Monthly Archives: August 2020

Can’t Fake the Punk 从某种意义上来说，朋克就是未来

August 7, 2020 2020年8月7日

For visual artists, the creative process can oftentimes give form to unarticulated feelings and ideas. Or at least that’s what Bram Christian believes. With only vague ideas in mind, the Indonesian artist puts pencil to paper, allowing his stream of consciousness and instincts do the rest. The results speak for themselves: his black-and-white compositions are visually staggering. Scratchy, abrasive streaks of graphite are mixed with rigidly straight lines, forming scenes that are as intricate as they are raw.

对于视觉艺术家而言，将无法言语的感受与想法可视化是司空见惯的创作方式，至少对于印尼艺术家 Bram Christian 来说是这么一回事。一旦有了模糊的想法，他便会拿起纸笔，全然听从意识和直觉的牵引。作品最终呈现的视觉效果为震撼的黑白色：潦草、狂乱的石墨划痕之间穿插着直挺挺的线条，咋一看错综复杂，却带给人一种 “野生” 的感受。

His art’s resemblance to the badly Xeroxed zines and posters of the underground rock scene is no coincidence. Based in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, Bram—whose real name is Christian Dwi Bramantyo—is active in the local rock scene and plays in a band of his own. He says that the visual aspects of rock music are deeply embedded in his psyche and serve as key inspirations for his artwork. Although he hasn’t officially collaborated with many other bands beyond his own, the rough DIY aesthetics of local poster art and zines hold a special place in his heart. “It’s influential, but not intentional,” he says. “It’s always been seared in my memories. I’ve been in love with music since I was very young.”

他的作品看上去就像是粗糙质感的施乐（Xeroxed Art）印刷品和地下摇滚乐海报，这是他有意而为。Bram（原名 Christian Dwi Bramantyo）来自印度尼西亚第二大城市泗水，他在当地有自己的乐队，也常常活跃在地下摇滚圈子。他认为摇滚音乐能在大脑产生丰富的视觉效果，带来源源不断的创作灵感。尽管还没有和其他乐队有过太多视觉上的合作，但泗水的 DIY 海报和杂志艺术在他心目中一直具有特别的含义。他说：“我会有意无意地受到影响，这些作品在记忆里留下深深的烙印。”

（注：施乐艺术起步于上世纪六十年代后期，安迪·沃霍尔等一批艺术家用老旧的复印机进行创作，作品通常以粗糙的黑白打印质感为主要特点，同时具有扭曲、抽离的效果。）

Each of Bram’s pieces takes one to three weeks to complete, depending on his mood and workload. He begins with a hand-drawn sketch, which is then thrown into Photoshop, where he cleans up his lines and builds out kaleidoscopic patterns. Despite the digital touch-ups, he’s insistent on keeping the monochromatic color scheme and scratchy textures of his pencil art. “It’s got a very urban mood,” he explains.

Bram 的每件作品通常需要一到三个星期才能完成，主要取决于他自己的心情和工作量。他通常会先手绘草图并导入到 Photoshop 中，然后慢慢梳理其中的线条，构建出万花筒般的图案。虽然是数字创作，但他仍坚持将黑白色彩设计以及铅笔绘图的质感保留下来。他解释说：“这样会让作品带有一种都市的情调。”

A lot of Bram’s art revolves around musicians he appreciates, and he’s a fan of a variety of genres. Korean rapper Jvcky Wai and Japanese emcee KOHH are two recent sources of inspiration. Although he likes old-school Indonesian rap, when it comes to contemporary rap, he prefers to look towards other Asian cities. “I’ve also done a lot of work referencing the local scene here in Surabaya, and they’ve shown me so much love back.”

