The title of this exhibition comes from the theory of socialist Maurice Halbwachs. His concept of Collective Memory suggests that through the sharing of personal memories, a common social memory is formed. The curator of 【Collective Memory】 has invited LuLu Meng and Yuki Ideguchi, up and coming artists from New York, to hold their first exhibition in Taipei. The conception of this exhibition came from the artists individual responses and shared observations of the individual, group, and society.
After completing their studies, both artists moved to New York to pursue careers in art. Their works not only absorb the cultural nutrients from their own place of birth, but also actively integrate with contemporary media and material; creating contemporary work with distinctly East Asian cultural characteristics. They encourage their audience to reflect on what it means to be an individual, part of a group, and also part of nature.
LuLu Meng was born in 1982 Taipei, Taiwan. She received her bachelors degree in Drama and Theatre from National Taiwan University, and her masters degree in Imaging Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Her work is influenced by her background in Drama and the connotations of Chinese Confucianism. She is interested in exploring both the homogeneity and heterogeneity of individuals, groups and cultures.
Yuki Ideguchi was born in 1986 Fukuoka, Japan. He received his masters degree in Japanese Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts, and then began his career in New York. His work is deeply influenced by Japanese culture and the East Asian religious thought. He combines Japanese painting and traditional Chinese brushwork skills to illustration the nuances of nature, life and death, religion and folklore.
In 【Collective Memory】, the audience can explore the meaning of life through the artists’ unique personal experiences and philosophical enlightenment, and gain insight to the thoughts and inner workings of Lulu Meng and Yuki Ideguchi.
The exhibition is curated by YIART in collaboration with Cloud Gallery with the goal of bringing the work of these two rising artists to a greater public.