Vision — Photography Exhibition
Exhibition Period｜2022/03/09～03/25
The theme of this exhibition, Vision, presents an alternative interpretation of photographic aesthetics. Photography is no longer merely about capturing a fleeting instant with the shutter, but about seeking the ever-changing beauty found within those transient moments. Patrice Delmotte, born in 1951 in Roubaix, an industrial city in northern France, first visited Taipei in 1979. In his youth, he loved painting and printmaking, yet his professional career unfortunately delayed the development of his artistic talents. However, another path opened before him. In 2005, he received his first camera—a small Coolpix—as a birthday gift, which introduced him to the world of digital artistic creation. By 2007, as he began seriously considering retirement, he realized that photography could reignite his passion for visual art.
During his self-taught journey, Delmotte was deeply influenced by photographer Sebastião Salgado. He especially admired Salgado’s precision, aesthetics, and poetic approach to imagery. Even in works filled with sorrowful undertones, Salgado could present reality in a way that allowed viewers to profoundly experience the harsh and truthful world captured through the lens. Delmotte’s passion for black-and-white photography was also greatly inspired by Salgado’s works. In addition, he was particularly fascinated by the use of light and shadow in the paintings of Flemish artists. These luminous scenes often reminded him of the soft indoor light of his northern homeland, while at the same time he remained deeply captivated by the bright tropical light of his current environment. Through the works in this exhibition, viewers can witness the world as Delmotte sees it through the viewfinder—where light and shadow are carefully composed to capture eternity within a fleeting instant.
God’s Excavators or the Birthday of Mazu is an exhibition by Ivan GROS that uses printmaking and drawing to depict scenes of contemporary Taiwanese construction and engineering. Excavators—these untouchable metallic machines—express a relationship between existence and nonexistence, reflecting the absurdity of erasing the past in the name of survival and progress. Ivan GROS’s works document August 25, 2010, when countless excavators filled the city during the demolition of more than six hundred old buildings in Taipei. Excavators bearing the Japanese brand name “Komatsu” could be seen everywhere. For an artist unfamiliar with Chinese yet rich in imagination, the pronunciation of “Mazu” sounded strangely similar to “Komatsu.” While this association may seem absurd, it was enough to inspire dreams and an abundance of fantastical imagery within the printmaker’s mind.
Exhibition Highlights