THE TREE OF LIFE – MSAC 15TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
Artists | Buen Calubayan, Chou Kai-Lun, Marina Cruz, Syaiful Garibaldi, Dani Ghercã, Rao Fu, Lin Wei-Hsiang, Ana Maria Micu, Shinji Ohmaki, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Juin Shieh, Tang Jo-Hung, Rinus Van de Velde, Bogdan Vlăduță, Yang Yu-Ning
Date｜June 7, 2025－August 8, 2025
Opening Reception｜Saturday, June 7, 2025, 3:00 – 6:00 pm
Venue | Mind Set Art Center, No. 20, Wenhu St, Neihu Dist, Taipei City
Panel Discussion｜ “Artists, Galleries and the Market” Saturday, June 21, 2025, 2:30 – 5:00 pm
www.art-msac.com
Mind Set Art Center will celebrate its 15th anniversary with two special exhibitions set between June and September: “The Tree of Life” and “Shi Jin-Hua”. “The Tree of Life” is scheduled to run from June 7 through August 8, and it will continue the curatorial direction of MSAC’s 5th-anniversary exhibition, “Revision”, and the 10th-anniversary showcase, “As Life Goes On”. The exhibition will feature fifteen artists from Taiwan, Asia, and Europe, and showcase the fruit of our collaboration in the last 15 years. The exhibition also reflects on the gallery’s growth, as symbolized by “The Tree of Life”, and looks ahead to MSAC’s next fifteen years. The second exhibition, “Shi Jin-Hua”, will run from August 16 to September 25 as a memorial for artist Shih Jin-Hua, who passed away in a tragic accident in the summer of 2024. Both exhibitions hold profound significance for us at Mind Set Art Center. The opening reception for “The Tree of Life” will be held on Saturday, June 7, at 3:00 PM, followed by a panel discussion on “Artists, Galleries, and the Market” on the afternoon of June 21. We cordially invite you to join us for the exhibition.
Behind “The Tree of Life”, the title of MSAC’s 15th anniversary exhibition, is a beautiful story of a collector’s enduring support for the gallery and its artists. When MSAC was first established in the spring of 2010, collector Dr. Chen Po-Wen planted a knee-high tea olive in his garden to mark the occasion. Fifteen years later, the sapling has grown into a full-size tree standing over 2.5 meters tall. It has become a living symbol of MSAC’s journey. Around the tree’s third year, I suggest to Dr. Chen that I would prune it annually, trimming away the unnecessary to help foster its growth. On several New Year’s Days, I visited Chen’s place in Beitou, either by myself or with MSAC’s colleagues and artists, to tend to the tree. “The Tree of Life” is thus befitting as an exhibition title as it carries profound significance to us, our collectors, and the artists we champion.
The exhibition brings together fifteen artists from Taiwan, Asia, and Europe. They including Buen Calubayan, Chou Kai-Lun, Marina Cruz, Syaiful Garibaldi, Dani Ghercã, Rao Fu, Lin Wei-Hsiang, Ana Maria Micu, Shinji Ohmaki, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Juin Shieh, Tang Jo-Hung, Rinus Van de Velde, Bogdan Vlăduță and Yang Yu-Ning. Their works span various mediums such as painting, installation, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, exploring the themes of "plants" and "time”, which are the two aspects of the symbolic Tree of Life. Stylistically, the exhibition encompasses realistic and expressionist paintings, contemporary reinterpretations of ink brush paintings, as well as reflections on spatial and three-dimensional compositions.
Artists | Buen Calubayan, Chou Kai-Lun, Marina Cruz, Syaiful Garibaldi, Dani Ghercã, Rao Fu, Lin Wei-Hsiang, Ana Maria Micu, Shinji Ohmaki, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Juin Shieh, Tang Jo-Hung, Rinus Van de Velde, Bogdan Vlăduță, Yang Yu-Ning
Date｜June 7, 2025－August 8, 2025
Opening Reception｜Saturday, June 7, 2025, 3:00 – 6:00 pm
Venue | Mind Set Art Center, No. 20, Wenhu St, Neihu Dist, Taipei City
Panel Discussion｜ “Artists, Galleries and the Market” Saturday, June 21, 2025, 2:30 – 5:00 pm
www.art-msac.com
Mind Set Art Center will celebrate its 15th anniversary with two special exhibitions set between June and September: “The Tree of Life” and “Shi Jin-Hua”. “The Tree of Life” is scheduled to run from June 7 through August 8, and it will continue the curatorial direction of MSAC’s 5th-anniversary exhibition, “Revision”, and the 10th-anniversary showcase, “As Life Goes On”. The exhibition will feature fifteen artists from Taiwan, Asia, and Europe, and showcase the fruit of our collaboration in the last 15 years. The exhibition also reflects on the gallery’s growth, as symbolized by “The Tree of Life”, and looks ahead to MSAC’s next fifteen years. The second exhibition, “Shi Jin-Hua”, will run from August 16 to September 25 as a memorial for artist Shih Jin-Hua, who passed away in a tragic accident in the summer of 2024. Both exhibitions hold profound significance for us at Mind Set Art Center. The opening reception for “The Tree of Life” will be held on Saturday, June 7, at 3:00 PM, followed by a panel discussion on “Artists, Galleries, and the Market” on the afternoon of June 21. We cordially invite you to join us for the exhibition.
