2012年2月23日 星期四

The Art of Life – ‘God makes us like this’

The Art of Life – ‘God makes us like this’
 
It is often said that “life is art”, or “art is life”; we often seek to establish a relationship between art and life.  Since there is a massive variance in the mode and content of every person’s daily existence, how is life revealed in art?

Bellini’s daily work involves largely with disabled people.  She organizes art activities for them, hoping to help the handicapped to rekindle the fire of their lives.  At the same time, she works relentlessly as an artist.  The fact that her patients became an inspiration for her art has come as a pleasant surprise.  After visiting her workplace, her patients and the exhibitions she puts together for them, I have come to grasp the profound sense of empathy and involvement necessary for Bellini’s occupation.  How does a so-called “normal” person cope with and take care of people so different from her, people that others would consider peculiar?  How does she immerse herself in the lives and feelings of those people?
 
Being born left-handed, Bellini had endured since childhood the distress of having an "odd" physical feature. Now, she tries to empathize with her patients' inner agony beneath their frail bodies, and their pain of having to face the discriminating look scattered on them.  Life offers a myriad kind of experiences; yet the depth of each experience varies from the individual.  The eagerness to share other’s feelings and to transform them into art sometimes requires one to relinquish the noble ideal about art but to embrace and celebrate humanity instead.
 
Bellini works in bold and straightforward ways to illustrate her subject matter: translucent sculptural forms with metal bolts bulging through, representing tree trunks.  The juxtaposition of the warm, soft hues and the crude, heavy metal creates stunning visual effects but, at the same time, inspires a sense of awe in the viewer.  Human beings are so different from one another, and there are numerous types of people in society. One’s understanding of the term “general folks” has to comprise more than one kind of people.  Similarly, art and life are to be appreciated and understood according to their subtlety, intensity and diversity.

Written by Dr. Tang Ying Chi, Translated by Daisy Tan
Bellini Yu’s Art Installation Solo Exhibition

2012年2月22日 星期三

生活的藝術 - <神作的, 是這樣> 魏貝妮個人裝置藝術個展 (文﹕鄧凝姿)


很多人這樣說﹕「生活就是藝術」或是「藝術就是生活」,不外乎強調生活與藝術的互相影響。但每個人的生活樣式/內容都不樣,究竟生活中的藝術可以是怎麼樣的﹖

魏貝妮的日間工作就跟身體殘缺的人士有關她為身體有障礙的人士組織藝術活動希望她/他們從藝術中重拾人生的趣味並以此作為日常生活中的持續創作。誰不知這些工作上的對象卻成為她創作的源泉。筆者參觀過她工作的地方、人物和為當事人籌備的展覽,明白到這份工作所需要的認同和投入感。一個所謂的正常人如何面對與自己不一樣的人士﹖如何去感受其生活的處境﹖

貝妮以自己用左手寫字的親身體驗進入殘障人士的生活感受中,為這些非一般」的人生角色抱不平,用釘和薄紗去覆蓋脆弱身體下難以啟齒的傷痛及其所面對生活中的不平等眼光。生活的層面有多種,但生活的感覺卻有深淺之分,懂得分享別人的感受、又願意轉化在藝術中,需要放棄藝術中高貴的概念,把世界擁在身上。

貝妮的作品以象形及相當直接的形式出現﹕透明而扭曲的樹幹造型和毫不遮掩的鐵釘﹔柔和的色彩加上冰硬的金屬,製造出富美感但又難以凝視的景致。人生中有百樣人,所謂一般」的人,又何只一類呢﹖同樣,藝術與生活也有「輕」、「重」及「多樣」之分。