非池中藝術網

一九六〇年代的美國，社會內部的矛盾與不滿，興起反叛思潮的社會運動。一棟棟的高樓大廈，勾勒天際線，形塑出紐約繁華的城市樣貌。光鮮亮麗的背後，默默存在於城市角落的貧民窟，聚集一群不被社會重視的人。面對貧富差距大、失業、種族歧視等問題，加上社會充斥反叛思維的氛圍之下，以噴漆塗鴉在牆上，宣洩長期累積的壓抑情緒，表達對社會的控訴，一九七〇年代更興盛，發展出街頭藝術，成為美國紐約的獨特文化。

藝術家曾仕猷旅居美國紐約期間，為布魯克林及曼哈頓的街頭藝術感動。聽聞市政府決定拆除老舊建築，不捨當中的街頭藝術消逝，於2009-2010年創作約莫80件街頭藝人系列油畫作品。以畫筆著實紀錄老舊建築的塗鴉創作，融合想像力：人面半獸、跳著嘻哈舞蹈的舞者，抑或是冒著火花的人，表現人體各種可能，不僅增強畫面的視覺張力效果，流露藝術家對美國紐約的印象。

Rife with disparity and discontentment, the 1960s saw a wave of countercultural ideas and social movements that formed one of the most tumultuous and divisive decade in American history. In New York, towering buildings build up one after another, weaving a spectacular skyline for the burgeoning metropolis. But lurking beyond the façade, struggling in the slums of the city, are the misfits. Under the rising tensions of countercultural ideas and issues of social disparity, unemployment, and racism, they sprayed and splattered the conditions of their repression on street walls, an act of accusation against the city itself. The rise of such art emerged as an unique culture of New York in the 1970s.

During his time in New York, Tzen Si-Eur was deeply moved by the street arts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. When the city government decided to begin demolishing old buildings, Tzen Si-Eur was reluctant to see the lost of street art and began from 2009-2010 a series of some 80 oil paintings of street artists. From his brush flows the documentation and imagination of the arts in these buildings: a centaur, a hip hop dancer, a man bursting in flames, and various conceptions on the possibility of the human body. These enhances the dramatic elements of the work, as well as present the artist’s impression of the city.