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29 June 2024, Singapore – In recent years, Taiwan has garnered increasing international attention due to its geopolitical significance. Taiwanese artist Huang Yi-Min has translated the sensations of living on this island into his artistic creations. In his solo exhibition held at INSTINC in 2024, Huang Yi-Min propose the concept of "ta̍k-ke.” In Taiwanese, “ta̍k-ke” means “everybody” or “everyone.” It refers to a group of people as small as a family or a community as large as a school, a neighbourhood, a county, a society, or even an entire country. This group of people might share the same lifestyles, the same ideologies, the same goals, or even the same fate. In a Taiwanese semantic
context, “ta̍k-ke” often carries a sense of togetherness and an intimacy that reflects certain connections.
In the artworks, the concept of “ta̍k-ke” is envisioned by an assemblage of building blocks. The assemblage of blocks brings the imagery of “togetherness,” “assembly,” “the people,” and “community,” unleashing collective consciousness and personal feelings through various media, installations for spatial expression, and graphic creations. Although the building blocks point to aconstructive imagery, they also hold a connotation of deconstruction. With these blocks as the basic elements, the exhibition renders everyday images incorporated through wrapping wooden materials around magazines of ordinary lifestyle and fashion. By entitling the exhibition “ta̍k-ke,” the exhibition incorporates a cordial vibe.
Huang Yi-Min’s artworks are often based on life and culture, where Huang, as a creator, projects his concerns and cares towards life and the lives of others. This series of artworks carries a sense of black humour behind the solemnity. Constructed from an assemblage of building blocks, “The Ark” (2024) takes the context of Christian salvation in its title, while adopting one of the most powerful warships– aircraft carrier as the main visual. Furthermore, the visual details have subtly insinuated the swallow-tailed ridge of traditional Taiwanese shrines in its design. With the final result of a childlike building block project, the art piece has certainly framed its black humour in satirising the adult world with the innocent child’s play. The same sense of black humour can be found in “Five Blessings in a Row” (2024). Though the artwork in black does not take the form of building blocks in terms of medium and technique, the art piece still corresponds to the same “togetherness” of collective consciousness through a wirebound notebook. The undetectable stealth bomber, B-2 Spirit, is combined with the imagery of bats (homophonous with “blessing” in Chinese), together creating the implication of the “five blessings” ─ longevity, prosperity, superiority, security with joy, and fertility. Here in the exhibition, Hwang’s works contain profound meanings, yet offer solace in life, release and cleanse the public anxiety of certain collective memories and replace them with a zealous form of blessing through “ta̍k-ke.”
Huang Yi-Min
The owner of "Absolute Space for the Arts" in Tainan. Early works often used inflatable balloon dogs to place various poses in the environment, showing collage, irrational, and absurd qualities like those in surreal works, and showing laziness against the bustling and fast pace of life around them. It has a light feel and exudes a touch of "humour". In 2013, he jointly established the Absolute Space Art Studio in Tainan, providing outstanding contemporary creators with the opportunity to express their voices in Tainan. Based on the temple culture experienced by living in Tainan for a long time, they will
collect, research, and use their imagination to explore the temple culture they have heard about.
Venue: INSTINC Space, 39 Keppel Rd, #03-10 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore 089065
Opening Reception: 05 July 2024 (Fri.) 6PM–8:30PM at the venue
Exhibition Duration: 05 July to 21 July 2024 (Wed-Fri, 1PM-7PM. Sat - Sun, 1PM-6PM)
Artist Forum: 07 July 2024 (Sun.), 2PM-4PM at the venue, with Taiwanese artists Shu-Kai Lin, Yen-Yi Chen and Singaporean artists Urich Lau, Yeo Shih Yun
Artist Talk: 13 July 2024 (Sat.), 3PM-5PM at the venue, with Artist Huang Yi-Min