The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

that are imposed upon us. I n some cases the bar is raised to be jumped over at progressively greater heights, in others it is lowered until it can only be passed under on one's back. The work is a powerful comment on the push for economic development, often at the cost of personal happiness. Although not formally trained , Yun Suk-Nam has become one of the major figures of the contemporary Korean art scene. She is particularly concerned with the role of women in Korean society. Her installation Pink sofa includes hot pink fabrics on overstuffed baroque armchairs, juxtaposed with long piercing steel spikes, and painted timber cut-outs of rigid female figures. One of the main themes of her work is the gradual shift of the role of women from object or victim towards one of individuality and wholeness. The artist says in her statement: TAIPEI Shunning the distanced, theoretical feel of deconstructionist work while drawing or carving on its ideas, my most recent works constitute an exuberant documentation of women's transcendence , throughout her/history, of patriarchal strictures and expectation - optimistic, energising images of women through the ages 'living beyond their means'. The six-panel painting A day in the life of an artist is rich in symbolism and explores the environmental and cultural dilemmas of the rapidly developing city of Kaohsiung. The left panel depicts Buddhist symbols of purity and longevity - the lotus and the turtle - overwhelmed by corrupt and unnatural elements such as the human hands and feet of the turtle. This erosion of traditional and spiritual values has caused many problems, the extreme consequences of which are presented in the deserted, apocalyptic landscape of the right panel. A tiger, symbol of what was once natural, is represented next to the goblin of a nuclear power plant. The four middle panels depict the artist's pavilion and the artist himself, in cap and gown - the attributes of the scholar he believes he once was - surrounded by contradictions. A self-taught artist, Lee Ming-Tse incorporates elements in his work from the scholarly tradition of Chinese painting, as well as from Western art. 9