繪畫與文學中的想像界－LUPA在時代氛圍中的凝視與她的《花燁》

文 / 王玉善

對抗性的凝視

游離於魔幻與超現實般的場域塑造，是觀者對於Lupa作品的直接性感受，尤其是這些以銳利輪廓及鮮明色彩，所建構而出的不規則幾何狀之花卉，傳達出的一種既視感，就彷若我們的夢境中也曾有過類似的景象。而埋藏於畫面中的母題－無性別之少年，則更進一步以類似童趣繪本般的普世語言，將每一個人內心深處的靈魂，引導進入整體圖像氛圍的符號解讀，特別是少年冒險於如同巨獸般的植物背景裡。不過，這並非僅是純粹陳述一個單純故事性的畫面，實際上她透過畫面中的細節及視角－對抗性的凝視，傳達現代人在時代變遷中常見的心理狀態。

法國哲學家米歇爾．傅柯（Michel Foucault，1926-1984）曾對資本主義的社會權力結構中人們心理狀態進行觀察與研究：「這所有的權力關係中，都非常必然存在著抵抗的可能性。」美國作家貝爾．胡克斯（原名Gloria Jean Watkins，1952-）也曾提及：「那種企圖想要壓制我們注視權力的做法，只會在人們心中產生更想要注視的強烈渴望，這是一種叛逆的渴望、一種對立的注視。」

這兩位文化觀察者對於社會現象的解讀，同樣也延伸到了藝術史學者對於圖像分析系統的應用，特別是對於解構攝影技術、電視發明、電影興起後以來的視覺文化發展狀態。其中部分創作者在選擇紀錄影像的角度考量，往往加入了具有批判意識的形象，如對於社會各階層人物某些狀態的紀錄及場景安排。欣蒂．雪曼便是當時探討男性與女性在社會結構中，以衝撞式的對立、對抗性視角呈現內容的重要攝影藝術家之一，而這種較為直觀、直覺的表述方法，也一直影響到了許多藝術創作者。

不過有趣的是，Lupa並不以衝撞式的陳述來表達她的理念，而是以氛圍及沉浸式畫面，來達到觀者與母題之間的雙向互動，進而說明人們在社會語境下，內心深層的對抗性，其從作品子題（花卉）到母題（永恆少年）皆有意義上的象徵與連結。在看似彩度斑斕的花卉符號下，實則暗示著人類於生命中可能面對到共感。燁象徵火焰，花則為多色彩且吸引人的美麗存在，兩者結合，就如同絢麗的事物，令人想要抓住，卻又不一定可以承受與掌握到它的瞬間，畢竟人們往往在實際上真實接觸後，才能了解其原本的想像是否符合自身的期盼。

花在她的作品中具有不確定性的意涵，而更深層的指向，代表的為其所構成的環境氛圍中之整體象徵性，尤其當我們身處在充滿不確定性的場域中，內心勢必會感受到更大的壓迫感，就如同當代社會中的人們一般。並且在這個空間裏，巧妙的被安排了一位無性別的少年，少年以冒險般的行為，游移於花燁之中，看似輕巧，實則是在與環境抵抗。

Lupa進一步與我們分享，這個永恆少年結合了心理學的一個詞－彼得潘症候群的文本意義，形容有些人長大之後，無法融入社會，但它卻又是每一個現代人可能隱藏在內心中的一種情感。同時也透過少年本身是以金箔材料進行塑造的物理性特質，闡述其本身具有薄得脆弱且濃得珍貴的意象，並提供給予觀者思考自身與社會的之間的「規馴」問題－我們可能一不小心，存在於內心中的純粹本質就會消逝，轉變成社會化的人。Lupa以看似部分繪本般的故事結構，引導觀眾進入圖像形式深層內的符號世界，進而提出其對於時下人類記憶中的共鳴，她所構築的畫面上的對抗性凝視，並非是直接性的衝擊產生，而是以微觀的視角，揭露出人類集體記憶中的宏觀。

抽象中的具象與跨域文本的距進

人類對於視覺感受的形容，往往在於具象及抽象兩者間的二元陳述，不過在Lupa的作品當中，我們卻可以發現其作品游移在抽象之間與具象之間的範疇，並且結合個人對於文學上的思索於其中（自我的造詞），甚至是身體感，以及音樂上的律動，如她的作品透過切割、噴漆、塗刷，讓張牙舞爪般的花卉具有速度感、時間性，同時也在花卉交融的空間中，以看似異質存在的領域，詮釋了其詩性，並能與之像是計畫書般的圖錄相互對照後，才算是真正的完成了一場展覽。

