Sol Lecture | Embracing Old-Fashioned Conviction in Contemporary Romance | YANG Chung-Ming x WU Ting-Wei

Date｜2023.12.16 (Sat) 15:00 – 17:00
Artist｜YANG Chung-Ming
Interviewer｜WU Ting-Wei, host of the Framing Shop Qingyushanfang

Venue｜Gallery de sol
Address｜3rd Floor, The Arcade, No. 166, Dunhua North Road, Songshan District, Taipei City
Contact｜02 8770 5055｜service@gallerydesol.com.tw

Framing artworks is often categorized as a craftsman’s skill. Yet Qingyushanfang has cultivated a wholly distinct realm in Taiwan — earning the trust of collectors and artists alike through the adept use of traditional techniques combined with inventive approaches. WU Ting-Wei of Qingyushanfang and artist YANG Chung-Ming began collaborating in 2016; appreciating each other’s talents and understanding one another’s principles, the two old‑school gentlemen forged a deep friendship and rapport in just a few years.

Nearly half of the works in the exhibition “Flora of Formosa” were personally designed and framed by WU Ting-Wei. YANG Chung-Ming presents watermark handmade paper works bearing images of botanical specimens from Taiwan’s Japanese colonial period, rendered in an elegant, minimalist East Asian manner. Both the works and their frames draw nourishment from history, transforming it into contemporary experimentation and practice.

In this conversation, besides sharing memories from years of collaboration, we invited both men — who share a passionate interest in collecting vintage objects — to each select three treasured items to present to the audience. These selections reveal their tastes and preferences, and allow us to engage more intimately with the artists’ lives through objects. What meanings do these collections hold? How has this hobby influenced their daily life and work? Throughout their creative journeys, how do they employ these “old pieces” so that the “old” in tradition is no longer seen as outdated, but becomes genuinely “classic”?

What drives these two men’s uncompromising dedication to their work is not merely a romantic ideal; it is a profound attention to objects and the emotions formed through long companionship. The daily fragments that inspire them are likewise interwoven within the works of “Flora of Formosa” — visible and invisible elements awaiting the viewer’s exploration and discovery.

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