開幕茶會：2015/08/29 下午三點
耿晧剛1969年出生於台灣，現居台北。1993年畢業於東海大學美術系，1997~2002就讀於義大利米蘭布雷拉藝術學院Accademia di belle arti di Brera跟隨Diego Esposito教授，主修繪畫與裝置，開啟觀念藝術的思考。現任教於銘傳大學商品設計系與東海大學美術學系，並於國內外多次發表個展，作品典藏於國立台灣美術館、高雄市立美術館與國內外私人收藏。
在不可逆的時間河流中，諸眾於所處的現實空間裡，時時刻刻皆不曾停歇地沈積著歷史，個體自有的歷史化為記憶，群體共存的歷史構成文化。人們擁有的生命時間是差不多的，而處理時間的節奏卻各不相同。全球化與都市化衝擊之下，追求效率的現代社會普遍高速運轉，然而，義大利的奧爾維耶托，是一座逆行於世的山城，仍舊維持著緩慢而自我的生活節奏。所有美好的記憶與文化，需要充足的時間，才得以被完好記住，快速的生活促使人們易於遺忘細節，緩慢讓記憶的形貌不至於支離破碎。
耿晧剛的創作之中，則忠實呈現出現實世界的矛盾與衝突，畫面上不同速度的時間各自流瀉，色域上的斑駁痕跡，無意識地呢喃出彷彿已沉澱、逝去的生命時光，強烈呼應著陳舊或緩慢；極簡的幾何形體與俐落的線條，表徵著後工業化時代以後至今的高速機械性與理性崇拜。快與慢的並置，讓畫面結構平衡，對立的元素不斷出現在耿晧剛的作品裡，因彼此對照而各自強化，卻顯得和諧，但平穩的空間感裡依然包含著衝突之下的不安，其視覺語言看來亮麗討喜，實則一語道盡現代世界的矛盾，直指觀者底心。
在不可逆的時間河流中，諸眾於所處的現實空間裡，時時刻刻皆不曾停歇地沈積著歷史，個體自有的歷史化為記憶，群體共存的歷史構成文化。人們擁有的生命時間是差不多的，而處理時間的節奏卻各不相同。全球化與都市化衝擊之下，追求效率的現代社會普遍高速運轉，然而，義大利的奧爾維耶托，是一座逆行於世的山城，仍舊維持著緩慢而自我的生活節奏。所有美好的記憶與文化，需要充足的時間，才得以被完好記住，快速的生活促使人們易於遺忘細節，緩慢讓記憶的形貌不至於支離破碎。
耿晧剛的創作之中，則忠實呈現出現實世界的矛盾與衝突，畫面上不同速度的時間各自流瀉，色域上的斑駁痕跡，無意識地呢喃出彷彿已沉澱、逝去的生命時光，強烈呼應著陳舊或緩慢；極簡的幾何形體與俐落的線條，表徵著後工業化時代以後至今的高速機械性與理性崇拜。快與慢的並置，讓畫面結構平衡，對立的元素不斷出現在耿晧剛的作品裡，因彼此對照而各自強化，卻顯得和諧，但平穩的空間感裡依然包含著衝突之下的不安，其視覺語言看來亮麗討喜，實則一語道盡現代世界的矛盾，直指觀者底心。
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漫遊者的旅行地圖─記耿晧剛「清晨．奧爾維耶托」展
國立台灣師範大學美術系 教授
白適銘
對熟悉西方文化的人來說，義大利不僅是造就文藝復興三傑的藝術聖地，其保存完善的歷史古城、寺院建築、古蹟文物，反映兼具物質及精神文明高度的創造軌跡，成為輝耀西方美術史冊的不朽典範；同時，在時尚、觀光、休閒、音樂、戲劇及飲食文化等方面不斷推陳出新的多樣成果，更使其成為西歐現代文化創發之地的代名詞。而對於一個曾經旅行此地的異鄉人而言，不論其身分如何，成為其第一印象的，不外乎是那人文氣息隨處瀰漫的城市景觀，此種景觀更可謂造就其成為人類歷史中少數集體記憶城市的主因。精神分析學家佛洛伊德曾描述其漫遊熱那亞(Genova)的經驗說：
在一個陌生的義大利鄉村小鎮空無一人的街道上，我不知不覺地來到一個街區……徘徊了一陣子之後，我突然發現自己又回到那條街上。……現在的感覺，我只能用怪異來形容，並很高興地回到了剛才所離開的那個廣場，結束了我的探索之旅。(1919)
歐洲古城多半具有迂曲環廻的羊腸巷弄，呈輻射狀的錯落街道最終指向位於城鎮中心的噴泉廣場，穿梭於歷史陳蹟與現代生活彼此交織的空間之中，宛如經驗了一場撲朔迷離的超現實之旅，反映其充滿冒險、恐懼、獵奇、窺探等的複雜身心經驗。
此種超現實感，來自於對週遭環境既陌生又渴望的探索矛盾，透過漫遊及不斷的路線重複，自身與異鄉城市之間的獨特連繫始得以完成。佛洛伊德所謂的「怪異」經驗，反映一種異鄉人漫遊行為中常見的無方向感、一次性及隨機選擇式的旅行特徵，既衝突又充滿發現。然而，有趣的是，此種有如深入夢境般的旅行行為，卻得以經過經驗積累，形塑集體身分、公眾記憶、地方認同，甚或是景觀美學，並成為其不斷造訪該地的動因。從此種經驗言之，如果說時尚之都米蘭的多年留學經驗，奠定了耿晧剛當代藝術創作的視覺性座標，那麼，義大利及西歐深厚幽邃及不斷再生的地理、人文景觀，無疑地則是涵蓋其位置所在的一張廣大行旅地圖，提供其深入歐洲文化心臟的探索幅員。
