Input from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum

By Yiler Huang

Going to museum is sometimes boring, but every piece of art in museum has their special message the artist wanted to give you. This Thursday, we visited the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. There were many exhibits, some were about stop motion animations, others were about paintings, and there were also several art installations. During the trip, I found three artworks that I had some feelings about. The artworks are Field (Liu, 2022), Jungle Jungle (Zhang, 2020), and There Is a Busy Man (Hsiao, 2022). These artworks left an impression on me, and I have spent more time looking at them than any other artworks.

One of the artworks I find very interesting is Field, by Yu Liu. It is an art installation that features a single pile of stacked rocks over several tatami mats. When I looked at it, it looked very peaceful. The reason why was that the artwork looks like a Japanese zen garden. I feel that the artist wanted to express the feeling of balance and calm. After all, he created this artwork after moving to eastern Taiwan and finding balance in his life after he started farming. I feel he wanted to give the audience the same feeling he had when he tended to his crops. A Japanese zen garden is used for meditation and they use primarily sand and rocks to bring out the meaning of life so that the person can find balance. I think this is why the artist used the tatami mats to symbolize the sand used in these gardens and the stacked rocks. When I first encountered this installation, I felt it was weird because it felt unnatural to see tatami mats in such an enclosed space. However, after staying a little bit longer, I felt more calm. Maybe the artist was trying to express the uneasiness of moving to eastern Taiwan, by putting it in such a cramped space and only those who stayed long enough would feel the calmness and peacefulness. I feel that other people who looked at this artwork might also feel calm and relaxed like I did if they give it some time.

The second artwork I found interesting was Jungle Jungle by Zhang Xu Zhan. It is a stop motion animation film. It made me feel stressed, because of the unnatural look of the characters. The characters look very dark and weird, the two black eyes of the characters made it look like they don’t have any eyeballs. They also looked like skeletons because of how skinny they were. The music was also unharmonious giving off a creepy feeling. The artist wanted to connect the different cultures from different countries by changing the colors and the music in the artwork. He designed the unnatural combination between different cultures in the animation film, and the space where the artwork was located was in a dark room with newspapers folded and glued onto the walls. When we walked into the room, I felt stressed and nervous because of the lighting and sounds in the room. It was dark and there were spooky characters everywhere in the room. Also, the sound of gongs can be heard throughout the installation. This feeling continued until we left the exhibit. I am sure the uneasiness I felt in this room can be felt by others as well.

The final piece that I had feelings about was There Is a Busy Man by Hsiao Chu-Fang. I felt this artwork is creepy and unrealistic. The reason why was that there were many elements on the artwork that looked familiar but also looked unrealistic and creepy when I looked at it closely. Also, the color combination is chaotic because the colors are clashing. I think the artist was trying to express how the idea of being busy looks from her perspective through this abstract painting with clashing colors and chaotic elements. I think other people might also feel the unnatural vibe the painting was giving. This artwork felt like a representation of how the world looks through the artist’s eyes. When we first walked into the exhibition hall, the unrealistic paintings made me feel anxious because the orange figure in the painting was looking at us as we walked through. The artist wanted her art to express the different things we experience in the world. The sad and angry look the figure has is a way for the artist to express her feelings when she is busy.

This trip to the museum is interesting, because I experienced some feelings that I don’t usually have. I think the artworks were ways artists express their ideas, but it is hard to let people know what you are thinking. The scary artworks to me might not be scary to the artist or other people. When I looked at the description of the artworks I think are scary, sometimes the artist actually didn’t mean to scare people with their art. I think this is a really interesting experience to look at the world in other people’s eyes. In future, I hope the readers can try to look at things from other people's perspective, because maybe that could help people understanding more about the messages others want to give you.