虽说 Bram 的创作灵感很多来自音乐，但除了摇滚，还有很多音乐风格都是他的心头之好。他说：“我以泗水不同类型的音乐人为灵感创作了很多作品，都得到了不错的反响。” 他喜欢印尼当地的 old-school hip-hop，同时还把更多目光放在其他亚洲嘻哈音乐人身上。在他最近创作的作品中，其灵感便是来自韩国说唱歌手 Jvcky Wai 和日本的 KOHH。

Although the characters in his work often look like punk rockers, it’s more of a sign of the times than rooted in a preference for the genre. From high fashion circles to rapper cliques, the punk look and attitude are being embraced globally. “I listen to a bit of punk but appreciate the look more,” he says. “It’s futuristic in a way, in that there’s no future in sight for people who believe in punk ideologies—I believe anarchy is a natural phase in the cycle of urban rebirth.”

Bram 的作品中，很多角色充满了朋克元素，但对他而言，这些角色更像是时代的标志，而不是出于对这种音乐流派的偏爱。从高级时装界到说唱圈子，朋克态度在全球越来越流行。他说：“我也听一点朋克乐，但更喜欢其美学风格。从某种意义上说，这是一种未来主义，因为对于相信朋克主义的人来说，未来是崩坏的。我相信无政府状态是都市重生的必经阶段。”

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @bram.christian

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @bram.christian

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Olivia Li

You Might Also Like你可能会喜欢

Your Name Engraved Herein 那个男孩，是刻在你心底的名字

August 5, 2020 2020年8月5日

 

无法观看？前往腾讯视频

It’s 1988, one year after the lifting of martial law in Taiwan. A-han (played by Chen Hao-sen) and Birdy (Tseng Ching-hua) have come to Taipei ostensibly to mourn the passing of the reform-minded president Chiang Ching-guo, but really to escape their strict, military-style Catholic school in Taichung. While exploring the capital, they spot a young male activist donning a wedding dress and shouting slogans in favor of same-sex marriage. He is then quickly carted off by plainclothes police, who, apparently familiar with his antics, address him as Chi Chia-wei. The takeaway for the young onlookers is clear: Taiwan may be changing, but there are limits to the new freedom.

The scene registers the seismic changes the island has gone through since. Today, the real-life Chi is widely regarded as the father of Taiwan’s gay rights movement, which saw a major breakthrough with the government’s historic legalization of same-sex marriage last year. While the scene itself is fictional, Chi, who was consulted for the film, was indeed demanding equal marriage as early as 1986, with his advocacy for sexual minorities and those living with HIV resulting in multiple arrests. These limits on self-expression are, unfortunately, lessons that A-han and Birdy too must learn repeatedly in Liu Kuang-hui’s film Your Name Engraved Herein (2020), which had its domestic premiere at the Taipei International Film Festival last month.

1988 年，台湾解除戒严一年后，阿汉（陈昊森饰）和 Birdy（曾敬骅饰）前往台北，表面上是为了追悼逝世的总统蒋经国，实际上只是想摆脱原来在台中天主教学校军事风格的生活。在台北，他们看到一名年轻的男子穿上婚纱，高喊着支持同性婚姻的口号。但是，很快他就被便衣民警押走了。民警显然已经很熟悉他，直接称呼他的名字“祁家威”。看到这一幕，这两名年轻人明白：虽然台湾正在变革中，但人们对新的自由思想尚未真正接受。

这一幕见证了台湾岛上所经历的翻天覆地的变化。如今，现实生活中的祁家威被称为台湾同志权利运动之父。去年政府将同性婚姻合法化也成为了台湾同志平权运动的重要突破。祁家威是这部影片的顾问，虽然这个场景本身是虚构的，但他确实早在1986年就开始呼吁同志婚姻平等权利，也多次因为为性少数群体和艾滋病毒感染者发声而被捕。影片中，两位少年一次次地遭遇周围社会对这种自我表达的压抑。这部电影《刻在你心底的名字》（2020年）由柳广辉执导，上个月在台北国际电影节进行了首映。

On the outside, A-han is the more serious and sensible of the two friends. But he’s drawn to the wild personality of Birdy, who’s named after the eponymous protagonist of the 1984 American film. (Thematically, too, Your Name feels indebted to that picture of trauma, friendship, and longing for freedom.) Birdy’s eccentricity consistently lands him in trouble in his conservative school, earning him a caning on one occasion. When A-han delivers ointment for his wounds in the bathroom, the two are forced to hide in the stall as a homophobic attack is carried out against an effeminate student accused of ratting out band members for sneaking out after curfew.

