Recently, Wu Chi-Tsung’s new solo exhibition “Seeing Through Light” at Tao Art Space was reported by Living and Design Magazine. The article introduces, ‘In this exhibition, Wu Chi-Tsung retraces his initial interests and continues his exploration of visual expressions, and once again develops a different video shooting technique. For Wu Chi-tsung, it is not necessary to pay too much attention to the individual works themselves. What is more crucial is to develop a unique Weltanschauung and to establish the form, language, thinking and perspective of viewing art in the process of developing the works. The value of the artwork as a “thing” is not high, but as a starting point to lead into a certain spiritual journey, in which the artist gives the object to verify the existence of the journey, giving it an “intangible” value. 前言：   在海外發展多年的現代藝術家-吳季璁，除了香港世界畫廊正在進行中的個展-《現》外，回到故鄉台北，由策展人王嘉驥老師在Tao Art Space策劃今年另一個展「照見」，少時在傳統學院派的藝術薰陶浸淫多年的吳季璁，自大學開始才進入當代藝術的領域，發展如影片、攝影、光影裝置等新媒體的創作方法，新舊衝突下的斷裂與拉扯中，成就自身的藝術方向，而場地為去年成立的Tao Art Space，因一張委託的《氰山集》系列作品，經介紹認識業主及收藏家Vicky，而開啟了這次展覽的緣分。 修行即為創作  作品驗證藝術旅程    西方藝術受到東方思想衝擊較大的時期，為佛學禪宗大師-鈴木大拙到美國與歐洲講學開始，影響並啟蒙許多現當代藝術家的創作方向，而日本當時擁有最完整的禪宗傳播系統，教義上相比藏傳佛教更類似哲學探討。    對吳季璁來說，不需要給予個別作品本身過多的關注，如何發展發展作品的過程中，建立其世界觀及形式、語言、思考以及觀看藝術的角度更為關鍵，如只專注在單一作品本身，容易錯失背後更大的思維起點。藝術品做為「物」的本身的價值並不高，而是做為一個出發點導引進入某段精神上的旅程，其中，藝術家賦予物品驗證旅程的存在，使之擁有「無形」的價值。談到外界對於藝術家認知的謬誤，以為作品是創作者自我傲氣與任性下的產物，然而在真實的藝術創作中，需要先放下自我，順勢作品發展。吳季璁在藝術的修行過程，時常面對佛家思想中如何放下「我執」的命題，相信某些材質會因宿命而出現在生活中，過於控制作品容易畫地自限，然自我的執念越輕，而創作的可能性會帶領你到意想不到的境地，以上透過佛家與禪宗談到許多，與創作相關的思維模式。  重現傳統攝影技術  擷取「無常」中的真實    本次展覽《照見》也特別呈現了幾件吳季璁早期作品， 2004年的《自畫像》詮釋人是不斷變動的一種生物，如佛家談到的「無常」，也是時間流中的一部分碎片，利用攝影技法捕捉流逝的「剎那」，在暗室中面對鏡頭，使用手電筒描繪臉部，長曝後呈現不完全的面部狀態，並透過幻燈片與暗房沖洗，反映影像的可能性與有別於傳統自畫像命題的樣貌。當年度正是傳統底片攝影逐漸式微，數位影像抬頭興起的階段，藝術家以作品自身作為一份傳統攝影的紀念，呈現衝突且看似失真的真實紀錄。    實驗攝影的技術發展到2012年，吳季璁感於數位攝影的便利性與單一性，嘗試回到技術本質的探討，在《皴法習作》與其後的《氰山集》系列，運用與攝影術幾乎同時發明的氰版藥劑和無相機攝影方法，在揉皺傳統中國書畫的宣紙後，塗上感光藥劑置放在陽光下進行自然曝曬，充分水洗即顯影出藍色的影像，自然如同岩石山景般的層次，意像呈現傳統水墨千山連綿的壯闊之景。 超脫時間的完美狀態  放下「我執」重新導引   許久未在台北發表作品的吳季璁，經介紹了收藏家及展場業主，Vicky 和父親都熱愛收藏，父親偏愛以佛像和宋元瓷器為主的古美術及台灣現代藝術，而 Vikcy 則是以國內外當代藝術為主。Tao Art 獨有的兩代收藏經歷，揉雜古今正好與吳季璁的創作路線不謀而和，成就了這次吳季璁和 Tao Art 胡不堂佛像收藏的合作。   「照見」在佛典中言意為「指向開悟成佛的透徹與超脫」，佛學中的修行，與藝術創作有極為相似的精神軌跡，雖然其過程有所不同，卻有相同的內化反應，與自我掙扎下的拆解體驗。本次展覽中，吳季璁重新回溯最初的創作思維，延續從自畫像時期開始的影像探索，再次發展出有別以往的影像處理技巧，在新作《寫生習作》拍攝初期，原本想以破碎的形式呈現捕捉胡不堂所藏佛像「剎那」下的真實，當他注視著這經歷千年的佛像，反思面對自己或人皆是變動不定的命數，而佛像卻擁有超脫其中的完美狀態，使他放下了當初設定的詮釋方法，透過光影重新測試、觀察引導，內化佛學與藝術的相互印證，重新理解「照見」的命題。 Written by 文/ Erin Song  

At the entrance of Wu Chi-Tsung’s exhibition “Exposé” (2021), curated by Ying Kwok at Galerie du Monde, stood a six-part folding screen depicting blue mountain peaks. The work was made from cyanotype-treated Xuan paper (Chinese rice paper), a laborious process derived from early photography whereby Wu translates the markings of light and time into shades of blue. The folding screen ushered visitors into the main exhibition space, where the eye-catching, three-part Cyano-Collage­­ 095 (2021) evoked a great mountain range across an entire wall. Its wrinkled texture mimics the contours of majestic slopes and valleys, while the contrast between its deep indigo shades and its misty white layers recall the subtle ink-control seen in Chinese shanshui painting. Wu is heavily inspired by traditional Chinese landscapes, although he eschews the traditional medium of ink in favor of cyanotype. Trained from a young age in Chinese calligraphy, ink painting, and watercolor, Wu turned to cyanotype as a way to simultaneously pay homage to and reinvigorate classical ink aesthetics.  Wu started experimenting with cyanotype in his Wrinkled Texture (2012– ) series as a means of reinterpreting the cun fa (texturing method) of Chinese landscape painting. Wu’s creative process is a strenuous one. To start, he soaks Xuan paper in a photosensitive solution. Then, he crumples the paper and exposes it in the sun for 30 minutes. Strong sunlight results in dark indigo hues, while cloudier days bring lighter blues. The paper is subsequently washed and flattened in a water tank for an hour to set the final image; it is during this step that Wu first sees his work. After selecting a section he finds interesting, he crops and mounts it on a canvas or scroll. “My creative practice is filled with endless experimentations. Every step along the process, I am constantly exploring the possibilities within, and always failing too,” Wu said in an interview with Obscura magazine. Even with limited control over the final image, Wu still manages to capture the essence of shanshui painting through his strategic cropping and framing of the work. In Wrinkled Texture 107 (2021), for instance, the placement of darker blues at the bottom of the frame grounds the image against its overexposed counterparts, and…

現於世界畫廊（Galerie du Monde）展出的《現 Exposé》正是把吳季璁近年的實驗作品《氰山集》（Cyano-collage）向大眾呈現出來。2019年時，他在台北舉行的個人展覽《東橋西照Echo》也有展示《氰山集》系列，同樣是穿越詩意山水的概念，但展示方式卻是截然不同。《東橋西照Echo》把作品展示在一所有歷史感的殘舊大樓裡，部分畫作更是隨意地貼在石灰剝落的牆上或是放在檯的邊緣，任由它懸垂在地上。這次在方正、潔淨又優雅的畫廊裡展出，又是另一種體驗吳季璁作品的方式。「我們刻意地把一幅大型六聯屏作品放置於展場入口，令觀眾必須要繞過這作品才看到其他展品，如行山一樣，攀過一座山才看到其他的風景。我們希望觀眾能夠一層一層地發現和探索，如中國山水畫強調的『可行、可望、可游』；吳季聰塑造他作品中的風景時， 也是懷着這種精神。」展覽的策展人郭瑛說。她在佈展時意外地發現六聯屏的板子間透出了光束，若隱若現光線正是呼應著中式園林中的影壁，讓觀眾開門見山地看到仿若懸浮空中的作品，並擴闊了對空間的想像。 「無論我創作什麼媒材的作品，我的思考方式與投射的世界都是繪畫的、山水的。 只有在傳統與現代、東方與西方之間遊走，才能讓我更意識到其中改變的東西是什麽、共通的地方是什麼，而不變的又是什麼。」吳季璁說。從小喜歡繪畫的他，在大學時代開始嘗試各種媒材，但他始終鍾情於影像本身。今次展覽除了《氰山集》，也有較早期的《皴法習作》（Wrinkled Texture），這兩個系列都是源於吳季璁對數位攝影的不滿足。「數位攝影生成影像方式只有一種，也就是說當代彷彿只剩一種方法做攝影，於是我想回到攝影的本質去紀錄光線本身，讓材質與技術更開放，並結合不同紙張去實驗。因而回到更古典、時間性更強、更不可控的氰版。」他這次的實驗方式使用了古老的氰版攝影法，來創建紙上的紋理——把中國宣紙浸泡於塗布感光藥劑之中，透過直接曝曬於陽光下和過程中不斷調整重塑紙張的皺折，創造了美麗的質感與層次。陽光猛的時候，紙上會呈現深藍色，陰天時藍色會變得淺一點；深淺也會因曝曬的時間而有所不同。在反復的嘗試後，吳季璁挑選喜歡的部分，並放在捲軸上，成為《皴法習作》。《氰山集》則是在這基礎上加上拼貼及繪畫，把雲霧裡的群山峻嶺立體地呈現出來。這不但蘊含著中國傳統水墨畫裡的山水意境，還記錄了當下的時間、光影明暗和身體姿態的表達。 中國的山水畫表現的是情景合一，那麼吳季璁創作時又寄喻著怎樣的情感呢？「《皴法習作》和《氰山集》系列通過將筆墨置換為攝影，探索的是「山水」的可能性，在試圖拓張山水的邊界與想像空間。我們對於創作的每個環節都進行過無數次實驗，這個實驗的過程可能不太是感性與抒情的，而是在辯證地探索。」吳季璁說《氰山集》系列在今年之前都是控制性很強的作品，他一直追求技術上的極致，例如為了處理畫面中的留白與雲霧，在技法上將宣紙的纖維搓到極薄。即使技術已近乎極致，但他卻感到似乎失去了追求的意義。「近期比較大的突破在於創作狀態更為放鬆，更接近『自然而然』。除了構圖時讓氰版相紙自然地發展，也同時讓我的某些內在的東西自然地抒發出來，這與古人繪畫山水的狀態很相似。在創作《氰山集》時，我漸漸地把自己的意識放在他處，例如收聽廣播節目，讓手無意識地動作，越是這樣越能進入到一種類似冥想的狀態。 」吳季璁說創作這兩個系列時，他思考和追求的都是「形似」，像回應某幅經典的山水畫；但現在則進入了不那麼表象的思考，從而展開更多的可能性。「能夠將自己全然投射進入到一個『可觀、可居、可游』的想像空間，反而更契合水墨的內在精神。」 