藝彩相映
祈大衛的色彩空間

David Clarke
Colour in Space

Curated by Dr Florian Knothe

Edited by Christopher Mattison

Translated by Jasmin Lin
Website designed by Susana Lam

策展人：羅諾德博士
文字編輯：馬德松

文字翻譯：連維清
網站設計：林采琪

前言 Foreword

香港大學美術博物館欣然呈獻「藝彩相映：祈大衛的色彩空間」展覽，展出祈大衛的個人水彩畫作的數位版畫。祈氏透過將一種藝術媒介以另一種媒介呈現，繼而發展出一種靈活操縱尺寸大小，同時探索不同物料性質的抽象藝術形式。這些作品捕捉了精心暈染的水彩顏料的透亮度和遮蓋度的特性，而數碼印刷科技有助於令作品的視覺設計得以重現於或轉化成一種可調節尺寸的印刷形式。

在這些作品所蘊含的多元視覺性之外，祈氏對文字與圖像之間的關聯和雙向轉譯深感興趣。抽象藝術並不拘泥於只表達具體題材，而視覺構圖則能夠用於表達言辭文句，賦予了作品一個容讓觀者感知、易於解讀的面向。祈氏曾與作曲家及作家合作，對他的攝影作品作出回應。在此次項目中，祈氏邀請了一位作曲家和一位視覺藝術家從是次項目的核心⸺祈氏的畫作中汲取靈感。

是次展出的作品與陳慶恩所創作的一首樂曲相得益彰。祈氏與陳氏曾就不同的項目合作，當中包括港大美術博物館的一個過往展覽。此次協作進一步展現祈氏的跨學科創作方式，他以自己的視覺作品為靈感泉源，引發其他範疇的藝術家作出回應。

另外，每幅作品各附有由新加坡學者兼多媒體藝術家梁秀文撰寫的一則評論。她對這些圖像的理解為作品增添一個更深層的面向。通過她的註釋，梁氏為祈氏的視覺作品賦予意涵，及加上另一重文字意義，加深祈氏旨在以圖像表達文字、以文字表達圖像的創作意念。此外，物理教授貝達理就祈氏的水彩畫作原稿提出他的個人見解。這種呈現方式透過他者回應來邀請觀者內省思考，促進他們與祈氏的作品產生一種個人及情感方面的連繫，而非為了提出一個決定性的評價。觀者可以視之為一段更為深入的引言，作為他們賞析祈氏在空間中的色彩運用的起點。

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG), The University of Hong Kong is thrilled to present David Clarke: Colour in Space, an exhibition displaying giclée prints of the artist’s own watercolour paintings. By presenting one medium as another, David Clarke develops an abstract art that plays with scale and explores different materialities. The images capture both the translucency and opacity of the carefully applied watercolours, while the digital printing technology helps to represent or transfer the design into a scalable print form.

Beyond the multifaceted visual qualities of these works, he is interested in the relation and transfer of words into images and vice versa. Where abstract art is less confined to representing definable subject matter, the ability of visual compositions to represent verbal content offers a tangible or readable dimension. Clarke, who has previously collaborated with composers and writers in response to his photographs, now invites a composer and visual artist to draw inspiration from the paintings central to his current project.

The group of images is complemented by a piece of music composed by Chan Hing-yan. Clarke and Chan have worked together on several projects, including a past exhibition at UMAG. This collaboration further demonstrates Clarke’s cross-disciplinary approach, using his visual displays as a stimulus and starting point for responses from artists in other fields.

Each work is also accompanied by a comment from Dawn-joy Leong, a scholar and multi-media artist based in Singapore. Her reading of the images adds a further dimension. By offering her interpretation, Leong provides content and adds verbal meaning to Clarke’s visual images, multiplying the latter’s intention to represent words in images and images in words. Furthermore, physics professor Terry Boyce offers his own impression of the original watercolour painting. The presentation of these responses invites reflection, offering not a conclusive evaluation, but rather a personal and emotional engagement with Clarke’s work. Visitors can view this as a further introduction and the starting point to their own analysis of the artist’s use of colour in space.

