A Blast of Lyricism: Contemporary Taiwanese Art in London: Ava Hsueh, Chiang Yomei, Yao Jui-Chung, Chen Chun-Hao, Yang Chung-Ming, Su Meng-Hung, Chiu Chen-Hung, Lee Jo-Mei, He Yusen

Ava Hsueh obtained her D.A. degree in Arts from New York University, and currently serves as the Honorary Professor in the Tainan National University of the Arts. She has been appointed as the Director of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Chief Executive of National Cultural and Arts Foundation, and has served as the Dean of the College of Visual Arts, the Chair of the Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory in Tainan National University of the Arts. 

Hsueh has long chosen abstract art as her expression. In dexterously conjuring biomorphic abstraction and geometric abstraction, she creates a hybrid reality that corresponds to epochal shifts in contemporary abstract art. 

Hsueh has exhibited internationally, including in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, France, Italy, and the U.S. Her works are housed in various collections, including the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taichung Art Museum, Taichung, Taiwan; Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; White Rabbit Museum, Chippendale, Australia; and private collections.

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Yao Jui-Chung specializes in photography, installation, and painting. The themes of his works are varied, but they all examine the absurdity of the human condition. Representative works include the “Action Series,” where he explores Taiwan’s identity in Military Takeover (1994), subverts modern Chinese political myths in Recovering Mainland China (1997), and examines post-colonialism in The World is for All (1997–2000), as well as Long March — Shifting the Universe (2002).

In recent years, he has created photo installations combining the style of “gold and green landscape” with the superstitions that permeate Taiwanese folklore, expressing a false and alienated “cold reality” that is specific to Taiwan. Representative works include the series “Celestial Barbarians” (2000), “Savage Paradise” (2000), and “Heaven” (2001). Another photo installation series “Libido of Death” (2002) and “Hill” (2003) probe the eternal issue of body and soul.

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Yang Chung-Ming is the only contemporary artist whose printmaking works are collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. He primarily works in the medium of printmaking. Infused with rich life experiences and acute sensitivity, Yang departs from the artistic appearance of traditional printmakers who are engrossed in technique. His art emphasizes profound thoughts and subtle emotions over technical skill, freely navigating between nature and humanities, East and West, as well as classical and contemporary. Through constant experimentation and pushing the boundaries of printmaking, he has carved out a unique artistic landscape. “I have always been searching for the path in art that can only be traversed through printmaking,” Yang says. Since falling in love with printmaking in college, he has devoted his life to exploring this art form. In his hands, printmaking transforms into pieces that are filled with craftsmanship, romanticism, and humanistic sentiments.

From painting and installation art to printmaking, and from highly detailed mezzotints to one-of-a-kind prints, he has honed his craft over decades. In his work, the medium becomes a tool subservient to the concept, allowing him to express a diversity of styles not confined to a single genre. Beyond form, what is even more precious is that Yang Chung-Ming’s art doesn’t clamor for attention; instead, it resonates subtly, seeping into the depths of the viewer’s heart.

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Chiu Chen-Hung’s works are primarily presented in the framework of installation and sculpture. Like conducting an archeological expedition, he is especially proficient in excavating remnants from bygone times and uninhabited space. He reimagines forsaken objects and derelict structures by transforming them into abstract forms suffused with memory and sentiment that obey an intimate logic of nostalgia.  

Chiu's recent notable exhibitions include Anonymous Exhibition, Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong (2024) ; The Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong (2022); Kunstfest Weimar, Park des Landguts Holzdorf, Weimar, Germany (2021); Embroidered Swallows Across Original Jungle, TKG+ Projects, Taipei, Taiwan (2021); The Secret South: From Cold War Perspective to Global South in Museum Collection, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2020); Asian Art Biennial: The Strangers From Beyond the Mountain and the Sea, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2019); Phototaxis, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2019); Island Tales: Taiwan and Australia, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2019). Artist residency programs include Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2019); and Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France (2012).

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Recipient of the Judges’ Special Award at the 2025 Kaohsiung Awards, He Yusen holds a BFA in Sculpture from the National Taiwan University of Arts and an MFA in Conceptual Sculpture and Material Studies from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing.

He’s practice is rooted in an exploration of material fluidity, focusing on the way liquid substances gradually envelop and obscure objects. This slow, immersive process transforms solid forms, dissolving their original contours into softened, blurred edges, evoking a sense of quiet transience.

Through constructing physical objects as conceptual inquiries into permanence, erasure, and perceptual transformation, He investigates the possibilities of sculptural material and form. By revealing the randomness and latent potential within the material world, he seeks a balance between the natural and the artificial, redefining the language of sculpture through his distinct perspective.

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