March 16 – May 28, 2012 (Free Admission)

Opening Time: Monday – Friday 9:30 AM – 17:30 PM, Saturday 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM, Sunday & National Holidays Closed

Opening Reception and Artist’s Talk: Friday, March 16, 2012, 6 PM

Born in 1943, CHANG Chaotang is one of the most eminent photographers of the post-war generation in Taiwan. Growing up in the politically-oppressed 1950s, his works has been influenced by various sources, such as the vernacular tradition in Taiwan and the modernist avant-garde from the West. His 50-years oeuvre evades conventional classification. Although grounding his visual style in the documentary tradition, CHANG’s photography always manages to stage his own idiosyncratic vision in the picture frame, reflecting not only the ever-changing atmosphere of Taiwanese society and its people, but also the inner state of mind of an individual photo-essayist.

Since the 1970’s, he has continuously participated in numerous exhibitions in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, France and the USA. He is the first photographer awarded both the Taiwan National Awards for Arts (1999) and the Taiwan National Cultural Award (2011) – two most prestigious awards for Taiwanese artist. In 2011 he has been one of the honourable guests in San Antonio Photography Festival “Fotoseptiembre”. His previous exhibitions in New York include “Image from the East” (1986, Solo Exhibition) and “Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin, 1950s-1980s” (1999, Group Exhibition, Queens Museum of Art). This concise yet comprehensive exhibition in the newly-opened Taiwan Academy of New York offers a rare chance to see CHANG Chaotang’s works from different periods and angles—from the early 60s visual experimentation with an existentialist touch and sensibility, to his later work of social landscape and inner exploration.

Besides photography, he’s also a prominent documentary filmmaker and a highly-respected professor in Taiwan, teaching in various institutions including Tainan National University of the Arts, National Chengchi Unuversity, and National Taiwan University. LIN Hwai-min, founder of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and a close friend of CHANG, describes him as “a man with the greatest vision…and is one of the most sensitive and intelligent artist in contempoary Taiwan”.

CHANG Chaotang now lives in Taipei City, TAIWAN.