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2007Unreachable Blooming
photography IT Park, Taipei, Taiwan 開不到荼蘼 攝影 伊通公園，台北，台灣 |
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If "Kai Dao Tu Mi" signifies the peak of prosperity, the beginning of decline, and a sense of nihilism, then "Unreachable Blooming" seeks to highlight a state of continuous growth that never reaches its ultimate zenith. From the 2002 series Material Paradise, to the Kai Dao Tu Mi series initiated in 2003, and the short film Tasteless and Colorless Aphrodisiac (2005) produced during his studies in the UK, Su Meng-Hung has consistently sanctified "objects," tracing a path that seems to lead directly into his new body of work.
In this solo exhibition, Su presents a series of self-portraits that resemble orchestrated events, yet evoke the aesthetics of fashion posters. Within these photographic compositions, the viewer encounters an intimate and enclosed personal space filled with reproductions, taxidermy animals, sculptures, masks, plush toys, and classical floral decorations. The artist’s naked body becomes both the catalyst for this confined space and the central mediator between the world of images and reality. A male figure, nude and wearing a black panther mask, continuously summons bodily imagination—an ongoing, unfinished theatrical event in progress. This performative scene also incorporates elements from Su’s previous works, such as the reproductions from Material Paradise, paintings from the Kai Dao Tu Mi series, and character dolls from Tasteless and Colorless Aphrodisiac. These objects, entangled with his private space, become accomplices in the staged event. Simultaneously, the artist embeds himself within the scene as a readymade object, embodying his artistic concerns across different creative phases. With a self-indulgent yet lucid aesthetic, he enters the frame in a state of "unknowing," exploring both the possibilities and impossibilities of confronting the self—an inorganic, absurd state where he deifies himself into an object. His body, caught in various momentary gestures, seems to oscillate between playfulness, wandering, and detachment, coexisting with the objects as they drift between reality and the unreal. The creation of an artistic event often seeks to break free from the constraints of reality, constructing time and space to ensure the purity of thought. Yet, can such events transcend the limitations of the flesh? If the body itself is a readymade object, how can it escape the burdens of an overwhelming reality? Su Meng-Hung’s work captures a fragment of contemporary life—like an Ouroboros, the serpent endlessly devouring and regenerating itself. Against the dissolution of boundaries in his works, these naked self-portraits stand as an act of defiance—an expression of dissatisfaction and resistance against the absorption of art into reality. |
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假如「開到荼靡」說的是繁華到了極致，衰敗的開始，指向了一種虛無,那「開不到荼靡」意欲發顯的便是未到勝極的持續勃發狀態！不論是2002年「Material Paradise」、2003年開始發展之「開到荼靡」系列到2005年留學英國時期的「奇‧淫‧合‧歡‧散」短片，蘇孟鴻慣常將「物」神聖化的方式，似乎招引出其新系列創作脈絡之路徑。
此次個展預計展出的自拍影像作品中，蘇孟鴻創造了事件般的場景，卻又像是時尚海報，觀者在這些攝影的影像中，看到的是一個被複製畫、動物標本、雕塑、頭套、絨布玩具和古典裝飾花卉所組成的個人私密空間，藝術家裸露的身體成為此封閉空間中的事件源頭，也構成影像世界與現實世界的中介核心。戴著黑豹頭套的男性裸身，彷彿持續召引此身體想像，處於一種進行中、未完成的事件劇場。 在此事件場景，其實同時出現了許多過去藝術家創作系列中的作品或物件元素，例如「Material Paradise」系列的複製畫、「開到荼靡」系列的繪畫作品、「奇‧淫‧合‧歡‧散」短片中的角色布偶等，此時物件與私密空間形成事件的共犯；於此同時,他也將自身以現成物的身分卯入這些已然負載不同階段藝術關注的場景,以清醒的自溺與耽美入鏡,彷彿以一種「無知」的狀態體驗面對自我的可能與不能、自身主體化以及「自我神化成為物」的無機/無稽狀態。身體，不僅處於各種可能動態事件的瞬間，更因為動作和姿態，彷彿是在遊戲、游蕩、游離的嬉遊狀態中，與物件共享時光，遊走現實和非現實。 藝術事件的創造總企圖擺脫現實的困窘，擺置出來的時間與空間設定彷彿都是為了確保那思考的純粹度，但事件的創生又是否能踰越肉身的限制呢？這肉身若已是現成物又如何擺脫這過於困頓的現實呢？蘇孟鴻在這裡述說的似乎也就是當下生活狀態的某一個切面如同Ouroboros(噬尾蛇)般不斷自我消解又重生。對比於那些彼此銷融的作品中，這些裸身的自拍照該是對藝術亦消溶於現實的不滿與反叛！ |
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