展期 Period：
2024.6.8—2024.7.6
艺术家 Artist：
地点 Venue：
前言 Introduction：
诚品画廊于6月初夏推出龚宝棱个展“落拍”，将呈现她去年寓居韩国首尔期间创作的绘画与装置共36组件。龚宝棱的创作思考以抽象绘画为引子，逐步延展到空间装置上，藉以想象绘画与物件的空间边界。过去她在台湾的展出以空间装置为主，这次个展除了装置作品，她也重新审视绘画并且透过操作手法回应过程中的动作与行为。
龚宝棱1996年出生桃园，目前生活及创作于桃园。台北艺术大学美术系毕业后前往英国深造，2020年取得英国皇家艺术学院绘画系硕士。她在英国期间即透过作品寻觅空间中隐藏的开口，和挖掘家用、居家建筑和装潢等物件潜藏的想象和转译的可能性，以此模糊空间和艺术形式之间的界线，曾获得奖项包括：2022年台南新艺奖，2019年台北美术奖优选等。
去年，龚宝棱于首尔短居一年并创作。期间，她经常前往生活卖场、五金行、文具店等地方“淘宝”，找寻可供创作的材料之外，也从这些日常物件观察和体验当地生活习惯与文化样态，看见不同的城市景观与社会氛围。
这次个展，龚宝棱的创作聚焦在绘画及其过程的重新审视，她主要利用“油毡板”为绘画的基底，油毡板的橡胶材质可做雕刻，一般常见于版画创作使用，龚宝棱利用这项特性，或刻除上头的颜料，或将整个图层挖开，露出底部油毡板的本色等手法，于绘画表面多制造出一些空间层次，也像是绘画中“笔触的状态”。除了利用油毡板可雕刻的特性，龚宝棱也在绘画中加入媒介剂、贴纸等现成物，或将丙烯先置放在调色盘上待干后，再转移、贴于画面之上。龚宝棱认为，干燥的丙烯就像塑料材质的色块，而转贴丙烯与贴纸的动作十分相似，她把贴纸当成颜料和笔触，转贴的丙烯亦然，这也使得这次的绘画作品融合了直接涂刷、转贴丙烯与现成物，以及刮除等手法相互交错，使得画面呈现丰富的层次感，《软风》、《复制、贴上》、《rrr》、《端点》等画作，都可见到这些操作的手法。
另从绘画延伸而出装置作品，龚宝棱将文具、生活等用品重新编制，像是《样品：填空》使用活页夹、手工纸、高尔夫球、假发片、贴纸等拼组于油毡板上；《Twins》用到的蓝色防撞泡绵常见于首尔汽车的车门上；《A-side》、《B-side》主要材料是将按摩用的橡胶物迭成脊椎般的意象；《收纳盒》利用毛边质地的球拍握把布装饰框边等，这些作品的尺幅大小就像书本、A4文件一般便利、轻盈。不同于过往的空间装置取材，多从扭转物件原先的功能性出发，这次的装置作品则是开展物件本身潜在的绘画质地，经过艺术家的拣选和对话关系，创作出抽象性的“绘画装置”。
从伦敦的居家物件到首尔的文具小物，龚宝棱透过日常之物，不仅作为理解城市文化与生活样貌的微型世界，也在组构物件的过程中，不断产生新的叙事和被重新阅读的各种可能。
ESLITE GALLERY is pleased to present Pao-Leng KUNG Solo Exhibition “Offbeat”, opening this June. The exhibition features a total of 36 paintings and installations created during her residency last year in Seoul, South Korea. Pao-Leng KUNG's creative process begins with abstract painting and gradually extends into spatial installations, reimagining the boundaries between painting and objects. Previously, her exhibitions in Taiwan primarily focused on spatial installations. This time, in addition to installation works, she also revisits painting, exploring the actions and behaviors involved in the process through the manipulation of techniques.
Pao-Leng KUNG, born in 1996 in Taoyuan, currently lives and creates in her hometown. After earning a BFA from Taipei National University of the Arts, KUNG pursued further studies in the UK. In 2020, she received an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. During her time in the UK, she delved into the hidden openings in spaces, uncovering the potential for imagination and interpretation within household items, home architecture, and interior decorations. Blurring the borders between space and art forms, she has garnered accolades such as the 2022 Next Art Tainan Award and the 2019 Taipei Fine Arts Award.
Last year, KUNG had the opportunity to reside in Seoul for a year, during which she created new works. She frequently visited supermarkets, hardware stores, stationery shops, and other places to "treasure hunt" for materials for her creations. Beyond sourcing materials, she observed and experienced local life and culture through these everyday objects, gaining insights into the urban tapestry and cultural nuances.
At the heart of this exhibition lies KUNG's re-examination of painting and its process. Using linoleum block as her canvas, she exploits its carvable rubbery nature, commonly used in printmaking, to either carve out the paint on top or dig out entire layers to reveal the natural color of the underlying linoleum block. This technique creates spatial layers on the painting surface, resembling the "brushstrokes" in traditional painting. In addition to utilizing the carveable characteristics of linoleum, KUNG incorporates found items such as binder mediums and stickers into her paintings. She also pre-dries acrylic paint on a palette before transferring and pasting it onto a work. KUNG views dry acrylic paint as colored blocks of plastic material, drawing a parallel between the act of transferring paint and applying stickers. She treats stickers as both paint and brushstrokes, as with transferred paint, creating a fusion of direct brushing, paint transfers, found items, and scraping techniques. This approach results in a rich sense of textural depth, as evident in paintings such as Light Air, Copy and Paste, rrr, and Endpoint.
Extending beyond traditional painting, KUNG reorganizes things like stationery and daily items in her works. In Sample: filler, she arranges ring binder, handmade paper, golf balls, hair extensions, and stickers on linoleum block. Twins features blue anti-bump foam commonly found on Seoul car doors. A-side and B-side utilize rubber massage items stacked to resemble a spine. In Storage Box, she uses towel-textured racket grip as the decorative border. These works are conveniently sized and lightweight, akin to books and A4 documents. A departure from her previous spatial installations, which primarily focused on altering the original functionality of objects, the installation pieces featured in this exhibition expand upon the inherent painterly qualities of the objects themselves. Through the artist's selection and interaction with these objects, she creates abstract "painting installations."
From household objects in London to stationery items in Seoul, Pao-Leng KUNG uses everyday things as micro-worlds to understand urban culture and daily life. Through the process of constructing objects, she continuously generates new narratives and possibilities for reinterpretation.
