Chen Han Sheng: Isn't It a Beautiful Meadhow?

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“Isn’t It a Beautiful Meadow?”

“Isn’t It a Beautiful Pond?”

“Isn’t It a Beautiful Wetland?”

“Isn’t It a Beautiful Paddy field?”

The title of the exhibition directly quotes the title of the translated picture book Isn’t It a Beautiful Meadow? Following on from themes of his solo exhibitions such as The Last Farm Boy in 2018, After the Explosion in 2019, and From View to Landscape All At Once, this exhibition follows the watershed of local water systems. Pulling the perspective away from the hometown, this exhibition focuses on changes in the landscape, from the modernization of high-speed railway construction and urban development, to the ebb and flow of canals, bridge piers, and agricultural products.

The author of the picture book Isn't it a Beautiful Meadow? was the Austrian writer Wolf Harranth (1941-2021). The original German title was Da ist eine wunderschöne Wiese, meaning “There is a beautiful meadow”; the book was first published in 1972. The English translation, under the title, Isn't It a Beautiful Meadow? was published in 1985. The Chinese-translated version was first published in 1992 by Echo Publishing Co., Ltd.

Chen Han Sheng recalls his own environmental enlightenment having been influenced by the illustrated book, Isn't It a Beautiful Meadow? This exhibition takes water as its starting point, echoing Kaohsiung people's habit of buying water, and the surprise of discovering that there are still paddies growing water caltrops in the suburbs of Kaohsiung this year. Chen Han Sheng attempts to make a comparison of the development status in Taiwan between the time when the picture book was first published and the time he first read the book. Through this exhibition, he transforms his external and internal landscapes of the time, and how they have gradually disappeared. Noting each scene as he discovers its absence, he also says goodbye to them.