「在屠殺的歷史照片上覆蓋繪畫並非易事。這個過程既是保護、偽裝與美化，也是忽略與忽視，更是試圖將殘酷轉化為經典藝術那般永恆的巨大諷刺。藍天是輕盈而無害的，帶著一絲舒爽，卻將觀者推向一種尷尬且不安的立足點。『今天天氣真好！』在殺戮面前，我們往往無話可說，分不清這份沉默背後，究竟是出於無知、無感，還是徹底的無奈。」
－藍仲軒，2026年末寫於台北
“Superimposing paintings onto historical photographs of massacres is no simple task. This process acts simultaneously as protection, disguise, and beautification, yet it is also an act of omission and disregard—and, ironically, an attempt to transform cruelty into the permanence of classical art. The blue sky is light, harmless, and even refreshing, yet it pushes the viewer onto an awkward and unsettling foothold. ‘What beautiful weather today!’ In the face of slaughter, we are often left speechless. We cannot discern whether this silence stems from ignorance, apathy, or utter helplessness.”
— LAN Chung-Hsuan, written in Taipei, late 2026
Each Modern is proud to present Under the Blue Sky, a solo exhibition by LAN Chung-Hsuan, featuring his latest series Under the Blue Sky (2026). Taking archival images of historical and contemporary massacres as a point of departure, LAN paints blue skies and white clouds over the bodies of the dead in these images, thereby questioning the viewer’s position and perspective when confronting such tragedies.
The blue sky and white clouds stem from a commonplace social rhetoric: when faced with things that cannot be known, understood, or responded to, people are often at a loss for words, turning instead to an unrelated pleasantry—“What beautiful weather today.” LAN translates this linguistic refuge into a visual experience of evasion: when death on the ground becomes too unbearable to look at, we attempt to search for the sky.
The ten works featured in this exhibition draw from massacres across different periods and regions. While these events caused significant loss of life and profound social consequences, they have not necessarily been continuously represented or widely circulated in the same way as certain highly canonized historical tragedies. Some have failed to establish a lasting place in collective memory, facing the possibility of remaining unknown, being overlooked, or gradually fading from public awareness.