“用膝蓋思考”——胡向前个展“Knee Jerk Reaction”—Hu Xiangqian Solo ExhibitionText 翁子健 Photo 加号胡向前之前的几个作品(多是行为)，表现出的是一种「无目的」︰比如《太阳》或者《我一定把你开到太平洋》，他的行为看似有目的，但细想之下，却通通是不成立的。唯一成立的是他的”渴望”︰他产生了一个想法，很想实现出来，就像敲打膝盖，腿就必然会踢起，这是自然的反应，仅此而已。 胡在”碎石”的工作室(所谓工作室，其实是乡下一家小房间)，没有多少东西，只有一张床、一把双截棍、几张草稿。墙上贴了一张潦草的字：「我要做一个健全的人」。工作室旁边是一家造鼓的工房，他说，有时候他会在这里住宿，看晚上会有很多大鸟飞来，思考他的创作：「我想通过创作了解自己的思维」。 这两句话是这个展览的注脚。 这样说吧，他的艺术是在”观察”自己。他往往把自己看成一个对立的人，总是跟自己在拉扯角力。他把自己看成一种未知之数，一个需要修补的缺口。自己对自己的了解是有限的、甚至可以是错误。 人清楚知道自己的膝盖如何受了伤、可以走多远、跑多快；而他的思维如何出了错，或者可以想得多广阔、多深刻，他是不容易知道的。他在捉摸自己的”渴望”的形状，为此，正如他所说，他可能会做出很差的作品来。但是我相信这是非常重要的。
There is a kind of “un-intentionality” in Hu Xianqiang’s earlier works (mostly performance): like in “Sun” and “I must row it to the Pacific Ocean”. His performances usually look like serving for some certain purposes, but if you think carefully, he actually doesn’t have any justifiable purposes. The only thing that is justified is his “desire”: occasionally there is an idea coming on his mind, and he would want it to be realized. Like a knee-jerk reaction, it just happens naturally.
In his “Gravel” studio, which actually is only a small room in the country side, there aren’t many things --- a bed, a pair of nunchakus, and some sketches. On the wall there is a paper with careless handwriting: “I will be a healthy man.” There is a drum-making studio next to his studio, and there are big birds flying to here at midnight. He sometimes stays overnight here to think about things: “I want to understand my own thoughts through making art,” he said.
These can be the footnote for this exhibition.
His art is observing himself. He usually sees himself as an opposite face. He sees himself as an unknown thing, or a breach to be repaired. He thinks that one’s understanding about oneself is always limited, or even wrong.
One can know very clearly how his knees are hurt, and how far and fast he can run with those knees; but he could rarely know how things gone wrong in his thoughts. He is catching the shapes of his “desire”, and to do that, as he said, he might create some awful artworks. Nonetheless, I believe that is important for him.
《从中国到英国到印度尼西亚的三角日记》Triangle Diary: from China to England to Indonesia录像、手稿Video, Manuscript2009
「在国外的时候老是这样，其实我几乎是一个都看不懂的，但我会很认真地看那些字母，很想读个什么出来似的。我就按象形文字的思维，用拉丁字母写了一本日记。这是一部象形日记。」“I barely know any English, but when I was in foreign countries, I would read the foreign languages very seriously. I really want to understand something from there. I therefore use my interpretation to write a diary with English alphabets. This is a pictographic diary.”
由小洲文学艺术界联合会、小洲青年艺术节组委会联合主办，小洲文化传播有限公司承办的2009年第二届小洲青年艺术节——“25°洲游记”开幕式于11月1日在瀛洲生态公园举行，并将于2009年11月1日至11月30日期间在不同展区进行单元展示活动。第二届小洲青年艺术节以“25°洲游记”为主题构想，提倡在人体最适宜温度——25°环境下进行艺术体验之旅，旨在更大限度地呈现小洲村多元的艺术面貌，为众多艺术家、评论家、及广大艺术爱好者提供展览、交流、合作的平台。我们致力于打造广州文化艺术品牌，打开广州青年艺术的窗口。
