by Matthew Lyndon Jones

Commentary on Yung-Hsien Chen's "Head on The Plate" and "Release"

Matthew Lyndon Jones



Yung-Hsien Chen's work utilises video technology and abstract symbolism to give a distinctly personal interpretation of overbearing societal influences on the individual subject. In a piece from his Head on The Plate series, the artist treats himself as the inert subject at the centre of a cacophony of textual, physical and aural assaults that confuse the boundaries between internal and external stimulus, resulting in an intriguing, if not somewhat overwhelming, piece of work.

The piece revolves entirely around Chen's bald head, presented with closed eyes and blank expression on a white plate, surrounded by a black background. Completely covering his head are dozens of painted, tiny Chinese characters, half in black and half in white. The piece progresses through several stages which each involve some external objects. Firstly, the artist is surrounded by, and eating, a tape-like pasta string, on which is also painted many tiny, black, Chinese characters. As the substance is slowly digested, aided by several jarring cuts, it gives the impression of an organic machine resigned to its automatic role. Subsequently, the head is surrounded by white pellets, which both fall down from above onto the plate, and are excreted through the mouth, which are followed by spinning white balls and then what appear to be eggs, all covered with the same type of characters. Lastly, the mouth produces a flower, the only object not to be saturated by text, and thus is the moment of greatest purity within the work, standing in stark contrast to what has come before, but still fluidly presented as part of an abstract, almost poetic monologue on consumption.

While all of this is going on, the entire piece is accompanied by much English and Chinese chatter and a few sound effects. From what is discernible, this chatter contains at least several self-reflexive statements about the subject's place within a broader, albeit confusing, reality, such as the remark ‘I want to talk with my audience’. This immediately makes the whole piece feel very personal, or even abstractly autobiographical, despite its many distractions, so that when the subject finally opens his eyes at the end, everything we have previously seen him experience seems somewhat internalised.

Surrounding the detached and relatively passive image of Chen's head, this presentation of overlapping stimuli and confusion leaves one wondering if these overwhelming influences are coming from within the artist's mind, or whether he is being forced to endure external pressures beyond the control of a mere severed head. This uncertainty is, perhaps intentionally, left unclarified – the artist disempowered, maybe voluntarily, maybe not. Through a concoction of text, organics, flesh, multilingual chatter and random sound, this piece is aptly presented on video, as it is the movement and animation of this mixed bag of elements which give it its power.

Chen's series Release is similarly themed on the individual subject – again only presented as a detached head. Also employing video to illustrate a progression towards some form of awareness or consciousness, this series is perhaps more extreme in its journey than the previous one, as the subject moves from a position of outright, even exaggerated captivity to relative freedom (though the body, again, is never considered in the work). In one particular piece from the series, the subject (this time a woman) is initially presented with her hair brushed forward, entirely covering all facial detail, and her head then tied with many layers of string, somewhat akin to the way slabs of meat are bound in an abattoir. The effect is thoroughly dehumanising, even more so than a detached head on a plate. The piece subsequently charts her release, as a pair of scissors (holder unknown and unconsidered) gradually cuts through the string, eventually releasing the head. The piece ends with the hair of the subject being blown back to finally reveal the face, staring inertly towards the camera.

In contrast to the variety of stimuli presented in Head on The Plate, the focus of Release is quite simple and straightforward. There isn't even any sound, apart from the slither and snap of metal on fabric as the scissors cut into the various strands of string. The only aesthetic distraction from the presented narrative of ‘unbinding’ the head is a curious decision to edit out sections of the footage between each scissor-cut, giving a sharp, staccato quality to the piece. This is effective in keeping it well-paced, and adds to the abstract feeling of the whole piece. In fact, the sound of the cutting is all the more powerful for being so isolated.

In this piece, as with the previous one, the overall impression given by the artist is of a detached humanity subject to overarching technological and organic influences, progressing towards some form of awareness (both pieces ending with their respective subjects staring straight ahead at their audiences, thereby acknowledging the technological construct of the piece). The question of the subject's empowerment is ultimately left unexplained and unresolved, but the fluidity of these two recorded works engagingly demonstrate some awkward negotiations between individual subjects and broader, oppressive reality, and are excellently suited to and presented on their medium of video.



