EXHIBITION

Modern Hermit

Księgarnia / Wystawa, Malopolskie, Krakow, 06/21/2015 - 07/18/2015

Józefińska 9, Krakow

ABOUT

The Razem Pamoja foundation is pleased to announce the first international exhibition of Taiwanese artist Cheng Hsiung Hung, entitled Modern Hermit at the foundation’s exhibition space, Księgarnia | Wystaw, Józefińska 9, Kraków.

 

The exhibition includes 18 paintings spanning 20 years of diverse cultural narratives captured by the artist during solitary research of his artistic practice. Hung paints with the same classic, focused approach as the one he lives.  A modern hermit, Hung has lived his entire life without companionship; building relationships only with the subject matter of his candid, intimate modernist paintings. Fragile postures, simplistic gestures and pure colour appropriate each canvas, echoing the self-reflective, genuine curiosity of a privy 74-year-old man’s modest search for perfection.

 

Cheng Hsiung Hung has led a discreet life, which resonates through his paintings and their subtle imagery. His subjects adorn an aura of purity while simultaneously revealing traces of struggle and loss. Amongst their substance, his paintings equally radiate an essence of emptiness. They speak of genuine simplicity while bellowing complex storylines. The loose, honest brushstrokes give movement to concrete moments in time. His portraits have the unique ability to bring a constructive discourse to their contradictory elements.

 

In his self-portrait, Hung stands in front of truth, stating that he sees through fact and circumstance. He is a supporter of protests such as the Sunflower Student movement, the first time in history that citizens occupied the Taiwanese legislature. As a fitting response, the exhibition stems from young emerging artists who support elder generations and work to bring them the recognition they deserve. The paintings of Hung have, like him, remained humbly in the background, but now they take centre stage. The exhibition is a celebration of the achievements of the modern hermit painter- Cheng Hsiung Hung.

 

Cheng Hsiung Hung (born 1941, Taipei) is a Taiwanese painter and educator who studied at the prestigious Jianguo Municipal High School in Taipei before completing his Fine Arts degree at the National Taiwan Normal University. His artistic practice was for many years complimented by a career as an Arts Educator at Long-gang Junior High School in Taoyuan City, Taiwan.  Although Hung retired from teaching in 1999, he has maintained his passion and skill for painting and drawing, continuing his exploration and development of delicate, powerful portraits of daily life in developing Asian cities. Hung has received several awards including the prestigious Tan-Yang Art Society award (1974, 1975) and the Taiwanese National Art Exhibition’s Judges Award (1980). His work is included in collections such as the former Taiwanese National Art Museum.

 

The solo exhibition is accompanied by two celebrated performances by young artists Melissa Palacio Lopez and Victor Ramon Stoljarow. Lopez will create pieces with body movement and choreography based on the works of Hung. Stoljarow will become the moving body of a letter written by Jim Aaron Kane. He will perform a monologue of Kane’s first encounter with Hung in Taipei. The adaption of Hung’s work to experimental theatre interconnects the three artists, acquainting his timeless paintings with a contemporary European audience.

 

Melissa Palacio Lopez (born 1978, Colombia) is a Physics Engineer currently completing her MFA in Media Art and Design. She investigates interdisciplinary subjects to communicate science through art and vice versa, creating pieces where body movement, scientific concepts and visual effects merge.

 

Performance: The beauty of simplicity

Choreography and conception: Melissa Palacio López

Costume design and co-creation: Claire Dorweiler

Sound design: noise canteen // pleines & liebold

 

Victor Ramón Stoljarow  (born 1989, Germany) is a Multimedia Narrator studying in China and Germany. Combining Chinese philosophy with cyberpunk and accelerationism, he incorporates body movements into his video based works. / Jim Aaron Kane (born 1988, USA) attended Xing-hua University in Beijing, majoring in Communications. He drop out before graduating, and has since disappeared. There are no public records of his current state.

 

Performance: Meeting Cheng Hsiung Hung

Choreography and conception: Victor Ramón Stoljarow

Text and co-creation: Jim Aaron Kane

 

Ada Kai-Ting Yang (born 1982, Taiwan) studied at the London College of Fashion from 2004 to 2006 and in 2008 graduated from the Chelsea College of Arts. She undertook a residency at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in 2009, and in 2013 graduated with a certificate of the Gallerist Programme from the de Appel Arts Centre Amsterdam. She is currently completing her Master’s degree at Bauhaus University Weimar.

 

Ada Kai-Ting Yang curates the exhibition

With special thanks to:

noise canteen // pleines & liebold, Claire Dorweiler 

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