Fight Club – Hantoo 20th
2018.05.11～2018.07.08
09:00 - 17:00
Curator： HU Yung-Fen Co-curator：LAI Pei-Chun Lighting Coordinator：Ho, Chung-Chang Visual Designers：WEI Wen-Ru, CHEN Yen-Ru Artists：YANG Mao-lin, WU Tien-chang, LU Hsien-Ming, KUO Wei-kuo, LEE Min-jong, YANG Jen-ming, LIEN Chien-hsing, LAI Hsin-lung, TANG Tang-fa, TU Wei-Cheng, DENG Wen-jen, CHU Shu-hsien, Chang Ling, CHEN Ching-yao text by HU Yung-Fen As one of the most active and important artist groups in Taiwan today, the Hantoo Art Group is commemorating their twenty-year anniversary with a retrospective exhibition, Fight Club, which pays homage to David Fincher's 1999 film of the same name. The film itself is an adaption of the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, an American freelance journalist who is also known as an interdisciplinary novelist. The film, however, enjoys a wider level of popularity than the book. Several points worthy of reflection can be drawn from the context of the film's narrative and the curatorial thought behind this exhibition. The first is that the Fight Club film has an alternative title in Chinese, in which the word for 'fight' is translated to 'dou zhen' (instead of 'bo ji'). In Taiwanese semantics, 'dou zhen' refers to a group of people who (enjoy) gathering together on a certain emotional basis. This corresponds to the original founding of the Hantoo Art Group as an organization composed of young artists who graduated from the College of the Arts at Chinese Culture University. With awareness on the difficult realities of the art world, and seeing their weakness as individuals, they resolved to work together, combining the strengths of their friends and peers from different graduating classes. The group was oriented from the start toward sharing what few resources they had, and they formed for each other a system of support through a mutual exchange of empathy, strategy, and knowledge. Another point is that they were able to situate themselves as a much stronger force to be reckoned with through the pooling of everyone's resources and the collective sharing of expenses. In David Fincher's film, the protagonist (whose role is alternately acted by Edward Harrison Norton and William Bradley Pitt), is motivated out of sheer boredom to put on a fighting tournament sans any protective gear. Although the bodies of contestants might end up battered, this contributed to the rapid spread of the organization to cities nationwide, where numerous underground 'fight clubs' were formed. In the end, this led to the formation of a powerful organization that threatened to destroy the social order. The original intent behind the formation of Hantoo not only shares a likeness to such a concept, but it is this concept itself that shaped the Hantoo Art Group as a wild and unrestrained 'fight club' based on a movement from the incidental toward the inevitable — a young and emerging organization that exists as a provocation to the existing order of the art world. Then, there is the fact that, after the twenty years since the group’s founding, its fourteen current members are no longer the
green behind the ears” youth they once were. From the splendor of the middle-aged years, and passing through the primes of their lives, be it in the practice of art or in daily life, there is no avoiding that long and winding path, and the time that comes to look back in reflection. The final moment of cruelty and shock in the film is when the protagonist must fight against himself, and one side has to die before the other gives up. What could be more similar to the cruelty faced by all who have ventured to make a career out of art? As a retrospective exhibition for the past twenty years, this exhibition marks a stage in time, arranged so that each Hantoo Art Group member is placed in duel with oneself. Representative works from an earlier stage in their career are placed next to more recent pieces by the same artist, enabling them to reflect on their past practices, and to pit their past and present selves in a ring where these two sides can collide. That is to say, while this exhibition is a retrospective looking back, it is also a renewed movement forward.
green behind the ears” youth they once were. From the splendor of the middle-aged years, and passing through the primes of their lives, be it in the practice of art or in daily life, there is no avoiding that long and winding path, and the time that comes to look back in reflection. The final moment of cruelty and shock in the film is when the protagonist must fight against himself, and one side has to die before the other gives up. What could be more similar to the cruelty faced by all who have ventured to make a career out of art? As a retrospective exhibition for the past twenty years, this exhibition marks a stage in time, arranged so that each Hantoo Art Group member is placed in duel with oneself. Representative works from an earlier stage in their career are placed next to more recent pieces by the same artist, enabling them to reflect on their past practices, and to pit their past and present selves in a ring where these two sides can collide. That is to say, while this exhibition is a retrospective looking back, it is also a renewed movement forward.
