March, 2023
It is not the first time that toys have appeared in the works of Shih Yung-Chun, but it is in his new project “Toy Packaging” that they are seriously confused with works of art. Actually, questions like this are often raised. For example, when Picasso's son was asked whether the ‘toys’ his father made were works of art, he said, "Of course they started out as toys, but they became more and more interesting...Ideas always start lightly, but then they become stronger and stronger. They sometimes spill over the edge and turn into something else.”
Chen Kuang Yi
May, 2019
A cofounder of the Marxism magazine, French philosopher Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) believed that the sustainability of capitalist society lies not in human activities of production but in their everyday life immersed in capitalism. In 1947, Lefebvre had The Critique of Everyday Life (French: Critique de la vie quotidienne) published, his signature masterwork in Western philosophy which first brought the term “criticism of daily life” up for discussion. “…sustenance, clothing, furnishing, homes, neighbourhoods, environment... Call it material culture if you like…”(1) Dedicated to studying the space and actions closely linked to the life of ordinary people in social formation, Lefebvre was trying to revolutionize the everyday life in the 1960s through artistic intervention and student movements.
Chang Sheng Kun
June, 2019
Time, as it goes by, has still failed to bring Shih Yung Chun any closer to the present or future that is growing more and more alienated and out of control. His desire for control has always been focused on the past times and the topics obsolete in current society. For artists, perhaps, it takes both time and distance to create and respond to the things that really attract them and, in this ever-accelerating age, refer to some rare elements that it's hard for us to have any real access to. In this sense, art-making is a mode of instinctive self-protection to Shih Yung Chun that allows him to create his personal time, keep distance from the present and then construct an extremely personal art-making context to not only confront but somehow imply the constantly changing real society. These all have everything to do with the program in the artist's personal life and with his personal experience, by awakening or rebooting both of which over and over, he deconstructs and then reconstructs what he finds still worth narrating and exploring. In the construction of special geographical space and time, he's somehow capable of arousing certain forgotten memories for the only sake of bidding farewell more formally, and this is Shi Yung Chun responding to the forgetful grand historical view with his continuously fortified personal history.
Yang Jian
January, 2015
The day was just like today's weather, a bit gloomy. Mr Shih and Mr Ilun, Miss Yin-yin, Mr Ye and Miss Yang-yang gathered before midnight, rolling tobaccos so professionally piled up as a perfect pyramid, and finished smoking all in the blink of an eye. The amount of alcohol in their blood would be record breaking if they had to take a breath testing. It was about three or four o'clock in the morning, the alarm went off just on time to wake everyone up from hangover. Sure they had to travel from one side to the other of the city before dawn, to a place that was hidden in the darkness to search for 'something'.
Wu Szu Wei
February, 2015
I first met Shih when we curated a group exhibition for Hong Kong and Taiwan artists at our gallery, he was one of the participated artists. I barely knew this guy before, his work gives me a rather unusual feelings and I decided to invite him for a trip to Hong Kong before the open-ing, wanted to get to know him a bit more. Finally I met Shih in person when I picked him up from the Hong Kong International Airport on 7th March 2013, it was his very first time visiting Hong Kong, he arrived a bit late in the evening and so I took him to Mong Kok for a quick look. We started to chat while I was driving, listened to Shih talking about his life in Taiwan, his beliefs and creations... We then pulled over in the middle of crowded Mong Kok and continued to share his stories until late. Shih left me an impression of a very serious artist during the time we spent together, however, it seems that something was missing and I wonder what that was. Soon I decided to invite him to Hong Kong again after the group exhibition, for a one-month artist in residence program, and I was hoping that it might inspire him on his creation.
Jacky Yeung
July, 2014
Graduated from Taiwan University of Arts with a major in fine arts, Shih Yung Chun had gone into his career in art since 2002. His grounding in painting was far more solid and substantial than his peers. Most young artists were craving for Installation Art rather than settling down their focus on painting. Among this generation, Shih Yung Chun was an exceptional artist, and his works stood out from the crowd. Over the past twenty years, Conceptual Art had ruled Contemporary Arts in Taiwan. Although Shih Yung Chun was marginalized in the field of arts because of his talents, he did not retreat from his mind on painting. For years he delighted himself by leading a quiet life, recording every little thing in his seemingly dull life with a camera, and scrabbling his thoughts and feelings in old books and notebooks. As time went by, he had accumulated an impressive number of random notes and photos. These became his well of inspiration.
Victoria Lu Rong Zhi
December, 2014
Dou-Dou is a three-year-old French bulldog. If reckoning her age in human years, she’s still a youngster. At this point, she is younger than her master, Shih Yung Chun, by more than ten years. Two years later, they’ll reach the same age, and after two more years, Dou-dou will be aging four times as fast than humans. It is very likely that she shall become older than Shih Yung Chun’s eighty-five-year-old father.
Chang Guo Chuan
September, 2013
After graduating from Department of Fine Arts of National Taiwan University of Arts, Shih Yung-chun unlike the young artists who are devoted to continuous creation and active participation in exhibitions.put more emphasis on "life." He believes the most important thing is the physical and psychological balance and happiness and that will further inspire art creation. After graduation, Shih Yung-chun in the past six years was isolated with creation; at that time, he could not find the meaning of creation. But after the long time to set the mind at ease, Shih Yung-chun picked up the drive of creation and knew clearly about the balance of personal life and creation.
Yang Ya Chu