This exhibition is about the representation of the 'head' but is also not directly correlated to the 'head'. When a head is detached from its body, it is no longer a part of the image connected to the human figure. Through various techniques of representation, that head and its body become a visual archive, research subject, props, merely just a contour, an empty vessel, or just a partial piece. In other words, memories are then released from the 'head' and proceed to converge and assemble with one another.
On view in this exhibition is the collaborative result by artist Hsu Che-Yu and writer Chen Wan-Yin from 2018 to 2022. Lacuna (2018) illustrates the memories between Hsu and his brother from their youthful years, and through stories of criminal investigations and news media methods, the process of how bodies were constructed to form collective memories is examined. Single Copy (2019) is another piece about sibling relationship. Through techniques of moulding and digital replication, the artwork revisits Taiwan's first successful separation surgery of conjoined twins, which was often interpreted as a political metaphor, with personal, intimate memories also illustrated. The Unusual Death of a Mallard (2020) and Rabbit 314 (2020) are inspired by the memories of the artist's grandmother from when she worked in an animal laboratory during her younger years, with the relationships between specimens, death, daily routines, and imaging technology explored. Sketches of Body (2022) presents the unstable shaping process observed with moulding and digital technology and recreates an experimentation on boundaries of the body. The Making of Crime Scenes (2022) uses digital scanning technology to reconstruct the body of the gunman in a murder case and seeks to capture the collective subconscious in Taiwan's modern history from the killer's unusual multiple identities, which included filmmaker, killer, gang member, and patriot.
HSU CHE-YU
Hsu Che-Yu (b. 1985) is now studying in Le Fresnoy—Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing, France (2020–2022). He is a laureate of HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Belgium) in 2020. Previously, he obtained a master's degree from the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of the Arts (M.F.A., Taiwan). Hsu Che-Yu works as an artist who primarily creates animations, videos, and installations that feature the relations between media and memories. What matters to the artist is not simply the history of events traceable through media, but also the construction and visualisation of memories, be they private or collective.
Press release courtesy Liang Gallery.
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