On Saturday evenings the museums in Taipei have free admission. This is a great policy that I have taken advantage of many times, but it also means that I don't go to museums as much as I'd like to. The reason being that even when I want to go to one to check out the new thing and I have free time, I tell myself just to wait to go on Saturday night, and then of course never end up going.
The other day I was walking around the Taipei Fine Arts museum and thankfully it was an extremely hot day. This caused me to duck into the museum to get some AC. To be honest I don't go to the fine arts museum often because a lot of their exhibits are quite boring. However on this day it didn't matter, I just needed to beat the heat.
As per usual, I wasn't very entertained, nothing really spoke to me. That is until I went down into the basement. In the basement they have free exhibits and from a blurb in their guide, I was anxious to check out one of their exhibits down there.
When I got there I was not let down. The artist is Han-chih Liu and his work is quite remarkable. He basically makes contraptions which speak to the difficulty that many Taiwanese have trying to fit into the way Taiwanese are told they must live their lives. If you have even just glanced at my blog you will know that this is a big point of contention that I have with Taiwan's culture.
The way he expresses this is by building some unique contraption and then making a funny yet sardonic sketch which depicts what it's used for. They are poignantly clever, and his ability both as an engineer to make them and as a more conventional artist telling a story through pictures, are more than enviable.
The one above is of a vest you wear that has motorized hands on it which push outwards. It is to be worn on the subway as it will cause people to move away from you because they don't want to be touched on the bottom.
Other contraptions include a treadmill that spins mannequins on each side that will bump into you so you can get used to bumping into people when you walk. While another is for keeping your head down while you walk or are at work so you never have to make eye contact with anybody. He had a few others but they are a bit hard to explain i a sentence or two.
I really like this artist and I hope that he will continue his unique form of art and expression. And he is a true artist in that he does it just for the art of it and not for sales, cause I must admit I have no idea how it would be possible to sell his art. Regardless, he impressed me a lot and is definitely my new favorite modern artist.
