15 – 17 October 2021
Yi-Ting Wang
Unknown Asia | Grand Front Osaka
For this year’s Unknown Asia 2021, held at Grand Front, Osaka (大阪) from the 15th to the 17th of October, SYNONYM is delighted to present Yi-ting Wang, an award-winning Taiwan-based artist who was educated and started her artistic career in Marseille, France. We are showcasing a modification of Yi-Ting’s installation work: Second Life (2016) and a series of newly created mixed-media prints titled Imagining Borders Series (2021).
For a detailed statement of the exhibition, the exhibited works, as well as the concept of the space please refer to the links below. For the artist’s CV and portfolio please visit the following page. For the first and second parts of our interview with the artist please visit the respective page.
It was back in late July when we first learnt of the opportunity to present at Unknown Asia in Osaka. Ever since its establishment, the fair had always focused on independent Asian artists and illustrators, this was the first time that the fair showcased works from domestic Japanese galleries, presumably because of COVID-19. After some moments of hesitation essentially due to the short window of time, we made up our minds and jumped on board. We were also thrilled and fortunate that Yi-Ting also decided to join us on this adventure, understanding full well the challenge of the time ahead in addition to the logistics of shipping all the works from Tainan (台南) to Osaka.
It was a rather intense and demanding couple of months, both for the artist and for us because of what’s at stake, not to mention the fact that we all had other projects occurring simultaneously during the same period, turning this into more of a sprint on the track and not a walk in the park that like many would have thought. Eventually we were glad to say that, with a little luck, we had overcome all the obstacles and hurdles, and couldn’t be more pleased with the final end product. We were also extremely grateful for all the positive and encouraging feedback that we received from the industry’s professionals, and of course all the art lovers who had visited our space.
On the first day of the fair, where a selected group of reviewers were invited to allocate their votes to all the participating artists and illustrators. Our director Soichiro Kimura (木村 宗一郎) awarded Sezaki Momoe (瀬崎 百絵) the Reviewer’s Prize for her dedication to creating works continuously, the creativity shown, the use of colour, how she’s able to imbue traditional Japanese cultural symbols with contemporary values, and most importantly for Momoe’s commitment to her art.
We would like to give out a special thank you to Unknown Asia for granting us the opportunity to participate, as well as selecting our director to be one of the reviewers at the fair; Yi-Ting, the artwork production and the logistic team for materialising everything; all the associates from Tezukayama Gallery for the liaison; dear friend and artist MUGA, also JILL D’ART GALLERY for helping out with the production and installation of the exhibition; Yu Ishikawa and Yūki Shibata (柴田 祐希) for assisting at the fair; and finally all the fair’s reviewers and judge who had enjoyed our exhibition and all the visitors who had spent time listening to us, thank you again.
Exhibition
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Venue
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Reviewer’s Selection
 pyosu ぴょす |
 Eri Yoshida ヨシダ エリ |
 Sezaki Momoe 瀬崎 百絵 |
 Miki Terai ミキ テライ |
 Sezaki Momoe 瀬崎 百絵 |
Credit
Artist: Yi-ting Wang
Curator & Co-Producer: Axel Wang @SYNONYM
Project Director & Co-Producer: Soichiro Kimura 木村 宗一郎 @SYNONYM
Photography: Axel Wang @SYNONYM
Sales Representative: Yu Ishikawa
Supported by MUGA & JILL D’ART GALLERY