開幕｜2021. 11.27 (六) 4:30 p.m.

若觀看是對世界的理解，那如何回應所思、所感，則是語言的尺度和擴延。不同文化處境下的人如何劃分自己眼中的世界、如何對這個世界的結構去進行價值分配，其差異性透過個體在空間劃分的方式，進而呈現在人類活動的樣態裡。這一方面暗示了跨文化事物的相似性是存在的，另一方面則透露出人類以自身作為測量世界的刻度，我們會根據自己的身體或者與其他人接觸所獲得的經驗來組織空間，去滿足自己的生物需要和社會關係需要。

若試圖在個體的世界觀中尋找其空間組織的原理，那我們可能會發現兩件事，一是「距離」意味著社會關係可獲得的程度，無論親密或疏遠，皆與人際關係緊密相關；二是「空間」的寬敞或封閉，在物理及心理層面涉及了人類實現自由的渴望，自由意味著空間，意味著有力量和足夠的地方去活動，且擁有超越現狀、限制的能力。如果空間是關於開放度和自由度的一個象徵，那麼人與人之間的距離是否會影響其象徵意義？在國家縝密規劃、控制的社會空間下，人如何建構自己的思考和觀察方式？

PAGES (2021-20) 以一種似乎無指涉的命名含括藝術家在這段時間的繪畫創作，然而在這段時間之內，動盪與末日感強烈的外在世界使得這被標記出的年份有了鮮明的想像與投射。陳敬元於2020初前往巴黎西帖藝術村駐村期間，正值歐洲疫情爆發的嚴重時刻。長達近半年的隔離經驗，每日受限一小時並不超過一公里的外出行動，日復一日的相同路線，失去時間感的日照光線與照射角度 (歐洲夏季時間晚上十點都還是亮的)，一幕幕如超現實般的場景不斷上演，亦使得創作題材與描繪方式有了不同以往的選擇與觀察。

陳敬元過往超現實主義的特徵，是由強烈色彩、畫面對象作為焦點所成的主調，搭配幽微昏暗的光線營造，令繪畫有著古典氣息的劇場感。陳敬元的畫布就像是一個舞台，畫面中那由單一色調所想像出的演員奮力演出，但卻也如同舞台燈光在製造前後景誇張的對比下，靜止凝結在最激昂的剎那。然而，2020年巴黎西帖的駐村，對陳敬元而言卻非原先所預期，抵達不久後因疫情封城所形成期待上的強烈對比裡，衝突感迫使他重新建構在心理和身體空間之分配。在空間縮限、時間延長的共軌效應下，對其繪畫中光線、色彩的使用皆有著更為顯著的轉變。當身體受限在空間中，對於外在空間渴望的驅力僅只能透過窗戶向外觀察、或等待每日光線從窗沿灑落，這些平凡無奇的細微感知，陳敬元皆以草圖記錄在自己的筆記本中，再一點點地轉換在其繪畫作品上。部分展出作品延伸與重組自駐村期間所做的草稿、網路圖片、紀錄的照片，集中在每日都會經過的舞蹈教室、藝術村大門的守衛室、或是在網路收集的路磚照片作為作品發展的題材。

空間場景是這次多數展出作品中共通的描繪對象，與在這些被橫豎線條劃分之下的人物結合形成了一種類似舞台般的戲劇場景。在他過去畫作中聚焦的戲劇張力也得到了更為寬敞的活動範圍。其幽暗的色調，也因為對現實中活動空間與光線的描繪而得到了解放，呈現較過往更為灰階、濃度降低的樣貌。其他諸如創作空間、繪畫尺寸的改變、如何在不同畫面尺寸與顏料的關係中控制筆觸、繪畫主觀與客觀觀看的距離等，從生活到創作所面對轉換上的問題，如何取捨，正是其畫布做為舞台的戲劇空間平衡。
PAGES (2021-20) 從時間和空間的劇烈經驗的紀錄裡，詮釋一段創作心理具象化的過程，反映著藝術創作是如何與現實空間的變化產生聯動。這或許是對現實的反應，但更可能是一個創作變化的起點。從空間衍生出創作者以身體作為丈量世界的尺度而言，陳敬元繪畫中的身體性有了實證的演練。在身處在這個時空狀態下的詮釋中，創作是一個媒介，涉及更廣闊社會、心理層面的構築與再分配。但同時，它更是一種精神屬性，也是觀看的理解與領悟。
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► Chen Ching-Yuan: PAGES (2021-20)
Dates｜11.27.2021-01.22.2022
Reception｜11.27.2021 (Sat.) 4:30 p.m.
Venue｜TKG+ (B1, No. 15, Ln. 548, Ruiguang Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei, Taiwan 114)

