Art Kaohsiung 2016

Jinggoy Buensuceso

(b. 1982) In the Philippine culture, the prominence of alternative medicines thrive incredibly in the country's rural areas. These practices are mostly founded upon faith and the supernatural. They embed the idea of healing in supposed natural yet abstract ways. One of these ways is the "pagtatawas" wherein causes of certain illnesses are detected through interpretations of melted candle wax drippings solidified on water.

Buensuceso’s artwork reflects this same concept. Derived from melted aluminium, represents the unpredictability of these drippings as well as the dependence on this abstract, non-scientific phenomenon of healing. The paradox of a solid fluidity coincides in the seemingly soft and graceful flow of the metal across its space. The thirteenth element stands as the foundation of this sculpture, with its abundance aptly associated with the still prominent mystical healing practice in the Philippines where most Filipinos still lift up burdens to their faith.

（1982 年生）在菲律賓文化中，另類療法在鄉村地區的盛行程度令人瞠目結舌，這些療法大多奠基於民間信仰和超自然力量，人們將療癒的概念寄託於號稱天然卻無憑無據的方法。其中之一為「帕格塔療法」，將融化的燭蠟滴在水面上，待其凝固後可從中讀出特定疾病的成因。 布恩賽索（Buensuceso）的藝術作品呈現相同概念，他以燒熔的鋁為創作媒材，代表這些蠟滴的變幻莫測以及人們如何仰賴這既無根據也不科學的醫療現象。鋁金屬的線條在空間中看似輕柔優雅地流淌而過，展露固態與流動性共存的矛盾。第十三號元素為此雕塑的基礎，它的豐饒富足恰好與今日仍盛行於菲律賓的神祕療法有所連結，大部分的當地居民至今仍寄情於宗教信仰。

Kara de Dios

(b. 1984) Kara de Dios is a Visual Communications graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. She is a traditionally trained artist but also a graphic designer and web developer. Kara has exhibited at a number of group shows at F+Art, Pablo Gallery, Prose Art Gallery, ManilArt 2014, and under Galerie Stephanie at Art Fair Tokyo in 2015. Her first solo exhibition entitled, “In the Pink” was held at Galerie Stephanie in 2015.

Her works play with pictures of health and femininity, depicted through the self-portraiture that repeatedly figures into de Dios’s portfolio. “I always felt that anything objectively and typically beautiful was boring,” she writes of the signature “boob-heads” that populate her strange, soupy world. De Dios’s art often deals with her relationship with the female body. As a contemporary artist, Kara’s ripened imagery is as visually seductive as it is heavy with its yoke of feminist imagery.

卡拉・迪歐絲 （Kara de Dios）（1984 年生）擁有菲律賓大學藝術學院的視覺傳達學位，她既是受過傳統訓練的藝術家，也是平面設計師和網站開發工程師。迪歐絲曾在數場群展中展出作品，地點包括 F+ 畫廊（F+Art）、帕布羅畫廊（Pablo Gallery）、散文藝術畫廊（ Prose Art Gallery）、2014 年馬尼拉藝術博覽會（ManilArt），2015 年東京藝術博覽會期間（Art Fair Tokyo）也於史蒂芬妮畫廊（ Galerie Stephanie） 展出。 迪歐絲的作品玩味健康與女性圖像，藉由作品集中反覆出現的自畫像來描繪。作品裡的奇異世界濛瀧氤氳，滿是招牌「乳頭」，「我總認為任何以客觀、典型角度看來美麗的東西很無聊。」她這麼說道。迪歐絲的藝術時常探討她與女體之間的關係，身為當代藝術家，迪歐絲熟透飽滿的意象不僅視覺上充滿魅惑之力，也因女性主義意象的枷鎖而沉重不已。

Vincent de Pio

(b. 1979) Vincent de Pio graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts Major in Painting from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. His upbringing in an artistic family introduced him to artistic techniques early on in life. Captivated by the female form, his subjects range from female musicians, ballet dancers, and more recently, Japanese geisha.

