First Solo Exhibition of British Artist Phil Sayers Comes to Taiwan

A solo exhibition by British artist Phil Sayers featuring works inspired by historical paintings mainly from the 19th century will be officially opened at B.B.Art in Tainan City, Taiwan, this coming Saturday November 8 at 3pm.

The exhibition, "Re-inventing the Museum: Changing Places by Phil Sayers," is curated by Assistant Professor Ming Turner from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Institute of Creative Industries Design (ICID).

Turner said, "This unique and extraordinary exhibition brings historical works enshrined in the 'high' culture of Western museums into a contemporary gallery in Tainan, reinterpreted by a living transgender artist from England."

"Phil Sayers very often creates his work based on collections in the museum setting," Turner added.

She also said, "We'd like to represent a museum setting in a gallery space in B.B.ART which is kind of show respect and hope looking forward to the coming age of museum of fine arts in Tainan."

Sayers masquerades as a woman in large-format photographs inspired by historical paintings mainly from the 19th century, according to Turner, and a feminist point of view is adopted to question and critique how women have been represented throughout history.

Women represented as passive helpless objects, or those who rebel against the patriarchal restraints imposed on them, are among the subjects exposed and challenged in my photographic works, according to Sayers.

As a middle-aged transgender artist, Sayers' performances also subvert the age-old tradition in art and the media of the women usually being young, nubile and often eroticized by male artists, Turner noted.

The curation of the exhibition also aims to respond to the forthcoming Tainan Museum of Fine Arts which will be under construction soon, according to Turner.

This exhibition will run through December 28. An Artist Talk will be held from 3-5 pm on Sunday November 9. All are welcome.