Page Tsou

The Museo ABC presents the Hide-and-seek [el juego del escondite] exhibition, a sampling from artist Page Tsou (Taiwan, 1978) who, for the first time, is showing his works in Spain. The exhibition brings together ten projects including over one hundred original works by the Taiwanese author, well-known in our country for his exquisite and award-winning illustrated books for children.

The works of Page Tsou are a combination of techniques in which it is possible to appreciate the influences of Japanese comics, urban art and traditional Oriental painting. It is a complex artistic universe —with more European sophistication than Asian exoticism, despite his domain of Chinese ink painting— in which he combines timeless motifs and a continuous desire to break with the establishment. As for techniques, Tsou combines the digital with the manual without prejudice: first he draws, then he digitalizes the images, and finally, he colours them in the computer so as to subsequently print them out and work on them manually.

In Hide-and-seek [el juego del escondite], a dreamlike world is recreated, sometimes disturbing and often mysterious, with its messages hiding diverse meanings—the influence of René Magritte is apparent throughout the work—. The very title of the sample is a play-on-words that refers to the game of hide-and-seek, while also referring to the act of «hiding» and «seeking». «I like to draw with hidden signs and distinct meanings. The majority of my works are illustrated and deal with serious topics, wrapped within the innocence and fun of childhood. This is the main idea that the exhibition reflects», explains Tsou.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Page Tsou (Taiwan, 1978) graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the National Chiayi University, specializing in Chinese ink painting and graphic design and also studied visual arts at the Royal College of Art of London. His fascination upon arriving to the city of London led him to undertake a project of drawing three thousand faces in thirty days. When this project was almost completed, Tsou realized that he had yet to draw anyone from the back side. He asked himself if this omission was due to a restriction caused by certain habits or if this part of the head was simply not of great interest. In search of a response, Tsou began to create numerous portraits of necks—the beginnings of his The And series and a search for the hidden in all of his subsequent works—.

The author is especially well-known in Spain as an illustrator of children’s books, such as El soldado de plomo, published in 2012 by Ediciones SM. In addition, he has received international awards such as the Man Group drawing prize in 2008 and the International Award for Illustration Bologna Children’s Book Fair – Fundación SM in 2011. His works are displayed in public and private collections such as those of the Conran Foundation (United Kingdom), the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan) and the Poster Museum at Wilanow (Poland). Internationally, his name has also been associated with creative works for brands such as Johnny Walker, Gucci and Montblanc. Furthermore, he has served as curator of the World Design House Exhibition for the World Design Capital 2016 in Taipei and of the Taiwan Pavilion at the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of 2017.

CONFERENCE BY PAGE TSOU
THURSDAY 29 JUNE / 7 p.m. / «From here to there. 10 years of works in progress».
Conference in English with Spanish translation. Free admission until forum is complete.

TOUR + ART WORKSHOP FOR FAMILIES
SATURDAY 23 SEPT / SATURDAY 7 OCT / 5 — 7 p.m. The program «El club de los sábados» (The Saturdays’ Club) devotes two guided tours with art workshops to the Page Tsou exhibition for families with children from 6 to 12 years of age.