Offshore

2020/01/12-2020/03/08

Artists

The exhibition “Offshore” embodies the infinite power of human desire which is transformed into the habitat lying between land and sea. It drifts slowly around the streams of consciousness and acts as a Shangri-La of its own withdrawal from reality, creating a seemingly approachable yet unattainable, impalpable yet recognizable distance in between. Consequently, it reveals a unique yet vulnerable environment. The artworks of Chang Ting-Ya and Yeh Yi-Li are jointly presented in the exhibition, each of which creates portal-like paths in the dualistic world for people to travel in between freely. Also, the resulting heterogeneous spaces appear like mirror images in the exhibition venue, reflecting the miraculous light that glitters in the unnoticeable moments of complex reality.

Chang Ting-Ya’s water-based woodblock prints are suffused with oriental allure. The images integral to her works are often extracted from everyday life and shaped by her own imagination, thus being transformed into a series of fantasy landscapes filled with sophisticated yet whimsical ambiance. Hence, these familiar daily objects like folding-screens and ladders appear in the paintings become the vital clues to the connection or isolation among the scenarios, purporting to represent both tangible and intangible barriers found in contemporary life as well as the spiritual journey which seems to be running in closed loop, but it actually incorporates interconnected dynamics. All in all, Chang’s work delicately portrays every possible texture of what an ideal world would look like, either in the guise of an island, a boat, or a gazebo that leads to an ambiguous and unrestrained grey area, secluded but not isolated, so as to let one’s imagination run wild, and continuously extend the spiritual freedom that every single person can acquire.

Yeh Yi-Li is always willing to experiment with materials through diverse artistic practices. Hence, the fun, playful vibe emanated from the brightly colored and vivid shape —— acting as her way of dealing with all kinds of detachment and awkwardness existing in contemporary society —— has made Yeh’s artwork highly iconic. In Scene.Object, which includes a series of sculptures and videos, Yeh not only has rearranged and juxtaposed the sceneries that remain frozen in time, but also used her body to symbolize a space-time vessel for interdimensional travel. In doing so, she aims to intertwine the cultural landscapes as well as shattered memories in contemporary society, echoing with those precious, random moments in life which wander through the lingering misty clouds and islands. Such ambivalent, impassive manner in Yeh’s artistic expression serves as the artist’s perfect escapology from reality.

Both Chang and Yeh attempt to crystallize and further find emotional sustenance in the “other realm”, certainly one of a kind, engaged in their artistic practices in the course of building up the landscapes and creating ambience. These scenes embody the tension between places and non-places which can thus be regarded as heterotopia, allowing us to make a comparison with the realities of the world interactively, and thus, to twiddle with whatever seemingly solid.