Starting Off - As early as 1990, I had a two-session touring exhibition entitled “Image and Imagery” at Sunny-Gate Gallery, Taipei and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung. Artworks shown in this exhibition were about my hometown Penghu and taken with my passionate eyes and a pure-photography approach. It was during my college years and a short period of carefree time after military service. By the end of 2009, during a “transition” status in my creation career, I recalled the old good days when I went out to fully enjoy the wonderful feeling of transforming my heart into films as a save visual memory carrier. I decided to compile the casually-accumulated, constantly-exploring, and gradually-forming series of photography works entitled “On the Road”.
Walking Alone - It has been two decades after “Image and Imagery” in the physical time frame; however, the tempo of creative consciousness is not synchronized. Mostly it is rather an optical illusion of journey notes as well as sometimes a reflection of camera shutter as a solution to the desire of photography. With intended run-away and getting lost without exact destination, Penghu still remains as the viewing point of emotion emitting. After twenty years of profound watching under lenses, with decisions of “seeing” and “not seeing” on my own, it has silently transformed into journey notes of blocks and lines. Those rarely-seen absolute landscapes do not possess mobile restlessness of snapshot and do not necessarily adhere to the existing aesthetic shape or construction, either. Rather, they carefully collect essential counterpart elements of each image and reflect the carefully-calculated thinking when visiting country side of Penghu, in a more holistic environment.
Passing Through - Later I settled down at Taipei. Because of job and traveling, I am always in between either familiar hometown or totally isolated overseas, home-coming or hometown-returning, on the road, on ocean or in the air. I would freely see the world with a fragmental and open-minded way. I would obsessively want to see through buildings or vehicles, during a short moment of stop or resting, from door or window of car, boat or airplane, and to catch up daydreams, constantly-improvised hand gestures, dark shadows, hills and stones, tree leaves, walls, and indescribable front gear viewing frame. Through layers of depth of field moving between in-focus and out-of-focus, realizing on-the-scene and live atmosphere of “what I see is what I am,” I cross over a double-implication internally as well as externally and peep at the seemingly-open and yet wishful drama space through a self-absorbed mind.
Anchoring - “On the Road” is selected from 500 rolls of 35mm black and white films and they are almost all done with 400 film speed and slight wide angle 35mm camera lens, in which enable me to concentrate on shooting under a limited and yet much familiar condition and thus develop life-drawing-like inner space. The layout of catalogue is designed to have one image crossing over two connecting pages and some works are arranged as two juxtaposed images for the connection of images. The compilation is based on order of date, which is also title of artworks, while some place names that I remembered are put together as index. If the 57 pieces of artworks in the topic of cluster are categorized under geographical areas and chronicle, the total proportion would not balance and could only indicate a very subjective and narrow-minded artistic viewpoint. There are 28 pieces of photography on Penghu, 16 pieces on Taiwan, and 13 on overseas area. There is no peculiar processing with those images: no cutting, no grading, no post-processing, and no fixing. Those images are presented as tangible photos in black thin frame with the decisive moment, in which each individual image possesses integrity and the original objects under light and shadow as recognized are able to be restored. The quantities of photos in each year are also different. The position of groups matches with the expected order. In certain years, there might have 8 to 9 pieces of photos while none to 5 in other years. From the year of 2008 to 2010, I could not find any photos that I am strongly interested with. Since the directly perceived approach photography on street till now, this implies that I am gradually zooming out from “On the Road” unconsciously.
Keeping Walking… - Overall, photography often portraits human figures and landscapes. Somehow in “On the Road” I seemingly avoid to encounter with strangers. I am too shy to handle with inter-relationship and I prefer to focus on the shape and form of objects. I simplify the presentation of landscapes and rather focus on observing details on trips. By repeating several simple ways of seeing, I review over and over on where I have been. Scenes and images I see very often are everywhere. The issue virtual-reality vs. reality is the main body as well something regional. I look from far and very close as well to collect layers of textures and try to collage the relation of object. I compose with lines and layers as like the delicate details of fragments. From figurative to abstractive, extending from reality into bizarre land, eliminating identities of time and places, concisely integrating the canvas composition…looking for clues on choices, frustration, expectation, departure or returning of “On the Road,” I constantly concentrate on walking, keeping walking.
-- Chen Shun-Chu 2010.10
