Text by Kuang-Yi CHEN
(Professor, Department of Fine Arts / Dean, College of Fine Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts)

Human existence is essentially a process of interaction with the environment. The construction of subjectivity and the formation of self-awareness are deeply imprinted by the traces left by external space. Kimmy TSAI paints landscapes, animals, and female portraits, but when portraying women, she places them within natural settings, accompanied by animals and plants, often blending them into one.

Let’s first talk about animals. Animals have always had a place in the human world—just think of how the earliest artworks were, in fact, depictions of animals. In an anthropocentric world, animals coexist with humans, yet the tradition of animal painting also reflects the evolving relationship between humans and animals throughout history. This relationship has received renewed attention since the concept of the “Anthropocene” was introduced in 1995, sparking intense discussions on humanity’s impact on and connection with other species.

Kimmy TSAI has lived in Canada—a country of vast natural landscapes filled with forests and lakes—for over 15 years. Most of the animals depicted in her works are wild, which suggests their presence in her landscapes and portraits may reflect a certain degree of lived reality.

—Text by Shih Chung KO
(Professional Artist / Professor)

The works in this exhibition combine imagery with textual descriptions, somewhat resembling picture books. However, I prefer to see them as a form of poetic expression. While the accompanying text makes the stories easier to understand, it also limits the imagination. In Kimmy’s case, her courage outweighs sorrow, making her compositions freer and more unrestrained—I believe they have already gone beyond the story itself.

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文/陳貺怡

(國立臺灣藝術大學美術系所專任教授/美術學院院長)

人類的生存其實是與環境交互作用的過程，人的主體性建構及自我意識的形成，都烙印著外在空間所留下的痕跡。蔡英君畫風景、動物與女性肖像，但在畫女性時卻將她們呈現在風景之中，與自然界中的動物與植物相伴，甚至結合為一體。首先談談動物，在人類世界中動物本來就佔有一席之地，只需思及最早的繪畫其實是「動物畫」就能明白。在以人為中心的世界裏，動物與人並存，但動物畫的傳統似乎也訴說著從古至今，人與動物關係的變遷，尤其是1995年「人類世」的學說被提出後，人與其他物種的關係被熱烈的討論著。蔡英君旅居幅員廣闊、遍布森林湖泊等自然景觀的加拿大逾15年，其畫面中的動物大部分是野生動物，證明了動物在她的風景畫與人物畫中的存在，有可能反應了某種程度的現實。

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文/柯適中

(專職創作者/教授)

這次展出的創作內容，結合了圖像與文字說明，有一點類似繪本的形式，但我更喜歡視為詩的另一種表現，故事的文字說明容易理解，但也限制了想像的可能，因為膽量大於哀傷，畫面就越加的自由奔放，我認為已經超乎了故事本身。

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