Gentle Like Water

Solo Exhibition / 2024

Vanue
Eligere Gallery

Location
Seoul
South Korea

PRESS RELEASE

_{吳若昕 Ruo-Hsin Wu 個展「溫柔如水 Gentle Like Water 」，首爾，南韓，2024}

在吳若昕於韓國的首次個展《溫柔如水》中，藝術家呈現了一系列靈感來自她在被自然環繞的山中小屋中的靜謐經歷的繪畫。這些作品反映了她探索童年回憶、情感和大自然孤獨的旅程。除了以兒童形象為主題外，這些作品融入了她日常環境中的元素，如夜晚的黑暗、樹木的綠意、土壤的紅色、工作室的白牆，以及她每天透過窗戶看到的湖水。

藝術家回憶道：「我的工作室曾經是我祖父的房子，這裡充滿了關於他的回憶。記憶裡他患有青光眼，眼睛呈現出淡淡的藍色，上方微微有些陰影，讓我想起窗外的湖水。」吳若昕經常以暗色背景作畫，用手指和精細的畫筆塗抹壓克力顏料，使圖像逐漸在畫布上浮現，一層又一層，就像我們的記憶突然出現又消失一樣。儘管人物形象在她的藝術作品中是常見的主題，但她避免描繪具體的個人。相反，她通過這些人物的輪廓來傳達情感。她說：「生活中有些時刻會永遠留在我們心中。我不試圖重新創造這些場景；記憶是個人的。我旨在捕捉那些時刻的情感和氛圍，也許是通過描繪一個凝視，或捕捉空氣中的水氣。」在成長過程中，藝術家對周圍的小事物敏感，留下了鮮明的記憶和微妙的情感，這些影響著她至今的作品。人類與微小生物的互動經常出現在她的作品中。

「小時候我經常會想像看不見的生物，想像在周圍空間中與他們互動，但某種程度上，即便在一個小小的房間裡，在不同的時空中也可能曾經是海洋、樹林，無數的生命體，人類、動物、植物都曾是這裡的一部分。」展覽以《溫柔如水》為題，藝術家希望通過微妙的色彩和基調在她的繪畫中反映出水的柔和與平靜。她說：「當水從畫布上蒸發時，留下看不見的痕跡，這標誌著一幅畫的完成。」。

雖然她的作品中很少出現耀眼的陽光和高度飽和的顏色，但它們充滿了溫暖、空氣和濕氣的氛圍。這些繪畫通過寧靜的筆觸讓觀者體驗光與影的美感，通過想像與作品產生共鳴。

In Ruo-Hsin Wu's debut solo exhibition in Korea "Gentle like Water," the artist presents a series of paintings inspired by her secluded experiences in a mountain house surrounded by nature. These pieces reflect her journey of exploring memories, emotions, and solitude in nature, interwoven with her childhood recollections.

In addition to the iconic children figure in her work, these pieces incorporate elements from her daily surroundings: the darkness of night, the green of trees, the red of the soil, the white walls of her studio, and especially the lake she sees every day through the window. "My studio was once my grandfather's house, holding many childhood memories with him. In his later years, afflicted with glaucoma, his eyes took on a faint blue hue, with two subtle black shadows above, reminiscent of the lake beyond the window," the artist recalls.

Ruo often begins her paintings with a dark background, applying acrylic paint with her fingers and delicate brushwork, allowing the imagery to gradually emerge on the canvas, layer by layer, much like our memories unexpectedly surface and fade away. While human figures are a common theme in her art, she avoids depicting specific individuals. Instead, she focuses on conveying emotions through the outlines of these characters.

Explaining her approach, she says, "There are moments in life that stick with us forever. I don't try to recreate these scenes; memories are personal. I aim to capture the emotion and atmosphere of those moments, perhaps through depicting a gaze, or capturing the moisture in the air."

Growing up, the artist was sensitive to the small things around her, leaving her with vivid memories and subtle feelings that continue to influence her artwork to this day. Interactions between humans and small creatures are often depicted in her artworks. "As a child, I often envisioned invisible beings and imagined interacting with them in the surrounding space. To some extent, even within the confines of a small room, it could have once been an ocean, a forest, teeming with myriad life forms—humans, animals, and plants, all once a part of it.”

Titled the exhibition "Gentle Like Water," the artist hopes to reflect the softness and peace of water in her paintings through subtle colour and tone. "When water evaporates from the canvas, leaving behind invisible traces, it marks the completion of a painting," the artist says. While glaring sunlight and highly saturated colours are rarely depicted in the artist's works, they exude an atmosphere filled with warmth, air, and moisture. These paintings enable viewers to experience the beauty of light and shadow through tranquil strokes, fostering resonance with the artwork through imagination.