Myonghi Kang: Origins

This event is as important as it is exceptional: a retrospective exhibition of Myonghi’s recent works in a locale specifically conceived for her, in an attempt to retranscribe the universe so unique to the painter, indeed the most esoteric of her generation. This woman descends from the great lineage of artists who have long remained in obscurity in the West, the likes of Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, and Elaine de Kooning. This woman of solitary mystique is nonetheless a child of her time: caught up in the torrents of history, she has experienced hardship, struggles, and exile. Capturing the most distant corners of the world, Myonghi’s paintings have matured and grown alongside her, a creator faithful to both the sacred art of cavemen and the spirit of nomads.

Here and now, it is our distinct privilege to exhibit and share with the public in Hong Kong the emotion of such a discovery, one which invites us to reflect upon the role and place of art in the world of tomorrow.

Anxious to reposition Myonghi’s œuvre in the context of its genesis, we have conceived within the gallery – specifically set up for this purpose – an exhibition in three stages that correspond to those of the artist’s laboratory of creation, three periods of a physical and spiritual experience, indeed three stages of a sanctuary subject to the variations of light, namely black at the moment of discovery, favouring immersion so that illumination may occur; then ochre to underline the relentless quest in the alleys of the inner labyrinth, during the course of examination, liberation, and abandonment; finally chalky white, when memories take hold and thereby triggering a long process of erasure and subsequently recreation.

Arthur de Villepin

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T H E M Y O N G H I M Y S T E RY There is, at the outset, this Myonghi mystery: a protracted journey in shadow and silence, a diligent labour to bring the world – her world – onto canvas. Her life is reclusive, a life donning religious habit one might say, devoted entirely to painting without worrying about spectacles, indifferent to the impositions of market trends, theatrics, critics, dealers, and collectors alike.

She is a rare breed of painter, limiting herself in recent years to a handful of displays at Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery in Hong Kong, as well as some carefully selected exhibitions in museums or public institutions in South Korea, Mainland China, and France, accompanying performances and poetic readings. Notable exhibitions since the 1970s include those at Galerie Jancovici in 1977, Galerie de Séoul in 1984 and 1992, which earned her recognition amongst the initiated, Centre Pompidou in 1985, Seoul National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 1989, and Beijing National Art Museum of China in 2005.

As she agrees to be presented in full view, how could we not be astonished by the discovery of an œuvre so astonishing, on account of its strength, originality, and maturity?

For her, painting stems from an apparently simple, spontaneous, and immediate approach. It is also a matter of conquest when it comes to dealing with the motif, on the fringes of the world, to capture the essence of landscape, the passage of time, the movement of forms. It is the job of the archaeologist and poet to seek the original breath, the first glimmers of the world amidst a nature which, despite the devastation brought about by centuries of industrialisation, remains the common soul, the source of our threatened humanity.

Myonghi Kang in Gobi Desert, 1996 姜明姬於戈壁沙漠， 攝於1996年

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At all times and at all latitudes, Myonghi would set up her easel to receive illumination on her canvas. She travelled to the source of the Patagonian glaciers and wandered the Gobi Desert on eight occasions, each time persisting until the right hour of revelation. On either side of View of

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the Sambangsan (2020; M-01), blue layers respond to one other, traversed by green and brown foliage. Her finely sculpted face, a visage of harsh elegance, reveals none of the passions that torment her. Her dark eyes seem to absorb light and would not blink even under the midday sun, while the canvas comes to life, vibrating under the brushstrokes. The more the canvas takes shape and opens up to life, the more the artist appears to fade away. She gives birth to this pictorial alter ego wherein she abandons herself, while infusing it with life that seems to desert this impassive body, which has almost gone missing. Amidst mysterious alchemy akin to transmutation, we find her in one piece and alive in her creation.

If the interaction between her and her subject matter is permanent to the point of merging into one, the same is true for the resultant works, which belong wholly to the landscapes that inspired them. The artist admitted to having long pondered whether or not she should leave her paintings in the middle of nature and, in June 2002, she told AREA magazine:

“I was holding my paintbrush and the wind was blowing, thereby moving it… And so I painted with the wind, and it was just right…”

It takes time to appreciate the magic and mystery of an art so unmindful and unadorned, which refuses to either concede or compromise, focusing only on the essential: a few touches, spots, and lines around a delicately coloured halo glaze would suffice to bring forth, give, or rather welcome life with patience. But let us not be mistaken, the colours might at times be tender, yet the message they embody is rigorous and ascetic, even downright stern. She would sometimes rip it out of the confused hotchpotch of our lives, and from the hubbub that assails and distracts us. One by one, she places each element on the canvas, thereby reestablishing a lost order. How great a joy this is, to be able to bend down to drink from the water source at the end of a long journey! How great a surprise it is, to see the keys to an ancient enigma gathering before our eyes! And what a mighty miracle it is, that evidence is finally upheld after so many years of bewilderment!

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Myonghi Kang, Vue de la Montagne Sanbangsan (Mountain of the Sanbangsan), 2020, oil on canvas, 227 x 182 cm 姜明姬 《三芳山景》， 2020年，布面油畫，227 x 182 厘米

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Myonghi Kang, Entrance of Youngsil, Spirit House, Hallasan, 2021, oil on canvas, 288 x 340 cm / 姜明姬《漢拏山英實土地神屋》，2021年，布面油畫，288 x 340 厘米

This way of painting is an invitation to relearn how to see and even live. It is no entertainment, seduction, or decoration, for she is neither kind nor flattering. Such discovery is warranted – we

The greatest mystery is ultimately a paradox. How can we explain the fact that works of such

ought to accept that art is as much about beauty as it is about truth – and indeed made at the greatest risk of those who confront, view, contemplate, and feed on it. Myonghi leads us to a journey whereon only the essentials are required; that is to say, prior to entering into this world and traversing the canvas, it is up to each of us to relinquish, renounce, and uninstall ourselves so as to rid of guises, away from ephemeral games and reflections.

of painting, at the extreme point of figuration, and yet it is ubiquitous; neither as a figure nor

However, relinquishing does not exhaust the mystery of a way of painting that does not impose itself; instead, one chooses a painting which, with all its vibrations, decomposes and recomposes before our eyes. It does not live merely at the moment of discovery, but within us. Whoever gazes at one of Myonghi’s paintings not only never sees the same composition, but also embarks on an adventure consisting of metamorphoses and divagations, an invitation to an internal journey, no less, as if an echo of Charles Baudelaire’s address to the the annual Étonnants Voyageurs (Amazing Travellers) literary festival in Saint-Malo. “We wish to travel without steam or sail!

To brighten the cares of our jails, pass over our spirits, stretched out like canvas, your memories with their frames of horizons. Tell us, what have you seen?”

In this respect, her way of painting is a gift, a multitude of offerings whereof the artist has never felt like the owner but merely custodian. She well appreciates what she owes to nature, rooted in a geography that bestows upon her both its fragility and unity; she equally appreciates what she owes to the time accumulated in countless concretions. Deposits and sediments emerge in successive strata on the canvas, nourishing and enriching one other.

Her way of painting owes as much to the wizardry of audacity, trial and error, and reconciliations.

The dialogue begins because Myonghi never forgets that the painter, however talented, constitutes only half of the equation. The spectator constitutes the other half, and Myonghi invites them all the more willingly, as her paintings are not only made to be seen, but also sung, as if a score written for a string quartet, whose notes could be adapted in all directions. Such music is associated with sounds, scents, colours, echoes, and feelings, multiplied by innumerable correspondences.

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noble humanity never retain their face or even silhouette? Mankind seems absent in this way as a gnarly bark of flesh and blood, but as a principle of humanity, like a constantly upheld requirement. Whoever looks at the painting could belong to no other community than that of his fellow human beings.

Here, there is nothing left for the crowds and machines devoid of consciousness to parrot. Even at its wildest, the very nature that challenges us wants to be irresistibly human, through the multitude of viewpoints, infinity of nuances, attention to detail, fragility of forms, as well as the strength and balance of elements. Everything serves to tell us the brilliance of a presence, the spirit of men and gods. Let us attempt to examine the admirable Medici Fountain (2016; M-02), a painting on the eponymous structure situated at the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, where the stone portico and ivy drapes merge in a game of mirrors, namely reflections in the dark pond, itself punctuated by a few coloured clusters of flowers in vases, with a thousand weaving threads as the link. While the subject matter stands at the centre of the painting, discovering a naked space all around, a small tondo painted in the same year in South Korea, Seokwang Village (2016; M-03), presents the spectacles of a nature that wins and invades everything all the way until the edges, starting from a centre carved out of dark greens at the heart of the forest.

How could we not be seized with dizziness, therefore, when we suddenly find ourselves strolling not in front of but inside the painting, as if caught and bewitched by the magic of the canvas?

Now we can admit: Myonghi’s paintings, comprising humanity and brotherhood, are above all a way of painting about embrace, so much so that all those who venture there would carry the mark of generosity for a long time. Entering here, per se, means readiness to reciprocate, but Myonghi, ever so terse in gesture and words, cannot be satisfied by way of her art, whether as a woman or as an artist. Without saying a word, she desires more, expects more, and hopes for more: all this is conveyed to us via her way of painting. To return to Myonghi-land is to live, right from the outset, in a land of friendship and brotherhood.

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Myonghi Kang, Seokwang Village, 2017-2018, oil on canvas, 160 x 160 cm 姜明姬《西廣村》，2017-2018年，布面油畫，160 x 160 厘米

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Akin to a rare flower, her way of painting is both docile and worthwhile, with the initiated learning to read every trace, so as to survive temperature variations and to resist asphyxiation.

Each item fulfils its function alongside spaces intentionally left blank, resembling large reserves of fallow land. Dialogue resumes as downstrokes and upstrokes join hands, while fortuity and necessity are in turn reaffirmed.

The nomadic painter in Myonghi gradually advances on the canvas with frugality, providing shadows and waterpoints, acting as the guardian of a living memory, that of a light which does not extinguish due to the paintbrush. For those who know where to look, each painting exerts its own power of fascination, with numerous facets illuminated side by side, and numerous fragments gathered in fine touches, waves, or luminous bouquets.

The powerful shock of these large canvases, pierced with light which dazzles or at times crushes, would sculpt or even pulverise forms every so often, as evidenced by Entrance of Youngsil, Spirit House, Hallasan (2021; M-04) and Drowned (2014-2017; M-05). Drenched in so much blood, the earth and the sky merge in Syria 2 (2018-2019; M-06). In the form of fine white particles, pain covers everything, and when the very horizon fades away, it is the time of consternation.

Mankind remains physically absent in her most demanding and distinguished works, those of the highest civilisations with no more noble tasks than to elevate humanity. Hence the importance of relearning how to see, at the threshold of the painting, what one could no longer distinguish at changing hours of the day, under the scorching sun and blowing wind.

Myonghi Kang, Syria 2, 2018-2019, oil on canvas, 288 x 340 cm 姜明姬《敍利亞·二》，2018-2019年，布面油畫，288 x 340 厘米

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005 Myonghi Kang, Entrance of Youngsil (Spirit House, la montagne Hallah) 2021, oil on canvas, 288 x 340 cm 姜明姬《漢拏山英實土地神屋》，2021年，布面油畫，288 x 340 厘米

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T H E C Y C L E O F R E B I RT H Myonghi’s art is part of a multi-centuries-old tradition which, since the age of the caves, has withstood the test of time, floods, wars, and epidemics. Each day, she strives to register on the great canvas or white painting paper a trace that attests to the perpetuation of mankind; each day, she watches for signs and welcomes a new breath, both within and around her. Begone with aesthetic quarrels, genre revivals, or market reversals that would dictate her choices: her rebirths become in support of natural forces, the erosion of stone at the edge of springs, the dazzle of light, the passage of seasons, plants and flowers… The soul is gradually overwhelmed, this she does not deny, but all this happens slowly and non-violently, during the course of nuptials, lives, and deaths.

