Exhibition Introduction

“The Song of Time” is the solo exhibition of Tzu-Chi YEH, a contemporary realist painting artist in Taiwan, held for the very first time in a museum in his career. Tzu-Chi YEH (1957-), born and raised in Yuli, Hualien, experienced a winding journey in life for studies and the quest for an ideal haven for art. From Yuli to Hualien, and then to Taipei, he stepped onto foreign soil at the age of thirty with his fiancé, Ms. Effi Kin-Tsuei CHANG, to study and start a family in New York. At 49, he returned to his hometown in Hualien. In this constant process of relocation, vision pursuing, and self-realization, the artist recorded different time and space, as well as memories and realities, across various stages in life via his portrayal of “landscape indoors,” “still life outdoors,” and, most importantly, “family.”

The meaning of the “Song” in the exhibition title can be interpreted via two different dimensions. First, through the religious context of the Song of Songs, we envisage the relationship between Yeh’s artistic practice and his life journey as that between God and His people. Called by art, Yeh embarked on a spiritual journey for life, fulfilling his mission as an artist in his practice of art through numerous relocations and trials in life. Meanwhile, extending from the idea of the Song of Songs being called the “Song of Songs,” the artist’s works are likened to “Songs.” Through six subjects “The Song of Mountain and Ocean,” “The Song of Land,” “The Song of Yesterday,” “The Song of Monologue and Dialogue,” “The Song of Growing,” and “The Song of Origin,” his works are envisioned as songs recording family, life, nature, and existence, filled with emotions.

As far as Tzu-Chi Yeh is concerned, art creation is a process of in-depth exchange with time, life, and emotion. It is meticulous care about life as much as a profound reflection on his inner self. For years, Yeh’s works have been favored by collectors and the general public alike. This exhibition features uniquely representative works from various periods of the artist’s career, along with three whole new works. Through a reverse chronological arrangement and a total of 86 works at “The Song of Time,” visitors are cordially invited to travel back in time, tracing the works in different stages of Yeh’s life journey, to experience the artist’s self-healing via art practice and to explore with us the deeper meaning of life.

In response to Tzu-Chi Yeh’s opulent, dedicated, committed art creation full of vitality, and for the meaning of the classical works by the modern art maestros in the West collected by Dr. Chang-Hai TSAI, the founder of Asia University, to be seen continuously, the museum staff employs “Collection．Conversation” as the theme for the classical sculptures to engage in the conversation with the space designed by Tadao Ando as well as to connect with the works by Tzu-Chi Yeh. Hence, the cherrypicked works of three virtuosos from the collection may resonate with this exhibition, in quest of “conversations” among maestros.

The conversation amongst the architecture, space, and Yeh’s works begins at the entrance of the Asia University Museum of Modern Art. Arman’s work at the entrance of the lobby, Venus au Violoncelle bois, highlights the spatial transparency of the architecture on one hand and echoes with Tzu-Chi Yeh’s creative attitude for work concept on the other. Degas’s Etude de Nu pour la Danseuse stands at the corner of the stairway between the second and the third floors. The light pouring from the classical triangle skylight of Ando’s architecture engages in a poetic dialogue with Dega’s ballerina sculpture, embodying the intrinsic rhythm of time portrayed by artists frozen in the moment. Finally, in the gallery at the hallway on the third floor, two works of sculpture master Rodin reopen the transparency of the museum’s building as well as respond to the pursuit of contemplation in Yeh’s works and the deep affection in the companionship between the husband and wife.

Through the simultaneous display of “Collection．Conversation” and “The Song of Time” at the Asia University Museum of Modern Art, visitors are invited, though the emotion and energy of art, to travel in time with us, to relish the ample vitality and delicate emotions in the paintings of Tzu-Chi Yeh as well as to appreciate the power and beauty in western sculptures. Let us experience the resonances in art across time and mediums and listen to the in-depth conversation between the three art maestros in architecture, in painting, and in sculpture.