TAO ART 推出香港藝術家麥影彤二最新展覽 「華麗愛火四射」 穿梭虛擬人生與戀愛實境的黑色幽默

展覽日期：2023年2月18日至2023年4月15日 星期二至星期六，上午11時至下午7時 地點：TAO ART（台北市內湖區洲子街79-1號8樓） 開幕酒會：2023年 2 月18 日下午4 時

TAO ART欣然呈現香港藝術家麥影彤二（Mak2）在台北首次個展「華麗愛火四射」(Palace of Love) ，延續其標誌性的「美好家園」系列，以新穎而幽默的觀點探討幻想與現實之間的落差。藝術家在數位環境中打造出兼具浮誇與笨拙趣味的皇家風情，將虛擬人生遊戲嫁接戀愛實境秀，暗喻人在社交關係裡也成了消費者，不自覺地付出「情感勞動」，投射幻想以填補心中的空洞匱乏。她的創作實踐在黑色幽默中隱含藝術家對於人類處境的直觀理解，也對全球當代藝術生產之系統性問題提出反思，並以極具創造力的方式提出個人的解答。 

「美好家園」始於2019年，以《模擬市民》(The Sims）這款自2000年開始風行的知名人生模擬遊戲為發想基礎與構圖工具，每幅畫作皆為三聯屏，分別由三位不同的中國網路購物平台「淘寶」上的無名畫家製作之後再加以拼接。繪畫在這系列中象徵著一種商業化、山寨文化式的生產，而藝術家本身的感受性、思考過程與創作脈絡，與目的性生產之間的衝突或不一致，也被強烈地凸顯出來 。透過尷尬的分割畫面所呈現的「美好家園」，宛如當代的荒誕派劇場，有種超齡且出乎意料的透徹及深刻。

在《美好家園：華麗愛火四射》新系列作品中，她採用古董畫框元素搭配洛可可式精美裝飾風格——在古色古香的皇宮裡，一幕幕愛慾交織的真人戀愛秀正在上演。畫中散落著攝影機、麥克風、閃光燈、柔光罩，以及坐在導演椅上的女子，乍看像是奢華養眼的愛情歷史劇拍攝現場，穿插著艷紅的皇家冠冕與運動短褲、誇張髮型、心型浴缸等不合時宜與不成體統的物件。關係曖昧不明的角色互動，建構出充滿誘惑卻荒誕不經的超展開情節。「華麗愛火四射」展現出一種迷人的張狂，藝術家激情擁抱現實生活和虛擬世界之間的裂縫，享受戲謔與諧仿對意義的消解。

這次展覽中另有一件全新裝置作品《電腦人之舞》，發想於不同框架與位置交錯的社會實驗。平時在電腦後方的程式設計師在鏡頭前跳舞，看似輕鬆搞笑，然而對於麥影彤二而言，「利用藝術之名去邀請電腦人跳舞，製造了很多不安和不確定性，這顛覆了誰應該在鏡頭前，誰應該在鏡頭後的想像。而這種awkwardness(笨拙)有如在充斥着大量自我吹捧貼文中的清泉，給人一種清新的感覺。 」

德薩畫廊創始人Pascal de Sarthe 認為，「Mak2是我們社會的見證者，她不斷地打破邊界，提出問題 ，如此我們能更好地理解當今時代的演變。 就像她之前的塞尚、杜尚和安迪·沃荷一樣，她勢必是通往藝術史未來的重要一環。」

TAO ART 創辦人 Vicky Chen 表示非常期待與Mak2的初次合作，「她以對當代議題和時事的敏感度發展出讓人印象深刻的觀念作品，第一次看到就覺得有趣而令人耳目一新，也很喜歡她在創作媒介上的多元性。Mak2的真誠和熱情很有感染力，這次邀請她來台灣，希望能促成更多與台灣年輕藝術家與熱愛藝術的朋友們交流對話，為TAO ART 2023年的首展開啟美好序章。」

關於麥影彤二

麥影彤二（1989年出生於香港）是一位備受矚目的觀念藝術家，其作品通過對哲學、藝術史、文化 、多變的社會政治環境、網際網路和新科技等的研究來反思二十一世紀所面臨的問題。她的創作涵蓋了裝置、繪畫、錄像作品、YouTube影片、單口相聲和Instagram濾鏡等。原名麥影彤的藝術家曾在2018年拜訪一位風水師後，在自己的名字後加上「二」，希望透過完善中文名的筆畫數來獲得名氣與好運。2021年她將自己的名字縮寫為Mak2。

