Artist News | Vivacity．Overflowing—Chuang Che at 90 opens at Asia University Museum of Modern Art
Vivacity．Overflowing—Chuang Che at 90
Artist | CHUANG Che
Dates | Oct 26, 2024 – Apr 06, 2025
Venue | Asia University Museum of Modern Art
Address | 500 Lioufeng Rd., Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan
Museum Hours | Tuesday – Sunday | 9:30am to 5pm
The Fifth Moon Art Society and the Ton Fan Group played pivotal roles in shaping the golden age of Taiwanese art during the late 1950s to the 1960s. Among their influential members, CHUANG Che (1934-), one of the Fifth Moon Art Society’s mambers, emerged as a revolutionary artist, collaborating with others to advance the modernization of art during this transformative period. Asia Art Center has partnered with Chuang for nearly two decades, presenting numerous solo and group exhibitions. A highlight was the 2020 exhibition ” As Lofty as a Mountain,” which revisited his mountain-themed works from the 1960s to 2019. Chuang remarked, “We have to acknowledge that in the past Chinese painting focused on landscapes, so subconsciously I already had the idea of re-expressing landscapes.” Reflecting on this today reveals not only the necessity for technical evolution in painting mountains but also emphasizes that his avant-garde vision allowed him to secure a prominent place in the art world, leading Taiwan’s modern painting movement and facilitating a transformation in both materials and conceptual approaches. He stands as a giant in the pursuit of abstraction and the modernization of art in the Chinese-speaking community.
Chuang Che followed in the footsteps of his father, Chuang Yan, a legendary figure known for his role as the deputy director of the National Palace Museum during wartime. Their remarkable story has become widely known. In short, as he accompanied his father in safeguarding the artifacts of the Palace Museum across the vast territory of China during his childhood, Chuang Che eventually settled in Taiwan as a teenager, where he lived until moving to the U.S. in 1972. Through decades of artistic creation, he has absorbed the civilizations of both the East and the West, from ancient times to the present. Chuang has consistently remained true to his artistic vision, striving to create modern abstract paintings that fuse Eastern and Western aesthetics into a cohesive whole.
Chuang Che’s family settled in Wufeng, Beigou in 1950, alongside the artifacts of the National Palace Museum. This location became the place where he spent the longest time in Taiwan. The “Vivacity‧Overflowing—Chuang Che at 90” special exhibition, held at the Asia University Museum of Modern Art situated in Wufeng, Taichung, making it a fitting venue to reflect on Chuang Che’s impressive 90 years. The exhibition is organized into six sections based on the spatial layout, showcasing Chuang Che’s artistic achievements accumulated over decades of travel between the East and the West. Through his masterful use of collage and calligraphy, the artist creates poetic visuals.