「十方一念」由陳慶恩所創，以回應祈氏的藝術作品。

請按「播放」鍵收聽。

‘Decaptych Epiphany’ is composed by Chan Hing-yan

in response to David Clarke’s artworks.

Click the ‘play’ button to enjoy.

十方一念 Decaptych Epiphany陳慶恩 Chan Hing-yan

00:00 / 12:21

此水彩圖像系列建基於我在一段長時間裡創作的一連串抽象畫作。部分早期作品同樣以水彩作媒介，但其中許多探索是以丙烯顏料為媒介進行的。偶爾，從形式主義的角度看來，抽象藝術被視為一種與主題無關的藝術形式。然而，對我來說，藝術與意義之間的關係密不可分，縱然其意涵可能難以言喻。要將文字意旨轉化成視覺圖像同樣困難重重，但是這並非意味著言辭文字本身欠缺深意，反之亦然。

This series of watercolour images builds on a line of abstract paintings I have created over a long period of time. Earlier works have also sometimes been watercolours, but many of those explorations also used acrylic as a medium. Sometimes, abstract art is viewed formalistically, as being unconcerned with subject matter. However, to me art is always tied up with meaning, even if the meaning it shares may not be something which is easy to put into words. It is also difficult to translate verbal meaning into visual images, but that doesn’t mean words are not meaningful in their own right—and the reverse is also true.

祈大衛

David Clarke

祈大衛 David Clarke

水彩紙本 Watercolour on paper

35.2 x 42.9 厘米 cm

2021–2022

貝達理 Terry Boyce

回應 Response：

The image portrays my inner visualisation of the wave-particle duality of photons: oscillating electromagnetic wavelets of different colours (wavelengths) inside spatially restricted pockets of space. I know it's simplistic, but I have always found it beneﬁ cial in helping to understand the quantum behaviour of light. In a similar manner, Picasso's cubist paintings helped me visualise how space would appear if you were able to travel at the speed of light.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper

71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

Wriggling, but not writhing, a happy movement, like soft autistic 'stimming' to express gentle joy (not exuberance). Blue blobs in the middle ground suggest a jelly-like liquid, some kind of liqueur that's sweet… I taste olives, sundried

tomatoes…

色彩與光線是此系列的關鍵。透過摒棄描繪具象事物，色彩得以更直接地作為一種獨立的力量展現在作品之中。一筆一劃的色彩依然保留各自的獨立性，而非融合成一體來達成某種具象的表達。觀者不時可感知到勾勒這些筆觸背後的那隻手。我們意識到繪畫是一個隨時間推移而產生的創作過程，個中並無決定性、終結的假象。然則，這裡卻有一種對全面的整體性的考量：縱使每一次的勾勒都在建構畫面，那種整體性從來也不是一種靜止不變的完整性。畫面中的重疊與並置，引起因這種層疊方式所容許（或需要）的混色而生的色彩變化。

Colour and light are essential concerns of this series. Abandoning recognisable objects in the paintings allows colour to be present more directly as a force in its own right. Individual touches of paint still retain autonomy, not being merged together to play some representational goal. The presence of the hand that made the marks can frequently be sensed. We are aware of painting as a process taking place over time, with no illusion of closure. There is a concern for an all-over totality, however, that individual painterly gestures contribute towards, but that totality is never a static completeness. Overlap occurs as well as juxtaposition, with colours shifting as a result of the mixing that this layered approach permits (or requires).

