展览名称：《安全島》 黎卓華個展
展览时间：2011年11月25日至12月23日
開幕酒會：2011年11月25日(星期五) 晚上6時至8時
展览地點：香港中環善慶街1號Gallery EXIT安全口畫廊
開放時間：星期二至六 1100-1900
Gallery EXIT 安全口畫廊將呈獻黎卓華的個人展覽《安全島》。個人與現實世界若即若離的關係，慢慢演變成一種自身與周邊環境的距離感。這種感覺令藝術家質疑其角色和價值，甚至動搖個體在時間和空間裡的存在意識。黎氏看中攝影媒介能夠直接反映現實世界的特性，在其繪畫過程中重塑被相機捕足的那時那刻，彷如重新投入迷離詭弔的場景，從而確立自己和現實世界的關係。黎氏把一件件冷冰冰又具有明顯功能的人造建設，如高爾夫球旗干和迴旋處，化作線條形態都充滿美感和性格的景物。藝術家利用輕柔和細密的筆觸、幽淡而迷矇的色調把自然景觀和人造建設融為一體。
在展覽的點題作中，光滑無比的浮台處於泛起片片磷光，平如止水的大海中央。這座人造設施跟汪洋大海共存而不突兀。黎氏把她的創作歷程和心境比喻作這「安全島」：繪畫對她來說就是一個間歇性的庇護所，讓她暫時逃離現實生活的虛浮所帶來的絲絲騷動，重拾安穩。浮台上的泳客休息過後，便從浮台重新出發。游出大海的狀態和黎卓華尋找靈感的過程一樣，畫家從繪畫中得到了靈性的安撫後，一定要回到現實世界中闖蕩，才能得到新的衝擊。透過是次展覽的作品，黎氏嘗試面對那如輕紗般，而非生死攸關的挫敗和失落感，並提出另類解讀。在「渴睡的汽車」中，綠草如茵的畫面發生了一場無人參與的車禍。一架翻倒的私家車安然無恙地躺在綿綿青蔥的草地上。這種隔岸觀火的態度並沒有煽動觀眾產生目睹車禍事故後的悲憤情緒，取而代之的是以平靜的心態來看待意料之外──失敗其實並沒有甚麼大不了。
黎卓華在2007年畢業於香港中文大學藝術系，同年獲得張氏創作獎、嘉圖創作獎及翁凌宇藝術創作獎。黎氏亦是2010年傑出亞洲藝術獎決賽入圍者之一。
Sarah LAI: Safety Island
Sarah LAI, A Drowsy Car, 2011, oil on canvas, aluminium, 168 x 183 x 50 cm
Sarah LAI
Safety Island
25 November - 23 December 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, 25 November 2011, 6 - 8 pm
Gallery EXIT, 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
Hours: Tue - Sat, 1100 - 1900
Gallery EXIT is pleased to present Safety Island, the second solo exhibition of Sarah Lai with the gallery. Included in the show are 5 sets of paintings and a video that continues the artist's probing into a sense of estrangement with the familiar. Lai adopts photography's aptness in mirroring reality and seeks to reconnect with her surroundings through renditions of captured scenes. Yet unlike reality itself, Lai strips the mundane objects and structures, such as a golf flag and roundabout, off of their functions and subtly beautifies them with cool faded colours. The soft meticulous brush strokes and hazy images on canvas create an uncanny world where the man-made melds into nature to become one seamless landscape.
In the exhibition's title piece "Safety Island", a smooth marble-like beach raft floats steadily in the placid waters. The tranquil seascape seems to be unperturbed by this alien construction. In "A Drowsy Car", an overturned vehicle lolls unscathed in the soft meadow. In the absence of casualty and destruction, this pastoral scene of accident is neither violent nor distressful. Its composition points to surrender as the artist beckons to reconcile with the unperfected nature of life. Through this series of work, Lai deals with defeatism and unsentimentally offers remission.
For the artist, the creative process offers a temporary shelter as she tries to consolidate her place in the world. In a sense, painting becomes a safety island. Lai insists that this state of mind should not be constant but a pause in a journey to allow moments of uninterrupted inspection.
Sarah Lai graduated from the Fine Arts Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. In the same year, she received the Ramon Woon Creative Prize, Grotto Fine Arts Ltd.'s Creative Award and Cheng's Fine Arts Award in Western Painting. Lai is also a Finalist of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize.