Hsueh Pao-shia, Refining, 2013
Acrylic on canvas
40 × 80 cm (visible), 54.5 × 95cm (framed)
Condition: Very good
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Hsueh Pao-Shia (Taiwanese, b. 1956) enjoys starting her creative process from the unknown, but as the work develops, the challenge lies in bridging the gap between the known and the unknown. This process feels like being immersed in a field of perceptual relationships that are constantly spinning. Such a situation and state of being resemble gazing at a map, where one periodically connects the current awareness with moments of encounter with reality, prompting her to enter a fluid state of thinking, generating a necessary dynamic force for creation.
Her work focuses on how contemporary abstract art transcends the previous demand for "representational" aesthetics, as it inevitably "represents" its own history within the cognitive system. By intertwining and merging multiple streams of information, her work becomes a vessel for continuous meaning. Some of the works in this exhibition feature nine hand-drawn circles in three different colours, each representing the interconnection of the flat pictorial space. These solid-coloured circles return to the exploration of Clement Greenberg's view from the 1950s that "painting is flat," and by examining the spatial positions of these circles of varying sizes, viewers will perceive the detached space and flowing time through movement and focus. Additionally, other works remove the circles, yet use more dynamic lines to explore the microspace of wind movement, creating an informational space within the artwork.
For her, the creative process is about decoding and encoding the various simultaneous factors in the transmission of information. How abstract symbols can evoke the meaningful relationships between pieces of information, and thus interpret the hybrid realities of today, is a topic she seeks to explore through these abstract artworks. In the creative process, overlapping thoughts emerge in the act of gazing. When these thoughts are translated into the posture of the body, a map of consciousness is formed, page by page. These works display indelible marks and the critical points of consciousness. It is driven by an inner need, as well as a process of thought flow and breakthrough exploration by the creator.
(Photographed in April 2025)