ExtraOrdinary Human by Mu-Jen Lu, Tsung-Yu Tsai, Jin Shi

ExtraOrdinary Human by Mu-Jen Lu, Tsung-Yu Tsai, Jin Shi

Curator｜HSU, Yuan Ta × TUNG, Yung-Wei

Date｜2020.04.22 (Wed.) - 2020.05.31 (Sun.) Opening｜2020.04.25 (Sat.) 15:00 Forum｜2020.04.25 (Sat.) 15:30 Guest｜FANG, Wei-Wen

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【Statement】

In 2020, the pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has completely disrupted and rearranged the orders of life and of the world. The exhibition of "ExtraOrdinary Human" held by Absolute Space for the Arts under such circumstances, aims to return to the art creation, rethinking the "fei chang" (abnormal/unusual/extraordinary) within, a term which might seem more ambiguous in the context of Mandarin. In the creation of the three artists participating in the exhibition, we may be able to unfold three interpretation aspects of "ExtraOrdinary Human", creator him/herself, the creatures in or of the artworks and the audience. First, creators see the external from the internal or receive stimulation from the surroundings to inspire the creation. The extraordinariness is not referred to their distinctive talents or creativity as artists, but led by their double identities as both human-beings and creators, embodied in the respective point of view and position. In addition, it implies the fact that each individual has to face the norms from both sides. As a human-being, he or she cannot help but compromise on disciplines to some degree in order to survive and make ends meet, while seeking cracks to diverge from the perfect way of life expected by the society. On the other hand, when art creation has become a way to express oneself, to transform one’s energy or to escape, as TSAI Tsung-Yu plays other social roles yet internalizes painting into a way of breathing, as a creator, he or she dooms to be trapped into a stalemate and battle against the legitimacy of arts. One is forced to encounter the exclusion of the long history and tradition of the medium, and the environment interplayed by contemporary art, the discourses, and the capital. TSAI has been continually searching for the "inappropriate fighting stance" at the edges of both territories, consciously keeping distance from the current norms of painting, art institutions and the broader reality as the first fighting move of assaulting and provoking. He has especially involved himself in water painting to amplify the vocabularies to his so-called linguistic system. While escaping from the mainstream, he has been taking examples or developing moves such as "Dempsey Roll", which he reveled from his last solo exhibition in Absolute Space for the Arts. Inspired by the "unusual" body of the family member, SHIH Jin has departed from the normal viewpoint of drawing and has constantly explored the multi-dimensional profiles of humankind. To quest for the true human’s being, the "ExtraOrdinary Human" has then formed one unrealistic "ExtraOrdinary Human" image from another through all kinds of strage, twisted figures and straightforward, unconfined strokes, including creatures with heads of human and bodies of animals, the headless, disproportionately elongating and bending bodies, simple facial expressions in dotted lines. The "ExtraOrdinary Human" might be associated with surrealism, which regards the elements from the everyday life out of ordinary and re-develops the deep senses and rhythms in life. TSAI focuses on the daily matters of ordinary people, and turns them into extraordinarily major issue in arts. LU Mu-jen Lama Moltis reconnects the first level of artist’s subject and combines his own memories of promenade to launch his so-called "painting action". Fluidity and uncertainty are not only the displayed characteristics in the creation but also the underclass life imprints of "nothing lasts forever" of the villagers he has encountered during the promenade in "San-Sui". We might find big areas of lines or color blocks in the artworks. TSAI uses them to create extremely odd shadows, sometimes with strokes from other blocks in strongly contrast colors beneath. It adds elements of danger and insecurity to the seeming bad taste humor. The cute and fun expressions of smiling or sticking one’s tongue out and so on therefore becomes more mysterious and unknown as if they are flippantly teasing what we think we have seen and known. In several of his paintings, the presence of the shadow even becomes stronger than the subject itself because of the thick and heavy colors, which is like a manifesto that the deep subconscious is coming alive to toughly take over. On the other hand, LU surrounds the only character that is in the focus and placed in the middle of the frame with the lines and color blocks. It is the current status of the common people that matters instead of the promenade location referred by the fluid and unidentified background. LU further looks into how human holds the living gestures of being active or passive, dives into the connecting as well as isolating reality, and attempts to approach certain inherent human nature through the endless interweaving and conflicts of bodily feelings and rational logics. SHIH focuses on such field of power and energy, too, but looks for another dynamic equilibrium from the external. While expanding a new dimension from Leonardo DA VINCI’s ideal human body proportions, the unusual lies between the two perfect spots on the vertical line and the horizontal one become more three-dimensional. It is not merely represented by the body figure itself, but with the depth of time and other external forces being concerned as well. Moreover, such direction leads to the final aspect through the reverse of the power, including the ordinary audience into the category of "ExtraOrdinary Human". SHIH invites them to step on the "health mat" made of more than three hundred head self-portraits sculpted by the artist herself. The facility which could be seen in everyday life overturns the divinity while the ordinary people trample on the scared faces (also symbolizing prestige) and artworks with their filthiest feet, the bottom of one’s body. Meanwhile, it keeps vaguely stabbing at the audience. The social viewpoints and doctrines given by different "faces" from the daily life hereby transform into sensible pain. The three artists begin with the "ExtraOrdinary" being, position or heal themselves through creation, and supplement the usual with the unusual, or enlighten the ordinariness with extraordinariness. Together, they show deep thoughts about the "ExtraOrdinary" meaning of art production for themselves, and even extend it into art institution to create "ExtraOrdinary" relationship with the audience. As fragmented records of what one sees, the artists have no intention to include everything, but leave the space within the frame for only one subject or one surrounding. Even when they portray landscapes with no people, they also leave out the details of each building’s space and construction. TSAI mentions that he has drawn inspiration from other media such as cinema. More than being a style, the spirit of minimalism is embraced after re-realizing the limits of the medium of painting nowadays. They have pursued the suspension of "not to do" from "what it cannot do", refusing the construction of knowledge system in the field of contemporary art. By abandoning the actuality of the whole and refusing to obey the paradigm, the characters or the scenes displayed in the artworks could not only refer to what the names of the works imply but all living creatures. Elsewhere is within here. Due to the collateral and two-way circulation of life and creation, the "ExtraOrdinary Human" hold up and advance the distinction between ordinariness and extraordinariness. Under such dynamics, the "non-ordinary" might thus be able to evolve themselves into the "ExtrOrdinary" or known as "human human" (since the term, "fei chang" could be implied as the adjective, "extraordinary" or the adverb, "extreme"), just as "the branches grew from the chink in the wall”, in TSAI’s description.