At the moment of outbreak, one can already glimpse the seed of disappearance alongside other traces and colours, wherefrom memory will gradually develop. Behind the spectacle revealed by the canvas, landscapes still in limbo are preparing for metamorphosis. In Slope V (2020; M-07) and Uphill Road I (2020; M-08), other forms of life are heralded. Through her art, however, Myonghi precedes the question: what if life abruptly ended there with no tomorrow? In viewing Sage and Old Cannas (2020; M-09), one simply cannot dodge the question, in the same way that one cannot compare Withered Canna (2020; M-10) and Canna and Camellia (2021; M-11), when the passage of time replaces the exaltation of blooming as the only force of memory.

Not unlike a caravan that seems motionless during its ride across an expansive desert, Myonghi’s work, although nomadic, wants to be deeply rooted in an immutable and vital requirement, a sort of primary work, subject to evidence and yet without rhyme or reason, like Angelus SileMyonghi Kang, Le Pente 5 (Slope 5), 2020, oil on canvas, 116.5 x 91 cm 姜明姬《斜坡》，2020年，布面油畫，116.5 x 91 厘米

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sius’s fabled rose. The canvas blooms “because it blooms.” It “pays no attention to itself, nor does it ask whether anyone sees it.” It “is without a ‘wherefore’, but not without reason.”

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Myonghi Kang, La Pinede (Pine Forest), 2019, oil on canvas, 194 x 250 cm 姜明姬《松林》，2019年，布面油畫，194 x 250 厘米

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And is its first reason not to remind us of our duty as men, who are under the threat of collapse, manipulation, and disappearance on a land which is per se in danger? Through her tirelessly marked paths on the canvas, Myonghi reminds us that another life is possible for those who know how to hold their breath – as one would with a musical note – and those who want to and know how to see. Revive the first scenes, bring onto the canvas the memory of the first day hailed to the extreme ends of the world, as if hatched from the void in its full purity. Here, emboldened in such inhospitable landscapes and advancing in the open with wild life as allies, the artist refuses to surrender.

One wonders how many paths have been trodden, from the cleverly interwoven geometric figures in the beginning to these dazzling blooms… Spots, drips, and mixed colours are analogous to so many skylights opening on the horizon in the same celebration of life, the same joy of painting – a primary joy without unnecessary effusions or distractions.

The dazzle is always at the point of rendezvous, because she never forgets, amidst the ocean of worries and anxieties that assail us at present, that there is no better remedy than attention to beings and things, as well as delicacy and tenderness, which endow her art with the strength of prayers. It is, therefore, an art of devotion that mobilises all the energies of beauty to soothe the wounds of our epoch. Painting calls for the healing of the vices of an age; in the face of death, is incessantly reinvented with each brushstroke in modest squares of virgin cotton. On this battlefield, Myonghi offers us the very possibility of a living horizon, a moving framework wherein to register our dreams and struggles.

The dazzle is always at the point of rendezvous, because she never forgets, amidst the ocean of worries and anxieties that assail us at present, that there is no better remedy than attention to beings and things, as well as delicacy and tenderness, which endow her art with the strength of prayers. It is, therefore, an art of devotion that mobilises all the energies of beauty to soothe the wounds of our epoch. Painting calls for the healing of the vices of an age; in the face of death, the rotting of flesh, or the stiffness of heart, art is to rebirth what oxygen is to life.

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Myonghi’s atelier in Touraine, 2016 姜明姬於法國都蘭的工作室，攝於2016年

Myonghi’s greatest secret perhaps lies there, far away from the Tomb of Merlin: everything plays out in the painting, not through scenes of the umpteenth performance, but the very life of a cycle of rebirths torn from the shroud; painting is the Fountain of Youth, as well as humanity and immortality combined. From rebirth to childbirth, it is all about begetting or restoring life. While she stands against the void, distributes colours by fine touches or in large surfaces between the sky and the earth, Myonghi takes it entirely upon herself to chase fleeting moods at the altar of canvas or paper: she watches for vibrations and refractions of light, in a spiritual quest wherein her consciousness is sharp as a needle.

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Myonghi Kang, Canna Fanée (Withered Canna), 2020, oil on canvas, 160 x 130 cm 姜明姬《枯萎的曇華》，2020年，布面油畫，160 x 130 厘米

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Myonghi Kang, La Maison de l’Opticien 3, 2021, oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm 姜明姬《配鏡師之屋3》，2021年，布面油畫，130 x 162 厘米

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THE COLOR OF CONSCIOUSNESS Wandering is constitutive of her identity as an itinerant, because it is untamed and always recalcitrant to anything that attempts to rein it in. She prolongs the march by way of her paintings: nothing may confine, terminate, or limit the momentum of a continued present, whereat efforts and duties are the rule. In recent years, however, her quest has taken root anew in her native land. She feels at home in this wounded and divided land, which never stops pondering about its future.

In her studio on Jeju Island, an isle for the castaways and travellers, surrounded on three sides by the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese archipelago, and the Confucian heartland of Shandong Peninsula, she knows she can indefatigably resume her journey. On this Quelpart Island, as it was called in olden times, Marco Polo began writing Book of the Marvels of the World. A locale wherefrom to launch her spiritual vessels to seek the riches of the world and return laden with booty, indeed as Charles Baudelaire referred to, “these wonderful jewels, made of stars and rays.”

Having experienced in person the intoxication of great expeditions, she brought back numerous shards of a prodigal nature to furnish way more than a cabinet of curiosities put together by any enthusiast of the 17th century; a veritable Noah’s Ark, whereon to preserve all species of flora and fauna.

Thus saved from the great deluge are birds, camellias, white hibiscuses, a piece of pinewood, Our Lady, and the forgotten lands swept away by destruction, namely Syria, which has featured in her works on multiple occasions. So many representations have been retrieved from the bottom of the ages and kept alive, so as to grow in each of us.

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Myonghi Kang, Nature Morte, 2020, oil on canvas, 100 x 89 cm 姜明姬《靜物》，2020年，布面油畫，100 x 89 厘米

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Myonghi Kang, Jeju, 2021 / 姜明姬，濟州島，攝於2021年

Between the heart and geography lie certain mysterious and vital connections, and this is true for Myonghi and her homeland. Having for long been nourished by travels and an intimate knowledge of Western art, the artist returned to her roots, fixing her gaze with ever greater rigour on a chosen and assumed heritage, which increasingly needs to anchor itself in her land of choice, as much by choice as by necessity. During such times of high wind, the painter feels the need to return to her familiar range of dark greens that is Jeju Island, whereon gushes of sap and lairs of spirits would immediately form the connection, thereby perpetuating life. All the while, the more violent the creaks and tremors, the more urgent her need to return to the essential; that is to say, recording movements of the world, mapping breaths, and saving the memory of springs.

To this end, she often backtracks to observe variations, and verify the play of time and light; in essence, this means not so much to capture the landscape as to restore its identity and freedom once and for all.

Often impenetrable, on the periphery of distant faiths, or under the possession of neighbouring empires, Korea has become a symbol of the tears and lusts of geopolitics: it is a land crushed under the yoke of Japan, subsequently torn in the wake of the fratricidal war between two blocs.

If this temporarily neglected corner of the world has become crucial for contemporary art, it is certainly by fortuity rather than necessity, as a response to injured identities, as well as the shock of modernity between an urban empire connected with the world and rural life withdrawn unto itself, in a skilful play of rites and repetitions. In the face of fear and doubts, it is art alone that provides strength. Myonghi has therefore found her calling here, namely to provide coordinates in the storm, transmit an experience, and offer a meaning when her individual struggle adjoins that of her country, at the avant-garde front of our world. Along her way and on her canvases, she has tamed Red Cauliflower (2020; M-12), Pine Forest (2019; M-13), and The Optician’s Home I (2019; M-14). Convinced that the artist can still save the land from chaos by dint of attention and demand, she is anxious to set her sight on wherever she senses a threat. For this purpose, nothing can be left to chance, as evidenced by the gaze fixed upon Cauliflower (2020; M-15) or Camellia (2019; M-16) in close-up.

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Myonghi Kang, Fleur de Choux Rouge (Red Cauliflower), 2020, oil on canvas, 130.5 x 97.5 cm 姜明姬《紅花菜》，2020年，布面油畫，130.5 x 97.5 厘米

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N AT U R E A S T H E S O U R C E O F L I F E Through nature, we come to rediscover the consciousness of history, a future that is being questioned today, if respect and the will to change life are not at the point of rendezvous of an indispensable reconciliation. In each of her paintings, the urgency of the predicted tragedy looms large. Undoubtedly, from this black sun comes the bite of her palette, its somewhat frail colours, dazzles, and burns. In these uncertain times, and behind the veils, how could we ignore the wound of a broken consciousness?

Nature invades the space of Myonghi’s paintings, not as decorations or representations, but as a source of life anchored in a cosmology that can neither be domesticated by human hands nor broken by machinery. This force is at the heart of beings, a pure principle governing the generation of forms, diversity, life, God, or nature, according to the formula of philosophers. It lies at the inexhaustible origin of forms, whereat the one and the multiple are simultaneously produced by the emergence of the being. If they succeed or is juxtaposed with one another over time as incompatible neighbours, reconciliation would takes place on canvas via movement, hesitation, discontinuity, or the necessity of being. The explosion of colours is thereby combined with the delicacy of the palette with infinite nuances; the vibration of forms is based upon the play of the decomposition of light; erecting as a seismograph of the world, the paintbrush connects everything together, sharing the same intention of the artist. This serves as a remedy for any doctrine or ideology, and yet the search for a new harmony, a new sensitivity, remains beyond the reach of figuration and abstraction.

It is no wonder that this way of painting is situated elsewhere, pressing on insofar as possible with its quest for a balance between the full and the void, as well as the material and the spiritual, in order to approach the mystery of being. At first sight, it reconnects with the adventure of its origins in the image of shamans and wizards, attempting to carve on the rocks the figures of sacred beasts. As in the days of yore, the magic of an antediluvian presence emerges at the

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Myonghi Kang at her atelier in Touraine, France, 1991 姜明姬在她于法国都兰的工作室，摄于1991年

end of the world, along the somewhat sinuous walls of the cave, thanks to ample touches or a multitude of lines and dots. While Peony (2016; M-17) rises majestically, turkeys and flamingos of all shades snort in Hong Kong Zoo (2017; M-18).

Likewise, in the series of paintings on the subject of the Gobi Desert, the breathtaking Gobi Fire (2003-2014; M-19) emerges where the landscape is apparently set ablaze in a fracas of colours.

An extensive range of ochre, yellow, and orange rises above a primitive chaos, wherein the memory of ancient seas nonetheless remains afloat. Deserts of sand and water through the eras come together, in excess of an endless moment. More than anywhere else, in such an embrace of space, colour, and time, here we vividly perceive an art so unique to Myonghi.

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Myonghi Kang, Hong Kong Zoo, 2017, pastel, 70 x 50 cm 姜明姬《香港動物園》，2017年，粉彩 紙本，70 x 50 厘米

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THE SECRETS OF TIME Time is the true measure of any work of art. Each painting is part of a lineage, a chronology based upon inspirations, as evidenced by titles, themes, and colours of decades after decades of astounding fidelity. The faraway and off-limits painter in Myonghi asserts herself through stubbornness and clarity of purposes. She confronts on each painting a material modelled by successive waves, strata, and sediments against a light which, on the contrary, imposes itself with clarity and instantaneity.

