四方当代美术馆荣幸宣布将于2024年4月26日至6月30日间呈现英国艺术家威廉·蒙克（William Monk）个展“引灵人”。本次展览展出其自2019年至今的近20件作品，在呈现蒙克于绘画语言方面的探索外，展览还将他神秘绘画背后的文化记忆与生命体验，互文性地编织于四方当代美术馆的三层展厅空间中。
Sifang Art Museum is pleased to announce British artist William Monk’s solo exhibition Psychopomp, on view from April 26 through June 30, 2024. The exhibition showcases nearly 20 works created by the artist since 2019. While presenting Monk’s exploration of pictorial language, the exhibition weaves cultural memories and life experiences behind these enigmatic paintings intertextually into the three-floor exhibition space of Sifang Art Museum.
威廉·蒙克，引灵人（摆渡人），2020-2022
布面油画，70 × 140 cm
私人收藏
William Monk, Underworld Psychopomp (the ferryman), 2020-2022
Oil on canvas, 70 × 140 cm
Courtesy of Private Collection
本次展览标题取自于“摆渡人”系列作品中的《引灵人（摆渡人）》。这个近乎图腾般的形象源于艺术家试图去想象那无法想象的事物——死亡。蒙克对不同文化如何描述死亡颇感兴趣，他想象过自己的死亡。如同希腊神话中的引灵人卡戎（Charon），艺术家将绘画作为“引灵”的仪式，通过这种方式，他不断在图像的生成过程中捕捉个体意识及灵魂的存在方式。受瑞士精神医生赫尔曼·罗夏（Hermann Rorschach）“墨迹测验”的启发，并结合他童年最喜欢的《黄色潜水艇》（披头士乐队专辑同名电影），他创造了另一种高度个人化的灵性“视觉咒语”，他自己的摆渡人和引灵人。
The exhibition derives its title from the painting Underworld Psychopomp (the ferryman), a work in the ferryman series. The quasi-totemic figure originates from Monk’s attempt to imagine the unimaginable, namely death. Interested in how cultures describe death, the artist has imagined his own. Like the Charon, a guide of souls in Greek mythology, Monk uses painting as a “soul-guiding” ritual, in this way, he continuously captures forms of individual consciousness and soul in his image-generating process. Inspired by Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach’s inkblot test and drawing on his childhood favorite film The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, he has created an alternative and highly personal shamanic “visual mantra”, his ferryman and guide.
威廉·蒙克，烟圈山 II，2023
布面油画，270 × 255 cm
艺术家收藏，致谢佩斯画廊
William Monk, Smoke Ring Mountain II, 2023
Oil on canvas, 270 × 255 cm
Courtesy of the Artist and Pace Gallery
威廉·蒙克以其打破具象表达的神秘主义绘画而闻名。观者被他的作品引入一个幻境，在这个世界中，艺术家不断释放图像与“意义”的关联信号，并通过持续重复相同的要素隐晦地构建自己的符号谱系，却往往在观众即将在绘画与现实之间达成意义联结的瞬间将其中止。在一层展厅的“烟圈山”系列I、II中，画面为含义不明的淡粉色所笼罩；而到了同系列III、IV，整个背景中充斥着阴郁的、涌动着危险的暗红渐变色，他们以烟为信号进行通讯，在雾中难以转写。在美术馆的下沉式空间中，创作于2021-2022年间的圆形绘画《子（回归） I》与《新星（盲眼） III》，则如同正处在开合之间的时空通道，漂浮在展厅空中。前者画面中神圣且持续弥散的黄色呼应了该作品颇具宗教意味的标题：在充满能量的核心外，画面边缘如同神经突触、植物枝蔓，抑或是不断裂变中的有机体，安抚着神秘性带来的恐慌。而在后者中，新星正在吸附生命能量。不过，这件作品又在画面上体现为一种临界状态，一种假想中的盲眼视域（或闭目时视网膜上闪动的残影），一种在黑暗中孕育生命的潜能。在这种潜能中，生命在不同形式的转换中生生不息。
William Monk is known for his enigmatic paintings that break down figuration. Viewers are drawn into a fictive realm by his works where the artist keeps realizing signals connecting imagery and “significance”, while repeating certain elements to subtly construct his own symbolic spectrum. However, he always halts at a moment when the viewer is poised to establish meaningful connections between the paintings and reality. I and II of the Smoke Ring Mountain series, exhibited in the first-floor main gallery, are bathed in an ambiguous light pink hue, while III and IV are overcast with a somber gradient crimson where danger looms. Their communicating through smoke signals, hard to transcribe in the fog. In the museum’s staircase space, Son (return) I and Nova (deadeye) III—circular paintings created between 2021 and 2022—hover midair like a space tunnel caught in motion. The former exudes a sacred and ever-dispersing yellow that resonates with the religious undertones of its title. Outside the energy-filled core, the canvas edges resemble synapses, plant tendrils, or organisms in perpetual fission, offering solace amidst the panic brought by mysticism. Meanwhile, the latter depicts a nova absorbing life energy. Pictorially speaking, the work evokes a limbo state, an imaginary blind spot (or flickering residues left on closed retinas), a promise for life emerging out of darkness. Within this promise, life thrives and endures through its metamorphosis into different forms.
