Michael Borremans

出版者:David Zwirner

作者:Michael Borremans

页数:0

出版时间:2006

价格:USD 40.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780976913641

具体描述

This exhibition includes a group of new canvases exploring the depiction of mental states through the careful release and withholding of visual and conceptual clues. With a traditional style akin to Baroque and Rococo portraiture and pastoral scenes, Borremans' paintings reside in an uncomfortable place - one that is best understood through introspection rather than imposed rationale. Haunting yet familiar enough to evoke buried memories, Borremans' images are peaceful upon first encounter, yet they intensify and become eerily unsettling after prolonged viewing.

The title Horse Hunting is a metaphor for the attempt to achieve something that is just short of attainable; in this case referring to an artist's creative process as well as that of human nature as a whole. This notion that the desired cannot be realized (or cannot be completely processed from either a physical or spiritual point of view) leaves Borremans' paintings in a transformative and mystified state. Adding to their psychological intensity, the works' lustrous surface of visible brushstrokes, bringing to mind Manet or perhaps Velasquez, are rendered in palettes of diffused, shadowy browns, oranges and grays.

In this exhibition, the paintings fall loosely into three points of view. The "Portraits" feature young male subjects with pensive expressions, cropped in a non-conventional manner to reveal just the head, neck and shoulders, as in passport photographs. These are quasi-anonymous individuals; they are not named or further defined, hence they become versatile forms able to contain a multitude of references, much like political portraits in which the sitter's ideology is embedded (one thinks of Mao Tse-Tung as a historical example). In Portrait (2005), the sitter's eyes, heavy-lidded under an equally heavy brow, seem to impart both arrogance and pity.

The "Bodies" suggest a parallel to Goya's The Third of May (1808) and Manet's The Execution of Maximilian (1867-68). In Borremans' Three Men Standing (2005), two of the three men, who stand in a line against a wall, are cropped at the canvas' left and right edges. A sense of violence - both conceptual and formal - imbue the composition with the feeling of impending terror. In other paintings, subjects lie on the floors of shadowed interiors with eyes closed; we are left to wonder if they are dead or merely asleep.

In other, more allegorical works, Borremans eschews direct associations in favor of an ambiguous absurdity. In The Hare (2005), two young boys, one with hands politely behind his back and the other holding an outstretched hare, gaze down at the animal (which Borremans has lit romantically on its underside) without recognizable intention. In The Appearance (2005), three men stand around a table, hands outstretched and palms up as if in séance, suggesting the otherworldly or vaguely supernatural. It is in these and other small details - the unnoticed eccentricities of human expression - that Borremans' fleshes out his unusual psychological agenda.

作者简介

MichaIl Borremans was born in 1963 in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. Solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Kunsthalle Bremehaven, and the Museum f r Gegenwartskunst in Basel, Switzerland, among others. Borremans lives and works in Ghent.

用户评价

读到一半，我开始思考这位艺术家的创作核心到底是什么。他似乎热衷于捕捉那些“正在发生”的瞬间，但这些瞬间又被处理得异常凝固，仿佛时间被按下了慢放键，甚至完全停止了。那些人物，无论是从事日常劳作，还是陷入沉思，他们身上总有一种难以言喻的“在乎”感，但这种在乎指向何方，却又扑朔迷离。我尤其欣赏他对于“姿态”的捕捉，那不仅仅是身体的姿势，更像是灵魂的一种外化表现。比如，某个角色微微侧转的脖颈，或是双手交叠的微妙角度，都透露出一种内在的紧张或松弛。这种内在的叙事感，完全超越了表面的主题。而且，Borremans的构图总是那么大胆和平衡，他敢于在画面中留出大片的“空白”区域，但这空白绝非虚无，它像是一种必要的呼吸空间，让主要的视觉焦点得以更强烈地爆发出来。这本画册的印刷质量也值得称赞，色彩的还原度很高，纸张的质感很好地承托了原作油画那种厚重而又细腻的肌理感，非常适合进行深入的视觉研究。

