⾺泰奧‧⾺薩格蘭德新作個展 Matteo Massagrande Solo Exhibition｜2017.5.20～6.25

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• 貴賓預覽暨開幕酒會：2017.5.20  2pm

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馬薩格蘭德的新具象-----從跨文化現代性到後現代的空間意識

----曾長生(Pedro Tseng Ph. D.)

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⾺泰奧‧馬薩格蘭德 (Matteo Massagrande) 1959年出生於義大利的帕多瓦(Padua)，是一位有藝術天份且造詣很高的畫家及雕刻家。他精通古典與當代藝術史，也擅長傳統繪畫技法與藝術修復。自1973年展露頭角以來，他已參與過百餘場國際性的展覽，其中包括第54屆威尼斯雙年展。馬薩格蘭德堪稱是義大利新具象(Nuova Figurazione)繪畫運動最具代表性的人物之一。

現代主義者總是處身於尖端，不斷測試體制權力的界線，藉此尋找踰越的可能。對他來說，這是一場遊戲，是自由實踐與現實秩序之間的遊戲。在面對體制權力時，唯有透過自由實踐，個人能動性（agency）才有可能發揮。現代主義事實上是否已完成它的任務和計劃，或者受到干擾，而且基本上仍然是不完全的、不足的。後現代主義仍然提出另一可能性，一個像是「第三種閱讀」的可能性。

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一、超越傳統形制以尋求創造性轉化   

一個藝術家如何可能同時既尊重又挑戰現實？根據傅柯的說法，透過自由實踐，人可察覺限制所在，並得知可僭越的程度。他用「界限態度」（une attitude limite, or “a limit attitute”）一詞，來進一步闡釋他所謂的「現代性的態度」：這種哲學的風骨，可視為一種界限態度……我們必須超越內／外之分，我們必須時時處於尖端……簡而言之，重點在於將批判理論中必要的限制性，轉化為一種可能進行踰越的批判實踐。傅柯心目中的現代主義者，雖被限制所束縛，但卻迫不及待地追尋自由；他自知身處於尖端，隨時準備踰越界限。再者，這種歷史批判的態度，必須是一種實驗性態度。

馬薩格蘭德出生於義大利的帕多瓦，他現在仍居住於出生地，不過在過去二十年的每年夏天，他都會去他妻子的家鄉匈牙利的哈喬斯度暑假，馬薩格蘭德喜歡義大利的傳統藝術，尤其是威尼斯繪畫的和諧光與色，他也愛上了匈牙利的土地與人民以及他們的藝術。他曾經一如中世紀的工藝家般，學習傳統繪畫的各種技法與版畫製作細節，甚至於親身探究古畫的修復過程，這讓他得以深入瞭解到古代大師如何運用媒材，以及如何解決運筆的技術問題。為了瞭解古代大師的學徒訓練，他前往世界最頂級的博物館訪問，探究大師的原作，並接受最好的學院藝術史老師指導。這些寬廣深入的學習為他後來整體的藝術創作提供了堅實的基礎，讓他有能力去探索當代藝術的具象表現趨向與未來發展的可能性，這也正是他藝術信條的基本觀，去尋求結合古今，並試圖以創新的現代繪畫來整合藝術史的光輝價值。

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二、時間之空間化與被媒介化的過程

某種空間的轉折，似乎為區別後現代與現代主義提供了有用的方式。此區別存在於時間和空間的相互關係的兩種形式之間，而不是存在於兩個不能區別的範疇之間。此特殊大轉型即時間之被替代與時間之空間化。但是，新空間美學和其存在性的生命世界的任何具体解說，都需要一些中間性的步驟，或以往辯証所稱的中介(mediation)。後現代的空間化，已經在各種空間媒体的關係和並存的異質力量之中進行了，我們在此可以將空間化說成是一種傳統精緻藝術被媒介化(mediatized)的過程。