在近年創作中，耿晧剛透過複合媒材作品中不斷重組並強化其視覺性的幾何造型符號，反覆提煉此種來自旅居義國時所累積的特殊文化經驗。由各種歷經時間淘洗所殘留的斑駁色塊組成的幾何造型，彷彿義大利古城建築的石砌牆面、廣場街道的拼圖地磚以及充滿五顏六色的繁華市招，抽象卻滿溢著旅居生活中的私密回憶。此種極度符號化、幾何化且具時空文本性的景觀元素，已成為城市、建築(生活空間)與抽象造形創作之間的媒介，並使其三者融合為一，在理性秩序的堆砌中，包裹著溫馨感性及個人化的地方感。
色塊上刻意被製造的破損，除了象徵時間與生活的刻痕，反映人與城市之間的緊密連結之外，更凸顯了一種跨越種族、性別、語言經驗的公眾性立場，使得住民、異鄉漫遊者同時成為城市的主體，在消費的過程中獲得平等的現代文化景觀與視覺經驗。被刻意符號化、文本化的幾何造型、色塊組合，或有如建築物結構模具般的三叉立體單位，不論藉以代表古城區或新市街，代表耿晧剛當代藝術創作中的基本構件。由各種構件所形成的不同畫面組合，不論是對稱、對比或對立，譜出全然不同的對話關係，象徵作者與環境之間某種妥協式的平衡。
在這些作品中，立體與平面的界限既模糊又相互依存，空間必須以時間的方式被閱讀，所有具象的文化符碼都可以還原成抽象的幾何造型。此種看似矛盾卻合理的呈現方式，反映耿晧剛對種種人為刻意形塑的二元觀念─包括色彩與無彩色、西方與東方、古典或現代、剛硬與柔軟、定型與無定型、陽性與陰性、制約與激情、完好與磨損、和諧與衝突、正義與邪惡、出發或歸來、死亡或再生等關係的重新審視。不論是激進的對立，亦或是和緩的對話關係，在此種審視過程中，他嘗試透過平行共陳的手法，探索在世界各地旅行、漫遊過程中所有看似荒謬卻無所不在的現實邏輯。而此種過程，正反映其接受東西文化、新舊文明的多重洗禮後，對上述種種現實邏輯所進行的一種跨越式自我映射(self-mapping)，並成為記錄其生命真實的一部超現實旅人日誌。
A Wanderer’s Travel Map—Keng Hao-Kang’s Solo Exhibition, Orvieto Morning
Pai, Shih-ming
Professor, Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University
People who are familiar with the Western culture would know that Italy is not only the cradle of art that has witnessed the birth of the three Renaissance masters, its well-maintained historic towns, monastery architecture, as well as heritage sites and relics all reflect the creative past that has witnessed the height of the material and spiritual civilization, rendering it the everlasting model in Western art history. Meanwhile, in terms of fashion, tourism, leisure activity, music, drama, and cuisine, the country’s innovative spirit has yielded diverse and abundant fruits, making it the equivalent of the origin of Western modern culture. As for foreigners that have travelled to Italy, no matter their identities, their first impression would almost always be the cityscape permeated with a humanistic air. The cityscape could also be listed as one of the major reasons that has facilitated the formation of collective memory of cities in human history. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud once described his experience of wandering in Genova.
