Feb. 22 - Mar. 22, 2019
United Art Museum, Wuhan (China)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2318467015090307&set=pcb.2318467238423618&type=3&theater
Exhibition Catalog
Sep. 2019
Seoul
“something behind”
Most things we see are opaque, we can see just the surfaces but not the inside, the hidden elements and
structures. However, in everyday-life, our assumptions about the hidden parts are most times correct,
because of our experiences with the with things around. We can recognize a school building as a school
building and our assumptions about its functions, its structures and about what is happening inside will be
more or less correct.
As a foreigner in China (also in Korea) I see many things, which attract my attention. But since I am not
accustomed and I can´t even read, my understanding is limited. However, I try to interpret the things I see
also beyond bare visual appearance and that is stimulating and challenging my imagination. I am aware
that often, my hypotheses about the functions, structures and intentions of what I see, stays speculative.
It is interesting, for me as artist, to deal with that ambiguity in my paintings and to show details and
objects and buildings without that I exactly know about their backgrounds, functions, intentions and
ideas.
When looking at a painting, the spectator just sees an opaque surface. In case of my paintings he can
probably recognize the depicted motives, but the artworks meaning, intentions, ideas and concepts,
cannot be seen, – they can just be assumed. Those invisible but essential elements of art, appear in the
artwork just indirect and keep therefore a certain ambiguity.
The artistic process is very complex, because it comprises the rational, conscious principles and concepts
the same as the aesthetic, psychological, non-rational and sensual elements. It is a chain of decisions
about themes, motives, formats, material, techniques, references, expression-forms, compositions,
colors, nuances and structures, and many of those decisions are beyond the threshold of consciousness.
Even for the artists themselves, their work contains some aspects and elements they could never explain.
After all, it is this openness, the “secret of art”, which attracts people, because artworks invite to expand
experience and imagination, they arouse questions without ultimate answers; because there is always
something behind.
Ingo Baumgarten
(Text for the exhibition in United Art Museum, Wuhan, China, February March 2019)
https://www.ingobaumgarten.de/texts/2019-02-something%20behind%20-%20E.pdf
前 言
文/艾小铮
Ingo Baumgarten 作为“候鸟计划驻留项目”第一位被推选出来的艺术家，已于 2017 年 2 月 23 日在合美术馆举办了一次展览。时隔两年，他再次到武汉创意天地驻留，进行了为期三个月的艺术学习交流和创作实践。合美术馆与创意天地艺术家工作室在 Ingo Baumgarten 完成第二次“候鸟计划驻留项目”之际，也邀请他在美术馆三楼公共区域举办一个名为”背后的故事”的展览，此次共计展出 Ingo 的油画和手稿作品 30 余件。
武汉对于 Ingo Baumgarten 来说是异国他乡，总有许多新奇和有趣的事物吸引他的注意，这便成为了他这次创作的起点。Ingo 总能从生活细节中触发创作灵感，这次“候鸟计划驻留项目”期间，他在武汉所见的建筑空间以及日常接触到的事物的独特细节加以思考和表达。从他的作品中，我们不难发现这位德国艺术家作品笔触细腻、梦幻而真实，Ingo 试图带领观众发现隐藏在每一件作品背后的意义，探索不同文化间的碰撞所带来的惊喜。
本次展览分为两个部分：第一部分是油画作品，包含 Ingo Baumgarten在武汉地区创作的作品。武汉作为中部建设中的特大型现代化城市，给他印象最深的是随处可见的巨型施工场地，比如创意天地园区及附近的一些建筑（创客星、艺术家工作室）、用于地铁建设的设备（门式起重机）以及南湖的风景等等，都是他创作的灵感来源；第二部分是手稿作品，主要是他在武汉的日常速写习作和一些研究性草图，共计 15 件。手稿既是艺术家创作的基础，也是观众理解艺术创
作过程的有益途径。此次“背后的故事”的展览，试图通过手稿与作品结合的形式，进行一种独特有效的展示——这既是对 Ingo Baumgarten 在武汉创作的这批作品的一次系统的梳理，也是对 Ingo Baumgarten 在驻留期间创作成果的一次回顾与总结。
“背后的故事”以亲切而生动的艺术形式呈现给观众，蕴含着对现实空间环境、生活事件等的关注与思考。Ingo Baumgarten 在自述中说“当我们只看到作品的表面，没能看到隐藏在作品背后的意图和想法时，是需要我们花费更多的时间去理解艺术家和艺术作品的”。的确，他试图通过此次展览实现的即是希望本地观众在欣赏作品时，能根据自身对于城市的亲身感受而产生一些共鸣，拉近艺术与生活的距离，增强对 Ingo Baumgarten”背后的故事”的体验感，从而激发观众对其作品及的理解以及对当代艺术的兴趣。
Foreword
By Ai Xiaozheng
Ingo Baumgarten has been the first artist selected for the “Migrant BirdProgram Residency Program”, and held already an exhibition at the UnitedArt Museum in February -March 2017.Two years later, he came again tostayat Wuhan Creative Capital for a three-month art artist residency. In order toshow the results of this residency to the public, United Art MuseumandWuhan Creative Capital once again invited him to hold the exhibition titled“something behind” in the public area on the third floor of the Art Museum. This exhibition brings together over 30 pieces of Ingo’s oil paintings and
works on paper. For Ingo Baumgarten, Wuhan is a foreign place with many amazing andinteresting things attracting his attention, inspiring his creation. Since
Baumgarten is always inspired by details of everyday-life, he also duringhis
residency reflects on and expresses specific details of the architectural spacesand ordinary things he observes. From his works, it is not difficult to findthat
the German artist’s works are delicate, dreamy yet real. He leaves various
opportiunities to the spactartor for own interpretation, and maybe eventodiscover hidden meanings, and the irritation that vagueness produces, might
throw back to reflections about different cultural backgrounds. The exhibition is divided into two parts: the first part consists of oil paintings, created by Ingo Baumgarten in Wuhan. As a super-large modern city under
construction in central China, Wuhan impresses him most with the hugeconstruction sites everywhere. Besides, the Creative Capital Park and its
surrounding buildings such as Creative Capital, artist studio, equipments for
subway construction like portal crane, and landscapes of Nanhu Lake, etc. also inspire his creations. The second part consists of 15 works on paper, which are mainly his daily sketching work in Wuhan and some researchsketches. Drawing is the basis of creation, and is necessary for himto haveadeep understanding of the city of Wuhan. It’s also of great importance for theaudience to understand the works created by the artist in Wuhan. This
exhibition titled “something behind” aims for a unique and effective display
through the combination of preparatory sketches and works. It is a
systematic review and summary of Ingo’s three-month creative activity inWuhan. “something behind” is presented to the audience in an intimate andvivid exhibition format, with concerns and reflections on the real space
environment and life events. In his own text for the exhibition, Ingo
Baumgarten said that “Spectator can just see the surface. Everything beyond, the spectator has to assume (deduce, derive), without that things are reallycertain. therefore the findings especially about artworks keep some
vagueness / ambiguity”. Indeed, Baumgartens exhibition hopes that theaudience in Wuhan can resonate with him based on their own personal
feelings about their surrounding. While appreciating the art works, art andlifeapproaches, The intimacy of Ingo Baumgarten’s “something behind” achievesa deeper understanding and stimulates their interest in Ingo Baumgarten’s
works and contemporary art.
(The author is the curator)
https://www.ingobaumgarten.de/texts/2019-United%20art%20Museum-Ai%20Xiaozheng1.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment