Pu Tsong

In the wake of Taiwan moving from a dictatorship to a democracy, five friends opened an art gallery that became the centre of the avant-garde art world from 1987 onward. Pu Tsong, one of the founders of IT Park, was one of the Western-educated artists grappling with defining a Taiwanese artistic identity at the time. His style is recognized for its geometric minimalism, having developed his trademark 1 cm by 1 cm grid technique early on in his career, which he makes using a square stamp. He has become a mentor for emerging artists, an art professor, and a curator.

In 2010, a major retrospective was held at the basement of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which he referenced in the show’s title, Art from the Underground, a somewhat ironic statement from the artist whose first exhibit was held in the same basement 20 years earlier.