展期 Period：
2024.5.4—2024.6.1
艺术家 Artist：
地点 Venue：
新闻稿 Press Release：
诚品画廊5月举办”萧筑方个展”，将展出她近期新作共20件。创作内容始终围绕在个人生活经验与记忆的萧筑方，将去年到花莲短居的观察和体悟，转化为技法的新尝试。这次新作当中，除了个人标志性的卡漫造型依旧，由于过程中加入磨砂机、砂纸等工具的使用，多了即兴的趣味表现，层次感更为丰富。
萧筑方1980年出生嘉义，台南艺术大学造形艺术研究所毕业，现居住和生活在台中。绘画是萧筑方艺术创作的主要媒材，被归属于台湾千禧年后、以卡漫式绘画语汇崛起的代表性艺术家，2007年起，萧筑方即以简约精炼的线条，搭配鲜明的平涂色块呈现生活的微观世界，如：琐碎的小事、幽微的情绪等所牵动的内心小剧场，创造出独树一帜的个人风格而为人熟知。
大量的炭笔素描稿是萧筑方绘画的重要素材，素描稿具有机能性，再透过绘画技法和身体情感的注入，完整表达出画作的细节情绪。为了精准掌控素描稿转移到画布上不会变形，她以投影机放映手稿、依此描绘，再以平涂避免不必要的笔触、肌理与质感，将画面情绪控制在”正确的距离”，因此，萧筑方的作品看似简单随性，实则是透过精准、冷调的手法，只求焦点能简单利落地集中在画面上，她认为”这符合现代人在生活上，以轻、薄为要求的概念”。
这样的极度控制，直到2015年学陶之后开始有了转变，萧筑方将制陶过程的手感带入画面，因此，画面中可见到平涂逐渐消失，出现较多的线条笔触，背景线条也慢慢被解放，色彩间多了迭合、覆盖等效果，传达生命无法被控制的事实。
去年应邀到花莲短居创作，看到人们贴近大自然与节气的生活样貌丰富而多元，她不禁省视，原以为在西部城市生活代表先进与便利，实际上接触到的生活事物却是相对贫脊。萧筑方放慢脚步游历观察，在高密度自我对话的过程中，吸取养分供给创作，同时也学习保持平常心，试着让自己保持在”一种待机又随时可以启动的生活／创作状态”，在创作上也走向比较自由、放松的表现方式。
心境上的开放，让萧筑方产生使用磨砂机的突破性想法，藉由将原画布上不断堆栈覆盖的颜料层逐一磨除，或使其显现出底层颜色，或发现层迭的颜色早已交融在一起，于此产生即兴式的创作挑战，如：《咻咻咻》、《天旋地转》、《吸》以及本次个展尺幅最大的《看》等作品，都是经过打磨之后出现非预期的视觉效果，”磨砂机就像另一只画笔，能将不同图层的色调融合，这样的绘画技法，似乎更贴近素描涂抹的氛围。”也因而，较之于过往平涂技法追求笔触的消抹，萧筑方的新尝试为画面带来随机、多层次的审美趣味。
ESLITE GALLERY is set to present HSIAO Chu-Fang Solo Exhibition in May, featuring 20 of her latest artworks. HSIAO Chu-Fang consistently draws from her personal life experiences and memories to create. She has transformed reflections and insights from her brief sojourn in Hualien last year into innovative artistic experiments. In her recent works, she incorporates tools like sanders and sandpapers, alongside her signature comic-anime hybrid art style, to introduce a spontaneous and playful dimension to the color execution. This approach also adds a sense of layered depth and richer texture.
Born in 1980 in Chiayi and now based in Taichung, HSIAO Chu-Fang graduated from the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts at the Tainan National University of the Arts. Since receiving the SANCF Awards in 2004, she has established her presence in the art world in the past 20 years and painting remains her primary medium of artistic expression. Emerging as a standout artist in Taiwan’s contemporary art scene post-millennium, HSIAO is known for her comic-anime-esque vocabulary in depicting the minutiae of life. Her work is characterized by simple, elegant character designs, vibrant large color blocks, and flat color techniques. Capturing everyday trivialities, subtle emotions, and internal mini-dramas, she crafts a distinctive and instantly recognizable personal artistic style.
Her recent pieces in this exhibition continue to see her draw from everyday inspirations. For instance, Look at Him explores parent-child dynamics, illustrating the anxiety of children when they are introduced to others by an adult. Give Me A Smile reflects the guarded nature of today’s relationships. Meanwhile, Ah Ha Ha offers a glimpse of uninhibited emotion rarely seen in her repertoire, eliciting smiles from viewers.
Last year, she was invited to create art in Hualien. During her short stay, she was impressed by how the locals lived harmoniously with nature and the seasonal cycles. She admired the richness and diversity of their lifestyles, prompting her to reevaluate her metropolitan-centric worldview—that life in the metropolis epitomizes progress and convenience. She realized that, in comparison, her daily encounters in urban life were somewhat lackluster. In her practice of intensive self-dialogue, HSIAO takes time to slow down and observe, soaking up nutrients for her creative work whilst learning to be at ease. She strives to keep herself in a “state of standby that can be activated at any time” both in life and in her art. This has guided her toward a more relaxed and spontaneous approach to her creative endeavors.
The newfound openness of the mind led to the creative use of a sanding machine in her art. By methodically sanding away layers of paint accumulated on the canvas, she reveals hidden colors beneath or discovers that the layers have merged into new hues. This process presents improvisational creative challenges, resulting in works like Xiu Xiu Xiu, The World Is Spinning, Eating Noodles, and the exhibition’s largest piece, Look. These pieces, all sanded, showcase unexpected visual effects. “The sanding machine acts like another brush, blending the tones of different layers, making the painting technique feel more akin to sketching and smudging,” she explains. Departing from her previous flat color techniques which aimed to eliminate visible brushstrokes, HSIAO’s new experimentations evoke a sense of randomness and multilayered aesthetic appeal.
For her, painting is the most direct medium to express her inner feelings. Numerous charcoal sketches form the foundation for her paintings, capturing her instant impressions of life’s moments. As HSIAO aptly puts it, “If life involves accumulating experiences through continual practice, then creation is the documentation of these experiences.”
