bookstore | exhibition is pleased to announce the first international exhibition of Taiwanese artist Cheng Hsiung Hung, entitled Modern Hermit at the foundation’s exhibition space, Księgarnia | Wystaw, Józefińska 9, Kraków. Ada Kai-Ting Yang curates the exhibition.

The exhibition includes 18 paintings spanning 20 years of diverse cultural narratives captured by the artist during solitary research of his artistic practice. Hung paints with the same classic, focused approach as the one he lives.  A modern hermit, Hung has lived his entire life without companionship; building relationships only with the subject matter of his candid, intimate modernist paintings. Fragile postures, simplistic gestures and pure colour appropriate each canvas, echoing the self-reflective, genuine curiosity of a privy 74-year-old man’s modest search for perfection.

Cheng Hsiung Hung has led a discreet life, which resonates through his paintings and their subtle imagery. His subjects adorn an aura of purity while simultaneously revealing traces of struggle and loss. Amongst their substance, his paintings equally radiate an essence of emptiness. They speak of genuine simplicity while bellowing complex storylines. The loose, honest brushstrokes give movement to concrete moments in time. His portraits have the unique ability to bring a constructive discourse to their contradictory elements.

The solo exhibition is accompanied by two celebrated performances by young artists Melissa Palacio Lopez and Victor Ramon Stoljarow. Lopez will create pieces with body movement and choreography based on the works of Hung. Stoljarow will become the moving body of a letter written by Jim Aaron Kane. He will perform a monologue of Kane’s first encounter with Hung in Taipei. The adaption of Hung’s work to experimental theatre interconnects the three artists, acquainting his timeless paintings with a contemporary European audience.

Performances running order:

Victor Ramón Stoljarow
Performance title: Meeting Cheng Hsiung Hung
Choreography and conception: Victor Ramón Stoljarow
Text and co-creation: Jim Aaron Kane

Melissa Palacio Lopez
Performance title: The beauty of simplicity
Choreography and conception: Melissa Palacio López
Costume design and co-creation: Claire Dorweiler
Sound design: noise canteen // pleines & liebold