Building Connections 忘记一件商品,面对一件作品

November 28, 2018 2018年11月28日
Aqua Aqua (2018) by Tsherin Sherpa
Gouache, acrylic, and ink on cotton
53.3 x 76.2cm

Art is a universal language. It’s able to express emotions and ideas words can’t effectively convey. It distills and synthesizes the human experience into something novel and thrilling. Art, when properly used as a means of communication, serves as a bridge between the cultural and temporal divides that separate us.


艺术是全世界的通用语——可以传达言语所不能及的情感和想法、可以将人们的经历凝炼成新奇的事物,更可以弥合文化与时间的鸿沟。

For Fabio Rossi, the director of Rossi & Rossi gallery, these transcendent powers of art are what’s kept him passionate in his decades-long career as an art dealer. “It’s wonderful to do something you love and enjoy,” he says. “But when you’re able to contribute to its growth and evolution, that’s a blessing.”


对于 Rossi & Rossi 画廊主理人 Fabio Rossi 而言,正是艺术这超凡的力量,使他在数十年的艺术商生涯中始终充满热情。“能够从事自己热爱和享受的事情很棒。但如果你能够为它的发展出一份力,那就变成了一种幸福。”他说。

Fabio & Anna Maria Rossi
Fabio Rossi

Rossi & Rossi was founded in 1985 in London by Fabio’s mother, Anna Maria Rossi, a 40-year veteran in the field of Asian art. Her fascination carried over to her son, who at the age of 11 accompanied her through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India on a trip that planted the seeds for his lifelong love of art and fascination with Asia. 

After graduating from the School of Oriental and African Studies and apprenticing at the auction house Spink & Son, Fabio officially joined forces with his mother at Rossi & Rossi in 1988. The mother-and-son duo quickly began making a name for themselves in the international art scene with groundbreaking exhibitions that showcased rare classical art from Mongolia, China, India, Nepal, and more. These works ranged from Mongolian bronze-gilt sculptures to Tibetan thangkas, from Chinese handwoven robes to Nepalese stone carvings, all accompanied by scholarly catalogs that provided comprehensive information and historical context. Over time, the gallery’s unparalleled collection of rare art, detailed exhibitions, and ever-expanding coverage cemented their reputation as the leading name in the world of traditional Asian art.


早在 1985 年,Fabio 母亲 Anna Maria Rossi 在伦敦创立 Rossi & Rossi 画廊。她研究亚洲艺术已经有四十年,这股热情也感染了她的儿子。在 Fabio 11 岁时,跟着她穿越了阿富汗、巴基斯坦和印度。这趟旅程之后,Fabio 心中对艺术的热爱、对亚洲地区的钟情开始萌芽了。

在他从东方和非洲研究学院(School of Oriental and African Studies)毕业后,Fabio 在斯宾克拍卖行(Spink & Son)当学徒。1988 年,Fabio 与母亲在 Rossi & Rossi 正式联手,推出了一系列突破性展览,展示自蒙古、中国、印度、尼泊尔等地罕见的古典艺术。很快,母子两人就在国际艺术界名声大噪。这些作品包括蒙古青铜雕塑、藏族唐卡、中国的手工编织长袍、尼泊尔的石雕等等,所有作品都附有学术目录,提供了全面的信息和历史背景介绍。随着时间的推移,画廊无与伦比的珍稀艺术品收藏、详细的展览、不断扩大的艺术覆盖面巩固了他们作为亚洲传统艺术世界领军人物的地位。

While Rossi & Rossi earned accolades for their contributions to classical Asian art, Fabio—always ambitious—decided to take the gallery into a new direction with the addition of contemporary Asian art in 2005. This decision was inspired by a trip to Lhasa, where he met a group of local artists and discovered a thriving contemporary art scene that had been around since the 80s. Even though Fabio had been spending time in Tibet for over a decade, this came as a complete surprise.

“In the end, it’s all about discovery and sharing,” he explains of his motivations. “I felt there were a lot of underrepresented Asian artists, so I wanted to help bring them in front of a larger audience. Secondly, by having both classical and contemporary art alongside one another in our gallery, people can see the similarities and differences between the two. They can better see how art has evolved and also see how these similarities and differences come together to make art so exciting.”

Today, Rossi & Rossi represents a growing roster of talented contemporary artists from around Asia, including Tsherin Sherpa, a Tibetan artist creating contemporary thangkas; Lee Mingwei, a Taiwanese mixed-media artist known for his interactive installations; Naiza Khan, a leading-edge Pakistani painter; and many more.


虽然 Rossi & Rossi 因其对亚洲古典艺术的贡献而获得赞誉,但雄心勃勃的 Fabio 决定在 2005 年增加当代亚洲艺术,为画廊开创一个新的发展方向。

而这,是他在去了拉萨后作出的决定。在拉萨,他遇到了当地一群艺术家,也正是在那里,他发现自从上世纪八十年代以后,当地的当代艺术开始了蓬勃发展的劲头。尽管 Fabio 曾在西藏生活过十几年,但这依然是让他十分意外的发现。

“说到底,这一切都是为了发现和分享。”他这样解释自己的初衷,“我觉得有很多亚洲艺术家未获得应有的关注,所以我想让他们的作品呈现给更多的观众。其次,在画廊中同时展出古典与现代艺术,人们可以看到两者之间的异同,可以更好地了解艺术的演变,也能看到这些异同是如何相互结合,呈现出令人期待的艺术作品。”

今天,Rossi & Rossi 展示了越来越多来自亚洲各地才华横溢的当代艺术家,其中包括创作当代唐卡作品的西藏艺术家 Tsherin Sherpa、以互动装置著称的台湾混合媒体艺术家李明伟、巴基斯坦先锋画家 Naiza Khan 等等。

