CHONG-BOON POK
STRANGE/FAMILIAR
傅宗文 陌生/熟悉

Private view: Monday, 9 November 2009, 6 – 8pm (Light refreshment will be served)
Open: 10 – 21 November, 10am – 6pm, Sat 10 – 2pm. (Closed on Sunday)
Cooking event: 10, 11, 20 & 21 November, 12 – 2pm
Shadow tracing event: Throughout the duration of the exhibition

Artist talk: 12 November 2009, 6 – 8pm
The artist will discuss the development of his work in connection with the experience of his everyday life and his interest in Eastern thoughts.

DASEIN ACADEMY OF ART
No 3A-12-G, Jalan Wangsa Delima 10
Desa Wangsa, Setapak
53300 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 – 41 422 990
Enquiry: Kim Ng 019 432 5341
Nearest LRT: Wangsa Maju (Dasein is behind Carrefour)

Artist’s Statement:
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STRANGE/FAMILIAR

One
A life lived in hurry does not allow us to appreciate the many things around us; I choose to slow down my path and take a second look at things. I see devoting attentiveness to the everyday as the basis of my work; they reveal significance within what seems to be insignificant everyday objects and situations.

The seemingly extraordinary of our life can come from something quite ordinary. Therefore the strange can come from things that we are familiar with; they come along hand-in-hand, and exist in a contradictory structure that is simultaneously familiar and strange.

Strange/Familiar presents a selection of my existing works as well as the works that I produced during my home visit trip to Kuala Lumpur in November 2009. The exhibition contains cross disciplinary pieces including sculptures, photographs, and audience interactive performance. The work chosen for the exhibition uses mundane objects and familiar situations that people are unlikely to devote a second thought to. Nevertheless, these pieces potentially greet the viewers with strange familiarity.

Two
My work is about devoting attentiveness to the everyday. The everyday is something ordinary, commonplace and familiar that surrounds us day in day out. Investigating the everyday compels us to confront the things and the totality of the world because the everyday is immanence, ever shifting, endlessly recurring and being. The everyday occurs in a cycle and interpenetrates; it is the beginning as well as the ending of each occurrence. It is endlessly building, deforming and reestablishing. The everyday includes everything, it is everywhere and nowhere simultaneously and one can never successfully draw a line where it starts and where it ends. It is everywhere when one looks at things and sees them, it is nowhere when one looks but sees nothing or trying to ignore. The everyday is present moment, it is right here, right now, and right in front when we are regardful and contemplating it, when our mind wander away the everyday treads past unnoticed.

When we are trying to see something we are being attentive. We are being ignorance when we look but have no interest to see. The everyday in my work is the things that we often overlooked or have no interest to give a second thought.

Three
My art magnifies quotidian and shares living experience; these may be seen as the result of my interest on the matters of the everyday and Eastern thoughts. Exploring the as-it-is-ness of things, and interconnectedness between objects and people is fundamental to my work; my own cultural background and life experience are often revisited, examined, and evidenced in the work within this journey of exploration. They are not the representation of my life but the essence of my experience instead.

Socrates said that an unconsidered life is not worth living, what he meant is that we must observe important things in life that could enrich our life. I found simple pleasure in art making, like some people enjoy gardening, it enriches my life through observing and contemplating the everyday that is considered trivial rather than important as suggested by Socrates. This is how my art became a form that relates to a space i.e. a space of self-development rather than self-complacence.

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傅宗文
陌生/熟悉

节奏紧张的生活让人无法真正的去体验生活的周遭。而我却选择了放慢我的步伐往身边得事物多看一眼。我把对日常生活的无限关注视为我的作品的最基本要素，它们显示出了平凡事物的背后不平凡的一面。
 
不平凡的事物很多时候会在极琐碎得事物内涌现。同样，陌生感也会在我们非常熟悉的事物中产生。它们是处于一个矛盾得结构之中，陌生与熟悉其实就是一个共同体。陌生/熟悉是我亲自制作的展览，它也是我第一次个展。这项展览不但展示了我一些现存的作品，同时它也包括了我特为此展览准备得新作品。这一系列的跨领域作品例如雕塑，摄影以及观众交互式表演应用了一些司空见惯的事物和场景作为媒介。一般而言这些事物都是甚少人会给予关注的。总而言之这些作品或许会使观者处于陌生与熟悉得感觉之间。
 
我的作品就是关注日常琐碎的事物。司空见惯的日常事物感觉是平凡，寻常和熟悉的，而且它们每天都环绕着我们。当我们想要对这些日常的事物作出研究时，我们会发现它迫使我们面对几乎身边所有事物。这是因为日常的事物是无处不在，不断变更和无尽再生的。日常的事物是循环性发生和互相渗透的，它同时存在于每一件事物的开始和终结，而且它也无休止的在建立，变形与重建。日常的事物包罗一切，它可以无处不在，同时也可以无处可寻。当我们注意到且关注它，日常事物便是无处不在的。但是如果我们视而不觉或者试图忽略，它便无迹可寻。日常事物指的是我们的当下，存在于此时此地，当我们意识到并思索它们时，它们就存在于我们眼前。而当我们不留意时，它们就悄悄的溜开。
 
当我们留意去看一切事物，我们使用一颗关注之心。当我们对所见毫无兴趣，我们可以说是作出忽视的态度。我的作品所提示的日常事物就是我们经常视而不见，不给予机会去思考的。
 
我的艺术作品显示司空见惯的事物以及分享生活上的一些经历。这归根于我对日常事物的关注以及对东方思想的兴趣。基本上我的作品是在探讨物之间的原本性以及人与物之间的关联性。我本身的文化和一些生活的体验都在这些作品内呈现。因为在创作的过程中，我经常重访和探讨我本身的文化背景和生命中的一些经历。它们并不能代表我生活经历的一切，但却是我生活经历的一些精髓。苏格拉底曾说忽视或不思考的生活是毫无意义的，指的便是说我们必须观察生活中重要的并且能丰富生命的一些事物。我在艺术创作中作乐，就像有的人享受园艺所带来的乐趣一样，这乐趣是来自观察和思考琐碎的事物而并非如苏格拉底所指出去严肃的思考极重要的事物。这种种原因把我的作品形成某个格式同时也把它带到某个空间，它是一个不断自我寻求进步而非自满的空间。