ARCH DECEMBER 2017
“別懷疑,「我的本名就叫李霽,霽是雨過天晴的意思,我哥叫李霖,天降甘霖的霖,都有一個雨字頭,卻是自然中完全不同的水循環階段。」或許從命名的那一刻起,李霽就注定了用自然素材說故事的命運。”
“Don’t be doubtful, my given name is “Lee Chi”. “Chi” in Chinese stands for “the sun after the rain”, where as my brother’s name is “Lee Lin”. “Lin” means “the rain after a drought”. Both of our names have “Yu” which stands for rain, however our names hold very different parts of the natural water cycle. It was as if Lee Chi was meant to create art with materials from nature at the moment he was given his name.”
表達植物的悲傷面
“聊到最喜歡的作品,李霽立刻就憶起2015年為高雄駁二藝術特區所作的《the PAIN》。當時整個團隊很年輕、經費有限、卻大膽地孤注一擲、花光所有錢和資源,將『蠟』與『植物』結合,完成了充滿張力的作品,深刻低討論『痛』這個人人都體會過、卻難以言喻的滋味。一般人對花卉植栽的印象是浪漫歡快的,李霽卻選擇以悲傷的方式來詮釋:『植物有很多不同的情緒,我希望可以呈現一種別人沒辦法看到的面貌。』
不過,悲傷畢竟只是創作養分之一,背後支撐他的信念還是充滿『愛』,李霽認為愛無所不在,存在於身邊每一個人事物上,而他選擇謙卑聆聽不同想法和價值觀,並用藝術家敏銳、精準且深入的感官,為情緒,找到是個的說話空間,既使只是一個小小的切縫也好,靜靜等待懂的人、來品味。”
Speaking of his favorite work, Lee Chi immediately recalled a piece he had made in 2015 called “the PAIN”. At the time, the whole team was very young, with limited funds, they took a leap of faith, expending all their funds and resources to create the piece. The combination of wax and plants created a piece full of tension, that explored the idea of “pain”. Pain is something that everyone experiences, yet may be hard to put to words at times. Many people's’ impression of plants are romantic and joyous, however, Lee Chi chose to depict these plants to express sorrow. “Plants have different emotions, I hope to express them in ways people can’t recognize”.
However, pain is only a small part of what inspires Lee Chi to create work. Where the core of what supports his work is “Love”, believing that love is everywhere and around everyone. Humbling himself to allow voices of others to be heard, using his acute sensibilities as an artist, Lee Chi has found a space for emotions to be able to be heard. Even if the space is narrow, it awaits audiences to slowly experience it.