Fan Bo: Of Celebration & Mourning, Counterpoint
Linseed will present the second edition of 鈥淥utlook鈥� project by the gallery terrace, featuring a video installation by artist Fan Bo, 鈥淥f Celebration and Mourning, Counterpoint鈥�, opening from January 6 to March 2, 2024.
Fragmented memoiristic narratives run through the two video works that were completed in different times. Blurry family footage in the former seems to suggest a traditional expectation of 鈥渂uilding a family鈥� as well as the growth and independence of a person, while the monologue in the latter carries the longing for a deceased loved one; as if two people are talking face-to-face, a single TV is set in a confined space, juxtaposing contemplation on family dynamics and mourning for someone close.
Intertwining home videos and footages taken from Ang Lee's 鈥淔ather Knows Best鈥� film trilogy (Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman) 鈥� random or raw, or professionally staged 鈥� distorted with a zoom in aesthetic, celebratory occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and festivals are rendered somewhat anonymous, like distanced sentiments, as the faces are masked or cropped out. The pun on 鈥渢ape鈥� refers to the artist鈥檚 desire for 鈥渂onding鈥� through the visual retrospection of memories. 鈥淒ouble-sided Tape鈥� (2018) explores the concept of interpellation through family kinships 鈥� a holiday or celebration seems to be the only occasion that authenticates us as a family, alluding the nature of performativity in one鈥檚 identity formation. Yet, divergent understandings of the traditional value on "filial piety,鈥� that is, what it takes to make one a good offspring, implicate the dilemma of balancing among generations.
And such gaps are not only chiseled by conflicts, they also lie in unspoken sorrows. From temples and churches to hospitals, from living rooms to funeral halls, from pipe organs to suona horns, the concurrence of celebrations and mourning events does not seem to be able to connect the bitter and the joyous, but the los of a loved one can throw anyone back to the forgotten days of their childhood. The bilingual subtitles are like a fugue, developing the narrative in varying cadences through different linguistic contexts; from attachment at childhood, evolving to detachment upon growing up, and eventually to the overwhelming chaos and unknowns that illness brings, the implicit desire to confide within the diaristic monologue in 鈥淚 remember you saying鈥︹�� (2023) has only become unreserved in the midst of grieving. Confronting mortality brings a commonality which becomes a bond among people; the unresolved moments that have been lingering for years appear to seek new outlets during these family gatherings. Desire in disguise, anxiety in facing disease, accompanied by obsessions or detachment - the search for the mechanism that underlies these occurrences also unfolds in the artist's recollection of affection and introspection of intersectional identities.
Linseed will present the second edition of 鈥淥utlook鈥� project by the gallery terrace, featuring a video installation by artist Fan Bo, 鈥淥f Celebration and Mourning, Counterpoint鈥�, opening from January 6 to March 2, 2024.
Fragmented memoiristic narratives run through the two video works that were completed in different times. Blurry family footage in the former seems to suggest a traditional expectation of 鈥渂uilding a family鈥� as well as the growth and independence of a person, while the monologue in the latter carries the longing for a deceased loved one; as if two people are talking face-to-face, a single TV is set in a confined space, juxtaposing contemplation on family dynamics and mourning for someone close.
Intertwining home videos and footages taken from Ang Lee's 鈥淔ather Knows Best鈥� film trilogy (Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman) 鈥� random or raw, or professionally staged 鈥� distorted with a zoom in aesthetic, celebratory occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and festivals are rendered somewhat anonymous, like distanced sentiments, as the faces are masked or cropped out. The pun on 鈥渢ape鈥� refers to the artist鈥檚 desire for 鈥渂onding鈥� through the visual retrospection of memories. 鈥淒ouble-sided Tape鈥� (2018) explores the concept of interpellation through family kinships 鈥� a holiday or celebration seems to be the only occasion that authenticates us as a family, alluding the nature of performativity in one鈥檚 identity formation. Yet, divergent understandings of the traditional value on "filial piety,鈥� that is, what it takes to make one a good offspring, implicate the dilemma of balancing among generations.
And such gaps are not only chiseled by conflicts, they also lie in unspoken sorrows. From temples and churches to hospitals, from living rooms to funeral halls, from pipe organs to suona horns, the concurrence of celebrations and mourning events does not seem to be able to connect the bitter and the joyous, but the los of a loved one can throw anyone back to the forgotten days of their childhood. The bilingual subtitles are like a fugue, developing the narrative in varying cadences through different linguistic contexts; from attachment at childhood, evolving to detachment upon growing up, and eventually to the overwhelming chaos and unknowns that illness brings, the implicit desire to confide within the diaristic monologue in 鈥淚 remember you saying鈥︹�� (2023) has only become unreserved in the midst of grieving. Confronting mortality brings a commonality which becomes a bond among people; the unresolved moments that have been lingering for years appear to seek new outlets during these family gatherings. Desire in disguise, anxiety in facing disease, accompanied by obsessions or detachment - the search for the mechanism that underlies these occurrences also unfolds in the artist's recollection of affection and introspection of intersectional identities.
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