Xie Lifa

Xie Lifa (March 28, 1938) is an artist born in Dadaocheng, Taipei City, Taiwan.

He was graduated from the Fine arts Department of National Taiwan Normal University. In 1964, Xie began to live in Paris, France, to study sculpture, and in 1968, he studied art theory and art history in New York City, the United States.

He was a member of the Fifth Moon Group and crossed over to literature. He also gave birth to groups such as the Taiwan Literature Research Association and the Taiwan Cultural Exchange Center. In 1993, he co-founded the Paris Cultural and Educational Foundation with Liao Xiuping and Chen Jinfang and established the "Paris Prize" to reward outstanding Young Artists to study abroad.

Xie Liifa's Printmaking has been collected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since 1996, he has settled in Beitun District, Taichung City, Taiwan. He has promoted environmentally friendly art in Changhua County, Taiwan. The installation artwork "Drifting Light Coordinate" is located in Fubao Ecological Park, Fuxing Township, Changhua County, made of 374 pieces of driftwood. He once taught at the Institute of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University.

He is the author of many books related to Taiwanese art, including "History of the Taiwan Art Movement during the Japanese Occupation Era" and "Talk about Art with A Li" (also known as "Art Letters: A Li"). In 1981, "History of Taiwan Art Movement during the Japanese Occupation" won the second Wu Yongfu Criticism Award. In addition, Sharifa also published "History of Unearthed Figures in Taiwan" in the 1980s, describing Taiwan's predecessors such as Tan Teng-pho, poet Wang Baiyuan, musician Chiang Wen-yeh, etc.

In 2017, he was awarded the 37th National Cultural Award, and subsequently donated all the prize money to establish the Romain Rolland Million Novel Award.

Childhood and schooling
Sherifa was born on March 28, 1938, in Yongle Town, Taipei City, which was the most prosperous place in Taiwan's history during the Japanese period, Dadaocheng. Sharifa grew up in such a prosperous business and cultural place at that time. The mixture of diverse information allowed Sharifa to accept various ideas and express them in his art and writing creations. Sharifa, who loved painting since childhood, wanted to be an art teacher in the future after graduating from high school, so she decided to apply for admission to the Art Department of Taiwan Provincial Normal College (now the Art Department of National Taiwan Normal University). When he was in his third year, Wang Jianzhu, who had just graduated from the Art Department of the National Normal University, first started teaching at Keelung Middle School. Sharifa received special guidance from Teacher Wang Jianzhu and was successfully admitted to the Art Department of the National Normal University in 1955 (Level 48).

At that time, the president of the Normal University was Liu Zhen, the dean of the School of Liberal Arts was Liang Shih-chiu, and the head of the art department was Huang Chun-pi. Students who were admitted in the same year include Wu Wenyao, Wang Xiuxiong, Li Yuanheng, Su Shixiong, He Qingyin, Chen Ruikang, Liang Xiuzhong, Li Kuen-pei, Liao Xiuping, Zhang Guangyuan, Wang Jiacheng, Jiang Jianfei, Fu Shen, Fu Youwu, Wen Baolou, and others. At least 15 of the thirty-eight students in the class will later become professors at the college. They have performed extremely well in different fields and are known as the "General Officer Class" in Taiwan's art circles. In 1959, Sharifa graduated from Normal University, and he and Li Yuanheng became the graduates selected to join the "Fifth Moon Group".

Sharifa was influenced by his teacher and began to plan his way abroad after graduation, heading to Paris, France.

Go to Paris (1964–1968)
When Sharifa first arrived in Paris, he first entered the sculpture studio of the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied sculpture with Mr. Cordurier. In addition to creating sculptures in the academy, Sharifa was also guided and inspired by Xiong Bingming, who instilled in Sharifa the importance of "philosophy" in artistic creation. While in Paris, Sharifa was inspired by the Parisian habit of visiting cafes. By observing people on the street or in cafes, he used simple lines to outline the interaction of the crowds. When he returned home, he selected a few deformed paintings and turned them into an oil painting called "Paris". "Characters" series. In Paris, Sharifa also extended the series "The Man Who Opened the Door" to depict the alienation of Parisian people from the world.

