Man Man Zou

While riding on the train everyday to Chinese school last year, Mark and I made friends with Mr. Hong, a paralyzed artist. He paints beautiful oil paintings using his mouth to hold the paintbrush.

He and his caretaker befriended us after seeing us everyday, and we’ve gotten together a few times since we stopped taking the train to Taichung. He showed us many of his paintings at his home. I showed him my website, which he is able to scroll through by the use of a track ball and a long pointer between his mouth and the mouse.

Last Saturday, the 6th, we went to an art show opening in Taichung that featured some pieces by Mr. Hong. It was an exhibit of paintings by 19 artists- all of whom paint using their mouth or feet.

The paintings were impressive. They looked no different than those done by hand, and were quite creative, but what I enjoyed so much about them is that a lot of the paintings had a touch of Taiwan in them.

One room was full of traditional Chinese brush paintings (watercolors), which is my favorite painting style. The other room
was mostly oil paintings, and some of those were of famous places in Taiwan.

Since it was the opening of the exhibit, there were a lot of speeches. After that, a music band with blind players performed- piano, erhu, accordion, and an ocarina, how’s that for eclectic?!

Then, all the artists stayed near their paintings to talk with people, and many demonstrated their painting skills. They were great to see, and most were more than willing to talk about what happened in their life.

We met one 29 year old guy who was sick when he was a child. He lived in rural southern Taiwan, and there was no adequate hospital to help him. So he lost his gross motor control of his arms, some of his body and face, and also his ability to speak. There is nothing wrong with his hearing, or his brain, so through the help of his girlfriend, and by using his foot to quickly scribble questions that he had for us, we were able to chat for quite a while.

The art show is more than worth stopping by to check out. It’s at the Culture Center in Taichung, next to the big stadium, until the 19th.