Review：Call For Submissions - International Biennial Print Exhibit: 2020 R.O.C.

Review

International Biennial Print Exhibit: 2020 R.O.C.
中華民國第十九屆國際版畫雙年展

Review

Gold Prize

Thailand

Kraisak CHIRACHAISAKUL

More than 60 years, Thailand's current monarch has reigned as the head of the state and revered by most Thais. His Majesty has accomplished significant developments for the nation, which has not only benefited all Thais, but also contributed incomparably to Thailand. Each time when His Majesty grants a grand public audience, thousands and thousands of people gather, in order to express their admiration and deep loyalty to His Majesty. In nowadays, our life has become more and more complicated and hustling. I intended to reverse the tendency by using an old and slow printmaking technique. During the process of doing the printing plate with a lot of people, faces, bodies, I think of the tired and diligent king who consistently brings better experiences to his people. I also think of the massive crowd who went greeting His Majesty; a crowd that starts from one person to millions of people. It has been saying that "A picture is worth a thousand words". However, in my work The Greatest Love, thousands of people are yelling out the same words, that is, "Long Live the King".

Silver Prize

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Japan

SAKUTA Tomiyuki

I am making intaglio print for about 25 years in Japan. My style of working had changed a few times. Recent works are based on my life. They are made from my several experiences, failure, deep thinking, and human relation. I am living every day. I am thinking about something all the time. I often think too hard, so I am getting nervous and confused. Everybody doesn’t like these negative feelings. Neither do I. But everybody certainly have that. I may be thinking about tiny things too much. I know that, but I can’t escape from them. If I should express something, it is that kind of my own feeling. Because that is the only thing I can believe. It is certain that there are sensitive feelings in the bottom of my heart. Their images are almost vague, dark, and fantastic ones. Although sometimes they make many holes into my body, and cold wind are blowing through there with leaves. I like the drawing of human beings. Actually I am interested in only myself. I recognize that my every works are the same as "Self-Portrait".

Bronze Prize

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Italy

Andrea SERAFINI

The main visual and emotional inspiration for my paintings and graphic works is light vibrations; the way light and shadows interact in a kind of luminosity game, whilst scanning the surfaces, shapes and the volumes of urban places. My favorite views of cities are the ordinary ones, encompassing the anonymous settings, the movements of people, items, meetings, shopping and road traffic. This is a continually transforming scenery, where the presence of human beings moves quickly and fluently, leaving a sense of perpetual transience to the subjective sensitivity of the observer. The wide range of city views has been the focus of my last series of works, dealing with building sites, where transience and transformation of form being their very essence. These sites are very often covered by a barrier material, allowing only a glance of the internals through the occasional small rips in the cloth or the transparency of the fabric, so that only by hints can the observer catch the intimacy of tubular structures, scaffolds and frames hidden behind the cloth. In Project to a Construction Site VIII, the representation in the image of an existing building site is meant to symbolize the abstract idea of an inner space; whilst the barrier material acts as a metaphorical skin like layer, which limits the internal from the outside space, the physical from the mental space, the real from the imaginary world. The word “Project” in the work’s title hints at the artist’s activity, his “inner project”. This inevitably leads to difficult routes in to the world of the invisibleness. The mind project is more complex when operating with graphic print media; the Artist has to design an abstract image, which only becomes confirmed at the completion of the creative act, which is the printing of the matrix. It is only on this medium of metal that all the printmaker’s hypothesis, hesitations and skills are finally realized .The obstacles the artist meets may be physical when techniques and materials must bend to his expressive needs. There may also be mental obstacles when the artistic research turns into a real psychological demand.

Special Jury Prize

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Taiwan

HSIEH Chen-yuan

At every present moment, a segment of bygone time and the progressions of every experience are conjugated into the past perfect tense. As these fragments of experiences are combined, the conclusion is chaotic. All the chaotic matters then explosively spread internally, and in the seemingly quiet split second, loud clashes occur within, as they crash and shatter in every given moment.

Special Jury Prize

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Taiwan

LI Yu-cheng

Create a virtual state in everyday life. Watch out, as I take a shot!

Merit Prize

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China

TANG Man Wen

Compared with the past, our living environment and state of existence have drastically changed. Anxieties prompted by the ecology’s deterioration and resource depletion are constantly attacking people’s mindsets. Perspectives and thought processes related to the situations are rapidly overlapping, making it difficult for people to take a brief moment to preserve or relish anything in a sincere manner. I hope that through the "Memorandum" series to compose a visual and psychological file based on individual experiences for the living environment and state of existence that we dwell in. The Memorandum's Ode to Joy is one of the series. Its composition is in the shape of a “solitary island”, and expresses a sense of black joy sparked by the compressed living environment on Earth.

Merit Prize

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Norway

Torgrim Wahl SUND

I have processed old portraits using dust and blowing them up in scale, and printed them in the old photogravure technique. Dust will always exemplify clarity - in its absence, but what is covered (or hidden), makes for a new discovery. This reminds me of an old Greek concept of truth, “alitheia”, a word which meaning is: if we reveal something about “the thing”, we obscure it at the same time. The dust in these works obscures our perception, and it challenges our language to meet something as amorphous as this. On various levels we find traces of what we all are looking for: a face! In lack of recognition, we project our own structures onto these works, visually, but also thematically. Thematically these prints deal with weathering, and the perceptual - which is ambiguous, almost not integrated. The grayscale, or the achromatic, is in Rorschach-literature known for awakening dysphoric emotions.

Merit Prize

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Taiwan

CHOU Yu-chen

An unreachable hill, an abandoned city of no entry, and an invisible world.

Merit Prize

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Taiwan

SONG Jia-syuan

The concept of this artwork is inspired by dream and aspiration. The image is a depiction of a little girl looking at the moon, and the moon is a symbol of the dream and aspiration. The pursuit of one’s dream is analogous to a mountain of feathers. The light and fragile feathers represent the road to achieving a dream is paved with obstacles, making it challenging to persevere and stay true to one’s original aim. Because of the learning and development acquired from those experiences, perhaps some fun should also be enjoyed along the way of pursuing one’s goal.

Merit Prize

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Thailand

Tinnakorn KASORNSUWAN

My presentation is based on the principle. That is to communicate positive feeling towards simple rural way of life and warmth and generosity in family. It is clearly noticeable from the symbols that signify rural characteristics

Honorable Mention

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Australia

David FRAZER

Waiting for Rain is my most ambitious work so far. It has culminated from years of small-scale wood engraving and the influence of my recent working trips to China. It is a love letter to the Australian countryside. It captures the feeling of standing above the landscape the moment before embracing it.

Honorable Mention

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China

LI Ya Ping

Comprehensive self-analyses are conducted by the artist through self-portraits.

Honorable Mention

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Taiwan

KAO Chun-ying

There exists a subtle corresponding relationship between people, things, spaces, and in the universe, as lives are spent in the perpetual pursuit and obedience of a balanced distance and state of being.

Honorable Mention

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Taiwan

LIN Pei-ying

The land holds up the world and nurtures it for all creatures to thrive and sustain endlessly. Mankind's attempt to form a balance with the land seems to be diminishing quietly as civilization is developed and expanded. The green before our eyes is becoming more empty, as reality falls apart.

Honorable Mention

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Taiwan

LIN Shan-yang

Urban spaces are like a medley of social mosaics, with one juxtaposed right next to another. With twists and turns that appear odd but with distinctive contours, the surfaces of these mosaics showcase constant changes, as the pieces overlap and even alter the preexisting features. An urban space may become compressed and segregated due to various reasons, resulting in different groups of people and lifestyles. This is regarded as the existence of heterogeneity, and in an urban setting, heterogeneity often shatters the sense of identification derived from stability, and from which more opportunities for interconnected relationships, hybridity, and changes are made possible.