Irreversibility of Irretrievability
solo exhibition by LI Cheng-Hsun
10 Oct. - 21 Nov. 2015
“Irreversibility of Irretrievability”—this is what I feel lately. This is also what I’ve perceived recently during the course of conceiving ideas. The development of creating is a series of irreversible chemical reactions; once it’s started, it is impossible to be reversed. From underpainting, taping, coloring, removing tapes, repeated piling to placing objects, creating is like a marathon: the only choice is straining to cross the finishing line. Quitting or leaving is never an option. Meanwhile, I desire to collect the pieces of my life by creating. I believe in karma, and our karmic actions lead to one another. Cause and effect. It’s fate that brings us together, yet it is fate as well that tears us apart. These people, events, and objects nurture my life, while my works serve as the carriers that record stories of life and trails of fate. I am in fear of separation; I live in dread of losing; hence, during the process of creating, I selfishly include the stories and trails in my works. I want to fight, flight against losing, against separation as well as the transformation of myself. When I create, it requires quite an amount of labor-intensive activities; at the same time, it is necessary for me to maintain focused and absolute, as if an ascetic, who has to resist temptations and ignore interruptions. Hence, my solo show—“Irreversibility of Irretrievability.”
「不可逆抗力」,是最近生活的一些感觸,也是我最近思考作品時的心得,在創作的過程中,就像一場不可逆的化學變化,一旦開始就無法還原,從打底、貼膠帶、上色、拆除交代 、反覆推疊、放上凸出物,就像是一場馬拉松賽跑,只能拼命往終點前進,而沒有放棄或中斷的可能。同時我也想把生活中那些吉光片羽,用創作保留下來,一直相信每件事情的發生,都是因果的產生,有因就有果,因著因緣所以相識、相聚,也隨著緣滅而分開、離散,這些人事物構成生命的養份,而作品就像是一個載體,記錄了這些緣分,我害怕分離,害怕失去,所以在創作的過程中,私心地想把這些都放進作品裡,抵抗著,抵抗著失去,分離,也抵抗著自己的變化。在我創作的過程中,需要身體大量、密集的勞動,同時也要維持著專注與純粹,彷彿修行一般,要抵抗外在的一切誘惑、雜訊。因此,「不可逆抗力」成為我此次的個展。