Huang Chih-Cheng: Chosen Family

Huang Chih-Cheng: Chosen Family
Huang Chih-Cheng: Chosen Family

2024.3.2 - 2024.7.21 | 3F, Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art

Introduction

Chosen Family resembles a semi-autobiographically constructed account of Huang Chih-Cheng’s family history. Based on the archives of his own family, the artist also employs portraits of others, including those of his partner’s biological family, to portray his imagination of the structure of a contemporary family. Through such an attempt, he not only disrupts the fixed meaning and ethical concerns regarding a so-called traditional family, but also genealogically re-composes his family history by incorporating heterogeneous elements.

Huang grew up in a family with rather close relationships, which has made him acutely sensitive to changes of internal relations. After the passing of his grandparents, he feels that the members of his family have grown distant. He himself also becomes aware that everyone in his family seems to perceive their shared memory differently—in short, it is as if everyone holds a copy of the family history, but none is authentic. How should memory be referenced and preserved? As a matter of fact, it is rather challenging for people to have a unified perception of the past. As Henri Bergson points out, memory is never simply about reviewing past events. It is especially the case when it comes to an individual’s memory. What is represented through memory is not events or scenes; instead, it is more about an individual’s past and life, which has an influence on the person’s sensory perception in the present.

The Mandarin title of the exhibition is inspired by Balzac’s masterpiece, La Comédie Humaine, in which the interweaving scenes and historical periods form the customs history of the French society, mixed with the history of living concerning different aspects of everyday life. Following this line of thinking, Huang’s semi-fictious history of living revolves and unfolds around family as the subject. Utilizing metal foil, the artist shapes and unveils ambiguous images, attempting to destabilize the framework of familial boundary through obscure implications. In a way, his work resembles a gesture of nostalgically reminiscing through the interstices of time caused by mnemonic errors. Such gaze on the history of oneself and others, to an extent, is more of an endeavor in re-learning about the past and ushering in the future. Through his exploration, the artist is also able to recalibrate his life experiences, while contemplating on atypical organization of intimate relations and social networks, as well as how diverse values could be practiced in contemporary society.

Artists' Profile

 




Huang Chih-Cheng

Huang Chih-Cheng (b. 1988) was born in Miaoli and grew up in Kaohsiung. He received his BFA from National Pingtung University in 2010 and his MFA from Tunghai University in 2013, and now lives in Taipei. Huang is the recipient of the First Prize at Next Art Tainan in 2015, and received a third-season nomination for the Taishin Arts Award in 2022. He also won the Merit Award at the TDCC Contemporary Art Award Artists Exhibition in 2022. His works have been included in the collections of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the Tainan Art Museum. In 2016 and 2019, Huang also participated in the “Taiwan Contemporary Artists Overseas Visit Program” organized by the Tianmei Art Foundation.

 

Huang has presented solo exhibitions at various art institutions, including the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art (Nantou, 2024), Double Square Gallery (Taipei, 2023), 107gallery (Taichung, 2022), MUMU Gallery (Tainan, 2022), A Gallery (Taipei, 2021), and Telling Arts (2018). He has also joined various group exhibitions in recent years, including the Chiayi Art Museum (2023), Mezzo Art (Tainan, 2022), Apollo Art Gallery (Taipei, 2020), Tainan Art Museum (2019), Taipei Artist Village (2019), National Human Rights Museum (Taipei, 2019), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2017), Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki (2015, Japan), and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2014).

 

Metal foil is a rather iconic medium used by Huang in artistic creation. Different types of foil have dissimilar characteristics. Whether warm or gloomy, Huang is drawn to the foil and has continuously explored the medium. In college, the artist did not limit himself in studying collage, Eastern gouache, ink, and darkroom techniques. It was during this time that he came across metal foil. Consequently, while investing himself in painting, Huang also tried to represent the vintage photographs in his collection as negative films, and mixed ink transferring, foiling, sewing, smearing, and scraping to eventually create mysterious images that are highly open for interpretation. These images, though unrecognizable, can be easily associated with other people’s life experiences, allowing them to encompass anything possible. Huang intends to shatter material boundaries and frameworks, while responding to his attention to reality, such as the happening of qualitative change—in other words, all material things in this world are, in fact, fragile, just like the broken images that he has created. From (personal) family history, life and death, as well as desire and lust, these topics compel us to question about whether memory can be viewed as real existence and serve as a pathway to perceive time.

Photos

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Fictional Spirit - Apartment Stairs│2022│137 x 197 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Flash 20│2017│30 x 42 cm│Jangji, pencil, acrylic paint, ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil, sliver foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Breeze│2023│136 x 97 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, charcoal, aluminum foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Summer│2023│136 x 97 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, copper foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Aftersound│2023│136 x 194 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, aluminum foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Aria 19│2022│83 x 117 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, thread, mixed media, silver foil, aluminum foil│Private collection

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Wave│2023│138 x 100 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil

  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Fictional Spirit - Apartment Stairs│2022│137 x 197 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Flash 20│2017│30 x 42 cm│Jangji, pencil, acrylic paint, ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil, sliver foil
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Breeze│2023│136 x 97 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, charcoal, aluminum foil
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Summer│2023│136 x 97 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, copper foil
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Aftersound│2023│136 x 194 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, aluminum foil
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Aria 19│2022│83 x 117 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, thread, mixed media, silver foil, aluminum foil│Private collection
  • Huang Chih-Cheng│Wave│2023│138 x 100 cm│Jangji, ink, pigment-based ink, cotton thread, aluminum foil

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