蕭搏個展
2008.4.26－2008.6.07
開幕式：2008年4月26日下午15：00
展覽地點：站臺中國當代藝術機構草場地主空間 B
策展人：凱倫·史密斯
長期以來，大師們也同樣為了如何在畫面中適當安排各種元素從而形成最佳構圖，為如何選擇一個相關的主題而絞盡腦汁，直到創作出滿意的作品。相比之下，我的創作只是依據任意的一連串的事物所提供給我的元素而成。
——藝術家語
蕭搏的早期作品， 主要取材于一些舊時代的老照片、電影片斷等，著重采納舉世聞名或人盡皆知的關于歷史事件以及領袖人物的圖片，運用眾多圖像構成的畫面來對某個瞬間進行描述，從而展示人們所參與的瞬間的重要性，并使其定格而成為永恒。而他近期的作品，焦點從公眾人物和歷史轉化到涉及普通大眾的個體及人文環境：探究從重要的歷史事件到個人經歷所帶來的影響。他將一個事件安置在一個一個的框架里進行描述，一個瞬間是一部分，世界便在不停變換當中，并且永遠不同。對電影的涉獵，以及時間的流逝，即便短暫也一樣可以體現其對于歷史的特殊的影響。他的作品體現了對歷史和時間的細微而機敏的觀察，但離開筆觸將會失色許多。作品也同樣有著抽象的痕跡在：表現形式都很簡潔，用極少的線條描繪出更多的意境，看上去仿佛在畫布上雕塑一般。和眾多的平面化的中國當代藝術相抗衡，有著如此厚重筆觸的作品總是令人有耳目一新的感覺。一句話，是內容和技巧的絕妙結合。這些通過假想的視覺活動而獲得的簡單的畫面設置，使畫面變得栩栩如生，令人重新思考到底是什么構成了我們的歷史。
他從書籍、雜志、互聯網甚至古玩市場獲得他所感興趣的人物面貌和特質。在他簡潔明了的畫面中，毛澤東、鄧小平等政治領袖的形象成為中國意識領域的代言和特殊符號，他用抽象的手法、極少的線條，表達了更多的意境。繪畫帶給他的，從因創作而產生的興奮逐漸轉移到對新的表現方式的探討。他不滿足于視覺“游戲”，將焦點從色調和筆觸上抽離，揭偽取真，剔除擾亂視覺的色彩，更加關注情節——即瞬間，這恰恰使得觀者無需花費很多時間就能看出畫面中人物之間的角色轉換。人們看作品也許只在第一眼就感覺畫面的力量，判斷作品的意義，都是暫時的經驗。
蕭搏的作品，正在超越繪畫本身的簡單行為：表面的質感，抽象的痕跡，色彩的選擇，形成了一個簡明的復合體。當人們都在關注悲劇、事故等敘述性的事情時，生命的脆弱及嬗變，帶他回到他所感興趣的時間和瞬間，永不休止。他嘗試向人們展示繪畫的新可能性，使用多種畫布形成的場景讓人覺得任何事都可能發生，就好像讀一本書，你永遠不知道下一頁將發生什么。
For Immediate Release
SNAPSHOT!
XIAO BO SOLO EXHIBITION
APRIL 26 –JUNE 07, 2008
OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY APRIL 26, 2008, 3PM
VENUE: PLATFORM CHINA CONTEMPORARY ART INSTITUTE (MAIN EXHIBITION SPACE A & SPACE B IN CAOCHANGDI)
CURATOR: Karen Smith
Great masters wrestled for long periods of time with the arrangement of various elements of a composition, making decisions about one object relevant to another, until they achieved a satisfactory composition. By contrast, I composed my paintings according to the random sequence in which the elements presented themselves to me.
---Artist’s statement
Xiao Bo’s paintings draw largely upon old photographs and film clips. The early works focused primarily on known or familiar photographic images of historic events, and in particular, immediately recognizable political leaders. These images are then transformed into paint to represent a frame-by-frame analysis of an instant, a process during which the moment becomes as important as the individual people who are depicted participating in it, and even the event itself.
His recent works evidence a shift away from the focus on public persona towards the individual, both in terms of the human condition, and of situations concerning ordinary people. Here then, a move from the historical import of events past to the weight of past personal experience.
Xiao Bo’s use of a frame-by-frame sequence of paintings makes an obvious reference to film, to the passage of time—albeit short—and to the weight a minute can accrue in terms of its historic impact. This makes an extraordinarily powerful visual statement. But this statement would not be as powerful were it not for the nature and quality of the brushwork employed. This is perhaps the most delightful quality of Xiao Bo’s painting. The works take on an lyrical quality, even as the forms described are without question succinct, minimal, mapped out in highly efficient sweeps of line, almost as if Xiao Bo were sculpting figures and spaces on canvas. What Xiao Bo achieves is a marvellous combination of content and execution that both brings the paintings to life, and makes people think about how history is made.
In the new works produced for this exhibition, Xiao Bo’s paintings are moving beyond the simple act of painting. Emerging from his canvases we find a narrative of modern life, suffused with concerns for the tragedy that unfolds daily within the immediate social environment. Modern life sometimes feels so fragile. It changes abruptly from moment to moment, which brings Xiao Bo back to the fact of time, and how moments can change lives. The use of multiple canvases for each work creates a sense that anything can happen: “just like when reading a book you never know what’s going to happen on the next page.”
Please contact us for more information or any further images.
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