Kuo I-Chen: A Contemporary Mind
12/31/13 By Aniella Perold ArtScopes
If you were standing on the L-train platform at Union Square sometime last January, you might have spotted a serious-looking Taiwanese man with a central stripe of long hair gathered in a ponytail, leaning dangerously over the tracks. He had a device in his hand, of the sort commonly used at New York City delis for reaching items on high shelves. He was picking up trash.

But community service this wasn’t; Kuo I-Chen was there in the name of art. “Soul Out,” one of two pieces he has produced in New York since September 2012 during two residency programs (one at the International Studio & Curatorial Program and the other at the Chinese American Arts Council), is a performative video piece in which Kuo gathers up trash from the subway tracks, collects it in a miniature shopping cart, and, once full, disposes the contents into nearby garbage cans. It is among several works now on view in Kuo’s first solo show in New York, “Home-Less Is More,” at the Chinese American Arts Council gallery in SoHo. I came to talk to him about his art, his first experiences of the city, and the steps (and leaps) that have landed him at this point in his career.

Kuo tells me frankly that he hated college, where he majored in Communications Design—closer, he says, to “art business” than to “fine art.” Students learned web design, graphic design, and animation; from Kuo’s perspective, “the function of design is to make life better, but that wasn’t enough for me.” He would often skip class and instead spend long hours at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. “I almost quit school,” he admits, but one long shadow on a sunny afternoon quite changed his mind.

The Fine Arts Museum, as well as the university Kuo attended, is close to Taipei’s airport, so one could often hear the sounds of planes overhead. One day, Kuo noticed the shadow of one of the planes as he was walking to class and watched as it traveled and crossed with his own shadow, seeming to “invade” his body. He was entranced. He started dreaming of making art that projected this shadow on a grand scale, playing with the imposition of the aircraft on the viewer’s own person.

“That changed my life,” Kuo says with a moving intensity. He started an MFA program in Media Art at Taipei National University of Art shortly thereafter and began to work on the airplane piece. “Invade” showed at the 2004 Taipei Biennale in the very same Fine Arts Museum where Kuo sought refuge during his college years; the plane’s shadow was projected onto the massive museum ceiling in time with the actual landings of the incoming planes, which could be seen from the tall windows of the lobby. Then, in 2005, Kuo was invited to show “Invade” at the Venice Biennial, where he was the youngest artist to be included that year. In a beautiful twist of fate, he reflects, “that airplane took me all over the world.”

Since “Invade,” Kuo has continued to work primarily with video, showing his work at numerous major international art fairs, biennials, museums, and galleries. The universality of his themes—especially those that pertain to urban existence, such as alienation, materialism, advertising, detritus, and the strange and imposing urban landscape—makes his work resonate with city-dwellers across cultures and continents. (Indeed, his tendency to title his city-based pieces using geographical coordinates as opposed to names almost obliterates the sense of separate identities, reducing a city to its placement on the Earth in relation to others. Or, as he explains his reasoning somewhat more darkly, “I don’t know if years from now anyone will know where New York was!”)

The strongest of Kuo’s work seems to me to operate on two levels: the thematic and the experiential. It must be said that some of his pieces are simply pleasing to watch: “Introduction,” a video shown on a digital frame such as one might use at home to display vacation photos, shows a stack of blank pages perched on the seaside, steadily being whipped away with the wind. Another piece in the current show, “Shadow of Light,” observes the effect of a powerful magnifying glass on the first page of a bible, resulting in the mesmerizingly slow curling, burning, and floating off of pages. There is something to be said for art that is both intellectually probing and enjoyable to look at, although the balance is delicate. Kuo’s work often achieves this, and surely that explains some of the success of “Invade,” which is as thrilling to watch as it is reflective on the condition of being a small, vulnerable human in an overwhelming, industrialized world.

