《寂靜山水》Solitary Landscapes

關於展覽 ／ About Exhibition :

風景優美、景色怡人、海天一色等的風景都常常都使人提起相機拍照留念，皆因想留住最美的那一剎。海、天色、雲霧、遠山這些能抬頭觀賞的景色，常常都是相中主角，而被踏在腳下的一片石崖、一堆沙石，驟眼都是平凡鎖碎不起眼的配角，但這正相反地吸引著我。沉穩而自然的山石顏色有著一種簡樸踏實的殘缺美，地質的紋理則帶有一份孤獨、凋零的感覺，在訴說時間與生命的流動和循環。這些簡單自然的東西教我反思更多。靜望和繪畫著山脈/崖/石面的肌理和質感, 提醒我學習欣賞和接納事物的不完美、質樸和單純的一面。粗糙而自然的質感是歲月留痕的引證。人亦無完美，接納和擁抱自己的負面情緒也不是一件壞事。學習「侘寂」(Wabi- Sabi)* 的文化和欣賞方式讓我們學懂接納和放下更多，更從另一個角度去理解美學。

註：「wabi」是指獨自一人，或孤獨（wabi shi意指「獨自」）。詩句中的「孤獨」這個字一般是指簡單、謙卑，以及與符合自然常理的事物。它同時可以指一種單純、不加修飾之美（僧侶的生活沒什麼需求) 至於「sabi」則意指時間的經過、變老的過程，以及萬物飛逝的性質。

Everyone likes and enjoys beautiful scenery, romantic landscape and waterscape. For capturing the beauty moment of nature, we will pick up our camera, take photos and record it. Sea, sky, cloud and mountain are the main subjects in the landscape photo as people observe and capture the natural scenery in front of them, also take pictures at eye level mostly. Rock and sand are under our feet, on the ground which are ignorant. But I am the opposite, admire the subtle and neutral color of the rock and the rough, jagged, cracked texture of it even though it is simple and plain. Because It shows an aesthetics of imperfection and the untranslatable impression of the poetic loneliness and solitude in the landscape. These elements of age, time and life cycle reminds me a lot. I understand and remind myself the simplicity, purity of life and the minimalistic concept through focusing on the texture of mountain/ cliff/ rock and the painting process. The uneven, jagged texture is the marks of age. Nobody’s perfect, but we all have value. Keep learning to embrace our imperfection and accept the real us from the concept of Japanese *Wabi- Sabi culture. There is another perspective in aesthetics under the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi

*Wabi originally described the loneliness of living in nature, far from society; describing the more positive aspects of living alone in nature: a quiet, rustic simplicity. Sabi, on the other hand, find beauty in old age, in a weathered character, focusing instead on the serenity that can come with time, when inevitable wear becomes a patina, and scars become signs of experience.

關於藝術家 / About the Artist :

Cassandra Lau

畢業於中大視覺文化研究碩士，擁有10年藝術設計研究和藝術教育工作經驗，從而啟發她專注於空間，以日常生活為題材，更具體地以人群和有限的空間來反映香港當代生活。這系列的作品是一種自身的靜觀, 以藝術治療，透過每一筆每一下動作和痕跡去展示內心的掙扎，同時釋放沉重的壓力。住在充滿動態活力和變化的一個小城市，經常感受到擠壓。因此希望透過創作排解一切，並利用畫面建構一個無際無盡、平靜、寂靜的風景，作為一個能夠治癒心靈的出口。

Cassandra Lau graduated from CUHK with MA in visual culture studies. With 10 years studies of art and design and art education working experience, inspired her focus on the topic of space, and daily life as subject matter on her paintings. This series of paintings is a kind of mindfulness meditation for her. Art as therapy, every paint, brushstroke, mark-making, released her stress and struggle. The paints and marks represent her expression of living in this small and dynamic city. She always feels struggle, crumpled, squeezed and compressed. Hence, she constructed the landscape for healing her soul and inner self with a spaceless, calm, silent landscape through the paint and her action. And may reduce our anxiety in our noisy, chaos, ridiculous life.