馬薩格蘭德曾受義大利形而上畫派喬吉歐。奇里訶(Giorgio de Chirico)的啟發，參考建築學與形而上的表現手法，他也從古物維修學習中，習得大師們的技法以發展自已的畫法。他在色調的運用上，既協調又能配合整體結構的平衡，但他更在乎著眼於追求簡單主題的完美呈現，所以不同色調與造形終將保持最後整體畫面的契合。對藝術史的深入瞭解，也有助於他對室內空間做出富歷史內涵的特異詮釋，諸如: 牆壁上的電噐插座、磨損的馬賽克地板磁磚及經多層次修補的舊牆壁，每一間曾住過人的房間與走廊如今已成空屋，或許還隱藏著過去主人留下來的某些秘密。地板的裝飾花紋，讓人想到威尼斯人的起居室或充滿葡萄酒的巴黎人廚房，完美的空間轉合卻配合著陳舊的老牆壁，而旁邊卻是充滿謎樣詩意美感的走道，既使落日從玻璃框中消失，觀者不去注意畫中似電影透視般的精緻幻想空間，仍可慢慢觀賞品味畫中耐人尋味的絕妙表現。

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三、從生活尋找生命的詩意  

根據傅柯的說法，現代主義者波特萊爾不是個單純的漫遊者，他不僅是「捕捉住稍縱即逝、處處驚奇的當下」，也不僅是「滿足於睜眼觀看，儲藏記憶」。反之，現代主義者總是孜孜矻矻尋尋覓覓；比起單純的漫遊者，他有一個更崇高的目的……他尋覓的是一種特質，姑且稱之為「現代性」。他一心一意在生活中尋找歷史的詩意。傅柯認為現代主義者的要務是從生活中提煉出詩意，也就是將生活轉化為詩。這便是他所謂的「生活中尋找生命的詩意」。後現代它已放棄了以前現代主義繪畫的烏托邦使命，在失掉這種意識形態的使命之後，在形式從歷史中解放出來之後，繪畫現在可以自由地追隨一種贊同所有過去語言的可逆轉的游牧態度。

「就繪畫而言，破壞的時間何時來到，只有在新的創作出現時。這也就是說，你不可能去拆除一排尚未存在的牆壁，因為你只有在先樹立好牆壁之後，才有可能將之推倒。」這正是馬薩格蘭德選擇傳統主題做為他繪畫題材的原因，也是他何以運用傳統技法的理由，他的創作在企圖阻止傳統遭致破壞，然而其主要目的並不在於複製傳統主題，而是要讓觀者去發現我們生活中，隱藏於每天見到的古老建築物背後的協和美感。去記錄可觀查及觸覺到事物的物理現實，也只是一種引發我們思想與情緒的手段，想要試圖瞭解繪畫，或是想要發現陳舊地板磁磚、空屋及門縫背後的私秘訊息，那是必須經由我們的靈魂，而不是藉由我們的眼睛與大腦。也只有以自然為中心及客觀的繪畫模式，才能傳達這些私隱神話與個人故事，因為個人的、私密的感情只有藉由特定的現實元素，才能傳達; 無主題的藝術及其普世性的記號，更能表現一般真理，而較不適合特定情緒或特定宣言的傳達。

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四、記憶的暫留與寓言的復活

從浪漫主義到現代主義，在很長一段的時間裡，象徵的形式及語言學價值一直保有主導地位。如果象徵被同化成藝術作品和文化的各種組織概念，那麼象徵的各種對立物的壓抑的回返，各種公開或暗示性的寓言理論的壓抑的回返，可以被描述成我們這個時代中，一種對於中止、斷裂、異質和差異，而非對於同一性的一般敏感性。因此，寓言在最小的限度上，可以被描述成因為覺察到思考對象內不能比較的距離，而被提出來思考的問題，以及設計來包容沒有一種思想或理論可以包容的現象的各種詮釋性的新解答。

馬薩格蘭最近幾年的新作有些微的新改變，除了室內與風景作品之外，他開始將兩種主題予以結合，他以相同的份量將室內與室外兩種狀態同時呈現，兩者之間互不影響，卻有著觀念上的聯結。室內仍舊沉靜，其間的牆壁與陳舊或破裂的地板磁磚也仍散發著相同的永恒性，但是屋外背景中的自然卻有所不同，與前景凝結無生命的永恒正好相反，背景的青綠植物孕含著眾多改變的可能性，諸如樹葉抖動於愉悅的夏日微風中，或沐浴於漂雨中，而天空的畫面也許是夏日陽光普照，或是滿天陰暗。背景色調可有無限的變化，所呈現的效果卻是: 沉靜相對於變化無窮的大自然，永恒相對於四季循環。

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簡言之，在馬薩格蘭德的藝術作品中，觀者可以發現其基本訊息表現的雙重性: 一方面，我們從這些日常短暫生活的殘存片斷中，努力保存我們的記憶，那是我們文化的基本觀; 另一方面，我們又必須努力創新，因為這是我們確保世代傳承的唯一手段，讓生命繼續延存下去。