阿汉是两个少年中个性更严肃和理智的一位，而 Birdy 张扬的个性深深吸引了他。Birdy 这个名字取自于 美国同名电影《鸟人》（1984）（与《刻在你心底的名字》和《鸟人》一样，表达了创伤、友谊、向往自由的主题。）。Birdy 的个性让他在保守的学校里总是陷入麻烦，其中一次还因此受到了鞭刑。当阿汉在浴室给他的伤口涂药膏时，正巧碰上一位娘气的学生被恐同人士攻击，两人只好躲进了隔间。这些施暴者因为怀疑男生告密乐队成员在宵禁后偷偷溜出去，而对他拳脚相加。

The recurrence of such violent, homophobic attacks forms the backdrop against which A-han and Birdy’s friendship plays out. A-han, for his part, silently wrestles with his disinterest in girls and fascination with Birdy. Birdy, meanwhile, is slowly being driven to the edge (at one point, quite literally) by a school that, despite the seismic social shifts occurring in the outside world, feels frozen in time. Through confiding in a Quebecois priest, Father Oliver (Fabio Grangeon), A-han finally acknowledges his feelings for Birdy just as Birdy finds a quirky girlfriend and begins to distance himself from his friend.

这些恐同暴力攻击事件成为了笼罩在阿汉和 Birdy 二人友谊之上的阴影。阿汉暗自挣扎于对女孩的冷淡和对 Birdy 的迷恋之中。虽然整个社会正处于变革的巨浪中，这间学校却始终一成不变，保守落后，一步步将 Birdy 推向崩溃的边缘。而阿汉在向来自魁北克的神父 Oliver（Fabio Grangeon 饰）倾诉过后，终于承认自己对 Birdy 的感情，但与此同时，Birdy 却结识了一个个性独特的女友，并因此开始疏远他。

Your Name shines most in its depiction of the brutal, parochial world of the boarding school itself and the plight of the students who must navigate it. In one of the most moving scenes, A-han approaches a student long bullied for his effeminacy. The pair stand in front of a stained-glass window as A-han, projecting, asks the student why not seek help instead of accepting his desires and mistreatment at the hands of his classmates. With an air of gentle, tired resignation, he replies that he’s always liked boys—“Nothing has changed, and it never will”—, then leans close to A-han to kiss him. A-han grabs his neck to stop him; unfazed and unapologetic, the boy politely thanks him for his words.

《刻在你心底的名字》聚焦于寄宿学校残酷、狭隘的世界，以及挣扎于其中的学生所面临的困境。在影片中最感人的场面之一，阿汉找到因为外表娘气而被长期霸凌的学生。两人站在彩色玻璃窗前，阿汉问被霸凌的学生为什么不寻求帮助，而逆来顺受、忍受同学的霸凌。男孩微弱、疲倦地叹息了一声，说自己一直都喜欢男孩——“从来没有改变，以后也不会”——话音刚落，旋即倾身靠近阿汉想亲吻他。阿汉抓住他的脖子阻止了他；但男孩泰然自若，还礼貌地感谢了阿汉。

The film struggles in its final stretch, however, where the now middle-aged pair of friends meet once again in Quebec after Father Oliver’s passing. Plot holes, strained dialogue, and a CGI bird that will forever be burned into this reviewer’s brain distract from the director’s larger vision and points. The change of setting, meant to highlight the enormity of the social changes in the preceding years and bring to light revelations about the priest’s own struggle with his sexuality, feels both unnecessary and abrupt. A scene at Niagara Falls is perhaps intended to evoke the classic Happy Together (1997), but the cinematographer is no Christopher Dolan.

