AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHINESE & ENGLISH-LANGUAGE POETRY
A Zodiac & More
Papercuts and Wood Art © Chen Chih-hsu
Chen Chih-hsu, a native of Taiwan’s Matsu Archipelago, has loved folk art since childhood, and learned traditional paper-cutting from older Matsu women. Under a grant from Taiwan’s National Culture and Arts Foundation, he researched folk paper-cutting and in 2003 published Matsu Papercut. His art also features woodwork and wood sculpture.
In 2015, his work was selected for the Children’s Museum of Art exhibition at Soulangh Cultural Park in Tainan, Taiwan. Under Taiwan Power’s 2016 public art project, “A Different Light for New Wen-Luo-Ting”, he led Taipei’s Toad Mountain art community making lightboxes and lanterns to honor its own history. In Chiayi’s Zhuqi township, with papercut abstractions from agricultural life, Chen’s 2018 local workshop transformed the shoji-like walls of a Japanese-style building.
For the 2023 Matsu Biennial, Chen created “Happy to Get a Letter”, a multiply readable assemblage of Chinese characters. It commemorates islanders corresponding mainly by post before the 1990s arrival of telephones.
Among numerous exhibitions, Chen has conducted many workshops across Taiwan, Malaysia, and Myanmar. His art has also been sponsored by various European firms, including Van Cleef & Arpels, and featured in a 2025 Taiwan National Palace Museum exhibit. He is currently artist-in-residence at the Taipei Treasure Hill International Artist Village.
陳治旭，馬祖人，自小喜愛民間美術，曾獲「財團法人國家文化藝術基金會」補助，研究馬祖民間剪紙，於2003年出版《馬祖剪花》一書，並承襲馬祖阿婆們的剪紙技藝。
2015年參與以剪紙為主題的台南蕭壟文化園兒童美術館的籌備與展覽；2016年參與台灣電力公司公共藝術「給新溫羅汀一道不一樣的光」計畫，帶領台北市蟾蜍山社區民眾集體創作，將該社區的歷史脈絡與家族故事以燈箱與燈籠的方式呈現聚落的生活。
2018年於嘉義竹崎帶領社區五天的工作坊，與在地居民合作，將一座日式建築視為一個燈籠，以在地農產為主題創作剪紙，佈置在建物門窗上，內部設置燈光讓整個建築散發出剪紙燈龍之美。
2023年獲邀於第二屆馬祖國際藝術島創作「收信快樂」，作品尺寸為七公尺正方，高為四點七公尺，以數十個結合剪紙花樣與漢字的字體，搭配成12段共一萬多字的句串，以T字形格局垂吊於空間之內。作品表達當地居民在1990年代前與台灣本島主要以信件往訪的歷史經驗。
陳治旭曾多次參加藝術聯展、舉辦個展，並於台灣、馬來西亞、緬甸等地開辦工作坊。與法國珠寶Van Cleef & Arpels、英國珠寶Graff等國際品牌合作。2025年爲台北故宮博物院「筆墨見真章—故宮書法導賞」展覽創作「絕妙好辭」剪花燈籠。目前為台北國際藝術村寶藏巖的駐村藝術家。
Artist’s Statement
My artistic philosophy seeks to evoke and commemorate beauty, scenes from daily life, and faith in the transcendent. I also wish in our contemporary world to celebrate tradition and culture.
I believe the warmth craft carries through this work might also warm the hearts of those who view it.
I grew up on one of the many Matsu islands, in a traditional wood and stone house. On one side the blue ocean, on the other tall hills cloaked with Indian chrysanthemums. During winter Lantern Festivals, papercut lamps would be hung overhead. I have also heard the flashing booms of army artillery drills. Matsu culture has long been a theme in my art, including lanterns that celebrate Matsu’s plants and animals. “Happy to Get a Letter”, a contemporary work exhibited at the second Mazu Biennial, recalls a time when Matsu residents communicated mostly by mail.
陳治旭的創作向度
我的藝術理念是以美為前題，日常生活為場域，信仰為基礎，兼以傳統與文化為根基，進行工藝（craft）與當代藝術（contemporary art）的創作。
手工藝給作品帶來溫度，因為有了溫度才能溫暖人心，我希望我的作品能夠溫暖世人。
我是在馬祖的一間石砌木構的房屋與山海之中出生長大，看過蔚藍的大海、冬季的滿山的油菊、元宵節懸掛的剪花燈籠、實彈演習的光火。因此在創作時常以馬祖文化作主題，例如以馬祖動植物為構想的燈籠，以及以馬祖1990年代前通訊不發達從而以信件為交流主體所創作、並在第二屆馬祖國際藝術島展出的當代藝術作品「收信快樂」。
