Shih Yung-Chun: Manor
Exhibition Dates. 18 Dec 2024 – 18 May 2025
at White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Manor
Artist. Shih Yung-chun
Installation - Manor (2019)
Shih Yung-Chun
steel, plywood, cotton, ceramic, plastic, leather
installed 104 x 196 x 180 cm
Painting - Wait Up, Tiny Peeps! (2021)
Shih Yung-Chun
oil on canvas
182 x 227 x 5 cm
Toy Packaging.B - Nose Job Made Easy (2022)
Shih Yung-Chun
clay, fabric, acrylic on wood
63 x 47.5 x 15 cm
Toy Packaging.C - Searching for the Giant
Shih Yung-Chun
fibre-reinforced plastic doll, fabric, acrylic on wood
125.5 x 103.5 x 27 cm
Shih Yung-chun was born in Taipei in 1978. He studied in the Department of Western Fine Arts in the National Taiwan University of Arts, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2003. Growing up in a military dependents’ village when Taiwan’s economy took off, Shih credits his memories and daily life as the primary source of his imaginative and fantastical works. His paintings and installations feature objects drawn from his collection of Taiwan’s early everyday necessities interlacing them with absurd plots and grotesque scenes. Each work reveals an uncanny and unsettling dreamy land hidden under the reality of cultural memories.
Photographed by Nani P - post via instagram @nani.visit
Part of current exhibition XSWL at White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney
event link
It’s all fun and games…until someone loses an eye.
China’s digital age is a vibrant playground where memes, virtual WeChat stickers[1], puns, and jokes are used to bypass censorship and address politically sensitive topics. To keep up in this rapid-fire environment, phrases are often condensed into acronyms. The Chinese internet slang XSWL, short for “xiào sǐ wǒle” (笑死我了), means “laughing to death.” It echoes the English “LOL” but with a twist; when viewed more literally, it suggests that light-hearted fun might mask darker games at play.
Historically, Maoist Communism vilified leisure as bourgeois decadence, branding idleness and play as threats to productivity. Today, this perspective has been upended by the “Lying Flat” movement, or “tǎng píng” (躺平) in Chinese, which rejects excessive labour and underscores a broader critique of societal pressures. All work and no play has resulted in many young adults abandoning their jobs, opting to become “full-time children.” Similarly, the popularity of “sàng” (丧) culture among urban youth—a trend marked by a pervasive sense of despondency—reflects a shift toward black humour.
In this context, art becomes an arena where the stakes are high and social boundaries are pushed to their limits. Harmless fun comes at a steep moral price that the astounding artists in XSWL are more than willing to pay. Wild colours, cartoon imagery, and everyday playthings sit in sharp contrast to an underlying sense of violent humour. Tongue-in-cheek creations shatter once-innocent veneers, warning us that it’s all fun and games… until someone loses an eye.
Text via White Rabbit Collection - Photographed by Nani P - post via instagram @nani.visit
