Chiao-Han Chueh's She-wolf and Shida Kuo's Untitled 24-02 acquired by the Chazen Museum of Art
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Nunu Fine Art is delighted to announce the acquisition of Chiao-Han Chueh's She-wolf and Shida Kuo's Untitled 24-02 by the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Chief Curator Katherine Alcauskas remarks, "The Chazen Museum of Art celebrates the addition of works by Shida Kuo and Chiao-Han Chueh, enriching our diverse collection of Asian paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts. These striking artworks join contemporary masterpieces by Xu Bing, Xiang Jing, and Loretta Hui-Shan Yang, deepening the dialogue between tradition and innovation in our galleries."
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Hamburg-based Taiwanese artist Chiao-Han Chueh reflects on her experience of growing up in Taiwan and later living in the West as an Asian woman, contesting the normative gender constraints of women’s bodies and sexuality by portraying primarily nude female figures engaging in unbridled behavior within fantastical spaces. Her approach to oil painting has been shaped by canonical Western traditions and Chinese calligraphy and ink painting, which she learned at art school in Taiwan. Her work demonstrates the convergence of her personal experience and aesthetics, influenced by diverse artistic traditions.
Nunu Fine Art is pleased to have presented Chueh's first exhibition in the United States, Intimate Play, in 2023.
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Shida Kuo has developed a distinct vocabulary of biomorphic forms inspired by nature. Kuo subtracts from clay and wood until they are reduced to fundamental, richly tactile shapes. He sculpts entirely by hand and often embraces a time-consuming processes; as a result, the sculptures carry traces of their making and convey the simplicity and truthfulness of their materials.
Kuo is inspired by the shared experience of perception, and specifically by the phenomenon of people from different origins and backgrounds reacting to forms and materials in very similar ways. His work explores our human capacity to respond to emotional and spiritual impacts on a bodily or visceral level before such responses are processed in our mind. The materials he favors—ceramic and wood—have been used by various peoples for thousands of years, and as such, represent connections between cultures and generations. While his sculptures appeal to viewers visually through their puzzlingly unrecognizable curves, they also prompt the subconscious to search for forgotten—or perhaps even future—forms in them.
In 2024, Nunu Fine Art New York presented Shida Kuo: Selected Works 1993 to 2023, a survey exhibition of Kuo's works spanning three decades..