克萊因．赫茲 溫室擬態 – 于軒個展
展覽日期 | 2018.01.06-02.11
展覽地點 | Double Square Gallery 双方藝廊
展覽開幕 | 2018.01.06 (六) 15:00
双方藝廊將於2018年1月6日推出藝術家于軒個展「克萊因‧赫茲─溫室擬態」，于軒於2016年福爾摩沙101國際藝術博覽會策展專區初試啼聲，旋即獲得各界矚目，本次將展出包含全新創作的大型繪畫裝置以及多頻道錄像在內的16件作品，醞釀多年的「溫室」系列終於將首次完整呈現於双方藝廊，展期持續至2月11日。
「溫室」系列作品由于軒所構想出的一位科學家「克萊因‧赫茲」的實驗計劃展開，在克萊因博士的實驗室中這些各自有著不同編號，看似歷經時間與風塵、已然破朽的儀器，其原初的使命是如溫室一般守護著裡頭的生命，然而，儀器運作的殘響仍在，生命卻已化為殘骸。藝術家以具有真實觀感的繪畫方式，企圖在機器徹底損壞、崩解之前，將那一刻永恆地保存下來。
在「克萊因‧赫茲─溫室擬態」一座又一座失效的器械之間，觀者隱約能在清冷凍結的氛圍裡，瞥見克萊因博士模擬自然界物種的創造設計，〈克萊因‧赫茲─NO. M02溫室〉及〈克萊因‧赫茲─NO. M07溫室〉即為模擬鱟魚──擁有具有醫療用途的藍色血液、世界上最古老的生物之一──所製造出的溫室儀器，也是藝術家挑戰尺幅更為巨大、製作更為曠日廢時的最新力作。展覽更首次嘗試以三頻道錄像〈Black Box（黑盒子）〉，深入地還原克萊因博士的研究現場。
在于軒的作品中，以寫實手法再現的並非生命本身而是真實的死亡，描繪著一個被死亡所依附的未來科幻世界，所有鋼鐵機件與有機的腐蝕痕跡，皆是以極細膩的雕塑及繪畫技巧帶出，猶如自然界中生物求生時所使用的擬態保護色，使用被動的方式來保護自身生命安全，而作品中照相寫實般所描繪出殘缺的生物遺骸，在生／死、真實／幻覺、淪陷／浮現、華美／殘破的視覺呈現下，瞬間即是永恆。
Yu Siuan Solo Exhibition「Klein Hurtz – Greenhouse Mimicry」
Date | 2018.01.06-02.11
Venue | Double Square Gallery
Opening | 2018.01.06 Sat. 15:00
Double Square Gallery is greatly honored to present Klein Hurtz—Greenhouse Mimicry, a solo exhibition by artist Yu Siuan, opening January 6, 2018. Yu Siuan first came into the spotlight at the 2016 Formosa 101 Art Fair Curatorial Section, where his creations attracted widespread interest. This latest exhibition will feature 15 works, including new large-scale painted installations as well as a multi-channel video installation. The Greenhouse series, a collection that the artist has painstakingly refined over many years, will for the very first time be showcased in its entirety at the gallery until February 11, the final day of the exhibition.
Each work in the Greenhouse series reveals the experiments and investigative passage of Dr. Klein Hurtz, a fictitious scientist dreamt up by the artist. Dr. Hurtz’s laboratory is filled with decrepit instruments, each bearing different serial numbers and weathered by time. These apparatuses were originally designed to sustain and protect the life embedded within, just as a greenhouse protects its floral or faunal inhabitants; yet, there is nothing left of this life but skeletal remains, even as the sounds of grinding, clanking, hammering—machines in operation—still reverberate. The painting style of the artist, detailed and realist, captures and preserves that ephemeral moment—just before the instruments crumble into complete disrepair.
As they amble past the procession of deteriorated instruments and sense the atmospheric desolation of this suspended dream world, visitors to Klein Hurtz—Greenhouse Mimicry will catch a vague glimpse of how the creative designs of Dr. Hurtz imitate life in the natural world. Two such designs in particular, Klein Hurtz—No. M02 Greenhouse and Klein Hurtz—No. M07 Greenhouse, simulate the natural environment of the horseshoe crab, one of the world’s oldest living creatures, long-prized for its blue blood endowed with healing properties. These new masterpieces push the physical limits of scale and reflect an ever greater investment of time in the creative process on behalf of the artist. Furthermore, with the three channel video installation Black Box, the exhibition attempts to fully restore for the first time Dr. Hurtz’s research laboratory to its original state.
Overall, what visitors will find is that Yu Siuan’s realism evokes not life but death—a death to which the sci-fi futuristic world depicted in his works is inextricably tethered. Meticulous sculptural and painting techniques draw focus to the pieces’ steel components and traces of organic corrosion. As a result, the works bear a veiled quality which calls to mind the biological phenomenon of mimicry, wherein camouflage is used in the natural world as a passive method of self-protection by living things under threat. Similarly, the decayed remains within these machines, portrayed in photorealistic detail, are also protected by their own unique form of camouflage. As they hover between life and death, reality and illusion, decline and (re)emergence, splendor and ruin—their beauty in this one captured moment is immortalized.
The artist Yu Siuan was born in 1984. Early in his creative life, his works were selected for competition in Japan’s International High School Arts Festival and have since been exhibited multiple times in Japan and South Korea. Yu Siuan has devoted time and energy to his artistic work for many years. A master of exquisite realist techniques, he integrates contemporary sculpture with kinetic installation, stretching the limits of painting from two- to three- dimensional, and turning his envisioned sci-fi world into a distinct reality. With his realist works that straddle the divide between painting and sculptural installation, he presses on in his pursuit of the essence of beauty and, above all, life.