如果你期待的是色彩斑斓、主题明确的作品，那么这本画册可能会让你感到意外，甚至有些许的迷惑。它的魅力在于其晦涩和含蓄。Borremans似乎在挑战我们对“美”的传统定义，他用一种近乎古典学院派的技法，去描绘那些充满当代焦虑和现代异化感的场景。那种略带病态的、精致的颓废感，贯穿于他的整个创作脉络之中。我注意到，许多作品都带有舞台布景般的刻意感，人物似乎被置于一个精心搭建的剧场中，等待着某个高潮的到来，然而那个高潮可能永远不会发生。这种对悬置的艺术处理，极具挑衅性。这本书的编辑和装帧团队显然理解艺术家的意图，他们没有试图用花哨的排版来“美化”这些深刻的作品，而是选择了简洁、有力的呈现方式，让图像本身说话。对于希望了解当代欧洲绘画如何处理古典遗产和现代性之间张力的研究者来说，这本书简直是不可多得的范本。

这本画册简直就是一场视觉的盛宴，每一个翻页都充满了惊喜。Borremans的用色总是那么的克制又精准，那种介于现实与梦境之间的灰调，一下子就把你拽进了一个安静得能听见呼吸的世界。我特别喜欢他处理光影的方式，光线不是简单的照明，而更像是一种叙事的力量，它勾勒出人物的轮廓，却又留下大片的、令人遐想的阴影。看他的作品，总有一种时间被拉得很长的感觉，好像每一个姿态、每一个眼神背后都藏着一个漫长而复杂的故事，但艺术家却非常高明地选择了沉默，把解读的空间完全留给了我们。那几幅室内场景，家具的摆放、窗帘的褶皱，每一个细节都经过了精心的斟酌，它们不是背景，它们是共同的主角，与画面中的人物一起构建了一种特有的、略带疏离感的戏剧张力。画面的完成度极高，笔触细腻到让人屏息，但同时又不失绘画本身的“在场感”，你能感受到颜料是如何被有意识地涂抹上去的，这种技术上的自信，实在令人叹服。总的来说，这不是那种一眼就能看完就扔开的图像，它需要你慢下来，甚至需要你带着一点敬畏去观看，每一次重访都会有新的发现。

说实话，初看时可能会觉得有些“冷”，这种冷不是指情感上的，而是指他构建的那个世界观自带一种疏离的、几乎是博物馆式的距离感。但随着深入，你会发现这份冷冽恰恰是通往深刻体验的钥匙。他没有迎合观众的期待，没有提供廉价的解释或强烈的情感刺激，而是用一种近乎哲学的冷静，探讨着存在本身的问题。画面中经常出现镜面、反射或者多重视角，这使得观看行为本身也成了一种被审视的对象——我们到底看到了什么？我们希望从这些图像中看到什么？这种对“观看”本身的探讨，让他的作品拥有了超越单纯绘画艺术的维度。我个人非常偏好他那些带有明显历史绘画风格但又被他用现代手法解构重塑的作品，那种既熟悉又陌生的张力，让人欲罢不能。这本书的排版设计也体现了对艺术的尊重，图片之间的留白处理得当，没有让人感到信息过载，每幅作品都有足够的空间进行独立呼吸和对话。

我一直在寻找那种能够触动我内心深处、让我产生“原来如此”顿悟感的艺术作品，这本画册在很多时刻都给予了我这种体验。Borremans的叙事方式是碎片化的，他像是扔下一堆线索，让你自己去拼凑那个宏大的、可能根本不存在的整体故事。这种不确定性，反而激发了观者更强的参与感和创造力。他笔下的人物，他们的表情往往是内敛到几乎无法辨认的，但正是这种微妙，使得他们的内心世界变得无限深邃。我尤其喜欢他如何处理材质的对比，比如光滑的皮肤与粗糙的背景布料之间的微妙过渡，这种触觉上的暗示，通过视觉被完美地传达出来。这本书的装帧也透露着一种沉稳的品质，拿在手里份量十足，内页的纸张对油画颜料的层次感呈现得非常到位，尤其是那些深色区域的细节，完全没有“糊掉”，依然能看出丰富的笔触变化。这无疑是一本会经受住时间考验的艺术书籍。