Chris HUEN Sin Kan: Tall Trees - and the things I might have forgotten  
禤善勤: 《高樹，和那些被我遺忘的事物》

29 March – 4 May 2019

HUEN continues to annotate incessant and mindful quotidian in his new paintings.   With a horizontal view of field, HUEN observes those banalities through his vision and presents everyday altitude on canvas. In his new works, the towering greeneries are painted in oil on canvas alongside with water-colour drawings of daily memorial fragments, both convey HUEN’s mindful and sluggish way of seeing.  He is going to keep exploring the quotidian with the persistent conscientiousness.
 
HUEN sees the engrossing deterrent of our horizontal view of field.  Apart from the shrubs in the city, he also put those ambivalent reminiscences of daily life – the clock, baby Joel’s toy car, large door frame, dazzling sunrays – onto his canvas.  With no spatial relevance, both tall trees and the things he might have forgotten are juxtaposed within his finite horizontal perspective on canvas. 
 
Shrubs are always planted along roadsides of Hong Kong. HUEN would observe the viability of these city’s trees.  Like someone standing in the middle of a highway, the lofty shrubs along the city’s roadsides are uncanny.  They – originate from nature, yet part of the city  - behold the adversary reciprocity of humankind and natural world. From the daily horizontal perspective, one cannot discern the profound of the tall shrubs, only with a view from far and a random passerby as scale, the towering greenery will then be revealed. 
 
Last year, typhoon Mangkhut blasted Hong Kong; the brushes along the path in front of HUEN’s home in Yuen Long were crumbled.  The fragmented brushes tell the savage of Mangkhut.  In the immediate aftermath, the HUEN’s family had to get through the path that enclosed by the shattered foliage.  The finite vision of mankind cannot capture an entire tall tree; when the tree collapses, however, the level altitude will embrace us. The transfiguration intrigued him. 

2019年3月29日至5月4日
 
禤善勤繼續以靜觀方法，把生活中不同緯度的事物以視線水平表現於畫布上，透過視覺去理解生活日常。新作中，他以一轍的觀察方式但不同的形式去表達兩種事物，高樹以大型油畫呈現，而生活上的事物是小型的水彩畫。作品流露的都是徐徐而靜謐，這也是他一直以來觀察生活的方法，以及未來探索日常生活的方向。
 
禤氏察覺到這種視線水平觀看事物的有趣拘囿，並將畫框變成他個人的視野。除了城中的高樹，也將日常生活中或許被他遺忘的零碎片段 —— 牆角上的鐘、孩子的玩具車、大型門框、猛烈的陽光 —— 放進畫裡。於是不論空間或遠近，高樹及生活中似乎被他遺忘的事物都被收納在視線水平中。
 
在香港路旁常種有灌木植物，禤氏觀察這些高樹在城市中的存活狀態, 像站在高速公路中央的人，對他來說有種格格不入的彆扭。它們聳立在路旁，既源於大自然也是城市一部份，見證人類與大自然的互相威脅 。在日常水平的視線中，我們看不到樹的高度。只有從遠處並湊巧有人經過樹下，在人樹比例對照中才發現在城市中的樹是一遍挺拔的綠。樹的生長形態是左曲右折的時間痕跡。
 
去年超級颱風山竹襲港，禤氏在元朗家門前小路兩旁的樹叢被吹被塌，東歪西倒地橫卧路中，它們是風暴的見證。颱台過後未及清理，有好幾天禤氏一家走在小路上如同穿越樹叢。於是他發現事物在不同的觀察角度會呈現有趣的變化。本來在人們的水平視線範圍中不容易看到樹的高，但樹塌下成為橫卧的緯度並圍抱著人們。
 
 
 
 
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