With this tour de force, this shock between matter and light, the artist manages to capture the fleeting eternity of the world at the tip of her paintbrush. Abandoning all sensual perception and mobilising the means of feeling or reason, it opens up to a spiritual intuition, where light dominates in an unlimited experience of freedom. Harbouring such an ambition, each painting is a milestone, a testimony of its quest for truth. Each work is set up as a fragment, but also an indispensable part of an unfinished project in perpetual development. Each time, the same magic casts its spells on this curvature of time, where the instant merges with the eternal, encouraging the viewer to oscillate from one to the other, between vertigo and reason. We find such magic at work in the clever layout of Camellia Time (2018; M-20), where vegetation emerges victorious, dotted with bright red flowers leaning against an absent sky. Similarly, rhythm prevails when time is suddenly suspended in Deep in the Orangery (2018; M-21), under the yoke of soft colours.

Behind the game of appearances, nature in this spacetime always stages a fight between elementary forces, which is expressed by hidden lights, springing from the depths of stellar rotation or the abyss of oceans. In this game of hide-and-seek, pastel is conducive to the capture of a moment as well as the emergence of light: be it a glow that surges from the void in Nonjitmoul (2018; M-22), or the efflorescence of the grey sea merging with the sky, bristling with points and black filaments in Correspondence on the China Sea (2018; M-23). Whether on canvas or paper, Myonghi summons her strength when all too often, having gone through the mill and been battered, life threatens us with defeat and dispersion. She puts it bluntly:

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Myonghi Kang, Le Temps des Camélia (Camellia Time), 2018, oil on canvas, 240 x 315 cm / 姜明姬《茶花時刻》，2018年，布面油畫，240 x 315 厘米

“Complete is what I would like to be. My little life, my little experiences, and to be aware of all that I have to respect; that is to say, to be complete.”

The artist’s gaze pierces through the world’s opacity, strong in the conviction of a hidden unity, in spite of doubts and mockery which seem to prevail all too often. In the very absence of words, there is a thought that governs the cosmos and clutches the world, nature, and man with the same momentum. Something powerful and yet eerie inhabits our land, from docile landscapes, French gardens, and English labyrinths to the dark pine forests of Jeju. It is something that commands as much as it justifies the dance of shamans and ritual exercises through the ages, like the ringing of bells forged by the centuries.

If the cosmos exists, it is one without tuning forks and is therefore often out of tune. This force of unity and continuity, which befalls time in confused moments and eternities, is one of spirit, not so much a belief as wisdom. It is a demanding attitude in front of the world, which invites us to permanently rid ourselves of the inessential or insignificant.

Resembling mirrors by the roadside, these paintings accompany life and celebrate the miracle of presence, at times withdrawing from the world altogether, other times radiating colours. In this pendular movement, this tension of the soul and its everliving song, the artist preserves a future harmony, the hope for the recreation of the world.

Myonghi Kang, l’Expulsion (Expulsion), 2019, oil on canvas, 180 x 170 cm 姜明姬《驅逐》，2019年，布面油畫，180 x 170 厘米

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Such astonishing works of art with humility are both conservation and liberation, when we catch her signing and dating paintings whenever she resumes work. Paintings do not stop living with her, “other terrible workers will come”, as the soothsayer-poet resumes work and brings the landscape back to life. More than anyone else, she appreciates that everything is undulating and transitory, and she accepts it with humility, even rejoicing in the metamorphosis as long as the eye, the hand, and the paintbrush are working to correct the imbalances of the world, find the underground connections, and restore the lost unity.

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Myonghi Kang, Au fond de la l’Orangerie (Deep in the Orangery), 2018, oil on canvas, 227 x 162 cm 姜明姬《橘園深處》，2018年，布面油畫，227 x 162 厘米

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A WITNESS’S WORK Each of Myonghi’s paintings records the movements of nature, offering and witnessing a breath, consciousness, and measure of man in the face of what, subject to erasure and excess, would continuously slip away but for her.

Art asserts itself as a response to the emptiness and decentralisation of the world, as a remedy for exhaustion as well as the loss of meaning of figuration and abstraction, both of which are detached from the present. The East and the West have strayed into opposing dead ends, each being forced to seek new paths whereon life and light may reclaim their rights. Hence the need to return to the moment of origin, back to an infant’s perspective, wherefrom everything is novel, subject to the intoxication of discovery during a learning process of freedom that upsets everything, indeed echoing Pablo Picasso’s confession: “It took me a lifetime to paint like a child.”

The cast of figuration and the constraints of abstraction have ended up exhausting the gesture of creation. Challenging the déjà vu, the artist is forced to return to the limbo precisely at this moment, so as to capture the first quivers of forms with their exaltation as did Fra Angelico, and tackle the evanescent splashes of colours as exhibited by the frescoes at the Convent of San Marco in Florence.

For Myonghi, boundaries do not exist as far as subject matters are concerned. Landscapes, forms, and rhythms are to be perpetually revisited when wear and tear has put vigilance to rest.

For her, restoring life and reenchanting the world is the painter’s mission, in a universe whereof the painter has been driven out, and it is therefore up to the painter to reinvest in a new studio with the horizon. The mission is different at every turn, such as transcribing magic in Expulsion (2019; M-24), scenting the hillside plantation in Pine Forest (2019; M-13) by opening it to the sky in a praying gesture, or saving a beloved place of oblivion and mists in Optician’s Home II and III (2019-2021; M-25-26).

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Myonghi Kang, La Maison de l’Opticien (The Opticien’s Home) 2019, oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm 姜明姬《視光師之家》，2019年，布面油畫，130 x 162 厘米

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With her determination to reconnect with the truth in painting, Myonghi takes all the risks, loneliness and harshness of life, uncertainty of the next day, humility and frugality of everyday life, but also the joy of the encounter. A fight of this magnitude cannot be without allies, knowing glances, or friendly words in tune with poetry. Reciprocation with savants, scholars, philosophers, poets, and all those who may broaden her horizon is incessant. The light of nature and friendship serves to nurture a relationship with the world, so that one comprising respect, tolerance, as well as acceptance of the different and unexpected may finally occur within the borders of patterns and signs.

All these paintings tell a story and are part of an expedition in the spirit of the Renaissance, consisting of discoveries or rediscoveries. From these adventures, the artist is revealed and exposed via selected landscapes, while bearing her joys, fears, desires, and revolts. Rather predictably, her works resonate with those who oppose emptiness, reject conventions and established orders.

Without resorting to the ease of formulae or slogans, she questions the stereotype, the immobile, the immutable, and the uniform. She stands on the side of life, rich in a conquered freedom. To this end, each painting is a path and whoever borrows it must assess their risk, since one does not unsuspectingly enters into an art that is first and foremost about truth. Therefore, there are neither concessions to accommodate current trends, nor flatteries to catch the attention of the masses or ephemeral powers. Her works strive to convince everyone, one by one, without concerns of effects, illusions, or glamour.

Whoever enters into her paintings, will not leave without having been enlarged and strengthened. All at once, we are surprised to find ourselves more nimble, thereby inhabiting the world in a different manner, one that is undoubtedly freer, more real and just.

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BETWEEN WORLDS

Viewing these paintings is akin to gradually proceeding to the evidence of a newfound life, that of the first mists, springs, or deep forests. We understand the spell, the beneficial enchantment of the beholder, who cannot stay away for long. Projected as a traveller inside the canvas, voyeurs

Far from schoolboy quarrels or games of the ego, Myonghi’s art is not intended to shock, transgress, or even innovate at any cost. Rather, its ambition is to create a connection between people and peoples, beyond the walls that keep rising.

Spurred on by sustained concerns, her ambition is all about understanding, namely to proliferate bridges between the East and the West, at a time when everyone closes their eyes and curls up on themselves. Faced with such threats as confinement, petrification, and isolation, she never ceases to instil doubts conducive to the emergence of new questions, as well as astonishments that invite us to accept the detour of receiving surprises. Her respiration thus encourages discoveries of inspirations on shortcuts. Her studies of the Eastern and Western traditions did not, however, turn her into a prisoner of one or the other. Her art is not so much about repetition as conquest; under our watch, dislocated landscapes are reassembled and revived.

were soon smitten by the magic of a creation that never ceases to open up to others, reminding us of the passage of the first vocation of art in such times of distress, namely to restore to us the lost unity of the world, without which there could be no reconciliation of men possible.

As this reunion is finally accomplished, we are now faced with an opportunity to relearn and rediscover, via the power of an art of incarnation and healing. The space, the light, and the time pounded at the four corners of the painting are a starting point, made possible by the demand for truth. Therefrom words may retake their rights, and sharing may take place. It is true that there is an opportunity to be seized, when tragedy has for long entered our lives. Through her works of asceticism, Myonghi has conquered the violence and fear that are spreading around us, and grace can now blossom with strokes of the paintbrush.

Let us be in no doubt, Myonghi’s art matters today and its importance will only grow, because it is needed by and is beneficial to us. This is not only because it gives meaning to the way the

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Ancestral wisdom and modern audacity are to be found in the blank space of the canvas, as if

world goes about, but also because it expresses a beauty that we once considered vain and use-

there are numerous pillars attempting to reach the sacred under such fragile conditions, beyond

less, in essence as well as by necessity, when it alone can redeem so many doubts, despairs, and

the visible reality. Nature engages its primitive forces, time, horizon, colour, and so many fertile

sacrifices. May the smallest feature on the canvas finally become a bird, may silence become

alluviums that gather here to enrich beauty.

speech, and may the desert become an orchard!

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A N A RT O F T H E A B S O L U T E Why is there so much benevolence in Myonghi’s way of painting? Where does its magical power, as well as the astonishment that each painting arouses in public, come from?

Her way of painting upsets the usual game of schools and categories. While we are used to reading a canvas with a preconceived view, wherein impression, at times expression or even symbols, as well as the natural and the supernatural would invariably dominate, the artist elects to blur the lines and reconcile the views combining each of these prisms, in a back-and-forth movement between interiorisation and exteriorisation, and between the full and the void, thereby rendering this coexistence on canvas possible.

But despite a clever game of composition and distribution of touches, technique is not be-all and end-all. The spirit never ceases to converse with the matter in a line of rigour, even austerity, which leads to the dismissal of anything that might belong to the ranks of anecdote or entertainment. She is interested in nothing else other than primary presence, which she welcomes onto canvas and relentlessly reworks it, under the keen scrutiny of memory by successive condensations and decantations. The canvas thus bears the trace of these multiple and apparently contradictory legacies, between roughness and transparency, as well as presence and absence.

Myonghi Kang, De L’atelier (Studio), 2021, oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm 姜明姬《畫室》，2021年，布面油畫，130 x 97 厘米

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Such is the demiurgic ambition of Myonghi’s way of painting, namely to reconcile the two extremes in matter and spirit at their different ages, from fusion to dispersion, and in a unique embrace. Nature is thereby featured in all these mixed forms, until illumination gushes on the painter’s command, all the while faithful to the principle of truth comprising time, space, and accumulated colours. This is not without risk because, in order to comply with opposing constraints, the painter must first return and then come out of herself, enter into possession and lighten up, incarnate and disincarnate, and fully satisfy her desires to liberate herself of all encumbrances. The artist’s journey thus takes place between these two contradictory necessities, which are both tyrannical and sovereign. Myonghi, in turn, directs her sight to the experience of

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divinity and humanity, hence this unique imprint of a painting shaped by human and spiritual adventure, as well as poetic requirement, which express both the anguish of loss and the ecstasy of life.

