SDG11
'If We Could Do Something': Escaping the Everyday — NCKU Art Center Presents an Illustration Exhibition by Artists
NCKU Art Center is currently hosting an exhibition from now until May 10, featuring illustrators Sanna Take, Chen Qiao, and Rong Sheng. The three artists present a joint exhibition of illustration and sculpture works with distinct personal styles. Under the theme “If We Could Do Something,” the exhibition explores how everyday life can become a form of creation that breaks away from social frameworks and labels. Through “action,” the artists engage in dialogue with the public via illustration, expressing their unique visual languages and psychological states while exploring the creative everyday life as seen through the eyes of artists.
At the opening, Yang Shih-Hong, Artistic Director of the NCKU Art Center, stated that “If We Could Do Something” visualizes invisible structures through drawing. From sketches to characters, the exhibition allows the public to see how artists use selection, arrangement, and elimination to create something rebellious and interesting within the cracks of the world. Illustration becomes a form of action that reshapes reality and expresses the self. He added that what individuals can do in today’s social environment is a question everyone faces, and experiencing the world through art is a meaningful encounter in life. He hopes the artists’ works will inspire viewers.
Artist Sanna Take from Kaohsiung, whose real name is Sun Take, was inspired by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Yoshitomo Nara to begin creating. He believes that “inspiration comes from life, with a touch of laziness,” and reflects a slow and free personality in his work, which often carries a sense of world-weariness and leisure. His inspiration comes from moments of solitude, such as playing alone in a free and unrestrained state. He is skilled at capturing ordinary yet vivid emotional moments in daily life—whether blunt cynicism or casual humor—expressed through soft yet direct lines on paper.
The works exhibited this time show Sun Take’s imaginative creativity as well as his unique observations on fashion and daily life. With simple lines and spontaneous compositions, his works reveal his personality. His playful ceramic figures also allow audiences to experience how he simplifies complexity into fun and accessible ideas. He believes that ceramic firing is uncontrollable—what comes out is what it is—just like daily life, which is full of uncertainty and surprise.
Chen Qiao, an NCKU Department of Geomatics alumna from Tainan, presents illustration works with a distinctive, unconstrained style. Her American retro-inspired color palette brings a unique sense of humor to depictions of everyday life. Her body of more than 1,200 works originated from a challenge with friends: initially aiming to draw 100 days of landscapes, she later developed a habit of creating one poster a day, like keeping a visual diary. While others record life in words, she illustrates the events around her. No matter how tired she is, she continues to create.
“I used to come to the NCKU Art Center a lot when I was a student, so it is an honor to exhibit here today,” Chen said. During her time at NCKU, her life was surrounded by creation and drawing. She eventually decided to become an artist and began documenting interactions with friends, as well as her time living in Japan, through her artworks. She noted that life is governed by many rules—students follow schedules, workers follow shifts, nature follows seasons—and living within these structures is considered a normal life. However, staying within rules can become dull, and painting becomes a way to occasionally escape. “When I feel like being lazy, releasing stress, or accidentally overplaying, this is how I preserve those ordinary days.”
Artist Rong Sheng, who loves K-pop, graduated from Taipei First Girls High School and National Taiwan University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Having loved drawing since childhood and being a K-pop listener, she seeks to challenge stereotypes about fans. Her “We Listen to Women” series (No. 12–17) reflects her perspective as a K-pop fan and re-examines female idols, challenging the idea that idols are merely manufactured products.
She emphasizes that while idols perform on stage for public gaze and desire, some also write their own songs and respond with lyrics such as “I was born naked; the perverse one is you,” offering a form of resistance and asserting their own order within constraints. From depictions of the natural female body (“Powerful Women” series, works 1–5) to explorations of space (“My Own ___” series, works 6–11), her work challenges the social order in which male bodies and needs are public while female bodies are expected to remain private.
She draws inspiration from experiences such as visiting Beitou hot springs, where public baths become a gray zone between public and private. People of all ages and body types share the same space with natural ease, similar to stretching in a park or walking a dog. This openness is the feeling she aspires to capture.
“I hope viewers can see themselves in my work,” Rong said. She emphasizes that it is not easy for women to live without scripts or imposed purposes. She hopes that one day, women can freely arrange themselves and their surroundings, finding their place in the world even if it appears messy or imperfect. “In the space we exist in, there is naturally my own order.”
At the opening, Yang Shih-Hong, Artistic Director of the NCKU Art Center, stated that “If We Could Do Something” visualizes invisible structures through drawing. From sketches to characters, the exhibition allows the public to see how artists use selection, arrangement, and elimination to create something rebellious and interesting within the cracks of the world. Illustration becomes a form of action that reshapes reality and expresses the self. He added that what individuals can do in today’s social environment is a question everyone faces, and experiencing the world through art is a meaningful encounter in life. He hopes the artists’ works will inspire viewers.
