Hou Chun Ming

Biography

Hou Chun-Ming was born on January 10, 1963 in Liuchiao Town, Jia Yi County in Taiwan. In 1982, he entered the Department of Fine Arts, National Art Academy and won the first prize in the National Oil Painting Exhibition in 1983.

After graduating from college in 1987, he became a prolific painter. In his representative painting of that era: The Intestine Sutra series, he attempted to magnify the conflict between “sex” and “folk lore” within his art.

In 1988, Hou's work Little Women was showcased at the Busan International Biennale in Korea. In 1990, Hou's Mythology & Desire Punishment were well received by critics. But what really shot him into the mainstream was Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals. The title of Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals was inspired by the name of Gan Bao's book In Search of the Supernatural.

His creativity was inspired by his many field trips with his teacher Chen Chuan-Xin. Teacher Chen took Hou to Tainan to see the Dongyue Temple, well known for its monks who communicate with ghosts. After visiting the Hall of Dragon Metamorphoses in Kaoshiung, Hou was shocked to find they chained the mental patients together. His creativity was equally fueled by the magical power of Taiwan’s folklore. In fact he decided to create his own gods and weave his own mythology into his work. Consequently, in 1995，Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals was selected to represent Taiwan in the Venice Biennale.

In 1997，Hou & his first wife divorced unexpectedly, which threw his world into total darkness. He lamented: “Geniuses such as poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud、painter Vincent Willem Van Gogh、Amedeo Modigliani、Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec were all dead at the age of 37. When I was 10, I was fascinated that their lives could burst into flames so suddenly and so brilliantly , therefore, I thought to die young would be worth it. And if I were not meant to be an artist like them, to spend 37 years in art would be long enough, I should start looking for something else to do. To me, 37 years old was a great gateway, and before I realized it, I was in front of this gateway.”His creativity also stagnated. A Suicide Message of Dying on Love at Age 36, Hou writes: “ My whole body hurt sharply when I lie down, I was not spared the pain when I was out of the bed either.”。

Hou did not stay depressed for long, he participatel in group therapy and become a freelance writer and to paint aimlessly. These were all attempts to cope with the pain. In particular, he found solice in painting the Mandala . For Hou, “The round mandala is a mirror reflecting your own inner world. You can meet yourself through painting aimlessly. A round Mandala is like a womb, a seed or an egg, it nourishes all possibilities.

In 2001，Hou became a father for the first time, which re-invigorated his artistic muse . From being a wandering ghost most of his life, he suddenly became a guardian of lives. Through voluminous freelance writing and graffiti paintings, Hou’s creative style had metamorphosed from the art of “challenging any opponent to a fight” to the search for one’s inner soul.

At the end of 2005, an art collector sent Hou's work to Hong Kong Sotheby’s Sales for auction. Much to his surprise, Hou Chun-Ming shot to international stardom and his name became recognized worldwide. In 2007, inspired by Taiwan god culture, his print Erotic Paradise became an overnight sensation. It was sold for $480,000 HKD. His print Strong Anal Sex：The Buddha with Refined Love then sold for $192,000HKD. Hou’s fame quickly escalated to new heights. In the same year at Hong Kong Christie’s auction, his woodblock printings Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals, a set of 37 pieces, were sold for $2.64 million HKD. It holds the record for the highest price by any Taiwan artists at an international auction. The smashing success of this work put Hou on the map. For the longest time, art collectors paid little attention to Taiwan artists. Hou changed that. His talent and fame attracted global fascination to not just himself, but for the Taiwan art community at large.

Since 2012, Hou made himself the contemporary Cangjile who created the original Chinese script. Hou drew scripts and made them into charms with calling power. Hou believes that charms are scripts that have not yet been tamed, and charm’s power came from the secret desires of a person. He said that each script when written out is actually a charm with strong calling power, for example, when we write love letters, we are calling for love, when we write in Facebook, we are looking for friendship and when we draft a complaint, we are seeking justice. Hou dissects words from short sentences and combine them into a charm, or he uses the sound, shape and meaning of words and the beliefs in Taiwan folklore, he develops them into new Chinese characters.

Public reception and criticism

Hou believed that if each of us has a little chaotic black area within our heart that we usually block and suppress. But, with self-dissecting method, Hou analyzes our dark spaces with art. By combining traditional religious rituals, body symbols and sex, he aims to relieve observers from life’s strangest phenomena. A Taiwan TV personality Tsai Kang-Yun evaluated Hou's work, he said: “I can always feel Hou's power and think that I owe him for that. May be because he created his paintings out of pain or out of restraint, but all of us who are inspired by him owe him.

Publications

Exhibitions

【One-person exhibitions】

【Major Joint Exhibitions and New Book Releases】

【International Exhibitions】