The urgency is right here in her life and paintings to bear witness, to still keep alive a landscape which, but for the power of her gaze, could fade without leaving a trace.

And yet the foresighted Myonghi also intends to prepare us for this drama of disappearance. To this end, she invites us to exercise our eyes and memory in this ineluctable work of erosion and erasure. On the canvas, lights become glimmers buried within the very soul, revealing on the walls the spectacle of a world doomed to disappear as prehistoric caves. In her latest paintings, such anguish grows only stronger. Hence, greyish-white pearls pierced with bluish dazzles, in the middle of a clever scaffolding of lines, are dominant in Studio (2021; M-27), whereas fine spots of blue and pink emerge as a thread of chiselled veins in Coast of Songak (2021; M-28).

At a time when nature seems to be fading and exhausted, she offers us an antediluvian painting to confront the fears of the anthropocene, a poetic nature of perpetual presence, a brilliance of unsuspected power, a painting of the diversity of living things, and the uniqueness of beings.

With Myonghi, art regains its primitive function to help us live in a world in constant mutation; and indeed today, when the disappearance of many such aspects have become a real danger, none more so than the sublime garden that was once entrusted to us, namely nature, this martyred Garden of Eden whose abundance is depleting. Art thus becomes the ultimate sanctuary, the holy ark of an alliance of survival.

Myonghi Kang, Cote Songak, 2021, oil on canvas, 145 x 97 cm 姜明姬《宋岳邊陲》，2021年，布面油畫，145 x 97 厘米

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The decision to present this retrospective exhibition of Myonghi’s work in recent years, at this metamorphosed gallery over the duration of a season, is intended to not only illustrate the artist’s universe and her quest for the sacred, but also alert us to the importance of art as a temple of memory, at a time when the markets are struck with as much amnesia as frenzy. As Myonghi reminds us, art is an illumination of the present and the past, as well as the remorse for an absence.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that Myonghi has in her lifetime proliferated the number of encounters with other forms of art such as poetry and music, whether from the East or the West. Her way of painting is inhabited by the concern of all those who have embarked on this adventure at the peril of their lives, in order to push the boundaries of dream and life, matter and spirit; to question the beautiful, true, and evil; to seize upon mysticism, metaphysics, and even alchemy; to survey the territories of the visible and the invisible, of presence and absence, in the hope of ultimately reaching a new truth, wherein freedom can be reinvented for man and the world alike.

Dominique de Villepin

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Myonghi Kang, La Cour A (The Courtyard A), detail, 2011, oil on canvas, 260 x 220 cm / 姜明姬《庭院A》，細節圖，2011年，布面油畫，260 x 220 厘米

姜明姬 《歸真》

是次展覽可謂重要而特殊：在一個專門為明姬佈置的空間裏，我們為其近年來的畫作舉行回顧展， 籍以嘗試重新抄錄其獨特的、在同輩藝術家中顯得最爲深奧的小宇宙。這位南韓女畫家，與李·克拉 斯納、瓊·米切爾、葛莉絲·哈蒂根和伊萊恩·德·科寧等長期在在西方默默無聞的藝術家，乃是系出 同源。然而，這位獨立且神秘的女畫家，不免仍是她所身處時代的一員：在滔滔歷史洪流中，她歷 經艱辛、掙扎和流放。其畫作捕捉世界上最遙遠的角落，進而與她並肩成長。這是一位既忠於穴居 原人的神聖藝術，亦堅守游牧民族精神的創作者。 此時此刻，我們有幸在香港與大家分享這種發現的喜悅，其或許有助於鼓勵我們，反思藝術在未來 世界中的作用和地位。 我們亟欲在其起源的脈絡中，重新為明姬的作品定位。在這個特別為她佈置的畫廊中，展覽可分為 三個階段，以對應其進行創作的畫室。這是三個關乎物質和精神體驗的時期，甚或是聖所裏的三個 階段。所言者，即受到光線變化影響、偏好浸淫以產生光線、甫在發現時已存在的玄黑；接著是強 調在審視、解放及遺棄的過程中，在小巷和迷宮内不斷尋覓的赭褐；最後是記憶定型，因而長期進 行清洗與重造的白堊。

潘雅德

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明姬之奧秘 先於一切存在的，是明姬的奧秘。這是一次在陰影下、寂靜中進行的旅程，一次力圖將世界──她 的世界──躍然於畫布上的努力。她過著隱世的、甚至是某種皈依宗教的生活。她專心致志於繪 畫，毫不嘩衆取寵，對市場趨勢、戲劇效果、藝評家、畫商乃至收藏家的強求更是無動於衷。 在芸芸眾多畫家中，明姬猶如鳳毛麟角。她近年來只曾在香港季豐軒畫廊舉辦過數次畫展，並在南 韓、中國大陸和法國等地精心挑選的博物館及公共機構，舉辦畫展以伴隨藝術表演或詩歌朗誦。縱 觀上世紀七十年代以來，她最突出的成就當屬1977年於揚科維奇畫廊、1984及1992年於首爾畫廊 （她在内行人圈子中因而聲名鵲起）、1995年於龐比度中心、1989年於首爾國立現代美術館以及 2005年於北京中國美術館舉辦的畫展。 明姬難得答應全面展示自己，則我輩在探索她超凡脫俗的作品時，豈能不被其力量、獨創性及成熟 度所震懾？ 對她而言，繪畫源自某種看似簡單的、自發的且即時的手法。至於處理世界邊緣的主題，捕捉風景 的本質、時間的流逝乃至形態的移動時，這更是與征服攸關的問題。考古學家和詩人的使命，在於 尋找原始的氣息，世界的第一道曙光；其所處的大自然縱然遭工業化摧殘已達數個世紀之久，卻仍 是面臨威脅的人類的共同靈魂乃至根源。 無論何時何地，明姬總是立起畫架以畫布迎接光明。她曾遠赴巴塔哥尼亞冰川的發源地，並在戈壁 沙漠中游走；在前後合共八次的旅途中，她總是堅持至恍然大悟的一刻。在《三芳山景》（2020 年；M-01）中，兩側的層層藍色為由綠轉褐的葉子所貫穿。精緻的臉龐、優雅而剛毅的容貌，絲毫 沒有流露出正在折磨她的激情。深黛的眼睛宛如在吸收光源，在烈日當空下亦不會眨眼。栩栩如生 的畫布，此時則在筆觸下顫動。畫布愈是成形且擁抱生命，則畫家愈是顯得淡離。她創造出這個繪 畫形態的另我，在捨棄自己於其中的同時，亦為此幾乎已失蹤的僵體注入生命。在類似變形的神秘 煉金術中，我們在其創作中找到完好無恙的、生機勃勃的明姬。 她與主題之間的互動是永久的，兩者甚至行將融為一體；其作品亦然，完全屬於激發其創作構思 的風景。據明姬親口承認，她曾長年深思是否應該將畫作留在大自然中。2002年6月，她接受《 Myonghi Kang’s exhibition at Buphwasa Temple, Jeju, 2010 姜明姬個展攝於法華寺址，2010年

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AREA》雜誌採訪時回憶道：

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「我手執畫筆之際，清風正在吹動，亦推動著筆觸……我也就隨風繪畫，感覺甚是美妙……」 細意欣賞如此輕描淡寫的、質樸無華的藝術乃至其魔力和奧秘，是要花時間的。此道拒絕讓步或妥 協，只著眼於基本要素：在著色輕盈的光暈四周畫上寥寥數筆、數點或數條線，已足以帶來、賦予 或以耐心迎接生命。然而，我們可不要誤會：顔色縱然柔和，其體現的信息卻是嚴謹的、嚴厲的、 甚至是嚴峻的。她時而將信息從我們煩囂無序的生活中、不斷刺激我們並轉移我們注意力的喧鬧中 撕裂出去。她逐一將每個元素放置在畫布上，從而重新建立起此前已經失落的秩序。歷經長途跋涉 的旅途後，終於能夠在源頭彎下身子飲用清水，豈不快哉！眼見開啓遠古謎團的鑰匙正在我們跟前 聚集，豈不妙哉！經歷多年的困惑後，證據終於水落石出，豈不奇哉！ 明姬的畫道，鼓勵我們重新學習如何觀察以及處世。此非娛樂、誘惑或裝飾，因爲她既不客氣亦不 哄人。我們得承認，美學和真理對藝術而言是同樣重要。這樣的發現是有必要的，是由那些冒著極 大風險去面對、觀察、思考並從中吸取養分的人所完成的。明姬引領我們踏上旅程，期間只需要最 基本的要素；也就是說，在踏入這個世界並穿越畫布之前，我們應捨棄、放棄和卸下自我，籍以摒 除僞裝，進而遠離短暫無常的把戲及反應。 然而，一種不強加於人的畫道，其奧秘並不會因斷捨離而消失殆盡；反之，人們選擇了一幅隨著内 在顫動，在我們眼前解構並重構的作品。其不僅存在於發現的一刹那，亦存在於我們之内。凝視明 姬畫作的人，非但永遠不會看見同一幅作品，更會踏上充滿變形和歧途的冒險之旅，是為一次内部 之旅的濫觴。這仿佛與一年一度在法國北部城鎮聖馬洛舉行的《奇異旅人》文化節上，經常引用的 夏爾·波德萊爾詩句相呼應：「我們渴望的旅行，無需蒸汽或風帆！為了疏解牢獄裏的苦悶，傳遞我 們如帆布般敞開的精神，您的回憶儼然是地平綫上的邊框。告訴我們，您看到了什麼？」 就這方面而言，明姬的畫道是一份禮物，一批貢品；藝術家從來不是這些物品的擁有者，而僅是保 管者。她深切明白大自然的貢獻，其所處的地理環境，正是她藝術中脆弱性和統一性的泉源。與此 同時，時間在無數的凝固物中積累，其貢獻亦為明姬所肯定。沉澱物和沉積物在畫布上層層累積， 相互滋養並增強。 明姬的畫道，其底色即無所畏懼、試中糾錯及終歸融合。對話得以展開，是因爲明姬時刻謹記，畫 家無論有多高的天份亦只是方程式的一半，另一半則是觀看者。明姬熱衷於邀請他們參加，因爲她 的作品既供觀賞亦供歌唱，正如弦樂四重奏的樂譜，各音符在演奏時總會有所調整。此音樂與聲 音、氣味、顏色、迴聲和感覺相關，再乘以無數的對應關係。

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Myonghi Kang, Orangers Fleuris (Flowered Orange Tree), 2020, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm 姜明姬《橘樹繁花》，2020年，布面油畫，100 x 80

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最大的謎團，結果是一個悖論。畫作内涵如此高尚的人格，卻從不保留自己的面孔甚至輪廓，我們

多，而我們則從她的畫道中獲悉其意願。回到明姬的理想國度，就是甫開始時即生活在充滿友誼和

對此有何解釋？在此畫道中的具象疆界内，人類似乎並不存在，卻無處不在；其不以具象的皮囊形

博愛土地上。

態出現，卻以歷久不衰的人性原則為面貌。觀看此畫作的，只能是同樣來自人類社會的成員。 明姬的畫道猶如珍稀的花卉，既溫順也珍貴；内行人學習研究每一個蛛絲馬跡，以便適應溫度變化 對於沒有意識的群衆或機器而言，這裡沒有留下任何供他們邯鄲學步的綫索。無數的視角、無限的細