Curator： HU Yung-Fen Co-curator：LAI Pei-Chun Lighting Coordinator：Ho, Chung-Chang Visual Designers：WEI Wen-Ru, CHEN Yen-Ru Artists：YANG Mao-lin, WU Tien-chang, LU Hsien-Ming, KUO Wei-kuo, LEE Min-jong, YANG Jen-ming, LIEN Chien-hsing, LAI Hsin-lung, TANG Tang-fa, TU Wei-Cheng, DENG Wen-jen, CHU Shu-hsien, Chang Ling, CHEN Ching-yao text by HU Yung-Fen As one of the most active and important artist groups in Taiwan today, the Hantoo Art Group is commemorating their twenty-year anniversary with a retrospective exhibition, Fight Club, which pays homage to David Fincher's 1999 film of the same name. The film itself is an adaption of the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, an American freelance journalist who is also known as an interdisciplinary novelist. The film, however, enjoys a wider level of popularity than the book. Several points worthy of reflection can be drawn from the context of the film's narrative and the curatorial thought behind this exhibition. The first is that the Fight Club film has an alternative title in Chinese, in which the word for 'fight' is translated to 'dou zhen' (instead of 'bo ji'). In Taiwanese semantics, 'dou zhen' refers to a group of people who (enjoy) gathering together on a certain emotional basis. This corresponds to the original founding of the Hantoo Art Group as an organization composed of young artists who graduated from the College of the Arts at Chinese Culture University. With awareness on the difficult realities of the art world, and seeing their weakness as individuals, they resolved to work together, combining the strengths of their friends and peers from different graduating classes. The group was oriented from the start toward sharing what few resources they had, and they formed for each other a system of support through a mutual exchange of empathy, strategy, and knowledge. Another point is that they were able to situate themselves as a much stronger force to be reckoned with through the pooling of everyone's resources and the collective sharing of expenses. In David Fincher's film, the protagonist (whose role is alternately acted by Edward Harrison Norton and William Bradley Pitt), is motivated out of sheer boredom to put on a fighting tournament sans any protective gear. Although the bodies of contestants might end up battered, this contributed to the rapid spread of the organization to cities nationwide, where numerous underground 'fight clubs' were formed. In the end, this led to the formation of a powerful organization that threatened to destroy the social order. The original intent behind the formation of Hantoo not only shares a likeness to such a concept, but it is this concept itself that shaped the Hantoo Art Group as a wild and unrestrained 'fight club' based on a movement from the incidental toward the inevitable — a young and emerging organization that exists as a provocation to the existing order of the art world. Then, there is the fact that, after the twenty years since the group’s founding, its fourteen current members are no longer the
green behind the ears” youth they once were. From the splendor of the middle-aged years, and passing through the primes of their lives, be it in the practice of art or in daily life, there is no avoiding that long and winding path, and the time that comes to look back in reflection. The final moment of cruelty and shock in the film is when the protagonist must fight against himself, and one side has to die before the other gives up. What could be more similar to the cruelty faced by all who have ventured to make a career out of art? As a retrospective exhibition for the past twenty years, this exhibition marks a stage in time, arranged so that each Hantoo Art Group member is placed in duel with oneself. Representative works from an earlier stage in their career are placed next to more recent pieces by the same artist, enabling them to reflect on their past practices, and to pit their past and present selves in a ring where these two sides can collide. That is to say, while this exhibition is a retrospective looking back, it is also a renewed movement forward.
green behind the ears” youth they once were. From the splendor of the middle-aged years, and passing through the primes of their lives, be it in the practice of art or in daily life, there is no avoiding that long and winding path, and the time that comes to look back in reflection. The final moment of cruelty and shock in the film is when the protagonist must fight against himself, and one side has to die before the other gives up. What could be more similar to the cruelty faced by all who have ventured to make a career out of art? As a retrospective exhibition for the past twenty years, this exhibition marks a stage in time, arranged so that each Hantoo Art Group member is placed in duel with oneself. Representative works from an earlier stage in their career are placed next to more recent pieces by the same artist, enabling them to reflect on their past practices, and to pit their past and present selves in a ring where these two sides can collide. That is to say, while this exhibition is a retrospective looking back, it is also a renewed movement forward.
The truth of history is often hidden and presented in the form of "pretend". Taiwan has long been under the shadow of colonial history, and its ghost has shaped the collective anxiety of a society that has plundered into disorder. I built the foundation in my critique on history and cultural consciousness. The work strives to escape the topical framework and return to the aspect of social aesthetic. With black humor and the spirit of "purification", I summon the historical memory that cannot be "returned to truth" and the subjective identification that is still broken to re-connect Taiwan's land ethics and human emotions.
The truth of history is often hidden and presented in the form of "pretend". Taiwan has long been under the shadow of colonial history, and its ghost has shaped the collective anxiety of a society that has plundered into disorder. I built the foundation in my critique on history and cultural consciousness. The work strives to escape the topical framework and return to the aspect of social aesthetic. With black humor and the spirit of "purification", I summon the historical memory that cannot be "returned to truth" and the subjective identification that is still broken to re-connect Taiwan's land ethics and human emotions.
The essence in my thirty-plus years of creation has always been locked in the tangled cultural reflections of my living environment. I hope that we can outline a particularly rigid social culture embedded in the inner layers of Taiwan's society through the observations of different periods of humanities, mood shifts, and research perspectives. Grandpa's Allegory records the beginning of a new era. In Ceaselessly, the smell of land, the gouging of life, the imprint of time, and the sustenance of society have condensed our contemporary collective emotional memory and hope for survival.
The essence in my thirty-plus years of creation has always been locked in the tangled cultural reflections of my living environment. I hope that we can outline a particularly rigid social culture embedded in the inner layers of Taiwan's society through the observations of different periods of humanities, mood shifts, and research perspectives. Grandpa's Allegory records the beginning of a new era. In Ceaselessly, the smell of land, the gouging of life, the imprint of time, and the sustenance of society have condensed our contemporary collective emotional memory and hope for survival.
Meeting Xiau-Ping was like being hit gently by a meteorite floated from the asteroid. The two letters Xiau-Ping overlap on the picture, the life full of love ignited a spark of energy in my life and creations. In view of the Guanyin Mountain that guards Taipei, I painted the Sanxing "Fu, Lu, Shou" as "insects, jellyfish, cats" and the diamond which combined from the nature and humanity as the eyes of the Earth. Big, yellow hermaphrodite flowers suggest that humans have both male and female personality. I hope everyone treasures himself, cares for others, cherishes the creatures and the earth.
Meeting Xiau-Ping was like being hit gently by a meteorite floated from the asteroid. The two letters Xiau-Ping overlap on the picture, the life full of love ignited a spark of energy in my life and creations. In view of the Guanyin Mountain that guards Taipei, I painted the Sanxing "Fu, Lu, Shou" as "insects, jellyfish, cats" and the diamond which combined from the nature and humanity as the eyes of the Earth. Big, yellow hermaphrodite flowers suggest that humans have both male and female personality. I hope everyone treasures himself, cares for others, cherishes the creatures and the earth.
Many events in life, large or small, reconnect with other recurring thoughts, ideas, concepts, opinions, as well as everyday habits, expressions, emotions, etc. Black water symbolizes a mixed state, contains unpredictable vitality and possibility. This phase is the continuation of the individual's creative state and an observation on society.
Many events in life, large or small, reconnect with other recurring thoughts, ideas, concepts, opinions, as well as everyday habits, expressions, emotions, etc. Black water symbolizes a mixed state, contains unpredictable vitality and possibility. This phase is the continuation of the individual's creative state and an observation on society.
