【动态】曹雨入围 「2023年 SOVEREIGN 杰出亚洲艺术奖」

本年度的入围者由60多位独立专业人士提名、来自亚太区16个国家及地区的165位艺术家中选出。本年度的评审团队包括作家、策展人及博物馆馆长David Elliott；策展人、教育工作者及作家长谷川佑子（Yuko Hasegawa）；艺术家、教育工作者及筹办人何恩怀（Christopher Ho）；独立策展人陈秀丽（Siuli Tan）；及艺术家暨2022年Sovereign艺术基金会杰出艺术大奖得主Azin Zolfaghari。
This year’s finalists were selected from 165 entrants nominated by over 60 independent professionals and hail from16 countries and regions across Asia-Pacific.This year’s panel comprises writer, curator, and museum director, David Elliott; curator, educator and writer, Yuko Hasegawa; artist, educator and organiser, Christopher K Ho; independent curator, Siuli Tan; and artist and winner of The 2022 Prize, Azin Zolfaghari.

30位入围者的艺术作品将会在2023年5月10日至18日于香港中环皇后大道中80号H Queen's 9楼免费对公众展出，并进行公众投票。获奖者将获邀出席5月19日在香港举行的颁奖晚宴。
The 30 finalists’ artworks will be shown and can be votedonin a free public exhibition at 9/F, H Queen's, 80 Queen's Road Central, Central, Hong Kong from 10-18 May 2023. The recipients of these awards will be invited to attend the Gala Dinner in Hong Kong on May 19.

评审主席David Elliott对今年的入围艺术家评价：
“今年入选决赛的艺术家中出现了一些新名字，这毋庸置疑地归功于奖项提名人的努力，让我们注意到一群不那么广为人知的艺术人才们。今年接收的作品水准都十分高，因此评审们的工作并不容易，一些艺术趋势仍然继续涌现。去年，我感受到了‘一种紧迫感——是对我们这个时代的批判，有时接近厌恶和恐惧的情绪，但并不绝望。’尽管今年它可能被一种讽刺的幽默感影响，这种感受丝毫没有减少。但我们正正将拥有不同思维的艺术家聚集在一起，审视、启发和消除此令人不快的真相。”

Chair Judge David Elliott commented on this year’s shortlist:
“This year a number ofnew names have reached the final; this is undoubtedly due to the Prize nominators’ hard work in bringing not so widely known talent to our attention. The judging this year has not been an easy task as the standard of the work submitted has been very high,yet certain trends continue to emerge. I sensed last year “a feeling of urgency—a critique of our times that on occasion approaches emotions of disgust and horror but never despair.” This has by no means decreased although this year it is perhaps leavened by a sardonic sense of humour as artists from many different perspectives come together to examine, enlighten and exorcise what are at times unpalatable truths.

SAF的共同创办人兼董事Tiffany Pinkstone表示：
“这个奖项是数百位艺术专业人士共同努力的结果，包括我们的专业独立提名委员会，及我们备受敬重的评审团队。我们要感谢所有合作伙伴，协助我们召集不同的杰出艺术家，我亦在此恭喜本年各具才华的入围者——他们的艺术品将会令这个展览更多元化及更具启发性。我们希望香港大众会抓紧这个机会，参观及接触现今亚太区一些最出色的艺术家的作品。我们会拍卖入围者的作品，并将收益平均分配予艺术家及我们的慈善项目，让我们的观众享有独特的机会，在购买拥有投资价值的艺术作品时，亦能同时支持有价值的慈善事业。资金将会拨归我们的Make It Better项目，供该项目使用表达艺术的力量，以支援香港最弱势社群儿童们的心理健康和福祉。疫情后，他们比以前更加需要这些服务，所以我们希望支持者能倾力出资，竞投艺术作品或向我们的项目捐款。”

Tiffany Pinkstone, Co-Founder and Directorof SAF, said:
“This Prize is the result of acollective effort from hundreds of expert arts professionals, including our expert board of independent nominators, and our esteemed judging panel. We would like to warmly thank all our partners for helping us bring yet another exceptional group of artists together, and of course congratulate this year’s talented finalists—their artworks are going to make for a diverse and thought-provoking exhibition. We hope the Hong Kong public will seize this opportunity to visit and engage with work by some of the best artists working across the region today. We will auction the finalists’ artworks and share the proceeds equally between the artists and our charitable programmes, so our audience enjoys a unique opportunity to purchase investment-quality art whilst supporting a worthwhile cause. Funds go to our Make It Better programme, which uses the power of expressive arts to support the mental health and wellbeing of children living in Hong Kong’s most disadvantaged communities. In the wake of the pandemic, these services are needed more than ever, so we urge supporters to dig deep, bid on artworks or donate to our programme.”

