Lan Chunghsuan's art practice is focused on spatially sensitive works, which he uses to explore & communicate concepts such as freedom, idealistic individualism and death. Lan's approaches are different from project to project depending on the medium and the reference used. However, most of the deaths represented in his works are inspired by historical and cultural facts. They refer to various historical casualties, body gestures in oil paintings portray death scenes, and the myths and the taboos about death.
His artistic philosophy on how similar human beings are, and how we are all part of the same universe, opened up his practice to create art about the universe. The focus of space in Lan's practice is mainly inspired by the fruitful space exploration achievements in 2019: New Horizons sent back the photo of the boundaries of the Solar system, the image of a black hole was revealed for the very first time, a rocket by Space X carried Taiwan’s satellite, FORMOSAT-7, to the outer space, and plans to return to the Moon were announced. Those milestones of space exploration seem to unite people all over the world.
Yet in history, four fatal spaceflights, two by the Soviet Union and two by the U.S., caused the deaths of 18 cosmonauts. The missions were triggered politically, socially, and technologically and they were doomed due to similar reasons - the political pressure within Soyuz 1, the technical accident that occurred in Soyuz 11, the bureaucrat that exacerbated the disasters of STS-51-L and STS-107.
"I represent their deaths through image-based art, video, installation, and mixed medias as a way to elaborate my idea about cultural restriction, death, and freedom as well as an opposite aspect to react to the achievements."
"The biggest challenge is to insist your own art practice. Nowadays, there are too many "art models" made by art galleries, art museums, and art lovers."
Based in Taiwan, Lan is developing his art practice in a steady pace. "The art scene of Taiwan is now growing again due to the latest art tax law, the international situation, and the fresh art fairs emphasizing contemporary art." His determination to pursue an art career is evident taking into account all challenges that come along with it. He continues to develop the spaceflights series, and will expand on to new projects about war, missiles, and bunkers.