(Text/ Center for Humanities and Arts at National Central University)
Leading Taiwanese contemporary art toward new international horizons, artist Chen Chun-Hao has made history with his iconic “Mosquito-Nail Landscape” series. His work Copy after Fan Kuan’s Travelers among Mountains and Streams was officially acquired by the British Museum in 2025 as part of its permanent collection. This marks the first time a work by a Taiwanese contemporary artist has entered the museum’s Asian collection, and stands as a significant milestone in the Ministry of Culture’s “Cultural Black Tide Initiative” for promoting cultural diplomacy through art.
Upon the artist’s celebrated return to Taiwan, the Center for Humanities and Arts at National Central University is honored to continue this international recognition by presenting “Resonant Antiquity, Luminous Present — Solo Exhibition of Chen Chun-Hao,” the artist’s first solo exhibition following the museum acquisition. The exhibition invites audiences to experience how Chen revitalizes the language of traditional ink painting through the unexpected medium of mosquito nails.
Classical landscape painting, characterized by expressive brushwork and dynamic spirit (qi yun sheng dong), traditionally reflects the literati’s reverence for nature and pursuit of aesthetic ideals. Yet ancient ink scrolls often fade into obscurity with time. In the hands of Chen Chun-Hao, however, these masterpieces are reborn through the industrial material of mosquito nails.
Resonant Antiquity, Luminous Present embodies the artist’s reinterpretation and homage to classical ink painting. Through the rhythmic accumulation of thousands of nails, Chen constructs a visual dialogue that transcends time. The shimmering metallic reflections in the works arise not only from the physical interaction between nails and light, but also symbolize a contemporary reinterpretation of ideal landscapes.
Chen explains that the study of traditional ink painting begins with copying (linmo). He regards copying as a deeply personal creative method—a process of re-creation that emerges through the dialogue between historical imagery and contemporary materials. The exhibition also demonstrates his exploration of diverse presentation formats. For example, Chen places the Qing-dynasty painter Zheng Xie’s bamboo painting Distant Mountains and Misty Bamboo and the calligraphy Today’s Auspicious Gathering by Fu Shan (late Ming–early Qing) on opposite sides of a folding screen, transforming the act of copying from technical replication into an intertextual conversation between artworks.
Centered on Chen Chun-Hao’s signature Mosquito-Nail Landscapes, the exhibition presents in depth how the artist visually translates classical masterpieces through the use of an industrial pneumatic nail gun. His representative work Snow Mountain alone required more than one million mosquito nails. Chen insists on producing every work personally, refusing assistance, and considers the physical strain caused by prolonged labor as a form of devotional practice—an embodied tribute to the artists of the past. By manipulating the density and protruding height of each nail, he transforms light and shadow into tonal gradations resembling ink washes. Standing before the works, viewers will experience both the overwhelming material presence formed by millions of impacts and the visual paradox through which rigid metal becomes imbued with the soft vitality of ink painting.
