Twinkling City: Sim Chan Solo Exhibition
閃爍的城市：陳閃個展
27 July - 10 August 2018
Sansiao Gallery HK
1/F, Room 104 - 5 Wilson House, 19 - 27 Wyndham Street,
Central, Hong Kong
Guest Curator: Chun Poon
Window is one of his favorite elements appearing often in Sim's work throughout his artistic career over a decade. While light is another major subject he has been experimenting and developing in this new series of work over past two years. With researches, studies and tests on colors and light, Sim Chan is committed to exploring how light affects the colors we see in a painting.
Looking at the endless windows in his works, we may imagine an absurd life living in an extremely condensed metropolis projecting from those packed windows. On the other hand, windows may imply the endless ideas and creativities. Sim is always interested in exploring various art forms and methods in presenting windows, be it a normal square canvas painting, a painting on Lycra framed in a multi angular shape, or an installation in a room or a building exterior mural. Windows are keys to unlocking the stories behind, which ignites the imaginable spaces on both sides of a window. What will emerge from the other side of that window?
For this particular series of work, Sim Chan is trying to maximize the possibilities of using light in relationship to the colors. Simply the lighting affects what colors we see visually, while colors are the basis of paintings. Through his experiments on colors and light, he customized a self-illuminated device behind the canvas providing a light source. Once the light comes through from the back of the canvas, it changes the traditional color knowledge of the paintings, which become completely different from what we normally see in the daylight. Capable of penetrating many layers of colors on the canvas, illumination from the canvas back leave the conventional training of applying colors no longer practical. Sim takes the opportunity to tour the audience with a very unique experience exploring his paintings in daylight and in the dark.
Born in Hong Kong, Sim Chan, graduated from the Hong Kong Art School in 2008 studying painting. He has participated in numerous exhibitions locally and internationally in Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, Tokyo, Thailand, Korea, London, Venice, Zurich and Melbourne. Sim was invited to the 15th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition "Stratagems in Architecture" in 2016. His artistic proposal was selected by "Art＠Government Buildings 2013-14" and created a public art installation and paintings at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. He was awarded the “40under40” global creative talent by Perspective Magazine in 2013 and was commissioned to create a public art installation at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in the same year.
窗戶是陳閃的常用詞彙，十多年的創作生涯中窗戶頻頻出現在他的作品裡。過去兩年間他也不斷嘗試新的創作，而這一新系列的另一重要元素便是光。通過對顏色、光線作研究，學習和實驗，陳氏熱衷地探討光線如何影響畫作中呈現出來的色彩。
透過作品中無窮無盡的窗戶，我們可以想像在大都市中的荒誕生活，人們被擠在一個極其壓縮的空間中。另一方面，窺視一扇扇窗戶又可以帶來無盡的想法和可能性。無論是常見的方形油畫、多角形的畫布、室內裝置、又或者建築外牆的壁畫，陳氏不斷研究刻劃窗戶的各種藝術形式和方法。窗戶像是解開背後故事的鑰匙，藉此通往窗戶內外的想像空間，讓人不禁想到：甚麼將會出現在那窗的另一端呢？
對於這一系列新作，陳閃嘗試捕捉光線與顏色的各種相互關係。簡單地說，光線會影響我們可以看到的顏色，而顏色又是繪畫的基本元素。通過對顏色和光線的實驗，陳氏在畫布後面裝上訂製的自動發光設備以提供光源。一旦光線由畫布背後滲透出，相比在日光下所看到的色彩，顏料呈現出截然不同的樣貌。這顛覆了我們對傳統繪畫技法中對顏色的認知。由於從畫布背面投射出來光線能夠穿透很多層顏料，因此傳統的著色方法發揮不出原本的功能。藉著晝與夜的色彩差距，陳氏為觀眾帶來不同的獨特觀感體驗。
陳閃出生於香港，2008年畢業於香港藝術學院主修繪畫。他曾參與許多本地和國際展覽，包括香港、澳門、北京，上海，台北，新加坡，東京，泰國，韓國，倫敦，威尼斯，蘇黎世和墨爾本等。陳氏應邀於2016年參加了第十五屆威尼斯國際建築雙年展－香港展覽《建築兵法》。他在2014年入選「藝聚政府大樓2013-14」並於伊利沙伯體育館制作大型公共藝術裝置及繪畫作品。2013年陳閃入選透視雜誌「40 under 40」獎, 於同年被邀於香港藝術中心制作公共藝術裝置作品。