THÓO-PŌO TÓO-GÍ Hung Cheng-Ren: A Survey looks at the artist’s creative trajectory of nearly four decades. The exhibition showcases 72 artworks spanning the late 1980s and the current day, highlighting different stages of Hung’s career.

Thóo-Pōo is a term used by the artist as a self-deprecating note to describe the lack of advancements in his techniques while compared to the state-of-the-art technologies in image-making. Here it refers to the methods one develops in response to the conditions and environment in which they work—often it is grown out of necessity and is formed outside formal artistic conventions. Thóo-Gí means vernacular. Here we refer it to an artistic “language” that emerges when the artist’s “subject” and “form of expression” are well complementary of each other. From these two concepts, the exhibition examines the formation of Hung’s techniques and aesthetics, and how they lead to a style that is particular to his development as an artist.

Hung’s career can be divided into three stages: the “formative period” (1984-1994), the “experimental period” (1998-2008), and the “fusion period” (2009-). Works shown include

the formally aesthetic pictures of his early years and his creative endeavor during the late 1990s and early 2000s, during which he and 4 other photo artists formed the Black Eye Circle Image Creatives. The experimental period led to the development of techniques that defined his later practice and helped form his “vernacular”, a style visible in his iconic work on Hongmaogang: Place of Melancholy, and extends to his latest series, Formosa Dystopia, which is a response to the contemporary society and culture in Taiwan.

Hung embarked on his artistic journey as an amateur photo enthusiast and became one of the prominent Taiwanese photo artists of the day. THÓO-PŌO TÓO-GÍ is a survey of this trajectory, which is grown outside of the traditional or the canonical, in the wild. He and his comrades, which share with him similar identities and experiences, can be seen as the “wildlings” of Taiwanese photographic artists, a breed unique to this land.

     Born 1960, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Hung’s creative career spans nearly 40 years, which began with his first camera purchase in 1984. He is a technician at the CPC Corporation, and is therefore coined a ‘blue collar artist’. His work expresses deep concern over the land and environment, as well as the impact brought upon humans by politics and social change. In the late 1990s, he began to experiment with more personal, expressive forms of photography, often incorporating techniques of collage and performance by himself as the protagonist in his images.

     He has exhibited in Taiwan and internationally at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, and Maison Européenne de la photographie in Paris. His works are in the permanent collections of museums in Taiwan and abroad. Hung has followed the resettlement of Hongmaogang Village for decades, a subject which was the major component in his most recognized series—Place of Melancholy. Today he continues to care for Taiwan and its people but expands his subject to topics of contemporary political and cultural issues, as seen in his latest and ongoing series—Formosa Dystopia.

Mong-jane Wu / Curator

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Wu studied sociology and architectural history before she received an MFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2012). She has exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the New England Photography Biennial, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and Kyoto Art Center. Wu taught photography at SMFA as a graduate student. After returning to Taiwan, she participated in the translation of several books on photography and began to give lectures and mentorships to teenage artists. She coordinated the exhibition A Handful of Dust, curated by David Campany, while working at the National Center of Photography and Images. She is currently conducting research on a local photography group from Kaohsiung, the Black Eye Circle Image Creatives, of which Hung Cheng-Ren was a member.

Xiao-xi Lin / Curator

Curator at Mezzo Art, Tainan. Born 1989 in Taichung, Taiwan. Lin graduated in 2012 from the Dept. of Theatrical Design and Technology, Taipei National University of the Arts, majoring in lighting design. She has worked in public programs at several art institutions, and in 2017 has enrolled in TNUA’s Graduate Institute of Museum Studies as a graduate student. She enjoyed exploring the relationship between humanity and creativity by interpreting screenplays. Now her goal is to convey to the public with writing, in an approachable language, about the stories behind artworks that are discovered through the process of studying artists’ creations.