Hsinchu
When people think of Hsinchu they mostly think of the high tech industry. Companies based in the science parks such as TSMC are known around the world and are hugely important to the global economy. Much less attention is paid to the city itself.
I too had paid little attention to Hsinchu during my first few years in Taiwan. Sometime in 2017 a friend invited me to visit, hoping to show me that there was a lot more to the city than I had first realized. I’m grateful they did! The city has a variety of old streets, buildings, and communities. Some buildings, like the fire station, are one of just a few buildings of that type left in Taiwan. There are old art deco theaters, Japanese era martial arts halls, pretty wooden houses, and Qing era mansions. The city is much livelier than many others too, especially around the busy City God Temple
In that first trip I took a number of walks around the city’s neighborhoods. We traced the course of the old bamboo wall from which Hsinchu gets its name. We visited shophouses and a 1930’s department store, and finished in the ruins of a WW2 era factory that had an abandoned village inside it. I felt there was more than enough to inspire a drawing.
Hsinchu became one of the largest pieces I’ve ever made. On subsequent trips I was chased by dogs out of abandoned prison dormitories and had tea with the owner of one of the prettiest Japanese era houses in the city (the wooden house pictured below). I also got to know the lovely people at the Jiangshan arts space where the final drawing hung for a year before going to new owners.
Right: Two out of three sections of Hsinchu. Here they are joined on my board so I can draw the area where the paper joins. Also shown is how I draw places that are under construction (simple really, I just find mock ups of the completed building). This one went a little too dark though!
Artwork Details
Hsinchu , 2018 , Fineliner on Paper , 231 x 108 cm
Original drawing: Sold
Available as an open edition print. Follow the links below to buy
A favorite place I was taken to in Hsinchu. This is a now empty military dependents' village built within the ruins of an unfinished WW2-era fuel refinery. It's one of the most unique and atmospheric places I've seen in Taiwan. (Unfortunately it was too far east to fit on the Hsinchu map). If you don't know what a military dependents village is I wrote a bit on a Taipei example here:
I didn't want to put corporate logos on the billboards in Hsinchu. I filled them up with names and lyrics from songs I listened to as I was drawing. These two are from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch so I guess I was having a rock musical day lol.
I wrote a little about Beimen Street in an English blog article below:
