Chen Xi 陳曦

The University Museum and Art Gallery collaborates with Chen Xi on the exhibition Chen Xi: So We Remember. This catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

The paintings illustrate important events that have shaped our modern world. The artist created this series of contemporary images to commemorate, to document and to provoke thought. The show presents her preliminary pen and watercolour drawings along with the finished oil paintings. Meticulous in her research and true to both the documented incident and the domestic details, Chen Xi creates historical paintings for our present and future generations. Her method directly relates to contemporary life and to a society that is informed and influenced by modern-day media. Interestingly, the painter does not simply depict a historic event, but frames within a TV screen each episode of her sequential and international narrative. By presenting the paintings within the TV’s glass, they become screen shots linked to a specific moment in time and space, as well as to the living room setting where the news would have been seen.

Chen Xi’s connection to her audience is as multifaceted as the international community viewing the paintings. Individuals are reminded of the broader implications and specific details of the political or social events being depicted. In concert with this, viewers are drawn in, sometimes uncomfortably close, to the domestic interior within the work. The artist’s dialogue recalls and re-presents a moving tribute to the events.

香港大學美術博物館與藝術家陳曦合作，舉辦《陳曦：所以記憶》展覽，本書是配合是次展覽而出版的圖錄。

是次展覽展出一系列陳曦繪畫的當代圖像，用以紀念、記錄並啟迪思潮。繪畫題材取自世界大事。展品包括油畫和鉛筆及水彩畫底稿。陳曦秉持嚴謹的研究態度，並捕捉和記錄事件的細節，為現當代和將來創作了富有歷史意義的作品。她的創作手法與當代生活，以及被現代媒體塑造和影響的社會息息相關。藝術家並非只描繪個別歷史事件，而是將其井然有序地置於其畫筆下的電視屏幕中。通過電視屏幕，事件仿如屏幕截圖，連結至特定的時空，也連結至在客廳收看電視的觀眾。

觀看陳曦的作品，都會勾起這些有廣泛影響的政治或社會事件的記憶。同樣，觀眾從作品描繪的世界大事中，甚至會產生不安和有如親臨其境。藝術家與藝術的對話，喚起並重現了對這些事件的觸動容和敬意。