從縫隙出發–談胡朝聰的交界衝擊

文/ 羅禾淋（獨立策展人、藝術家）

「居所」是人們生活的依歸，居所從內延伸到外所觸及的城市社群，即是人們以自身出發的「生活圈」，不論是居所或是生活圈，都影響著個人的生命經驗與成長記憶，這種如DNA般的底層記憶，呼應著法國思想家Gaston Bachelard（1884~1962）在其著作「空間詩學」中所提到的「家屋是我們最初的宇宙，一個真實的宇宙，如果我們親密地看待自己的家屋，即使最破落簡陋的落腳處也有美妙之處。」也因此從台北成長的胡朝聰，不斷的在醜陋的都市景觀中找尋家的美好與記憶，並且隨著記憶中的時間感，刻畫出城市在都市化過程中的變異，試圖找尋這些變異中的「縫隙」。

80年後出生在台北的胡朝聰，正逢台北巨大變化的時期，如鐵路地下化、捷運工程、土地開發、計畫區等等，這些都市蛻變的速度與節奏，迫使胡朝聰在高速節奏下的都市生活中，找尋殘存的自然景觀，並且透過身體感受都市的中心與邊陲，敏銳觀察都市中的隙縫與隙縫之間的落差，其落差形成一種文化與視覺符號的交界，而這交界的區分，即是胡朝聰繪畫中試圖和生命記憶交疊的方式，也是此次個展「交界迷蹤」所呈現的命題。

「交界迷蹤」個展中，胡朝聰刻意用「迷蹤」一詞，敘述自身面對變遷後家鄉的矛盾狀態，雖然還居住在台北，但已非記憶中的家鄉台北，這種是似而非的錯亂現象，產生出如「鄉愁」的疑問，也開始對家的認同產生無歸屬的逝去性，因此胡朝聰試圖用畫筆紀錄此現象，如2012的作品《後來，才明白》與《更美好的未來》，藉由開發區與鄉間明顯區隔的符號「柏油路」，表達都市化的進展與速度，然而畫面中如迴圈般沒有盡頭的柏油道路，填滿畫面卻沒有終點，如同自身的記憶尋求唯一的出口，但卻此迷蹤，也點出都市化的荒謬現象與都市人的對抗，最後的出口則是找尋城市中尚未變遷的縫隙。這縫隙連結著中心與邊陲，在兩者之間產生出交界，而重疊的交界則是胡朝聰對於台北的定義，如2013作品《航，向未來》與《下天上地，游來游去》，在畫面中用超現實的構圖，打破大眾對於空間的直覺，並且多次包覆認知的熟悉日常，也畫出了記憶中台北與現實中台北的斷層，把漸變的異樣重新詮釋。也因多次在擁擠與快速的都市夾縫戰鬥，交界的穿透性試圖從被動轉為主動，如2014的作品《航道》和《尋寶記》，開始有了交界錯亂下的方向性，並且從空間上的包覆反轉成藍天與地心的語彙，從看得到的交界，轉變成看不到的交界，除交界在現象上的重疊外，胡朝聰在繪畫技法上，也用壓克力平塗打磨的方式，堆疊出具層次感的顏色，在視覺上形成符號的交界，也畫出顏色的交界。

繪畫中的身體感，不斷的打磨與堆疊，是胡朝聰與城市之間的對話，也是對於密度極高水泥森林有著如家的記憶，藉由如建築工法的繪畫步驟，建出材質紋理的質地，這部份也如同運用身體紀錄文明的變遷與衝突，也呼應後現代哲學家Maurice Merleau-Ponty（1908~1961）在其著作《可見與不可見（Le visible et l'invisible）》中，所提到的「肉體性的層次（profondeur charnelle）」，胡朝聰用工法的概念處理繪畫，而不是用狂野的潑灑與筆觸，也可看出其對水泥建築與都市景像的依戀，也因其自身生命經驗的文本，讓冰冷的水泥產生出溫度，並讓繪畫的身體與文本的空間結合。

結合文明交界的記憶，與找尋鄉愁的身體，重新回到「交界迷蹤」的展覽概念上，在毫無方向的重疊之中，如迷霧般層層封鎖，但又在封鎖中得到新的可能，就如同現在人面對資本巨獸與邊陲消極，還是找到了某個縫隙，這個縫隙可能是小確幸，也可能是不顧一切的戰鬥，因此從縫隙出發的胡朝聰，不走正規的道路與規則，以交界中的曖昧找尋兒時的記憶，並且正視家鄉的逝去，使胡朝聰的繪畫有了再次的交疊，這個交疊讓其在繪畫的構圖與概念貫穿在一起，其交疊中產生出的縫隙，這個縫隙如同胡朝聰對於生命的致敬，也是觀眾可以多次迴盪的詩學，讓觀眾透過其繪畫，感受城市所呈現的鄉愁。

