Art Projects Gallery is proud to present “LIFE / 生”, a solo exhibition by Nakajima Hiroyuki.

Nakajima Hiroyuki (中嶋宏行, born February 17, 1956) is a contemporary Japanese artist and calligrapher from Chiba, Japan. He is best known for his modern interpretation of Japanese calligraphy (shodo) which he calls Sho art, a technique which combines the traditional elements of Japanese calligraphy (shodo) with the movements of Tai Chi and inspired by the symbols of zen and nature.

He began his training in shodo at the age of 6 and would continue his studies through his post-graduate years at Chiba University where he received a degree in Architectonics (Industrial Engineering). A practitioner of Tai Chi since his twenties, Nakajima developed his own style of contemporary Japanese calligraphy, blending shodo with Tai Chi movements.

By introducing the movements of Tai Chi into his art, Nakajima intended to demonstrate the process of creating the art by means of a performance. Most of his performances begin with Nakajima standing in a meditative state over a blank canvas, and then when inspired uses one sharp stroke of the brush to create the abstract form of nature: moon, soil or a mountain. Nakajima has explained that the one stroke of a brush is carried out with a single, condensed thought to bring about the forms and lines of a moment in time.

Nakajima has said, "Every work of "Sho" is created in one continuous motion, and therefore cannot be repeated or re-written. The power of "Sho" lies in this feature of non-recurrence. Even if you draw the same letter ten times, ten different forms will arise spontaneously.

In the “LIFE / 生” series, he had the idea to express the diversity of society, writing multiple iterations of the calligraphic character “生” (same character in both Japanese Hanji and Chinese), which means “Life” in English, each on a different piece of paper or canvas sourced from all over the world. For Nakajima, each character resembles an individual and the diversity of the materials on which they are written with the unique calligraphic forms being expressed are symbolic of the multitude of possibilities of life.

Nakajima has held exhibitions and live performances throughout Europe, Japan and the United States. In 2006 he was invited to participate in the 60th Festival d'Avignon in France, and in the 2006 Art Basel Miami, where he debuted in the United States. Nakajima currently has studios in Chiba, Japan and in Milan, Italy.

The “LIFE / 生” will be shown at Art Projects Gallery from 10 Aug to 14 Sep 2019. An opening reception with the artist present will be held on 10 Aug 2019 from 4pm-6pm, all are welcome to join.

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of artworks in this exhibition will be given to Unicef (Hong Kong) to support their efforts in advancing the well-being of every child, especially the most disadvantaged.  (https://www.unicef.org.hk)

Artist’s Statement
In 2009, I began to write a character “LIFE” continuously on small pieces of paper to pray for children who died due to hunger-related causes. One day when I gazed at many of the “LIFE” pieces on a wall in my studio, each of the characters looked like faces and figures of people. At that moment, I have just thought of an idea that I would express diversity of our society through my works. All of the characters are the same, ”LIFE” but each one has different expression on various kinds of paper from around the world.

Due to the expansion of the Internet, everyone had got an opportunity to transmit his (her) own thoughts to the world. I hoped it would widen diversity of our society. But ironically, people gathered together for the same values, and became indifferent and intolerant to others. As a result, our society is loosing its diversity and open-mindedness. If there are a hundred people, there are a hundred ways of life. From this point of view, for this exhibition I am showing a series of artworks featuring the character "生" (life).


References: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Hiroyuki

藝途畫廊榮幸呈現 《LIFE / 生》，日本藝術家 中嶋 宏行 香港首度個展。

中嶋 宏行 (生於1956年2月17日)是是來自日本千葉的當代日本藝術家和書法家。他以對日本書法（書道）的現代詮釋為名。中嶋將日本書法（書道）的傳統元素與太極拳的動作相結合，並以禪宗和自然的象徵為創作靈感，稱之為“書”藝術。

在他6歲時便開始接受書道的訓練，一直到他在千葉大學修讀建築學（工業工程）學位期間，仍持續學習書道。作為二十年代太極拳的實踐者，中嶋開發了自己的當代日本書法風格，將書道與太極運動融為一體。

通過將太極的運動引入他的藝術，中嶋意圖通過表演來展示創作藝術的過程。中嶋的大多數表演都是從他站立在空白畫布上的冥想狀態開始，然後當靈感降臨時，以他對毛筆的敏銳觸覺，一氣呵成的創造出大自然的抽象形式， 如：月亮、土壤或山。 中嶋解釋說，毛筆的一個筆劃是由一個單一、濃縮的思想，帶來片刻的形式和線條。

中嶋說：““書”的每一個作品都是以一個連續的動作創建，因此無法重複和重寫。“書”藝術的力量在於這種不再發生的特徵。即使你畫了十次相同的字母，也會自發產生十種不同的形式。

在《Life / 生》的系列作品中，他有意表達社會多樣性的想法，多次迭代的書寫“生”這個字（“生”在日本漢字和漢語是一样的）， 英文意味著“生活”，把每個“生”字都書寫在來自世界各地的不同紙張或畫布上。對中嶋來說，每個“生”字相似獨有存在的個體，在多樣性的材料上以獨特的書法形式來表現“生”的形態，象徵著生活的多種可能性。

中嶋曾在歐洲，日本和美國舉辦過展覽和現場表演。2006年，他受邀參加法國第60屆阿維尼翁藝術節， 並與2006年的邁阿密巴塞爾藝術博覽會中，在美國首次亮相。中嶋目前在日本千葉和意大利米蘭都設有工作室。

LIFE /”生“將於2019年8月10日至9月14日在藝途畫廊展出。藝術家出席開幕酒會將於2019年8月10日，星期六，下午4點至6點舉行，歡迎所有藝術愛好者出席參加。

本次展覽中銷售藝術品的部分收益將捐贈給聯合國兒童基金會（香港），以支持他們為提高每個兒童，特別是最弱勢兒童的福祉所做的努力。 (https://www.unicef.org.hk)


藝術家自述
2009年，為因飢餓相關原因而死的孩子們祈禱，我開始在小紙片上連續書寫“生” 這個字。有一天，當我凝視著我工作室牆上的許許多多“生”作品時，每個“生”字看起来就像人物和面孔。那一刻，我突然有個想法，利用我的作品來表達我們社會的多樣性。每件作品都是在寫同一個字符“生”，書寫在世界各地的各種紙張上，每個“生”字都有不同的表達形式。

随着互聯網的擴展，每個人都有機會將他（她）自己的想法傳遞給全世界。我希望它能擴大我們社會的多樣性。然而諷刺的是，人們為了相同的價值觀聚集在一起，對其他人變得無動於衷和不寬容。結果，我們的社會正在失去其多樣性和開放的思想。如果有一百人，那就有一百種生活方式。抱著這個想法，在這次展覽中，我展示了一系列以“生”為主題的藝術作品。

參考: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Hiroyuki

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