Exhibition Title: Hello & Good-bye: Yeh Jen-kun Solo Exhibition
Venue: Asia Art Center Taipei I｜No.177, Sec. 2, Jianguo S. Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan
Reception: 3pm, November 14th, 2015
Duration: November 14th – December 20th, 2015

Asia Art Center is pleased to announce the opening of “Hello & Good-bye: Yeh Jen-kun Solo Exhibition” at 3pm on 14th November at Asia Art Center Taipei I.

Yeh Jen-Kun’s traditional mediums with contemporary expression are highlighted in “A Kind of Nostalgia Concerning Yeh Jen Kun’s Paintings” by Chuan Wei-Tzug as below:

In the historical context, Yeh Jen-Kun has fused techniques of traditional ink and wash painting with gouache. Further, he has also introduced a contemporary line of thinking into his works that result in artworks that stand out from what is commonly perceived as gouache and ink and wash painting. In Yeh’s recent body of works, he mostly depicts empty cities. Strong sharp lines, heavy shades of blue, and omnipresent concrete buildings are the elements that dominate these works and make them readily recognizable.

Plato believed that paintings can only present an illusion; it is the viewer’s resulting cognition that is real. In Yeh’s paintings, the ruin-like existences respond to the desolate spaces that have been neglected in real life and pay homage to the beauties that no longer remain. The carefully applied layers of ink and the gouache, laid on brushstroke by brushstroke, are mediums that produce marks, all of which correspond with the time in which the buildings exist along with the spaces that harbor them. The effect of the paint, which almost evokes a sense of touch, is proof that time has borne witness to what has passed; one might also say that the paint is the vestige of time.

About the Artist

Yeh Ren-kun (born in 1984 in Pinjhen, Taoyuan, Taiwan) is an artist featuring ink and gouache. He received an M.F.A. from Taipei National University of the Arts, School of Fine Arts (TNUA), Taiwan in 2011. His exhibitions include: Yes,Taiwan-2014 Taiwan Biennial (National Taiwan Museum, Taichung, 2014), The 4th Taipei Contemporary Ink Painting Biennial (National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, 2012). He was awarded by the Taipei International Modern Ink Painting Biennial in 2006, 2008, and 2010. His painting is collected by National Taiwan Museum. He currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.