[T] hrough the empty and to me unfamiliar streets of a small Italian town, I found myself in a district….[A]fter wandering about for some time without asking the way, I suddenly found myself back in the same street….I was now seized by a feeling that I can only describe as uncanny, and I was glad to find my way back to the piazza that I had recently left and refrain from any further voyages of discovery.
The historic cities in Europe usually have meandering alleys and lanes, and the randomly strewn streets normally radiate outwards from a fountain piazza that is the city’s center. Wandering in such space encompassing simultaneously the historical past and the modern life is like experiencing a beguiling, surreal journey, a complex experience of body and mind that is adventurous, fear-inciting, novelty-seeking, and voyeuristic.
This surreal feeling comes from the contradiction that one feels unfamiliar with the surrounding environment but hopes to explore it. Through wandering and taking repetitious routes, one is able to form a unique connection between one’s self and the foreign city. The “uncanny” experience described by Freud actually reflects what is common to a foreigner’s wandering, meaning lacking the sense of direction and the singular and random choosing of routes, which is conflicting yet filled with surprising discoveries. However, the interesting thing is such a dreamlike travel activity could shape the collective identity, public memory, place identification and even cityscape aesthetics through the accumulation of experience, and becomes the motivation to continuously visit the place. Speaking from such an experience, if the studying years in the fashion capital, Milan, have formed the visual coordination of Keng Hao-Kang’s contemporary artistic creation, the profound history and constant rejuvenation of geography and cultural landscape of Italy and Western Europe are undoubtedly a large travel map that includes Keng’s position, outlining his in-depth exploration of the core of the European culture.
In recent years, through reconstructing and reinforcing the geometric-shaped visual symbols in his mixed media works, Keng has continuously refined this unique cultural experience accumulated during his time of living in Italy. All kinds of geometric shapes formed by blocks in faded colors as if worn off through time simultaneously remind the audience of the stone walls of buildings in the Italian old cities as well as the ground tiles of the piazzas and streets along with their colorful, motely business signs. They are abstract but brimming with private memories of the artist’s life abroad. This element of cityscape, which is rendered extremely symbolic, geometric and textual specific to certain time and space, has become the medium that connects the city, the architecture (living space) and the artistic creation of abstract forms, unifying them into one and emitting a feeling of warmth and a personalized sense of place amidst the construction of rational order.
The intentional abrasions on the color blocks not only symbolize the traces of time and life, but also reflect the close connection between the person and the city. In addition, they accentuate a public position that transcends the boundaries of race, gender and linguistic experience, allowing the residents as well as the foreign wanderers to become the subject of the city and are equal in appreciating the modern cultural landscape and visual experience during consumption activities. The geometric shapes and combination of color blocks that are intentionally transformed into symbols and texts, or the three-dimensional forms of three-way junctions that are reminiscent of the molds in architectural structures, whether they are employed to symbolize the old districts of the city or the new areas and streets, they all represent the fundamental elements in Keng’s contemporary artworks. Various combinations of images constructed with all kinds of elements, regardless of them being symmetrical, contrasting or opposing, have created dialogues that are completely different, indicating that the artist has achieved some kind of a compromised balance with the environment.
In these works, the boundary between the three-dimensional and the two-dimensional is simultaneously blurred yet co-dependent. The spatial must be interpreted from a temporal aspect, while all concrete cultural symbols could be restored back to abstract geometric forms. Such seemingly contradictory yet reasonable way of expression has reflected Keng’s re-examination of the dichotomy in different forms deliberately fashioned by mankind, including the colorful and the achromatic, the Western and the Eastern, the classical and the modern, the strong and the soft, the form and the formless, the masculine and the feminine, the conditioned and the passionate, the unblemished and the abraded, the harmonious and the conflicting, the just and the evil, the departing or the returning, the dead or the rejuvenating. No matter it is a radical opposition or a peaceful dialogue, in the process of examination and through means of juxtaposition, Keng attempts to explore the logic of reality that seems absurd yet omnipresent in the travelling as well as in the process of wandering. Such process exactly reflects Keng’s crossing self-mapping towards the above-mentioned different forms of reality’s logic after his embracing of the Eastern and Western cultures as well as his immersing in the new and old civilizations, forming a surrealistic traveller’s journal that has documented the reality of life.