Double Square 双方藝廊

Double Square Gallery is pleased to announce the group exhibition "Emergent Strata," running from March 21 to April 25, 2026. This exhibition brings together four printmaking artists with distinct perspectives: Muran, Chen Yicheng, Yu Ya-Lan, and Chung Yi-Chi. Continuing the gallery’s ongoing focus on the boundaries of medium, the exhibition pivots the focus from technical virtuosity to a deeper exploration of the creative act and process. Through the interaction between the burin and the matrix, viewers will witness how a new generation of creators transforms abstract life experiences into a visual language with material weight.

Historically, printmaking carried significant missions in social communication and decoration; its practical value and profound technical heritage have deeply influenced human culture. Under the evolution of contemporary art, the role of printmaking has undergone a qualitative change. "Emergent Strata" continues the exploration of printmaking’s contemporaneity established in the 2024 group exhibition "Engravings." Contemporary creators do not reject tradition; rather, while inheriting and refining past techniques, they have shifted their focus from mass production to the sense of embodiment and accumulation of time during the plate-making process. This shift allows printmaking to gradually shed the stereotype of being a mere "copy." In every act of gouging, carving, and overprinting, the artist records a moment of physicality. This redefinition of the medium's essence not only expands the depth of artistic expression but also offers the audience a brand-new perspective of viewing.

Muran employs elegant, painterly linework to captures serene scenes of self-sufficiency through lush, layered colors, seeking a balance between art and aesthetic of daily life. Each layer of color is a reinterpretation of the "warmth of life," showcasing the vibrant vitality of printmaking. In contrast, Yu Ya-Lan captures the subtle, fleeting sensory perceptions of memory. Utilizing wood grain and ink gradations, she stacks dreamlike scenes upon the plate, materializing indescribable emotions.

Japan-based artist Chen Yicheng fixes bodily rhythms and the pace of breathing onto the matrix through extremely dense and rhythmic incisions. These seemingly mechanical repetitions actually record the creator’s transition from self-consciousness to the dissolution into the unconscious. Chung Yi-Chi likens her creative process to the making of "aged tea"—curing and fermenting subtle fragments of life and natural imagery. Within the repetitiveness of carving and printing, she allows emotional life fragments to settle and transform, ensuring the final impression carries a narrative resonance as mellow and enduring as the aroma of tea.

As a continuation and deepening of Double Square Gallery’s exploration of contemporary printmaking, "Emergent Strata" demonstrates how artists integrate contemporary personal philosophy into the foundation of traditional techniques, breathing new life into the art of printmaking. Following "Emergent Strata," the gallery will present another dimension of thought in April with the exhibition " One Incision, Two Realms" . Through a series of works engaging in deep dialogue with "reproducibility," it will explore the inseparable, twin-like relationship between "the matrix" and "the print," and between "the intangible" and "the manifestation."