米歇爾.墨菲

2016年11月7日-12月23日

米歇爾.墨菲(°1957，布魯塞爾 ) 以挑戰繪畫的極限來發掘其根本。他的作品建於一層層薄釉和油彩，形成半透明的層次，相互隱蓋而融成幾乎無形的表層。同時，墨菲放棄了表面的平整度，從畫布底透出輕微隆起物。畫布的二維度被征服了，空間被標示著，作品成為空間關係的體現介面。把線條和色調的衝突放在一旁，讓二者和合。色彩在墨菲的畫中顯得隔外低調，緩慢的凝視才能看到其色彩漸層的震動。線條打破單色的表面，釋放了油畫(媒界)，把抽象意念和藝術家的想法以視覺表現出來。他的作品傳達感性和感知，讓觀者進入互相建構的有形心理學對話，同時透過觀者的基本官感來點出油畫的空間局限性。

其中一幅作品題為「石濤」，此命題表現了畫家也是哲人，就如達文西曾寫下油畫是靈性的東西(cosa mentale)。石濤是中國清朝的文人，在西方以石濤畫論最為著名。在其《畫語錄》中，石濤認為他是透過不斷汲取畫作主題的精粹而活著的。墨菲的作品亦試圖肯定繪畫的神聖，和畫的抽象震撼所描述的人文學。畫就是從複雜性淨化出來的極致純樸表現。

石濤《畫語錄. 遠塵章第十五》：人為物蔽，則與塵交。人為物使，則心受勞，勞心於刻書而自毀，蔽塵於筆墨而自拘，此局隘人也。但損無益，終不快其心也。我則物隨物蔽，塵隨塵交，則心不勞，心不勞則有畫矣。畫乃人之所有，一書人所未有。夫畫貴乎思，思其一則心有所著而快，所以畫則精微之，入不可測矣。想古人未必言此。特深發之。

油畫的表面有如皮膚一樣。皮膚 – 人的面紗 – 既是保護的分界也是感性的開放。在《皮膚的自我》(Le Moi-Peau)一文中提到，哲學家迪迪埃.安齊厄以隱喻的方式去闡述人的身份認知是通過皮膚的毛孔而形成的(迪迪埃.安齊厄，1986)。皮膚縕含印記、作態和信息。簡而言之，皮膚以最脆弱的方式來溝通。它無意識地發生，然而它是源自人的本能。畫布底突出的隆起物使「皮膚」留下潛藏著的缺憾美。

墨菲的作品如畫出來的悖論。如皮膚般縈繞著存在與虛無、內與外。他的繪畫並非某種現實的再現，也非寓意的直接表達。它的存在不能完全被抽離於外在環境，但於虛空之中卻更能捉摸到它。

人好像墨菲繪畫的表層一樣具滲透性和曖昧性，遊走在存在與虛無和內與外之間。藝術家創造「身體」，邀請觀者參與「抗拒」和「接納」的對話。脈動的畫面給予最純綷的空間，記憶和欲望被反照在其中。獨特的顏色運用、線條分佈有像指標的作用。單色的色塊呈現了情緒空間的感知，畫上的點與線是引領我們進入其空間的道路。透過這一切，觀者慢慢走進那藏在釉彩下不能被完全剖白的空間。

Anyone can paint, but no one has the Unique Pencil Stroke, because it is essential that painting originates from thought. Thought has thus to embrace the One because the heart has to create and be joyful. In these circumstances, painting can enter the essence of things all the way to the unmeasurable.

The surfaces of Mouffe’s paintings have a rather skin-like feel due to his creation process. Skin—the human veil—is both a protective boundary and a sensitive opening. It subtly reveals a part of the hidden in a shiver or a sudden blush. In his essay, Le Moi-Peau (The Skin-Ego), philosopher Didier Anzieu metaphorically elaborates on the idea that identity takes shape through the pores of the skin. [1]

Skin carries imprints, affects and messages. In short, it communicates in the most fragile way. It happens unconsciously, yet is at the fundaments of who we are. Likewise, the protrusions rising from behind the canvas make the skin somewhat flawed, organic, and seemingly lived in.

Mouffe's works are painted paradoxes. Like skin—at once a boundary and an intermediate—they linger between presence and absence, inside and outside. The paintings are not representations of a certain concrete reality, nor does their meaning reside in what is directly shown. Their being cannot be systematically deduced from external factors, but is rather to be found in what is veiled.

People are permeable and in-between in very much the same way as the surface of Mouffe's sculptured paintings, lingering between presence and absence, inside and outside. The artist creates breathing bodies that invite viewers to engage in a back and forth dialogue between reflection and absorption. The pulsating screens offer pure space on which memories and desires can be projected. His particular use of colour, lines and relief are functions that serve as a signpost or a guide. But this is, of course, not the goal itself. In other words, the monochrome panels represent the sensuality of emotional space, while the lines and bumps function as the roads that lead us there. It’s the whole of this that guides the viewer on its way into the unfathomable space behind and within the glazed surface.

[1] D. Anzieu, Le Moi-Peau, Paris, 1986

米歇尔·墨菲

Pictures of the exhibition