At that time, Cherifah, Liao Xiuping, and Chen Jinfang were known as the "Three Musketeers of Paris".

While studying sculpture at the college, Sharifa also started to get into printmaking through teacher Jean Delpech (1916–1988) in the evening class, beginning a fruitful "ten years of printmaking" in his creative process. While in Paris, as an Oriental living in the Western world, Sherifa gained insight into the alienation from urban life and created the "Baby and Glass Box Series" to express herself and modern people's understanding and feelings of life. Most of this series is created with oil paintings, and sometimes acrylic mixed with oil paint is used. I have also tried to continue this series with zinc prints and silk prints.

During the May 68 in France, Paris bore the brunt. At that time, many Taiwanese students left Paris. Sharifah also temporarily left for New York. However, he did not return to Paris and stayed in New York for 20 years before returning to Taiwan.

New York period (1968–1988)
Sharifa arrived in New York, and Sharifa also suffered a new impact on the new environment. While in New York, Sherifa applied through the recommendation of the Art Association, and in 1969 moved to the "Westbeth Artists Community" located in the West Village on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. Here Xie Lifa came into contact with artists from different creative fields around the world and also initiated a printmaking association with a Yugoslav painter. Sharifa also became the technical director of this printmaking studio. The Anti-war movement in the United States at that time also had an impact on Sharifa and was also connected to Taiwan's situation at the time. The central content of his creation gradually centered on the discussion of political issues, resulting in the "War and Peace" series.

In the United States from the 1960s to the 1970s, many emerging art trends also emerged, such as Pop art, Op art, Hard Edge Painting, Minimalism, etc.， all of which used bright colors and evenly applied color blocks to perform abstract expressions. , Xie Liifa also used this trend to create the "Pure Shape" series combined with prints.

In the 1970s, the trend of hyper-realism also emerged in the United States. Xie Liifa, who also had a strong interest in photography, was also influenced by hyper-realism and created the "New York Life" series of photo-serigraphy prints that mainly shot New York street scenes.

In the United States, Xie Lifa also met his university teacher Ma Baishui in 1970 and presented his printmaking work "Composition" to the teacher. After Ma Baishui returned to Taiwan, he applied for this work to participate in the National Art Exhibition on his behalf, and the work won the first prize in that session. Winning first place in the printmaking department of the exhibition also made Xie Liifa famous in the Taiwanese art scene. In 1971 Xie Lifa was exhibited at the National Museum of History (Taipei) and the Provincial Library (Taichung) and gradually enjoyed a certain degree of popularity in the country.

While in New York, Xie Lifa's works were also selected for various awards at home and abroad.

These award-winning experiences at home and abroad also caused various rumors in the Taiwanese art circle about Sharifa, who was not in Taiwan. So Xie Lifa wrote the article "Return and Exile", which introduced himself to the country for the first time and started his opportunity to write articles.

The beginning of art criticism
Sharifa first wrote two articles introducing Van Gogh and Cézanne in "Lion Art". Later, he was appreciated by the editor-in-chief at the time, He Zhengguang, and continued to publish articles in "Lion Art". Sharifa also became a frequent guest in the supplement of "China Times" at that time. During this period, Sharifa also wrote articles for Lion Art, China Times, and United Daily News, becoming almost a full-time art critic.

In 1975, Sherifa opened the column "Talking to Ah Li about Art in Letters" in "Lion Art". Through the letters written by "Master" to the girl "A Li", Sharifa introduced art to young students in approachable terms. to gain praise. The column articles will also be collected and published in a book in the future.

After that, Sharifa also had the idea of writing the history of Taiwan's art. In 1975, the magazine "Artist" was launched. From the first issue, Sharifa's column on writing the history of Taiwan's art began to be serialized. With the help of magazines, we launched a life survey of senior painters. After the serialization, we also received a lot of feedback and suggestions. Finally, in 1978, the Artist Publishing House assembled the serialized articles and published Taiwan's first art history book "Japanese Paintings". According to the History of the Taiwan Art Movement of the Times.

