TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Channeling the smoky fragrance of incense and opium, French-US artist Ana Karkar’s “Pipe Dream” opened Wednesday at Tao Art Space.
Shown in collaboration with Galerie Marguo in Paris, Karkar’s alluring Taipei debut features 12 new oil paintings and one video installation.
Karkar’s works are sensual and evocative, inviting viewers into a meditative space between dreams and reality. Through her visceral depictions of the female figure, the artist confronts traditional conventions of beauty while exploring themes of liberation, multiculturalism, and healing.
In an interview with Taiwan News, Karkar said the exhibition title, “Pipe Dream,” embodies her international upbringing and liberatory vision. It also touches on the entwined histories of the opium trade, which created visual and sensory connections between the East and West.
“Growing up in San Francisco, you would see Asian opium beds in Victorian houses,” Karkar said, “It drew me in. Because there is that colonial connotation, but people thought this furniture was really beautiful — like this was a place where you would want to escape and dream.”
Karkar was also influenced by the impact of opium on French fashion and perfume. Drawing from her experience working for Louis Vuitton, she said that Parisian perfume houses interpreted the substance in abstract ways — often taking inspiration from incense.
“Incense is this smoky substance, and it takes you through this sensory journey. It could smell sharper, or softer, or more sensual and intimate, or more spiritual” Karkar said. “You could just imagine that opium would take you to all kinds of euphoric places.”
Karkar’s artistic process is similarly based in emotional and sensory processes. Karkar burns incense as she works, watches films, and avoids viewing too many manufactured images. She added that maintaining a connection to natural sensory experiences makes her feel closer to her paintings.
“We absorb everything around us,” Karkar says. “If I am around artificial fibers and smells, I’m less connected to my emotions. This closeness is super important to me, because I want to be able to create something that I really feel.”
Ana Karkar’s artistic influences — mainly Expressionist painters such as Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, and Francis Bacon — similarly spark visceral viewing experiences. Karkar hopes to transcend those experiences through an emphasis on liberation and unconventional beauty.
“I realized I come from a point of healing,” Karkar said, “When you look at Expressionist work, there is a lot of torture and pain, and I understand that pain but when I am making my work, I want to transcend. I want to go above that.”
Karkar said she hopes this healing power will move beyond her canvas. “I can heal parts of myself, maybe other people pick up on that energy … Maybe it will have a ripple effect.”
The exhibition space is divided into three rooms. Gallery I is centered around Karkar’s film, “Queen of the Night.” Gallery II draws inspiration from a 1970s book of Japanese yokai illustrations, and the final gallery is more experimental, which Karkar characterizes as an exploration of Gustav Klimt’s style.
“Pipe Dream” is at Tao Art Space until July 12.