Of his style Vincent says, “my works are more of a reflection of myself and my emotions. There is wit and humor, anger and chaos. My narratives are based on snippets of my past and present.” His newest works move his practice to acrylic on origami (folded paper). He combines the Japanese philosophy of "wabi-sabi" – an aesthetic that finds beauty in the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete – with the humor and spontaneity he has come to be known for, resulting in unique pop art tempered by Eastern aesthetic.

文森・皮歐（Vincent de Pio）（1979 年生）擁有菲律賓大學藝術學院的學士學位，主修繪畫。他出身藝術世家，孩提時代就對各種創作手法耳濡目染。皮歐著迷於女性體態，作畫對象包括女性音樂家、芭蕾舞者，乃至於最近的日本藝伎。 皮歐如此評論他的風格：「我的作品比較像關於自己與自身情緒的反思。也有機智和幽默、憤怒與渾沌。我的敘事題材來自過去記憶和此時此刻的吉光片羽。」他最新的作品改以壓克力顏料繪製摺紙為表現手法。他將日式哲思「侘寂」——也就是在不完美、短暫、有所缺陷的事物中發現美的一門美學——與逐漸成為他個人特色的幽默感和自然流露的情感結合，打造出洋溢東方美學的獨特普普藝術。

Rommel Joson

(b. 1978) Rommel graduated magna cum laude and valedictorian from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Prior to that he finished Business Management with a Dean’s Award from the Ateneo de Manila University. Since then, Rommel has worked as an art director, designer, illustrator, and most recently, a teacher. Being a writer and a well-read artist, Rommel’s forte is the intertwining of narrative with the visual.

In his melted book series for Art Kaohsiung, Rommel binds the world of surrealism with sculptural aesthetics using hardbound collectives that represent people’s identities and memories. These melted books appear like candles whose absent flames soften the “waxed” pages into a colorful plethora of paint. He likewise draws inspiration from the idea that books are “like sculptures of information—words and stories made into tangible objects.”

羅美爾（Rommel）（1978 年生）以優異成績畢業於菲律賓大學藝術學院，擔任畢業生致詞代表。在那之前他已先在馬尼拉亞典耀大學取得企業管理學位並榮獲院長獎。之後，羅美爾曾擔任藝術總監、設計師、插畫家、最近還執過教鞭。羅美爾同時身為作家和博學的藝術家，強項是相互交織的敘事與影像。 他於高雄藝術博覽會展出的「融化的書」系列作品結合超現實世界與雕塑美學，用精裝書代表人們的身份和記憶，這些書如同蠟燭般融化，隱形的火焰將蠟質書頁軟化成一窪繽紛的色彩漩渦。對羅美爾而言，書籍「就像是以資訊雕成的塑像——文字與故事化身為觸手可碰的實體。」他從此概念中獲得靈感。

Allison Wong-David

Wong-David, a graduate of the Chelsea School of Fine Art in London, exhibits a restraint not common in the local contemporary art scene. Hard work is necessary for the work of Wong-David, where kraft paper is cut out to reveal organic patterns similar to shadows cast by light streaming through trees. Pencil shading on pith paper recreates their shadowy gradations. For the subject of her work, it contains what has consistently been the invisible and even mystical realities we face: spirit, interconnectedness, and our ethical responsibilities in the interconnectedness of everything.

翁大衛（Wong-David） 畢業於倫敦切爾西藝術與設計學院，她的作品展現當地當代藝術中不常見的一股節制力。翁大衛孕育作品必得經過一番勤懇功夫，她將美術紙剪成生氣蓬勃的花樣，好似陽光透過枝葉灑落形成的黯影，並在宣紙上用鉛筆色塊重現不同深淺的陰影色調。她作品的主題囊括我們面對的那些恆久無形、甚至神祕難解的事實：神靈、相互聯結性、以及我們在這萬事萬物互相依存的世界中的倫理責任。