綜觀馬薩格蘭德以雙重性(Duality)的手法，透過名畫文脈中既存的圖像，結合大眾所熟悉的現代生活事物，運用並置的手法，壓縮不同的時空，予以重新詮釋，企圖給予觀賞者製造一種「對比」的圖像，試圖展現現代美學符號新語彙的可能性。馬薩格蘭德企圖透過不同的視角與思考、表現方式，讓觀者有一個不同的角度來觀察永恒空間與無限生命，此多元視角也正透露了當代藝術發展「從現代到後現代的第三種閱讀」的可能性。

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Matteo Massagrande in the Nuova Figurazione:

From Cross-cultural Modernity to Spatial Consciousness of Post-Modernity

 

-- Pedro Tseng Ph. D.

Born in Padua, Italy in 1959, Matteo Massagrande is a talented painter as well as engraver with profundity. He has considerable expertise in the history of classic and contemporary art. He is also a professional of techniques in traditional painting and art conservation. He has participated in over a hundred of international exhibitions, including the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), since he first came to prominence in 1973. Massagrande is one of the most iconic figures of the Nuova Figurazione, a painting movement.

As a modernist, he keeps marking the boundary of establishment of power experimentally to consider likelihood of transgression. He defines it as a game regarding in-betweenness of putting freedom into practice and the realistic order. Human agency could not come into play unless freedom is practicable within the establishment of power. On the one hand, we have uncertainty about Modernism’s missions and projects, which are in a de facto state of completion. On the other hand, they are probably susceptible to disturbance and basically still incomplete and not abundant. Hence, Post-Modernism opens up an alternative ex post facto: an alternative such as “the third kind of reading.”

1.Transcending the Traditional Forms to Pursue a Creative Transformation

Could an artist respect the reality while challenging it? According to Michel Foucault, a human being could be perceptive to notice his limitations by putting freedom into practice, so that he could identify a range as a transgressor. Foucault coins the phrase “une attitude limite,” or “a limit attitute” to illustrate the so-called “attitude of Modernity”: we can regard this kind of philosophical position as a limit attitude…it is essential for us to transcend a binary opposition between interiority/exteriority and be a pioneer…simply put, to transform necessary limitations of critical theory into a practice of criticism by transgression. As for the quality of a modernist, Foucault argues that though a modernist is confined in limitations, he would seek freedom without hesitation. He is ready to be a transgressor whenever he has to be because he is also a pioneer.

Massagrande was born in Padua, Italy. Although he lives in his birthplace now, he used to spend his summer vacation in his wife’s hometown, Hungary, in past twenty years. His obsession with the traditional Italian art, harmony of light and color in Venetian painting in particular, prompts him to gravitate to terrestrial life, grassroots, and arts of Hungary. He equipped himself with the various techniques of traditional painting, composing detail of engraving, even process of art conservation. Hence, he scrutinized implementation of ancient masters with the medium of paint and how they managed when they had technical issues about using paint pens. He visited the top museums of the world and examined the masters’ original pieces of work in order to learn about the trainings of apprenticeship of the ancient masters with the instruction of the best instructor of art history. Later on, the in-depth and intensive study made his overall artistic composition solid and be capable of exploring trends of the Nuova Figurazione and representation of contemporary art and its possibilities of future development. The study also supports his principles of art. He combines the past and present, and he also recognizes and integrates high value of art history with innovation of modern painting.

2.Spatialization and Materialization of Time

A transition of space is likely to provide the distinction between Post-Modernism and Modernism a useful tool. This distinction is not made in two different realms. Instead, it is extant in liminality between time and space. This unique as well as large-scale transition includes replacement and spatialization of time. However, any clear explanation related to Neo-Aesthetics and its Life-World existence adheres to some steps of experiencing liminality, or mediation in dialectic. In fact, the post-modern spatializtion has been progressing in relationship with different mediums of space and juxtaposition of heterogeneous power. We could regard spatialization as a process of being mediatized for traditional fine art.

