Message
at the doorstep: Confession of an image maker.
Panda the Carnivore [熊貓食肉獸], 2008 at left and Mary
the Princess [瑪麗公主], 2008 at right. Oil on canvas.
Paintings in detail.
He
started up in the local art scene with illustration-styled portraits of sitters
either from folklore or pure imagination.
Like the early Middle Ages portraitures these paintings, invariably full-figured,
did not depict much on individuality. No
attempt was made to reveal the personage behind. Nor was there any background painted to relate
a situation. The painted images are flat
and without shadows. There were hardly
any facial expressions on his subjects and anonymity was sought as if the message,
if any, can be read through the signifiers of their costumes and gesticulations. They are perceived in the same way that
stories were told in medieval paintings.
His modus operandi of
portraits is a means to address notions, not personalities.
Eileen
Chang and Her Characters [張愛玲與她的人物角色], 2009,
Acrylic on canvas. (Seven characters from her novels)
Acrylic on canvas. (Seven characters from her novels)
Where
did you die? [你們死在何處？], 2010, Oil on
canvas
(Paper dolls of John Lennon and Freddie Mercury)
Painting
in detail.
Teresa
Teng’s Island Country Love Song Vol.1-8
[鄧麗君島國情歌第一至八集],2011, Acrylic on canvas.
[鄧麗君島國情歌第一至八集],2011, Acrylic on canvas.
Self-mockery
on his inspirations from ink-painting.
The
Teasing Game
The paper
doll representation of actors and singers in recent years has earned Wilson Shieh
石家豪 (1970-
) public attention, the celebrity status of these personalities are
obsessed by the local community no less than their counterparts in the US. Those
finely drawn outlines of facial features, the colour fill-ins of pink flesh and
the immaculately drawn garment are still there to be recognized as his generic
style. With no exception, the images
depicted carry the traits of Aphroditus,
their genders are deliberately blurred. Most
of them are highly charged with erotic overtones; and signs of flirtation can
be detected from the bare flesh and overt femininity. Yet a sense of detachment prevails,
everything is unattainable. There seems
to be a tantalizing sense of sexuality construed by the painter to tease the
audience. The images he creates are
icons in their own rights, emitting more energy than the portrayed
subjects. In this sense they are
iconoclasts subverting the real personalities from within.
Nostalgia
is a pervasive obsession in this city of
redevelopment rush and China assertions.
redevelopment rush and China assertions.
The
Cultural Life of Wilson Shieh
[石家豪的文化生活],2010, Acrylic on canvas.
[石家豪的文化生活],2010, Acrylic on canvas.
Painting
in detail.
Jimmy
Somerville Bronski Beat [吉米．桑莫維爾 布朗斯基節拍], 2010. Colour pencil on cardboard. (Extract from a set
of 16 under “The Cultural Life of Wilson Shieh”)
I.M.Pei
[貝聿銘],2010. Colour pencil on cardboard. (Extract from a set
of 16 under “The Cultural Life of Wilson Shieh”)
Salty
Summer: Big Girls [鹹暑鑑之大女], 2012. Gouache on silk mounted on watercolour
paper. This is my favorite
series on fixations on sex – his work par excellence.
“Je
est un autre.” Arthur Rimbaud
The
concept of the Other is a preoccupation that permeates in his recent works. The
work that best illustrates this mindset is seen from “The Cultural Life of
Wilson Shieh”, in which the artist assumes the roles of Feng Zikai-the
cartoonist, I.M. Pei-the architect and H. Murakami–the novelist, among other
establishment figures. On the other side,
Le Petit Prince, Michelangelo and Jimmy Sumerville clearly underscore minority
groups, if not his sexual orientation.
Shieh has confessed to be troubled by the body he inhabits. Like his paper dolls with outfits
representing a host of personas, he was ready to experiment with identities in
different phases of development. They are masks that carry the alienation of the Self
he cursed, and likewise a means of inter-subjectivity he longed for.
On the
question of identity in a broader sense, do we not, as contemporary man, confront
with? Subjected to innumerable
influences from outside, the full constituents of the self including the
appearance, personality, beliefs and fears continually recast themselves in the
course of experience. In this age of media
explosion, we learn to play roles and react according to situations. Unwittingly or otherwise, we are accustomed
to mould ourselves and be molded by others into stereotypes. Shieh’s portrayals of personalities ignite
the indulgence of character-switching within us, surpassing the classic notion
of The Other asserted by Rimbaud.
Satire,
especially parody, has become a powerful means to air discontent which is well
received by the public.
Video
of sketches on the Statute of Democracy, the sculpture associated with the Tiananmen Square Massacre – this version inserted with Shieh’s bespectacled face.
“Hong
Kong is a Chinatown” [香港係條唐人街](drawing at top)
is a social commentary on the changing identity of this city under the influx
of mainland tourists.
