作品敘述
我是陳彥伯，出生於高雄的南部小孩，我喜歡做白日夢、喜歡大海，但不同於印象中的高雄，我不太喜歡戶外運動，最喜歡窩在陰涼的地方幻想著天馬行空的事情。 我的作品主要圍繞著一個重要的主軸“如果世界裝滿了水”這件事情。我們經常在新聞媒體上聽到有關於溫室效應導致海平面上升的新聞，在2012的瑪雅末世論的新聞，讓我有了「如果世界裝滿了水，那麼我們所習慣的世界會變成什麼樣貌？」的想法，所以我用了超現實的手法讓海底生物悠遊在我們熟悉的日常生活空間，植物所製造出來的氧氣也不再是飄渺的空氣，而是一顆顆輕盈起舞的氣泡。同時我也在想“如果世界裝滿了水”這樣我們人類還是可以繼續生活在這個空間裡面嗎？還是我們已經遺棄了這個空間了呢？但截至目前也沒有一個確切的答案，所以我在畫面中四散著各式各樣的「人為」的存在，也就是人造的物品，有的很私密、有的很外向，試著在畫面中留下「人」的存在讓我所創造的這個超現實空間更接近現實跟記憶中的現實。 作品的內容方面主要可以分成二個系列：趨光系列、枕頭山系列，這二個系列也是分別用兩種不同的畫面在記錄我的日常，趨光系列所記錄的比較像是我對於日常生活的想像跟白日夢，讓我自己化身成那些海洋生物在我所創造出來的超現實中慢慢的往光的方向前進，循著本能的推進往前繼續前進尋找那一道光（希望）。而枕頭山系列就是稍微比較現實一點，雖然也是用超現實的畫面呈現，但是其中的內容卻是比較像是日記也比較貼近現實，並且把我最喜歡的生活態度“懶”跟我的作品結合。 兩個系列雖然都是以“如果世界裝滿了水”為主軸，也都是在記錄著我的生活瑣事，但在畫面上我做了兩種不一樣的想像。在趨光系列的畫面上是以鳥瞰為主要的構圖方式，因為這個系列主要述說的是白日夢，其中所記錄的內容比較像是：我在泳池畔發呆所聯想到的各種白日夢情景，所以會比較像是我用上帝視角在觀看這一個白日夢的世界，我可以隨心所欲地控制裡面的各種大小事。而枕頭山系列就比較像是現實的聯想，在構圖上是用平視的方式，因為個視角會比較接近我們平常習慣的觀看方式，可以更加輕易在畫面上做更多的觀察，藉由畫面上層層疊疊的枕頭山與石頭山讓觀者一步一步的感受畫面上堆疊出來的景深，即使畫面上沒有一個明確的空間也能感受到畫面上的物件跟生物也許是一個正在進行的現實而不是時間暫停的平面。 目前的創作主要是以平面繪畫為主，從我最喜歡發呆、幻想的游泳池出發一直延伸到現實與想像交織出來的枕頭山。想試著用兩種不一樣的觀看方式帶領觀者進入到我創造出來的幻想世界。 在視覺上會從鳥瞰轉換成平視，在同樣都是“裝滿水的世界”，也會有兩種不同的感受，一種是由創造者的角度（鳥瞰）跟另外一種更加習慣的平視角度，在這兩者之間的轉換讓我有種從可以掌控一切的創造者變成身歷其境的參與者，希望藉此也能讓觀賞者可以更加親近我的作品，感受我的天馬行空跟我的“懶”態度。
My name is Yen-Po Chen. I’m a boy from the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung who likes daydreaming and the open sea. I’m not your typical Kaohsiunger who enjoys outdoor sports; I prefer spending my time in a cool, dark corner, letting my imagination run wild.
What if the world were filled with water? This is the main theme explored in my art. We’ve all heard about sea level rise caused by the greenhouse effect in the news; when the end of the world as predicted by the Mayans appeared in the news in 2012, I then began to consider how the world we have grown accustomed to would look different if it were filled with water. In my art, I have employed a surrealist approach that depicts marine life floating around in familiar everyday settings, and the oxygen produced by plants as delicate bubbles rising gracefully through the water, rather than simply merging invisibly with the atmosphere. At the same time, I wondered if mankind would still live in such an environment, or if we would be forced out. Not having a definitive answer to this question, I have dotted the landscapes with traces of human activity in the form of man-made objects, some more intimate and some less so. By incorporating evidence of mankind’s continued existence, the surrealist spaces I have created more closely resemble reality and the reality in our memories.
The works themselves can be divided into two main collections, the phototactic works and the pillow works, which each use different visuals to represent my daily life. The phototactic collection represents my musings and daydreams about daily life. I imagine myself as one of the marine organisms, moving toward the light in this surrealist space, driven forward instinctively in search of the next hopeful ray of light. The pillow collection, though still depicted in a surrealist fashion, is nevertheless slightly more realistic. The subject matter covers that which might be found in a diary, and is thus more similar to the real world. I have also incorporated laziness, my preferred approach to life, into this collection.
Although both collections are based on the theme of a world filled with water, and both contain a record of the minutiae of my everyday life, I have visualized the spaces differently in each collection. The phototactic works employ a bird’s-eye view, as the subject matter comes from daydreams, the kind of dreamscapes that may occur to me in a reverie at the swimming pool. These dreamscapes are viewed from the perspective of an omnipotent deity, surveying the scene from above, able to control anything or everything at will. The pillow collection, on the other hand, is rooted more firmly in reality and so employs a perspective at normal eye-level. This perspective is how we are used to observing the world around us, and thus allows for easier inspection of the scene. Row upon row of both rocky and pillow-like mountains build up a sense of great depth for the viewer as their eyes move through each layer. Although the space is not clearly defined, the objects and organisms in the scene nevertheless appear to be part of a dynamic reality, rather than a flat snapshot frozen in time.
My current works are mostly paintings, anchored in the daydreams and fantasies I enjoy at the swimming pool, and then further developed into pillow mountain dreamscapes that blend reality and fantasy. I attempt to bring the viewer into the fantasy world I have created through the two different perspectives mentioned above. When moving from a bird’s-eye view down to a normal height while remaining in the world filled with water, two different impressions are achieved: the first is the perspective of a creator who is in control of everything, while the second is that of an ordinary participant immersed in the scene. I hope this approach enables viewers to feel more connected to my art, and gives them a sense of what it’s like to just be lazy and let one’s imagination run wild.