【展覽資訊｜桑久保 徹個展：洋’灘’日’與雕塑 】

【 桑久保 徹個展：洋’灘’日’與雕塑 】

展訊｜

展覽日期_ 2018/3/24(六) – 2018/5/13(日)
開幕導覽_ 2018/3/24(六) 　14:00
展覽地點_ 路由藝術
展覽地址_台北市中正區金山南路1段67巷5號1樓
開放時間_  12:00 – 19:00(周一、二休)

展覽簡介｜

十九世紀末，當第一台蒸汽火車的白煙在巴黎的里昂車站冉冉升空時，巴黎市民齊聚，一同歌頌工業革命時代的來臨。想像一下，這個風和日麗的下午，在塞納河上波光粼粼的金色陽光伴隨中，車長順勢拉響高亢的火車汽笛。那是一連串刺耳、卻令人振奮的聲響，它彷彿宣告了人類即將邁向新世界的各種可能，同時，也為廿世紀風起雲湧的西方當代藝術史揭開序幕。

印象派（Impressionism）是一個為人所熟知的藝術名詞。在台灣，即使是不諳西方藝術史的普羅大眾，也對這個當代藝術流派耳熟能詳。印象派是個組成於十九世紀末的藝術家群體，它的生成與當時的社會背景有著顯著的關聯：工業革命的發生與革新，人們的生活變快也變近了，科學的進步與普及，使得對於光學和色彩學的研究也越來越清晰。最重要的是，社會裡中產階級的興起，更讓繪畫題材不再屈就於貴族、宗教、歷史英雄和傳說，而逐漸世俗化了起來。印象派在藝術史上被視為當代藝術的起點，理由除了上述與近代西方歷史進程在時間點上的吻合之外，印象派在技法上、概念上的論述，作為連結往後抽象繪畫興起，更起了承先啟後的巨大影響。爾後，銜接於印象派末期的後印象派（Post-Impressionism），雖然承襲自印象派在繪畫上的技法，然而在中心思想上，他們卻反對印象派流於形式的外在描繪。後印象派主張繪畫應該要更多元地表現藝術家的主觀情緒和感受，也從單純地客觀記述，昇華為自由的主觀表現。後印象派當中三位代表人物梵谷、高更與塞尚，也分別引領出其後的表現主義、野獸派和立體派。

初次見到桑久保徹的作品，自然會對他作品中流露出的印象派技法印象深刻：飛快的筆觸、輪廓與線條的消失、室外自然光的表現、精煉熟稔的色彩學運用。很難想像一位道地的東京人，作品的技法上卻散發渾然天成的西方美學。不過，若我們在畫前稍做停留，也不難察覺作品中另一種異樣氛圍：關於構圖上的巧妙安排，以及畫中那並非日常生活景象的畫面異趣。

｜平衡又律動的構圖 ｜
雖然技法上留著印象派的影子，但若說桑久保徹在骨子裡淌著是後印象派的血液，那是一點也不為過的。每件宛若風景寫生的油畫作品的背後，建構地卻是桑久保徹的異想世界。他以天空、海洋以及岸邊做為三主體，切割了畫面，運用極簡的手法在二維畫面展現三度空間的透視。如同導演魏斯·安德森（Wes Anderson）對於鏡頭置中的執著，桑久保徹如此平衡穩重的構圖，也成為他每件作品的主要佈局。然而，畫中卻呈現些許風雨欲來的騷動，而這些動態展現，來自於藝術家的筆觸與顏料堆疊使然。桑久保徹捨棄勾勒輪廓線，利用他力道的筆觸，描繪雲朵、海面以及大地，佐以厚重的油彩堆疊，讓這些自然界的萬物體現恆常的運動狀態：大氣隨著時間飄移，草地由於流動的空氣而搖擺；此外，桑久保徹在油彩的使用上，有著與其他藝術家不同的性格。油畫顏料雖稱為顏料，然而本質卻更接近黏土，在創作中，油畫的形塑是宛如陶塑一般，將顏料堆疊於畫布上。桑久的畫作雖然可以看出藝術家運用重彩的偏愛，然其畫面卻是呈現給我們輕盈與空氣流動感。如此的反差不但顯示創作者自有的視覺語言，也表露了藝術家絲絲入扣的媒材運用。

｜虛擬畫家的情節｜
有趣的是，桑久保徹並不單就平面繪畫的創作而滿足，而是更進一步對現代藝術提出論述。他利用自己（Toru Kuwakubo）以及莫內（Oscar-Claude Monet）的姓氏，創造出一位虛擬印象派畫家「Kuwoud Bonet」，也自2014年開始，以這位虛擬畫家展開他一系列的創作。在此系列作中，桑久保徹想像自己是生活在十九世紀的印象派畫家，並以每個不同月份的節氣與風情，將自己帶入不同大師的世界裡。好比塞尚宛如五月的薰風，梵谷則令他聯想起八月的夏夜。以這樣的想法入畫，除了是桑久對本身喜愛的印象派大師的另一種致敬之外，他更希望藉由這樣的時空倒錯，將觀者帶入另一個不同的想像中。這樣由藝術家虛擬出有別於自己的另一個角色身份，所謂「另我（Alter ego）」的創造，不禁讓我們聯想到達達主義大師馬賽爾·杜象（Marcel Duchamp）。杜象在他著名的《噴泉》作品中，將連鎖店購買的陶瓷小便斗署上別名「R. Mutt 1917」；他更曾經在1921年，以一位女性身份蘿絲·瑟拉薇（Rrose Sélavy）的形象出現，似乎意欲挑戰人們對於性別的定義、以及對於傳統的價值觀。杜象透過如此手法，重新審視、思辯人文現象，也和桑久保徹藉由傳統繪畫，冀望對藝術產生另一種定義的想望不謀而和。

