火焰一粒|A Fiery Particle

2021.10.08-11.15 SNAP Shanghai

退火 / The receding fire（局部）/ 墙面装置 / Wall installation / 210*240cm / 2021

《火焰一粒》是我创作实践中的一次转向。自2016年以来，我围绕个人经验与历史档案进行的一系列探索，在这一展览中首次以相对集中的方式呈现。三件主要作品之间彼此关联，以“逃亡”作为叙事核心。涉及逃离国家、逃离战争、逃离预设身份与命运的个体案例。在这一系列项目中，我的兴趣在于将“逃亡”作为一种开放的状态，展示其复杂性，悬置基于道德，伦理与历史的判断。也正是在这一悬置中，去重新认识一种暂时偏离既有结构秩序的边缘存在经验。

现场/Exhibition View

在飞机灯下 （局部）/ Under the aircraft lights / 飞机信号灯，不锈钢支架，援越抗美纪念飞机模型，石膏，木质工作桌 / Aircraft signal light, stainless steel bracket,VA War souvenir US aircraft model, plaster, wooden work table / 200*160*220cm/2021石头 / The rocks / 木板油画 / Oil on board / 15*22cm

追月亮的人 / The man who chasing the Moon / 33*44cm / 杂志图片，宜家贴纸 / Magazine picture sheet，Ikea sticker / 2021

徐喆形容自己是闲散的人，他的一些项目往往放了又做，做了再放。他手上的一些有意思的手工物件，往往是对日常成品游戏性的篡改。在他的工作室里，这些零零散散如即兴乐句般的拼装货，半陈列、半堆叠着，充满活性，时间久了也逐渐影响徐喆的工作，也逐渐成为了他生活中无需语言整理的那一部分。 在这次的个展中，徐喆尝试动手拼凑出与自身联系更深切的事物。展览将透过一系列雕塑和影像物件，勾勒出三组故事的环境。 徐喆父辈早年军旅经历中的物件，它们从日常、积尘的平凡事物化身为带路者。《内河记事》从60年代的战争记忆展开，他旅行到越南，并从镜头里看向某种个人生命故事的源头。徐喆的探索旅程也偶然触动他人记忆的共振。在《未命名的影像》中，徐喆偶遇的一位美国老人讲述了他自身的逃亡故事。而这则故事在徐喆回到上海之后，再触发了他父亲向他诉说的往事。在SNAP空间中，他从取景框中向外望去，看向这些故事主角曾经看过的风景，试着去捕捉某种逃逸路线的形态。 徐喆在展览中呈现的几组影像作品与其说是三段故事，实际上更像是它们交叉映射的结晶。影片中出现的光滑如镜的航弹模型，如星条斑纹时而消失在阳光中的旗帜，这些影像物件散落在故事情节之中，映射着徐喆一直以来处理影像和实物材料时的拼拼凑凑，让游戏的气质冲淡材料本身隐含的残酷质感。

--陈玺安

Xu Zhe describes himself as an idle person. His projects are often put off to the side and worked on continuously, with the intention of further work after they are done. In his hands, these engaging handmade items more often than not tamper with the playful nature of everyday objects. In his studio, these scattered pieces, half-displayed and half-stacked like improvised melodic phrases, are brimming with activity. Over time, they have gradually affected Xu’s work and become the part of his life that does not need language to be ordered. In this solo exhibition, Xu sets about to piece together objects with which he feels a deeper connection. Through a series of sculptures and video works, the show outlines the environment of three narratives. Objects from Xu's father's early military experience are transformed from quotidian, dusty and ordinary items into guides. The Inner River Chronicle unfolds from the memory of war in the 1960s. He traveled to Vietnam, considering the origin of some sort of personal life story through this lens. By chance, Xu's journey of exploration also resonated with the memories of others. In Untitled Images, an old American the artist met by chance tells the story of his own escape. After Xu returned back to Shanghai, this story triggered reflections of the past that his father had recounted to him. In SNAP, he looks out from the viewfinder, surveying the scenery previously beheld by the protagonist of these stories and trying to capture an escape line of sorts. The video works series presented by Xu Zhe in the exhibition are not so much three individual tales, but rather the crystallization of their cross mapping. The smooth, mirror- like aerial bomb models appearing in the film, like the stars and stripes of a flag fading from time in the sun, are sprinkled in the storyline. They reflect Xu’s patchwork approach to assembling images and physical materials, allowing the nature of the game to dilute the materials innately cruel texture.

--Zian CHEN