藝術評論》「拼貼」不只是把東西湊在一起而已

Jonathan Talbot，《單身漢逛紐約》（The Bachelors Visit New York）

原文：Piecing Things Together
作者：Benjamin Genocchio (2008/10/19)
編譯：Fango Huang (2008/11/07)

在紐約州紐堡（Newburgh）這個地方，藝廊相當地稀少。雖然河的沿岸一帶可以明顯看出部分上流階層的發展，然而，城裡大多數的街區都還是屬於勞工階級的住宅與店面，許多事物至今都仍保留在19世紀時的狀態，例如「哈德遜河的寶石」（the gem of the Hudson）。這棟建築物讓人回溯到16世紀時，訴說著這裡曾經也是一個美麗的地方。

「安街藝廊」（Ann Street Gallery）是城裡唯一一間非營利的藝術空間。成立兩年，據點在一棟19世紀旅館裡的地下室，這棟旅館最近才被一個當地的非營利組織團體所整修，這個團體名為「哈德遜河的安全避風港」（Safe Harbors of the Hudson），其致力於提供窮人、老兵以及藝術家有關居住的協助。「安全避風港」（Safe Harbors）也同時發起藝廊的經營。

「安街藝廊」麻雀雖小但五臟俱全，有著光亮的水泥地板與清爽的白色牆面，裡頭有一間主藝廊以及一間專門提供給影音與音樂藝術的暗室。重點主要是放在哈德遜河谷（Hudson River Valley）當地的新興藝術家與職涯中期（mid-career）藝術家們，但是這裡也會展示一些紐約藝術家或離鄉背井的藝術家的創作。

最新一期的展覽名稱為「拼貼邏輯」（Collage Logic），網羅13位來自紐約和其他地區藝術家的聯展。根據藝廊主管同時以也是這項展覽管理者的Virginia Walsh所述，此展探究了拼貼技巧的使用，以及當代藝術方法學（methodologies in contemporary art）。這是一個豐饒又多產的藝術領域。

這個展覽最令人感興趣的是，在Virginia Walsh所挑選的藝術家當中，有一部分做了傳統的拼貼（conventional collages）。例如，John Morton做了一個引人注意的聲音裝置（sound installation），挪用了來自哈德遜河（Hudson River）沿岸的聲音。你可以聽到漁夫們在交談、金屬管叮噹作響、水波拍打，甚至是火車急速通過的聲音。

Joel Carreiro則挪用了藝術史與中世紀手抄本中的圖像來製造仿作。來源材料印製在熱轉印紙（heat-transfer paper）上，剪成條狀或小方塊，然後再加以重組，形塑成一個有趣的新圖樣。無論是形式上的別出心裁，還是那外在顯著的美麗，都讓我非常喜歡他這些作品。

Joel Carreiro，《複雜之神》（The God of Complexity）

Thomas Weaver則展現了一個絕佳的概念拼貼（conceptual collage），由油畫、印刷、素描、水彩和手寫所構成，主要表現在紙上，最後一同組合在牆上。他在上面畫了一個房子狀的外框穿過這些拼貼，暗示了屋頂下各種想法與思考通通聚集在一起，作為藝術家內心的隱喻。

其他藝術家則是使用現成物（found materials）來創作。Jackie Shatz把陶器、油畫、布料和其他等材料融合在一起，製作出一個掛在牆面上且具有豐富色彩的抽象雕塑。Imelda Cajipe Endaya則是將地圖、糖果包裝紙和紡織物等材料相互拼貼，創作出一個能反映出童年的作品，並且隱隱約約帶點女性主義的議題。

Jackie Shatz，《古英文史詩》（Beowulf）

「拼貼」（collage）這個字詞源自於法文「coller」，意指「黏貼」（glue）。所以並不意外地，部分展品是以這種拼貼的傳統形式來呈現，藝術家將紙或其他物件黏貼於二元平面上進行創作，Jonathan Talbot和Vivien Collens這兩個人便是很明顯地熟練運用了此項技巧。

Jonathan Talbot主要挪用舊書和舊雜誌裡頭的黑白影像，將之黏貼在一塊兒，製造出看起來像是歷史照片裡頭的場景。《站長》（The Stationmaster）以及《單身漢逛紐約》（The Bachelors Visit New York）描繪了人們對抗混合式的建築構造（hybrid architectural structures）。這是有關記憶與夢想。

畢卡索（Pablo Picasso）1912年的作品《有籐椅的靜物》（Still Life With Chair Caning）很可能藝術史上第一幅現代拼貼（modern collage），由印有籐編圖樣的漆布以及上膠的畫布所組成。透過混合真實的物件進入他的圖像中，這模糊了繪畫與雕塑之間的界線，並且開啟了藝術創作新的一頁。

