The work of Lai Chi Man, a leading artist in contemporary Taiwanese stone sculpture, embodies the core concepts of the harmony of Yin and Yang in the East and the construction of reality in the West. He regards the path of his creative thinking as the constant flow of 'water' in a landscape, using softness to overcome strength.
Lai Chi Man featured in the exhibition “The Subtle Resonance of Shanshui: Re-immersing in Painting”
2023.05.02 — 08.27
Address | Exhibition Hall K to M, Tainan Art Museum
Is there any type of painting that can come near to Johan Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites, with only one unaccompanied individual, one musical voice, and one melody increasingly enriched by a range of musical voices and harmonies that demonstrate a superb mastery of counterpoint? Is there a type of painting that can be compared to the musical technique of fugue, in the sense that all the feelings, thoughts, and sentiments concerned in everyday life, though repeated in every creation, carry nuanced maneuvers and correspond to one another, like a theme and its varying responses that produce gradually escalating intensity? Could we maybe imagine works of art to be making low yet resonating sounds, like the mysterious and indescribable pitch blackness of a forest? Or, maybe these sounds are subtle friction sounds coming from an object that is ever so softly rubbed against – understated and refined – like window curtains dancing gently with the summer breeze in an afternoon without any people in sight. Is it possible for a spectator to re-immerse him/herself through such perceptions and associations?
Most contemporary art creations engage in different issues and focus on effective practice, strategic deployment, connection with cultural systems and history, and the mechanism of art production. However, there are still some other forms of artistic creation that concentrate on the inner life experiences of individuals and their interconnections with the created works. Among the latter, some works appear gloomy and reserved, expressing intentions and emotions in a prominent yet reticent manner. Some look unadorned but convey the meaning of “being in the now.” In the tumultuous and complicated contemporary life, this type of art creation could offer a possibility for the audience to calm their minds, recover from tensed emotions, and enable them to once again gaze into art, and pause in front of artworks, allowing the works to take the visual lead and help the audience navigate the vastness of their own life experiences through association to awaken their keen senses and become aware of the inner realm and the external world.
“Landscape” is a thematic context that the Tainan Art Museum has been consistently developing. The Subtle Resonance of Shanshui: Re-immersing in Painting aims to provide the audience with an introspective, inconspicuous, and uncomplicated choice in the midst of the hustles and bustles of modern life and the mesmerizing forms of contemporary art, which unfolds how the artists have continuously explored and contemplated on their inner landscape and the internal Shanshui visualized by them.