【About Mu-jen Lu(Lama Motis)]

Solo Exhibition｜ 2018 GAIA PROJECT-DASHU, Baolai Flower Park and Hot Springs, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2015 Euglena Program of Art - L'eprit de la Terre , Absolute Space for the Arts, Tainan, Taiwan

Group Exhibition ｜ 2019

Madou Sugar Industry Art Triennial-Snail Walk, Tainan, Taiwan

2018

Taiwan East Coast Land Art, Taitung, Taiwan PLACE×OTHER PLACE, Pingtung Art Museum, Pingtung, Taiwan

2016

Greater Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2015

Love you on hand, SinPinPier - Absolutely Art Space, Kaohsiung, Taiwan FORMOSA Sculpture Biennial, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Art Gwangju, KDJ Convention Center Hall 1, 2, Korea Island ‧ Islander──Fish Snipers' Island Series─Qijin Story, The Pier-2 Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan YESTERDAY COMES TODAY, 182artspace, Tainan, Taiwan The Great Scenery, Absolute Space for the Arts, Tainan, Taiwan

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【About Artist TSAI Tsungyu】

Solo Exhibition｜ 2019

Dempsey Roll Tsai Tsung-Yu solo exhibition, Absolute Space for the Arts, Tainan, Taiwan

2016

NEXT ART TAINAN, Tainan Art Fair, Tainan, Taiwan POLY MACAU HOTEL ART FAIR, Poly Macau Hotel, Macau, China 2013

LALLAPALLOOZA-Tsai Tsung-Yu solo exhibition, Mon Espace Dart, Taipei, Taiwan 2011

MASTRE ONLINE-Tsai Tsung-Yu solo exhibition,VT art salon, Taipei, Taiwan 2010

MASTRE ONLINE-Tsai Tsung-Yu EXP solo exhibition, SinPinPier - Absolutely Art Space, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Group Exhibition｜ 2018

Paper Art Project, Mu Mu Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan How Do You Define ARTIST ?, FreeS Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan Kaohsiung Art Award, Kaohsiung Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2016

Into the Body Field-The connection of Asia and European arts, HOAHAUS, Taipei, Taiwan Austronesian International Arts Award, Taitung Art Museum, Taitung, Taiwan Tainan Art Award, Tsai Tsung-Yu×Fung Ka Fai, Mu Mu Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan 2014

Battle under the hoop,Absolute Art Space, Tainan, Taiwan 2011

News Producer field, Hong-gha Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Awards｜ 2018

Kaohsiung Awards, Selected 2016

Tainan Awards, First Prize Austronesian International Arts Award, selected 2010

The 8th Annual Taoyuan Creation Award, Selected Kaohsiung Awards, Inspectors view Special Award 2009

The 8th Taishin Art Award the third quarter Nominated

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【About Artist Jin Shi】

Solo Exhibition｜ 2019 The naked Insects,Yon-Fu Studio, Taipei, Taiwan 2014 JIN-JIN, Taipei National University of the Arts, Guandu, Taipei, Taiwan

Group Exhibition｜ 2018

ART KAOHSIUNG, The RIER-2 Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2017

Synapse Island, THZ Gallery, Yingge HAIKU-Sculpture,Joshibi University of Art and Design Art Museum,kanagawa, Japan 2016

Vacationing In Eye of the Storm , IBT Education Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan Stunning Edge-Contemporary Ceramic Art in Asia, National Taiwan Craft Researchand Development Institute, Taipei, Taiwan Beitou Psychogeographic Project, Heart Village, Beitou, Taiwan

Awardsao Prize, Taipei, Taiwan​