Starting from the Gap – The Cross-border Conflict in Hu Chau-Tsung’s Works

Written by Luo He-lin

“Residence” is the base of people’s life. Extending from it toward the whole city and the whole community is our “life circle.” Both the “residence” and the “life circle” influence our life experiences and memories. The DNA-like memory echoes what Gaston Bachelard（1884~1962） says in his The Poetic of Space that “the house/home is the earliest world or initial space of the universe, a real universe. If we look at our own house/home intimately, the shabbiest place has its own beauty.” Likewise, the artist Hu Chau-Tsung who was born and grew up in Taipei kept finding the beautiful memories of home in the ugly city landscape. The passing of time documented in his memories also help depict the transformation of the city throughout the urbanization process, in which Hu attempts to search for the “gap” in the variation.

Born in Taipei in the 1980s, Hu Chau-Tsung experienced the rapid change of Taipei City such as the constructions of the underground railway , MRT, property development, district planning, and etc. Hu Chau-Tsung is thus forced to keep up with the pace of a rapidly changing city. Meanwhile, he searches for the natural scenes which still remain, physically experiencing the center and the margins of the city and clearly observing the gap between margins of the city. Such a gap creates a border in terms of culture or visual symbols. The clarification of the border is the way how Hu attempts to juxtapose his painting and his life memories, as his solo exhibition Boundary Maze presents.

In the solo exhibition Boundary Maze, Hu Chau-Tsung intentionally uses the term “Maze” to describe the contradiction he feels about the change of his hometown. Although he still lives in Taipei, the Taipei now is different from the Taipei in his memory. The ambiguous confusion creates certain “nostalgia,” with which the artist laments a home which is no longer there. Therefore, Hu tries to visualize the experience in his paintings. The works Understand Afterwards and The Way to Better Future in 2012 adopt the image of tarred roads to separate the developed area and the countryside and to symbolize the rapid progress of urbanization. However, the endless circle-like tarred road fill up the paintings while there is no end of it, as if one’s own memory were searching for the only way out but eventually got lost. It indeed reveals the ridiculous urbanization and the resistance of urban people. The last exit is to search for the gaps of the city which have not changed yet. The gaps connect the center and the margin, creating the cross-border regions between the two. The border where the two worlds juxtapose together is how Hu Chau-Tsung defines Taipei City. In the works Departure and Upside Down in 2013, the artist uses surrealistic composition to challenge the public’s intuition of space, repetitively wrapping up the daily life we are familiar with in our perception. He also visualizes a gap between the Taipei City in his memory and the Taipei City in reality, redefining the gradual variation. In the several combats at the gap of the crowded and rapid city life, the penetration of the border turns aggressive from the passive attitude. The works Channel and Treasure Hunting in 2014 reveal a sense of direction in the cross-border confusion. The space being wrapped up is transformed into the artistic vocabulary represented as the blue sky and the center of the earth. The visible border becomes invisible. In addition to the phenomenon of the cross-border juxtaposition, Hu Chau-Tsung also uses flat acrylic paint technique to pile up various layers of colors to visually create border of symbols as well as borders of colors.

The physicality in the painting is repetitively polished and piled up as if it were a conversation between Hu and the city. The cement forest everywhere is almost like a home to us in our memory. Therefore, the artist adopts a painting skill which is like architecture construction to create texture of the material as a response to the physicality which documents the transformation and conflict of civilization as “profondeur charnelle,” mentioned by the post-modern philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty（1908~1961） in his Le visible et l'invisible. The crafted skill in Hu’s painting, instead of the wild unrestrained splash and strokes, shows Hu’s affection to the cement buildings and the urban landscape. His own life experience also brings some warmth to the cold cement, combining the physicality of the painting and the space of the text.

Integrating the memory of the encounter with civilization and a body looking for its nostalgia, the artist reveals the artistic concept of the exhibition Boundary Maze. The juxtaposition without any direction is locked down layers by layers as if it were in the mist. However, in such a mist, one still finds a new possibility. Although people might feel negative when confronting the border and the capitalist monster, they can still find a gap – it can be some simple happiness or a combat at any cost. Therefore, the artist sets off from the gaps, refusing the normalized rules and roads to search for his childhood memory in the cross-border ambiguity. Meanwhile, Hu honestly deals with the gone hometown, creating another juxtaposition in his paintings and connecting the composition with the artistic concept. The gap resulted from the juxtaposition is Hu’s tribute to life. It also becomes the poetic echo, allowing viewers to experience the nostalgia in the city through his paintings.