Tendrils of vines, blooming with florets, sprout across the canvas; a gang of wolves pounces from a flowering shrub with fangs bared, seemingly with an intent to maim; standing in the mist, a slim girl appears lost in reverie as a hummingbird draws blood from her outstretched hand—this is the world of artist Hope Doe. With refined brushstrokes and a dreamy color palette, her art is a calming meditation on the relationship between nature and mankind.
Born in the States, Hope Doe moved to Japan 12 years ago. A world wanderer since childhood, the countryside holds a special place in her heart. These are places where she can be most in touch with nature, and the rural prefectures of Japan are also where one of her fondest childhood memories took place—a day she spent playing catching and playing with frogs and tortoises.
藤蔓植物生长在每一寸画布空间里，繁花盛开；而狼群从花丛中探出头来，青面獠牙般面对世界；薄雾中窈窕的少女抬起双眸，而蜂鸟雕琢着她的掌心……这是 Hope Doe 擅长描绘的世界，笔触细腻却色彩涳濛，仿佛有一种令人平静的力量，将自然与人紧紧联系在了一起。
Hope Doe 生于美国，12 年前移居日本。从小在各地漂泊的她，总是更喜欢可以和大自然亲近的郊区，孩童时期徒手抓几只青蛙乌龟来嬉戏端详的经历，深深镌刻在她的记忆里。
Nature and spirituality can be challenging themes to work with at times, but the difficulty has never deterred Doe. Her fascination with animals has kept her imagination honed to a sharp edge, and for those who know her, it doesn’t come as a surprise: growing up, she considered her pets to be some of her best friends. In high school, she even aspired to be a veterinarian.
“My favorite animals are wolves,” she shares. “They have a strong family structure—relying upon yet fighting with one another.” In a way, she spots many parallels between wolf behavior and human nature. Though civilization has dulled our primitive impulses, Doe believes they still exist in different forms within humans today.
To step back and see the broader themes of Hope Doe’s work will reveal that she doesn’t view the natural world and humans as separate entities. Instead, she sees them as different parts of a whole, and by placing them side by side on her canvases, her art takes on a certain dreaminess.
关乎自然与灵性的题材深具挑战，但 Hope Doe 却并没有这样那样的顾虑，她说动物们一直是令她着迷的源泉。童年的大部分时间里，她都有宠物相伴，以至于她高中的时候立志成为一名兽医。“我最喜欢的动物是狼。它们拥有一个强大的家庭结构，彼此信赖、相互依存、同仇敌忾。”这些品性和人类太过相似，只是处于文明社会中的人慢慢失落了这些原始的本性。她并不认为现代人已经和这种“狼性”分割殆尽，只是以不同的方式继续存在着。
其实纵观 Hope Doe 的画面，动植物与人类都不是对立的两方，人性与自然天性是不断交融、不断延展的整体，它们呈现了一个更大的空间——虽然，有时候看很像梦境。
“I want to invoke a sense of wonder in my viewers, and force them to question what they’re seeing,” she says. “At the same time, I want people to understand that mankind and nature are one and the same. Lately, I feel like we as a species are drifting further and further apart from nature and losing empathy towards it. Some people don’t realize how much we need the natural world to survive. This codependence is what I strive to highlight in my work.”
“我希望我的观众有一种好奇心，并质疑他们所看到的（表象）。”Hope Doe 说，“我也希望人们能够意识到，人性和自然是同一回事，不能被割裂。人类越来越远离自然，对它麻木不仁。有些人没有意识到我们是多么需要自然世界才能生存。所以我试图通过画笔来讲述这些故事。”
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Website: www.artofhopedoe.com
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Contributor: Chen Yuan
