台北當代藝術館 官方網站 Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

進入21世紀後，中國當代藝術的發展逐漸告別潮流，不再刻意強調西方美學評價標準下的前衛性，而是藝術家與學者開始聯手，共同展開一連串傳統美學的重建工作，希冀在歷史文化豐沛的資源中，尋找形式與風格轉化的契機，並且改變既有的敘事結構，注入當代修辭的可能。肖旭，便是中國80後藝術家極具代表性的的一員。

本次個展以「瀛洲排演」命名，除了表明肖旭首次於台灣個展的慎重其事，另一方面更凸顯在此一當代藝術多元發展的時代，尋求自我定位的努力。展出的九件作品透過一筆一畫揣摩、反覆暈染層疊，建構起雲霧繚繞，間或點綴古木篁竹、花草生靈的大片混沌。這樣的藝術表現，與唐宋元明諸多先賢將山川景致轉化為宇宙精神的參照與顯現並無二異；然而，無論是在技法上僅以墨暈深淺來表現山石明暗，刻意排除遠近向背疏密的變化，又或者是極其隱晦地鉤勒出實中有虛、虛中見實的視線引導，乃至於畫面安排往往充滿魔幻寫實文學況味的敘事符號與象徵等，都展現了肖旭想一舉打破傳統與當代、東方與西方等二元對立價值與文化敘事的強烈企圖，讓不同的時空交錯碰撞，經過一次又一次的排演，產生理性計算之結果與偶發性意外的交融，進而引發觀者的另類感知。 The Chinese contemporary art scene in the 21st century has gradually moved away from popular art trends and its previous emphasis on the avant-garde in the scope of Western aesthetics. Instead, artists and scholars have begun collaborating to reconstruct traditional aesthetics, hoping to reinvent artistic forms and styles with rich historical and cultural resource as well as to change existing narrative structure and incorporate contemporary vocabularies. Xiao Xu, in this light, is a significantly representative artist from the post-80s generation in China.

The exhibition title,Envisioning the Immortal Island, not only demonstrates the artist's circumspection in preparing for his first solo exhibition in Taiwan, but also foregrounds his endeavors in finding his own position in an era when contemporary art has flourished in diversity. Through minute depiction and repetitive inking and ink layering, Xiao has created an imaginative realm enshrouded in mist and cloud with ancient flora and fauna in the nine elaborate paintings showcased in the exhibition. His artistic vocabularies remind viewers of the landscape painting by many great artists from various Chinese historic periods, such as the Tang, Sung, Yuan, and Ming dynasties when artists tended to illustrate their cosmic and spiritual view and understanding with sceneries. However, the artist uses shades of ink to depict the shading of mountain stones and deliberately omits changes in depth, different facets of his subject matter, and spacing. In addition, he also implicitly guides viewers' line of vision through interweaving the delineation of the real and the void so that the image is often embedded with narrative signs and symbols informed by magical realism in literature. These approaches have all unfolded Xiao's strong intention to break the dichotomous, opposing values and cultural narratives of the traditional and the contemporary as well as the East and the West. By doing so, he allows different spaces and times to collide, and like after repeated rehearsals, an amalgamation between rationally calculated results and contingent events is created, triggering different perception of the viewers.