nca | nichido contemporary art

Venue: nca | nichido contemporary art
Dates: November 22nd (Wed.) – December 27th (Wed.)
Gallery hours: Tue.-Sat. 11:00 – 19:00 (Closed on Sunday, Monday and National holidays)
Opening Reception: November 22nd (Wed.) 18:00 – 20:00

Artists:
Janaina Tschäpe | Jean-Luc Moerman | Soichiro Shimizu | Pin-Ling Huang | Chih-Hung Liu

nca | nichido contemporary art is pleased to present a selection of small-scale paintings in the group exhibition “small scenes.”.
The demand for large-scale works in recent years has greatly increased as a response to the vastness of exhibition spaces and art fair events around the world. Each of the 5 artists on view as well has engaged in large-scale productions in many occasions, whether through big installations or the realization of massive artworks.
At the same time, while continuing their large-scale production, they have been using small canvases as intimate diaries to record their inner and outside world. Sometimes representing the first step toward the creation of large-scale works, such small works are characterized by a vivid nature, and exceeding the limits of small frames, they stir the viewer’s imagination revealing themselves to us in their entirety.
As the world “scenes” in the title suggests, each of these artists is giving their unique interpretation of “scenes” whether in the form of imagined landscapes, hints to historical aspects, everyday life’s bits, or the surrounding environment.

Taking inspiration from her own personal experience and the mythological tradition that lives in every place, Janaina Tschäpe (born in Germany, currently living and working between New York and Rio De Janeiro) explores nature in all its manifestations, human nature, primordial forms of life and life's harmony, and represents it through painting, pictures, video and sculpture. All of her work, even when having an abstract appearance, refers to nature, from botany and sea life to the body, being this a human body or the body of different mythical and invented creatures.

Jean-Luc Moerman (born in Belgium, currently living and working in Belgium)’s works powerfully stretch beyond the surface whether of a canvas, a car, or a physical object of any other shape as to cover it entirely. The lines of his paintings, free and fluid, create a unique pattern of continuous multiplications and reproductions, and respond quickly to the motifs and the surrounding environment, unveiling the real nature of things while hiding them at the same time.

Soichiro Shimizu (born in Tokyo, currently living and working in Bangkok)’s work embodies a sense of endless repetitions and multiplications revealed through the process of scratching off the painted surface, an unceasing process and a constant aspect in his art. Realized through the continuous sovrapposition of oil paint layers, his works appear as geological formations built up over time. The depth visible as a result of the subtle intervals of light that reverberates from the polished surface, the quietness and loudness of the rich colors, the life and death dichotomy, all these motifs are recalled at once, giving a glimpse of the cycle of life.

Pin-Ling Huang (born in Taipei, currently living and working in Taipei) creates landscapes deeply weaved with lyricism and characterized by small elements, which tell us of her memories and experiences. Using her memories and the many sketches she writes down as the core aspect of her work, Huang goes back and forth between past and present, capturing the small elements that are so easily missed out, and these images, layered on the canvas, blossom into unique landscapes through the brush’s traces with gentle colors and texture.

Chih-Hung Liu (born in Taipei, currently living and working in Taipei) creates works based on his own personal recollections and everyday life’s experiences. Liu’s paintings reflect the spinning of visible stories that come from his continuous look at the events around him and his elaboration of those events. This exhibition presents a selection of works from the series “short fiction” which was displayed on occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2014. This body of works represents scenes that are beyond space and time, constantly going back and forth to the past embracing Marcus Valerius Martial’s words “to be able to enjoy one’s past life is to live twice”.