I like to make regular visits to symbolic places such as grounds of farming, industry, fishing, and mining at Keelung and Yilan in northern Taiwan to feel the prosperous and declining industrial changes in social structure, and to reflect on the conflicts between tradition and innovation amid the crisis regarding the over-exploitation of ecology. By drawing inspiration from various parts of Taiwan, I hope we can reconstruct the relics of space-assorted narratives and inspire people to identify with land and culture, as well as foster motivation and expectations for my creative vision
I like to make regular visits to symbolic places such as grounds of farming, industry, fishing, and mining at Keelung and Yilan in northern Taiwan to feel the prosperous and declining industrial changes in social structure, and to reflect on the conflicts between tradition and innovation amid the crisis regarding the over-exploitation of ecology. By drawing inspiration from various parts of Taiwan, I hope we can reconstruct the relics of space-assorted narratives and inspire people to identify with land and culture, as well as foster motivation and expectations for my creative vision
I did a lot of "reading discussions" between chairs and their placement during 2006-2008. Seat 2008-II wants to present a combination of three-dimensional and flat surfaces through different interfaces, showing a change of form maintained in the "position" state. Another group of works Heartplay is a raving performance that I have used as a way to heal for two years. Whether they are casual written essays, pieces of torn paper, or graffiti, they directly reflect the mood at that particular time, and metaphorically convey a certain incompleteness in the individual's creative mood.
I did a lot of "reading discussions" between chairs and their placement during 2006-2008. Seat 2008-II wants to present a combination of three-dimensional and flat surfaces through different interfaces, showing a change of form maintained in the "position" state. Another group of works Heartplay is a raving performance that I have used as a way to heal for two years. Whether they are casual written essays, pieces of torn paper, or graffiti, they directly reflect the mood at that particular time, and metaphorically convey a certain incompleteness in the individual's creative mood.
Even if the environment is unwaveringly difficult, I will continue to go on. If I'm lucky, I will ultimately be able to create what I identify as "art". If I end up not having the ability to do so, I will still be able to dedicate my life to self fulfillment. No regret.
Even if the environment is unwaveringly difficult, I will continue to go on. If I'm lucky, I will ultimately be able to create what I identify as "art". If I end up not having the ability to do so, I will still be able to dedicate my life to self fulfillment. No regret.
Bu Num Civilization reveals contemporary information civilization as complete archaeological events, and simultaneously introduces the duality of "old/new, traditional/contemporary, true/false, and virtual/real" to imagine and create the chaotic cultural phenomenon of globalization. Enfolded World: Mysteries of Lost Civilizations was invited to Collecting Europe in 2017 which raised by V&M Museum, UK. Three metaphorical "Unearthed Metallic Relics" to reflect on Europe two thousand years later, whether it has undergone destruction and returned to primitive civilization.
Bu Num Civilization reveals contemporary information civilization as complete archaeological events, and simultaneously introduces the duality of "old/new, traditional/contemporary, true/false, and virtual/real" to imagine and create the chaotic cultural phenomenon of globalization. Enfolded World: Mysteries of Lost Civilizations was invited to Collecting Europe in 2017 which raised by V&M Museum, UK. Three metaphorical "Unearthed Metallic Relics" to reflect on Europe two thousand years later, whether it has undergone destruction and returned to primitive civilization.
When I was in France, I developed a love of cooking due to homesickness. As an admirer of Ang LEE's film Eat Drink Man Woman, I started the series of "feast", a combination of oil paintings, embroidery, and composite media. I am an aspiring cartographer who likes mountaineering. Upon returning from a root-seeking journey of the Siraya people, my affection and love for the land and the diverse group of ethnic cultures compelled me to create a series of historical maps. I created the "Formosa Treasures" map series with natural dyes and woven fabric, replacing the relationship between brush and canvas with every thread.
When I was in France, I developed a love of cooking due to homesickness. As an admirer of Ang LEE's film Eat Drink Man Woman, I started the series of "feast", a combination of oil paintings, embroidery, and composite media. I am an aspiring cartographer who likes mountaineering. Upon returning from a root-seeking journey of the Siraya people, my affection and love for the land and the diverse group of ethnic cultures compelled me to create a series of historical maps. I created the "Formosa Treasures" map series with natural dyes and woven fabric, replacing the relationship between brush and canvas with every thread.
I once lost my way when running in the mountains. All kinds of fear began to destroy the ever-increasing imagination of the body. It was thought that the hero Bruce Lee, behind the fluorescent screen, should have the complicated situation of swelling and shrinking, just like you and me. As I made my way back on to the busy streets, the kittens sat next to the plastic bags and watched as the plastic bags started to swirl in the wind. I thought of what Samuel Beckett said, "We are alone. We cannot know and we cannot be known."
I once lost my way when running in the mountains. All kinds of fear began to destroy the ever-increasing imagination of the body. It was thought that the hero Bruce Lee, behind the fluorescent screen, should have the complicated situation of swelling and shrinking, just like you and me. As I made my way back on to the busy streets, the kittens sat next to the plastic bags and watched as the plastic bags started to swirl in the wind. I thought of what Samuel Beckett said, "We are alone. We cannot know and we cannot be known."
In 1998, I started with "flesh and society" as the research subject and stepped into action through video. In 2004, I returned to Taiwan with Pork Belly series to speak about reincarnation and the concept of sacrificing one's flesh and desires from the "Pistachio Series". Later in 2013, I released Illusion Society which employs a variety of media to depict a lifestyle of the rich in ordinary people's imagination. The four works selected for this exhibition relate an almost crumbling desire for both the old and the new within a span of two decades.
In 1998, I started with "flesh and society" as the research subject and stepped into action through video. In 2004, I returned to Taiwan with Pork Belly series to speak about reincarnation and the concept of sacrificing one's flesh and desires from the "Pistachio Series". Later in 2013, I released Illusion Society which employs a variety of media to depict a lifestyle of the rich in ordinary people's imagination. The four works selected for this exhibition relate an almost crumbling desire for both the old and the new within a span of two decades.
Under the dual influence of Confucian tradition and the concept of nationalism in recent years, East Asian countries pay special attention to the importance of group organization. Everyone must do his or her part to play the role of a screw in the feudal system. As a result, AKB, HKT, NMB, and other large-scale idol groups have been created, which consisting of beautiful girls with indistinguishable physical appearances. Maybe these idol groups are no different from the female soldiers who participated in North Korea's military parade. Each represents a blossoming flower in Utopia, shouting praise at the leader of its organization.
Under the dual influence of Confucian tradition and the concept of nationalism in recent years, East Asian countries pay special attention to the importance of group organization. Everyone must do his or her part to play the role of a screw in the feudal system. As a result, AKB, HKT, NMB, and other large-scale idol groups have been created, which consisting of beautiful girls with indistinguishable physical appearances. Maybe these idol groups are no different from the female soldiers who participated in North Korea's military parade. Each represents a blossoming flower in Utopia, shouting praise at the leader of its organization.
The series of The Wonderland in Saha World of Maha is the combination of the most popular subculture and the spiritual embodiment of civilization and mankind—cartoon comic and religious statues, respectively. Starting with last year's Wanderers of the Abyssal Darkness, my desire of painting has been reignited. I've chosen the deep sea fish as my self-portrait in this painting, which is interlaced with various painting techniques, creating a situation of conflict and coordination, contrast and destruction, tension and harmony.
The series of The Wonderland in Saha World of Maha is the combination of the most popular subculture and the spiritual embodiment of civilization and mankind—cartoon comic and religious statues, respectively. Starting with last year's Wanderers of the Abyssal Darkness, my desire of painting has been reignited. I've chosen the deep sea fish as my self-portrait in this painting, which is interlaced with various painting techniques, creating a situation of conflict and coordination, contrast and destruction, tension and harmony.
Works
