阿塞爾維伍德畫廊榮幸在香港呈獻艾達·巴爾巴里戈（1920，威尼斯）的六十年代初作品展。巴爾巴里戈憑著好奇不息的心花了不少時光遊走於巴黎和威尼斯兩地以試驗外光畫派（en plein air)的創作。於兩個光陸怪離的花都之中她體驗到更深層的人生。巴爾巴里戈的畫作都是生活點滴的札記，把她對所到之處的記憶收藏，好像是咖啡店、露台、廣場等。她的步伐是短暫性的，印刻在穿越空洞不斷變化的空氣之中。她把這些步覆稱為「躒」。「把風景的線條斷裂抽出來看令我著迷。那個斷裂點正夾於可見事物與不可見事物之間。就只有空氣能穿越它。」於是她把某些作品稱為「觸電之躒」，意味著線條如觸電般繫在畫布上。

巴爾巴里戈的作品不能只用肉眼去觀賞，而是用心去感受。她繪畫出物像之間的力量，看不見的，她用直覺去塑造所畫事物的形態。如此，她抓緊了周邊事物的磁場。作品如真確的草書一樣。從1961年至1976年間，她沒有歇止過對上述題材的創作，以一系列油畫以及水彩畫表達，而繪畫椅子是作品結構中的一個主要元素。「為何對椅子情有獨鍾？因為我不自覺地認為它們的節奏和構造對於空間而言是不可或缺⋯⋯ 是本能引領我留意咖啡店和那些放在露台上的椅子，浮於水面，又沉睡在陽光中，藏於層層的薄霧裡。」

艾達·巴爾巴里戈的作品主題並非椅子，而是穿插事物而過的空氣。那是物與物的空間，無形的力量構成一股張力圍繞著物質，日本建築哲學大師磯崎新把這種力量稱為「間（ma）」。磯崎先生認為它是能給予物象節奏感的一種距離。巴爾巴里戈則將之理解為「時光流動」。

巴爾巴里戈於1920年在威尼斯出生。她來自一個藝術家庭。年輕時她放棄了在威尼斯藝術學院的建築本科的學業。自1959年她住在威尼斯和巴黎兩地，一直無間斷與其他藝術家、藝評家和藝術史家的聯繫，包括雷昂·吉夏（Léon Gischia）、布黑（Jean Bouret）佛朗迦斯特勒（Pierre Francastel）。她後與藝術家穆西克（Zoran Music）結婚。創作初期的幾年對於巴爾巴里戈是重要時期，她慢慢摸索到自己的方向，展開屬於她的創作道路，尤其是在繪畫和印刻方面。早期作品多為具像，漸漸發展成個人風格並傾向抽像創作。

文獻:
Giovanna Dal Bon, Ida Barbarigo, Asa Mer, 2013.

"Why chairs? I see in them the rhythms and structures that I find indispensable for the spaces that I unconsciously invent (…) it is an instinct that draws me towards those cafés, and the chairs on the terraces, suspended above the water, seeming to be slumbering in the sun, wrapped up in mist."
Ida Barbarigo

Her paintings are the outcome of a series of jottings taken from life—notes of the places and scenes that captivated her most, such as cafés, terraces and squares. These walks were steeped in the ephemeral: morphologies of air slipping through the void. She titled these works Passeggiate (Walks): "I am fascinated by the strange way that a line can break away from the landscape. That point of rupture between a visible thing and something you cannot see. And it is the air that passes through it."

The titles of some of her other paintings are often snatches of conversation overheard by chance, words uttered by some of the occasional occupants of the chairs. These paintings show evidence of her profound familiarity with the psychological understanding of the human being, expressing the feeling of impressions conveyed with realism that uncovers a new aspect of the city.

When she reached the age of 90, Ida Barbarigo started painting again. These works, which she titled, L’Unità nel Profondo, express the energy of nature in its depth. Using a cluster of strokes and smears and dripping lines arranged in space, she reveals the space of the picture and its endless possibilities.

"Something you are accustomed to seeing every day, which all of a sudden appears eternal, inexpressible. A continuous alteration of refracting forms, the chairs and their shadows appear closed off from the space that accentuates their forms but leaves them in negative."
Ida Barbarigo

艾达·巴尔巴里戈, Ida Barbarigo

Pictures of the exhibition