Taiwan March Notes – Sharing Lectures in Kaohsiung and Chiayi

Text and images / Chen Chi-Hsiang

In recent years, frequent lectures along the northern and southern routes at universities, galleries, or book clubs have made me more professional and at ease within my studies. In March, the Wuyuan Book Club in Kaohsiung invited me for two lectures; last year I also gave a series of four lectures on "Western Garden Art" at their book club. This time, I shared again the secrets of "seeing." Naturally, all visual art appreciation opens a dialogue of the present moment through "seeing." My lectures often use the simplest language to express the deepest meanings, guiding with clarity without needing grand theories or principles, as making the audience clearly understand is the best shortcut for communication.

"How you see determines what you see." We see what we want to see; we do not see things themselves, but ourselves. French writer Proust wrote: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." In The Little Prince, the secret the fox gives the Little Prince is: the most valuable things are not those seen by the eyes, but must be felt with the heart. How to see? Why see? What to see? What if you don't understand? Is art meant to make people "understand" or "feel"? "What can be seen can be imagined; what can be imagined is not necessarily visible." "Is what is seen more real, or what is felt more real?" And so on.

In April, before leaving Taiwan, I continued to be busy and fulfilled with lecture after lecture, running north and south without stopping, continuing to share my understanding and experience of "seeing," because all visual art appreciation involves "seeing." I often say that as an artist, art critic, and amateur gardening enthusiast, I truly like seeing, liking to explore the depths of existence. With the flow of consciousness, living means attempting to taste and experience the awareness of the present. I will continue to share two sessions on "seeing" at the café "Between Breaths" opened by A-Meng in Chiayi, and under the invitation of a Qigong class, there will be one session. I am happy to share what I have learned and experienced with friends under these circumstances. I am grateful to Heaven for giving me such opportunities; sharing is the highest gift of existence.