Author:Wu Tien-chang(1956-)
Category：Oil Painting
Media:Oil on canvas
Year：1991
Size description：172×172cm×2pcs
Introduction：Homage to the Unknown Hero has a subtitle— “Commemorating The 2.28 Incident.” This large, two-dimensional oil painting spans over three meters in width, with the corpse of an unknown figure sacrificed in the 2.28 Incident placed at the center of the work. At the top of the image is a mourning crowd. Some are even in a kneeling position, as if they were sending off a great man that has just passed away. The death of the unknown hero symbolizes the trauma and violence in history. The large crowd mourning the deceased expresses the pain endured by the entire society that has suffered a national trauma. Through wild, unrestrained and heavy Neo-Expressionist brushstrokes, and by imbuing the image with a powerful theatricality and emotional tension, the artist expresses the sorrow surrounding the “unspeakable” 2.28 Incident in the past, while articulating the gloomy atmosphere and misery permeating the Taiwanese society at that time.
Author Introduction：「Wu Tien-chang」-Born in Changhua and growing up in Keelung, Taiwan. Wu graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Chinese Culture University. Since the 1980s, Wu had focused on two-dimensional paintings to reflect the turbulence, violence, and trauma of Taiwan’s modern history. In the mid-1990s, he turned toward staged photography, combining models with Taiwan’s kitsch folk aesthetics to express the transitional state of Taiwan's modern regime changes
Accession number:20210051