SHOWCASE

/ ARTIST / 2024

BKKIF Artist  
ARTIST: Shang-Ru Tsai
COUNTRY: Taiwan
EMAIL: thatisall66@gmail.com
CONTACT: https://shangrutsaiart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/shangrutsai.art/
Shang-Ru Tsai is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Taiwan. He works in creative fields including book and music publication, branding, performance, movie posters, and exhibition identity.

A Practice Dialogue

I had been experiencing self-doubt for a long time that caused an unbalance between my inner and outer thought.

I decided using painting as a therapy for myself after being around with and conversing with my friends in the past two years.

That made me being able to face my past traumas and might bring comfort to whoever has the same experience with me in my hope.

A Lighting Decade

Cicada is a neo-classical band from Taiwan that published their debut in 2010. In the 10 years anniversary performance, they would perform and rearrange songs from their debut in a sense of talking with themselves in the past. I used plants as a metaphor for the growth and changes of people, who always keep moving toward the light with hope despite tough and suffering life.

I was inspired by the footage of their hiking video, where everyone laughed in the summit when the sunshine sprinkled on their faces. I extended that journey of chasing the sun to the phototropism of plants, creating a shedding woman and plants, which implies that an introspective and sensitive girl, like past Cicada, finally walks through an inside out exploration and goes toward the sun.

Movie Calendar April 2: Formula

Inspired by the film “Formula,” I was invited by Filmaholic to contribute to a movie calendar and create illustrations for April. The 30 movie images are digitally painted with a hazy atmosphere, capturing key scenes from each film.

Movie Calendar April 5: 7 Days in Heaven

Inspired by the film “Days in Heaven,” I was invited by Filmaholic to contribute to a movie calendar and create illustrations for April. The 30 movie images are digitally painted with a hazy atmosphere, capturing key scenes from each film.

Movie Calendar April 17: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Inspired by the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” I was invited by Filmaholic to contribute to a movie calendar and create illustrations for April. The 30 movie images are digitally painted with a hazy atmosphere, capturing key scenes from each film.

Movie Calendar April 23: Mulholland Drive

Inspired by the film “Mulholland Drive,” I was invited by Filmaholic to contribute to a movie calendar and create illustrations for April. The 30 movie images are digitally painted with a hazy atmosphere, capturing key scenes from each film.

Movie Calendar April 24: The Lobster

Inspired by the film “The Lobster,” I was invited by Filmaholic to contribute to a movie calendar and create illustrations for April. The 30 movie images are digitally painted with a hazy atmosphere, capturing key scenes from each film.

NCAF Art News(January): Spiritual Apparition

I was invited by NCAF(National Culture and Arts Foundation) to create illustrations for the January article.

Issue January explores how artists use clairvoyance and hypnosis to reveal lost histories and collective memories through visual media. The imagery connect abstract groups to visible individuals, using symbolic glowing hands to piece together fragments and convey the relationship between visible individuals and emerging groups.

NCAF Art News(August): Puppet Theater, The Art of Theatrical

I was invited by NCAF(National Culture and Arts Foundation) to create illustrations for the August article.

Issue August explores the transition from traditional puppetry to contemporary theater. The imagery depicts a puppeteer with a puppet and its projected shadow, symbolizing the interplay of visible and invisible elements in puppetry and the imaginative experience it offers to the audience.

“Fly Me to the Moon” Teaser movie poster(Taiwan)

The moon, hanging in the night sky, evokes a sense of romance and wonder. In the 1960s, NASA's Apollo program captured this sentiment, and the film explores the interplay between the program’s leaders and marketing experts in a realm where rationality and emotion meet.

The poster features a minimalist, symbolic moon outline with layered meanings. Its vintage print texture, with ink bleed edges, and vivid contrasts reflect the film’s artistic style.