影片结尾部分处理得略有不足。已经人至中年的两位好友在 Oliver 神父去世后，在魁北克再次相遇，但一些情节漏洞、不自然的对白和过分抢眼的 CGI 绘画飞鸟，分散了导演想表达的理念和观点。环境转变本来是为了强调这些年来社会的变化，并揭露神父关于自己性取向的挣扎，却显得多余和突兀。而尼亚加拉大瀑布的一幕也许是想致敬经典同志影片《春光乍泄》（1997），但摄影师却毕竟不是杜可风。

All the same, Your Name is worth it for those moments of trepid intimacy that capture the confusion and beauty of youth, while its attempt to make sense of these experiences from the perspectives of two contemporary middle-aged gay men is admirable. As Liu tells it, this is his own story, right down to his real-life priest’s belated coming out. It ends not simply as a celebration of youth, then, but also as a meditation on lost time. Given the advances of Taiwanese and global LGBTQ communities in recent years, perhaps there’s now a chance for many of these individuals to make up for some of that lost time. No less importantly, though, young queer people in today’s Taiwan will grow up with stories like Your Name, and with hard-won freedoms that their predecessors could have only dreamed of.

尽管如此，《刻在你心底的名字》刻画的暧昧亲密的情景，依然生动地呈现了青春的困惑和年轻的美。试图从两个当代中年男同性恋者的角度来讲述这些经历也令人印象深刻。正如柳广辉所说，这是他自己的故事，包括在现实生活中向神父出柜的故事。这部影片不仅是对青春的颂歌，也是对逝去时光的冥想。近年来，随着台湾和全球各地 LGBTQ 社区的进步，也许对许多人来说，现在是弥补过去那些遗憾的机会。同样，今天的台湾年轻同性恋者将能够看着《刻在你心底的名字》这样的故事成长，拥有他们先辈所梦寐以求、来之不易的自由。

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Facebook: ~/YourNameEngravedHerein

 

Contributor: Brandon Kemp
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li
Images Courtesy of Oxygen Film

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们的微博与微信。

 

脸书: ~/YourNameEngravedHerein

 

供稿人: Brandon Kemp
英译中: Olivia Li
图片由 氧气电影 提供

You Might Also Like你可能会喜欢

B-Boy Monsters 千锤百炼于一身，花拳绣腿 B-boy

August 3, 2020 2020年8月3日

In an impressive display of athleticism, the dancer in frame hoists himself up with a one-armed handstand, but something doesn’t feel quite right—perhaps it’s the extra set of legs stretched out under him or the extra arm jutting out of his ribcage, all of which make him appear more arachnid than human. This bizarre image is one of many from B-Boy Monsters, a series of unconventional breakdancer portraits by New York-based photographer Johnny Tang.

照片里的舞者单臂倒立撑起整个身体，展现出惊人的力量与运动精神。但整幅画面好像哪里不对 —— 定睛一看，原来他们都多出了三头六臂，呈现出一副可以飞檐走壁、神乎其技的模样。这些风格怪异的照片来自纽约摄影师 Johnny Tang 拍摄的《B-Boy Monsters》系列，为我们呈现了多组街头舞者的肖像。

Breakdancing—better known as breaking or b-boying by scene insiders—has been Tang’s passion for nearly twenty years. The fierce competitive spirit, sense of community, and how it marries creative expression with athletic prowess are all part of its enduring allure.

“Breakdance has been able to grow into a massively diverse, worldwide community because of the competitive social aspect of it,” Tang explains. “People only care about your skills. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, or what you look like. The only thing that matters is what you’re contributing.” An eagerness to contribute to breakdancing culture in his own way is what ultimately gave Tang the idea for this project.

