Orz Boy － Solo Exhibition of CHOU Chu-Wang
Dates: July 16–September 7, 2012
Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Taishin Tower, 1st Floor, No. 118, Sec.4, Renai Road, Da'an District, Taipei
“Childhood does not last forever. Once we start to forget, it will soon disappear.”
Everyone has a different childhood but we all wish to return to it once we grow up. Childishness and naivety are gradually lost during the course of becoming adults. All the youthful good old days are gone when you head towards the direction that says adulthood. However, growing up doesn’t mean farewell to childhood. In a sense, deep inside everyone’s heart dwells a naughty child.
Chou started his Naughty series in 2007 which reflects children’s derailing behavior due to social changes, such as structural changes of a society from the rural economy to the modern city life, fast information dissemination and children’s imitation ability. He studied his nephew and niece for the project and added role-play to increase a fantasy flavor. In the creative process, the artist constantly portrayed the inner child in his mind, showing that in fact he is a naughty boy.
In this exhibition Orz Boy, six naughty souls are conjoined in one space, expressing that past childhood does not disappear due to the change of time and space. There is no past or future. Childhood exists in the present with different faces. Spiritualism has always been a field of study for scientists. Our consciousness is a medium of our soul and spirit through our brain. It is a common product of memories. If there is eternal soul among human beings, it lies in a heart that is forever young.
Creative works require no serious lecturing but express pointed observations on children through the use of certain artistic form. Thus, Chou’s painting borrows the technique of line-carving from printed work so that his painting often demonstrates a semi-three-dimensional effect. However, Chou’s seemingly replicable paintings are in fact non-replicable. In this way, Chou suggests through his painting the fact that each child is unique, and is therefore impossible to duplicate. The background music of the two animation works comes from child humming without instructions. The idea also delivers the project’s message: let children go with their creativity.
About the Artist
CHOU Chu-Wang, born in Pintung, Taiwan in 1978, graduated with an MA at the Department of Fine Arts of the National Kaohsiung Normal University. He is well-known for his delicate, realistic painting style and soul-describing presentation. His Naughty series was awarded the Taipei Arts 2007. He was invited to the Watermill Center in New York as a summer resident artist in 2009. In 2011, his solo exhibition, I am a Naughty Boy, was exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
