“In recent years, happenings in outer space thanks to aerospace development and events like wars in other countries are so quickly disseminated due to how the way and speed of information transmission have advanced. We turn on our phones and are bombarded by so much information and videos. This shortens our sense of distance, feeling as if things are happening near us. They feel near, yet they may be far away. But then, things that are really happening close to us, like the pandemic, landslides, and elections, feel so distant, as if they have nothing to do with us. They feel far away, yet they’re actually close to us.” For the first time, TSONG Pu is responding to external events through his artworks, while at the same time showing his concern for the world and life.

The Distant Proximity series comprising of his new graphic works in this exhibition continues his signature technique of using 1cm-by-1cm chops to stamp out paint and content one square at a time. The stamped patterns look like various things—from paint dripping down, the flashes of war or perhaps the sparks of fireworks, to the mosaic grid pattern of computer pixel art. Taking the cities of Ukraine as his imagination, he gives the series a narrative title, which not only reflects on the enormous impact of the Russia-Ukraine war to the world, but also endows each painting with a poetic urban imagination.

This narrative extends to the outdoor space (at the entrance of Lane 553, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Road, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park), where the Three Bamboo Joints on display turns the flashes of missiles cutting through air into curved three-dimensional rods, allowing people to walk through and look up pondering on the impact of war on life and the environment.

TSONG Pu is representative figure of contemporary art in Taiwan. Born in Shanghai in 1947, he graduated from the La Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid in 1978 before returning to Taiwan in 1981. Since then, he has been practicing with the spirit of minimalism. He uses 1cm-by-1cm chops instead of paint brush to create lines and color blocks. The mechanical action opens up a spiritual dialogue between the body and matter, revealing poetic aesthetic in the rational composition of his works, whether it is a two-dimensional graphic creation or a three-dimensional installation. In 2019, TSONG Pu received the National Awards for Art.

In his graphic works created in 2021, TSONG added hand-painted lines of ink wash brushwork in addition to the stamped squares. Though both involve mechanical and repetitive labor, they present very different flavors. For instance, in Saffron, there are four long squares on the white background, and the red rectangle block on top is created with hand-painted lines. In Sun,Moon, the red square adjacent to the stamped yellow block is also hand painted, giving the cool-tone abstract art a touch of warmth.

TSONG Pu began his art experiment on minimalism while studying in Spain. Then on, he has been working in this vein for more than 40 years without any sign of abated enthusiasm. Akin to how painter Muqi in Southern Song dynasty painted the Six Persimmons with just black ink yet each exuding a state of zen, TSONG Pu continues to explore the limits and the myriad possible variations in the minimalist world.