Airy Disk

RIVER ART GALLERY will hold the new group show “Airy Disk,” featuring six artists, including Korean artist Lili Lee, Polish artist Magdalena Gluszak – Holeksa who makes her debut in Taiwan, Chinese artists Amy Hui Li and Xinran Liu who studied art in the UK, as well as the highly acclaimed Taiwanese artist Julia Hung and Japanese artist Tomoko Hasuwa. The show will delve into layers of visual perception through diverse perspectives, inviting viewers to journey through different images into a rich, spiritual dimension, thereby resonating with their own spectrum of life and finding moments of familiarity.

The Airy disk, a fundamental concept in all optical systems, is an element we encounter every day as soon as we open our eyes. The human eye is essentially like a lens of a certain size, and when light enters the eye, it inevitably produces countless Airy Disks on the retina. These Airy Disks, when superimposed upon each other, form the unforgettable images in our brains. Though an optical phenomenon, the Airy disk also possesses a certain “physicality.” The process of overall interaction leading to the output and transmission to the brain involves subtle emotions and physical memories. This show highlights artists as the eyes of people, perceive and experience the world from different angles, like various lenses, slicing through bodily incisions, the nuances of inner emotions, and even many aspects of life and social issues. They then combine these fragments of memory or fleeting glimpses of everyday life, transcending sensory levels and elevating to the inner spiritual realm.

The curation of the show also suggests the imagery of a spectrum. Amy Hui Li's abstract vocabulary and vivid red convey biological forms reminiscent of blood vessels, combining repeatedly torn and reshaped handmade felt, silk, and other materials. This expresses notions of fragility, fragmentation, yet also authenticity and courage, prompting viewers to explore the incisions of their inner emotions. Influenced by Korean Shamanism, Lili Lee constructs a worldview imbued with Eastern painting aesthetics through the use of symbols from talismans and altar decorations. Her works transition from red to orange and yellow, entering the green spectrum, gradually connecting the energies manifested by human activities with various forms of rituals, inspiring self-reflection.

On the second floor, Tomoko Hasuwa first breaks the silence, creating effects akin to visual persistence or kaleidoscopic images through fragmented memories or fleeting daily moments. This aims to evoke ripples in the viewers' visual and spiritual realms, prompting self-reorganization through subtle stimuli. Magdalena Gluszak - Holeksa's works aim to transform certain ambiguous and symbolic entities. The cool tones like deep green and blue hues, characteristic of her works, respond to the nocturnal atmosphere of her upbringing while retaining elements of personal photography, images, and intuitive sketches. This hints at the symbiosis and exchange between life and death, prompting the artist to question the hierarchies of outer and inner realms.

Xinran Liu endeavors to capture the unfiltered thoughts and memories that surface in an instant. The intuitive process of translation is closely associated with the actions of writing and sketching, much like dots scattered randomly across a canvas. The artist maintains the brilliance of emotions when reproducing them, though ephemeral, they still whisper softly in the dim light. In the final area, Taiwanese artist Julia Hung, who has recently garnered considerable attention, presents her unique installation works. The overall color scheme is centered around white, representing the collection of all colors of light, and black, absorbing all visible light. Combined with other works in cool tones and projection installations, the show embodies spiritual depth akin to water, not only retaining its intrinsic essence but also containing the philosophical concept of mutual generation and interchange from Taoist.

Through this exhibition, our focus is on the process of objects being interpreted by artists and rendered into images to engage in dialogue and interaction with the audience, facilitating an exploration of the interaction between the so-called “body,” “senses,” and “spirit.” As the basic unit of imaging, Airy Disk, like cells, symbolizes the indispensable element of artists in contemporary society. The viewers are invited to seek shared resonance, becoming the focal points of their own life journeys.