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IV. Is the Spirit of Primeval Fireball Still Alive?

Was the spirit of Primeval Fireball lost amid the various temptations of a love for painting, art historical responsibilities, and the urge for social commentary? Or was the spirit only elusive, briefly concealing itself before resurfacing with renewed vigor?

The Internet is driving globalization, as well as the revolution of digitalization—including intelligentization and AI (artificial intelligence). These have triggered rapid changes in social forms and lifestyles at an unprecedented speed. In 1990, I wrote in my diary, “Being in the beginning of the computer and information age, I am excited as an artist to be part of this era of great transformation. Compared to the Impressionists facing the development of industrial civilization, we are facing a more essential and magnificent era of humanity. This self-awareness makes me feel the need to strive hard.” Now, advanced technologies like AI once again excite me. I always feel the era I face is awesome!


#40
Impression Oil Drawing: Shooting the Suns
2001
Oil on canvas
107 x 107 cm

#41
Impression Oil Drawing: Extension
2001
Oil on canvas
40.5 x 51 cm

#42
Impression Oil Drawing: Shooting the Suns
2001
Oil on canvas
40.5 x 51 cm

#43
Impression Oil Drawing: Shooting the Suns
2001
Oil on canvas
40.5 x 51 cm

#44
Impression Oil Drawing: Bombing the Taiwan Province Museum of Art
2001
Oil on canvas
76 x 61 cm

#45
Impression Oil Drawing: Shooting the Suns
2001
Oil on canvas
76 x 101.5cm

This is one of the few works where I captured the impressions of explosions in oil. The colorful oil painting brings me closer to my passion for painting, which has been uninterrupted since I was a teenager.

#46 (cat. 50)
Encounter with the Unknown No. 2
2022
Gunpowder on glass and mirror
205 x 183 cm

This is a gunpowder drawing, exploded between glass and mirror, for the LED light installation, Encounter with the Unknown.

#47 (cat. 48)
Frolicking on Ice in the Galaxy
2020
Gunpowder on glass and mirror
205 x 915 cm

I created several explosions of different sizes on the glass and the mirror respectively, and then I merged them. They became one artwork after a last, grand explosion, depicting the romantic and magical act of humans ice-skating in space.

#48 (cat. 46)
Non-Brand 非品牌 5
2019
Gunpowder on glass and mirror
183 x 152.5 cm

#49 (cat. 47)
Return to Darkness
2021
Gunpowder on glass and mirror
183 x 152.5 cm

Using pigments of Tibetan painting that I brought back from Tibet, I blended them with gunpowder and created a cosmic pattern resembling a mandala painting on a mirror surface, taking the time to immerse myself in the same painstaking process the Lamas undertake. Once covered with glass, it was ignited! In an instant, the splendid world and the flourishing floating clouds from the fireworks were returned to the dark universe.

#50 (cat. 49)
QMoCA's Universe
2022
Gunpowder on glass
183 x 205 cm

Since around 1995, I have envisioned the establishment of a contemporary art museum QMoCA in my hometown, and it is finally close to realization. Frank Gehry's architectural design captures the imminent singular state before the Big Bang, featuring a grand hall that evokes the expansion of the universe and points to infinite possibilities. I look forward to it becoming a beacon that inspires contemporary dreams, freedom, creativity, and hope.

I utilized the silvering liquid used for making mirrors to draw images of a space station and astronauts on glass, and then ignited it with gunpowder: Imagine the possibilities of the ambitious future QMoCA hall …

#51
Encounter with the Unknown
2023
Kinetic light installation
Castillo towers with motors, LED lights, and computer-programmed control software
AR realized by E.I.ART
Approx. 500 x 1900 x 2200 cm

Encounter with the Unknown originated from my explosion event of the same name, which I realized in 2019 in Cholula, Mexico. 500 years after the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico, I invited six Mexican families involved in traditional fireworks production—who had competed with one another for generations—to collaborate. Using thirteen traditional firework towers known as castillos, we presented a story of collisions among different cultural cosmologies in the night sky. Mexican pyrotechnic maestros handcrafted the patterns based on my designs, using traditional techniques to construct the towers. The fireworks’ propulsion created simple mechanical movements.

Today, this spectacle has transformed into an LED installation like a sketch of light, driven by electric motors and controlled by computers. It has become a vast, horizontal “cosmic jungle.” Beginning with the nature-based cosmology of Mayan civilization, the work integrates various images of “departing from gravity and embracing the universe” borrowed from different civilizations and cosmologies. It expresses mankind’s longing for the universe since ancient times, conveying that human beings—with all our uncertainties about the future—yearn for an unknown world more than ever. The installation articulates images of kaleidoscope-like galaxies, the ancient Chinese legend of Wanhu attempting to travel to outer space, and modern space launch pads. Astronauts orbiting the earth, Gagarin, Prehistoric Man and Extraterrestrials, Einstein, Hawking, flying saucers, and frolicking cherubs also make their appearances.

As the LED lights flicker and flow, the whole work resembles a drawing quietly made by an invisible hand representing an imagined map of an esoteric universe. It organically blends with the exhibition’s theme and artworks.

By scanning the QR in the gallery with smartphones, viewers can witness an augmented reality (AR) implementation featuring a boy flying a kite as he navigates through the exhibition gallery and amongst the artworks.