Osamu Ikeda
(Director of BankART1929,Yokohama,Japan)
Starting from her first day in Japan, Miss Ho got into a habit of occasionally
having some liquor. She would wander around like a feral cat that disappears in
the daytime, and sometimes, when she feels like it, she would unashamedly
intrude upon other people’s territories and purposely eat and drink in strange
stores. It might look like she is a vagrant soul, but it’s actually more like
she is trying to claim her own territory. Thus, Miss Ho wonders around the
streets of Yokohama, building up her territory one piece at a time.
Watching TV is another one of Miss Ho’s
hobbies. She loves Japanese drama and TV shows, thus on the first day of her
arrival she wanted BankART to provide her with a TV. I’ve seen Miss Ho lying on
the ground watching TV deep into the night on more than one occasion. She just looked
like a normal person enjoying herself immensely (The BankART Sakura so that Miss Ho stayed
at had French windows in the first floor living room that faced the road).
Another side of Miss Ho can be described
as a career woman or a woman radiating feminine power, meaning that she does
well at her job. She always has a ton of miscellaneous work, and amazingly she
is able to complete them all in an orderly and resolute fashion while
complaining about them at the same time. She is always very energetic and works
tirelessly at her job, as if she is looking forward to a day when all the
fatigue from work will explode out like a volcano.
Of course, linking anecdotes and stories about
Miss Ho to her topological works in such an indiscreet manner is not
appropriate. But I can’t help but think of a Japanese novelist, Mr. Atsushi
Mori, who won the Akutagawa Prize when he was over sixty with his novel “Lunar
Mountain”. Mr. Mori has been repeating the cycle of working 10 years, playing
10 years in his life because he wants to achieve the ultimate in the fields of
“Dam building”, “Picture typesetting” and “Mirror polishing” to gradually build
up his unique literature style and ideology. His novel “The Phases of Meaning”
is an agglomeration of his ideals. This book describes the time and space of
his topological life. It is a big and small, strong and weak, black and white,
sharp and round world that travels between the edges and the center, heaven and
hell as well as between positive and negative. Although there is no
relationship between them, I can’t help but think that Miss Ho is Mr. Mori’s
granddaughter.
Let us bid farewell to introductions and
enter the work of Miss Ho. The dictionary has the below definition for the word
“catastrophe”:
“An environment going through radical
changes, those who cannot adapt will become extinct. The word can represent tragic
endings in literary works. Often implies an extremely destructive tone. It can
be an abbreviation of catastrophe theory.” The themes of destruction, collapse,
integration, combination, flaws, etc. are apparent in Miss Ho’s work. This
“destructive logic” can very easily tell of a painful, unfortunate world that
no one wants to touch upon. However, Miss Ho’s works do not leave any
impression of “destruction” in the minds of viewers. The work “Kinniku Shojotai”,
which shows the breasts of a girl linked together, and the surprising Tanioka Yasuji type paintings
do not induce any unpleasantness and depression in viewers but actually get
them to chuckle, and even though they might not understand the work, they can
accept it gracefully. Miss Ho’s works have a type of strong resiliency that
links seemingly unrelated things together in a metaphorical or topological way
using her unique rhythm. Thus, her works place viewers in a kind of Zen-like
Q&A session and lets them enjoy a sonorous and powerful and also
lighthearted feeling. I think that, just like what the introduction said, Miss
Ho’s works give viewers these feelings because she has great tolerance, can use
various types of lifestyles and life views in parallel, is not afraid of
misunderstandings by other people and enjoys her life in a leisurely manner.
Miss Ho’s works are vibrant and full of
vitality, which is the opposite of the self-depreciating feeling that the name
of the exhibit “Himono
Onna’s Final Call”
gives people. I think that this is because “Himono Onna’s Final Call” is connected to the first train, which is full of vitality, in a topological
way.
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/ 池田 修
日本橫濱BankART1929總監
打從在日本停泊的第一天起，何小姐便展開不時有酒作伴的徘徊。像隻白天行蹤不明、野性不改的家貓般四處徘徊，有時興致一起，也會大剌剌地闖入他人地盤，刻意到陌生店家吃吃喝喝。與其說是個愛流浪的靈魂，更像是在試探自己的勢力範圍。就這樣，何小姐在橫濱街頭遊蕩，一點一滴拓展自己的版圖。
看電視是何小姐的另一項嗜好。對日劇等日本電視節目情有獨鍾的她，抵達的第一天就要求BankART提供電視。事實上，我不只一次親眼目睹何小姐趴著看電視到深夜，那景象根本就是享受極樂時光的平凡人。（何小姐留宿的BankART櫻莊在一樓起居室有面對大馬路的落地窗。）
何小姐的另一個面貌，不知該以職業婦女還是女力四射來形容，總之就是個工作能力強的女性。她背負著大量繁複的工作，卻都能在抱怨之餘，有條不紊且魄力十足地完成一項又一項。她總是卯足了勁，努力不懈地工作，彷彿樂得那經年累月的積勞在某天衝破臨界點而火山爆發似的。
當然，如此輕率地將這些關於何小姐的奇聞趣事，以及她拓樸（topological）的作品們相互連結是不恰當的，但我卻不由自主地想起一位日本小說家，即年過耳順才以作品「月山」摘下芥川賞的森敦先生。他不斷重複著10年工作，10年玩樂的生活，意即在追求「水壩建設」、「照片排版」、「鏡片研磨」三種職業的極致之餘，逐步構築起他獨特的文學及思想。小說「意義的變相」是他集大成之作，描寫的正是堪稱拓樸人生的時空。那是個又大又小又強又弱、既黑既白既尖既圓，往返於邊緣與中心、天堂與地獄、正與反之間的世界。雖然兩人之間毫無相關，我仍不禁以為，何小姐就像是森先生的孫女一般。
開場白到此為止，讓我們進入何小姐的作品。字典對「大災難（catastrophe）」的敘述如下：
『環境遭受急劇變化。無法追隨變化者便步上滅絕之路。文學作品等的悲慘結局。如同上述，常帶有極為毀滅性的語氣。劇變論（catastrophe theory）的簡稱。』
屢屢現身於何小姐作品中的主題──破壞、崩毀、聯結、合體、破綻…。諸如此類的「毀壞邏輯」極容易形塑出痛苦、不想觸及且不幸的世界，但她描繪的作品卻絲毫不在觀眾腦海中留下「毀滅」印象。聯結女孩乳房的『筋肉少女帶』，以及令人驚異的谷岡Yasuji式繪畫，不但不會帶來不悅及消沈，反而能讓人會心一笑，即便無法理解也能欣然接納眼前的事物，何小姐的作品就是擁有這般堅強韌性。在獨特的節奏下，將乍看之下毫無關連的事物比喻或拓樸地聯結在一起，這模樣讓人恍如置身禪問答之中，享受鏗鏘有力卻輕快宜人的感觸。我想，正如介紹所寫，這是因為何小姐具備十足的包容力，能平行（parallel）自如地運用各式各樣的生活與人生觀，且不畏他人誤解，悠然自得地享受人生。
與「乾物女的最後電車」這自謔意味濃厚的展覽名完全相反，何小姐的作品們生氣蓬勃、活力十足。我想，這不外是因為乾物女的最後一班電車，事實上是與充滿活力與豐碩的第一班列車拓樸地聯結在一起的緣故。