《On the Road》
On the Road, We Are Forever Young, Forever Tears in Our Eyes - Jack Kerouac
Over the past few years, I've been intermittently painting a series of figures from behind, set against a grand landscape. The figures are either standing or walking in a certain direction. The back of a figure captivates me more than the front. I've often pondered the reason. Looking back on my creative career over the past decade, I recall my first illustration in college: a colored pencil drawing of a man in a black coat and black-framed glasses, walking on a winding road with no end in sight. Perhaps, the figures from behind in these paintings are all reflections of myself, and I'm still walking that same road.
"On the Road" uses the journeys of the characters in the paintings to rethink the real journey of life. Perhaps, we can all discover something along the way.
A traveler keeps moving forward in pursuit of the blue sky in the distance. Legend has it that at the end of the road, under that blue sky, lies the meaning of life. Where did this legend come from, and when did the traveler set out on his journey? Even he himself could not remember. He just kept walking and walking, passing through cities, wildernesses, mountains and deserts. When he finally arrived under that blue sky after going through all the hardships, he gained nothing but himself. But at that moment, he understood the so-called meaning of life.
Oscar Tsai
A full-time illustrator and founder of Zigma magazine and visual art library - Factory, born in 1990 and living in Taipei. He stumbled on a brush pen on April Fool’s Day in 2011, and turned from a coder to an illustrator since then. Traveling from one city to another these years, he has met new people and heard some stories. Now he’s using a pen to capture his times.
2013 Department of InformationManagement, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
1990 Born in Taipei, Taiwan
GRANT & HONOR︱
2014 APPortfolio Asia Member / Selected
2014 AFCC Book Illustrators Gallery / Selected / Singapore
SOLO EXHIBITIONS︱
2021 Oscar‘s Ten Year Exhibition, Factory, Taipei
2020 My Days in Alaska, Art Reading Café, Taipei
2020 My Days in Alaska, Pain de mie, Hsinchu
2018 Wanderers of Taipei, Keller Studio, Taichung
2018 Wanderers of Taipei, C-tea Loft, Taipei
GROUP EXHIBITIONS︱
2024 Bangkok Illustration Fair, Central World, Bangkok, Thailand
2023 RE:AND Fair, The Place Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
2021 Kaohsiung Young Art, Pier 2, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2020 Taipei Illustration Fair, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan
2019 Taoyuan Illustrations Exhibition, Taoyuan Arts Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan
2018 Creative Expo Taiwan, Yuanshan Expo Dome, Taipei, Taiwan
2017 Business Art Fair, l’Espace de Nesle, Paris, France
2016 Citizen Art Shanghai, Luxury Collection Hotel, Shanghai, China
2015 Unknown Asia Art Exchange, Osaka City Central Public Hall, Osaka, Japan
RESIDENCY︱
2015 Here Creative Centre, Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland
