Art Central

Imagine a far-flung city of meditation with the Utopian spirit as a floating elephant-shaped rocky island in the sky. On this spiritual island, a Buddha stone statuette can just about be seen meditating, characterizing the sages’ teachings and wisdoms from a time long past. At the bottom of the painting, there are also cats blowing bubbles at the foot of the Teapot Hill, happily perched on top of staircases from ruined civilisation, paying respect to the island above. The ‘spout’ of the Teapot Hill represents the wilderness of the world, dialoguing with the trunk of the Elephant Island, a vivid depiction of the excitement like the close encounter with the third kind in Genesis; it conveys the wisely salvation of desire. The tail of the rocky island is that of a snake, an allegory of a greedy snake eating an elephant, in other words, biting off more than one can chew. Through his painting, Lien expresses his blessing to mother earth, and spreads his well wishes riding on the floating island.

Keelung Mountain is an extinct volcano situated in the north eastern side of Taiwan. A once thriving Taiwanese gold, copper and coal mining area, it was also the location of Lien Chien Hsing’s ancestral lands, tucked behind the mountain in Shaungxi Township. His grandparents were miners in the area who sadly passed away in a mining accident. His art piece is a model of realism, and it depicts the serenity of the mountain village, and how life traveling between the once bustling Jingua stone mine and the village must have been like in its heydays. On the left of the piece the mines were restored to their former glories, a subjective fictional transformation if you will, towards the desolation the artist felt when the mining industry had run its course, but also a celebration of the return of nature’s comeback and the honors it brings. It is the dialogue between humanity and nature, which awakened the long forgotten idealistic embrace of the scenery.

Coming across the remains or a destruction of a civilization always conjures up various emotions. The series ‘Traveling in submerged landscapes and icebergs’ were created by employing imagination, synthesis and association, to search for inspiration in a familiar Taiwanese urban and rural setting. The piece depicts an imagination of the dire consequences to the ecological system over the years, along with a consciousness to crisis in life, and the damaging thought of land’s excessive development. Set in the Taipei basin, it’s a warning image of the decline of modern day civilization. The theme of the piece is centered around the elephant iceberg, which represents the symbol of wisdom and compassion. Describing the environment being destroyed by human’s overexploitation, Mother Earth is still willing to carry humanity’s guilt and salvation, and return with kindness and tolerance whilst silently bearing it all. It also supports and care for all living things, depicting here with penguins having fun, this shows Mother Earth also acting as a loving space supporting every need with no regrets, while the Aurora assumes the role of glory in this piece.