When Kuo works in the photographic medium, it is always with a technical bent; he is very interested in how the image, or in some cases the technology, can be manipulated. For example, he has taken to using the Smartphone app “Spy Cam,” which supplies real-time feeds from countless live cameras around the world. Over three years, Kuo has taken over 20,000 screen shots from these feeds and has captured some surprising and striking scenes, from a crazed-looking blackbird that flew right up to the camera to a lone man on a pier, staring out to sea. The conceit here is that even the most intimate of these photos was taken from an enormous remove, challenging the assumption that photos are records of a face-to-face interaction between artist and subject. Kuo draws a parallel between the images he derives using Spy Cam and those sent back from the moon or Mars during NASA expeditions. In both cases, he muses, “we’ve never been to a place, but we have images of it.” Still, he explains, that doesn’t make the photography any less real to us. And perhaps technology doesn’t preclude the possibility of human relation: as Kuo points out the image of the man on the pier, he says quietly, “I was almost asleep in my bed when I saw this come up, and I felt like that man. I saw the ocean and I felt peaceful.”

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http://worldjournal.com/bookmark/24180738
台灣藝術家郭奕臣6日起在曼哈坦華埠456藝廊舉辦「Home-Less Is More」個展，展出「Soul Out」、「Home-Less is More」、「光之影(Shadow of Light)」等作品。「光之影」使用凸透鏡聚焦太陽光源在聖經上，讓「Light」字逐漸燃燒至整本聖經燒燼，再以倒敘的方式讓聖經從灰飛煙滅中重生。個展至明年1月3日，藝廊位於百老匯大道456號3樓。(圖與文：記者許雅鈞)

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http://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/201312070047-1.aspx#
（中央社記者江今葉紐約6日專電）第1次到紐約，看到紐約的繁華，也看見紐約的髒亂與滿街的流浪漢，明顯的反差，讓藝術家郭奕臣感受鮮明，也反映在他的最新創作「紐約觀感」中。

在紐約駐村3個月後，郭奕臣今天將所有對紐約的感受化成創作，並在今天起在紐約蘇活區的藝廊展出。

從事新媒體創作超過10年的郭奕臣，是第1次到紐約這個國際大都會，高聳的摩天樓與全球各大品牌旗艦店，曾讓郭奕臣一度墜入瘋狂的消費、購物，但藝術家的天性還是讓他不自覺的關注到紐約的另一面，那個髒亂的地鐵與到處看得到的年輕流浪漢。

如此大的反差，讓郭奕臣開始思考這個在物質與精神層面上都滿滿溢出的城市，真實的面貌到底是什麼；當每個西裝筆挺、打扮入時的紐約客搭著地鐵時，地鐵軌道裡到處出沒的老鼠與四散的垃圾，反映了什麼；時報廣場炫麗霓虹燈下，隨地而坐、乞討的年輕流浪漢，又在想些什麼。

名為「Soul Out」的視覺創作，是郭奕臣帶著裝有小型攝影機的機械手臂，在紐約聯合廣場（Union Square）車站，趴在月台邊緣撿拾垃圾的紀錄，這些被撿回來的垃圾，先是放在小小的推車上，當滿溢出來後，又再被丟到大型垃圾桶內，反映紐約這個城市給郭奕臣的滿溢衝擊，也反映紐約的真實一面。

「Homeless is More」則是由撿拾來的電視機、拐杖與鏡子裝置成的帝國大廈，和向流浪漢買來的紙板，勾勒出紐約天際線，也展露紐約極度華麗的天空下，存在著的貧困潦倒。

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World Journal 世界日報 2013/12/06 [C4]
http://www.worldjournal.com/pages/full_story_to/search_content
郭奕臣藝展 今開幕
記者羅慧琪／紐約報導
對一個第一次到紐約的遊客來說，這個大城市給他的印象會是什麼?
旅美台灣藝術家郭奕臣看到的是一個個骯髒的地鐵站，以及滿街的流浪漢，郭奕臣將這些印象變成藝術，並從今天起在曼哈坦蘇荷區的456畫廊展出他的「紐約觀感」藝術創作。