換而言之，Lupa對於感知領域的觀察狀態，是屬於統一性的整合方式，她的創作並不是在完成作品之後，才為其思考合適的論述，而是在創作的時刻，便有各種對於文學、音樂、視覺上的想法環繞於她的腦海中，最終呈現畫面兼具律動及詩意的共感語彙。對她來說，創作是作為一種紀錄生活的方式，並被其視為不可缺少的一環。也因此我們總能在接觸其作品後的視覺殘留中，體驗到創作者的跨域感知。

從另一個角度來說，她的創作看似是視覺符碼性的，但本質上更是從心理學的範疇，將其進一步延伸至個別領域的創作元素上之應用。德國藝術史學家麥克斯．雅各布．弗里德蘭德也曾指出心理學和藝術之間的關係：「藝術是心靈之事，所以任何一項科學性的藝術研究必然屬於心理學範疇。它也可能涉及其他領域，但是，屬於心理學範疇則永遠不會更改。」

當Lupa成為了一種視覺語彙

在藝術史風格發展的脈絡當中，自新表現主義之後，視覺圖像以更為多元且複雜的方式，來表達自我情感和社會的連結性，像是將過去不同時期觀念的語彙（超現實、立體派、普普藝術等），以解構、重組、扭曲、錯置、拼貼等跨媒材間的效果融合，來進行詮釋。然而隨著科技的發展，視覺文化的轉變也更加快速，僅僅是將過去的藝術知識譜系共融到現今的創作手法，也已經日漸普及化。也因此，造就了跨域感知的延伸性問題，或許當圖像承載的語彙能結合到設計、時尚、塗鴉、攝影、展演的文本趨勢時，也可以開創出更多元的觀點。

Lupa正巧身為一個處於80後的年輕創作者，並能以她獨特的視角試圖回應這個時代脈動。她曾受過嚴謹的設計訓練，因此對於色感的掌握度擁有極高的素養，也造就我們總能在她的用色當中，看到鮮明對比色的情況之下，卻依舊具有均質的美學表現。同時也在其專業的養成經歷裏，於服裝的製作項目上，也如同在設計情境舞台劇般打造，並將特點延伸到現今的作品構圖中，使其具有舞台式的場景配置，詮釋畫面和觀者的互動性。

不過，更特殊的是她自我的視覺圖像系統建置，她開創了屬於自身的圖騰形體語境，讓觀者在看似肌理被無效化的陳述中，以強烈的色塊吸引著我們找尋著畫作的主體性，進而達到主客體之間的轉換。有趣的是，她的作品既有東洋的色彩，也有其他異國文化形象，看似富含神秘主義，但卻又有一絲絲次文化的態度，並能以其專屬的原創性風格和大眾產生連結。

The Resisting Gaze

A construction of magical and surreal sites is often a spectator’s direct impression of Lupa’s work. In particular, the irregularly shaped, geometrically formed flowers constructed with clear-edged contours and vibrant colors convey a sense of déjà vu as if the scenes were somehow taken from our dreams. Moreover, the motif embedded in the images, the genderless child, further speaks to each of our soul and guides us, through a universal language emblematic of innocent picture books, to interpret the symbolism of the overall atmosphere and the images, especially the child taking adventures through lush plants that look like giant beasts. However, these narrative images are not trying to tell some simple stories. In fact, Lupa has used details and viewpoint — the resisting gaze – in her works to portray the common psychological conditions of the modern people in this changing era.

French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984), after observing and studying people’s psychological states in capitalist social power structures, stated that “power relations always leave open the possibility for resistance.” American writer Bell Hooks (otherwise known as Gloria Jean Watkins, 1952-) also mentioned that the “attempts to repress our/black people’s right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze.”

These two cultural observers’ interpretations of the social phenomenon are also extended and applied by art historians to the analytical system of image, especially the deconstruction of photographic technology, the invention of television, the emergence of cinema and the later development of the visual culture. Some artists have chosen the angle of documentary images, often incorporating imageries charged with a critical consciousness, such as the documentation and arrangement of scenes featuring certain conditions of figures from different social strata. One of the examples is Cindy Sherman, who has been one of the major photographers that employed aggressive conflicts and the perspective of resistance to show her artistic contents in discussing men and women in the social structure. Furthermore, such more straightforward and intuitive expression has continuously influenced many artists.

Interestingly, however, Lupa does not to express her ideas through conflicts. She chooses to achieve mutual interaction between her audience and the motif through atmosphere-evoking and immersive images to further state an inner, deeper resistance within people in the social context, creating symbolic meaning and connection both in her subject matter (flowers) and motif (the eternal child). Beneath her vividly splendid floral symbolism, there lies the universal feelings about life shared by all humanity. “Blaze” symbolizes fire, and “flowers” are colorful, beautiful existences that are attractive. The combination of the two (the exhibition title, The Blaze of Flowers) beckons at the moment when people hope to catch splendid things but might not necessarily have to ability to bear and control them. After all, people often only come to understand the disparity between their imagination and their expectation after they really approach their goal. 

