Hong Kong

Encounters 2023

<p><span style="font-size: 24px;"><em style="background-color: initial;">The Vector<br /></em>《向量》<em style="background-color: initial;"><br /></em><span style="background-color: initial;"><em style="background-color: initial;"></em></span></span><span style="background-color: initial;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">2022</span></span></p>

White Cube 白立方

David Altmejd 大衛．阿爾特米德

English

普通话

粵語

<p>Born 1974 in Montreal<br />Lives and works in Los Angeles</p><p>1974年生於蒙特婁<br />現於洛杉磯生活及工作</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 16px;"><em style="background-color: initial;">The Vector<br /></em>2022<br />3.97 x 1.82 x 1.82 m<br />Expanding foam, epoxy, acrylic paint, resin, glass eyes, coloured pencil, pencil, fibreglass, glass rhinestone and wood</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"></span></p><p>David Altmejd describes the perfect object as something that is extremely seductive and extremely repulsive at the same time. <em>The Vector</em> is an anthropomorphic figure with the ears of a hare seated in a yogic pose. Its giant ears extend upwards to extreme heights, whilst in front is an opening to the hare’s burrow, which appears to have been dug from the very matter in which the figure is made. This absurdist scene is evocative of a transformation occurring between the human and the animal, the material and the fantastical, decay and regeneration. For the artist, the hare is representative of the Jungian archetype of the trickster, mythologically recognised as irrational and capricious, a prankster and shapeshifter, a messenger from the subconscious, a catalyst for metamorphosis, and a harbinger of abundant delirium. The Chinese zodiac describes the rabbit as vigilant, witty, and ingenious – characteristics that seem well-aligned with the artist’s hybrid human-hare alter-ego. </p><p>David Altmejd’s work is a unique and heady mix of science and magic, science fiction and gothic romanticism: a post-apocalyptic vision which is at the same time essentially optimistic, containing as it always does the potential for regeneration, evolution and invention.</p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;">《向量》<br />2022<br />3.97 x 1.82 x 1.82米<br />膨脹泡沫、環氧樹脂、丙烯酸塗料、樹脂、玻璃眼睛、彩色鉛筆、鉛筆、玻璃纖維、玻璃水鑽和木頭</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;"></span></p><p>大衛．阿爾特米德將完美的物體定義為既極度誘人又極度令人厭惡的事物。《向量》是一個頭頂長著野兔耳朵，以瑜珈姿勢屈膝而坐的人物造型。他巨型的耳朵延伸至高聳的上空，而前面這個通向野兔洞穴的入口，似乎就是以製作這個人物的物料挖掘而成。這種荒誕的場面令人想起人與動物、有形與虛幻、腐朽與再生之間的轉變。對於藝術家而言，野兔是榮格原型中騙子的代表，被賦予為象徵非理性和反覆無常、百厭星或者牆頭草，潛意識的信使、蛻變的催化以及譫妄的預兆；而中國的十二生肖將兔子描述為正義、機智和靈巧，這些特徵似乎與這個半人兔人物的另一個自我非常吻合。</p><p>大衛．阿爾特米德令人陶醉的創作是科學與魔法，科幻與歌德浪漫式的獨特融合：這是一種後末日的願景，同時本質上是樂觀的，並一如既往地包含再生，進化和創造的潛力。</p>

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Hong Kong

David Altmejd 大衛．阿爾特米德

White Cube 白立方

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