Later, "Lion Art" also planned a series of special editions on Taiwanese artists, with Sherifa responsible for half of the articles. In addition to the artists featured in this special series, it also includes several important literary and artistic figures, describing Taiwan's senior painters such as Chen Chengbo, poet Wang Baiyuan, musician Jiang Wenye, etc. This part of the article was first published in "Artist" magazine and then published by Avant-Garde Publishing House under the title "History of Unearthed Figures in Taiwan".

Return to Taiwan (1988–present)
Xie Lifah returned to Taiwan for the first time in 1988 and returned to China the following year to hold a personal exhibition. He returned to the United States and painted a series of works with the theme of "A Tree on the Mountain." The theme returns to a very simple idea, which is a tree on a mountain, but uses different media to create, and also invites many artists to create separately. The method of appropriating objects has also become a form of creation. For what is an exhibition? What does it mean to be a curator asks questions.

Xie Lifah did not want the historical chapter of Taiwanese art to exist only in the corridors of art museums. After returning to China, in addition to continuing to engage in artistic creation, he also devoted himself to the field of literature. He wrote the history of Taiwan's art movement during the Japanese era, which was later extended to his first novel, "Purple Daocheng", which was also Taiwan's first art novel. In 2016, this work was remade into a TV series of the same name.

Xie Lifah, who returned to Taiwan, continued to invest in the improvement of Taiwan's art environment and activities in Taiwan's art history, but at the same time he did not forget to create art, such as "The Shape of a Cow", the "Taipei" series, and "Gifts to Saints" series, "Civilization Born from Eggs" series, "Garbage Aesthetics", "Dancing with the Devil" series, "Drifting Light Coordinates", etc.

Xie Lifah's creations are in various forms, combined with curatorial concepts, and he has also dabbled in "land art". Take "Drifting Light Coordinates" in 2004 as an example. The materials used are driftwood and a reflector. The driftwood is cut into a bevel and a reflector is attached to the top. It can have various appearances as the light changes. Since Fubao's outlet is located at Below the aircraft flight path, this artistic creation is called a work that can be seen from an airplane.

Xie Lifah also likes to draw cows. For Xie Lifa, cows symbolize return and the feeling and affection for the soil of his hometown in Taiwan. 2021 coincides with the Year of the Ox. The Ruan Yizhong Taiwan Story Museum has planned a special exhibition for the Year of the Ox. It invites Mr. Xie Lifa, an important Taiwanese artist and art historian who is born in the year of the Ox and loves to draw cows, to exhibit a variety of wonderful and diverse ox painting outputs, paired with Ruan in the 1980s, Teacher Yi Zhong photographed various forms of cattle in various places in Taiwan, as well as photo records of the Beigang Cow Market, which was once prosperous but is now invisible, as well as the "Five Cows Picture" painted by Han Huang, a painter of the Tang Dynasty 1,200 years ago.The output product is the earliest extant paper and silk painting with cattle as the theme, which is of great significance.

book

 * "History of Taiwan Art Movement during the Japanese Occupation Era", 1978
 * "Discussing Art with A Li in a Letter", 1978
 * "The Art World in New York", 1984
 * "Taiwan Unearthed Figures", 1985
 * "Reshaping Taiwan's Mind", 1987 (Collected Works)
 * "My Painter Friends", 1988 (Collected Works)
 * "Exploring the Historical Perspective of Taiwanese Art", 1997
 * "Purple Rice Bowl", 2009 (Taiwanese Art History Novel)
 * "The Changing Age", 2013 (Taiwanese art history novel)
 * "Original Color Dadaocheng – Sharifa Talks About Himself", 2015 (autobiography)
 * "Taiwan Art Research Lecture Notes", 2016
 * "Destined to the Northeast Corner: Recalling Yilan People in Art", 2016
 * "Hehe Moves", 2017 (poetry and painting collection)
 * "Parts of the World: A Painter's Collection", 2016