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Photo reportage from the exhibition ‘FORMOSA. The Beautiful Isle’ at Jurmala City Museum

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Turquoise ocean waters and emerald layers of rocks; clouds trapped in the evergreen and lush paws of bamboo groves. Dizzying tones of ultramarine, lapis lazuli, malachite and jade crated by the sunlight and shadows of clouds. It could well have been this richness of colours and forms that prompted the Dutch navigator Jan Huygen van Linschoten on the Portuguese ship that sailed along the coasts of eastern Taiwan in 1590, to write in a ship journal Ilha Formosa which means “beautiful island” in Portuguese. Although van Linschoten spent most of his time in India and most likely never sailed along the costs of Taiwan, the story has retained its power and has been transmitted further.

In Latvia, screen printing has been a familiar medium for a century, but in Taiwan its history dates back at least one thousand years before that. It is, and yet at the same time is not, the same tradition, the same medium and the same story. Jurmala City museum offers two exhibitions under one roof and one title – in the Large Hall, a selection of works by artists from the Taiwan Graphic Art Association offer an insight into the diversity that is typical of the Taiwanese contemporary screen printing landscape. In turn, in the Small Hall, one will find works by artist and Art Academy of Latvia Professor Jānis Murovskis, most of which he produced after his most recent trip to Taiwan. However, these are not travel notes: “The island is a place to be alone with yourself. You ask yourself questions and you answer them. Everyone needs their own island.”

FORMOSA. The Beautiful Isle

Jānis Murovskis and Liao Shiou-Ping, Hwang Yue-Sheng, Rock Shen Chin-Yuan, Yang Ming-Pye, Chung You-Hui, Lin Hsueh-Ching, Huang Chun-Yuan, Chang Cheng-Jen, Lin Ren-Hsin, Hsu Ming-Feng, Lin Yi-Hsuan, Liao Tsuan-Yuan, Lin Chao-An, Yang Cheng-Yuan, Dawn Chen-Ping, Lai Cheng-Hui

19.10-6.11.2016

Jurmala City Museum
Jurmala, Tirgonu St. 29, Latvia

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

The people on the shoreline capture the last moments of sunset on their phones. A few leave the scenic locale and will soon be followed by the rest. In a couple of minutes, the beach will be empty. Jānis Murovskis. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Jānis Murovskis. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Taiwan Graphic Art Association selection. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Liao Shiou-Ping. Gates of Celebration. Silkscreen, 2015

Taiwan Graphic Art Association selection. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons

Yang Ming-Pye. Mountain like a cloud. Silkscreen, 2003

Taiwan Graphic Art Association selection. Exhibition view. Photo by Ojārs Jansons