Forms and Colors by Poti
Sun Hsiaotung

Poti, also known as Zheng Zhihua, a well-know musician, is also a painter. 2018 is a special year for the artist: the 30th anniversary of his release the first album, and the first solo exhibition at Asian Art Works in Beijing, China. A long creative road has been always seemed to be smooth and natural for him who has been passionate about music and art. However, the journey was full of challenges and wonderful things at the same time.

For the artist, the inspiration for all creations comes from the talent; he believes that art provides people with a perspective of review and painting is a way to satisfy another self. In his painting, “feeling” is important, so in the process of preparation for the works, he draws very precise sketches. In the content of the work, he advocates that the art is to address and solve the problem of all human beings. Therefore, art should not have geographical or national restrictions. What is implied in his painting, behind the cute and funny characters, is his mood for the contemporary environment. He uses a black humorous ironic metaphor as a way of speaking: a peaceful surface with an inner anger and dissatisfaction. This is not only clever, witty and artful side of the artist, but also the true attitude of honesty of him.

Poti never positioned himself in certain categories of art. The only word that could identify his concept of creation is the word “contemporary.” He combined the rebellion of his own soul with the spirit of the reflection of contemporary art, and accumulated them. It is nothing more than the image of "human" on the paintings - the effect of simple images on the screen is not entirely clear in the sense of interpretation. The “man” who has disillusioned expressions and distorted body and face appearances in the paintings brings unique visual experience to the audiences. It also echoes the inner conflict and unrest of the artist. From my point of view, the highlight of this exhibition is that the artist combines extreme passion and rationality, and at the same time the joys, sorrows, emotions, and bizarreness in life and transforms them into shapes and colors to show the world.

郑智化的形与色

郑智化，在荧光幕前是一个博古通今的音乐人，私底下的他却是手持画笔、画龄资深的艺术家。2018年是他发行首张唱片满三十周年的日子，也是他在北京AAW举办第一次绘画个展《溺爱》的时刻。这段漫长的创作之路，对于一直以来热衷于音乐和艺术创作的他来说，看似顺遂而理所当然，却也充满挑战与各种精彩。

对郑智化来说，一切创作的灵感来自天份；他认为艺术是提供人们一个重新观看的角度，画画是满足另一个自我的方式。在绘画中，郑智化认定“手感”是重要的，因此在正式作品准备过程中，他会手绘非常精准的草图；而在作品的内容上，他主张艺术要解决的是全人类的问题，因此，艺术不该有地域或国籍的限制。在郑智化这次发表的作品中，看似可爱逗趣的人物造型背后，隐含的是他对于当代环境的情绪，经过内在的转化后，以黑色幽默的讽刺性隐喻作为诉说的方式：平和的表面里，包裹着内在的愤怒与不满，而这是创作者的慧黠，也是他诚实的真实姿态。

郑智化从不把自己定位在某些艺术类别里，唯一能够辨认他创作概念的只有“当代”一词，他将自己灵魂深处的叛逆与当代艺术的反思精神结合，累积多年的作品其共通之处，不外乎是“人”的形象——画面上图像简洁的效果，在诠释的意义上却并不尽然。画面中那些拥有怪异表情和扭曲肢体，面孔样貌的分崩离析的“人”，带给观众的是独树一帜的视觉经验，同时也呼应着创作者内在的冲突与骚动不安。以我看来，这场展览的精彩之处在于，一个创作人结合了极度的激情与理性，同时转化了人生中的喜怒哀乐和光怪陆离，在抽象的音乐领域之外，用造型和色彩，向世人展示另一个狂狷不羁的真我面貌。