霹雳舞（Breakdancing），或被称为 Breaking 或 B-boying，最早从 B-boy 社区的街头暗号逐渐影响至整个舞蹈界， 也被认为是嘻哈文化的重要组成部分之一。Johnny 喜欢霹雳舞已接近 20 多年的时间，在他看来，霹雳舞不仅是一种舞蹈形式，还是竞争和社区精神的体现，更是高超的运动神经与创意相结合…….这些都是霹雳舞的魅力所在。

Johnny 说：“霹雳舞场景如今之所以在全球呈现出非常多元的样子，正是因为社区之间强烈的竞争感。不管你来自哪里，或看起来是好是坏，人们只关心你水平如何。唯一重要的，是你在这个圈子的付出。” Johnny 渴望自己能为霹雳舞圈子出一份力，也是他最终选择完成这一组系列摄影的原因。

Even though style, aesthetics, and innovation have always been central to b-boy culture, the creativity required of dancers is often underestimated. Tang’s series looks to change these misconceptions and demonstrate the expressive range of the human form. The participating dancers, shot across Boston and New York, were given free rein to show off their arsenal of original moves in front of his camera.

The project is, in a way, also a visualization of each dancer’s creative process. “More often than not, for a dancer to come up with a signature move, they try a lot of variants,” he explains. “The image I create at the end often just shows all of these variations at once.”

风格、美感和创新是 B-boy 文化的核心，Johnny 则希望通过肢体的各种形态，传达常被人们忽视的创意一面。这组照片的拍摄过程跨越纽约与波士顿，参与拍摄的舞者在镜头前大显身手，炫耀各自的招牌动作。

他的作品像是将每一帧定格画面组合在一起，捕捉舞者完成整套动作的过程。他解释说：“通常，舞者在完成招牌动作之前，都会放出各种姿势作为铺垫。我的作品就将这些不同的动作统统呈现在一副画面里。”

When Tang first began the project, he found inspiration in an unlikely place. “My family isn’t particularly religious, but being Asian, Buddhism has always been a part of my cultural identity,” he says. “I remembered a story about the Thousand-armed Guanyin, which my mother told me when I was a child. Its many arms signified the different powers it possessed. With this story in mind, I began imagining what type of dance moves would be possible with multiple limbs. These daydreams ended up becoming a central motif of the project.”

The influence of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin is hard to miss. In the series, Tang revisits the multi-exposure technique that he first experimented with in World of One to attach multiple sets of legs and arms to each dancer. The resulting composites are surreal, evoking imagery of the omnipotent deity while distilling the energy, personality, and finesse required of the sport into single snapshots.

开始创作这个项目时，Johnny 的灵感算是不期而来的。他说：“我并非来自一个典型的宗教家庭，但对于亚洲人来说，佛教一直是我们文化中的一部分。记得小时候母亲讲述一个关于千手观音的故事，她告诉我‘千手’其实代表了不同力量的展现。这让我开始联想，假如一个人有很多手，究竟可以做出怎样的舞蹈动作。这个想法在后来成为了项目的主题。”

千手观音的故事对整个系列的影响不可小觑。为了达到三头六臂的效果，Johnny 尝试了多重曝光的技巧，把繁复的拳脚功夫的通过重曝呈现在舞者身上，充满了超现实之感。而之前，他的《World of One》系列作品也用过​同样的手法。​这样的创作方式，不但会令你联想到千手观音的古老意象，又将霹雳舞所蕴含的活力、个性和技巧浓缩在一张照片上。

Tang believes that his early exposure to breakdancing has molded him into the person he is today, and the project is his way of showing appreciation to the sport that’s helped him develop the strong work ethic that he now applies to every endeavor in life. “When I nailed my first power move, the sense of accomplishment was indescribable,” he recalls. “It was the first time in my life I had worked really hard for something and see It pay off. It’s a feeling I’ve been chasing ever since.”

Johnny 认为，霹雳舞塑造了他强烈的个性，并希望将自己对舞蹈的热爱融入这个项目中。同时，霹雳舞又培养了强烈的职业道德精神，影响着生活的方方面面。他回忆说：“当我用快门按下第一个大地板动作（power move）时，那种成就感无法用语言来形容。这是我人生中第一次真正为某件事努力，并且看到了成果。那种感觉是我在日后一直所追逐的。”

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Website: www.johnnytangphoto.com
Instagram: @johnnytangphoto

 

Contributor: David Yen
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

网站: www.johnnytangphoto.com
Instagram: @johnnytangphoto

 

供稿人: David Yen
英译中: Olivia Li

You Might Also Like你可能会喜欢