Huang Piaw-Sheng, a painter celebrated for his sincere and unpretentious depictions of everyday life, is honored this year on the 110th anniversary of his birth. To pay tribute to this beloved artist, the Taichung City Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau has organized a special exhibition, “Birds and Fish, Fish and Birds: The 110th Anniversary Retrospective of Huang Piaw-Sheng,” on view at the Dadun Cultural Center through November 26. At the opening ceremony held yesterday (8th), Deputy Director-General Tseng Neng-Ting of the Cultural Affairs Bureau invited the public to step into the vivid, heartfelt world of this humble master of naïve art.
Tseng remarked that as a city of culture, Taichung has long been committed to promoting diverse art forms. “Naïve art,” he explained, refers to creative expressions by self-taught artists or those without formal training, whose works often reveal distinct personal styles. The movement emerged in Taiwan during the 1970s local cultural renaissance, represented by such notable figures as Wu Li-Yu-Ke of Taipei, Hung Tung of Beimen in Tainan, Lin Yuan of Puli in Nantou, and Li Yung-Two of Tamsui. Representing Taichung among this distinguished circle is Mr. Huang Piaw-Sheng—the focus of this commemorative exhibition.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau noted that Mr. Huang Piaw-Sheng was born in Changhua in 1915 and later moved to Wufeng, Taichung, where he worked as a farmer. Remarkably, he began painting at the age of 75 in 1990, guided purely by intuition and emotion in portraying the world around him. In just five years before his passing, he created a large body of works imbued with childlike wonder and heartfelt sincerity. His paintings were widely exhibited at cultural centers and art museums throughout Taiwan, earning warm public acclaim. In 1997, his works were selected by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum for international exhibitions at Halle Saint Pierre in Paris, France, and the University of Leuven Art Museum in Belgium—bringing Taichung’s naïve art to international recognition. His achievements were also documented by art historian Professor Hsieh Li-Fa in A History of Art Development in the Taichung Region, underscoring Huang’s significance in Taiwan’s art history.
The exhibition’s curator—artist Huang Chyi-Wen, and also the artist’s grandson—shared: “My grandfather spent most of his life farming, yet during his free time he would pick up a brush and paint. He was frugal and resourceful, often using wrapping paper, kraft paper bags, calendar pages, or wooden boards as his canvas. Though quiet and reserved, he expressed his inner humor and childlike joy through his paintings.” Huang Chyi-Wen fondly recalled that his grandfather once painted a farm cart in fluorescent rose-red and sat upon it, looking every bit like a cheerful young man. This playful spirit, he said, remains an enduring memory of his grandfather’s zest for life.
According to Taichung City Dadun Cultural Center, Huang’s works draw inspiration from daily scenes—people, plants, animals, and the rhythms of labor—marked by simplicity, vivid colors, and emotional warmth, together forming a “visual diary of life.” The exhibition’s title, “Birds and Fish, Fish and Birds,” references the whimsical hybrid creatures often found in Huang’s paintings—part bird, part fish—freely traversing between sky and water, symbolizing his boundless creativity and imagination. The exhibition not only pays homage to Huang Piaw-Sheng but also invites audiences to rediscover the beauty of naïve art and its honest reflection of life’s simplicity.The exhibition runs through November 26 at the Dadun Cultural Center. The public is warmly invited to visit. For more information, please visit the official website at www.dadun.culture.taichung.gov.tw.