Drawing inspiration from Giorgio de Chirico, an artist of metaphysical school in Italy, Massagrande not only adopts the techniques of architecture and metaphysics, but also learns from the masters to develop his own skills. He emphasizes a perfect representation of pursuing a simple topic compared with the shades in his works, which also harmoniously match the whole composition with balance. Therefore, different shades and forms ultimately maintain visual harmony as the whole picture. His in-depth understanding of art history is also beneficial to his unique and historical interpretation of interior space. For example, wall sockets, worn mosaic brick tiles, old walls with multi-layered plaster, rooms and corridors in vacant houses which are used to be people’s homes. The owner’s secrets are still probably well-kept. The decorative patterns of the floor remind people of a Venetian living room or Parisian kitchen. A perfect space of transition matches with plain old walls accompanied by mysterious corridors with poetic beauty. The viewers could enjoy the significant representations in his paintings without noticing the delicate space of fantasy in perspective like a film, even though sinking sun disappears from a glass frame.

3. Seeking the Poetic Essence of Life in Life

Charles Baudelaire, according to Foucault, is not an unsophisticated Flâneur. Neither does he simply seize the ephemeral now-ness that is full of amazement every nook and cranny, nor he merely is satisfies with watching and preserving memory. Instead, he always gravitates to searching and seeking as a modernist. Compared with a so-called Flâneur, he sets himself a higher goal: a quality that we could call “modernity,” simply put. He does nothing else but seeking the poetic essence of history. Foucault advocates that a modernist’s first priority is to extract a poetic essence from life. In other words, he transforms life into a poem. He describes this act as “seeking the poetic essence of life in life.” Post-Modernity has annulled the Utopian mission of pre-Modern painters. After discharging the obligation based on ideology, the forms were liberated. As a result, painters now could freely adopt a nomadic style which agrees with a reversible process of language in the past.

“A painter could abolish what he does not want when he completes new compositions. It is not likely for him to dismantle a wall that is not extant. He could only dismantle a wall after it was built.” This perfectly explains why Massagrande addresses the traditional theme in his painting and why he applies traditional techniques. He tries to prevent tradition from vanishing. However, his primary aim is not to duplicate the tradition, but to discover the hidden, harmonious beauty of ancient edifices around viewers. Tracking the perceptible and approachable material of physical things is nothing but a way of prompting our thoughts and emotions. If we attempt to appreciate paintings, or interpret the esoteric contents of vacant houses and opened doors, we must use our spirits, not our eyes, because nothing else could tell the clandestine myths and private stories like a nature-centered as well as objective model of painting does. The individual and private emotions become expressive because there are particular elements of reality. The art without a theme and its universal signs are more capable of expressing Truth in general rather than particular emotion or manifestations.

4.Bank of Memory and Reincarnation of Allegory

The symbolic form and linguistic value played a role of impresario from Romanticism to Modernism. If symbols are equal to all kinds of building blocks of art and culture, the return of the repressed of all kinds of the counterparts of symbols and explicit as well as implicit allegorical theories could be regarded as discrimination in heterogeneity, or difference regarding disruption and interruption, but not a trenchant view of homogeneity in general. Hence, an allegory could be regarded as an incomparability of the target: a question for thinking and planned as a new answer of all kinds of new interpretations to include those which are not included by a thought or theory. 

Recently, Massagrande has created a nuanced composition. Except for works of art representing interior space and scenery, he lumps two themes together. Combining interior space with exterior space equally, he represents two connected ideas without disturbance. Tranquil as it is, the interior space with walls and old broken bricks also reveals eternity, whereas the exterior space as the background including nature creates a variety of possibilities with green plants, which is contrary to the crystalized and lifeless eternity. For example, the leaves either tremor in pleasant summer breeze or bathe in a light drizzle. Also, the sky may be sunny or murky. The shades of the background change endlessly. Its effects include: tranquility vis-à-vis transient nature; eternity vis-à-vis the cycle of the seasons.

To sum up, the viewers of the works of art by Massagrande will identify the duality, which is generated by the basic signs of the works. On the one hand, we strive for preserving our memory, which is basic value of our culture, with the fragmented parts in ephemeral everyday life. On the other hand, we also have to make an effort to innovate, because this is the only way to ensure of human reproduction.

Massagrande’s techniques of duality and juxtaposition combines the extant images in the context of famous works of art with modern life to apply and reinterpret time and space compression, trying to provide the viewers with images of “correlation” and open up a possibility to coin new phrases of modern aesthetics and semiology. Massagrande brings a different perspective, thinking pattern, and a means of expression for the viewers to observe eternal space and unlimited life. Meanwhile, this multiple perspective recognizes a possibility of “the third kind of reading between Modernity and Post-Modernity.”

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translated by Yuan-yang Wang

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