TKG+ is pleased to present Chen Ching-Yuan: PAGES (2021-20), the artist＆#039;s first solo exhibition at TKG+ in five years. Comprising his latest body of work made during his residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris in 2020, PAGES (2021-20) traces his lived experience warped by the pandemic. If seeing is a way to perceive the world, then language becomes the gauge and extension of one＆#039;s response to his own thoughts and feelings. The disparities in how people in different cultural contexts compartmentalize the world, and how they evaluate the structure of the world, manifest themselves in human activities through the way the individual compartmentalizes space. On one hand, this implies that there are similarities across cultures. On the other, this indicates that humanity uses themselves as a means to measure the world: We navigate space according to our own body, or to the experiences we gain from interacting with others, in an attempt to satisfy our biological needs and to form social relationships.

If we attempt to define the principles which guide the individual＆#039;s navigation of space in their worldview, two things might come to our attention. For one, distance means that the degree to which social relations are available, whether intimate or aloof, is closely intertwined with interpersonal relationships. Second, the openness or closeness of space involves the human desire for freedom, both biologically and psychologically. Freedom means space. It means the ability to move around; it means that there is room where one can move around, that one has the power to transcend the status quo and limitations. If space embodies the degree of openness and freedom, would the distance between people affect its symbolic meaning? How do people shape their way of thinking and observation in a societal space meticulously planned and controlled by the state?

While PAGES (2021-20) concludes the body of work he made between 2020 and 2021 in a title that is seemingly non-referential, these years have been engulfed by waves of disruption and a doomsday-esque atmosphere. Chen attended an artist residency program in early 2020 at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. The residency coincided with the major outbreak of the coronavirus across Europe. Almost six months of social isolation during lockdown, daily outdoor activities allowed only in a one-kilometer radius within one hour, the same route day after day, a lost sense of time induced by the Sun＆#039;s path (the day is light even at 10 p.m. during summer in Europe). Surreal scenes play out in the streets of Paris, serving as Chen＆#039;s creative fodder and allowing him to broaden different themes and diversify his painting approach.

Distinguished by surrealism, Chen＆#039;s past body of work is suffused with a potent sense of color. Cast in a dim light, his subject as the focal point of his painting, is enshrouded in a sense of theater that evokes classical painting. The canvas, under Chen＆#039;s paintbrush, becomes a stage where his subject rendered in a tonal palette comes to life, forming a dramatic contrast with the backdrop, frozen eternally in a moment of passion. However, the Cité residency turned out to be anything but what Chen had expected. The city lockdown shortly after his arrival foiled his original plans. The ensuing sense of conflict forced him to reorient himself mentally and physically. As space became constricted, and the sense of time became prolonged, a pronounced shift in his use of light and hue was tangible. When the body was confined, the yearning for open space was quenched merely by looking out the window, or quietly waiting for daylight to percolate into the room. These mundane, elusive shades of feelings were sketched out first in a notebook, before gradually evolving into paintings. Part of the works on view in PAGES (2021-20) is an extension of his sketches, images of brick pavement he found online, and photographs he took of a dance studio and a guard booth at the gate of the Cité building that he passed by daily.

The common motif in Chen＆#039;s latest body of work is the scene, which when combined with the characters that are separated by horizontal and vertical lines, transmutes into a theatrical mise-en-scène. The dramatic tension that permeates his past body of work becomes amplified in his new painting. His shift to a more subdued, grayscale approach to color sees his somber palette emancipated, influenced by the space where he was allowed to move during the residency, as well as his experience of daylight in Paris. The confines of his studio space, the change in canvas size, his grappling with brushwork in relation to different scales and pigments, the distance between subjective viewing and objective viewing in painting: His attunement to the transition between life and art making reverberates across the canvas, where he sets the stage for theatrical equilibrium.
A chronicle of intense experiences of time and space, PAGES (2021-20) instantiates the artist＆#039;s state of mind during the creative process, at the same time embodying the interconnection between art making and reality. While this may be a response to the real world, it could also be a starting point for a creative shift in the artist＆#039;s practice. The artist＆#039;s body, enveloped in the space he occupies, becomes an instrument to measure the world, allowing the physicality in his work to manifest itself. Art making, in this day and age, is a medium involved in broader social and psychological construction and redistribution. But it is also of a spiritual nature; it is understanding and insight born out of the act of seeing.