威廉·蒙克，摆渡人 II，2021-2022
布面油画，220 × 330 cm
四方当代美术馆馆藏
William Monk, The Ferryman II, 2021-2022
Oil on canvas, 220 × 330 cm
Collection of Sifang Art Museum
圆形在《摆渡人 II》中再次出现，悬于负一层展厅，这是它自身的冥界。“摆渡人”的形象置身于“新星（盲眼）”系列色彩布局的镜像世界之中，背景中的“暗色”由复杂的色块构成有机、流动的视觉意象，亦让人联想到早期布满噪点的电视图像，以及这种图像背后的混杂生命体验。肉色的、类似生命存在的半圆形的边缘推挤着“暗色”，以至于我们无法分辨明与暗、生长与毁灭、存在与虚无之间的差异。正如二层的《原子山》中，上升的力量最终化为对世界冷眼旁观的云团。但在山体内部，生命的迹象通过一种正在蠕动中的有机物质得以彰显；在“无处之子”系列中，艺术家向我们展示了法国人类学家马克·奥热（Marc Augé）描述的“非场所”（non-place）——抹除人类关系、历史遗迹身份的人类学空间。在由建筑师斯蒂文·霍尔（Steven Holl）设计的空中展廊中，“无处之子”也意在调用作品之外的特定场域，引领观众清空所有早被预设的逻辑，在“人类世”（Anthropocene）以超越人类的视角审视所有生命与非生命的存在形式。
Hung at the lowest level of the exhibition, its own underworld, circular forms re-emerge in The Ferryman II, with the figure of “ferryman” positioned within a mirror-image universe created by the color scheme of the Nova (deadeye) series. The background “darkness” comprises organic, fluid visual imagery formed by intricate colors, evoking the static noise of early-stage television images and variegated life experiences behind such imagery. Flesh-colored, lifelike semicircular edges jostle this to the extent that we can barely distinguish between brightness and darkness, growth and destruction, being and nothingness. Similarly, in Mount Atom higher up on the second floor, an ascending power ultimately transforms into clouds that cast a cold gaze upon the world. However, within the mountains or mounds of earth, signs of life manifest themselves as writhing organic matter. In the series of Son of Nowhere, the artist unfolds French anthropologist Marc Augé’s concept of “non-place”—an anthropological space where human relations and historical remains are erased. This series, displayed in the upper gallery designed by architect Steven Holl, also intends to mobilize specific areas beyond the artwork. It guides viewers to discard any predetermined logic and examine all beings, living and non-living, from a perspective that transcends the Anthropocene.
威廉·蒙克，无处之子 I，2023
布面油画，270 × 255 cm
艺术家收藏，致谢佩斯画廊
William Monk, Son of Nowhere I, 2023
Oil on canvas, 270 × 255 cm
Courtesy of the Artist and Pace Gallery
展览尾声伴随着《子（回归） III》仰望天空、眺望地平线，《新星（盲眼） I》俯瞰整个美术馆与现场作品。《摆渡人（愚者之船）》与画中鸟笼般的形状悬挂于周围，提醒幻化成人形的引灵人一直在注视我们。
The show ends with Son (return) III looking up to the sky, across the horizon, and Nova (deadeye) I looking below to the whole museum and preceding works. The Ferryman (ship of fools) with its aviary-like form hangs with them reminding us that the guide of souls is always watching, a humanoid body with eyes gazing.
威廉·蒙克，新星（盲眼 I），2021-2022
布面油画，⌀ 220 cm
罗曼·布鲁埃尔收藏
William Monk, Nova (deadeye I), 2021-2022
Oil on canvas, ⌀ 220 cm
Courtesy of Romain Bruere
威廉·蒙克，摆渡人（愚人之船），2019-2022
布面油画，250 × 185 cm
艺术家收藏，致谢佩斯画廊
William Monk, The Ferryman (ship of fools), 2019-2022
Oil on canvas, 250 × 185 cm
Courtesy of the Artist and Pace Gallery
蒙克在个人经验和人类（以及超越人类的）的普遍精神世界中捕捉到的图腾，意在追问人类感知与想象力的深度，正如其在“烟圈山”、“原子山”等作品中借由介于具象与非具象之间的形态所做的那样，“摆渡人”并不指涉具体的对象，而指向一种引导精神抵达彼岸的力量。
These totems, captured by Monk from personal experiences and the universal spiritual realm of humanity (and beyond), aim to interrogate the depth of human perception and imagination. Aligned with his intention of employing forms between figuration and non-figuration in series like Smoke Ring Mountain and Mount Atom, the “ferryman” does not refer to a specific figure but rather a force that leads the spirit to the other shore.
