靜故了群動 -- 袁慧莉

展期｜ 2023.04.22–2023.06.03
開幕｜ 2023. 04.22 (六) 4:30 p.m.
地點｜ 耿畫廊（台北市內湖區瑞光路548巷15號1F）
 
即便承襲古典的紮實訓練，袁慧莉卻不僅止於傳統水墨的書畫表現，她的創作總是對自身所處環境，以及當代提出回應。不單學術研究與創作實踐並行，袁慧莉在媒材的運用上也融合古今，更將水墨創作的表現從古典的視覺範疇，聯覺(Synesthesia)於嗅覺、聽覺、觸覺，乃至整體精神的浸潤和感知。
 
起始於2019年末的大疫時代，人類移動以及經濟交流的步調放緩，在地球變安靜的彼時，社會也因疫情，瀰漫了生命不確定性和生活不安定感；同時，在隔離、封城的肅靜中，暗藏孤獨、憂鬱與騷動不安的氛圍。藉由感受此時代脈動，袁慧莉體察到關於「動與靜」之課題，並思索個人處於大疫中，如何調整心性不受疫亂影響。本次個展提出的系列作品，即是袁慧莉自疫情以來，於亂世中向內靜觀，自修調息的成果。
 
在「靜故了群動」個展，袁慧莉藉由日常的觀、嗅、聽、觸等感知中，提出《勢山水》、《孤山水》、《孤山水之勢》、《閑步集》、《冰墨》、《畫沙》等六大系列：
 
《勢山水》是袁慧莉疫情之初發展出的新作。她以凌亂筆觸、濃淡對比強烈與拮抗不協調的墨塊拼貼組合，體現紛亂不安之心境，表達看似孤靜，實則湧動的世間狀態，亦是呈現在凌亂中尋找新秩序的社會現象。
《孤山水之勢》、《孤山水》系列以棉麻布、宣紙創作簡淡彩墨塊狀結構的風格，是延續自1992年，因藝術家落腳金山鄉間，其開闊視野與潮濕多霧的空氣，所開啟的身體感知經驗。袁慧莉常獨坐山頭瞭望空闊大海，《孤山水》既是個人日常持靜觀空的精神投射，也隱喻人際之間終究孤獨的常態。
《閑步集》是袁慧莉閑步住家附近鄉野時，對花草竹林的日常關注，並以此感受大自然的內蘊之美。藉由描繪花卉自我紓壓，同時轉移對社會不安的關注。在山谷間靜觀溪石、植物之際，以自身的內在靈光與自然萬物共感，精神獲得飽足，忘卻擾動不安的世事，得到片刻心靈淨土。
《冰墨》系列是袁慧莉閒居時刻，以頌缽安頓心神時，在單一音頻的聲波震動中，聯覺音頻如墨暈漣漪般漫延開來的視覺影像，遂以自製冰墨搭配頌缽之音，創作錄像與平面作品。觀者必須在寂靜中，才能聽聞錄像中頌缽幽遠微小漫延的聲波。
《畫沙》則是在疫情嚴峻時期，因不能遠遊，於是藝術家在室內擺弄自己收藏的溪石、礦石、枯木等自然物，以小見大遙想成日式「枯山水」的小盆景，在畫沙線條移動中，集中心思調息心性。此系列除了以錄像和裝置方式展出，並特別提供一件「榻榻米上的枯山水」木盆裝置，隔週限額舉行畫沙體驗，讓觀眾也能沈浸於「靜故了群動」的片刻寧靜。
 
呼應蘇東坡《送參寥師》詩中「靜故了群動，空故納萬境。」的哲思，以靜中有動的作品，在簡潔空靈的畫面中，帶出「動/靜」、「空/有」對偶相生的微妙平衡關係。正如大海的空，納萬物其中以生息；溪石的靜，因水流沖湍而顯定。空與靜不是一無所有或一無所感，相反的，袁慧莉認為，滌除雜慮空其胸懷，納受萬物靈動的內在韻致，詩才能出現；簡樸淡然靜其心緒，映現本真隱微的生命之勢，畫才能成形。空，使物件單純，則物自言；靜，使心緒淡然，則物共在。
 
孤靜與勢動既是袁慧莉的日常，也是創作時內覺的精神狀態，創作的迷人處即在此內覺所產生的靈感時刻，調息於祥和、專注與平衡的精神狀態中，使去日苦多的人生得以甜美昇華轉化。這也是袁慧莉意欲在此大疫時代，藉此傳達寂靜滌空、觀物自在中的靈動生機，並願為眾生在此亂世中帶來片刻安詳。

Yuan Hui-Li: Motion Within Stillness
 
Exhibition Dates│ 04.22.2023–06.03.2023
Reception│ 04.22.2023 (Sat.) 4:30 p.m.
Venue│Tina Keng Gallery (1F, No. 15, Ln. 548, Ruiguang Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei, Taiwan 114)

Tina Keng Gallery is pleased to present Yuan Hui-Li: Motion Within Stillness, the artist’s latest solo exhibition, which distills her experience during the past three years into a body of work deeply informed by introspection, self-meditation, and the artist’s musing amid the pandemic. The outbreak of Covid at the end of 2019 saw the movement of people restricted, and economic activity slow. The world grew quiet, while a gloom of uncertainty and insecurity fell over society. Undercurrents of loneliness, depression, and anxiety overflowed during lockdown and quarantine. Becoming aware of the changing state of motion and stillness, Yuan began pondering how the equilibrium of the mind could be reached in the face of a global tragedy.
 
Despite solid training in classical Chinese painting and calligraphy, Yuan Hui-Li’s artistic practice responds to her environment and contemporary times by going beyond traditional brush and ink. Her research and practice go hand in hand, while ancient and modern mediums are incorporated into her work. Her ink painting transcends the visual realm, allowing the olfactory, auditory, and tactile perception to coalesce into a profound understanding of the spiritual.
 
Inspired by the four senses of sight, smell, hearing, and touch, the six series on view are: Intrinsic Potential Landscape, Discrete Islands, Potential of Discrete Islands, Sauntering, Ice Ink, and Sand Line as Water.
 
Intrinsic Potential Landscape is a new series developed at the beginning of the pandemic. In broad, haphazard brushwork, stark contrast of shades, spontaneous collage of ink on Chinese handmade paper the artist encapsulates the restless state of mind, as well as the social phenomenon of seeking a new order in chaos amidst the seemingly quiet yet turbulent state of the world.
 
Comprising paintings of color and ink on linen cotton and Chinese handmade paper, Potential of Discrete Islands and Discrete Islands juxtapose simple, light color blocks as a continuation of the artist’s experience when she moved in 1992 to the rural Jinshan, New Taipei City, Taiwan, where the open view and brumous sky vivified her senses. She often finds herself alone atop the mountain looking over the vast sea, an experience that inspires Discrete Islands, which embodies her daily mindful meditation, as well as one’s ultimate road to loneliness.
 
Sauntering evokes the artist’s attention to her bucolic surroundings as she revels in the beauty of nature, strolling around the countryside near her house. Watching the creek run and flow over rocks deep in the valley, she becomes rejuvenated as she breathes in synchrony with nature, leaving behind worldly concerns in a state of tranquility. She pivots away from social turmoil and finds peace as she begins to depict plant life.
 
Ice Ink manifests the visual imagery of the artist during a singing bowl session, where calming sonic vibrations elicit rippling splashes of ink in her mind. She creates videos and paintings using a frozen ink stick on Chinese handmade paper, while the sounds of the singing bowl enfold her. Only in silence will the viewer hear the elusive, lingering sounds in her video work.
 
Sand Line as Water was conceived during the peak of the pandemic, when the artist fiddled with her collection of river stones, mineral stones, and pieces of dead wood within the confines of her home. Emulating karesansui, or the Japanese dry garden, the artist creates small-scale landscapes comprising stones and lines in sand, while the act of drawing in sand stills her mind. In addition to videos and installations, the series also consists of Small Karesansui Bonsai on Tatami, an installation which immerses the viewer in motion within stillness by allowing them to paint in sand on a biweekly limited appointment basis.
 
“Tranquility allows insight into everything; lucidity lies in the surrender to all” — a verse in For Canliao (送參寥師), penned by Northern Song poet Su Dongpo (1037–1101) for his close friend Monk Canliao — serves as the inspiration for Yuan’s latest solo exhibition. The reduced, airy composition conjures a delicate balance between motion/stillness and emptiness/abundance. The emptiness of the sea allows for life to thrive, while turbulent waters accentuate the stillness of the river rocks. Void and quietude do not suggest nothingness or apathy. Instead, Yuan believes, only when the mind becomes empty and surrenders to the inherent rhythm of everything will poetry emerge. Simplicity and equanimity abound when the mind settles, and the intricacies of life materialize before a painting forms. Emptiness simplifies an object, and the object speaks for itself; stillness calms the mind, which sees the object abide in coexistence.
 
Solitude and motion define not only the everyday for the artist, but her spiritual state when she makes art. The beauty of art making lies in the moment of inspiration that arises from the internal awareness, when the artist dwells in serenity, focus, and poise, sublimating life’s remaining days. In the age of the pandemic, Yuan Hui-Li’s Motion Within Stillness instantiates a sense of life rendered in silence and self-contemplation, in hopes of bringing a moment of peace amidst the unrest.