並防止窒息。每一個元素均在留白的襯托下發揮其作用，好比廣袤的休耕地。筆觸上下結合之際，

微差別、對細節的關注、形式的脆弱性以及元素的力量與平衡……凡此種種均顯示，挑戰我們的大自

偶然和必然也得到了重申，對話亦得以恢復。明姬這位逐水草而居的畫家，逐漸地且節約地在畫

然無論如何野性，卻始終充滿人性；凡此種種均向我們展示某輝煌的存在，即人與神的精神。我們不

布上邁進，呈現陰影和水點，繼而成爲某種有生記憶的守護者，守護著一道不會因筆觸而熄滅的光

妨嘗試分析《美第奇噴泉》（2016年；M-02），其以位於巴黎盧森堡公園内的同名建築為主題。石

線。内行人可知道，每一幅畫作均有其獨特的魅力；側面與碎片同樣爲數衆多，前者相互點亮，後

製門廊與常春藤垂簾，在無限反射鏡的虛像中融合；那是深色水池中的倒影，其中不乏花瓶裏的彩色

者則聚集成細膩觸感、波浪或耀眼的花束。這些大型帆布油畫具有強大的震撼力，其光芒時而使人

花簇，以千絲萬縷為連結。位於畫作中心部份的主題探索四周留白空間之時，同年於南韓完成的圓形

眩暈，時而壓倒一切，甚至足以建構或粉碎任何形態，《漢拏山英實土地神屋》（2021年；M-04）

畫《西廣村》（2016年；M-03）則展現大自然鯨吞一切的壯觀，從畫作中心部份的鬱綠森林一直伸

及《遇溺》（2014至2017年；M-05）即為佐證。在血流漂杵的《敍利亞·二》（2018至2019年

延至邊緣。

；M-06）中，大地和天空融為一體。痛楚以白色微粒的形態示人，繼而覆蓋一切，而地平線消失之 際，也就是驚愕之時。

當我們突然發現自己儼如著魔般在畫作之中——而不是其跟前——漫步，則如何不為之眩暈？我們

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現在大可承認，明姬筆下由人性和博愛構成的作品乃懷抱之道，以至任何冒險來到這裡的人，將在

在明姬規格最高的傑作中──其屬於最高階的文明，以提升人性為終極目標──人類依舊無跡可

很長的一段時間內留下慷慨的印記。來到這裡本身即代表投桃報李的意願，但向來惜字如金的明

尋。正因如此，尤爲關鍵的是重新學習如何在畫作的臨界點，觀察隨著時間轉移、在烈日和狂風下

姬，從畫家乃至個人的角度亦無法通過其藝術而獲得滿足。她一言不發，卻渴望、期望且希望更

變得無法識別的事物。

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重生之循環 明姬的藝術，乃數百年歷史傳統的一部分，其經歷了自洞穴時代以來時間、洪水、戰爭和瘟疫的考驗。 她每天力求在巨大的帆布或畫紙上，記錄人類續存的痕跡；她每天在自己之内乃至周邊，觀察徵兆並 迎接新的氣息。美學的爭論、流派的復興或市場的風向一律被掃地出門，全然不會左右她的決策：她的 重生所支持的，乃大自然的力量、泉邊的水滴石穿、令人眩暈的光線、隨著時間流逝的季節、植物與花 卉……靈魂逐漸變得不知所措，這一點她並不否認，但一切均在婚禮、生命和死亡中緩慢地且非暴力地 進行。在爆發的時刻，我們已經能夠瞥見消失的端倪以及其他痕跡和色彩，並從中逐漸構成記憶。在畫 布所揭示的景像背後，仍然處於混沌狀態的景觀正在為變形作準備。《斜坡》（2020年；M-07）和《 上山之路》（2020年；M-08），正是在預示其他生命體。以藝術為載體，明姬提出了一個問題：假若 生命驟然結束，再也沒有未來，結果會如何？凝視《鼠尾草與老曇華》（2020年；M-09）時，我們再 也不能迴避這個問題。當時光的推移取代了綻放的喜悅成爲記憶的唯一力量時，我們亦無法將《枯萎的 曇華》（2020年；M-10）與《曇華與山茶》（2021年；M-11）相比較。 在廣袤的沙漠上砥礪前行的商隊，驟眼看來似乎是靜止的；同樣地，明姬的畫作雖然逐水草而居， 卻希望在恆常不變的、必不可少的土壤裏扎根，猶如某部有據可查卻莫名其妙的巨作，比如安格魯

Myonghi Kang, La Pivoine (Peony), 2016, pastel, 60 x 60 cm 姜明姬《牡丹》，2016年，粉彩 紙本，60 x 60 厘米

斯·西勒西烏斯關於玫瑰的著名詩句。同樣地，畫布綻放「因爲它綻放」；其「並不在意自己，亦不 問是否有人看見自己」；其「沒有『爲何』之說，卻並非沒有道理。」 人類面臨崩潰、操縱和澌滅的危險，而其身處的土地亦飽受威脅。明姬的首要道理，不就是提醒我 們作爲人類的責任嗎？她孜孜不倦地在畫布上標記出道路，籍以提醒我們，另一種生活是大有可能

恐懼或防範。她的衝勁愈發難以遏制，因爲對她而言，唯一重要的便是在畫布上傾訴的證言，而真 實的生命正在那裏綻放。押在我們這個物種的生存和實現上的賭注，經歷了一項秩序的重新建立； 每一個構成原棉的筆觸儘管不甚起眼，卻不斷地重新創造出秩序。在這個戰場上，明姬為我們提供 了一道活生生的地平綫，一個可以移動的、用以記錄我們夢想和奮鬥的框架。

的；對於懂得像我們等待音符來臨時那樣屏息以待、希望且曉得觀察的人而言，尤爲如此。在畫布 上恢復最初的情景，並呈現觸及世界邊陲的最初記憶，猶如在絕對的太虛中渾然而生。在如此惡劣 的環境下，以野生動物為伴奮勇前進，這位畫家誓不投降。 從起初巧妙交織的幾何圖形，到這些令人眩暈的花卉盛開，我們只能猜想她究竟走過了多少里的雲 和月……斑點、滴漏與混色儼如在地平線上開啓的天窗，一同頌贊生命，一同樂享繪畫──這是一 種全然不受浮躁或分心干擾的原始樂趣。 同樣敏銳的眼睛如振盪運動般，來回檢視主題中介乎汽化與濃縮之間的空白。畫家沒有任何多餘的 配件，卻在每一個階段，憑籍每一次新生，一頭闖進世界裏；她渴望在這個世界内棲息，全然沒有

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眩暈總是出現在集合點上，因為即便身處目前正在困擾我們的、由憂慮和焦慮匯聚而成的汪洋大海 中，明姬也永不忘記，關注衆生萬物乃最好的良藥，而靈巧性與溫和性則賦予其藝術如祈禱般的力 量。這種奉獻的藝術，調度所有美的能量來撫平我們這個時代的傷痛。繪畫號召我們摒棄一個時代 的惡習；面對死亡、肉身腐爛乃至心靈僵化時，藝術之於重生，猶如氧氣之於生命。 明姬最大的秘密，或許就在遠離梅林之墓處：一切躍然畫上，依靠的並不是反復表現，而是從裹屍 布撕下的生命輪迴；繪畫即青春之泉，更是人性與永生的結合。從重生到分娩，一切均與誕生或恢 復生命相關。明姬抵抗虛無，以細膩的筆觸在天地間的廣大空間内散佈色彩，毅然以一己之力，捕 捉在畫布或畫紙祭壇上稍縱即逝的心情。她觀察光的振動和折射，並在此靈性追求中保持著敏銳無 比的意識。

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意識之色彩 四處流浪是明姬這位巡迴畫家的特質，因爲此身份是桀驁不馴並抵抗任何羈縻的。繪畫讓她得以放 緩前進的步伐：持續的當下，其動量是無法被局限、終止或限制的，而努力和職責方為王道。近年 來，她的靈性追求之旅已重新在故國南韓紮根。在這片受傷、分裂且不斷思考未來的土地上，她找 到了家的感覺。 在位於濟州島的畫室内，她知道自己可以永無休止地延續旅程。濟州島自古乃流放者和旅行者的島 嶼，隔海被朝鮮半島、日本列島和儒家發祥地山東半島三面包圍。濟州島又稱奎爾帕特島，是馬可· 波羅開始撰寫《馬可·波羅遊記》之地。對明姬而言，這是一個讓精神船隻起航尋找財富，並滿載珍 寶歸來的母港，正如夏爾·波德萊爾所言：「如斯美妙的珠寶，系由星辰和光芒所構成。」 親身體驗大探險的魅力後，她從豐茂的大自然帶回無數碎片，堆砌出一座遠勝任何十七世紀珍奇屋 的寶塔；此真乃挪亞方舟，保存了各種各樣的動植物。 在大洪水中倖免於難的包括鳥類、山茶、白色蓉、一塊松木、聖母，當然還有遭受戰亂卻被遺忘的 敍利亞──明姬近年來的作品多次以該國為主題。琳琅滿目的衆多畫像，從歷史的底層被尋回並保 存下來，繼而在我們每個人之内成長。 在内心與地理之間，往往存在著某些神秘而關鍵的聯繫；明姬與其祖國之間的關係，正是如此。在 長年累月的旅途中，明姬對西方藝術有了深刻的理解。回歸到自己的根源後，她愈是凝視著一個選 定的、設想的遺產，並愈發將之錨定在自己選擇的土地上，此乃主觀選擇，亦是客觀需要。狂風驟 起之時，她覺得有必要回到自己所熟悉的鬱綠小島──濟州島；在那裏，緩緩滲出的樹汁與供奉神 明的洞穴立即形成聯繫，進而讓生命永存。一直以來，崩裂和震顫愈是劇烈，則她愈是需要返璞歸 真；換言之，她記錄世界的運動，繪製呼吸的地圖，以及保存泉水的記憶。她爲此經常回溯觀察變 化，並驗證時間與光的互動。這就本質而言不僅是捕捉景觀，更是一勞永逸地恢復其身份和自由。 位於遙遠的信仰邊緣，或在鄰邦強權統治下的南韓，往往與人晦澀難懂之感，卻已成爲地緣政治下 眼淚與情慾的象徵：這是一片被日本碾壓的國度，後來更在兩大陣營的對抗下演變為兄弟鬩墻。如 果說世界上這個暫時被忽視的角落，對當代藝術而言已經變得至關重要，那肯定是出於偶然而不是 Myonghi Kang, La Pente III (Slope III), 2020, oil on canvas, 117 x 89 cm 姜明姬《斜坡 · 三》，2020年，布面油畫，117 x 89 厘米

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必然。這是爲了回應受傷的身份認同，以及現代性對都市帝國乃至鄉村生活的衝擊：前者與世界接 軌，後者則清心寡慾，兩者以精巧的儀式和重複為連結。面對恐懼和疑惑時，能夠提供力量的僅有

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Myonghi Kang, Sauge et Rieux Canna (Sage and Old Canna), 2020, oil on canvas, 130.5 x 97.5 cm 姜明姬《鼠尾草與老曇華》，2020年，布面油畫，130.5 x 97.5 厘米

藝術而已。明姬從中找到了自己的使命，即在風暴中提供坐標、傳遞經驗並賦予意義，尤其是當個 人掙扎與祖國奮鬥，在這個世界的前衛部分相靠近之時。在其生路歷程中乃至在畫布上，她先後馴 服了《紅花菜》（2020年；M-12）、《松林》（2019年；M-13）及《視光師之家·一》（2019 年；M-14）。她堅信藝術家仍然可以借助關注和需求的幫助，拯救世界免於陷入混亂，因而總是急 於將目光投向任何她感覺到威脅之處。她爲此絕不心存僥幸，《花菜》（2020年；M-15）與《山 茶》（2019年；M-16）中的凝視特寫，即為佐證。