他通过对色彩、光感、构图及空间的营造，将人类意识中的不可名状之物提炼为神秘、抽象的视觉符号系统，在将观众无限卷入超越“此在”（Dasein）世界的同时，不断释放能量以提升观众的精神强度。在今日纷乱时世的语境中，威廉·蒙克以自身的方式重新向我们展示了精神力量在艺术中的重要位置，进而引发关于人类与自然、宇宙间神秘关系的思考。
Through his manipulation of color, light, composition, and space, Monk distills the unfathomable aspects of human consciousness into an enigmatic, abstract visual sign system, drawing viewers into a world beyond mere existence (Dasein) while incessantly releasing energy to enhance their spiritual intensity. In the context of today’s chaotic world, William Monk, in his own way, reasserts the importance of spirituality in art, thereby inviting thoughts on the inexplicable relations between human, nature and the cosmos.
本次展览由四方当代美术馆主办。感谢艺术家、佩斯画廊，巡展伙伴上海龙美术馆、广东和美术馆，南京浦口文化旅游发展集团、四方文化集团，藏家乔纳森·伯肯斯塔、罗曼·布鲁埃尔与所有为展览提供帮助与支持的朋友。
The exhibition is organized by Sifang Art Museum. Special thanks to the artist, Pace Gallery, touring exhibition partners Long Museum, Shanghai; He Art Museum, Guangdong; Nanjing Pukou Culture & Tourism Development Group, Jiangsu Sifang Cultural Group, collectors Jonathan Berkenstadt, Romain Bruere and all others who have helped and supported this exhibition.
© 威廉·蒙克 William Monk
威廉·蒙克（William Monk，1977年生于英国泰晤士河畔金斯顿；现生活、创作于美国纽约）以其描绘神秘超凡形态的画作而闻名。其半抽象绘画深受该媒介的悠久传统和历史的启发。蒙克使用鲜明的分割构图，创作引人入胜、色彩鲜明的绘画；他也经常深度创作系列作品，这些系列会随着时间的推移而逐渐演变。画作展现出不规则的细节、线条、前景和背景；其中，一种重复性打破了形象的呈现，创造出视觉上的“咒语”。这种节奏贯穿蒙克的创作——放弃具象的逻辑以达到更奇特有力的效果。蒙克的画作大气磅礴，与观者建立更直接的实体连结，拉近我们内在与外在体验之间的空间距离。
蒙克于2005年荣获荷兰皇家绘画奖，并于2009年荣获杰伍德当代画家奖。他的作品曾于中国香港、英国伦敦及美国纽约的佩斯画廊、弗里斯博物馆（荷兰吕伐登）、鹰庭博物馆（荷兰奈梅亨）、海牙艺术博物馆（荷兰海牙）、梵高美术馆（荷兰阿姆斯特丹）、诺里奇大学（英国诺里奇）、Project Space Leeds（英国利兹）及萨默菲尔德画廊（英国伦敦）展出。他的作品被海牙艺术博物馆、广东和美术馆、上海龙美术馆，南京四方当代美术馆、荷兰阿克苏诺贝尔艺术基金会、伦敦罗伯茨艺术学院、荷兰弗里斯博物馆、荷兰ING艺术收藏、曼彻斯特大学惠特沃斯美术馆、迈阿密当代艺术学院博物馆、英国布伦海姆艺术基金会、洛杉矶马西亚诺艺术基金会等机构收藏，且被囊括在许多私人收藏之中。
William Monk (b. 1977 in Kingston upon Thames, UK; currently lives and works in New York, USA) is known for his vibrant compositions that feature mysterious and otherworldly forms. The artist’s semi-abstract paintings are deeply engaged with the rich tradition and history of the medium. Monk paints enigmatic and vibrant works, using starkly divisional compositions and often works in extensive series that gradually evolve over time. The canvases carry irregular intensities of detail, line, foreground and background, a sense of repetition breaks down the figuration, creating visual mantras. This rhythm happens throughout Monk’s work, surrendering figurative logic to arrive at something stranger and more powerful. Atmospheric and energetic, these paintings invite a more direct physical connection, drawing in the space between our inner and outer realms of experience.
He was awarded the Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst (Dutch Royal Award for Painting) in 2005 and the Jerwood Contemporary Painters award in 2009. Monk’s work has been exhibited at Pace Gallery, Hong Kong, London, and New York; Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Kunstmuseum, The Hague, Netherlands; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Norwich University, Norwich, UK; PSL, Leeds, UK; and Summerfield Gallery, Cheltenham, London, UK. His work can be found in the collections of the Kunstmuseum, The Hague; He Art Museum, Foshan; Long Museum, Shanghai; Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing; AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam; Roberts Institute of Art, London; Fries Museum, Leeuwarden; ING Art Collection, Amsterdam; Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, Manchester; ICA Miami; Blenheim Art Foundation; Marciano Art Foundation, and in many private collections.
图片致谢艺术家与佩斯画廊
Image courtesy of the Artist and Pace Gallery