祈大衛

David Clarke

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper

71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

A happy frenzy of bubbles moving outside from inside the middle, but not aggressive, just obliviously jostling and floating out. The larger blue circles/bubbles taste stronger, like aubergine in olive oil, more determined to

emerge. Littler red, feisty tomatoes are 'buzzing' as they shimmy forth, piquant and sweet at the same time. The yellow liquid 'frame' tries valiantly to contain the exuberance but fails, and decides to just 'go with the flow'.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper

71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

A gentle underwater scene: a close-up of tiny organisms floating, squiggly creatures swimming back and forth, as vertical blue and red 'reeds' sway in effortless stillness. The human ear cannot hear, but they are singing a polyphonic soundscape of pops and crackles, punctuating contrapuntal undulating melodic patterns.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper

71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

A scene of hidden anxiety, subdued on the outside but a soft humming on the inside. Slivers of green and red capsicum are being tossed and stirred, as yellow capsicum circles jostle for space—they are all entities in their own right, yet they form part of a unified whole—each fully aware of their collective helplessness.

我通常避免使用幾何形狀。有時候，與生物形態相關的聯繫會以極其隱晦的形式出現在畫面之中，間接地喚起對渺小與浩瀚事物的想像。我們可能從中看到微觀世界或宏觀宇宙的萬象，譬如在顯微鏡下的極微，抑或在望遠鏡之中的浩渺。我們也許身處太空，又或海底。作品的個別視覺元素佔據了主導地位：點狀、圓形、具韻律感的短線、偶爾較長且趨向垂直或水平的線條。這些較長的線條保持一種有節奏的能量，令人難以視之為畫面本身的建築結構。其他視覺元素可以出現在它們面前，因此削弱了它們本身的主導性。有時候，垂直和水平的短線結合成近似方狀的間隔結構，並在畫面上蔓延，形成一個酷似棋盤的視覺效果。畫面上的形態重復未必是規整的：空間不僅存在於形態之中，流動的形態之間，也可留有空間。圓形圖案亦彼此交疊，進而削減觀者對網格狀結構的聯想。

Geometric forms are generally avoided. Sometimes biomorphic associations are present, but usually in an extremely distanced way. Both the very small and the very large can be indirectly evoked. We could be looking at microcosmic or macroscopic phenomena. Either something one might see with the aid of a powerful microscope or something viewed through a telescope. We might be in outer space or underwater. Certain elements predominate: dots, circles, short rhythmic lines and occasionally longe lines that tend to orientate either vertically or horizontally. These longer lines retain a rhythmic energy which works against their being read as an architectural structure for the images, and other elements can appear in front of them, thereby undermining their otherwise dominant presence. Sometimes shorter lines that are also vertical and horizontal cohere into squarish cell-like structures which proliferate across the surface to create a chessboard-like effect. The repetition of forms across the surface can also be less cell-like, allowing space between the mobile forms—not just space within them. Circular forms also overlap, thus undermining grid-like associations.

祈大衛

David Clarke

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

Confident lush, sweet tomatoes will not be overwhelmed by sour bitter green capsicum. Yellow virgin olive oil weaves its way between the gyrating dancers. The fragrance is rich, full bodied but mysteriously indescribable.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

Grief and joy are intertwined, conjoined entities, organisms of love. They move, stay still, surge, ebb, flow and engulf… a rich, sentient tapestry of inexorable movement, weaving in and out, over and under, forming knots and kinks, yet

at times smooth and silken. This one tastes and smells graceful. Peppercorns provide moments of conscious surprise, neither good nor bad, they just are.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

A polyphonic chorus. Sharp and shapely lasagna. Peppercorns, they crackle and crunch. I dislike the taste of green capsicum, but the yellow is sweet, and tomatoes lay down a base of fruity dolce sounds. I try to avoid the purple… it hints at decomposition.

即使畫中顏料有時較為厚重，但是筆觸始終具有動態或流動的質感，水彩的流動性從未被遺忘。底色的雪白鮮少被完全覆蓋，並持續地在畫面的整體構成中扮演重要角色。畫面的留白令一切有呼吸舒展的空間。雪白底色與色彩的鮮明產生強烈對比，賦予色彩一個可盡情發揮的舞台，並有助營造一種更為寬敞，甚至無垠的空間感。形態往往延伸至作品的邊框之外，而這種視覺表現同樣引發一種使空間擴張的效果。畫面裡並無透視法所用的空間框架，亦不受這種技法所帶來的邊界所限。相反，視覺深度自層疊交錯的畫面而生。比起被安放在畫紙背後的一個想像空間，各種形態更似是正朝我們的空間前來。

