On average, Filipina artist Lui Gonzales uses five layers of paper to create one work. She starts by tracing along the paper with a pen, rendering the likenesses of people and everyday objects in meticulous detail. Then, after layering one over the other, she systematically tears the tracing paper from top to bottom. The torn edges of the paper decorate the pieces with striking lines that twist and turn to form dynamic figures and shapes. The resulting work is a feast for the eyes, each layer beckoning the viewer to come and explore its depths.
平均下来，菲律宾艺术家 Lui Gonzales 会用五层纸来做一个作品。开始时，她会先用笔在纸上描画，画面细致入微地展现着人物和日常物品；然后再把一张张的画叠起来，有计划地从上到下把画撕下来。而这些撕下的纸，Lui 则会用醒目的线条来装饰它们，扭曲、旋转的线条，形成动态的图样。她的作品可说是一场视觉盛宴，每一层纸张都在召唤着观看者来探索它的深度。
Gonzales first encountered art as a child. “When I was younger, my father let us read a lot of art books,” she says. What started as a hobby soon developed into a passion. In 2006, she was accepted at the Philippine High School for the Arts and specialized in visual arts. She went on to attend the University of the Philippines-Diliman, graduating with a major in painting in 2015. Since then, she has held multiple exhibitions at galleries and art spaces both in the Philippines and abroad.
Lui 接触艺术是在她儿时，“当我还小的时候，我父亲就让我们读了很多艺术书籍。”她说。这一开始的爱好很快就发展成一种热爱，在 2006 年的时候，她前往菲律宾艺术高中（Philippine High School for the Arts）就读，主攻视觉艺术。2015 年毕业于菲律宾大学蒂利曼校区（University of the Philippines-Diliman）的绘画专业。自那以后，她在菲律宾和国外的画廊和艺术空间举办过多次展览。
Many of Gonzales’ works possess a distinct, personal touch. She describes the process of drawing on paper as “immediate and honest,” and in this regard, her art is a personal diary of sorts. It is a manifestation of the process of recalling and interpreting the objects, events, and scenarios she has witnessed. Memory, and the various ways in which it reveals itself, plays a central role in her art.
In her first solo exhibition titled Colorless Confetti, Gonzales deconstructed the process of remembering, imagining memories as multiple, fragmented layers that appear before the mind in no coherent order. Some remain concealed, while others are in full view. Tearing through the layers of paper is an act of destruction, but even when torn, the pieces of paper still hold value. They are recalled and remembered, and therefore, brought back to life.
Lui 的很多作品都有着她鲜明的个人风格。她把在纸上绘画的过程描述为“直接的、诚实的”，在这方面，她的作品是日记式的，是回忆和诠释她所目睹的对象、事件和情景的过程展现。记忆，以及它揭示自己的各种方式，在 Lui 的作品中有着举足轻重之地。
在她的首个个展“Colorless Confetti”中，Lui 解构了记忆的过程，把记忆想象成多重的、支离破碎的层次，这些层次以不连贯的顺序呈现出来。一些仍隐匿在暗处，而另一些却暴露于众目睽睽之下。撕开一层层的纸的行为是破坏的过程，但即使撕破了，这些纸片仍然具有价值。他们被回想起来，被记住，因此也重新展现了生命力。
Gonzales further expands on this concept in her latest solo exhibition Circa. Organized by Kaida Contemporary and currently on display at the ArtistSpace Gallery of the Ayala Museum in Makati, the new show likewise focuses on the fleeting nature of memory. Gonzales examines the accuracy of our recollections, questioning whether our mental manifestations mirror what is true and real. The exhibit brings together an assemblage of scenes and portraits, taken out of their original sequence, and restructured on paper.
Lui 在最近的个展“Circa”上，进一步扩展了这一概念。这次新展同样关注记忆的转瞬即逝的本质，由 Kaida Contemporary 组织，目前正在马卡蒂阿亚拉博物馆的 ArtistSpace 画廊展出。Lui 检查我们记忆的准确性，质疑我们的精神表现是否反映了真实。这次展览汇集了一组场景和肖像，从原来的记忆顺序中取出，并在纸上重新构造。
Gonzales’s largest work in this series is titled Crowded. At 72 inches wide by 42 inches long, the artwork uses ten layers of paper. Similar to other works in this exhibit, Crowded is a moment frozen in time. It depicts a large group of people as they weave their way amongst one another. “I like it when people are brought together into one setting,” Gonzales says. “I like observing how they all interact with each other, even if these events never happened in the same timeline. In my mind, they all morph into one another.”
Lui 在这个系列中最大的作品叫做《Crowded》（《拥挤》）。作品宽 72 英寸，长 42 英寸，用了足足十层纸。和本次展览中的其他作品一样，《Crowded》是凝固在时间中的一个瞬间。它描绘了一大群人，他们在彼此编织着自己的路。“我喜欢把人们集中在一个环境里。”Lui 说，“我喜欢观察他们是如何互相影响的，即使这些事件从未发生在同一个时间线上。在我的脑海里，它们都变成了彼此。”
Memories are fragments: scraps and pieces that our minds bridge together; the results are convincing but often inaccurate versions of events. The portraits in Circa are similarly disjointed, with faces seemingly in motion and no fixed expression. Instead, they shift and take on different forms, revealing a variety of emotions all at once.
记忆就像碎片：纷纷散落的碎片，经由我们的大脑连接；它们的结果往往令人信服，但又往往并不准确。“Circa”展览中的肖像也同样杂乱无章的，人们的脸似乎总在运动，没有固定的表情。反而又以转换和采取不同的形式，揭示了在同一时间各种各样的情感。
In Latin, the word circa means “around” or “nearby,” and in English, it is used for approximations. This exhibit is exactly that—a study in approximations. Each of the finished works contains a world of its own. The characters silently play their parts, and each silhouette is a recreation of something that once existed, and now, through its passage in the depths of memory, has been altogether transformed into something new. Circa is Gonzales’s examination of memory’s fickle nature and the many ways we perceive and process our experiences. Truth blends with emotions, sensations, and even imagination, ultimately creating a past that is always changing.
在拉丁语中，“Circa”的意思是“在周围”（around），而在英语中，“around”又用来表示近似。这个展览就是一个关于“近似”的研究。每一副完成的作品都包含了一个属于自己的世界。那些人物无声地扮演他们的角色，每一个剪影都是对曾经存在的事物的再创造。而现在，通过它在记忆深处的通道，已经完全转变为某种新的东西。“Circa”是 Lui 对记忆变幻无常的本性、以及我们感知和处理经验的检查。真相与情感、感觉甚至和想象融合在一起，最终创造了一个不断变化的过去。
Event: Circa
Exhibition Dates: April 12, 2019 ~ April 27, 2019
Address:
Artist Space, Ground Level
Ayala Museum Annex
Makati Ave. (Corner of De La Rosa Street)
Metro Manila, Makati City
Philippines
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Instagram: @lui_gonzales
Contributor: Elle Lucena
Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan
活动名称: “Circa”
展览日期: 2019年4月12日——2019年4月27日
地址:
菲利宾
马卡蒂马尼拉
Makati Ave. (Corner of De La Rosa Street)
阿亚拉博物馆副楼
Artist Space 1F
Instagram: @lui_gonzales
供稿人: Elle Lucena
英译中: Chen Yuan
