Stories of tortured artists being driven to self-mutilation aren't new, but Taiwanese artist Juang Rung-je says that's not why he does it. 'I just cut myself. It's something I do. It feels good.'
Juang began recording his self-mutilation in Piercing (2001), a video with no sound. First, a fat earlobe appears on screen. Then, a needle heads for the slab of flesh. You feel the sort of nervousness and sick excitement you'd experience witnessing a bloody accident, but you can't stop looking. The head of the needle makes contact and meets slight resistance before disappearing into Juang's earlobe. Next comes Juang's lower lip, pulled taut. Part of the needle disappears under his lip.
In Transplant (2003), Juang plucks some hair from a friend's leg and puts it on his arm. 'You might think that the leg hairs would fly off my arm, but they didn't,' says Juang. 'The root of the hair after being plucked is sticky and stayed in place.'
After Transplant, Juang stopped working for nearly three years. 'I got tired of explaining my work,' he says. 'Most people look for a second and think I'm creating traditional Chinese paintings. If they'd only stop and look, they'd find something else.'
He's referring to Man-Carving Drawing - Wind Lotus (2006), in which he drew a lotus on his skin - using a knife. The result is beautiful, yet painful to look at.
Next came Man-Carving Drawing - Chrysanthemum (2006, left), a much larger piece. This time, his canvas was artist Lin Ching-fong's back. 'His skin was too healthy,' says Juang. 'It healed quickly, so I sometimes had to cut the same places over and over.