「暗潮築牆MER MUR」台法攝影藝術雙個展
季勇 Guillaume Hebert 法國(FR) / 小山俊孝Koyama Toshitaka 台灣(TWN)
MER MUR - Koyama Toshitaka and Guillaume Hebert Photography Exhibition
2016年11月18日晚間7-9點
「暗潮築牆MER MUR」台法攝影藝術雙個展 開幕酒會
開幕酒會 | 2016年11月18日(五) 19:00-21:00
展覽期間 | 2016年11月18日(五) 至 2017年1月7日(六) 13:00-19:00
其他時段歡迎來電預約
GENERAL INFORMATION
Opening | 19:00-21:00 Fri., Nov 18, 2016
Duration | Fri., Nov 18, 2016 to Sat., Jan 7, 2017 13:00-19:00
R. Gallery
誠 摯 邀 請
You are cordially invited
微光現蹤，暗潮築牆
文∣張禮豪 By Chang Li-hao
「太陽在下沉。白天堅硬的石頭現出裂縫，光從碎縫間傾出。紅金陽光以帶著黑暗羽毛飛快的箭，射穿海浪。不穩定的光線閃爍漫遊著，像來自沉默島嶼的信號，或是不知輕重、嘻笑男孩射穿月桂樹叢的飛鏢。但海浪靠近海岸時，被奪去光線，以一個綿長撞擊聲落下，像一面牆倒下，一面灰色石牆，不被任何光的縫隙所刺穿。」
──維吉妮亞‧吳爾芙《海浪》
在這本小說裡頭，吳爾芙藉由如同前言般的敘述性文字，來分隔每一段故事的開展。及到書末，人們才會發現，這些安插其間的簡短文字，就像是凝定不動的電影鏡頭，拍攝了太陽從一座位於海邊的花園緩緩升起，而後隨著時間的流轉，不同角度與強度的光線映照在周遭事物之上所形成的景象；直到日落西沉、夜色降臨，一切最終都被淹沒在幽暗之中。在看似變化極其細微、沒有太多騷動的過程中，浪潮一個又一個拍打在海岸上，碎裂之後又聚攏，猶如宇宙的心跳，依照既有的節奏不斷循環……
晃盪在模糊與確然之間的觀看
如果說，吳爾芙運用文字，將海浪勾勒為時間的意象，不僅精準地為書寫注入再晶透不過的質地，還蘊藏了生命意義的探問、對於死亡命題的思索，以及人們感官與精神之間相互影響且游移不定的狀態。那麼，旅居台灣已有四年之久的法國視覺藝術創作者季勇（Guillaume Hebert），則是以一雙畫家的眼睛，透過觀景窗來理解這個世界運作的準則。對他而言，攝影並非單純地再現可見的自然；相反地，經常是攝影讓自然變得可見。因此，當浪花驀然流向他的眼簾之際，屬於生命那些所有變動與不易的一切才得到更為具體的確認，進而在他拍攝的影像上留下益發清晰的證據。
由於自青年時期便對亞洲美學與東方歷史文化饒富興趣，季勇很早就開始埋首研究中國古籍《易經》中溯源追本，體察四時萬物之變化，並以抽象的陰陽符號來組成卦象、簡明易懂的文字來說明卦象等看在許多人眼裡，猶如天書一般的艱澀內容。但他對當中的微言大義卻體會頗深，因而順理成章地將所得融入創作裡頭。在他的創作裡，人事與造化在不同時空的凝態，並非如同傳統攝影所強調的「決定性的瞬間」去被動地等待畫面生成，而是主動將亙久不變的時空與不斷變換的時空揉合在一起，建構出嚴謹冷靜、純粹自足的影像美學。
像在是次「暗潮築牆」一展裡頭，季勇選在太陽將落未落、一瞬即過的短暫時刻所拍攝的一系列以浪潮為主體的影像，猶如色調相對單純的遼闊雪景，放眼望去渺無人跡，只有冷寒的空氣流動其間。從另一方面來看，與其說他所拍攝的對象是碎裂的浪花，倒不如說他將海面鋪展成一塊塊偌大的畫布，讓浪花消解於自身之中，不知從何開始，又將在哪兒結束；再加上他刻意採取聯作式的畫面切割，展現了造化格局恢宏的一面之外，也迂迴地讓影像的意義晃盪在模糊與確然的觀看之間，留待觀者自行進入既綿延又斷裂的圖像空間裡頭去一探究竟。
自殘存的斑駁中採集時間留痕
參與此展的另一位藝術家小山俊孝，則更多著眼在攝影與繪畫已然糾纏多年、至今仍亦敵亦友的難解關係，並藉此來討論人們對於事物的再現以及在觀看後賦予詮釋所可能導致的誤讀趣味。如同德國導演暨藝術家文‧溫德斯（Wim Wenders）深喜挖掘那些在生活周遭四處可見，卻經常為人所忽視的所在，讓這些無須建構出戲劇性，本身就已經充滿故事想像的地景，自動吐露出寓意與共鳴；小山俊孝也專注在拍攝或者破損毀壞，或僅殘餘一些人類活動痕跡的斑駁建物，猶如地質考古學家一般，在經過深沉細膩的踏查後，從層層疊疊的牆面上採集到歷經時間淘洗後的印記與留痕，妥善地保存下來。
