When your eyes have come to expect dazzlingly bright works of art, it’s a surprise when you find yourself staring so long at the color black.
These layers of black are not silent, but neither are they deafening.
Rather, it’s like a dialogue without words.
在看过无数眩目的艺术作品之后，你毫无防备，竟对着一页的黑色看了这么久。
这样层叠的黑，并非静默，也绝无喧嚣。
那更像是一种无声的对话。
Born in Russia, raised in Ukraine, and currently based in Beijing, Alëna Olasyuk is the artist behind these achromatic works, all of which were created using traditional Chinese ink.
Using carved wood in lieu of standard canvases, Olasyuk’s Wood Blocks series is a work of patience and diligence. Anyone can touch the works, anyone can feel their imprint on their own body. Bodily impressions and visual perception overlap: the painting is no longer a painting, the wood is no longer wood. They encourage the viewer to interact with the work. It’s a dialogue between humans and art.
Alëna Olasyuk 在俄罗斯出生，在乌克兰长大，如今长居北京。我们所看到的黑，正是她用所钟情的中国墨水一笔笔画的。
这个系列叫做《Wood Blocks》（《木格》），Alëna 在已镂刻的木雕上耐心地描绘和涂色，最终形成了我们现在所见到的作品。每个人都可以触摸它，每个人也都能在自己身体上留下作品的印记。身体的感知和视觉的观感交叠，画不再是画，木也不再是木。它鼓励着观者与作品进行交互，这是人与作品的对话。
In traditional Chinese art, black and white symbolize the relationship between all things. They’re two extremes that achieve harmony in contrast and movement.
A closer look shows that Olasyuk’s works are more than simply blanketed in pure black ink. Viewed from the front, the entire frame appears to be engulfed in a murky obsidian, with only faint lines visible, but when the same work is observed from a different angle, threads of silver, glimmering colors, and a new world of texture emerge. Darkness reveals itself as light. These perspectives open up an entirely new reality, and as viewers contemplate them, the meaning of dualism becomes clear.
It’s a dialogue between the self and its inner essence.
在中国艺术中，黑白两色反映的是事物之间的关系，它们是两个极端，在对比和运动中两相制约，以达到和谐。
但其实细看，Alëna 作品中的黑也并不是全黑。直面画布的时候，你会看到条条延展开去的黑色细线；然而，换个角度，你会将看到一个充满着银丝、明亮的颜色和纹理的新世界。玄黑，转而显现为光明。这样的视角开启了全新的现实，使人们在理解这些作品的同时，体悟到了“二元论”。
这是自身与内在的对话。
But how to achieve balance in this dualistic world?
Olasyuk’s series Duality presents the idea of a natural balance. In fact, duality itself is part of balance. It’s part of the purpose and very notion of life. But if one doesn’t accept this dual nature, the natural balance can’t exist. Complexity and concision, chaos and balance, movement and stasis, transience and infinity – these are the subjects Olasyuk is eternally exploring in her works.
It’s the perpetual dialogue between humanity and the universe.
那么，如何在这个世界的二元性下保持平衡呢？
Alëna Olasyuk 的作品系列《二元性》代表了自然平衡的思想。其实，二元性本身就是平衡的一部分，是生活的目标和理念的一部分。但是如果不接受事物的两重性，这种平衡就不可能存在。复杂与简约、混沌与平衡、运动与静止、短暂与无限——这些是 Alëna 在她的作品中永恒探索的主题。
这也是人与天地世界的亘古对话。
