catchinglight

Catching Light
捕捉光影
July 4 - 31, 2009
Quac Space, 798 Art District，Beijing
夸克艺术空间

Artists艺术家
Li Gang李刚，Zhang Hongkuan张洪宽，Hu Qinwu胡勤武，Huang Xu黄旭

Catching Light: 4 Chinese photographers

Li Gang, Hu Qinwu, Huang Xu and Zhang Hongkuan are four contemporary Chinese artists who use photographic techniques as image-making devices. Photography is dependent on light to unveil images, but the source and nature of light, the technical process of catching light and processing the images, shape very different views of the world.

Li Gang uses a range of ‘instruments’ to capture light – from pin-hole cameras to old large-frame cameras with reconstructed bellows. He opens the lens to flooding light and diffused, seeping light, depending on time exposure and aperture. The resultant image is as much dependent on Li Gang’s recognising and using chance and accident to create poetic, often odd nuances on life.

Hu Qinwu’s photographic work complements his abstract paintings in the common element -the diffused, elusive light appears to glow from within and even behind the surface. His latest body of work – these photographs - capture a nostalgic mood with the misty light veiling the ephemeral forms of the landscape contrasting with the harsh reality of massive walls – disused buildings with graffiti scrawled throughout.

Huang Xu’s forms are dramatically lit, suggesting theatrical, baroque-like scenes. Ironically, what appears to be romantically pure images are derived from detritus and waste – in this exhibition the subject is globs of street spit, sticks of doughy pastry and discarded plastic bags. Light highlights aspects of form which, without reference to scale and size, can be immense or minute.

Zhang Hongkuan’s images, reminiscent of pebble beaches, reference the Chinese ‘stone slice’ suggesting light & space in the landscape. His reflections on water become colour and light – the antithesis of Li Gang and Hu Qinwu - moving water creates forms and colours which swirl in and around each other. At times, a greasy, sliding, oil slick, at others, formal abstraction, often to the extent that movement is as much the subject as the forms mirrored on the surface.

The artists in Catching Light might appear to be on a common trajectory – or not. They may well seem to be very different – but are they? The works are at once poetic, but at the same time, infused with irony – to a greater or lesser extent. The artists draw on the immediate environment to find an aesthetic sensibility in ugliness or to transform beauty into suggestions of the other.

Reg Newitt
China Art Projects
Beijing June 2009

捕捉光影：4位中国摄影艺术家联展

李刚、胡勤武、黄旭，以及张洪宽是四位用影像技术制作图像的中国当代艺术摄影家。众所周知，摄影借助光线来拍摄，传统摄影借助自然的光线，而通过特殊技术捕捉的光影与呈现的影像，却是一个观察世界的全新的视角。

李刚用一系列的“工具”来捕光捉影——从针孔相机到改良后的传统大型相机，他打开镜头让光线进入相机，通过长时间的曝光来成像。影像往往是李刚的自我感受或者是不经意的拍摄，从而创造出生命中的诗意与奇特的神韵。

胡勤武的摄影作品是对他的抽象油画中同摄影相同的元素的补充——漫溢的，扑闪的光线出现在物体内部甚至是画面的背后。他的最新作品，表现出一种怀旧情绪，用朦胧光线展现景物的转瞬即逝的形态，与贯穿在背景中涂鸦的废弃建筑形成了鲜明的对比。

黄旭对光线的运用更为大胆，使人联想到夸张的、巴洛克式的风格——类似于舞台画面。但实际上，看似华丽的影像是用废品组成的——作品可能是马路上的一口唾沫，一块软乎乎的油条，或者是废弃的塑料袋。画面的光影，同体积与大小无关，可以是大面积的，也可以是小面积的。

张洪宽的作品，让人联想到圆石滩, 用中文来说就是用“薄石板”在展现景物中的光影与空间。他对水的思考表现为色彩与光影的糅合——这同李刚和胡勤武不同——流动的水创造了卷入和相互缠绕的影色。同时，黏稠的、湿滑的，油乎乎的薄片及其他，这些形式上的抽象在某种程度上来说是对表象的折射。

以上艺术家对光影的捕捉也许都表现出一个共同的轨迹——或者没有。他们看起来非常不同——但实际上是如此吗？这些作品可以是抒情的，但同时，也可以或多或少的充斥着嘲讽，但他们都利用感知到的环境，在丑中挖掘对美的感悟，或者用美的变形来给人以启迪。