遊歷在眾多的作品之間，眼睛不禁停留在捲軸的《皴法習作》之上，近看時是一張擁有漸變色彩、皺摺了的紙張，遠看時卻浮現出山水的景象。加上，以最經典的東方書畫形式去結合西方的氰版攝影技術，在現代的語境中延續了傳統的美學。打開卷軸時更會有一種如走到大自然裡或行山時所感受到的柳暗花明，是對那未知景色的興奮和期待，難怪吳季璁笑說他也是私心地偏愛捲軸的《皴法習作》呢。 “My creative practice is filled with endless experimentations. Every step along the process, I am constantly exploring the possibilities within, and always failing too. As the saying goes, ‘Successes are coincidental, while failures are essential’,” Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung said with a laugh. Sometimes the act of creating resembles an experiment, with its incessant attempts and failures after more failures; one awaits a coincidence to create a “successful” work. Amid a sophisticated and fortuitous creative process, Wu’s recent works the Cyano-Collage series struggled against, adapted to and interspersed with time and light to realise one experiment after another. Currently exhibiting at Galerie du Monde, Exposé is a public display of the experimental series Cyano-Collage Wu created in recent years. In 2019, his Taipei exhibition Echo also exhibited the Cyano-Collage series, following the same concept of going beyond shan shui (landscapes), but with a completely different curatorial approach. Echo showed the works in a dilapidated building that exudes heritage. Some of the works were attached arbitrarily on walls with lime peeling off it, or lying around the table edge in suspension. Exhibiting the works in a four-square, clean and elegant gallery this time presents another way to experience Wu’s works. “We deliberately placed a large 6-part work at the entrance of the exhibition space, so that visitors must make their way around this work to see other exhibits, much like hiking, where one must overcome one mountain to see other scenery. We hope that visitors may discover and explore layer through layer, as Chinese shan shui paintings often emphasised in the quality of being ‘passable, discernible, navigable’; Wu shaped the landscapes in his work in the same spirit,” said Ying Kwok, the curator of the exhibition. While setting up, Kwok chanced upon the light that seeps out of the spaces between the panels of the 6-part work. The obscure rays echo the ying bi (screen walls) in Chinese gardens, such that visitors are given an uninhibited view of the work that appears suspended, and imaginations about space expand. What Chinese shan shui painting presents is the union of sentiments and scenery. As such, what kinds of…

Wu Chi-Tsung’s ‘Exposé’ was recommended by Lifestyle Asia in their article “A comprehensive round-up of the best art exhibitions to visit this month” published on April 8th. Editor Joey Wong introduces the exhibition as below: “A perfunctory gaze will perhaps write off Wu Chi-Tsung’s ‘Exposé’ exhibition as a simple series of mountainous landscapes; this perfunctory gaze would be wrong. Curated by Ying Kwok, ‘Exposé’ deep-dives into an extraordinary wrinkled-paper technique that mimics that of valleys, troughs and crevices; minute, natural-appearing details that would happen upon any geographic rendering. The textured cyano-collage process used, however, is completely randomised, with each fold and crease on Xuan paper a happy accident.” 在Lifestyle Asia報導《關於本月最佳藝術展覽的全面介紹》一文中，吳季璁個展《EXPOSÉ現》被收錄其中，編輯Joey Wong對展覽介紹如下： 「若只是敷衍了事地匆匆一瞥，人們會對《EXPOSÉ現》中展示的作品當作尋常的山水畫，而這無疑是錯誤的。在郭瑛的策劃下，展覽深入研究了用宣紙的皺摺去呈現山谷、谷底與裂縫等自然中的細節。然而，塗布試劑的宣紙在陽光下曝光後呈現出的紋路的結果卻是隨機的，每一條折痕、每一條紋路的出現都是一次令人驚喜的意外。」  