曹雨，《泉》，2015（原作无马赛克）
Cao Yu, Fountain, 2015 (original work without mosaic)

我仰面朝天平躺并用力向上空挤捏双乳房，纯白色的乳汁向天空喷射而出，多似泉涌，饱满的乳房慢慢变得干瘪，直至我将乳房挤空为止。卡拉瓦乔式的强烈曝光下模糊了颗粒，洁白的乳汁清晰可见。一对光滑饱满的乳房成为画面中的重心，犹如两座高耸的，正在喷发的活火山。肆意喷向高空的乳汁以极快的速度拍溅入我的双眼，白茫茫一片如云雾，我的泪水夺眶而出。

在与这痛苦的对抗中我意识到自己此刻的身体正充满无穷能量，第一次感受到作为女性， 我的身体甚至可以拥有如此猛烈的释放张力，乳汁铭刻爱与恨的记忆。此刻，“泉”依靠我的身体自然而然的发生了，我的身体化为一座喷向天空的喷泉纪念碑。

我意识到这种人类身体的壮观景象，比任何欧洲广场见到的泉都要真实，那是来自女性本有的阳刚。我有一种强烈的愿望要将其表达并转化出来。在这个过程中，标题“泉”自然而然出现在我的脑海，我意识到对于这件作品来说，“泉”是一个近乎完美的名字，它极简而有力，除了完美地诠释了作品本身的意义与力量，它也重新开启了与艺术史上一连串关于“泉”的经典作品的延展和对话:随历史不断延续的“泉”，也就是“泉”到“泉”的演变，从法国 新古典主义安格尔的《泉》在人们心中种下正统的种子，到达达主义杜尚反叛的小便池《泉》，布鲁斯·瑙曼的《喷泉自画像》，不过这些经典作品有一个共同点，即它们都出自于历史上伟大男性艺术家对泉的诠释。那么影像作品“泉”以它新的媒介/女性角度/年轻一代出发，对于历史上的经典作品展开新的理解与演绎，这种推进几乎是跨越性的，这着实令我兴奋不已。

11分钟后渐入尾声，饱满的乳房逐渐干涸，在美丽而疼痛的画面之外，随之而来生命的伤感。

I lay flat and forcefully squeezed both of my breasts towards the sky, pure white milk shot out like a Fountain. Full breasts slowly became saggy until they were empty, I was too exhausted to squeeze out the last drops of milk. A Caravaggesque intense chiaroscuro blurred the skin particles, the white milk was clearly visible. The originally bouncy bosom captured the iris of the image, resembling a couple of peaked and active volcanoes. The milk that sprayed recklessly into the sky by the great tension and then splashed into my eyes at the speed of free fall, just as a white cloud which blurring my vision and my tears burst into my eyes.

In this bitter struggle, I knew it was a combination of being moved by this great power and the pain from the substance in my eyes. I realized that my body at this moment was filled with infinite vital energy and explosive force. For the first time although as a woman, my body could even have such fierce release of tension, and my milk engraved memories of love and hate.

Here, my body has naturally become a “Fountain”, a monument that shot into the sky. I realized this magnificent scene of the human body is more real than any Fountain seen on European square. It comes from the inherent masculinity of women. I had a strong desire to express and transform it into art. In this process, I realized that" Fountain "is almost a perfect name for this work. It was quite simple and powerful, in addition to perfectly elucidating the concept and power of the piece itself, it also reopened a conversation and extension with the classical artworks about fountain in art history. With the continuation of history, the "fountain" that is "fountain" to "fountain" evolves, from the classic French neoclassical Ingres's "Fountain" that planted the seed of tradition in people's hearts, to marcel Duchamp, then comes to Bruce Naumann's "Self-Portrait of Fountain". But what these classics have in common is that they are all interpretations of fountains by great male artists throughout history. Then the video work "Fountain" uses its new media/female perspective/young generation to develop a new understanding and interpretation of the historical classic works. This kind of advancement is almost leapfrog, which really makes me excited.

It came to an end in 11 minutes, the full breasts gradually dried up, outside of the beautiful and painful image, followed by a sorrow for life.

关于基金会和奖项
About the Foundation and the Prize