“Parrotman” is the name of Taiwanese contemporary artist Chang Tengyuan’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, which describes his fantasy of an archaeological expedition by the alien species he invented “Parrotman”. Chang introduces the character in his paintings integrating elements from Chinese and Western techniques and reflects the times with contemporary objects. In this series, he also uses wooden boxes with movie stills on each side sealed inside acrylic frames, analogous to the memory capsules made by the Parrotman.
Chang has mentioned the correlation between the human language and the parrot’s parody – the misconception of language is in effect a major concept in his practice, ingeniously posing issues on the changing civilization, the misunderstanding among the people, which is far more complicated than the eccentric combination of human and parrot. This artistic rendering of post-apocalyptic or even alien atmosphere, serves as an allegory of the rise and fall of culture without any bias or judgment, inviting the audience to enter the realm of imagination.
Chang Tengyuan, born in 1983 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, now lives and works in Taipei. Since his first solo exhibition in 2008, Chang has been communicating the concept of “imagine the future to reflect on the present”, through the distinct visual language he forged by combining plane painting, animated installation, and mixed media. Chang, the winner of the First Prize of Kaohsiung Art Awards, the Merit Award of Taipei Art Awards in 2009, and a finalist of Taishin Arts Award in Visual Art in 2012 became a rising star in the contemporary art scene. In recent years, Chang hosted solo and joint exhibitions in New York, London, Cologne, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, etc. His works are collected by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.