Behind “The Tree of Life”, the title of MSAC’s 15th anniversary exhibition, is a beautiful story of a collector’s enduring support for the gallery and its artists. When MSAC was first established in the spring of 2010, collector Dr. Chen Po-Wen planted a knee-high tea olive in his garden to mark the occasion. Fifteen years later, the sapling has grown into a full-size tree standing over 2.5 meters tall. It has become a living symbol of MSAC’s journey. Around the tree’s third year, I suggest to Dr. Chen that I would prune it annually, trimming away the unnecessary to help foster its growth. On several New Year’s Days, I visited Chen’s place in Beitou, either by myself or with MSAC’s colleagues and artists, to tend to the tree. “The Tree of Life” is thus befitting as an exhibition title as it carries profound significance to us, our collectors, and the artists we champion.
The exhibition brings together fifteen artists from Taiwan, Asia, and Europe. They including Buen Calubayan, Chou Kai-Lun, Marina Cruz, Syaiful Garibaldi, Dani Ghercã, Rao Fu, Lin Wei-Hsiang, Ana Maria Micu, Shinji Ohmaki, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Juin Shieh, Tang Jo-Hung, Rinus Van de Velde, Bogdan Vlăduță and Yang Yu-Ning. Their works span various mediums such as painting, installation, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, exploring the themes of "plants" and "time”, which are the two aspects of the symbolic Tree of Life. Stylistically, the exhibition encompasses realistic and expressionist paintings, contemporary reinterpretations of ink brush paintings, as well as reflections on spatial and three-dimensional compositions.
MY WORKS WITHIN THE PROJECT
Ana Maria Micu, it will become and the greater the kick. .... or small pieces of sand, 2011, oil, ink and acrylic on canvas, 144 x 195 cm.
Ana Maria Micu at One-piece Room｜15 July - 11 August, 2025
Venue | Mind Set Art Center, No. 20, Wenhu St, Neihu Dist, Taipei City
Celebrating 15 years of Mind Set Art Center, the 2025 One-piece Room program will showcase 15 iconic works from the gallery’s collection. This year-long series highlights the gallery’s achievements and legacy.
This self-portrait by Ana Maria Micu, completed in 2011, marks the beginning of a series in which she began exploring the idea of reference in painting. Through the forced juxtaposition of images, the work reflects an inward gaze and a lifestyle shaped by solitude and discipline. The minimal bed at the center stands as a symbol of the artist’s chosen path, both physical and spiritual. At the time, the work questioned the traditional expectation for painting to reflect reality. Historically, the closer a painting appeared to reality, the more it was valued. But as photography became widely accessible and digital images flooded daily life, the viewer entered a world of endless visual reflections.
Rather than aiming for photographic realism, Micu experimented with placing painting alongside drawing. Both are representational, but her interest lies in encouraging viewers to spot the differences. She sought to build an alternative visual system that did not follow conventional logic. This work does not attempt to fix a viewpoint. Instead, it opens a space for fluidity, comparison, and subtle shifts in perception. Even over a decade later, it remains a quiet but resolute statement on how images can hold meaning beyond resemblance and how painting can initiate relationships that extend far beyond the frame.
go to website ⮕
Venue | Mind Set Art Center, No. 20, Wenhu St, Neihu Dist, Taipei City
Celebrating 15 years of Mind Set Art Center, the 2025 One-piece Room program will showcase 15 iconic works from the gallery’s collection. This year-long series highlights the gallery’s achievements and legacy.
This self-portrait by Ana Maria Micu, completed in 2011, marks the beginning of a series in which she began exploring the idea of reference in painting. Through the forced juxtaposition of images, the work reflects an inward gaze and a lifestyle shaped by solitude and discipline. The minimal bed at the center stands as a symbol of the artist’s chosen path, both physical and spiritual. At the time, the work questioned the traditional expectation for painting to reflect reality. Historically, the closer a painting appeared to reality, the more it was valued. But as photography became widely accessible and digital images flooded daily life, the viewer entered a world of endless visual reflections.
Rather than aiming for photographic realism, Micu experimented with placing painting alongside drawing. Both are representational, but her interest lies in encouraging viewers to spot the differences. She sought to build an alternative visual system that did not follow conventional logic. This work does not attempt to fix a viewpoint. Instead, it opens a space for fluidity, comparison, and subtle shifts in perception. Even over a decade later, it remains a quiet but resolute statement on how images can hold meaning beyond resemblance and how painting can initiate relationships that extend far beyond the frame.
go to website ⮕