15th JAALA Biennial Exhibition

DURATION: 2006-07-08 ~ 2006-07-16
OPENING: 2006-07-08
VENUE: 〒110-0007 東京都台東區上野公園8-36
ADDRESS: 8-36 Ueno-Park Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007
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Message to the 15th JAALA Biennial Exhibition Honorable President of AICA TAIWAN I knew about Mr. Hariu more than thirty years ago when I bought his book, Sign and Image (published by Kodansha in 1971), but it was not until 2004 that I knew him in person when we both participated in the 38th annual World Congress of AICA, held in Taipei Taiwan. I am surprised and feel most honored when he invited me in April of this year to recruit artists from Taiwan to participate the JAALA’s biennial exhibition in Tokyo. And only then I realized what a great person Mr. Hariu is when he has devoted so much time and energy in promoting mutual understanding among people of all nations, especially among the so-called “third world”. His endeavor seems to me especially precious when now the art-world is so much commercialized and most of the celebrated artists forget their vocation since the stone-age, that the artists should be the spiritual leader of a community. They must be very sensitive of people’s needs, feeling their happiness and sorrow, helping them in building up their well-being like the shaman/artist of the cave paintings did in the Stone Age. Since formalist thinking became the mainstream in art community, many artists neglected or even dismissed art as an instrument for protesting the cruelty, exploitation, tyranny, oppression and aggression to/of other people. They forget that art is also a powerful instrument in demanding justice for all and peace among people of all nations. Historically, even though Taiwan has been governed by various foreign powers (Spain, Holland, Japan and China), its people seem quite accustomed to live a timid life. Even though now facing great threat from China’s communist regime across the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese live a hedonist and cynical life. Even worse, politicians in Taiwan are doing their best to flatter and fawn on that bully neighbor and forget that to live in dignity without threat is a most humble and minimum demand of ordinary people. Taiwanese artists have a long history of avoid engaging in political issues while improving their own artistic career. It is perhaps for this reason, even when protesting, Taiwanese artists seem indirect, ambiguous, implicit, and reserved. Young artists in particular, enjoyed their lives in a peaceful age, learn the terror and horror of War only when watching movie or, ironically, when playing video games. So even when protesting, they do it humorously. It is said that in schools of all levels in Taiwan, when asked about how they will react should the communist China invade Taiwan, most of the students answered quite calmly, “surrender” and “as soon as possible”. I think this is simply missing the point. We are certainly not here to provoke fighting, but the bottom line is that to live together harmoniously and peacefully, and respect each other is nothing but a basic principle for all who live in this small village we call Earth! Of the dozens of artists I contacted during these past months, I found that even though many artists do have works related to the issues of War and Peace, only a bunch of few artists are now making art on canvas, usually very huge size canvases, making transportation a difficult problem so I have to give up only reluctantly. In anyway, I do sincerely hope that through this JAALA exhibition, we may find, or even encourage, more artists to break out their silence, stand up and speak out for the freedom and peace of mankind.