“People all can live as machines, so do artists,” Su Meng Hung manifests in the artistic statement for his upcoming solo exhibition <Auto-Plastic Injection>– opening in Dec. 2008 at Galerie Grand Siècle.

Having accomplished the series work <Kai Dao Tu Mi>, which models a National Palace Museum collection of Chinese bird-and-flower paintings of Ming Dynasty and Ching Dynasty, Su Meng-Hung now absorbs himself further in the world of plastic injection molding.  Recently, there are 5,000 plastic injection molding factories in Taiwan, while the total amount in the world is only 6,000.  As the second biggest machinery industry in the country, the plastic injection molding factories in Taiwan manufacture 7,000 pieces per year, which takes up the second place in the worldwide plastic injection molding industry.  

Similar to the machinery skill in Taiwan, artistic creation here also needs to survive in a capitalized and industrialized society.  While mass-production becomes an unavoidable term in our daily life, artists can neither get away from dealing with capitalism, commercial competition, and limited budget.  In fact, artists have already been mechanized no matter you notice it or not: from creativity exploration (artistic concept), production technique (media), to demonstration for profit (exhibition and promotion) – the whole process is indispensable for any artist who wants to survive in the art world. 

Su Meng-Hung is not afraid of touching this subject.  In his paintings, he clearly captures the reality of how art is mechanized.  Actually, the exploration can be traced back to three years ago in 2003, when he was invited to Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei to have his solo exhibition <Kai Dao Tu Mi>, in which he created a conversation between the modern and the classic.  The traditional bird-and-flower paintings were thus replaced with mosaic in strong colors and formative contours.

The artist takes a critical stand, but he comes up with peculiar images.

In the solo exhibition <Auto-Plastic Injection> in Dec., Su Meng-Hung will present his latest series work <Kai Dao Tu Mi– the Distortion>.  The artist again distorts these bird-and-flower paintings.  “Modeling” the accomplished works from his 2003 series <Kai Dao Tu Mi>, Su “injects” his unique styles in the distortion.  Taking himself as a machine in the whole machinery production, Su makes a response to the commercial market where art can no longer be separate from it.  While the tradition format is replaced with colorful mosaic, the contour on the surface is also replaced with its own distortion. 

The distortion of the surface should not be condemned in the contemporary society.  Instead, through the distortion, Su Meng-Hung sketches out an unique aesthetics in our mediated life.