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拍品专文
Szetop Lap is the core of Figurative Expressionism. For decades he has been examining the essence and truth of art through multiple perspectives like creation, theories and education. Château (Lot 46) is a rare monocoloured landscape oil painting among the artist’s works. The captivating and tranquil intuitive experience that it expresses leaves the viewers lingering in its unique “breeze of stillness”.
REPEATED “MIMESIS”, A MULTIFACETTED CHÂTEAU
The artist once mentioned in his Notes on Painting that, when he repeatedly re-visits a certain theme, he is “trying to capture all the rich ‘naunces’ and place them in a state of existence where they share the same origin. All were in an oneness, but not identical”. The Corridor series is one example. He hopes to “convey a kind of light that is variable as well as things that are unspeakable and invisible, in visibly visual ways.” On 6 August, 1998, the artist had the impulse to paint Les Baux de Provence, and he spent the following few years painting it. In 1999, he painted the first oil painting on this theme, Castle of Provence I ; in 2000, Castle of Provence II was born; in 2004, he continued with the theme and created the magnificent Château. To Szeto Lap, 20th century art is still associated with “mimesis”. Through “mimesis”, art “calls for things that do not exist to present themselves in their own ways.” In this process, the artist purifies his intuitive world (here it means the world of Les Baux de Provence) and creates a particular world through his artistic sense, bestowing upon the viewers a unique intuitive experience and leading them to feel the nature of this world and at last, let all that they see disappear into the painting – “all that are revealed are reclaimed”. On another level, this behaviour deepens the artist’s persistence to contemplate the truth of matters through intuitive painting. The viewers can first look at the real life image of Castle of Provence and imagine the castle’s changing faces and emotions. Château features the artist’s beloved Les Baux de Provence, but its title does not name the place. By doing so, it encourages the viewers to have their own interpretations and let their thoughts course through “phenomena that constantly change (in a rheological manner) and live on.”
AN INTUITIVE OBSERVATION OF MATTERS AND AN INTENT GAZE AT ESSENCE
The most captivating element of Château lies in every inch of its overwhelming red. Impressive are the artist’s ability to master the intuitive vision of human beings, and the way he reflects on the relationship between intuitive experience and the nature of matters. Using inches of red to express Les Baux de Provence does not only make the scene more dramatic, it also unveils the plotted narratives hidden in the painting, like Bonaparte Visiting the Pesthouse in Jaffa , the masterpiece of Antoine-Jean Gros, which carries much dramatic tension. Here, Szeto’s ambition to prolong the spirit of Classical paintings is obvious. Using a single colour alone may restrict the viewers’ from relating the painting to the real world, which comes with colours and dimensions. Such restriction, however, allows the artist to use only light and shadow, lines, forms and colour blocks to create a visual experience that is different from looking at a normal landscape painting, making the viewers feel that they are looking at the castle through the artist’s perspective. Comparing to the artist’s still life paintings, Château is not as meticulous, instead, it reveals “a kind of tempo and rhythm through the expression of a grand gestured jubilance, a wave of excitement, like a wind blowing by,” said the artist himself.
IMAGERIES FROM HEAVEN AND MELODIES FROM EXISTENCE
German litterateur Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “it is not always the case that truth must be presented; if truth, with a nimbus, pervades every corner, and creates the result of consistency, and if truth, with decent and silvery chimes, fills the air, then it is enough.”. It is worth noting that golden brushstrokes are visible on the upper corner of the painting. In Byzantine art, the gold colour symbolises purity and elegance, like the St. Mark's Basilica of Basilica Cattedrale. Its mosaic ceiling is elaborated in a splendid gold colour. The golden adornment on the upper corner of Château enhances its aura of a sacred Byzantine castle. These golden brushstrokes can be clouds in the sky, or winds blowing towards different directions and caressing the castle’s cold walls. The artist said, “After the age of 50, (Note: after 1999), I returned to landscape painting. I stopped questioning existence and started listening to it…… In landscape painting, I hear a fierce world in tranquillity; I walk into a world of heavenly melodies; there is a breeze that comes from south to north, sweeping through it all, you say I am alone and lonely, I am, indeed, not lonely at all.”
In a solemn manner, Szeto Lap intuitively observes the world’s matters, striving to explore the relationship between all matters and their ever-changing nature. Château is not only a truthful depiction of reality, it also reveals a sphere beyond the visual world. Its essence as a powerful painting achieves a state that ‘those that want to emerge from the painting are allowed to emerge, yet at the same time they are allowed to hide within the painting’”.
