Artwork Appreciation
CHEN Shao-Yen’s oil painting, The House Has One Hundred Hole Window, made use of large quantities of black, gray, and white tones, and is devoid of any other color. Dense flowing lines swim across the canvas, presenting a forced yet liberated style unique to this work. The general theme is composed of densely packed iron gratings observed from a narrow alleyway which had become part of the residential landscape in the area, with the stacked gratings forming a wall that covers and breaks up the building’s outlines. Hence, the grating has become a barrier that one must first go through in order to take a look at the insides, while serving as a filter through which the houses can breathe. By using simple color combinations, CHEN Shao-Yen has distilled a powerful visual effect, achieved through his flexible use of lines moving freely upon the canvas so that the viewers may appreciate this mundane yet unique urban scenery.