Modern Taipei
Modern Taipei is the first large city drawing I made in Taiwan. It covers the central city from Nanjing Road in the north to Heping in the south.
I was still quite new to Taiwan when I created this piece. It was made over the course of a year around 2012, between my work as an English teacher and my Chinese language course
Before moving to Taiwan I had drawn Paris and Nottingham. I liked the way my Nottingham map reminded me of my time at university there. By 2012 it had become a visual journal of sorts that was present on my wall in a way that writing and photographs weren’t. I began to consider making a drawing of Taipei to use in a similar way. I initially dismissed the idea as the city is so dense and has so many tall buildings. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to accurately draw it and accuracy was important given the role it would have.
Below: A few pics taken during the drawing and exploratory process. Old buildings, markets, crowds in the park, and a strange railway cutting to nowhere
Taipei Main Station and North Gate
Daan District
During my first year here I was mostly using the MRT as my Chinese reading ability was non-existent. The bus apps didn’t exist yet, I had no smartphone anyway, and the traffic scared me too much to drive or cycle! Over 2011 I developed a sort of groundhog view of the city: popping up from underground stations, getting to know the immediate area, and then diving back underground. By the start of 2012 I realized that I wanted to settle here longer and so I had an impetus to get to know my new home better. I’d seen the main tourist sites by then and gotten a hint that this was a more interesting city than I’d initially realized. I began to walk between MRT stations, photographing and exploring along the way. In this way I found old military villages, hidden temples, mansions among the tenements, and vast historic factories.
Xinyi District and Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall
The idea of drawing the city kept coming back. The same curiosity and research that I’d enjoyed in Nottingham and Paris were now coming through in the process of walking around Taipei. When a pretty historic shophouse near Shida disappeared one afternoon I also realized Taipei was changing much more quickly than the previous two cities. I suddenly found I wanted to record some of the interesting places I’d found as it was clear many were at risk of removal. The desire to explore, get to know my new home, and record my life and the places I’d found, combined into an irresistible urge to draw it.
Given how rapidly the city changes, by 2018 I needed to make a second edition. In 2024 I added more to create a third edition. Left are a few of the new buildings I added in 2018. To the right are a couple of special versions I made for Pride and the NYE Fireworks. Prints of these available by request!
The advantage of drawing from a birds eye view is that you can see almost everything. You can trace your life across the city, focusing in on the places that mean something to you. You can also see how the city has been shaped and spot interesting places that may be unknown to you. I debated for a long time about whether to draw cutaways showing the interior of buildings. But just seeing places on the Nottingham drawing was enough to trigger the memories of what had happened there so I felt they were unnecessary. On the recent drawing of the Tonghua Neighborhood I did add cutaways because I realize now I’m older that a good memory is not always a given! I sketched out a rough outline using the river and 101 to balance the composition a little. Using the same method I had with Nottingham I used small squares of paper that I combined together. This was partly as I had a tiny desk, and partly so I could bring the pieces out into the city with me. Like in Nottingham I kept the traffic off it as I felt this would look a mess and I’d had more run-ins with drivers than I wanted to remember. More recently I’ve begun to add traffic as it definitely gives some local flavor to drawings and I want my work to reflect my complete experiences here.
I would choose an area and some tall buildings that looked like they would give me a good view over it. It was generally pretty easy to get to the upper floors of older office buildings. I found I could draw a lot of the east of the city just from Taipei 101. At the same time I would walk many of the lanes and alleys of an area, often after spotting some interesting stuff from high up.
I was fascinated by this imposing, crumbling tower on Hengyang Road for a long time (I have an interest in 1960’s brutalism/futurism). It has since been renovated. Above: The restored warehouses at Huashan
The view over the yet to be started Taipei Dome sometime in 2012. The Egyptian print above was found in Huaguang Community, a time-warp military dependents village surrounded by high rise Taiwan that was later demolished
This drawing was the last major piece I made outside of the public eye. My expectation was that I would finish it and it would just be something interesting from my life on my wall, in the same way the Nottingham one was. There were parts of the city I didn’t feel close to or had not found much of interest in. These were not drawn in as much detail. For example the bottom left part of the drawing that has many identical apartment blocks. Had I known hundreds of thousands of people would see this drawing I’d have spent a little longer on those parts!
When I posted the drawing on my personal Facebook (I had no art one yet) a couple of friends wanted to share it. So I made the post public. I woke up to hundreds of messages, shares, and requests for prints. What followed was a whirlwind with my first ever media interviews, commission requests, print sales, and the beginning of a journey that would lead to full time art creation. Encouraged by this I began to create more pieces, with Dadaocheng and Taichung following in 2013.
Artwork Details
Modern Taipei , 2012 , Pencil on Paper , 175 x 65cm
Original drawing: Sold
Available as an open edition paper or canvas print. Custom sizing is available. Currently on the second edition, a third may be created in 2023 or 24. Follow the links below to buy:
The Etsy shop is a little pricier given the much higher taxes and fees on that platform
The main difference between paper and canvas is how they can be framed
International airmail usually takes 2-3 weeks. Expedited mail is available on request
Part of the Modern Taipei Map is also available as a postcard
After keeping the Taipei drawing for a while I was ready to let it go and be enjoyed by others. Left: Taking all 28 pieces to be framed. Right: The framed original on display before it’s sale
During my wanderings to gather material for the drawing I came across a number of interesting places. The blog posts here cover some sites found on the map in a bit more depth. Click through the images to read. English only
Before 1994 Da'an Park was a military village, like Huaguang and Toad Mountain. These pictures are from the 70's. I work next to Da'an Park, and though I knew it used to be a village I'd never seen pictures of it. I've not seen many aerial photos from this era