文 / Wu Mali
Chen Hui-chiao's work leaves one with a number of impressions. For example, she always uses images and materials that have an extremely feminine feel to them, such as; fine / dangerous (lines, cotton, pins), fragile / refined / reverie (roses, blue light, water). However these are deals with through what are almost ritualistic repetitive movements. At the same time, she attaches particular importance to frames in her work, which tend to be expensive and designed to give a sense of detached coldness.
This antagonism or contradiction reflects the feel one gets when contrasting Chen Hui-chiao herself with the pieces she creates. If it is true to say that her work conveys a feminine atmosphere, then it would also be fair comment that the artist herself seems to want to escape from the stereotypes most often imposed on women. Thus, whilst she wants to use images and materials to relate the sensuality and fragility of life, the methods she employs to achieve this are strong / hard, seeking to fence in / restrain emotion, as opposed to letting it flourish and bloom.
Feathers, clouds, fish and water are all frequently utilized elements in the artist's work. But at the same time, we are always presented with the contradiction of wanting to fly but being unable to (or even not wanting to fly). This is expressed very clearly. The wings in the work indicate the desire to fly, but are restricted by the frame. As such, flying becomes a form of dissembling. Several pieces that involve cloud gazing similarly give us a sense of the difference between the artist's body (soul) and reason. We most often lie back to enjoy a view of the clouds, but in Chen Hui-chiao's work, we find ourselves looking down at them. Usually clouds are outdoors, but she places them indoors. Through the vehicles of water and light we enter the artist's sub conscious yearning for freedom and thereby see her own lack of freedom.
Is the frame the main cause of this lack of freedom? Neither flying nor the clouds are out of reach, it is just that the frame is the enforcer of reason. Keeping things tidy and staying in control, the artist inputs or reveals something of herself or whilst simultaneously searching for the self in her creative work. As a designer she utilizes the repetition of images and actions to hollow out the consciousness and suppress the self. Thus, we do not see the natural and unrestrained sentiment of someone resigned to taking nothing from this mortal coil, only indulgence. Indulgent dreams, indulgent desires, indulgence within a restrictive frame.
The frame is effectively an extension of the square. In her article "Grids", "...As such, the grid has done its job with striking efficiency. The barrier it has lowered between the arts of vision and those of language has been almost totally successful in walling the visual arts into a realm of exclusive visuality and defending them against the intrusion of speech." says Krauss. Chen Hui-chiao invariably uses great poetry in expressing the language element in the pursuit of a title outside the frame. |
