The Culture Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom (TRO), with the support of the Ministry of Culture, has helped bring the works of Taiwanese artists Li Yuan-chia (李元佳) and Hsieh Tehching (謝德慶) to London. Their artworks will feature in Whitechapel Gallery's Spring Exhibition, "A Century of the Artist's Studio 1920-2020," from Feb.24 to Jun. 5.
This multi-media exhibition explores the original contexts in which art is created, and considers ways in which the studio itself can become a work of art. The exhibition will present paintings, sculptures, illustrations, and film depicting the creative possibilities of the studio, as well as a series of "studio corners" which recreate the actual environments in which great artists have worked.
The diversity and infinite possibilities of the artist's studio are encapsulated in the two Taiwanese artists featured in this exhibition. The exhibition imagines the artist’s studio as both public and/or private space, sometimes akin to a factory or political collective, at other times a home, laboratory, or refuge from the outside world. No two creative processes are alike, and the diverse manifestations of the artist's studio give testament to the different manners in which artists have sought to create, maintain, and utilize the space in which they work.
Director of the Cultural Division of the TRO Chen Pin-chuan (陳斌全) comments that this exhibition helps to highlight the creativity of Taiwan’s art and culture which gave rise to the internationally-recognized works included in this collection. He is pleased to see this series of events aimed at helping the audiences gain a rich understanding of contemporary Taiwanese art, thereby facilitating opportunities for more works from Taiwan to be selected for exhibition.
The exhibition will bring together more than 100 works by over 80 artists and collectives from Europe, Africa, South Asia, China, Japan, North and South America, the Middle East, and Australasia.