Shida Kuo 郭旭達
T he Still, Protruding Moment

R eforming art and cultural activities to meet today’s needs can be a great way to promote harmony. TAAC's core commitment is through art to practice diversity, equality, and inclusion. By advancing them in the art world, we aim to promote a more just society. TAAC hopes that outrage will help to lead to a more equitable society, truer to our ideals.

In this ATW issue, we have NY artist Shida Kuo 's untitled pieces. And don't forget to listen to and watch the music of Taiwanese band The Chairman as they play Sacrifice to Welcome the Gods.

Happy July 4th!
The TAAC team wishes you a safe time

Shida Kuo , living and working in New York City, has dedicated himself to sculpture in ceramic and to two dimensional works in various media for decades. Shida Kuo's gentle earth-ware, frequently augmented by a protuberance, contains elements of warm simplicity while the appendage is shy or modest yet alluring or even lyrical. We would like you to appreciate these exquisite art works. In the pandemic during the limited travel period, he has managed to have a solo exhibition in Taipei. As is widely known, Taiwan had done an excellent job of controlling the virus, so galleries and museums did not close there.
Do we practice alteri (altruism) and do we protrude into the still?

Shida Kuo‘ s ceramic sculpture, and other two dimensional art works are each unique, all of them being reticent, organic and displaying a geometric form. What strikes viewers is that the work is simultaneously powerful yet reserved. The smooth body part exerts a force conditioned by the protrusion which is somehow still in harmony with the rest of the work. The total effect is not austere but reminds us of Kuo's own warm, witty, gentle manner and attitude. The work's very form conveys action, or even antics, that hang on the act of observing, so the viewer's reaction to the art has both outward and an inward components. Hence the amusing behavior induced in the spectators becomes an important but subtle component of any exhibition of this art - in addition to its careful, delicate, ordering, organic beauty.
In looking over these works which echo and complement each other, one recognizes same delicate identical structure of a sluggish pulling of an extrusive part, which is joined in mutual deceit; the pulling away intimating a threat and a moving away from the larger part.
In some cases, a deep recess is filled with paint white, while the projecting part is painted a dark tone and may evoke either nipples or phalluses. Those rest in the confidence that might be self sufficiency. in lyric moods of exaggerated, self advertising.
- Luchia Meihua Lee, curator
Shida Kuo is a Taiwanese-born sculptor living and working in New York City. He holds a B.F.A. in Painting from National Taiwan Normal University (Taipei, Taiwan) and a M.A. in Studio Art on Ceramic Sculpture from New York University. He
has taught in the Department of Art and Art Professions at
New York University since 1993. His sculptures and paintings have been in numerous
national and international exhibitions , most recently at Eslite Gallery in Taipei.
Statement by Shida Kuo

It puzzles me why certain forms and some particular types of material always possess more visceral power over me than others. Similarly, I am curious how people of different origins and backgrounds respond to forms and materials in an identical way. Is that an evidence of homogeneity of mankind as a collective species? It seems to me that those shared experiences of emotional and spiritual impacts created by forms and materials have been articulated by our bodies even before they could be understood by our minds. It is a collective sense of deja vu for mankind, repressed by consciousness but persistent in our veins. Drawing was the primary method of communication before the invention of languages. Wasn’t drawing initially based on observations of the nature? What was the process, then, in which nature was transformed into shapes and lines?
I am driven by these related questions, and cannot help trying different angles when approaching those natural creations. I attempt to locate the essence of forms, as a whole or as configurations of fragments. Those fragmented, unfinished forms are stored in my head, waiting to spring up from the entity called “I” after a series of conflicts, contradictions and convergence among themselves, until they emerge as a new form of completeness.
My work from the past years demonstrates this creative process. Instead of making any statement through my work, I have played a faithful recorder, using only my sensitivity to materials and undisguised techniques, just to catch the forms that might have been otherwise left in oblivion.
I use primarily ceramic and wood for my work because human beings have used these two materials for thousands of years regardless of cultural or racial differences. They are close to us in many ways and thus are the best material for me to convey my ideas.
Current Exhibition:
Shida Kuo: Un/Form, De/Intellectualize
郭旭達：離形去知
■exhibition at the Eslite Galler y, Taipei, Taiwan
(誠品畫廊)
■from June 06 to July 26, 2020
趙琍談郭旭達 https://youtu.be/oSBER-MmA98

More information: Shida Kuo
Portfolio website:
youtube:
https://youtu.be/84UbAcA3hiw

TAAC -- Building bridges between communities, national and internationally through art and culture to deepen our senses of beauty, inspiration, and empathy.
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Exhibition: Urban Reverence, New York  (paused due to coronavirus)
The phenomenon of migrants forming an international cross-cultural "urban tribe" is one of the urgent topics in the 21st century. Analyzed historically in the context of the planet and symbiosis, this involves the survival of human beings and maintenance of balance among various living things. The discourse thus moves to valuing human nature, preservation of multiple cultures, the environment, and the new multi-faceted unity. Potential political, economic, and cultural crises can only be averted by an emphasis on the diversity of life that promotes interactive relationships.

Curatorial team:
Chief Curator: Luchia Meihua Lee, Executive Director, TAAC
Co-curators: Jennifer Pliego, Director of Special Programs and Head of the House of Art, El Taller Latino Americano, NYC
Sarah Walko, Curator, Director of Education & Community Engagement, Visual Art Center of New Jersey
[Image courtesy of artist
Alexander Khimushin]
[Image courtesy of artist
Herberto Turizzo Anaya]
[Image courtesy of artist
Wei Lee]
[Image courtesy of artist
Sarah Walko]
[Image Courtesy of artist
j. maya luz]
[Image Courtesy of artist
Yeh Fang]
Reinhard Blank
Current exhibition AusZeit : Kunst als Klärung at Stadtmuseum Memmingen (德國梅明根市立博物館) The exhibition lasts until January 24, 2021
"Sacrifice to Welcome the Gods" 【 music by The Chairman Band 】

Music from a Taiwan temple festival to gain the blessing of the God. The video starts by listing each month's festival - for instance, May (the fifth month of the lunar calendar) contains the Duanwu (dragon festival) - followed by an introduction to the legend of Matsu (a sea goddess). Matsu's festival  is a major event in Taiwan, with the largest celebrations around her temples. The Chairman Band is a popular rock band in Taiwan; they have won several Golden Melody awards. Formed in 1997, The Chairman Band combines elements of traditional Taiwanese culture with Hokkien lyrics.
from Album: 祭
Licensed to YouTube by Rock Mobile Corporation (on behalf of 武藝音樂有限公司), and 2 Music Rights Societies
https://youtu.be/toQlDlv7DVI