白灼有展 | 6.12「东指山」——阮陈金&阳巧作品展
展期 Date : 2021.6.12（Sat.）— 6.27（Sun.）
开放时间 Hours : 周末 Weekend 14：00 - 20：00
工作日观展请预约 Workdays by appointment only
地点 Venue : 白灼B-joy空间（厦门思明区大学路131-1）
No.131 Daxue Road,SiMing District,XiaMen
阮陈金和阳巧，这对艺术家情侣一直秉持着某种创作状态里的默契。他们习惯于去抓住一些细节的思绪，诸如生活的间隙感触或是两人的梦境，用奇思编织成一体又落到了创作的实处。以至于观者在他们的作品里，常常很难分辨一个人的创作从何开始，而另一个人的创作又在哪里结束。
在他们这个名为《东指山》的创作游乐场里，我们能够看到他们对人性、社会和生命的细腻观察。以神话般的形式诉说生老病死，在一段段不同的故事情境里，探索伴侣、朋友、亲人间的诸多关系。而在当下社会人群的复杂向往、生存焦虑和价值观等现实的议题里，他们转而以一种非现实的梦境般手法重现给观者。
Within their creative moments, Ruan Chen Jin and Yang Qiao share a kind of tacit understanding. Sometimes they grasp onto the thoughtful and emotional particulars of daily living or perhaps a dream or two, imaginatively weaving them together into one piece. Thus the audience is often left to ponder where one’s work begins and where the other ends.
In this fictional playground named “Dong Zhi Mountain”, we are able to see their gentle observations of humanity, society and life. Within a mythical storytelling layout, they depict matters of birth, death, illness and old age, constructing story and narratives of lovers, friends and familial relationships. Meanwhile real world subject matters such as pseudo aspirations, existential anxiety, meaning and values of today’s society are skilfully transformed and recaptured into surreal situations and scenes in front of the viewer.
Rather than just expressing certain things from their dreams, I feel that they are more like two individual unconstrained “dream catchers” working closely in unison. Hypothetically, if people could capture and hold on to their own or other people’s dreams, the question is what would that look like?
We are all the “Creator” within our own dreams, capturing and creating a fictional world simultaneously. Ruan Chen Jin and Yang Qiao share a strong urge to create, and that is accompanied by a practical mindset of “doing everything themselves”.
Dong Zhi Mountain (also the name of the film) is a mountain within a dream. It originates from the combination of a man and a woman’s dream on a same evening. The work attempts to explore the emotions and desires of the lively human world, connecting people from this fictional world to the real one in order to create a dialogue. In this dream-like state where there is no concept of time, everything and everyone repeats and circulates. The true and false is stripped away, leaving only the visuals and subjective feelings playfully triggering thoughts from the audience, while our sub-conscious lead the way. In this sleep-walking, creative state of mind, the exhibition provides a glimpse into their sustained journey of “dream catching”.
In this exhibition named "Sleep-walking", we attempt to construct an on-going working showcase of their creations through several angles: From woodcut prints to text, storyboards as well as the making of film props, the actual props themselves, handwritten poetry and then finally onto an experimental animation film. All of this within our B-joy exhibition space.
「“Dong Zhi Mountain” was slowly completed under a sort of pressure. The film itself is also a pressure that weighs over my body. If I don’t move, it doesn’t move either. I need to lift it up with all my strength, and pretend my steps are light and at ease as I walk through mountains and plains, and the small alley ways. For me, this kind of restraint and hardship creates a sense of beauty much like life itself. 」
Welcome, the dream awaits.