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自然乃生命之源 我們以大自然為媒介，開始重新發現歷史的意識；假若尊重和改變生活的意願，無法在集合點上取 得必要的和解，則未來將在當下遭受質疑。在她每一幅畫作中，預計種悲劇的逼切性均隱約可見。 在此黑色的陽光下，她的調色板無疑露出了稜角，即不免脆弱的色彩、眩暈及灼燒。在這個不確定 性驟增的年代，在面紗的背後，試問我們怎能漠視意識碎裂的創傷？ 入侵明姬畫作内空間的大自然並非裝飾或表象，而是一種生命的源泉，其錨定在人手無法馴化、機 械也不能破壞的宇宙學中。此力量乃存在的内核，一條支配形式、多樣性、生命、上帝或大自然產 生的純粹原理，亦是根據哲學家的公式。它存在於形式取之不盡用之不竭之處，單一與倍數因生命 出現而同時產生之處。假如互不相容的它們，隨著時間的推移彼此繼承或並置，則和解將在畫布上 經由運動、猶豫、斷續或存在的必要性達成。色彩的爆發與細緻的調色板因而相結合，產生無窮的 細微差別；形式的震動，取決於光的分解過程；畫筆儼如世界地震儀般聳立，將所有元素連接在一 起，與藝術家共享同一個意願。這是任何教條甚或意識形態的解毒劑，但對新和諧和新感性的尋 找，卻仍然超出了具象與抽象力所能及的範圍。 難怪此畫道其實位於他方，其在可能的範圍内盡力尋找充實與虛無，以及物質與精神之間的平衡， 籍以靠近存在的奧秘。乍看之下，其以薩滿和巫師的形象聯繫自身起源的冒險，試圖在岩石上雕刻 出神獸。一如往昔，在世界的盡頭出現了早於大洪水前已存在的魔力，在蜿蜒曲折的洞穴牆壁上浮 現，即明姬筆下豐富的觸感以及大量的線點。《牡丹》（2016年；M-17）莊嚴地挺拔，而各式各樣 的火雞和紅鶴等則在《香港動物園》（2017年；M-18）中噴鼻息。 同樣地，在明姬以戈壁沙漠為主題的系列繪畫中，出現了令人嘆為觀止的《戈壁之火》（2003至 2014年；M-19），風景猶如被鮮豔的色彩所點燃。在原始的混沌中，赭、黃及橙等衆多色調徐徐 上升，卻仍然保留著遠古海洋的記憶。以往各個年代的沙塵與水體交織，超過無盡的瞬間。在此空 間、色彩和時間的懷抱中，我們比其他任何時刻更能真切地感受到明姬獨特的藝術。

Myonghi Kang, Canna et camélia (Canna and Camelia), 2020, oil on canvas, 130 x 160 cm 姜明姬《曇華與山茶》，2020年，布面油畫，130 x 160 厘米

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時光之秘密 時間是衡量任何藝術品的真實標準，每一幅畫作均是系譜裏的一部分；正如標題、主題、色彩以及 數十年如一日的忠貞所證，這是奠基於靈感上的編年史。遠在天邊且不揣冒昧的明姬，憑籍固執倔 強和目標明確而立。她在每一幅畫上均面對某種類似波浪、地層和沉積的物料，同時對抗某種清晰 而立即的光。 憑籍此等傑作，以及物質與光之間的衝擊，明姬得以在畫筆的末端捕捉世界稍縱即逝的永恆。其摒 棄所有感官知覺，以感覺或理性為方法，開啓了一種精神上的直覺，讓光得以在自由的無限體驗中 稱雄。懷著這樣的雄心壯志，每一幅畫均是一個里程碑，更是追求真理的佐證。每一份作品均是 零碎的，但同時也是一個永續發展的項目内不可或缺的一部分。同一種魔力每每在時間的曲率上 施法，令瞬間與永恆融為一體，亦鼓勵觀看者在眩暈和理性之間來回擺動。在佈局巧妙的《茶花時 刻》（2018年；M-20）中，我們發現了這樣的魔力，只見植披壓倒一切，而作爲點綴的鮮豔紅花 則斜倚著空曠的天空。無獨有偶，時間突然暫停之際，在柔和色彩的束縛下，節奏同樣在《橘園深 處》（2018年；M-21）中脫穎而出。 在外觀的遊戲背後，大自然總是在此時空内上演原始力量之間的角力，其表現方式為源自恆星旋轉 或海洋最深處的隱藏光線。在此捉迷藏的遊戲中，粉色有利於捕捉瞬間以及光線的出現：在稻溢水 （2018年；M-22）中，熱光從虛無處湧現；在《中國海上通訊》（2018年；M-23）中，畫面佈 滿細點和黑線，而洶湧的灰色海面則與天空相結合。充滿磨煉和辛酸的現世，往往以失敗和離散威 脅著我們，但無論是在畫布還是畫紙上，明姬仍然鼓起勇氣。她直言：「我追求完整，就是完整的 生活和閲歷。我要知道一切應該尊重的事物，這就是完整。」 藝術家的目光貫穿了世界的朦朧，無懼長佔上風的懷疑和嘲諷，堅信團結正隱藏在某處。有一種思 想雖然一言不發，卻以同一種動力統治宇宙、大自然乃至人類。我們的土地上棲息著某種強大而詭 異的力量，其覆蓋範圍包括恬靜的山水、法式花園、英式迷宮以及濟州島上的鬱綠松林。這既引起 亦證明薩滿巫師自古以來的舞蹈和祭祀，猶如以多個世紀為原料鍛造的古鐘響起。 假如宇宙體系確實存在，其大概是缺乏調音功能的系統，因而時常失音。這種團結和連續的力量， 在混亂的瞬間和永恒中降臨在時間上；此非信念，乃是精神及智慧。這是擺在世界跟前的一種苛刻 態度，推動我們永久地摒棄非必要或不重要的事物。

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這些畫作好比路邊的鏡子，伴隨生活並頌贊存在的奇蹟，其時而完全出世，時而綻放色彩。在此鐘擺運 動──即靈魂的張力及其永恆的歌聲──之中，藝術家維持了未來的和諧，亦為世界的重構帶來希望。 我們看見明姬重新開始繪畫並在作品上落款，其驚人卻謙卑的藝術品儼如保育和解放。畫作繼續與 這位預言家兼詩人共處，她重新開始繪畫，讓風景躍然於畫布上，並不經意地說「其他可怕的勞動 者即將來臨。」她比任何人更清楚明白，一切都是起伏和短暫的；她謙卑地接受，甚至為變形而欣 喜若狂，只要眼睛、雙手以及畫筆仍在努力糾正世界失衡、尋找隱蔽的連結並恢復失去的團結。

證人之作品 明姬的每一幅畫作均記錄大自然的運動，提供並見證人類的呼吸、意識和尺度；幸虧有明姬，凡此 種種才不至於在磨滅和過度的影響下持續溜走。 藝術的自我定位，在於回應世界的空虛和去中心化、挽救疲憊以及失去意義且與當下脫節的具象和 抽象。東方和西方已經陷入對立的死胡同，兩者被迫尋找新的道路，讓生命和光明得以取回其權 利。正因如此，我們需要回到起源的時刻，回到嬰兒的視角重拾無限的好奇心，在顛倒一切的自由 學習過程中，享受探索的美妙，正如巴勃羅·畢卡索坦言：「我用了一輩子的時間，學習如何像兒童 一樣繪畫。」具象的鑄模與抽象的束縛，最終耗盡了創作的姿態。爲了突破這種似曾相識的困境， 此時藝術家不得不回到最初的混沌狀態，如安傑利科修士般捕捉初生的形態及喜悅，並參照佛羅倫 薩聖馬可修道院内的壁畫，處理漸逝的色彩濺潑。 對明姬而言，主題是沒有界限的。耗損使人變得麻木，但景象、形態及節奏等卻要被不斷地重新 探視。恢復生命並讓世界再次充滿魅力，對她而言是畫家的使命；在一個畫家已經被掃地出門的 宇宙中，明姬反而要在地平綫上重新營造一個新的畫室。每一個階段的使命均不盡相同：《驅逐》 （2019年；M-24）儼然在抄錄魔法；《松林》（2019年；M-13）在呼吸山林氣息，並以祈禱姿勢 將之暴露在天空下；《視光師之家·二和三》（2019至2021年；M-25-26）則保存了心愛的神秘彌 漫之地。 明姬決意重建繪畫與真理之間的聯繫，不惜承受一切風險、生活的孤獨與艱辛、未來的不確定性、 謙卑而節儉的日常生活，卻不乏相遇的喜悅。如此規模的奮鬥離不開盟友、認同的目光或與詩歌吻 合的善言。她與賢才、學者、哲學家、詩人乃至任何能夠開拓其視野的人，一直保持著緊密的交 流。大自然和友誼的光輝，足以促進與世界的關係；一種由尊重、包容並接受意外驚喜構建的人世 關係，可能終將在圖案和符號的疆域内出現。

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凡此所有畫作均在講述故事，亦是懷著文藝復興精神進行探險、探索及重新發現的一部份。在這些

觀賞這些畫作，好比逐漸找到新發現物種的證據，如最初的薄霧、泉水或深林。我們知道這魔咒與

冒險旅途中，明姬被特定的景觀所揭示及顯露，同時亦承載著喜悅、恐懼、慾望和反抗。可想而

魅力：後者對無法長期置身事外的觀看者，實在大有裨益。偷窺者化身為畫中的旅行者，卻旋即被

知，她的作品與反對空虛、拒絕慣例和既定秩序的人注定產生共鳴。她沒有廉價地玩弄簡單的公式

魔咒所迷惑，這源自一種不斷向其他人展現的創造。這提醒我們，在當前的痛苦時刻，藝術的首要

或口號，卻質疑刻板印象、一成不變及千遍一律的事物。她站在生命的一方，充滿征服的自由。就

使命在於恢復世界已失去的團結，否則人類和解將無法實現。

此而言，每一幅畫作均是道路，而借用它的人則必須自我評估風險，因爲我們不能毫無戒心地，進 入一種以真理為核心的藝術中。正因如此，這種藝術既不作讓步以迎合當前趨勢，亦不作阿諛奉承

團聚終於達成之際，我們有了這樣一個機會：憑籍以化身和療愈為力量的藝術，重新學習並重新發

以吸引下里巴人或陽春白雪。明姬的作品力圖逐一説服所有人，全然不顧效果、錯覺或星塵。

現。在畫作四周被捶打的空間、光線和時間可以作爲起點，其出現源於對真理的渴求。如是者，言 語得以取回其權利，分享亦得以進行。誠然，當悲劇早已侵入我們的生活，我們確實可以把握這個

凡是進入其繪畫世界的人，均會經歷成長和強化。我們驚訝地發現自己變得更爲敏捷，進而以另一

機會。明姬依靠其嚴峻的畫作，已經戰勝了在我們周圍蔓延的暴力和恐懼，故恩典現在終得以隨著

種方式──某種更爲自由、真實且公正的方式──活在世上。

筆觸而綻放。

各世界之間 明姬的藝術絕不是孩童胡鬧或妒賢嫉能的把戲，其目的亦非不惜任何代價以驚世駭俗、標奇立異甚 或另起爐灶。相反，其旨於在人們乃至個族群之間建立聯繫，超越不斷升起的藩籬。或口號，卻質

