Ta̍k-ke: A Tapestry of Togetherness—Huang Yi-Min Solo Exhibition in Tainan

Artist | Huang Yi-Min

Duration｜2024.10.02(Wed.)-10.27(Sun.)

Opening｜2024.10.05 15:00

Forum｜2024.10.05 15:30

Panelist｜Hsu Yuan-Ta

Curator / HSU Yuan-Ta

In Taiwanese, “ta̍k-ke” means “everybody” or “everyone.” It refers to a group of people as small as a family, or a community as large as a school, a neighborhood, a county, a society, or even an entire country. This group of people might share the same lifestyles, the same ideologies, the same goals, or even the same fate. In a Taiwanese semantic context, “ta̍k-ke” often carries a sense of togetherness and an intimacy that reflects certain connections.

Envisioned by an assemblage of building blocks, the gallery proposed the concept of “ta̍k-ke” for this solo exhibition by Huang Yi- Ming. In his previous solo exhibition “SHAN JAI,” Huang also chose building blocks as the forms and materials for his creative expression. The assemblage of blocks brought the imagery of “togetherness,” “assembly,” “the people,” and “community” that unleashed a collective consciousness and personal feelings through various media, installations for spatial expression, and graphic creations. Although the building blocks point to a constructive imagery, it also holds a connotation of deconstruction. With these blocks as the basic elements, the exhibition renders everyday images incorporated through wrapping wooden materials around magazines of ordinary lifestyle and fashion. By entitling the exhibition “ta̍k-ke,” the exhibition incorporates a cordial vibe. Huang Yi-Min’s artworks are often based on life and culture, where Huang, as a teacher, projects his concerns and cares towards life and the lives of others, while simultaneously linking his works with his sense of humor and optimism.

The paintings are the "ta̍k-ke" that reflects Huang's self-awareness. They are the art games he plays to cascade his personal feelings. As an art creator, these paintings are what Huang gains from allowing his consciousness and feelings to flow freely. Such consciousness and feelings have accumulated into nameless looks, which are emotive objects that have not yet been named by his perception.

For the works that emphasize materiality and installation, Huang chose to stack them in the manner of building blocks as an implication of connecting traditional and modern visual effects and connotations. For example, in SHAN JAI, he modeled the look and airstream of a modern fighter jet while merging the swallow-tailed ridge of a traditional shrine. Through the visual similarity, Huang connects the connotation of blessings and prayers in a cultural setting by using the elements of swallow-tailed ridge and other shrine roof elements, as he combines it with the fighter jet, which is a symbol of security for the everyday life, property and personal safety of each and every civilian in a modern world. The vivid cultural belief visualizes a contemporary interpretation and reflects the profound significance of creativity with lessons of history.

This series carries a sense of black humor behind the solemnity. Constructed from an assemblage of building blocks, “The Ark” (2024) takes the context of Christian salvation in its title, while adopting one of the most powerful warships– aircraft carrier as the main visual. Furthermore, the visual details have subtly insinuated the swallow-tailed ridge of traditional Taiwanese shrines in its design. With the final result of a childlike building block project, the art piece has certainly framed its black humor in satirizing the adult world with the innocent child’s play.

The same sense of black humor can be found in “Five Blessings in a Row” (2024). Though the artwork in black does not take the form of building blocks in terms of medium and technique, the art piece still corresponds to the same “togetherness” of collective consciousness through a wirebound notebook. The undetectable stealth bomber, B-2 Spirit, is combined with the imagery of bats (homophonous with “blessing” in Chinese), which imply the five blessings of longevity, prosperity, superiority, security, joy, and fertility.  Besides the above-mentioned artworks, Huang’s “Eight Methods” (2023) also holds a sense of humor in its gravity. Here in the exhibition, his works shall release the public anxiety of certain collective memories, and replace them with a zealous form of blessing through “ta̍k-ke.”

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About Artist

Huang Yi-Min

The owner of "Absolute Space for the Arts" in Tainan. Early works often used inflatable balloon dogs to place various poses in the environment, showing collage, irrational, and absurd qualities like those in surreal works, and showing laziness against the bustling and fast pace of life around them. It has a light feel and exudes a touch of "humor". In 2013, he jointly established the Absolute Space Art Studio in Tainan, providing outstanding contemporary creators with the opportunity to express their voices in Tainan. Based on the temple culture experienced by living in Tainan for a long time, they will collect, research, and use their imagination to explore the temple culture they have heard about.

Presented by｜ Absolute Space for the Arts

Space Sponsorship｜ National Culture and Arts Foundation

Exhibition Sponsorship｜ Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government