Inadequacy
of pictorial? His attempt on writing
in future is promised.
in future is promised.
Eight
Modern China Political Leaders in School [八公返學], 2012. Colour pencil, crayon and collage on paper.
Painting
in detail.
Return
to the title of exhibition: Wilson Shieh…Sumbody, a reflection of symmetry
between the self and summation of bodies.
The message, beyond the multitude of identities, belies the interactions
of an individual against the collective mass.
New Order
From the
exploration of Self and the Other, Shieh is tempted to address social and
political issues, the pressing problems many identify with since the sovereignty
of Hong Kong was reverted to China in 1997. Notwithstanding the ideological differences
that are hard to be reconciled, the cherished assets of what make this community a unique entity is slipping by the day. From
the demographic mixture to urban scenery, from value system to collective
spirits, the city is changing from the core within. It is an urgency that drives his new venture.
Art soothes
the soul, but politics shapes behaviour and ultimately
rules supreme. On this score, Shieh
realizes the limitation of art if art is manifested to
express none other than itself. It is
towards satire or even political narratives he would converse with public. However, in the
premises where art is fused with political issues, there are minefields to be trodden. “Eight Modern China Political Leaders in School”
Wilson Shieh…Sumbody 眾身…石家豪
22 March, 2013 – 22 April, 2013 at Osage Kwun Tong
22 March, 2013 – 22 April, 2013 at Osage Kwun Tong
石家豪 ．《眾生》 〈中文摘要〉
他通過人物畫涉足本地藝壇，體裁源自想像及民間傳說。宛如早期歐洲中古畫像，這些作品往往沒有交代主體人物的真身。畫中的背景大多只塗單色，沒有情境敍述；油彩裡見不到筆觸，同時亦欠陰影；面部表情木訥，主人翁身份不明；蓋因畫家讓意念押注在主角的衣物及其舉手投足中。這些人像敍事手法與中古時代宗教畫同出一轍，作畫的主調在於表達慨念而非人物性格。
近年他的紙公仔系列，尤其關於歌唱及演藝界人物，自此公眾對石家豪作品印象漸見深刻。他的圖像標記如細緻的面部線條，誘人的膚色及精巧的服飾設計都發揮作用。大部份畫中人皆帶著希臘愛美神的韻味，性徵被刻意隱藏；但有意無意，畫像充溢著慾欲的暗示。從晰白的肌膚及女性化的媚魅裡不難察覺到挑逗的視覺符號。與此同時一股抽離的氛圍籠罩觀者的感覺，一切盡是若即若離，不予掌握。作者彷彿以畫面玩弄眾人的情緒。
「他者」的慨念一直懸繫石近年創作裡，最能表達這思維包括《石家豪的文化生活》的一系列畫作。從他投射自我身份中，豐子愷、貝聿銘或村上春樹代表著普及的主流人物；而小王子、米高安哲羅、占美‧森瑪維明顯串連小眾人物，甚至提示自身性傾向。石本人曾公開承認受到自己的性別所困擾。一如他列舉紙公仔所隱伸的人物性格，他在不同階段嘗試敍述自我身份。這些身份讓他佩戴成為他者的面具，一方面詛咒自身的異體，另一方面滿足對主體交換的渴求。
就自我身份的廣義範圍，難道當下的我們沒有受困惑乎？從凡世間的種切外在影響，自我的構成不斷遭外來的經驗所調適。有鑑資訊爆炸年代，媒體泛濫，我們很容易投入不同角色典範，因處境而配以反應。不知不覺間，我們慣性地按情况模塑自身，或讓別人模塑自己。石的畫作提供機會，縱容我們嗜慾角色替換這玩意。這當代思考形式超越亞瑟‧蘭波(Arthur
Rimbaud)所表達“我是他者”裡的典範角色。
從「自我」及「他者」探索之路，石家豪被現今本地社會及政治狀態感染，啓發創作思維。一方面意識形態層面相互對立，另一方面香港與其他中國城市的自我身份差異卻遂漸收窄。由人口特質至市容，價值觀至集體意志，香港悄然作根本性的改變。這一切構成他的驅動力量。
不錯，藝術撫慰心靈，惟政治除了規劃行為外，它更支配一切。在此命題下，石明瞭藝術二字，從單純及孤立角度審視，它的自我演繹極受限制；這個體在沒有外來冲擊下缺乏意義。故此石藉著流行的惡搞創作或政治表述與公眾對話。政治議題的藝術是充滿陷阱，亦不乏濫竽充數作品，「八公返學」藝術上亦俱批評地方，特別是牽強的三維表達。有鑒此刻乃啓廸新道的起點，同時標誌著個別本港藝術工作者所走更政治性的參與，故應予以寬待。畢竟，這是一股可以冲擊思考之聲，叫喚睡意惺忪的腦袋，震懾綏靖的心靡。
No comments:
Post a Comment