200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries

“200 TRUNKS, 200 VISIONARIES: THE EXHIBITION” has been happening in Paris, Singapore, Los Angeles and  New York City. The LOUIS 200 project invited a mosaic of talents and friends spanning arts and culture, the sciences, sports, global causes and more to personalize a metaphorical blank canvas measuring approximately the same dimensions of the original trunk that Louis conceived in the 1850s. As the only Taiwanese artist invited by this global project, Chou presented an “Oil Trunk“, reforming the liquid crude oil into a solid artwork. The space within a clear perspex frame is filled by black recycled engine oil. This material is preserved as a monumental artwork, which represents time and space through reflective surfaces. Here, crude oil is the oldest eternal traveler in history. Crude oil arouses desire and imagination in people. Its infinite possibilities lead us to realise our dreams. I consider these works as a specimen of this oil-made generation. The meaning and identity of these oil-made artworks will be transformed into historical objects since oil is being depleted. Pictures reflected on the surfaces of my 'Oil Trunk' are taken from the forest of the Yang Ming Mountain and the coastline along the Yangjin Highway. It presents not only the beauty of Taiwan, but also the unlimited visions Louis Vuitton has been bringing to us in the past 200 years. Everlasting like crude oil, dynamic like the nature."