Borrowing scenery in architecture means the mountains and rivers skillfully used in the design of gardens, make gardens more elegant and graceful. The cases of representative such as Adachi Museum of Art in Japan which borrows Katsuyama as scenery, the Xuan palace garden borrows scenery from Hikone Castle. People are having tea while viewing the scenery on hundreds of gardens of Kyoto temple, on the spring season that full of cherry blossoms, it is the reflection of street scenery in real life.

“Borrowing color” is a phrase that I created from borrowing scenery. On March of this spring, we invited four artists nationwide to hold the first exhibition after the festival, including American artist Jeffrey Hessing, Columbian artist Daza Alvaro, Japanese artists George Hayashi and Aiko Sumi. Each of us has hidden a personal “se”, there are different explanations of this word, such as color, functional or character and so on. These four artists’ works either hidden or exposed their personal eroticism, and by borrowing that, adding new color and artistic conception for our exhibit space.

American artist Jeffrey Hessing lives in Nice, south of France. He stayed there once because of the residence project and fell in love with it; therefore he lives there until now. There are the bright colors of sunshine on Nice; casual elegant on the seaside, and the story that involving people’s private yet openly in different seasons in his works. Shadows of trees are telling you those stories happened here or are going to happen. Jeffrey’s paintings both visual and abstract, as a viewer, if you had nothing to worry, then you must see the visual images; but if you had something on your mind, you will see the hand that others can’t see which is abstract, depression and lingering.

The works of Columbian artist Daza Alvaro contain paintings and sculptures; we are showcasing his paintings for the exhibition. It’s not hard to see that he pours his unruly enthusiasm into the works, makes them gorgeous and steaming hot, which also makes me can’t look directly to those paintings. Just like heart-splash when hero sees a beauty, the multifaceted of an artist, who expresses different temperament; joy; anger and dirge in varieties of works and time periods.

There are many animals in Japanese artist George Hayashi’s works; those colorful animals are the portrait of artist. The sun hides his inner sensitive and melancholy, but if you could discover his melancholy, means you are acute and sentimental at this moment. The freedom on paintings’ composition refer to artist’s restless heart, he’s ready to go to a strange place with a backpack.

Work of young Aiko Sumi is conceptual photography. Every girl that standing in front of the electric pole was tied to a pillar by a red thread, does red thread means fate? If so, there’s a phrase “move it!” on the electric pole, which is imperative in Japanese. The power of red thread that tied women up is actually very easy to break, but we are deeply rooted in the idea of traditional concept and the bound from society. What’s the bound of society for girls who are 18- year-old to 32-year-old? The electric pole is a representative of social system, without it, we can’t have the cultural enjoyment on the night; also, the fixed position and “move it” becomes an antisense. Does it cost you a lot because of fighting with destiny or habit? Making us hesitate; atrophy and fear. Where is the loss of courage then?

The exhibition is here, where are you?

- Shun

*image (left)
Alvaro Daza
Shanghai Cancing
oil on canvas, 150x120cm
courtesy of the artist and Shun Art Gallery