AVA HSUEH

As a professor, scholar, museum director, and practitioner of contemporary Taiwanese art, Hsueh has nurtured countless talents, while dedicating decades to her own artistic practice. She plays an indispensable role in the evolution of Taiwanese women’s abstract art, bringing a unique perspective to the genre in terms of technique and philosophy. Tracing the trajectory of her work reveals how the artist responds to postmodern aesthetics through abstract language, engaging with colour, line, structure, and texture. Hsueh’s distinctive creative path is rooted in her years of studying in New York, where her exposure to Western contemporary art broadened her horizons. The open yet rigorous intellectual climate of New York cultivated Hsueh’s artistic approach, embedding a strong connection to theory and dialectics within her practice.

In semiotics, the concepts of the signifier and the signified are primarily used to describe the structure and function of linguistic signs. When applied to the work of Hsueh, these ideas reveal how the artist employs them as a framework to explore new creative paths. Since 2004, she has frequently focused on diptych and triptych compositions. Once the first canvas is complete, the visual elements within the work extend from the artist’s subjective intention, serving as signifiers of deeper symbols. Through an ongoing engagement with these initial signs, Hsueh continues to develop the second and third canvases.

She invites the viewer to develop their own interpretation and perception from the dynamic interplay and convergence within the visual flow, deepening the connection between the observer and the work. Just as the artist writes in her statement, “The discourse in the text itself encompasses literal and metaphorical connotations. My method of combining canvases, between separation and expansion, advances through the hermeneutic circle. It resides at the threshold of pictorial expression, of metaphor, of pace and cadence, of shift and pulse.”

In addition to the connection between image and text, the artist’s work is deeply rooted in her own cultural heritage. Influenced by her early training in Eastern ink painting, the artist now draws inspiration from Taiwanese indigenous culture. The series on view in the gallery’s main space stems from the artist’s research and study of Taiwanese indigenous archives, encompassing history, customs, clothing, and color aesthetics. This exploration begins with nine colours derived from specific indigenous garments, which inspires the artist’s cold abstraction vocabulary. This serves as the first step in embodying the interplay between the signifier and the signified on the canvas.

This approach resonates with Hsueh’s focus on symbolism, using indigenous colours as semiotic anchors that generate meaning. The colours provoke associations and recognition tied to specific cultural elements, referencing the self-identity of indigenous tribes and highlighting how colour shapes external perceptions of identity. This series addresses the relationship between abstract art, humanity, history, and contemporary culture through the artist’s use of colour. In so doing, she transcends early 20th-century abstraction, which emphasised non-referentiality and self-expression, and instead, expands the possibilities of abstract art by engaging with broader cultural and historical contexts.

Within the Pulse of Time sees Hsueh employ elongated colour blocks as a rational foundation, upon which she layers expressive brushwork. Through her physical involvement, the linear movements on the canvas emerges from the interaction between her hand gestures, body extension, and the canvas. The rhythm and pulse of the work are attuned to the artist’s physical awareness — manifested in the nuances of brushstrokes and the varying pressure applied. These moments of tension and release reflect the organic breathing of the piece. The juxtaposition of cold and hot abstraction has defined Hsueh’s recent body of work.

In her creative process, the artist avoids the top-down, static positioning or the techniques of pouring and dripping associated with automatism. Instead, every line and color block is meticulously controlled, as the artist’s hot abstraction is layered onto the canvas, while paradoxically diminishing the completeness of the underlying cold abstraction. In the process of addition, there is a simultaneous subtraction. The viewer must observe the work from a distance to perceive its foundational structure — an approach that challenges conventional viewing habits and aligns with Hsueh’s reference to paradox in her artist statement.

Hsueh’s work invites the viewer to adopt a pluralistic mindset, using the logic of dialectics to provoke a renewed understanding of abstract painting. The work explores the philosophical significance within the practice of painting, not only breaking formal boundaries, but encouraging a deeper reflection on the evolution of contemporary abstract art.

“Poetry is the expression of one’s intent; in the heart, it is intention, but when spoken, it becomes poetry,” says the Maoshi in the Book of Songs. This statement captures the creative process born from within, shaped by one’s surroundings, and refined through the artist’s internalisation and transcendence. It reflects a genuine projection of the mind and spirit — an emotional resonance with the world, while serving as a vehicle for self- reflection and emotion.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the personal transformation experienced by the artist, Within the Pulse of Time comprises nearly 50 works by Hsueh, made since 2019. The exhibition chronicles the artist’s connection with place, people, and herself, tracing the trajectory of her life during this period. It reflects Hsueh’s introspection and retrospection, revealing that this journey is not merely a linear progression, but an exploration of countless past moments, which have evolved and culminated in the now.

The accumulation, layering, and aggregation of these experiences, though often solitary, are resolute and profound. This body of work instantiates Ava Hsueh’s unyielding response to impermanence and the unknown, epitomised by her daring, yet graceful, approach.