Tsherin Sherpa on display at Rossi & Rossi Hong Kong
Tsherin Sherpa on display at Rossi & Rossi Hong Kong
Madmandu Blues 1 (2018) by Tsherin Sherpa
Gouache, acrylic, and ink on cotton
53 .3 x 76.2 cm
Tsherin Sherpa on display at Rossi & Rossi Hong Kong
Tsherin Sherpa on display at Rossi & Rossi Hong Kong

In 2013, Fabio established a new branch of Rossi & Rossi in Hong Kong, a city both he and his mother now call home. In the years following, the gallery has further expanded its focus with the inclusion of Western artists. Partnering with art dealer Giovanni Martino in 2017, Rossi & Rossi debuted a series of exhibitions around Asia that highlighted the works of modern and contemporary European artist—just as it promoted Asian art for Western audiences in its earlier years, the gallery now looks to bring the works of underrepresented Western artists to audiences in Asia and beyond.

Western artists represented by Rossi & Rossi today include Christopher Doyle, an Australian photographer best known as Wong Kar-wai’s cinematographer; Giorgio Vigna, a gifted Italian sculptor best known for his glasswork and jewelry design; and Italian artist duo Bertozzi & Casoni, whose thought-provoking ceramic assemblages were showcased by the gallery in Shanghai at the 2018 West Bund Art & Design fair.


2013 年,Fabio 在香港成立了 Rossi & Rossi 画廊分馆,现在他和母亲就定居在香港。在随后的几年里,画廊又增加西方艺术家作品,进一步扩大了画廊的艺术领域。2017 年,Rossi & Rossi 与艺术经销商乔瓦尼·马蒂诺(Giovanni Martino)合作,首次在亚洲各地举办了一系列展览,重点展示了现代和当代欧洲艺术家的作品——也正如它在前几年为西方观众推广亚洲艺术一样,画廊现在希望能将被忽略的西方艺术家的作品带给亚洲和其它地区的观众。

Rossi & Rossi 所推广的西方艺术家包括杜可风(Christopher Doyle),这名澳大利亚摄影师最为人熟知的是担任王家卫的电影摄影师;Giorgio Vigna,一位充满天赋的意大利雕塑家,以他的玻璃和珠宝设计而闻名;还有意大利艺术家组合 Bertozzi & Casoni,他们所创作的陶瓷雕塑作品在 2018 年上海西岸艺术与设计博览会上展出。

Cuccia Brillo (2003) by Bertozzi & Casoni
Polychrome ceramic
61 x 163 x 95cm
Yes Wat (2015) by Christopher Doyle
Mixed media collage on paper
41 x 27.5 cm
Shimane SHINTO Land.11 (2013) by Christopher Doyle
Mixed media
29.7 x 21 cm
Flamingo (2012) by Bertozzi & Casoni
Polychrome ceramic
68 x 75 x 75 cm

Despite Rossi & Rossi’s success over the years, Fabio remains mindful of how wired life is affecting the art world: many people no longer feel the need to visit galleries to discover new artists and works. Younger generations may even feel intimidated going to a fine art gallery in person. Fabio admits that running a gallery is more challenging than before, but he believes there’s no replacement for viewing art in person. In fact, in his view, art galleries are more important than ever for facilitating such physical encounters. “There’s nothing like the physicality of a work,” he stresses. “Even if it’s a painting or a photograph. When you’re face to face in front of an artist’s work, your reaction will be different.”


尽管画廊已小有成就,但 Fabio 也留心到数字生活对艺术界的影响:许多人觉得没有必要亲自去画廊去挖掘新的艺术家和作品。年轻一代甚至可能会感到不好意思走进艺术画廊。Fabio 坦言画廊的运营比以前更具挑战性了,但他相信,亲眼去欣赏艺术是一种不可替代的方式,所以艺术画廊更比以往任何时候都要重要。他强调道:“没有什么比作品实物更重要的了,即使是一幅画或一张照片。当你与艺术家的作品面对面时,你会有截然不同的感受。”

Rasheed Araeen at Rossi & Rossi
Siah Armajani at Rossi & Rossi

Rossi & Rossi has undergone many changes since it first opened its doors. But throughout it all, the gallery has held fast to one core tenet: art should be approachable and accessible to all.

“Some people look at art and see it only as a commodity,” Fabio says. “I implore people to not do that. Commodities are something else entirely. Art is a journey of discovery. That kind of journey is priceless. It’s way more valuable than the actual price someone might pay for a piece of artwork. In the end, our gallery comes from a desire to share knowledge, and we approach that mission with the utmost integrity and sincerity.”


Rossi & Rossi 自创立以来,经历了许多变化。但是,画廊的核心理念始终未变:艺术应该是平易近人的,对所有人开放。

Fabio 说:“我恳请有些人千万不要把艺术看作是一种商品。艺术与商品完全是两码事。艺术是一次发现的旅程,一趟无价的旅程。它的价值远远超过人们实际支付某件艺术品的价格。毕竟,我们的画廊成立的初衷是一种分享知识的渴望,我们也一直以最大的诚意来实现这一使命。”

Website: www.rossirossi.com
Facebook: ~/rossiandrossi
Instagram: @rossiandrossi

 

Contributor: David Yen
Additional Images Courtesy of Rossi & Rossi


网站: www.rossirossi.com
脸书: ~/rossiandrossi
Instagram: @rossiandrossi

 

供稿人: David Yen
附加图片由 Rossi & Rossi 提供