伍德和哈里遜

約翰.伍德(1969年出生於香港)和保羅.哈里遜(1966年出生於英國伍爾弗漢普頓)二人就讀於巴斯高等教育學院,自1993年起即攜手創作。

伍德與里遜的作品,是簡約的錄像表演,主題涉及悲劇、喜劇和諷刺之事,探索人體在周遭環境裡的實質局限、比例和行動,而這些環境通常都是由他們倆建構而成的。

《三維水桶》(2001)、《桌子和椅子》(2001)和《灑水壺》(2001),是伍德與哈里遜的大型裝置作品《26(繪畫和落下的物件)》的其中一部份,於2002年在倫敦奇森海爾畫廊首次展出。這裝置總共包括26個電視屏幕,每個屏幕不斷循環播放一段不足三分鐘、內容相似的短片。短片都是從一個固定角度拍攝,將現場營造成一個方正、平面而不動的空間。正如作品標題所示,內容探索表演者在製造標記和受地心吸力主宰的情況下,會作出怎樣的反應和行動。錄像的主角,都是藝術家倆本人,有時是單人演出,有時是二人合作演出。在這些短片裡,我們可以看到藝術家不單探索人在最簡單環境裡的微細而荒謬舉動,還有那些虛擬複雜的力學原理,這都是具體存在而饒富趣味的。

伍德與哈里遜的作品曾在國際間廣泛展出。最近的展出包括「話語,更多話語」(伊康畫廊,伯明翰;並巡迴到當代藝術博物館,羅斯舒亞,法國;藝術博物館;特利梭利奧畫室,羅馬和拿波里,2009);「MAM計劃005」(森藝術博物館,東京,日本,2007);「現在藝術︰燈箱藝術展」(泰特英國美術館,倫敦,2004);「作品精選」(現代藝術博物館,皇后區,紐約,2004)。聯展方面包括「影像的動態」(龐比度中心現代藝術館,巴黎,2006);「26(繪畫和落下的物件)」(匹茲堡卡內基美術館,2005);英國藝術展V(2000)。

Wood and Harrison

John Wood (born in 1969 in Hong Kong) and Paul Harrison (born in 1966 in Wolverhampton, England) both studied at the Bath College of Higher Education. They have been working together since 1993.

Wood and Harrison create video works of minimalist performances, touching on themes of tragedy, comedy and irony. They are experiments in the physical limitations, scale and movement of the human body in relation to the surrounding environment, which has usually been constructed by the artists.

3D Bucket (2001), Table and Chairs (2001) and Watering Cans (2001) are part of a larger installation of Wood & Harrison’s entitled Twenty Six (Drawing and Falling Things) first shown at the Chisenhale Gallery, London in 2002. This comprised of twenty six television screen installation of similar short works, all under three minutes, which are looped continuously. The action is always shot from a fixed position, rendering the space in which action can take place square, flat and un-moving and, as the title suggests, explores situations and actions in which mark-making and gravity play a large part. Each shows the artists, sometimes one, sometimes both, as the only protagonists. In these short films, we see an indication of the artists’ desire to explore not only small, absurd gestures in the most pared down possible environment, but also the deceptively complex mechanics of movement which are at once existential and comedic.

Wood and Harrison have exhibited their work extensively internationally. Recent exhibitions include Some Words, Some More Words, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham travelling to Musée Departmental d’Art Contemporain, Rochechouart and Kunstmuseum, ThunStudio Trisorio, Rome and Naples, 2009; MAM Project 005, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 2007; Art Now, Lightbox, Tate Britain, London, Selected Works, MOMA, Queens, New York, 2004. Group shows include Le Mouvement des Images, Musee d’Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2006; Twenty Six (Drawing and Falling Things), Carnegie Museum Pittsburgh, 2005; the British Art Show 5, 2000.