Wu Chi-Tsung shares his daily musings about working and staying motivated during this difficult time from his studio in Taipei, Taiwan as he participates in the #inthestudio program launched by @seankellyny.  In this abstract yet frank video, Wu Chi-Tsung presents a poetic duet dance with one of his favorite material, the light. Together they’ve challenged the boundary between moving and static images. Once again, Chi-Tsung explores how joyful and imaginative the relationship between an artist and his studio could be. 受尚凱利畫廊發起的#inthestudio項目之邀，吳季璁通過影像與觀眾分享了他日常工作的靈感源泉，以及他在這段特殊時期在台北工作室的生活。 這段抽象而坦誠的影像堪稱吳季璁與光共同呈現的雙人舞，而光一直是他在創作中最喜愛的媒材之一。「他們」共同挑戰了動態影像與靜態圖像之間的界限。影片中，吳季璁將工作室稱為「所有故事的起源」，並分享了他在創作中從迷茫無措到不斷嘗試再至捕獲靈感的過程。藉此，吳季璁又一次思考了藝術家及其工作室之間建立愉悅、動態、相互激發的關係的可能性。  

Photo Credit: Yu Tzu-Chin Sean Kelly is delighted to announce that the gallery now represents Wu Chi-Tsung. Wu Chi-Tsung’s innovative work features a broad range of media including photography, video, installation and painting, in which he combines traditional and contemporary forms and methodologies to explore perceptions of the physical and natural worlds. Trained from an early age in the practices of Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink painting, watercolor and drawing, Wu Chi-Tsung worked for many years in a traditional idiom. Following a period spent creating experimental ink paintings, he turned to video, installation and photography, finding in these new media compelling conceptual stratagems that spurred new and dynamic approaches to making images. These have included films that conceptually translate traditional cut-branch flower paintings into time-based moving images and his recent Cyano-Collage Series, in which he connects Eastern and Western culture and art to integrate traditional aesthetics with startling contemporary language. On joining the gallery Wu Chi-Tsung said, “I’m pleased to be joining Sean Kelly, which has a legendary history and program, featuring amazing artists from all over the world. Sean Kelly states, “We are delighted that Chi-Tsung is joining the gallery. We included him in a group exhibition this summer and were profoundly impressed by his conceptual and artistic process, in which he combines contemporary techniques and traditional Chinese methods to create a unique amalgamation of different cultures, the past and the present.” Wu Chi-Tsung currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan and Berlin, Germany. He was the recipient of the Liu Kuo Sung Ink Art Award, Hong Kong and Taiwan (2019). In addition, he was awarded the WRO Media Art Biennal (2013) and Taipei Arts Award (2003). He was short-listed for the Prudential Eye Awards, 2015; the Artes Mundi, 2006. His work has been included in international exhibitions at institutions such as the Mori Art Museum, Japan; National Museum Cardiff, United Kingdom; the Long Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg; the Museo Del Palacio De Bellas Artes, Mexico and the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Art Museum, Beijing, China; Shanghai Art…