這次桑久保徹的全新創作，讓觀者走進路由藝術的空間，彷彿走進十九世紀的巴黎，在賣販的吆喝聲與露天咖啡香味的環繞下，前衛與傳統並行。進入路由藝術前，請您務必拋開匆忙與煩亂的台北步調，優雅地漫步於桑久保徹帶給我們，關於過去共同的記憶與眷戀。

When smoke slowly rose from the first steam train at Paris-Gare de Lyon in the late 19th century, Parisian gathered together and chanted the advent of Industrial Revolution. Imagine, in this glorious afternoon with sunshine sparkling on Seine, the train conductor rang the loud train whistle. It was a series of harsh yet inspiring sounds, which seemed to be proclaiming allt he different possibilities awaiting in the next chapter of humankind, and unveiling the surging history of western contemporary art in the 20th century.

“Impressionism” is a well-known art term. Even the general public without formal artistic education can be familiar with this contemporary genre. Impressionism was generated from a group of artists formed in the late 19th century. Its emergence had a significant connection with the social background at that time: the Industrial Revolution accelerating people’s lives, while the progression and popularization of science clarifying the study in optics and chromatics. Most importantly, due to the rise of the middle class stratum, themes of painting were no longer limited to aristocrats, religions, historical heroes or legends, but gradually becoming relevant to our daily life. Impressionism is regarded as the origin of contemporary art in art history, for it not only coincided with the historical process of Western history as addressed above, but has also technically and conceptually resulted in the upsurge of abstract painting in the 20th century. Post-Impressionism, which subsequently surfaced after Impressionism, basically inherited the techniques of impressionist painting while having its central concept against the mere portrayal of the exterior. The Post-Impressionists advocated that painting should demonstrate an artist’s subjective emotions and feelings, allowing works of art to sublimate from objective description to subjective expression. The three main Post-Impressionist figures, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne, had huge impact respectively on the following Expressionism, Fauvism and Cubism.

When facing Toru Kuwakubo’s work, we can immediately notice the Impressionist features shown in his paintings: the rapid strokes, the disappearance of outline, the expression of natural light, and his proficiency in applying chromatics. It’s hard to imagine a typical Japanese like Kuwakubo has such inherent Western aesthetics. However, if we linger in front of his paintings a bit longer, we could easily perceive another strange atmosphere created by his clever composition, and the bizarre scenarios that are not usually seen in daily life.

| Balanced and rhythmic composition |
Despite all the Impressionist traces, it would be more suitable if we see Toru Kuwakubo with a Post-Impressionist soul within. Behind each of his landscape-like oil painting, Kuwakubo builds up his own fanciful world. He uses the sky, the sea and the shore as the three main subjects to divide his canvas into three, presenting a three-dimensional perspective on 2D surfaces. Just as film director Wes Anderson is known for his obsessively symmetrical aesthetics, such balanced and stable composition has also become the main feature of Toru Kuwakubo’s works. However, we can still sense a looming turmoil in his images, for there is a dynamic impression coming from the artist’s brushwork and pigment stacking. Toru Kuwakubo rejects creating outlines, instead, he depicts the clouds, the sea, and the ground with his powerful brush strokes along with the heap of oil paints, situating all natural elements in a moving position: the air flows as time goes by, and the grass swings accordingly. In addition, Toru Kuwakubo’s usage of oil paint pigment has a totally different character from other artists. Although oil paint pigment is known as a pigment, it unexpectedly possess a clay-like quality. Doing an oil painting is more like potting, as the paints are stacked onto the canvas. Despite Kuwakubo’s preference in heavy pigment, his painting still conveys a sense of lightness and airiness. Such contrast not only reflects the artist’s unique visual language, but his mastery in applying media.

| A virtual Impressionist |
Interestingly, Toru Kuwakubo is never satisfied with the mere creation of images, but further, he provides his discussion on contemporary art. By combining the surnames of himself (Toru Kuwakubo) and of Oscar-Claude Monet, he created a virtual impressionist painter named “Kuwoud Bonet”. Kuwakubo started a series of works with this virtual artist since 2014. In this series, Toru Kuwakubo imagines himself as Impressionist painters living in the 19th century, and takes a glimpses into these masters’ world by respectively allocating different style of different months to his creations. For instance, Cézanne seems to remind him of the breeze of May, while Van Gogh conveys a feeling of the summer nights in August. Apart from his attempt on paying his tribute to those Impressionist painters, Kuwakubo tries to invite his viewers into the scenarios he created by using such reconstruction of time-space. The virtual identity which sets itself apart from the artist himself, i.e. the “Alter Ego,” reminds us of the Dadaist Marcel Duchamp. In his famous artwork “Fountain”, Duchamp signed “R. Mutt 1917,” on a porcelain urinal which he purchased in a chain store. In 1921, his female alter-ego “Rrose Sélavy” fully surfaced in public, seemingly with the attempt to challenge people’s definition of gender and their values of tradition. Such tactics used by Duchamp to re-examine the humanistic phenomena happens to coincide with Toru Kuwakubo’s desire of creating another definition of art through traditional painting.

The brand new series of Toru Kuwakubo directs the viewers into Nunu Fine Art with an illusion of walking into the 19th century Paris. As if surrounded by the sound of the bawled vendor and the scent from outdoor-café, this is where the avant-garde and the traditional coexist. Before you let yourself into Nunu Fine Art, please lay aside the busy pace of Taipei lifestyle, and gracefully roam through the past memories that Toru Kuwakubo has brought us.

藝術家｜桑久保 徹 Toru Kuwakubo

 

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