明姬的藝術對當下尤爲重要，這一點無庸置疑，而且其重要性將與日俱增，因爲這正是我們所需要 的，亦是對我們有益的。這不僅是由於它為世界的運作賦予意義，也是因爲它表達了一種曾被我們 視爲徒勞無功的美感；從本質上和實際上而言，這可是挽回衆多疑問、絕望和犧牲的不二法門。但 願畫布上最細微的枝節蛻變成雀鳥，但願沉默化爲發言，但願沙漠轉化為果園！

疑刻板印象、一成不變及千遍一律的事物。她站在生命的一方，充滿征服的自由。就此而言，每一 幅畫作均是道路，而借用它的人則必須自我評估風險，因爲我們不能毫無戒心地，進入一種以真理 為核心的藝術中。正因如此，這種藝術既不作讓步以迎合當前趨勢，亦不作阿諛奉承以吸引下里巴 人或陽春白雪。明姬的作品力圖逐一説服所有人，全然不顧效果、錯覺或星塵。 凡是進入其繪畫世 界的人，均會經歷成長和強化。我們驚訝地發現自己變得更爲敏捷，進而以另一種方式──某種更 爲自由、真實且公正的方式──活在世上。

絕對之藝術 明姬的畫道爲何充滿慈悲？其魔力的泉源爲何？再者，爲何每一幅畫均能引起觀衆哄動？ 她的畫道，打亂了學院與分類等常規。我們慣於先入為主地審視畫作，以致印象、表現、符號、自

出於持續的擔憂，明姬決意構建諒解，即在人們各家自掃門前雪之時，在東西方之間增建橋樑。面

然及超自然等元素總是佔主導地位。明姬卻反其道而行：她讓邊界變得模糊，結合各個棱鏡以調和

對禁閉、僵化和孤立的威脅之際，她不斷提出質疑，從而帶出新的問題和驚奇，鼓勵我們接受無心

視圖；她來回游走於内化與外化、充實與虛無之間，從而使畫布上的共存成為可能。

插柳的意外驚喜。她的氣息，因而推動人們尋找靈感與捷徑；她對東西方的研究，並沒有將其固定 或囚禁在任何一方；她的藝術，乃征服而非重複。在我們的凝視下，錯位的景觀得以重組並復甦。

繪畫構圖及筆觸分佈固然精妙，但技術並不能一錘定音。精神與物質的對話從未間斷，兩者之間的 聯繋可謂嚴肅且嚴峻，所以任何與軼事或娛樂沾邊的元素均被摒棄。明姬只對原始的存在感興趣，

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留白之處正是先祖的智慧與現代的膽色，無數條樑柱彷彿在脆弱的情況下，嘗試超越肉眼可見的現實，進

故將之轉移至畫布上，並在不斷凝結和傾析的記憶監察下，持續進行重繪。畫布因而包含衆多看似

而抵達聖神的高度。大自然集結其原始力量、時間、視野、色彩以及衆多肥沃的沖積層，籍以提升美感。

自相矛盾的遺留，如粗糙與透明、存在與不存在等等。

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Myonghi Kang, Entrance of Youngsil, Spirit House, Hallasan, detail, 2021, oil on canvas, 288 x 340 cm / 姜明姬《漢拏山英實土地神屋》，細節圖，2021年，布面油畫，288 x 340 厘米

明姬的畫道懷有巨匠造物主般的志向，即要在不同的時代以獨特的懷抱，從融合到分散來調和物質 與精神這兩個極端。大自然因而在這些混合型態中粉墨登場，直至光明按照畫家的命令湧現，期間 一直忠於由時間、空間及色彩累積所構成的真理原理。這其中不無風險，因爲為了符合對立的限 制，畫家須首先回到自我，然後離開自我，從而行使管有權並照亮四周，繼而獲得並脫離實體，最 終充分滿足自己釋放所有負擔的願望。藝術家的的旅程，正是在這兩個自相矛盾、專制獨裁且最高 無上的必要性中進行。明姬則將目光投向神性和人性的體驗，從而創造出這幅由人性和靈性冒險乃 至詩歌規則所構成的繪畫，其同時表現了失去的痛苦以及生命的狂喜。 迫切性就在她的生命和繪畫中，默默作見證並讓景觀續存；若非明姬強有力的凝視，其將不留痕跡 地完全消失。 然而，獨具遠見的明姬，亦打算讓我們為這場失踪劇作準備。她爲此鼓勵我們，在這份以無可避免的 侵蝕和磨滅為題的作品中，鍛煉我們的眼睛和記憶。光線在畫布上變成微弱的光芒，埋藏在靈魂的深 處，在牆壁上揭示注定如史前洞穴般消失的世界。在她最近的畫作中，這種痛苦愈加顯得強烈。因 此，被藍色眩光刺穿的灰白色珍珠，在綫條佈局精美的《畫室》（2021年；M-27）中尤爲突出，而 細緻的藍色與粉紅色斑點，則在《松岳海岸》（2021年；M-28）中以輪廓清晰的脈線示人。在大自 然看似消退和耗盡之際，她為我們帶來了一幅大洪水前的繪畫，以面對人新世的恐懼；此乃永恆存在 的詩意本質、一種無可置疑的力量的光輝、一幅關於生物多樣性以及存在的獨特性的繪畫。 藝術因明姬而重獲其原始功能，幫助我們在一個不斷變化的世界上生活。誠然，在許多方方面面行 將消失的今天，在大自然──這個曾經由我們托管、美妙無比的花園──飽受威脅的今天，在伊甸 園即將犧牲、其資源即將耗盡的今天，藝術已成爲最後庇護所，更是關乎生存同盟的神聖約櫃。在 這個煥然一新的畫廊裏，用上整個季度的時間，為明姬近年來的畫作舉行回顧展，目的不僅在於呈 現她的小宇宙以及對神聖的追求，亦是爲了提醒我們，藝術作爲記憶神殿的重要性，尤其在藝術市 場同時出現狂熱與健忘之時。正如明姬提醒我們，藝術照耀著現在和過去，也為失去而自責。 正因如此，她多年來與其他藝術領域交流，如東西方的德詩歌和音樂，這絕非偶然巧合。明姬的畫 道，時刻關心那些爲了開拓夢想與生活、物質與精神，而甘願冒上生命危險，並踏上冒險旅途的 人；其質疑美麗、真實和邪惡；其抓緊神秘主義、形而上學甚至煉金術；其細察有形與無形、存在 與不存在，以期最終達至一個新的真理──一個人類乃至整個世界均可重塑自由的真理。

Myonghi Kang, Pok Fu Lam Village, Hong Kong, 2019, watercolor on paper, 31 x 41 cm 姜明姬《香港薄扶林村》，2019年，紙本 水彩，31 x 41 厘米

多明尼克·德維爾潘

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Myonghi at her atelier in Jeju, 2021 / 姜明姬於濟州島的工作室，攝於2021年

PA I N T I N G S 畫作

112

M-01

M-02 圖二

M-05

M-06

Mountain of the Sanbangsan Vue de la montagne Sanbangsan 《三芳山景》 227 x 182 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

Medici Fountain Fontaine de Medici 《美第奇噴泉》 116 x 73 cm oil on canvas painted in 2016

Drowned Noyée 《遇溺》 288 x 340 cm oil on canvas painted in 2014-2017

Syria 2 《敍利亞·二》 288 x 340 cm oil on canvas painted in 2018-2019

M-03 圖三 Village Seokwang 《西廣村》 160 x 160 cm oil on canvas painted in 2017-2018

M-04 圖四 Entrance of Youngsil Spirit Hall 《漢拏山英實土地神屋》 299 x 358 cm oil on canvas painted in 2021

M-07 Slope V La Pente 5 《斜坡·五》 116.5 x 91 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

M-08 Uphill Road I la Route montante 1 《上山之路》 162 x 130 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

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M-09

M-10

M-13

M-14

Sage and Old Cannas Sauge et Vieux Canna 《鼠尾草與老曇華》 130.5 x 97.5 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

Withered Canna Canna Fanée 《枯萎的曇華》 117 x 91 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

Pine Forest La Pinède 《松林》 194 x 250 cm oil on canvas painted in 2019

The Optician’s Home I La Maison de l’Opticien 《視光師之家》 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas painted in 2019

M-11 Canna and Camellia Canna et Camélia 《曇華與山茶》 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

M-12 Red Cauliflower Fleur de Choux Rouge 《紅花菜》 130.5 x 97.5 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

M-15 Cauliflower Fleur de Chou 《花菜》 100 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

M-16 Camellia Camélia 《山茶》 61 x 72 cm oil on canvas painted in 2019

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116

M-17

M-18

M-21

M-22

Peony Pivoine 《牡丹》 60 x 60 cm pastel painted in 2016

Hong Kong Zoo 《香港動物園》 116 x 73 cm pastel painted in 2016

Deep in the Orangery Au fond de la de l’Orangerie 《橘園深處》 227 x 162 cm oil on canvas painted in 2018

Nonjitmoul 《稻溢水》 30.5 x 59 cm pastel painted in 2018

M-19 Gobi Fire Feu-Gobi 《戈壁之火》 110 x 83 cm oil on canvas painted in 2008

M-20 Camellia Time Le Temps des Camélias 《茶花時刻》 240 x 315 cm oil on canvas painted in 2018

M-23 Correspondence on the China Sea Correspondance sur la mer de Chine 《中國海上通訊》 30.5 x 59 cm pastel painted in 2018

M-24 Expulsion l’Expulsion 《驅逐》 180 x 170 cm oil on canvas painted in 2019

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118

M-25

M-26

Slope III

Still Life

The Optician’s Home II La Maison de l’Opticien 2 《視光師之家 ·二》 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

The Optician’s Home III La Maison de l’Opticien 3 《視光師之家 ·三》 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas painted in 2021

La Pente 3 《斜坡·三》 117 x 80 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

Nature Morte 《靜物》 100 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

M-27 Studio Fenetre du P’atelier 《畫室》 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas painted in 2021

M-28 Coast of Songak Cote Songak 《松岳海岸》 145 x 97 cm oil on canvas painted in 2021

Flowered Orange Tree Orangers Fleuris 《橘樹繁花》 100 x 80 cm oil on canvas painted in 2020

Pok Fu Lam Village, Hong Kong 《香港薄扶林村》 31 x 41 cm watercolor on paper painted in 2020

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MYONGHI KANG 姜明姬

Exhibition Catalogue of La Corée aprés lapluie, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1986 Myonghi and her husband Setaik Yim at Quai de la Loire, Paris, 1984 姜明姬和丈夫林世澤於羅亞爾河碼頭，攝於1984年

個人作品展《明姬》，迪梅奧畫廊，攝於1996年

「韓國男女：林世澤於姜明姬」展覽畫冊， 龐畢度中心，攝於1986年

Myonghi Kang’s (b. 1947, Daegu, South Korea) vibrant cosmic paintings project a pure sensibility without boundaries. Through her canvases, the artist expresses a view of the natural world that vacillates between emptiness and fullness in myriad manifestations of colours, marks, and shapes. Myonghi’s paintings radiate joy and powerfully transform their surrounding space. The artist is also a prolific poet; these two mediums allow the artist to capture the world around her, re-constructing its cartography through metaphysical forms of representation.

For much of her life, Myonghi has divided her time between South Korea and France. She studied Fine Arts at the College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University. Myonghi immigrated to France in 1972 and first settled in near Aix-en Provence, in a small village named Gardanne.

There, she learned the French language but also actively practiced and studied fine art. During her early years in France, Myonghi paintings depicted her memories from Korea and reflected the political climate she lived in before leaving the country:

Developing an interest in art from an early age, Myonghi has long examined her relationship with nature which emerges as a divine silhouette in her paintings. Throughout her life, she has also been a scholar of the philosophical and technical study of traditional Eastern paintings.