評論陳永賢〈盤中頭〉與〈減法〉
撰文：馬修‧林東‧鐘斯（Matthew Lyndon Jones）
翻譯：董維琇（英國伯明罕藝術學院博士）

陳永賢的作品運用錄像技術和抽象的象徵手法，明確地表達出個體與社會之間的生存影響，以個人詮釋而言，在其〈盤中頭〉的系列，藝術家看待自我，有如不和諧的資訊及心理、生理衝擊的核心，彼此位於一個不由自主的個體衝擊，混亂了內在和外在相互刺激的分界線，形成一種強度而恰如其分的創作表現。

這件〈盤中頭〉作品，觀者焦點反覆地環繞於空白圓盤和閉目沈思的頭顱上，一片漆黑的背景下，主體全然呈現於頭顱上，並由黑白參半的細小文字覆蓋其表層。整個作品的過程經歷數個階段，而每一階段加入一些外來的物件，開始的部分，陳永賢啜食著身旁寫滿了黑色字跡的帶狀麵條，一如有機物質緩慢的被消化，其所呈現的意象如同一個具有機械動力的執行者緩緩運作其自動化的任務。隨後，頭顱被降落在圓盤上的白色球體所環繞，甚至由口中排出，進而轉變為吐出的一顆蛋，同樣的，這些物體仍然被文字符號所覆蓋。影像結束前，由藝術家口中吞吐一朵花的形象，那是唯一不被這些文字所覆蓋的物體，也是整件作品中最精要的高潮片刻，與之前的影像鋪陳對照，不失為流暢的視覺語法，同時也呈現出一種深奧而詩意性的獨白。

整件作品的進行，當中伴隨著中英文夾雜、此起彼落的呼吸音效，從那些可以辨識的聲音中，不斷重複的音調裡包含了一個寬廣而真實的空間，也涵蓋一種自白式陳述，例如獨白中的對話文字，瞬間，使得整個作品令人感到個人化領域，甚至是一種更深沈的自我內省，僅管過程中有許多干擾，當我們看到主角最後打開眼睛時，前後之間，我們看到他所經歷的一切，似乎已滲入其內化作用。

環繞於陳永賢分離而不自主的頭部影像，重覆著刺激和混亂的影像呈現，使我們不禁懷疑這一連串強烈的影響，是否來自藝術家的內心？或者是頭部被控制的情況下而強迫忍受外來的壓力？如此不明確的界線，也許刻意留下曖昧不明之處，藝術家的無能為力，可能是也可能不是自願的。經由其影像內容的機動性、主體（頭部）和多種不斷的絮語和音效組合，使這件作品適合以錄像裝置的方式呈現，融合上述幾組元素的運作及創作語言，正也顯現其視覺強度。

陳永賢的另一件作品〈減法〉，表現的是以頭部呈現為主題，同樣是以錄像形式說明一些意識的或自覺的過程。這件作品更直接，甚至更強調束縛和自主的相對（身體再次缺席），使這一系列作品比之前在過程的處理上更為激進。在這個作品當中的一部分，主體（這次是個女人），在初起時全部頭髮向前披散，最後蓋住整個臉部，然後她的頭部被許多層次的線所綑綁；有些像是厚片的肉被綑綁在屠宰場，這樣的結果是，整個作品看來甚至比仳離於盤中的頭更無人性。此作品最後由剪刀逐漸剪斷了這些線，最後顯露出臉部也釋放了頭部，表達出主體面對攝影機時不由自主的情境。

和〈盤中頭〉系列作品相比較，在視覺的感官刺激上，〈減法〉的焦點更為簡單而直接。當剪刀剪過不同方向的線，順暢而沒有任何音效分隔，金屬相對於纖維物的剪扯之間延續「釋放」的敘述。再從美學層面的轉變來看，頭部是一個特殊的決定主體，在每一個剪刀的動作瞬間，給予整件作品一種銳利而鏗鏘的質感，精準掌握此作品的步調及深度，事實上，當剪刀的聲音在沒有任何背景音效下，確是強而有力的。上述作品，陳永賢給予一種整體印象，他以一個分離的主體，試圖反制人類受限於有形及無形的影響，並以一些代表意識察覺的形式語言相互推演（兩件作品皆以個別主體在觀眾面前直接表現，因此也告知了作品的構想）。總之，陳永賢深入探索身體觀念，藉由錄像媒材達到極佳的視覺呈現，其中主體的賦權問題大半是保留而未解的，在視覺流暢感的調性之外，卻也隱約透露出個人主體和現實壓制性之間的交涉難題。 ■