The Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (KdMoFA) held a joint opening ceremony on November 14 for three exhibitions: “Katsura FUNAKOSHI,” “Ruins of a Sleep - Meiro Koizumi Solo Exhibition,” and “'alipusapus – muvalis” featuring artists Huang Jin-Cheng and Malay Makakazuwan.
The exhibitions, which feature works by the artists using different media, run until February 15.
The opening ceremony was presided over by TNUA President Prof. Hsi-Chuan Liu, KDMoFA Director Meng-Hung Su, Prof. Fumihiko Sumitomo from the Tokyo University of the Arts, and the artists and their representatives.
“Katsura FUNAKOSHI”
Katsura Funakoshi (1951–2024) was one of the most prominent sculptors in contemporary Japan. After earning his MFA from Tokyo University of the Arts, Funakoshi began developing his signature camphor wood sculptures in the early 1980s. Focused on the human figure, his works blend realistic modeling, spiritual introspection, and surrealist symbolism, significantly shaping the trajectory of modern Japanese sculpture.
This exhibition presents a total of 48 works by the artist, including sculptures and works on paper—prints, drawings, and watercolors.
There are three themes in the exhibition highlighting changes in the artist’s career: “Human Realms — The Realist Portrait and Its Gaze,” “In Between — The Spiritual Portrait on Paper,” and Illusory Realms — Hybrid Beings and Surreal Visions.”
“Ruins of a Sleep - Meiro Koizumi Solo Exhibition”
“Ruins of a Sleep” reveals how Meiro Koizumi explores the interplay between the real and the illusory within “consciousness,” thereby granting his works dimensions of political critique and collective memory. His practice often explores the tension between private emotion and collective memory, and examines how systems of power—whether political, cultural, or technological—shape the individual. Working across video, drawing, sculpture, and more recently VR and AI, he consistently draws viewers into psychological spaces where fragility, authority, and identity are put to the test.
One of the exhibited works, “The Angels of Testimony,” is based on an interview with Hajime Kondo, a 99-year-old veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War, in which eleven young Japanese participants recite Kondo’s original testimony verbatim. Presented through two videos of differing lengths that play in continuous, desynchronized loops, the work reawakens a forgotten history through a process of re-consciousness.
“'alipusapus – muvalis”
It is a creative action centered on life, spirit, ritual, and transformation. Drawing from the three core phases of the Puyuma Mangayaw—Monkey Ceremony (initiation), Headhunting (collective action), and Mourning Purification (rebirth and cleansing)—the work interlaces personal experiences of loss with cultural intersections, constructing an artistic passage that traverses self and community, the contemporary and the ancestral, the sensory and the spiritual.
The spiral serves as the central visual and conceptual motif of the project, symbolizing the unfolding and continual metamorphosis of life. The circle, beyond its formal appearance, embodies the inner order of the cosmos: circular dance represents the cycle of existence and communal harmony, while floral wreaths mark blessings and transitional moments. These cultural elements are transformed into walkable paths, woven installations, sonic invocations, and animated imagery—becoming vessels of ritual and containers of spirit.
For more information, please visit kdmofa.tnua.edu.tw or KdMoFA’s Facebook page