5 Must-See Artworks at Taipei Dangdai 2024
Taipei Dangdai 2024 opens its fifth edition next week at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Organised by The Art Assembly (the brains behind ART SG in Singapore and Tokyo Gendai in Japan), the fair brings together 78 participants.
Taiwan boasts an established community of local collectors, some among the most prominent in the world. Speaking with Ocula last year, young Taiwanese collector Bryant Chao emphasised the importance of Taipei Dangdai. 'In Taiwan, it's a rare opportunity to see paintings from artists from all over the world.'
Ocula Advisors select their favourite works on view at the fair, which runs from 10 to 12 May 2024. Highlights include Hilo Chen's spray-paint style painting of peaches at Each Modern and Sujin Choi's whimsical oil painting at G Gallery.
Hilo Chen's M.S.Peach 2 (1999) at Each Modern
Hilo Chen is most known for his photorealistic paintings depicting nude women in a voyeuristic manner, though he has a penchant for painting still lifes. In the 1990s, the Taiwanese-born American artist shifted his focus to close-up compositions of still lifes.
One notable work from this period is M.S.Peach 2 (1999), a small but punchy painting measuring just under ten centimetres tall.
Two peaches sit on a vibrant blue surface, emanating a luminous lime green hue with subtle hints of pink. Shadows fall around their curves, accentuating the cheeky contours of the fruits.
Chen employs a more relaxed spray-paint style here, departing from his previous hyper-realistic approach. This stylistic shift imbues the painting with a soft, fuzzy quality reminiscent of the velvety texture of actual peaches.
Sujin Choi's The White Heron's To Do List (2023) at G Gallery
Sujin Choi's oil paintings evoke the charm of scenes from children's storybooks. Inspired by her wanderings on walks and trips, she inhabits her canvases with figures and objects drawn from her memories, senses, and fantasies.
In her works, viewers might encounter a rabbit strumming a guitar or clouds drifting through a house during teatime.
In The White Heron's To Do List (2023), Sujin Choi depicts what initially resembles a cosy domestic space with house plants and decorative furniture. Upon closer look, the ordinary gives way to the extraordinary: figs on a notepad cast reflections from a pool of water; a heron standing in the pool clutches a thread in its beak, which leads to what appears to be a to do list as suggested by the title.
Far-fetched and fun, Sujin Choi's paintings are filled with discoveries and wonders.
Wolfgang Tillmans' new LA still life (2001) at David Zwirner
A fan favourite for his knack for making the unremarkable remarkable, Wolfgang Tillmans is an artist of precocious talent.
new LA still life (2001) depicts a table collecting fruit and vegetables, together with crumpled plastic bags and a pineapple dangling upside down from a stick. This curious arrangement prompts viewers to ponder the significance behind these seemingly disparate objects. Are they seeing the aftermath of a grocery shop haul, left behind by its absent owner? Could the pineapple be a subtle nod to a hidden message, hinting at the inhabitants' unconventional lifestyle?
Tillmans' photograph of an interior devoid of people, yet rich with traces of a human life, is both simple and entrancing. The image presents a life lived through the inanimate, perhaps more potent than what a snapshot of its inhabitants might offer.
Justin Williams' It's me really doing that to someone else (2024) at COMA
Sydney's COMA introduces a new series of paintings by Australian artist Justin Williams to Taipei.
Continuing his exploration of representations of domesticity in rural communities, Williams paintings are odes to small moments, celebrations of loved ones, and observations of the connections that sustain us.
It's me really doing that to someone else (2024) shows a serene scene: a man savours a hot drink, steam rising gently from his mug. In the background, another man strums a guitar. Orange flowers bloom in the foreground, while the lake and hilly landscape in the distance recall Williams' hometown in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, Australia.
Williams recognises that his audience shares diverse histories akin to his own. His paintings consider the significance of lineage and its connection to the present.
Jean-Michel Othoniel's Wonder Block (2024) at Perrotin
Without seeing it in the flesh, viewers might assume that the slabs comprising Wonder Block (2024) are like LEGO blocks. However, Jean-Michel Othoniel's mirrored glass blocks are closer in dimension to building bricks, rendering his sculpture as tall as the average 8-year-old child.
The glass bricks are originally made in Firozabad, a city in India where the brilliant aquamarine blue colour is adored. When light touches the sculpture, an ethereal glow like flowing water alights the surrounding space.
In conversation with Ocula in 2023, Othoniel explained how he discovered his concept of creating the glass brick. 'When I was travelling in India, I saw piles of bricks all along the road waiting to be used to build houses,' he said. 'It was a poetic shock. People gathered bricks to build their own houses. I felt their energy of hope, which pushed me to create my glass bricks.'
Main image: Jean-Michel Othoniel, Wonder Blocks (2023). Aquamarine blue and Indian pink Indian mirrored glass. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Perrotin, New York. Photo: © Othoniel Studio.
116.8 x 91 cm G Gallery
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360 x 510 cm Perrotin
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