excerpt: 15 Artists About to Dominate 2015 By Holly Howe on complex.com Jan 12, 2015 Last November, Christie’s auction house in New York grossed the highest amount ever for a contemporary auction—$852.9 million across 75 lots. 319,000 people visited the Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney before the museum closed its doors to move to its new home in New York’s Meatpacking District. Another 110,000 visited the Serpentine Galleries in London to hang out with Marina Abramovic as she spent 512 hours in the gallery. Miley Cyrus and André 3000 jumped on the art band wagon at Art Basel Miami Beach last month; she brought her “Dirty Hippie” exhibition at the Raleigh Hotel with a performance while he exhibited the jumpsuits he had worn on the Outkast Festival Tour. But what’s next? What will get the art hacks and celebrity commentators tongues wagging this year? How can you get a piece of the multi-billion dollar industry that is the art world? Here are our picks of 15 Artists About to Dominate 2015.   Wu Chi-Tsung Location: Taipei, Taiwan Born and raised in Taiwan, Wu Chi-Tsung creates atmospheric dreamy works mixing photography, video and set design. He uses everyday materials to create installations that look at elements of urban environments. Wu has exhibited around the world, including the UK, China, Germany, Japan, and India. This month his work appears in the “Prudential Eye Awards” exhibition at ArtScience Museum, Singapore, which opens on Jan. 17 and runs until March 31, in the summer he has work in a group show in Luxembourg, and he will round off the year with a solo show in his hometown of Taipei.   Mark Andrew Webber Location: Reading, England   Alex Seton Location: Sydney   Antonio Santin Location: Brooklyn   Nathaniel Rackowe Location: London   Alexandra Pacula Location: Brooklyn   Hormazd Narielwalla Location: London   Franck de la Mercedes Location: New York   Sarah Maple Location: Sussex, England   Ramon Maiden Location: Barcelona   Marguerite Horner Location: London Conor Harrington Location: London Jonathan Paul Davies Location: London   Terry Bradley Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland   Matthew Best…

article excerpt: The Top 10 Artists Under 35 in 2014 by ARTSY EDITORIAL Dec 23, 2014 “The most extraordinary moment of 2014, for me, was winning the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, which has been a longstanding dream of mine since my university days in London,” Richard Mosse, the 34-year-old photographer and filmmaker who tops this year’s list of most popular artists under 35, told Artsy. As with the rest of the artists below, whether selling out their first solo shows or stunning crowds with high auction prices, the 20- and 30-something lot of artists have garnered much attention in 2014, and the following names—hailing from New York, Brussels, Los Angeles, Cologne, and Taipei—reflect the artists, born post 1979, with the highest number of artist follows on Artsy this year.   1. Richard Mosse b. 1980, live and works in Berlin.   