last week i went to the taipei fine arts museum. they are having a show on italian designers. predictably, the stuff from the 60s and 70s interested me the most. the closer you got to the present the more bland the pieces became. it's a little funny to see furniture(and other objects) like this in a museum setting as a friend of mine in nyc collects mid-20th century furniture. i'm used to being able to sit on the actual furniture not just look at it.

also at the museum is a show of taiwanese art from the 80s. there were some interesting pieces here, but i was most interested in the description and pictures from various performance art events.

usually my favourite work at this museum can be found in the basement. currently they are showing work for the taipei arts award. unfortunately, some of these pieces were a bit disappointing. a lot of the video projection pieces were being shown in rooms painted white and not dark at all making the images projected hard to see. and some of the paintings seemed to be a bit too obvious. however, there were some interesting things. a series of paintings reminiscent of francis bacon, and another series of drawings done with ball point pens. using the pens to be more painterly, not like a realistic drawing.

this week i went to the national palace museum to see the german genius show before it closes. unfortunately the museum was pretty crowded with moronic tour groups. it was hard to see some paintings because of the tour groups monopolizing some of the gallery space. despite the crowds i was happy to see the show. some of the paintings had amazing colour and depth. but the real surprise for me was seeing work by franz marc and paul klee. the paul klee pieces i hadn't even seen before.