這些持續拍攝同一主題所得而來的影像，乍看與任由顏料在畫布上恣意流淌、噴濺或者交融的抽象繪畫無異，與季勇的作品形成未經修飾的巧黠呼應。然而在仔細檢視後，往往會發現些許半隱半現的線索從任何一個可能的角落冒出頭來，像是孩童遊戲的塗鴉符號等，頓時讓原本近似標本蒐羅的類型學影像轉化為各自獨立的視覺經驗，悄然傾訴著創作者主觀情感的介入。也是透過如此曖昧難辨的成像，才得以巧妙地扭轉人們的既定認知，使觀者恍然大悟，我們身處的日常世界經常並非第一眼所見的如此，而是存在著許多肉眼無法察覺的事物，以一種無從丈量起的步調，持續向前推進，幽微的變化也在始終隸屬於當下的無數個瞬間產生。
終究，我們必須明白，人類雙眼所看見的一切事物的表面，事實上都為一層薄薄的光塵所覆蓋，而透過各自的視界與性靈，小山俊孝矗牆為經，季勇踏浪成緯，兩位不同世代且分屬東西文化的創作者，就這樣冷然地遊走在自然與人造世界之間，從日光亮晃到夕陽傾斜，拍攝下一幅幅流瀉著詩意與哲思的影像，為擁有多元面向的當代攝影，交錯標記出既變易又恆定的生命座標。而可以肯定的是，與之結伴而行，縱然只是一小段摸黑的路途，但在稍縱即逝的微光照耀之下，我們總有機會讓自身的雙眼霎那間捕捉到某些看來微不足道的物件或畫面，開啟腦海裡潛在私密的意象，從此再難遺忘。
Light Glimmers Insights, Waves Asserts Walls
“The sun was sinking. The hard stone of the day was cracked and light poured through its splinters. Red and gold shot through the waves, in rapid running arrows, feathered with darkness. Erratically rays of light flashed and wandered, like signals from sunken islands, or darts shot through laurel groves by shameless, laughing boys. But the waves, as they neared the shore, were robbed of light, and fell in one long concussion, like a wall falling, a wall of grey stone, unpierced by any chink of light.”
-Virginia Woolf, "The Waves"
In this short story, Woolf uses descriptive language, as demonstrated above, to set off each new section. By the end, the reader discovers that these simple inserted passages resemble a fixed camera, capturing the image of the sun slowly rising over a seaside garden. As the day wears on, the sun shines down at different angles or levels of intensity, painting a scenic image. As the sun sets and night falls, it ultimately shrouds all in darkness. Amidst this seemingly subtle transformation and undisturbed process, the waves continue to crash against the shore. Each time they break, they gather once again, like the pulse of the universe, following the rhythm on a never-ending cycle...