“My body was in France but my mind and soul were still in Korea.”

From the Gobi Desert to the glaciers of Patagonia, Myonghi has travelled around the world seeking aesthetic inspiration. Travel is a special way for Myonghi to rediscover the essence of painting. Often travelling alone with only a few brushes and some canvas, she returns from her journeys to create large-scale paintings capturing their mesmerising landscapes and memories.

She has also travelled extensively around Europe, observing global cultures that continue to inform her work and imbue them with a multinational perspective.

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Myonghi at her exhibition in Galerie Di meo, 1996

She soon settled in Paris in a studio near Place Clichy with her husband Setaik. After a few years in the French capital, she started painting the urban street scenes of Paris and the surrounding nature when she moved to Quai de la Loire in the 1980s. Located in the 19th arrondissement, the artist embraced its tranquil canals in the heart of the city. As she observed, she woke up each morning and was amazed by the beauty of Paris that she could see from her studio’s window.

Since then, she started working with and embracing the light. She took a brush every morning and painted from the window. According to the hour of the day, to the vary light and weather conditions, a painting could continuously evolve with some being completed over several years.

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姜明姬和多明尼克·德維爾潘，攝於北京皇城藝術館「明姬詩會」，攝於2011年

After Myonghi started exhibiting her ethereal paintings, she befriended renowned artists, poets and writers, including Zao Wou-Ki, Piotr Kowalski, Gilles Aillaud, Alain Jouffroy and Dominique de Villepin. Her works gained widespread recognition in the late 1980s following several international solo exhibitions and poetry recitals, including shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1986), the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul (1989) and Beijing Art Museum of Imperial City in China (2011). In 1981, she and her husband Setaik were the founders of the Musée de Séoul in Seoul, the first Museum of Art in South Korea. The artist also participated in the exhibition and symposium Devant, le futur, as part of the World Expo held in Daejeon, South Korea in 1993.

She currently lives and works in Jeju, South Korea.

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Solo exhibition Myonghi, Indiepress Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, 2020 / 個人作品展《明姬》，南韓首爾，攝於2020年

Myonghi Kang and Dominique de Villepin, Poem Reading Party at Beijing Art Museum of Imperial City, 2011

Myonghi Kang in Jeju, 2021

Myonghi at her atelier in Jeju, 2021

姜明姬於南韓濟州島，攝於2021年

姜明姬於濟州島的工作室，攝於2021年

生於1947年南韓大邱的姜明姬，以她所創作的大自然畫作，顯現出一種無垠而純粹的感性。明姬

「我雖然身處在法國，但我的心神和靈魂，卻還仍然留存於韓國。」

在她的畫布上，以色彩、線條和圖形描繪大自然裏的存在與虛無。她的畫作散發出一種愉悅的感染 力，從而改變著周遭的氛圍。明姬亦同時為一位多產詩人，這兩種不一樣的媒介，讓她可以捕捉世

明姬與她的丈夫林世澤及後移居到巴黎的西北部，在「克利希廣場」的附近開設一間屬於他們的工

界的百態，因而築建起一種超越物質的表現方式。

作室。經過數年在巴黎的洗禮以後，明姬開始嘗試繪製當時的城市街景；隨後於1980年代移居「羅 亞爾河碼頭」（Quai de la Loire）的時候，演變為對於大自然風景的描繪。「羅亞爾河碼頭」座落

明姬自幼就對藝術產生濃厚的興趣，慎重地審視著自己與大自然之間的關係，進而演化為在畫布上

於巴黎十九區，為熙攘都會中的靜謐河畔地區。當明姬每天清晨起床的時候，她都會被巴黎的瑰美

的一種象徵神聖的光與影。在明姬的藝術旅途中，她亦對於傳統的東方藝術有著近乎於學術和技術

所震懾，讓花都的光線交織於她的藝術之中。她提著畫筆，根據每一天的日升月落與四季輪迴，繪

上的研究。

畫著一直在蛻變的窗外景色。 當明姬開始於法國展出她的畫作的時候，她得到眾多藝術家、詩人和作家的賞識，並與他們交織了

從戈壁沙漠到巴塔哥尼亞冰川，明姬走遍世界的每一個角落來尋找靈感。她經常獨自一人攜帶著畫

一段深厚的友誼，如趙無極、彼得‧科瓦爾斯基（Piotr Kowalski）、吉爾‧艾勞（Gilles Aillaud）

具到處探索；旅行是一種體驗，讓明姬重新認識繪畫的本質。每當明姬回到自己的工作室以後，她

、雅藍‧朱佛瓦（Alain Jouffroy）及多米尼克‧德維爾潘（Dominique de Villepin）等人。明姬在

都會以一幅大型的畫布，來擷取旅程中浩瀚的風景和深邃的回憶。明姬亦踏足歐洲的每一個國家，

1980年代末，於世界各地舉辦多個詩詞誦讀研討會及個人與團體展覽，包括於巴黎龐比度藝術中心

觀察著各地不同的文化，來賦予自己一種國際性的視野。

（1986）、南韓國立現代美術館（1989）及北京皇城藝術館（2011）等地。明姬與她的丈夫林世澤 在1981年，為南韓首爾美術館進行前期的籌備工作。她亦曾於1993年在南韓大田廣域市舉行的世界

明姬徘徊於南韓與法國之間，她曾於首爾大學美術學院修讀美術學系，及後亦於1972年移居法國。

博覽會中，參與聯展《未來那邊》及《中心與周圍》的座談會。

她最初所定居的地方為一個鄰近艾克斯普羅旺斯的小鎮「加爾達訥」（Gardanne），她在當地學習 法語並繼續進修藝術。 明姬的早期作品是在反映離開韓國之前的政治氣候。

126

姜明姬現於南韓濟州的工作室繼續進行她的創作，敞臂迎接大自然所涵藏的一種檀美。

127

1977 Exhibition Disparité, Galerie Harry Jancovici, Paris, France 1981 Establishment of the Musée de Séoul, Seoul, South Korea 1984 Establishment of the Galerie de Séoul, South Korea; Exhibition Marge, Hötel Saint-Simon, Angouléme, France 1986 Exhibition Corée Masculin/Féminin, YIM Setaik and KANG Myonghi Poems reading La Corée aprés lapluie, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France 1989 Solo exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea 1992 Solo exhibition Myonghi, Oeuvres récentes 1989-1992, Galerie de Séoul, South Korea 1993 Solo exhibition Myonghi, mi-scientifique, mi-intuitive, loin de ses proches, Galerie de France, Paris, France; Devant, le futur, exhibition organized by Pontus HULTEN symposium organized by Jean-Christophe BAILLY and Philippe LACOUE-LABARTHE, as part of the World EXPO’93, Daejon, South Korea; Solo exhibition D’un unique cours d’eau, Musée de Séoul, Seoul, South Korea 1995 Solo exhibition Myonghi, Galerie Di Meo, Paris, France 1996 Solo exhibition Myonghi, notes de voyage, Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, France; Exhibition Traversées/Transversées Matta, Myonghi, Byun, organised by Alain JOUFFROY, Galerie de Séoul, FIAC, Paris, France

128

2004 Exhibition Declaration, 100 Artists for Peace, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea 2005 Solo exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 2006 Solo exhibition at the Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon, South Korea 2007 Solo exhibition From Nature, Big Paintings of Myonghi, Ningbo Art Museum and Shanghai Art Museum, China 2010 Poems reading and solo exhibition Myonghi Poem Party.

Guests: SHU Cai, CHE Quanzi, Ll Lei, ZHANG Jian.

Beopwhasa Temple, Jeju, South Korea; Poems reading and solo exhibition Myonghi Poem Party.

Guest: Salah STÉTIÉ. Yakchunsa Temple, Jeju, South Korea 2011 Poems reading and solo exhibition Myonghi Poem Party.

Guests: Abdelwahab MEDDEB, Adonis. Beopwhasa Temple, Jeju, South Korea; Poems reading and solo exhibition Myonghi Poem Party.

Guest: Dominique DE VILLEPIN. Beijing Art Museum of Imperial City, China 2012 Creation of a sculpture Octobre, divine cloche de Myonghi Poem Party jointly with Dominique DE VILLEPIN and Adonis. Jincheon, South Korea 2015 Solo exhibition Fleeting Eternities, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong 2016 Solo exhibition Colours Forgotten, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong

1997 Exhibition Degottex, ZAO Wou-Ki, Myonghi, 97 Shanghai Art Fair, China

2018 Solo exhibition Color of Consciousness, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong

1998 Solo exhibition, Galerie de Séoul, FIAC, Paris, France

2020 Solo exhibition Myonghi, Indiepress Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

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1977

畫展《差距》，Harry Jancovici 畫廊，巴黎，法國

1981

於南韓創建首爾美術館

1984

於南韓創建首爾畫廊 舉辦畫展《邊緣》，聖西門酒店，昂古萊姆，法國

1986

舉辦畫展《韓國男女：林世澤與姜明姬》， 詩歌朗讀《韓國雨後》，巴黎龐比度藝術中心，法國

1989

舉辦個人作品展，國立現代美術館，南韓

1992

舉辦個人作品展《明姬 1989-1992 近作》，首爾畫廊，南韓

1993

舉辦個人作品展《明姬，半科學、半直覺、遠離周邊》，法蘭西畫廊，巴黎，法國 參加聯展《未來那邊》，由龐·胡爾騰策劃； 參加《中心與周圍》座談會，由 Jean-Christophe Bailly、 菲利普·拉古·拉巴特策劃，大田世界博覽會，南韓 舉辦個人作品展《唯一的水流》，首爾美術館，南韓

1995

舉辦個人作品展《明姬》，迪梅奧畫廊，巴黎，法國

1996

舉辦個人作品展《明姬，旅行記錄》，科德利埃修道院，巴黎，法國 參加聯展《跨越——Matta、明姬、Byun》，由雅藍·朱佛瓦策劃，首爾畫廊， 巴黎國際當代藝術博覽會（FIAC），巴黎，法國

1997

《尚·德哥特、趟無極和明姬作品展》，上海藝博 97，中國

1998

舉辦個人作品展，首爾畫廊，巴黎國際當代藝術博覽會（FIAC），巴黎，法國

2004

參加聯展《一百位藝術家和平宣言》，國立現代美術館，南韓

2005

舉辦個人作品展，中國美術館，北京，中國

2006

舉辦個人作品展，慶南道立美術館，昌原，南韓

2007

舉辦個人作品展《從自然——明姬的大型繪畫》，寧波美術館、上海美術館，中國

2010

舉辦《明姬詩會》和個人作品展，嘉賓：樹才、車前子、李磊、張健， 法華寺，濟州島，南韓 舉辦《明姬詩會》和個人作品展，嘉賓：薩拉·斯泰蒂埃， 藥泉寺，濟州島，南韓

130

2011

舉辦《明姬詩會》和個人作品展，嘉賓：梅戴普、阿多尼斯，法華寺，濟州島，南韓 舉辦《明姬詩會》和個人作品展，嘉賓：多米尼克 ·德·維爾潘，皇城藝術館，北京，中國

2012

與多米尼克 ·德·維爾潘及阿多尼斯共同創作雕塑 《十月神聖的鐘聲——明姬詩會》，鎮川，南韓

2015

舉辦個人作品展《瞬逝的永恆》，季豐軒，香港

2016

舉辦個人作品展《絕色》，季豐軒，香港

2018

舉辦個人作品展《色識·識色》，季豐軒，香港

2020

舉辦個人作品展《明姬》，首爾，南韓

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