名為「Home-Less is More」的郭奕臣個展包括兩件新作，是他今年在紐約的創作，其中「Soul Out」是在地鐵站以一個小型裝有攝像頭的機械臂拍攝的20分鐘片段，郭奕臣趴在月台邊緣以機械臂將在鐵軌的垃圾逐一撈起，放在一個像玩具的購物車內，他將這些垃圾當成再次消費的物件，並藉由消費行為的重建，反映人類在資本主義體系被無意識地操作，以及無法逃避的現實無力感。

另一件新作「Home-Less is More」以滿街的流浪漢與華麗高聳的摩天樓，建構出紐約的另類景觀。郭奕臣以金錢換來多塊流浪漢書寫的紙板，最貴的一塊要25元，他將這些紙板重新拼湊為裝飾藝術，以帝國大廈為中心，勾勒出郭奕臣眼中的紐約天際線，並試圖揭露在極度奢華的外表下，是不堪殘破的陰影，而這陰影是真實世界的美國夢。

郭奕臣個人展覽將展至明年1月3日，在位於百老匯大道456號3樓展出，開幕酒會於6日下午5時舉行。這次個展亦獲駐紐約台北經濟文化辦事處台北文化中心支持，查詢可電(212)431-9740，或瀏覽﹕http://caacarts.org。

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作品《homeless is more》的创作过程别出心裁。郭奕臣在纽约街头向流浪者购买他们书写的纸板，拾回废弃的镜子，重新拼凑成帝国大厦的景观，建构纽约的天际线，试图揭露在华丽都市背面的生活。作品《sold out》则是影像作品，记录下郭奕臣用一个小推车和铁夹，沿着纽约地铁轨道拾掇垃圾的过程。郭奕臣说，这个展览，记录了他作为艺术家，来到纽约生活的观察。
三十四岁的郭奕臣从二十五岁开始，就频繁参加各国家和地区的先锋艺术展览。十年多的创作，他越来越关注环境与内心归属感，希望越过城市的表象，探索生命的本质，除了两件在纽约创作的作品，此次也展出了《失讯》、《光影》等其他作品。展览从今天起展至1月3号。（美国中文网 崔菡、实习记者崔景童）

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【侨报记者苏夏竹12月5日纽约报道】高耸的帝国大厦、肮脏的地铁通道……这些对纽约客来说似乎已经司空见惯的场景，却被艺术家郭奕臣赋予了新的理念和生命。如果想感同身受，不妨从即日起至明年1月3日，前往位于曼哈顿百老汇456号的美华艺术协会画廊，一探究竟。
　　在5日举办的新闻发布会上，美华艺术协会会长周龙章激动地说，在接到展览申请时，一看到郭奕臣的作品就大为折服，惊为天人，觉得他这么年轻就能有这样的艺术感觉非常不简单。
他表示，郭奕臣也曾代表台湾参加2005威尼斯双年展台湾馆，是历年参展最年轻的艺术家，希望更多民众能来参观。
在展览现场最吸引人的莫过于动态的视频作品《sold out》。在晃动的镜头前，是一把手持钳子。郭奕臣解释说，这是他在联合广场的地铁站，用这把钳子和手推小车，拣出地铁轨道下面垃圾的无剪辑视频。他说，垃圾也是流动的商品，就像人们坐在地铁车厢被运送到不同的站点，他也成为了垃圾转换地点的一部分。
他藉由对消费行为的重建，反映人类在这种资本主义体系中被无意识操作与无法逃避的现实无力感。
　　而在展厅中占据主要位置的《Home－less is More》则是他在大街小巷收集来的流浪汉写的纸板，在将这些纸板进行重新组合后，拼凑成帝国大厦等组成的天际线，展现出纽约极度华丽和残败同存的美国梦。

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