Exhibition of spring couplets, paintings opens in Taipei ahead of Year of Horse

TAIPEI, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition of more than 100 spring couplets and paintings by artists from both sides of the Taiwan Strait opened in Taipei Friday to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Year of the Horse, which begins on Feb. 17.

The spring couplets -- traditional Chinese New Year decorations consisting of two lines of poetry hung on either side of a doorway and usually accompanied by a horizontal scroll above -- use red Chinese paper and have various calligraphic styles, with themes centered on the Chinese New Year and the symbol of the horse.

Lo Cheng-Hsien, an honorary professor at the Taiwan University of Arts, wrote one of the spring couplets on display. He said that the blessings expressed in spring couplets are common to people on both sides of the Strait.

"People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same cultural roots," he said.

The exhibition features a collection of Chinese New Year paintings -- a traditional Chinese folk art style associated with Spring Festival celebrations -- as well as ink-wash paintings, comics, and other forms of painting themed around horses.

Participating artists include both renowned painters and art students, each of whom conveys their own understanding of the horse through their work.

Kao Pei-Tzu, a 25-year-old graduate art student at Taiwan Normal University, contributed a painting depicting a human being and a horse, each of which is shown only from the waist down.

"I want to portray their status of escaping from worldly concerns, as horses give me a sense of freedom," said Kao, who spent about two weeks completing the work.

"We hope the exhibition will be a dialogue between artists from both sides of the Strait through brushes, ink and color," said Sun Di, chairman of Taiwan Hanpaper Technology Co., Ltd., the exhibition's organizer.

The event also aims to help more people in Taiwan, and young people in particular, to appreciate the charm of traditional Chinese culture, he said.

The exhibition will run until March 6. ■