Works Exhibited
About
Gagosian is pleased to announce Stirrings of a Polymorphous Bloom, American artist Alexandria Smith’s debut solo exhibition in Asia. Opening on November 16 in Hong Kong, the exhibition features new assemblage paintings and collage drawings that explore the protean nature of selfhood and identity.
The works in Stirrings of a Polymorphous Bloom envision cosmic environments inhabited by figures in flux. Smith’s practice is grounded in her exploratory drawings, represented in Hong Kong by works on paper housed in custom frames. From these, she develops boldly colored assemblage paintings that incorporate shapes made from painted wood and 3D-printed elements that rise from their surfaces and extend beyond their frames.
Smith’s new works focus on symbols of genesis, light, and growth, inspired by her interests in autobiography, fiction, and collective memory. Variously colored and ambiguously gendered, these hybrid figures emphasize features such as eyes, limbs, nipples, kneecaps, and nails. They stretch, divide, and multiply, embodying Smith’s multifaceted allegories of physical, spiritual, and emotional growth.
高古軒欣然宣布為美國藝術家亞歷山達莉亞‧史密斯(Alexandria Smith)舉行亞洲首場個展「糅合形態各異的綻放」。展覽將於11月16日在香港揭幕，呈獻藝術家全新的組合油畫和拼貼畫作，探索自我與身份的多元本質。
「糅合形態各異的綻放」展覽展出的作品構想了一個由多變生物棲居的宇宙。史密斯的創作以自己的探索性繪畫為基礎，而香港的展覽亦會展出她以特製畫框裝裱的紙上作品。她透過這些作品創作出一系列用色大膽的組合油畫，創意結合彩繪木製形狀與凸起，並延伸至畫框外的立體打印元素。
史密斯的新作圍繞起源、光和成長的符號，並受她熱愛的自傳、小說和集體回憶啟發。作品中的混合形態生物顏色各異，性別含糊，並強調眼睛、四肢、乳頭、膝蓋和指甲等特徵。他們伸展、分裂和繁殖，體現畫家運用不同元素比喻身心靈成長的手法。
長達15呎的《像我這樣的先知》（Seers like me，2022年作）橫跨三塊畫板，是史密斯迄今最大型的作品，並與阿克瓦克‧埃梅茲（Akwaeke Emezi）在《高古軒季刊》中為回應史密斯一幅畫作而發表的短篇小說展開對話。在此作中，地面冒出一堆形體，可以解讀為單一的生物，也像三個相連的生物，他們向上凝視充當畫面邊框、充滿戲劇感的一排拱門和珠簾。《光榮的狂喜》（A glorious rapture，2023年作）於綠色木紋的拱形框架之上繪製了一對眼睛，進一步探索史密斯形態各異的主題。畫面的正中有一團以浮雕手法創作的火焰，兩旁則有兩個史密斯稱為「祖先頭顱」的漂浮剪影。
《尋路人》（The Wayfinders，2023年作）繪製於拱形框架上，刻畫兩個幾乎相同的黃綠色人物，置身於近乎對稱的風景中，看似貧瘠的土地卻蘊藏著深厚的根系。二人對望著構圖正中一列漂浮的圓盤，圓盤則盛載著奪目的彩色火焰。《流明的重量》（Heft of the Lumens，2023年作）所描繪的水底世界裡住著兩個沒有手臂的多足生物，他們共用一隻眼睛，象徵共同意識和目的。
《你甜蜜的溫柔》（The softness of your sweet，2023年作）描繪一朵帶有雕刻花瓣的花朵，象徵在意想不到之地發現的美麗事物，同時亦有從島嶼生長出的人臉剪影，而背後則有熾熱的光芒透過如門洞般的小孔連接其他小島。《野外的史塔奇萊》（Starchile in the wild，2023年作）揭示史密斯的全新探索方向。此作結合沙畫和噴繪，描繪人物在北極星的引領下走過神秘的原始環境，身後還有三個祖先頭顱，象徵個人主動性和集體改變。
「糅合形態各異的綻放」
亞歷山達莉亞‧史密斯作
他們說我會折疊成
無法想像的自己
翻騰
攪動、延伸
他們說我會捲曲成
難以辨別之物
他們說我可能甚麼都不是
不多也不少
受困
蹣跚
停滯
我奮力推撞，萌生出
一個全新
完整
而超越自己的存在
#AlexandriaSmith
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Languorous undulations (in the temple of my familiar)
Alexandria Smith and Akwaeke Emezi take up themes of queerness, hybridity, and embodied memory in their respective visual and literary works. Here, Emezi responds to Smith’s painting Languorous undulations (in the temple of my familiar) (2022) with an eponymous piece of flash fiction.
Alexandria Smith Selects
Alexandria Smith has curated a selection of films that have influenced her practice for many years, as part of a series copresented by Gagosian and Metrograph. The program, on view in the theater and online from May 20 to June 2, 2022, features cinema exploring themes of loneliness through the prism of the fantastical, notions of family through spirituality, and the deconstruction of narrative through the disruption and manipulation of time.
Alexandria Smith
The artist speaks with author Nalo Hopkinson about what it means to depict the body, the struggles to embark on new projects, and the contours of space and place in the creation of fiction and art.