As the saying goes, the 20th century is an era of liberation for art; it seems as though everything has been tried, and everything has been expressed. However, when everything could be art, the whole value system of art would collapse. As a serious artist, it is important to review the truthfulness of art in this contemporary era. - Szeto Lap
REPEATED “MIMESIS”, A MULTIFACETTED CHÂTEAU
The artist once mentioned in his Notes on Painting that, when he repeatedly re-visits a certain theme, he is “trying to capture all the rich ‘naunces’ and place them in a state of existence where they share the same origin. All were in an oneness, but not identical”. The Corridor series is one example. He hopes to “convey a kind of light that is variable as well as things that are unspeakable and invisible, in visibly visual ways.” On 6 August, 1998, the artist had the impulse to paint Les Baux de Provence, and he spent the following few years painting it. In 1999, he painted the first oil painting on this theme, Castle of Provence I ; in 2000, Castle of Provence II was born; in 2004, he continued with the theme and created the magnificent Château. To Szeto Lap, 20th century art is still associated with “mimesis”. Through “mimesis”, art “calls for things that do not exist to present themselves in their own ways.” In this process, the artist purifies his intuitive world (here it means the world of Les Baux de Provence) and creates a particular world through his artistic sense, bestowing upon the viewers a unique intuitive experience and leading them to feel the nature of this world and at last, let all that they see disappear into the painting – “all that are revealed are reclaimed”. On another level, this behaviour deepens the artist’s persistence to contemplate the truth of matters through intuitive painting. The viewers can first look at the real life image of Castle of Provence and imagine the castle’s changing faces and emotions. Château features the artist’s beloved Les Baux de Provence, but its title does not name the place. By doing so, it encourages the viewers to have their own interpretations and let their thoughts course through “phenomena that constantly change (in a rheological manner) and live on.”
AN INTUITIVE OBSERVATION OF MATTERS AND AN INTENT GAZE AT ESSENCE
The most captivating element of Château lies in every inch of its overwhelming red. Impressive are the artist’s ability to master the intuitive vision of human beings, and the way he reflects on the relationship between intuitive experience and the nature of matters. Using inches of red to express Les Baux de Provence does not only make the scene more dramatic, it also unveils the plotted narratives hidden in the painting, like Bonaparte Visiting the Pesthouse in Jaffa , the masterpiece of Antoine-Jean Gros, which carries much dramatic tension. Here, Szeto’s ambition to prolong the spirit of Classical paintings is obvious. Using a single colour alone may restrict the viewers’ from relating the painting to the real world, which comes with colours and dimensions. Such restriction, however, allows the artist to use only light and shadow, lines, forms and colour blocks to create a visual experience that is different from looking at a normal landscape painting, making the viewers feel that they are looking at the castle through the artist’s perspective. Comparing to the artist’s still life paintings, Château is not as meticulous, instead, it reveals “a kind of tempo and rhythm through the expression of a grand gestured jubilance, a wave of excitement, like a wind blowing by,” said the artist himself.
IMAGERIES FROM HEAVEN AND MELODIES FROM EXISTENCE
German litterateur Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “it is not always the case that truth must be presented; if truth, with a nimbus, pervades every corner, and creates the result of consistency, and if truth, with decent and silvery chimes, fills the air, then it is enough.”. It is worth noting that golden brushstrokes are visible on the upper corner of the painting. In Byzantine art, the gold colour symbolises purity and elegance, like the St. Mark's Basilica of Basilica Cattedrale. Its mosaic ceiling is elaborated in a splendid gold colour. The golden adornment on the upper corner of Château enhances its aura of a sacred Byzantine castle. These golden brushstrokes can be clouds in the sky, or winds blowing towards different directions and caressing the castle’s cold walls. The artist said, “After the age of 50, (Note: after 1999), I returned to landscape painting. I stopped questioning existence and started listening to it…… In landscape painting, I hear a fierce world in tranquillity; I walk into a world of heavenly melodies; there is a breeze that comes from south to north, sweeping through it all, you say I am alone and lonely, I am, indeed, not lonely at all.”
In a solemn manner, Szeto Lap intuitively observes the world’s matters, striving to explore the relationship between all matters and their ever-changing nature. Château is not only a truthful depiction of reality, it also reveals a sphere beyond the visual world. Its essence as a powerful painting achieves a state that ‘those that want to emerge from the painting are allowed to emerge, yet at the same time they are allowed to hide within the painting’”.
As the saying goes, the 20th century is an era of liberation for art; it seems as though everything has been tried, and everything has been expressed. However, when everything could be art, the whole value system of art would collapse. As a serious artist, it is important to review the truthfulness of art in this contemporary era. - Szeto Lap