2. Lucien Smith b. 1989, lives and works in New York.   3. David Ostrowski b. 1981, lives and works in Cologne.   4. Wu Chi-Tsung b. 1981, lives and works in Taipei. One month into 2014 and Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung was celebrating the Lancaster edition of his traveling solo debut in the UK (split between Peter Scott Gallery and The Story in Lancaster), where some of his best-known landscapes, installations, and still life videos were on view. A highlight was his “Wrinkled Texture” photography series, Prussian-blue cyanotypes that have been crumpled and set in the sun, reimagining traditional Chinese landscape paintings. Finishing off the year, Wu has just been shortlisted for the Prudential Eye Awards, a prize granted to the best in emerging Asian contemporary artists to be announced January 2015.   5. Daniel Arsham b. 1980, lives and works in New York.   6. Sam Falls b. 1984, lives and works in Los Angeles.   7. Sam Moyer b. 1983, lives and works in Brooklyn.   8. Kadar Brock b. 1980, lives and works in Brooklyn.   9. Harold Ancart b. 1980, lives and works in Brussels.   10. Tauba Auerbach b. 1981, lives and works in New York. source: Artsy

Solo exhibition “Wu Chi-Tsung: Dust” in Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK has been listed as one of the week’s essential art shows in UK by The Guardian Guide. As the viewer moves around the space, disturbing the airflow, the artist’s highly sophisticated equipment projects the movement of the otherwise invisibly displaced dust particles across the gallery walls in a mesmerising and endlessly changing light show. In an accompanying piece, the artist turns his focus on the enchantments of a nocturnal city. Lit solely by a single, slowly shifting light source, a series of commonplace transparent plastic boxes are silhouetted around the room to evoke a ghostlike cityscape. The Guardian Guide 「吳季璁個展－灰塵」於英國雪菲爾Site Gallery，被英國最廣為閱讀的藝文參考指標《衛報》(The Guardian)藝文指南(The Guide)列為全英國當週必看的展覽之一。  

Wu Chi-Tsung’s Solo exhibition “Recalibrate” has been listed as one of the three the week’s essential art shows in UK by The Guardian Guide. “Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung is remarkable in his ability to adapt traditions of Chinese landscape ink painting and shadow puppetry to our contemporary world. The two installations here present visions of the manufactured and the natural. Crystal City 004 presents an architectural enchantment of constantly shifting city vistas as shadows move across the gallery walls, while Wrinkled Textures is a series of close-up studies of natural growths captured through cyanotype printing.” The Guardian Guide 吳季璁於英國曼徹斯特華人藝術中心(Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester)舉辦的首度英國個展「重新校準」(Recalibrate)，被英國最廣為閱讀的藝文參考指標《衛報》(The Guardian)藝文指南(The Guide)列為全英國當週必看的三個展覽之一。 其他資料: 中央通訊社報導