空间关羽

“只见桃园三结义，哪个相交到白头”，三国刘、关、张的佳话美谈自古流传至今，而其中关羽的忠义神明更是“佛像化”在民间的生活当中。
关羽去世之后，随着不断的演义慢慢被神化起来，历朝历代多有褒封，人们尊称其为“关公”。到了清代甚至奉为“忠义神武灵佑仁勇威显关圣大帝”，崇为“武圣”与“文圣” 孔子齐名。至此，作为武将的关羽在中国历史上的文化地位与影响力走到了巅峰。
在传统文化保留比较发达的地区，很容易看到被供奉的“武圣”。因为关公集“忠、孝、仁、义”于一身，所以据传是被佛、道、儒三家所崇拜的神。供奉中既有“武圣人”之名也有“武财神”之意，招财又可镇宅保平安。由于关羽又是“诚信”的代名词，所以广被民间商人、警局、公司奉供为神灵以“关公”为楷模，合作共赢。
在中国的历史上，其实不乏很多人神之间的故事传说。从懦弱到坚强，从困苦到众生，历经磨难最终得道成仙。而关羽是在死后，被一代一代人推举成为神明的。在绝大多数人的视野里面，对于关羽这个人物的认知是相似的，他身上没有刘备、曹操原形中的争议，除了《三国演义》中的“自负”秉性似乎再没有其它明显的缺陷。这个在众多的历史人物当中也算是少有了。总之，对于关羽我们是有着很强烈的符号化理解的。
艺术家申昊润的作品中，大量的运用纸张的同时巧妙的表现了材料的特殊性。一张白纸带给我们的印象通常是单薄的、是易损的、是弱不经风的…而在艺术家申昊润的作品中你会感受到另一种体验。更有趣的是他也用同样的方式将金属材料运用到作品当中。纸和金属，这两种在质地上是完全极端的以及对同一人物的统一形式的塑造，不免让人有了更多层面的思考。
在申昊润的艺术创作形式当中，更独特的是作品的中空结构关系，在似雕塑非雕塑的虚拟之间，当你从不同的角度观赏时，会让人对本来熟悉的符号突然产生记忆上的冲突，虽然终归塑造还是你认识的那个符号，但结果是给你带来另一种判断的可能。
AAW画廊非常荣幸的邀请到申昊润先生，本次展览将带来以关羽为符号的艺术作品，在他独树一帜的艺术创作方式下，当空间走入人物本身之后，我们将再次遇见怎样一个熟悉又陌生的关羽，令人期待。

梁龙

“While people faithfully took the oath of fraternity with their true friends in the beginning, who would really stick with his true friends till the end?” All the classic stories and anecdotes of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms Period have been passed down through generations since ancient times, and the loyalty, righteousness and deity-like character of Guan Yu has been widely depicted, deified and worshiped in the folk culture and art.

After the death of Guan Yu, he was gradually deified through generations, and was widely praised and honored with numerous posthumous titles throughout the rest of the Imperial Period of China. Guan Yu was frequently revered as “Duke Guan (Guan Gong)” by people, and was even bestowed with the title “Guan the Holy Great Deity; God of War Manifesting Benevolence, Bravery and Prestige; Protector of the Country and Defender of the People; Prow and Honest Supporter of Peace and Reconciliation; Promoter of Morality, Loyalty and Righteousness” in the Qing Dynasty. He was further revered and worshiped as the “Saint of War”, which is of the same rank as Confucius who was honored the “Saint of Culture”. At this point, the cultural status and influence of Guan Yu as a military general in ancient Chinese history reached its peak.

In the regions where the traditional Chinese culture has been well preserved, people can easily find various statues of Guan Yu being enshrined and worshiped as the “Saint of War”. Since Guan Yu has been largely respected as an epitome and embodiment of “loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness”, he is a deity widely worshiped and revered in Chinese Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Guan Yu has also been worshiped as the “Martial God of Wealth”, meaning he can bring wealth and good fortune and ward off the evils to keep houses safe. In addition, Guan Yu is the exact epitome of “integrity” and has, therefore, been widely deified and revered as a holy deity by Chinese folk merchants, police officers, and entrepreneurs who regard him as a role model in their pursuit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

The extensive use of paper in the artworks of the artist Shin Ho Yoon is a subtle expression of the particularity of paper as a material. A single piece of white paper often leaves us an impression of being thin, fragile and extremely delicate. However, the viewers will experience a totally different feeling of the paper embodied in the artworks of Shin. More interestingly, he uses layers of stainless steel in his artworks in the same way as paper works. Paper and metal are both the opposite extreme of each other in terms of texture, and yet are able to shape and depict the same figure in an integrated manner, inevitably sparking more in-depth thinking in different dimensions.

Among all the forms of artistic creation of Shin, the most unique one is the expression of relation of hollow structures within the artworks, featuring the sculpture-like shapes and yet being different from real sculptures made of wood or marble. When people look at these artworks from different angles, they can suddenly experience a conflict with their own memory of the symbols they have been familiar with. Although an artwork is simply the ultimate depiction of the symbol they are known, the outcome of this depiction may trick them into having a totally different perception of this artwork.

Asian Art Works is honored to hold Shin Ho Yoon’s solo exhibition, featuring Guan Yu as the core symbol, to demonstrate his recent works from There is no essence series. With the unique artistic creation by Shin, the multi-dimensional space is neatly integrated into the artworks themselves, bringing us once familiar and yet fresh new artistic depictions of Guan Yu.