開幕 Opening | 2021.12.04 (六 Sat) 4-7pm
座談 Artist Talk | 2021.12.04 (六 Sat) 3pm
與談人 Guest Speaker | 李傑 Lee Kit

就在藝術空間很榮幸於12月份推出香港藝術家智海在台北首次個展「時間會沖淡時間」，將展出全新繪畫系列作品。智海的漫畫和出版物廣為人知，近期嘗試用油畫來呈現他對於日常生活微妙觀察的本能和深刻的說故事能力。展覽訂於12月4日下午4點開幕，並於下午3點舉行座談，此次邀請藝術家李傑與智海進行對談。

作為自學藝術家，智海將他的漫畫創作經驗帶到畫布上，形成了獨特的繪畫風格。對於媒材的轉換，藝術家說：「畫漫畫是把時間拆解的方法，而繪畫是相反，是將你想表達的情緒還是意象，訊息，歸納到一個畫面。」此次藝術家將展出12件新作品，透過他在城市中觀察到的場景，描述人類日常生活的平庸，反思社會狀態的變化和歷史的累積。智海將在台生活的一段時間，看似安靜、平淡無奇的場景透過色彩和視角的抽象運用呈現出它的情緒，喚起了豐富的敘事氛圍。回想過去幾年的不確定性，藝術家表示，除了經歷隔岸觀火的焦慮之外，好像沒經歷過甚麼。

「坐這山，望那山，腦中只縈繞著無解的思緒。俗語云時間會沖淡一切，但假若本來就沒甚麼經歷，沒甚麼記憶可給沖淡，時間只好沖淡時間本身。」

據說百年前，第一次世界大戰爆發之日，卡夫卡的日記只寫了一句：「德國向俄國宣戰。下午游泳。」也許當時戰爭尚未波及他居住的地方，他仍有餘裕可以不吃人間煙火而做自己事；又或者，大戰令他心煩意亂，需要游泳去冷靜一下。兩句話放在一起，彷彿有某種辯證關聯，集體的危機下，群體的壓力倍增，個人的空間同時在萎縮--即使這個人不一定是異議者，或有任何意見要發表。智海作品似乎是一些偶爾出現的光景如此畫下來，無關宏旨，他提出的一個問題－不知能否為自己的無所作為開脫。就當作下午去游泳。

Project Fulfill Art Space is pleased to present Chihoi’s first solo exhibition in Taipei: Time Effaces Time. Well-recognized for his black and white comic books and publications, his recent transition into oil painting continues to demonstrate his natural instinct for story-telling and observations of everyday life. The exhibition opens on 4 December at 4pm, with an artist talk at 3pm, inviting guest speaker artist Lee Kit in conversation with Chihoi.

A self-taught artist, Chihoi brings his experience in working in comic books to the canvas, developing a unique illustrative style. He describes, “drawing comics is about dismantling time, while painting is the opposite, it’s about encapsulating the emotions, imagery or message that you want to express into one image”. His paintings depict scenes that he observes in the city, often focusing on the banality of daily life, while being wrapped in the wider social climate and past histories of society. The exhibition Time Effaces Time features twelve new paintings depicting seemingly quiet, non-eventful scenes of daily life in Taipei. His abstracted use of color and perspective heightens the emotions of the scene, evoking a rich narrative atmosphere. Reflecting on the past few years of uncertainty, Chihoi expresses that apart from experiencing the anxiety of observing the conflicts across the strait, it seems that nothing much else has happened.

“Sitting on this mountain, gazing at that mountain, only incomprehensible thoughts linger in my mind. As the saying goes, ‘time effaces everything’, but if there is no experience in the first place, then there is no memory to erase. Time can only efface itself.”

In a time where people have had to navigate and process major world-wide critical events through the micro routines of everyday life, Chihoi refers to Kafka’s well-known diary entry, written on the day of the outbreak of World War I, “Germany has declared war on Russia. Went swimming in the afternoon”. Perhaps the war had not yet reached the place where he lived, and he still had the freedom to pursue his own interests, unaffected by the troubles of others. Or perhaps upset by the news of war, he needed a swim to calm his nerves. These two seemingly contradicting sentences, together create a dialectical connection that seems to imbue a heavy weight to the regularity of everyday life in the face of crisis.

Under a collective crisis, group pressure rises, while individual space recedes, even if the individual is not necessarily a dissident, or has any opinions to be expressed. The scenes in Chihoi’s new works seem to emphasize the irrelevance to any grand purpose. A question he poses – perhaps to the viewer or to himself, is whether inaction can be justified, as if taking a swim in the afternoon.