BIOGRAPHY
Underhill Chen is an independent art critic based in Taipei. His writings on History of Taiwanese Art, with a particular emphasis on the role of artworks and artists in Taiwanese society, can be found in Humanistic Education Journal(column articles), Artist Magazine, and other art magazines.
Chen's research combines document analysis and theoretical reflection to formulate a more adequate explanation for art and its social context. His initial writing was the thesis for MA degree on still-life paintings in Japanese colonial period of Taiwan(1895-1945). In this topic, he discussed how the art education and cultural differences were embodied in things as objects of knowledge and artistic motifs. Later, He started his independent career as an art critic in 2009 and concerned with the state of artistic autonomy in Taiwan's martial law period(1949-1987) in artists such as Li Tsai-Chien, Richard Lin, Hung Tung and Pu Tien-sheng, etc. Instead of general formalism perspective, he wrote these articles on the hypothesis that there is no artistic autonomy in the period and thus frankly included social aspects in his researches.
He also inquires the complex involvement of artists in contemporary Taiwan. Based on case studies, he explores the significance, implication, or political potential in artworks as well as artists' engagement in the paradoxical society, Taiwan, where identities, social movement and art institution were intertwined, for good or bad, to shape artistic creativity or its powerless. Recently, he is trying to incorporate indigenous art and politics in his writing in order to portray the boundaries of modernity which shaped symbolic violence in knowledge, social practice and art creation in a non-state entity. For him, these all propelled him to re-estimated the titular state of artistic autonomy in contemporary Taiwan with a comparison to martial law period, and finally lead to an on-going colonial history in Taiwan.
EDUCATION
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
M.A. in the Graduate Institute of Art History, 2004.
National Institute of the Arts, Taiwan
(now known as Taipei National University of the Arts)
B.F.A. in the Department of Fine Arts, 2000.
JOURNAL ARTICLES(Selection)
1. ” Between Modernization and Nationalism: the Writings of Bai-Yuan Wang(王白淵) and the Birth of Taiwanese Art History,” National Graduate Student Symposium of Art Studies 2002, held by Tainan National University of the Arts, 2002.
2. “The Still-life Paintings in Taiwan Fine Art Exhibition and the Foundation of Modern Life” (Master Thesis, National Taiwan University, 2004)
3. “The Light and Shadow of Things: The Interplay between Fine Arts and Aboriginal Cultures Exhibition in Colonial Taiwan (1895-1945),” The Construction of Ethnic Group Cultures and its Relative Issues in Taiwan, Conference held by the Department of Culture and Natural Resources, Tainan University (Tainan: May 16, 2008, with a review system).
4. “Hung Tung the Bourgeois: the Sudden Sensation of a Conservative Vernacular Painter and His Silent End,” in Art Criticism Platform of NCAF, website address: http://artcriticism.ncafroc.org.tw/article.php?ItemType=browse&no=1603
5. “Between Pure Art and Applied Art--Li Tsai-Chien's ‘Finite to Infinite’,” The Sculpture Research Semiyearly, No. 3, 2009.9, pp. 183-205. (with a review system)
6. “The Contexts from Where the Ready-made Artworks Generated in Taiwan in the 1960s,” The Sculpture Research Semiyearly, No. 4, 2010.3, pp. 1-29.(with a review system)
7. “Where is Art? Performance Art in Taiwan in the 1980s,” Artist Magazine, no. 419, 2010.4, pp. 136-141.
8. “The Limit of Minimum: The Return of Richard Lin and the Pre-history of Minimalism Art in Taiwan,” Artitude, no. 9, 2010.6.
9. “Old Subject and New Margin: Revisiting the Images of Island in the Development of Taiwanese Art,” Artist Magazine, no. 422, 2010.7, pp. 230-235.
10. “Waiting for Picasso: A Silhouette of Western Art Exhibitions in Post-war Period of Taiwan,” Artitude, no. 16, 2011.1.
11. “The Price of Art Creation--The Three Political Bronze Statues by Pu Tien-sheng and His National Patrons in the Initial Episode of Post-war Period of Taiwan,” The Sculpture Research Semiyearly, No. 5, 2011.5, pp. 1-60. (with a review system)
12. "After the Falling of Hinoki: Yoga Painter Shiotsuki Toho and Musha Incident," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 269, 2011.11, pp. 70-75.
13. "The Fundational Father of Modern Taiwanese Craft: The Art and Reality in Yen Shui-long's Mosaic Works," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 271, 2012.1, pp. 60-66.
14. "Chen Chen-po: the Phantom Journey of Academicism," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 274 (2012.4), pp. 48-54.
15. "The West under the Len: John Thompson's Journey in the Island of Formosa, " Humanistic Education Journal, no. 279, 2012.9, pp. 90-98.
16. "Formosa in Mirror: Lin Li-chin's Roman Graphique and the Development of Comic in Taiwan," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 281, 2012.11, pp. 70-77.
17. "Plodding between Forced Migration and Disasters: Wanshan Rock Carving and the Fate of the Three Indigenous Communities in Maolin," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 285, 2013.3, pp. 80-88.
18. "Daitian Temple in Hamasen: the Many Worlds of Taiwanese Temples," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 289, 2013.7, pp. 76-83.
19. "The Shattered Coastline: Fan Hsiao-Lan’s The Revolutionary Road," Artist Magazine, 2013.10, pp. 264-265.
20. “Museum Collection and Contemporary Taiwanese Audience: Chin Ya-chun and Liu Rung-Lu's 'Me at Liu's Home, " Humanistic Education Journal, no. 295, 2014.1, pp. 66-73.
21. “The Choice of Pongso No Tao: the Controversy of 7-11 in Orchid's Island and the Memory of Periphery," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 303, 2014.9, pp. 76-83.
22. "When Anti-Black Box met White Box: Sunflower Movement and the Social Engagement of Taiwanese Artistic movement," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 309, 2015.3, pp. 70-77.
23. "Disaster and the Banquet of Returning Home: the Self-identity and Cultural symbolism in Chang En-man's Artworks," Artist Magazine, 2015.4, pp. 178-185.
24. "Juisui Kiwit Indigenous Museum: in the Predicament of Administrative Hegemony and Tribal Subjectivity," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 313, 2015.7, pp. 76-82.
25. "I Am the Only One Who Has Escaped to Tell you: Chang En-Man's 'Decriminalization of Taiwanese Indigenous Hunting Rifles'," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 319, 321, 2016.1, 2016.3, pp. 76-82; 66-75.
26. "THK: A Long Awakening," Underhill Contemporary, 2015.11.24.
26. "Drifting Home--Sakuliu and Talif," Underhill Contemporary, 2016.3.26.
27. "Kunpu: Lin Chih-Chu's Frail Modernity," Artist Magazine, 2016.4, pp. 150-159.
28. "Time Splits in the River: A Family Story in Taiwanese Social Movement," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 323, 2016.5, pp. 74-81.
29. "Takahiko Suzuki's Contemporary Topography and 'Holiday in Nuclear Paradise'," Humanistic Education Journal, no. 327, 2016.9, pp. 74-79.
BOOK SECTIONS
1. "The Creative Dynamics of Things," in Lin Huang-Ti ed., Lin Huang-Ti: The 2015 Exhibits, Taichung City: Providence University Artcenter, 2015, pp. 5-9.
2. "Suzuki Takahiko’s Contemporary Topography of Betel Nut Stalls," in Takahiko Suzuki ed., GLOBAL-STORE PROJECT: feat. 2.5D BETEL NUT KIOSK, Taoyuan City: Lanya Studio, 2015.