Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

The "wanderer" master craftsman Li, Jun-Yang adopts cinema billboard paintings and glove puppet carving in this exhibition. His residency at the Stock 20 in Taichung was as if street performers knocked at the doors of the artists. It is merely a pushing wave in the evolution of his philosophy of life. It looks unintentional, yet it is the accumulation of his crossings in life that continue to foster his creation. The artist's hidden wave roams on and connects the dots. He reverses the mainstream values and promotes the Taiwanese laborer's aesthetics of playing at ease and having fun without a purpose. The artist's solo exhibition in the Bywood Incident and his initiation and full participation in the Formosa Wall Paint Group open ways to his creative practice and knowledge system constructed outside of the schools. The living idea of "immortals" in the local Taiwan culture is actually practiced in modern living actions. The murals paradoxically complete the island culture and alternative aesthetics.  Committee member:Lin, Ping

Artwork Introduction

Indiscriminately taken from everyday surroundings, Li, Jun-Yang’s depictions of fairies and flying saucers are but a vehicle for a philosophical dialectic of candid everyday language and life experience. The exhibition Fairest Fairies Fair, Phû-lōng-kòng Blossom showcases not only toy sculptures made from materials accumulated over several decades of creative work, but also new found materials for two-dimensional works. In one instance, rather than using high-grade imported canvas designed for artworks, the craftsman Li gathers discarded jute bags used for holding flour as a base material. The fabric is directly mounted on wooden boards as drawing boards, exhibiting their unique grain pattern. Thus, to an ingenious craftsman, there is no such thing as something that is useless.

The word blossom in the exhibition’s title comes from Phû-lōng-kòng in Taiwanese, used to describe a person who is superfluous, with no proper occupation. It also describes something that is broken, insecurely fixed, in shortage, or something whose existence is unjustified and should be disposed of. The word xian (仙) is often used as a unit for counting in Taiwanese, or to mean one person; the noun part of the word fairy; part of the adjective heavenly; and calligraphers or practicing hermits would call themselves shan ren (literally, “mountain men”) using the closely related prefix shan.

About the Artist

Li, Jun-Yang's artistic practice embodies the riches of Taiwanese folk life and its ethological resources. He is a past recipient of the Visual Art Award from the Asian Cultural Council, and his work has been exhibited throughout Taiwan. His recent solo exhibitions include Puppets that Dress in Stories at Non Gallery in Taipei and Crafted and Happy Fun at VT Art Salon in Taipei. He currently serves as the Creative Director of Golden Bough Theatre.