Bug 2 Gallery was founded in 2022 in Tainan, Taiwan, by the Dutch artist Pascal van der Graaf and his Taiwanese wife, Arwen Yang.
The name "Bug 2" is from the story of the emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), who visited West Lake in Hangzhou and dwelt on the stunning views. He wrote down "虫二"(bug 2), which means "boundless beauty" because "風月"(wind and moon) refers to the beauty of the nature. When we remove the surrounding stokes of "風月", we get the central characters "虫二"(Bug 2).
Bug 2 Gallery represents mostly well-established Dutch artists whose artworks are different from the contemporary art in Taiwan or Asia in general, but connected philosophically and spiritually to the culture. In this sense the gallery has also an educational function: to broaden the perspective of art in Taiwan.
Pascal van der Graaf won the Dutch Royal Award for modern painting in 2007 and Arwen Yang holds a Ph.D. degree in ancient Chinese literature from Peking university. Pascal's knowledge of Western art combining with Arwen's knowledge of Eastern philosophy and literature gives the gallery unique approach. The East and the West are as it were conceptually combined.
All artists represented by the gallery were already working internationally but not yet in Asia. The artists aim high and so does the gallery.
