perceive the world, and reshape memory. This exhibition brings together eight artists who take painting as their core practice, opening a field of multiple imaginations where body, landscape, and memory intertwine, reflecting the complex terrains of contemporary perception.
The paintings of Li Bing-Ao resemble an ever-changing visual poem, where fragments drawn from daily life, the internet, and memory are layered upon each other, as if conducting an archaeological excavation of images. He regards painting as a repository of emotions and thoughts. Influenced by David Salle, he weaves diverse elements into a visual language of the times, hoping to walk alongside painting and open dialogues and creations yet unknown.
For Hsu Li-Hsuan, painting is a way to communicate with the world. Through the construction of dislocated perspectives, he provokes ruptures and reconstructions in the viewer's perception. The series Loving Hands merges familiar objects with boundless imagination, questioning the boundary between reality and illusion. Inspired by Neo Rauch, he reshapes the contours of memory and the angles of seeing through space and color. Even when the brush pauses, he firmly believes painting will quietly bloom again in life.
Similarly, Yan Jheng-Hao's painting is composed of theatricality, collage, and layering, sketching the particularity of the body and the escape of spirit. He views life as an extension of creation, unafraid of death, and wishes, like Henri Matisse, to paint into old age. Deeply influenced by Michael Armitage's questioning of society through art, Yan seeks to construct an open space of interpretation within today's shifting environment.
Kuo Jun-You regards painting as a lifelong companion, with creation arising from intuitive feelings. Drawing inspiration from books and news media, he reassembles them into playful, non-logical images. He admires the works of Japanese artist Masato Kobayashi. As Kuo notes, "Painting gives me a sense of security; it helps me become aware of my own breathing." He hopes creation will accompany him to the very end of life.
For Chen Hsuan-Hsuan, painting is an outlet for inexpressible emotions and scenes. Her works emerge from the faint light of everyday life and the perceptions of the spirit. Influenced by Giorgio de Chirico, Francis Bacon, and Edgar Ende, she attempts to depict the delicate balance between people and their surroundings in this era, at times standing still like objects, at times flowing like visual poetry.
Meanwhile, Hsieh Heng brings the thinking of sculpture into painting, treating it as a flat experimental ground for simulation and speculation. Through the changes of light and layering, he explores "the distance between objects and viewing." The perspective of artist Chou Yu-Cheng has influenced his approach to painting: manipulating form across media, and exploring modes of seeing through materials. For him, painting is not only a medium but also a deep reflection on perception, time, and the relationship with matter.
Continuing the exploration of painting, Tsao Chang-Hung's works carry a delicate perspective on daily life, with low-contrast colors and a rhythm as calm as ink wash. For him, painting is a process of continuous self-questioning and expression. Drawing inspiration from the present as well as from artists such as Edi Hila and Mamma Andersson, he hopes painting can become a natural extension of life, unfolding endlessly with the shifts of perception.
Finally, Wen Chia-Ning responds to the possibilities of painting in another way. Through bodily distortions and the collision of vivid colors, she deconstructs society's regulations on gender and vision, making painting into a wordless seduction that sparks thought rather than offering ready answers. Fusing the sensibility of queerness and Camp, she presents absurd and awkward spiritual states. Influenced by Otto Dix, Henry Darger, and Kara Walker, her works become a language of both self-expression and social observation.
Scenes of Body, Landscape, and Memory not only presents the unique sensibilities and vocabularies of each artist but also interweaves a visual thread from individual perspectives to collective memory and social observation. Painting is both vessel and guide, leading viewers through the surfaces, emotions, and thoughts of the present.