Chen Chi-Hsiang Solo Exhibition "Realm - Homeland"
The advertisement for Chen Chi-Hsiang's solo exhibition "Realm - Homeland" published in Artist Magazine by Bema Gallery in March.
Chen Chi-Hsiang: "Realm - Homeland" Solo Exhibition. Exhibiting Gallery: Taipei Bema Gallery. Exhibition Dates: March 12 to April 10. Location: No. 26, Alley 304, Section 1, Jianguo South Road, Da'an District, Taipei City.
"Space-Time - Realm of Myriad Phenomena. Myriad Phenomena - Domain of Space-Time. Realm-Domain - Original Homeland of Life"
The vast universe and myriad phenomena are illusory, ever-changing, enchanting, and vibrant with life, appearing real yet dreamlike. They manifest as original images without form, empty forms, where nothing is strange, and no void lacks form; all myriad phenomena are original images. All existence arises from the mind, and meaning is shaped by realms; art and life are the same. The theme "Realm - Homeland" stems from his unusual Hair series, one of his diverse creative directions in recent years. Like other series, it aims to glimpse the miraculous wonder and profound mystery of existence. Art naturally reflects perceptions and insights into life, witnessing states and situations of being. Through this, we trace back to the source of life—penetrating its essential landscape. Observing changes amidst life's transience and illusion, one grasps the essence of the world's mysteries through familiar daily details, as in the "Observing the Mind, Surveying the Realm" mental image series. From this, diverse series extend, revolving around the transformations of nature and worldly affairs, reflecting on life's existence itself, such as the "Mirror Flowers, Water Moon" series, creating reality from illusion and illusion from reality; mirror flowers are like illusion, water moons resemble reality, "Mirror flowers, water moons, pure life is like a dream." In the "Like Mirror - Like Realm" series, mirrors are like realms, realms like mirrors, illusion like reality, reality like illusion, with illusion and reality dissolving; like a mirror, also like a realm. The "Spring Dream - Non-Dream" series depicts the earth returning to spring and forming myriad phenomena, where all illusions and realities are dreams; "Myriad Phenomena" equals "Phenomena" equals "Strange Forms." In the "Original Image Not Like Form" series, true images have no form, original forms do not resemble images, resembling images like original forms, true emptiness resembles strange forms. "Realm - Homeland" is one such series: Space-Time - Realm of Myriad Phenomena, Myriad Phenomena - Domain of Space-Time, Realm-Domain - Original Homeland of Life. These metaphors illustrate the birth and dissolution of natural evolution and the illusoriness of things, expressing the most beautiful source of life from a dreamlike world.
"Realm - Homeland," like other series, explores the vast world of myriad phenomena through keen micro-observations of daily life, which is more magical than imagination, especially through ingenious play of light and shadow or physical phenomena of reflection. Amidst these realistic illusions and illusory realities, an extraordinary mental field is constructed, shaping a spiritual landscape of deep inner consciousness. The real becomes imagined, the concrete becomes abstract, further purified into the metaphysical, cognition becomes awareness, the invisible becomes visible, seamlessly constructing a transcendent artistic conception. It highlights ubiquitous substance and elusive emptiness, poetically conveying the ineffable realm-homeland within the material and phenomenal here and now.
These micro-mental images of nature or life landscapes use combinations of two or more heterogeneous objects through unusual convergence. With light casting shadows and mirrors revealing forms, light and shadow, or mirrors and reflections, are treated as two sides of the same coin, constructing artistic truth under physical phenomena. Realities of yin and yang, light and shadow, white and black, day and night, mirrors and reflections, reality and dreams, consciousness and behavior, chaos and order, though seemingly opposed, are actually integral parts of life's existence. Dramatic bilateral symmetry is ingeniously used to create mirror images that reflect and dialogue with each other, resembling twins who look alike. They can stand independently yet complement each other to form tight relationships and become one; similarity becomes the symbol of these series.
Blank space in consciousness is another symbol, carving the intensity of the image itself. White backgrounds are not just backdrops but spaces for galloping imagination, penetrating the profound mental world and conveying deep spiritual states of awareness and perception within poetic imagery. The white background is a carrier of spirit, merging with white walls into one unit; encountering any color, it contrasts and highlights the painting's dimensions. These series are divided into three types: linear expression as the main carrier, construction through color planes, or a combination of both, being both linear and planar. Shedding all anecdotal, narrative, and literary qualities, the overall existence of painting returns to Realm-Homeland, thus becoming the most obvious painting style where "Myriad Phenomena" equals "Phenomena" equals "Strange Forms."