Pablo Picasso，《有籐椅的靜物》（Still Life With Chair Caning）

從此以後，拼貼便廣泛地運用在許多地方。其中最具野心的應當是Yeon Jin Kim的影像作品《夢》（Dreams），它也許會被描述成是一個潛意識的旅行紀錄片。此外也有展出利用針孔攝影機偷拍的影像，這個針孔攝影機是裝置在一個極為精細的城市紙模型裡頭。

總個來說，這場展覽包含許多值得注意的藝術創作，有著各式各樣形形色色、深思熟慮的作品，這些藝術家並不出名，但其實他們應該更被人所知才對。雖然拼貼已經歷經一世紀之久，但這個展覽告訴了我們，它將會持續下去很長一段時間。


延伸閱讀：
- Ann Street Gallery
- Joel Carreiro Official Web Site
- Jonathan Talbot Official Web Site

Art Review | Piecing Things Together

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE
Jonathan Talbot’s collage titled “The Bachelors Visit New York.”

From: The New York Times
Author: Benjamin Genocchio
Published: October 19, 2008

In Newburgh, art galleries are few and far between. Though there is some noticeable upscale development along the river, much of the city, with its blocks of rundown working-class homes and storefronts, remains a far cry from its 19th-century status as “the gem of the Hudson.” The architecture here dates back to the 1600s; this was once a beautiful place.

Ann Street Gallery is the city’s only nonprofit art space. Two years old, it occupies a portion of the basement of a 19th-century hotel recently renovated by a local nonprofit group, Safe Harbors of the Hudson, which is devoted to providing affordable housing for the indigent, veterans and artists. Safe Harbors also sponsors the gallery.

The gallery is small but nicely fitted-out, with polished concrete floors and crisp white walls. There is a main gallery and a back room used for video and sound art. The emphasis is on emerging and midcareer artists from the Hudson River Valley, but works by artists from New York and further afield are also shown here.

The current exhibition at the gallery is “Collage Logic,” a group show of 13 artists from New York and the wider region. It explores “the use of collage techniques and methodologies in contemporary art,” according to Virginia Walsh, the exhibition’s curator and gallery director. This is a rich and fertile area of artistic expression.

What is so interesting about this show is that few of the artists selected by Ms. Walsh make conventional collages. John Morton, for instance, has made an arresting sound installation using appropriated sounds from along the Hudson River. You hear fishermen talking, pipes clanging, water lapping, even a train speeding by.

Joel Carreiro appropriates images from art history and medieval manuscripts to create pastiche paintings. The source material is printed on heat-transfer paper, which he cuts into little strips and squares and then recombines to form interesting patterns. I like these works a lot, as much for their formal ingenuity as for their obvious beauty.

Joel Carreiro, The God of Complexity

Thomas Weaver presents a terrific conceptual collage made of paintings, stencils, drawings, watercolors and writing, mostly on paper, bunched together on a wall. Across them, he has painted the outline of the frame of a house, suggesting a collection of ideas and thoughts gathered together under one roof, a metaphor for the artist’s mind.

Other artists work with found materials. Jackie Shatz fuses together ceramics, paint, cloth and other found materials to make colorful, abstract wall sculptures. Imelda Cajipe Endaya collages together maps, candy wrappers and a variety of textiles to create works that reflect on childhood and, somewhat more obliquely, feminist issues.

Jackie Shatz, Beowulf

The term collage comes from the French word coller, which means to glue. Not surprisingly, the show includes work by some artists who affix paper or other objects to a two-dimensional surface — the traditional form of collage. Among them are Jonathan Talbot and Vivien Collens, both of whom have clearly mastered the technique.

Mr. Talbot appropriates mostly black and white imagery from old books and magazines which he pastes together to create scenes that look like historical photographs. “The Stationmaster” and “The Bachelors Visit New York” depict arrangements of people against hybrid architectural structures. They are about dreams as much as memories.

Pablo Picasso probably produced the first modern collage, “Still Life With Chair Caning” (1912), consisting of a piece of oilcloth printed with a caning pattern and glued onto a canvas. By incorporating real objects into his picture, he blurred the distinction between painting and sculpture and opened up a whole new area for art making.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life With Chair Caning

Collage has been put to many uses since then, as this show testifies. Perhaps the most ambitious use of it is Yeon Jin Kim’s video “Dreams,” which might be described as a travelogue of the subconscious. Much of the imagery was taken with a spy camera inserted inside an elaborate paper model of a city, also on display.

All told, this show contains a remarkably diverse and thoughtful group of works by artists who, though not household names, probably deserve to be better known. Collage may be a century old, but this show suggests that it will be around for a lot longer.


Related Links:
- Ann Street Gallery
- Joel Carreiro Official Web Site
- Jonathan Talbot Official Web Site