TK (Tsz-Kwan) Chan 陳 紫 君
- Around the World 醉 人 都 市
![]() Grand City 大都匯 Ink and Color on Paper 93 x 93 cm 2018 SOLD |
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"Around the World " Series
" 醉 人 都 市 " 系 列
Three artworks have been created for this collection in 2019 and they all found a good home! "South-East Asia" has been sourced by PDP London HK for the project of iconic 23 -39 Blue Pool Road development, Happy Valley. The other two paintings with the theme of "Scotland" and "China" had been collected by a collector at Art Moment exhibition in Jakarta.
TK plans to develop this collection further with the theme of New York, London, Hong Kong and properly will try again the theme of Scotland. She also would like to try a bigger size painting for this collection. This collection of painting will take much longer to complete compared to the animal's collection.
It requires lots of research with the consideration of balancing the buildings and the ocean in the art.
When the City Collection Meets us in a World with Landscapes and Discourses
Fangge Zhang
City Collection shows TK Chan's memories and understandings of various places throughout the vastness of mother earth.
TK Chan used to live and study in a suburban area of Scotland for 10 years. She enjoys the breath of nature. Facing her homeland Hong Kong, a highly urbanized city, she hopes to help people find relaxation and gentleness which mother nature always gives. She also wants to remind people about the importance of protecting our earth, our home.
TK Chan is like a bystander. She has pure, sincere, and relaxing energy, which is conveyed by her works. The tones are childlike and amiable, like voices from a friend. There’s nothing restless. A space for the deepest feeling is created. The serenity of eastern culture is integrated with the pure and innocent energy which is like the heart of a newborn, and the new rising sun. The ink doesn’t form deep black-like color or fierce strokes, or anything stubborn. Soft and free like air, the light ink shows aura and the deeper ink contains changing shadows with multiple layers. Look closer, you may see many small universes. Look further, you may see a lively non-linear fairytale.
In the center of every work of City Collection, there is an abstract circle which looks like an earth with a whirlpool. The whirlpool contains a sense of being pulled inside, but it shows it is love that always rises back to the surface. The love is for the earth and animals. The colors of every circle show the basic emotion of the work, while putting everything around the circle in a place with a certain emotion, allows the audiences space to develope their own feelings. Looking at the works, the audiences reform and reassociate their memories about the things around the circle. They also constantly renew their sense of direction when they are observing the people, animals, and other things to the different direction of the circles.
Around the circle, there are various roles. The great nature and small animals of Scotland. Various ethnicities in China, rare animals like pandas and white tigers. Competitive cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai. Human beings with different roles. People meet each other on the earth, they can have their individualities, be different roles, experience different journeys, interact harmoniously, or inharmoniously. It is like a group of people walking into a cinema for different movies, unknowingly contributing to the successful running of the cinema, much like people all doing their own small parts to achieve a successful society.
It seems to be harmonious when people, animals, and other things stay together around a circle. However, many expected and unexpected problems can break the harmony, and then people try to solve the problems to ensure that society can continue. During the development of society, some things appear and some things disappear. Some things are protected, like cultural preservation, carbon reduction, and endangered species protection. When discussing the Other, people are exploring their own role and the significance of existence. If the audiences didn’t think about these issues before, they can be reminded of related memories when meeting with the landscape in these works, then reassociate and reform their worldview based on the process of feeling the memories.
The animals, human beings, and landscapes in TK Chan’s works convey her understanding of the world. Audiences can meet with their own psychological projection when they are viewing the paintings. The things around the circles are popular, and they have been existing in the landscape of popular discourses. The signifier of the landscape is widely known and has been translated into various languages. Meanwhile, the significance of the landscape is very different based on the contexts of different individuals, as every individual has their own unique logic of desire. When an audience is reading the things around the circles, imaginations and memories appear. When their eyes move to the circle in the center, their consciousness can take a rest while being nourished by the childlike tone. In the abstract circle, limitless possibilities can go into either another world inside a geocentric place or the deepest space inside your conscious and subconscious.
Meanwhile, the audiences can rotate the works by 360 degrees, to make changes to the whole structure of the image. Based on different orientations, the eye may pay attention to different things within the works. Diverse stories can appear in the audiences’ minds when they associate the people, animals, architectures, and other things around the circle with memories that they are seldom reminded of. In this case, the audiences become a part of the City Collection.
Going back from the journey of City Collection to the real cities, audiences can redefine their views on the diversity of landscapes and discourses, having been nourished by some comfortable energy in the works. What may happen to them next?
City Collection與現實中的我們
文/章放歌
City Collection有著陳紫君對全球不同地方的記憶與感悟。
曾經,陳紫君在蘇格蘭郊區學習與生活10年,大自然的氣息讓她眷戀。面對高度城市化的香港,她希望人們能找回自然的放鬆與溫柔,同時好好保護地球這個家園。
陳紫君就像旁觀者,把她放鬆的能量與目光,融彙在畫面上。畫面的色調童真,她將水墨的深沉與無限,結合了插畫式的活潑,不會難以接近,亦有空間讓人沉下心去感受、思考。就像用靜謐的東方性格,融合了初生太陽般的赤子之心。
在畫面中心,是抽象的圓,如地球。在圓的周圍,有蘇格蘭的大自然與小動物,中國的不同民族與熊貓、白虎,競爭中的大城市新加坡、香港、上海,以及各司其職的全人類。人們在地球相會,可以擁有自己的個體性,扮演各種角色,去體驗不同的旅程,和諧或不和諧地共處,就像是一同走進了電影院去看不同的電影,又合作維持這個社會的運行。
在圓外圍成一圈,似乎是看起來和諧的。然而,卻常有諸多問題打破和諧,然後他們努力解決,讓社會延續。在社會發展的道路上,有些事物新生,有些事物消失,有些事物被保護起來,比如近年熱議的文化保育、降低碳排放、保護瀕危動物。無論外界如何變動,都有更多的人被激活了對公共議題的思考,有些人投入了行動去保護自然與遺產。在討論這些他者的過程中,人在探索自己的角色,與生存的意義。觀眾不一定是原先思考過這些問題的人,但他們也會被畫中景觀勾起他們的記憶,並可能隨著記憶重新組織自己對世界的看法。
陳紫君筆下的動物、人與景觀,承載著她個人對世界的解讀。而觀眾在看的時候,又會從這些符號,投射出自己的情緒。畢竟圓周圍的這些事物很流行,進入了流行話語的景觀。這些景觀的能指被廣泛地認知,翻譯成不同的語言,但在不同的個體、群體中,會有千變萬化的所指,對應不同人的慾望邏輯。當人在觀看圓外事物時,想像與回憶萌生,當目光回到中心的圓,意識又得以休息,被這童真的配色滋養。在抽象的圓裡,可能性是無限的,它可以通往地心的另一個世界,也可以通向你意識的深處。
同時,觀眾可以360度旋轉畫面,讓整體構圖變換,也讓眼睛注意到不同的點,從圓周圍的人、動物、建築及其他萬物找到新回憶,瀰漫出不同的故事。此時,觀眾也成為作品的一部分。
從City Collection回到城市,觀眾帶著從畫中得到的能量,再去看待多元交織和話語,會是怎樣的感受?