《沉靜蒼茫：從記憶走向歷史》—楊北辰個展
Tranquil Vastness: From Memory to History—YANG Bei-Chen’s Solo Exhibition
2019.01.12—2019.05.19
Curator：張未 ZHANG Wei
Opening：2019.01.12 14:00
Venue：南投 毓繡美術館 Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art
(南投縣草屯鎮平林里健行路150巷26號)



文/ 策展人 張未

當記憶在沉睡，是誰喚醒了它？當歷史被編織，是誰繃緊線綜？

楊北辰用刻刀收集了記憶的微光，再將它們一一賦予到木頭之上—在這個過程中，藝術家與記憶、與歷史相遇。他的每一件作品都源自一段真實的故事，源自一個躲在器物背後的身影。因而每一次雕刻與超級寫實，都是在將他人的記憶通過重複的勞作凝結於器物，讓自己的手成為故事虛空背後震顫的聲音。

當我們為「超級寫實」而驚嘆時，需要發問的是—究竟是真實視覺與虛假材質之間的疏離，還是記憶本身的荒誕？超級寫實，讓記憶的穩定性似乎也開始動搖。

在楊北辰的作品中我們能看到刀下的歷史蒼茫感，每一刻划痕都帶著生命的震顫。但這些作品都無法真正的打開，歷史的蒼茫於是變成了觀看者的痛楚和迷茫。

因此，楊北辰所試圖表達的並非是歷史，而是籠罩在歷史之上那一輪人造的蒼茫與虛假的惆悵。他巧妙的借用了超級寫實的虛假性與欺騙性，讓這一欺騙成為對世界無數沉迷於「歷史執念」的隱喻。

楊北辰的刻刀所寫下的，是這個世界的悖論與荒誕，是眼睛與口舌的矛盾。真與假，情與理，眼與耳，隨著他光亮的刻刀，在這個黑暗的空間與迷茫的當代中，擦出了一道火花。

Who awakens memory from its deep slumber? Who tightens the thread of the historical tapestry when it is being woven?

Yang Pei-Chen has collected the glimmers of memory through his carving knife and materialized them through his wooden sculptures—during the creative process, the artist, memory and history have had an encounter. Every one of Yang’s sculptures originates from a true story, a figure hidden behind the sculpted object. Therefore, every sculpting gesture or each of his hyperrealistic sculptures resembles the embodiment of another person’s memory on the artist himself through repeated manual labor, transforming his own hands to serve as the trembling voice behind the story.

Consequently, as we have felt amazed by Yang’s hyperrealism, we should ask the following question: is the authenticity originating from the distance between our real vision and the faking material, or is it simply rooted in the absurdity of memory itself? His hyperrealistic sculptures seem to have destabilized the certainty of memory.

From Yang’s work, we can detect the sense of vast history created through his knife as if each carving has voiced the tremors of life. His sculptures can never really be unfolded, and the vastness of history, as a result, becomes viewers’ pain and perplexity.

Therefore, what Yang attempts to express is not “history” itself but “the sense of history,” which is the man-made feeling of desolate vastness and melancholic illusion that enwraps history. Ingeniously employing the illusion and deceptive quality of hyperrealism, he has converted the deception into a metaphor for the countless “historical obsessions” in this world.

What the artist has captured through his sculpting knife is the paradox and absurdity of this world, the contradiction between the eyes and the tongue. Reality and illusion, sense and sensibility, eyes and ears have collided and sparked a light through his glistening knife in the dark and the bewildering contemporary era.