Artwork Appreciation
Artist Liao Chao-Hao often draws creative inspiration from the ordinary things in life around him. He observed that southern Taiwanese temples often use terrazzo flooring, and auspicious images such as the “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea” are also set directly into the walls using the same technology. In Liao’s view, terrazzo floors not only hold historical significance in Taiwan’s architecture, but the auspicious bird and flower images made with them also reflect contemporaneous aesthetics and beliefs. In his Copper Wire Flooring: Auspicious Scene, he replaced the copper wire with pieces of cork to create the outlines of a bird-and-flower picture centering on a magpie, a symbol of good fortune. He then used the graininess and grey tone of newspaper pulp to simulate the basic appearance of a terrazzo-cement floor. Liao Chao-Hao also uses this technique to reinterpret the transformation of terrazzo flooring technology in Taiwanese temple architecture.