Chiu Chien-Jen

Biography

In the flow of time there are many minute changes that expand the focus of attention. Man's life is like that of an ant, with life endlessly repeating itself while we are distracted. The same plot is told, severing scene after scene of life. In every section there always seems to be plot elements that repeat themselves. It moves like a novel, with love and hate intertwined and events repeating themselves one after another. But after being condensed, they are preserved forever in the painting, the beginning and the end captured together in the same instant. During the process, a ceremony begins: it is hard to imagine the mark left by each movement, each accumulation, each smear, each covering. It is like a beautiful scar, with each inconspicuous little space becoming its own little world. The outline of the world around us comes clearly into view. One does not want to expand it and keep it, once fetters cannot be released. One can only select the most concise method to help keep it on the frame, like a falsehood, real and beautiful, decreasing one by one the sharpness of each detail but winding to become the most moving moment. In an expanded sense of time, "consumption" becomes consumed; extra brush strokes, extra covers, extra...so much is created but not planned, it can't be denied. I want to use the simplest method to narrate the most complicated, most moving story. It's a difficult task, and there is no "definite," only "by chance" and coincidence, scraping something together, like completing a memento for oneself. During life's journey, one sometimes comes across the most beautiful memento: the smile of a beautiful girl, a still and quiet landscape, a sumptuous meal, the hug of a loved one...it is great to have a memory that is all one's own...and then to keep on living!