Artist Sanna Take from Kaohsiung, whose real name is Sun Take, was inspired by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Yoshitomo Nara to begin creating. He believes that “inspiration comes from life, with a touch of laziness,” and reflects a slow and free personality in his work, which often carries a sense of world-weariness and leisure. His inspiration comes from moments of solitude, such as playing alone in a free and unrestrained state. He is skilled at capturing ordinary yet vivid emotional moments in daily life—whether blunt cynicism or casual humor—expressed through soft yet direct lines on paper.
The works exhibited this time show Sun Take’s imaginative creativity as well as his unique observations on fashion and daily life. With simple lines and spontaneous compositions, his works reveal his personality. His playful ceramic figures also allow audiences to experience how he simplifies complexity into fun and accessible ideas. He believes that ceramic firing is uncontrollable—what comes out is what it is—just like daily life, which is full of uncertainty and surprise.
Chen Qiao, an NCKU Department of Geomatics alumna from Tainan, presents illustration works with a distinctive, unconstrained style. Her American retro-inspired color palette brings a unique sense of humor to depictions of everyday life. Her body of more than 1,200 works originated from a challenge with friends: initially aiming to draw 100 days of landscapes, she later developed a habit of creating one poster a day, like keeping a visual diary. While others record life in words, she illustrates the events around her. No matter how tired she is, she continues to create.
“I used to come to the NCKU Art Center a lot when I was a student, so it is an honor to exhibit here today,” Chen said. During her time at NCKU, her life was surrounded by creation and drawing. She eventually decided to become an artist and began documenting interactions with friends, as well as her time living in Japan, through her artworks. She noted that life is governed by many rules—students follow schedules, workers follow shifts, nature follows seasons—and living within these structures is considered a normal life. However, staying within rules can become dull, and painting becomes a way to occasionally escape. “When I feel like being lazy, releasing stress, or accidentally overplaying, this is how I preserve those ordinary days.”
Artist Rong Sheng, who loves K-pop, graduated from Taipei First Girls High School and National Taiwan University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Having loved drawing since childhood and being a K-pop listener, she seeks to challenge stereotypes about fans. Her “We Listen to Women” series (No. 12–17) reflects her perspective as a K-pop fan and re-examines female idols, challenging the idea that idols are merely manufactured products.
She emphasizes that while idols perform on stage for public gaze and desire, some also write their own songs and respond with lyrics such as “I was born naked; the perverse one is you,” offering a form of resistance and asserting their own order within constraints. From depictions of the natural female body (“Powerful Women” series, works 1–5) to explorations of space (“My Own ___” series, works 6–11), her work challenges the social order in which male bodies and needs are public while female bodies are expected to remain private.
She draws inspiration from experiences such as visiting Beitou hot springs, where public baths become a gray zone between public and private. People of all ages and body types share the same space with natural ease, similar to stretching in a park or walking a dog. This openness is the feeling she aspires to capture.
“I hope viewers can see themselves in my work,” Rong said. She emphasizes that it is not easy for women to live without scripts or imposed purposes. She hopes that one day, women can freely arrange themselves and their surroundings, finding their place in the world even if it appears messy or imperfect. “In the space we exist in, there is naturally my own order.”
From now until May 10, the NCKU Art Gallery (成大藝坊) invites artists Sanna Take, Chen Qiao, and Rong Sheng to showcase their distinct personal styles through a collection of illustration and sculpture works.
In his opening remarks, Yang Shih-Hong, Artistic Director of the NCKU Art Center, stated that “If We Could Do Something” allows illustration to become an act of reshaping reality and expressing the self.
Sanna Take, an artist from Kaohsiung, believes that “inspiration comes from life, with a touch of laziness.” He reflects his slow-paced and free-spirited personality in his creations.
The illustrations exhibited by Sanna Take showcase not only his boundless imagination but also his playful ceramic figures. These works allow the audience to experience the artist’s ability to simplify complexity into fun, engaging, and accessible ideas.
Chen Qiao, an NCKU Department of Geomatics alumna from Tainan, presents illustration works characterized by a distinctive, unconstrained style.
Chen Qiao’s collection of over 1,200 works began with a challenge among friends. Initially aiming to draw landscapes for 100 days, she eventually developed a disciplined routine of creating one poster a day. Much like keeping a diary, she illustrates the daily events of her life while others might use words. No matter how exhausted she is, she never lets a day pass without creating.
Rong Sheng, an artist and K-pop enthusiast, is a graduate of Taipei First Girls High School and National Taiwan University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Having loved drawing since childhood, she draws from her experience as a K-pop listener to challenge and reshape the public's perception of "fandom" culture.
Rong Sheng explained that, ranging from the natural depiction of the female body (“Powerful Women” series, Nos. 1–5) to the utilization of space (“My Own ___” series, Nos. 6–11), her work aims to subvert the implicit social order—one where male bodies and needs are habitually made public, while female ones are relegated to the private sphere.