The meaning of flowers in Lupa’s work is uncertain. Such uncertainty points to a deeper level that symbolizes the overall atmosphere of the environment constructed with flowers—when we are in a highly uncertain site, we would surely feel a stronger pressure inside, just like how people feel in contemporary society. In this space, moreover, the artist cleverly embeds a genderless child. Like in an adventure, the child moves between the blaze of flowers. The child’s agility in fact indicates a form of resistance against such an environment.

Lupa further shares with us about this child: the concept of “puer aeternus” (or eternal child) originates from the Peter Pan Syndrome in psychology, which she employs to portray the phenomenon when some adults find it difficult to integrate into the society. As a matter of fact, this might be how every modern individual feel inside. Meanwhile, Lupa utilizes gold leaf to shape the physical characteristics of the child, and conveys the imagery of the child’s fragile yet precious nature while encouraging the spectator to reflect on the issue of “discipline” between themselves and the society—if we are not careful, the pure nature within every one of us might disappear and we could become socialized. The narrative structure created by Lupa brings to mind that of picture books, and leads her audience into a deeper, semiotic world characterized by images. Through this world, the artist constructs a resonance with modern memory of the humankind. The resisting gaze that Lupa delineates through her images does not produce a direct impact; instead, it reveals the macrocosm of human collective memory through a microcosmic perspective.

Blending the Concrete with the Abstract and Bridging[LJH1]  Interdisciplinary Text

Our description of visual perception often tends to be divided by the duality of the concrete and the abstract. However, Lupa’s work moves between the abstract and the concrete while incorporating her thoughts about literature (self-created expressions) and even a sense of corporeality and musical rhythm. For example, she utilizes the techniques of cutting, spraying and brushing to give the vibrantly thriving flowers a sense of speed and temporality. At the same time, she also adds the heterogeneous creation of poetry into the space of blending flowers, which can be viewed and compared with her proposal-like catalogue to render the exhibition truly complete.

In other words, Lupa’s observation of the perceptual realm is based on an integrated, unified approach. Her creation is not matched with suitable theorization after the completion of the works; instead, during the creative process, she already has different literary, musical, visual ideas in her mind, which eventually formulate synesthetic vocabularies in her rhythmic and poetic images. For the artist, artistic creation represents a way to record life, and is an indispensable part. Therefore, we can always experience her interdisciplinary sensibility in our visual impression formed after viewing her works.

From another perspective, her work appears to be constituted of visual codes, but it is by nature rooted in psychology, from which the artist then extends to creative elements in other fields. German art historian Max Jakob Friedländer has pointed out for us the interrelation between psychology and art: “art is a domain of the spirit, every scientific study on it shall belong to psychology. It might also involve other domains, but it always belongs to psychology.”

When Lupa Becomes a Visual Vocabulary

Throughout the stylistic development of art history, after the emergence of Neo-expressionism, visual image has been used to express emotions and social connections with a more diversified and complicated approach, such as interpretations enabled by amalgamating artistic vocabularies of different periods (Surrealism, Cubism, Pop Art, etc.) through the intermedia effects of deconstruction, reconstruction, distortion, displacement and collage. As the technology progresses, the evolution of visual culture has also been expedited. It has become more and more common for artists to incorporate past artistic knowledge into contemporary creative approaches, which produces the extended issue of interdisciplinary sensibility. Perhaps when the vocabularies conveyed by images are combined with the textual trends of design, fashion, graffiti, photography and exhibition, it can create more diverse perspectives.

A young artist born after the 80s, Lupa is able to respond to the social pulses of our time with her unique perspective. She comes from a background of strict training in design, and has a great mastery of colors; therefore, we can always see in her palette of vibrant and contrasting colors a homogeneous aesthetic expression. At the same time, in her professional training and experience, we have also seen set designs reminiscent of the theatre in her works of fashion design. Now, she has extended these characteristics to her compositions, giving them an arrangement like the proscenium stage to interpret the interaction between the image and the spectator.

The more unique aspect, however, is Lupa’s construction of her visual image system. She has created her own context of symbols and forms that allows her audience to look for subjectivity in her paintings characterized with cancelled texture and intense blocks of colors, and further achieves an exchange between the subject and the object. Interestingly, her work not only shows an Eastern quality but also imageries of exotic culture, which speak of the mysticism and also a trace of the hipster attitude while forming connection with the public through her signature, original style.