她的作品曾於世界各地展覽，近年展覽包括:《Urban Whispers》，Woaw Gallery，香港，中國(2021);《真實幻境》，K11 購物藝術中心，上海，中國(2021);《希望的原理》，中間美術館，北京 ，中國(2021); 《闔家富貴》，德薩畫廊，香港，中國(2021);《終端 – 第一屆 X 美術館三年展》，X 美術館，北京，中國 (2020);《美好家園》，德薩畫廊，香港(2019);《We Didn't Mean To Break It (But It's Ok, We Can Fix It)》，Galleria Pedro Cera ，葡萄牙，里斯本(2019);《Whatever Works, Whatever It Takes 》，歌德學院， 中國，北京(2019);《任意機器》，德薩畫廊，中國，北京(2018); 《Invisible Cities》，Crow Collection of Asian Art，美國，達拉斯(2017-18)。

麥影彤二現於香港居住和工作。

PRESS RELEASE TAO ART SPACE presents Mak Ying Tung 2 Palace of Love February 18 - April 15, 2023

Home Sweet Home began in 2019, employing the popular life simulation game “The Sims” as both its conceptual foundation and a compositional tool. Each painting is a triptych, each part produced by an anonymous artist and purchased via the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao before being pieced together. In each painting, the inconsistency between the original image that the artist has in mind and the final result is evident when the time-consuming labour is divided up and entrusted to others. Mak2’s artistic practice reveals the systemic problems of contemporary art production, at the same time puts forward a unique solution with creativity.

In the new series Home Sweet Home: Palace of Love, Mak2 incorporates painted antique frame into the composition, complemented with exquisite Rococo-style decoration. Set in a palace richwith an ancient air, scenes ofreality dating showsin which love and desire intertwine are staged. With cameras, microphones, flash light diffusers, and women sitting in director’s chairs spread across the images, the paintings look like the shooting of a luxurious period drama, with brilliant red royal crowns and sports shorts, exaggerated hairstyles, heart-shaped bathtubs, and other anachronistic and inappropriate objects scattered throughout. The interactions of these things between which the relationships are ambiguous come together to form scenarios simultaneously brimming with temptation and flush with absurdity. Palace of Love presents a charming insolence. The artist’s creative energy comes from embracing the gap between the real and virtual worlds with passion and enjoying the dissolution of meaning by means of jokes and parody.

This exhibition also features a new installation piece entitled Dance of the Geek. A programmer who usually sits behind his computer is invited to dance in front of the camera for the sake of art. His movements seem to be relaxed and funny, but the point which Mak2 is making here, is that “the experience of recruiting a programmer to perform in front of a camera for me is already a relationalaesthetic.” In contrast to the trend of blatantly self-promoting on social media, this awkwardness in-stead offers a sense of freshness.

“ Mak2 is a witness of our society, pushing boundaries and asking questions so we can better understand the evolution of our time. Like Cezanne, Duchamp and Warhol before her, she is bound to be an important link to the future of art history,” says Pascal de Sarthe, the founder and owner of DE SARTHE.

Vicky Chen, the founder of TAO ART, also expresses her excitement for the first collaboration with Mak2, stating”her conceptual artworks impressively show a sensitivity to contemporary social issues. Seeing them for the first time was interesting and refreshing; I also like the diversity of hermediums. Mak2’s sincerity and enthusiasm are infectious, and I hope hosting her show in Taiwanwill facilitate exchanges and dialogues between her and local young artists. And I believe these newworks to be a wonderful start for the year of 2023 at TAO ART.”

Mak2 (Mak Ying Tung,b. 1989, Hong Kong) is a conceptual artist.Her work contemplates 21st century issues through the study of philosophy, art history, culture, shifting socio-political environments, the internet, and new technology. The aesthetic experience she crafts is bound by the dualism of humor and intense inquisitiveness. She creates, installations, paintings, drawings, video work, youtube videos, stand-up comedy routines, and Instagram filters. Her works have been shown internationally. Her recent exhibitions include Mirage or Reality, Shanghai K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, China (2021);The Principle of Hope, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing,China (2021); How Do We Begin?, X Museum, Beijing, China(2020); Home Sweet Home, de Sarthe, Hong Kong, China (2019); We Didn't Mean To Break It (But It's Ok, We Can Fix It), Pedro Cera, Lisbon,Portugal (2019); Whatever Works, Whatever It Takes, Goethe-Institut China, Beijing (2019); The Any-thing Machine, de Sarthe, Beijing, China (2018); Invisible Cities, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas,USA (2017-18); .com/.cn- Co-presented by KAF and MoMA PS1, K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai, China(2017-18). Mak2 lives and works in Hong Kong