At times the paint builds up relatively thickly, but there is always a sense of the marks having a dynamic or fluid quality. The wateriness of watercolour is never forgotten. The white of the ground is rarely entirely lost, and remains to play a part in the overall scheme. There is room to breathe. The white ground provides a contrast to the vibrancy of the colours, offering them an arena in which to act, and helps to create a more open and potentially unbounded sense of space. Forms will often continue outside the framing edge, and this too invokes a sense of spatial expansion. There is no perspectival spatial box here—with all the limitations to boundaries that implies—but depth is created by the overlapping layers in the images. Forms are more likely to appear as if they are moving into our space rather than being disposed of in an imaginary space behind the image’s surface.

祈大衛

David Clarke

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

Where are we going? Where did we come from? How did we get here?

Rich flavour weaving through the senses, a dizziness sets in, I can only make out the redness clearly on my tongue, but I smell the green and it is quite sharp.

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

Spinning—every orange red circle is me and I am in constant motion, whirling, twirling, round and round, to the left and right, up and down. I jostle with the yellow discs but they do not want to confront me, choosing to be surreptitious, mingling with the misty-mashy blue, green, purple splots and blotches. The motion makes me dizzy, but this is one of the ways I can feel my body moving in space. Some spin for comfort, but I spin because I want to be set free. Yet I am trapped inside this tangy capsicum space with the rotting olives.

我長時間從事版畫創作，主要製作影本印刷作品，近年來則常以數位版畫形式將其呈現。我亦有利用這些方式去展示自己的一些攝影圖像，例如我以花和水果為題材的寶麗萊作品。在那個創作中，我對以另一種藝術媒介來呈現原圖的手法深感興趣，當中一部分是希望藉此對作品的尺寸大小進行試驗，亦逐漸把尺寸視為一個獨立的美學考量，促使我以這種經過介入的印刷形式來呈現這些手繪水彩畫作。這個項目的核心是：在一個尺寸的畫紙上留下筆觸，再將其重現於另一個、更大的畫面。

I have a long-standing involvement with printmaking. My main work in this area has been photocopy prints, which in more recent years I have often chosen to present as giclée prints. I have also used these prints to present certain of my photographic images; for example, my Polaroid works of flowers and fruit. In that instance, I was interested in presenting the original images in a new medium, partly to experiment with scale. The concern with making scale a deliberate aesthetic variable in its own right has also emerged, leading me to present the hand-made watercolour images as prints in this mediated format. Making marks at one scale and then presenting them at a different—and larger—scale has been a central consideration of this project.

祈大衛

David Clarke

祈大衛 David Clarke

數位版畫紙本 Giclée print on paper 71.4 x 90.2 厘米 cm

2024

梁秀文 Dawn-joy Leong

回應 Response：

I try to be orderly. My senses crave calm and become fragile amidst chaos. There are concentric frames, they help me navigate the confusing sensory world. They are colour coded to my synaesthesia… I am red, orange, vermilion. Always me. The blue strokes wobble, trying to exude confident serenity, fragrant like fresh lilies. Yellow squares jumping around tell me I have to be careful not to eat the daisies. They will upset my tummy, won't they? Purple interjects with a sweetly-sick kind of nauseating smell of different degrees of putrefaction. Thankfully, they are not insistent. I can move between the squares. Don't forget to eat your greens!

我們所見的是生命的一體性⸺一種容納異同，不單是千篇一律的一體性。歸根究柢，這裡實際上並無任何獨立的部分，唯有一個整體。那整體性本是完美無缺，因其蘊含了我們對此的覺知。我們已身處最佳之境，亙古亦然！

Life in its oneness is what we are seeing. A oneness which accepts and contains difference, rather than a monotonous sameness. Ultimately there are not really any parts, only a whole. And that wholeness is perfect as it is, containing as it does our conscious awareness of it. We are all already in the best seat—always!

祈大衛

David Clarke