Preface - the Exhibition from a Spectator's Point of View

Lily C. Li

In 2000, while commemorating the 10th anniversary of Galerie Pierre, we curated an exhibition of sketches and paintings entitled “Process≧Existence,” which received its share of public acclaim. During the exhibition, we also held discussions concerning sketches (or drawings) and styles of creative works, exploring the subtle relations between sketches (or drawings) and finished art, and the process an artwork has to go through before coming into existence.

These discussions inspired me to curate another exhibition; and as a result of collaboration with Jason Chi last year, the exhibition “Traces of Drawings – Tracks of Intercultural Journeys” has taken shape. This is an exhibition crossing cultures, generations and artistic styles, in which we invite artists Paul Chiang, Jason Chi and Lloyd Martin to engage in a dialogue on time and space, suing drawings as their main form of expression.

Regarding time, we are actually talking about the creative process. Chiang has turned the traces of his creative works in his studio – be it corrugated paperboards, shoes or pieces of wood – into extensions of his art, and through these traces, we are allowed to cast our eyes over the peculiar relationship between time and the existence of works during the creative process. In Chi’s works, there can be no doubt that he possesses his own artistic vocabulary. A command of line and a sense of gracefulness are the characteristics revealed in his work, in which the inadvertent or intangible presentation of light and shadow turns into a continuation of endless time. In addition to these two exceptional artists, we also extended our invitation to an accomplished American artist Lloyd Martin, who has plentiful experience in creative works; lineal and geometrical images are the main structure of his works, which somehow brings forth a sense of lightness through his free-hand strokes and expressions of texture.

Along with time, space is the second main theme of this exhibition. Paul Chiang has lived abroad in France and the United States for over thirty years; Jason Chi travels back and forth between Taiwan and the United States; and Lloyd Martin is an American artist; therefore, the presentation of the works crosses the boundaries of cultures and fuses the presentational styles of East and West.

This exhibition spans processes of creative work and realms of cultures; whatever the viewer encounters in this exhibition – be it a finished art piece or the traces of a creative process – is worth savoring.

 

 

序文 － 側觀展覽

文 / 臻品藝術中心 張麗莉

記得臻品在2000年的十週年策劃展時，曾經策劃過一場『經過≧存在』的手稿與創作展，當時的展出形式以手稿對照創作共同展出，這個展覽受到相當的肯定。同時，我們也針對手稿（或素描）與創作形式作過討論，探討創作過程中手稿（或素描）與創作的微妙關係及存在的必要過程。

這樣的討論引發了另一個展覽的想法，在去年與藝術家紀嘉華合作後，今年的「素描之跡-跨文化遊蹤」的三人聯展於是形成。這是橫跨不同文化、不同世代與不同形式的展覽，邀請藝術家江賢二老師、紀嘉華以及遠在美國的Lloyd Martin先生，以素描的創作形式為主體，進行一場關於時間與空間的對話。

時間，談的是創作歷程，江老師將工作室的創作痕跡無論是瓦楞紙板、鞋或木條等等，作為創作的延伸，透過這些痕跡，似乎可以一窺創作過程中時間與作品存在的特殊關係。而紀嘉華的作品，有其擅長的個人語彙是無庸置疑的。他對線條的控制與流暢感是作品呈現的特質，同時，對光影的不經意或若有似無的表現，在創作中成為一場漫長時間的延續。除了這二位很優秀的藝術家之外，此次還特別邀請在美國創作歷程豐富的藝術家Lloyd Martin ，他的作品以線性與幾何圖型為創作形式，但在隨意的筆觸與肌理的表現過程中，卻有一種輕快而明朗的感覺。

除了時間，空間也是此次展覽的主軸。在此次展出的藝術家江賢二老師旅居法國、美國三十餘年，紀嘉華也是往返台灣和美國二地之間，而Lloyd Martin 則是美國的藝術創作者，因此，在創作表現上是橫跨文化的領域並融合東、西方的形式表現。

這一場跨創作歷程與跨文化的展演方式，無論觀者看到的是完整的紙上作品或創作歷程的軌跡，都值得細細品味。