Observation Wavering Between the Known and Unknown
Woolf uses language to depict waves as the image of time, precisely infusing the writing with a crystal-clear texture, exploring the meaning of life, pondering the topic of death, and relating how the spirit and senses affect each other, and their fluctuating nature. If that accurately describes Woolf, then Guillaume Hebert, a French visual artist residing in Taiwan for the last four years, uses an artist's vision and looks through a window to make sense of how the world works. For him, photography is about highlighting or drawing attention to nature, not simply reproducing what's already visible. When the waves suddenly enter his field of vision, the changes and variations and difficulties of life are all solidly affirmed, displaying increasingly clear evidence in his photographic images.
As a young man, Hebert was strongly interested in Asian aesthetics and Oriental history and culture. He deeply studied the mysteries of the Yi Ching and observed the changing of the seasons. Combining abstract Yin Yang symbols into divinatory symbols, he used simple language to explain confusing, esoteric divinatory symbols. But he came to a deep understanding of their sublime meaning, and what he learned naturally became part of his art. In Hebert's art, the formation of human affairs and nature in different space-times differs from traditional photography's emphasis on the "decisive moment," which passively awaits generation of the image. Instead, it blends changing and unchanging time-space to construct a calm, rigorous, self-sufficient image aesthetic.
In this exhibit, "The Undercurrent Builds a Wall," he chose a series of images of the waves, captured at the moment before the sun disappeared over the horizon. The vast, snow-covered landscape, displaying simple color contrast, is devoid of all activity but the blowing winter winds. From a different perspective, instead of regarding his images as crashing waves, his art transforms the surface of the sea into great canvases, allowing the waves to disappear within, without knowing where they start and end. He also deliberately uses connected images divided into sections to display the magnificent side of the nature layout, and indirectly allows the meaning of the images to linger in the area of uncertain observation. In this way, the viewer enters and explores a continuous yet broken image-space.
Gathering the Traces of Time from the Remaining Motley
Koyama Toshitaka, another artist who participated in the exhibition, concentrated on the tumultuous, love-hate relationship between photography and drawing. Through it, he discusses the replication of human affairs as well as interesting misreadings or misunderstandings that may arise from observation and interpretation. Wim Wenders, a German artist and director, loves to discover special places often overlooked in our daily lives. Such sights and landscapes need no embellishments; they are full of stories to tell. Wenders enables them to reveal their implied meanings and effect on the viewer. Koyama also focuses on photographing mottled buildings that have been destroyed or abandoned with few traces of human activity. Like an archaeologist, he conducts a thorough, in-depth investigation, gathering and preserving time-worn imprints and traces from the layers of walls.
The photographs which share a common theme appear to be no different from abstract art scribbled, scrawled, or splashed across a canvas. They display a raw, interesting correlation with Hebert's works. However, closer examination reveals some faint clues, like children's scribbling, springing from any possible angle. Thus a scientific image instantly transforms into an individual visual experience, quietly expressing the artist's subjective emotions. This kind of vague, ambiguous image is necessary to skillfully alter preconceived notions and enlighten viewers. The world around us is not always as it appears to be, often existing in places or objects not visible to the naked eye. From a sort of immeasurable pace, moving forward, the subtle and profound transformation always belongs to the infinite moments of the present.
In conclusion, we must understand that surface we perceive is in fact covered by a thin layer of light and dust. Koyama's walls and Hebert's waves are like the foundations, each using their spirit and field of vision. These two artists, separated by time, region, and culture, had a free, unconstrained way of wandering between the natural and artificial. From the rising dawn to the setting sun, they photographed poetic, philosophical images; for the world of diverse, modern photography, these images intersect and mark varying yet constant life coordinates. One may be certain that when traveling with such companions though dark and unfamiliar territory, the last light of day will let us catch a glimpse of a seemingly insignificant object or image, inspiring our imaginations and leaving lasting memories.