A closer inspection shows that all of them have some rather unusual decorations. One is covered with a roof-shaped wafer, another comes with a garage, a third has a rocking chair mounted on its top, in the place of the customary cherry.
It turns out these mouth-watering delicacies are all inedible food models, put on display in an art fair in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan.
The baker of these goods, Lin Yu-ting, is a 28-year-old art teacher at Da-wan High School in Tainan County, one of eight young Taiwanese artists selected to appear in Art Taipei 2010’s Made in Taiwan section.
“Some elements in Taiwan’s buildings bear a resemblance to cake decoration,” Lin said. “For example, this sugar formation here looks a lot like a metal railing, while these dark chocolate cake icings remind me of pitch-covered rooftops,” she said as she pointed to some of her work.
Lin’s first item in the series was inspired by her family’s old apartment built in the 1970s. “To me, home invokes warm and sweet feelings, and so does a chocolate cake,” Lin said. To bake her dream cakes, she took numerous cake decoration classes to learn how to build food models.
“When I showed the works to my students, they immediately recognized parts of their homes on the cakes,” she added.
And Home is the theme of the 17th Art Taipei fair, which took place between Aug. 20 and 24 at the city’s World Trade Center. It showcased over 3,000 pieces from 110 galleries, including 53 from abroad.
Some works are from renowned artists such as English artist Damien Hirst and the mainland Chinese explosion artist Cai Guoqiang, whose firework pieces sold for a stunning US$9.5 million at a Christie’s auction in 2007.
The five-day fair attracted over 40,000 visitors, at least 100 of whom were international art collectors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Altogether, the fair generated over NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in revenue for the galleries, more than double the amount from last year.
However, fair organizers wanted to do more than increase attendance figures and sales revenues. “Our goal was to introduce the latest trends in the global art community to Taiwan’s audience,” said Richard Chang, vice chairman of the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, which has been hosting the event for the past 16 years.
This year’s exhibit included, for the first time, video art and photography, in recognition of the global tendency for artists to play with mixed media and multimedia in their artistic creations, according to Chang.
“By sending invitations to international collectors, we hoped to create more opportunities for Taiwanese artists to be seen, and for local galleries to find potential international partners,” Chang said, pointing out the importance for artists and art agents to work across boundaries.
Asked what he thought of Taiwan’s chances of becoming an art auction hub in the Asia-Pacific region, Chang said the nation needs to reduce its tax rates.
“Art trade in Hong Kong is tax-free, while in mainland China the tax rate for galleries is 30 percent,” he noted. Taiwan falls between the two, charging a 5-percent sales tax for every art piece sold. “We still have room for improvement,” he said.
The fair not only sought to make Taiwan’s artistic energy better known to the outside world, it also brought some of the world’s best photography to Taiwan, in the hopes of introducing it to a local audience. It showcased, also for the first time in its history, award-winning works from the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards.
“With this exhibition, we wanted to engage a new audience, and we are happy that Art Taipei has included photography as a form of art,” said Ania Wadsworth, production and communications manager of the London-based World Photography Organisation, host of the Sony competition since 2007.
The annual contest is open to professional and amateur photographers alike, who can submit photos under a variety of categories, including photojournalism, fine art, fashion, nature and many more.
In 2010, the award committee received some 82,000 entries from 148 countries. The 13 images put on display in Taipei were all winners in their respective categories.
“We have seen many works from Taiwan’s photographers, and we would certainly like to see them win some awards soon,” Wadsworth said.
With many of Taiwan’s young talents still working hard to gain recognition internationally, the government has offered them some help and encouragement.
Ania Wadsworth (fourth from left), CCA Minister Emile Chih-jen Sheng (fourth from right) and Richard Chang (second from right) pose after the opening ceremony of Art Taipei 2010 (Staff photo/Liu Kwang-yin)
The Council for Cultural Affairs, in particular, has given young artists a helping hand. For the last few years, it has partnered with the Taiwan Art Gallery Association to hold an annual Made in Taiwan—Young Artist Discovery competition.
This year more than 200 submissions were received, out of which eight were chosen to be displayed at the fair. Each of the eight artists responsible for the works also received prize money in the amount of NT$50,000.
“Besides talent, what these young artists also need is government support,” said CCA Minister Emile Chih-jen Sheng at the opening ceremony of the fair. “With this project, we expect to help pave their way onto the international stage,” he added.
Some young local artists have already achieved a certain amount of international recognition. The work of Chen I-chun, who is turning 30 this year, has appeared in various international exhibitions in Los Angeles, Sao Paolo and Seoul. Her video and photography works reflect the complex relationship between a city and the industrial zones that surround it.
Cake artist Lin, on the other hand, has received an invitation to take part in an art fair in Tokyo this November.
When asked if government support is enough to allow her to concentrate on her artistic endeavors, she said with a shrug: “It’s never enough.”
“But I’ll just continue working on it, every day after school, and all day long during longer vacations—because it has become a part of me.” (HZW)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw