西岸艺博会展位 B105｜周豪：令人愉悦的沉默

For artist Hao Zhou, absolute silence is an unbearable thing. "City is my original nature," he described in a dialogue with Southern Metropolis Daily in 2020. The rhythm of machinery, the crumbs of concrete, the sound of traffic and footsteps, these urban edges are broken up into basic elements in his life, forming his own nature of the wind, fire, forest and trees.

However, when one approaches his creations, the first thing that strikes one is "silence". The complexity of the texture on the surface creates a tension that gently draws the approaching observer into a reassuring silence of expressionless lines.

Hao Zhou in the studio © Courtesy of the artist and MUD Gallery Photo by Zixuan Wang

旅日艺术家周豪1960年出生在上海，于2023年离世。自1993年至2023年，他于东京、大阪、香港、上海等城市举办了70余场个展项目，并长期生活于上海和横滨。南柯画廊将与泥轩画廊 (Mud Gallery) 共同代理周豪的艺术遗产，将他所创造的、“如同被棉花包裹的钢铁般的‘耐看的单纯’”不断地传续，连接现实世界与静静的彼岸。

他在城市中形成自己同世界最初的碰撞与会晤。车马人声，砖瓦檐廊，人造的痕迹与其不规则的噪音构成了他生命的基础单元。带着这些砖石，他前往东京武藏野美术大学学习油画与版画。日本传统版画浮世绘 (ukiyo-e) 惯于用细密精巧的工艺表现冷静表征之下的暗涌，而这一股水源也由此灌注进了他的创作之中。

Hao Zhou was born in Shanghai in 1960 and passed away in 2023. From 1993 to 2023, he held over 70 solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and lived permanently in Shanghai and Yokohama. Nanke Gallery will jointly represent Zhou Hao’s artistic legacy with Mud Gallery, continuing his tale of ‘durable simplicity,’ connecting the real world to the other side of the Silence.

It is in the city that he forms his first encounters with the world. The sound of cars, horses, people, brickwork and gables, the traces of man-made objects and their irregular noises form the basic unit of his life. With these bricks and stones, he travelled to Tokyo to study oil painting and printmaking at Musashino Art University. The ukiyo-e (traditional Japanese printmaking), which is used to express the undercurrent of calmness underneath the surface with fine and delicate craftsmanship, is a source of water that has been poured into his creations.

周豪 Hao Zhou
O.1705154-2, 2017
布面油画  Oil on canvas
126h x 88w cm 
© Courtesy of the artist and MUD Gallery

从材质、笔触甚至画布与画框，周豪不倦地追求精密的手工感，宛如规则月光下的仪式。他形容画框为“画作的骨骼”，以此撑起其上可能被捕捉到的灵魂对话。他用虔诚于自然的方式处理一切——木质画框上隐约的毛边，如同柏油马路般悄悄坑洼不平的画布，杂糅野生的肌理质感，缜密冷静的线条，共同言说着无尽的思考，如同脑海中的大片空白或冗长的黑暗。

在油画作品方面，周豪的命名方式是一以贯之的，服从于一种更浩瀚的规律。在所有名字的开头，“O”指代“Oilpainting”，一种直抒胸臆的开端。其后的数字是作品对角线的长度，再次是编码。这使得他的作品如同某种工业零件，具备了举世通用的特征，一如其像锁匙般“打开”观者各不相同的静谧思绪。在前往工业前路的惯性中，他的创作逐渐同时变得更加可“替换”，而又难以替代。

From the materials, brushstrokes and even the canvas and frame, Hao Zhou tirelessly pursues a precise sense of handmade craftsmanship, like a mysterious ritual under clean moonlight. He describes the frame as "the skeleton of the painting", which supports the soulful dialogue that may be captured on it. He handles everything with a reverence for nature - the vague rough edges of the wooden frames, the quietly pitted canvases like asphalt roads, the mix of wild textures, and the meticulous, calm lines that together speak of endless thoughts, like a large blank space in the mind or endless darkness.

In terms of oil paintings, Hao Zhou's nomenclature is consistent, obeying a more voluminous pattern. At the beginning of all the titles, the "O" stands for "Oilpainting", hinting at a direct beginning. The number that follows is the length of the diagonal of the lining, followed by the code. This makes his works resemble industrial parts with a universal character, just as they "unlock" the viewer's different quiet thoughts like a key. In the inertia of travelling the industrial road ahead, his creations simultaneously become more "interchangeable", yet difficult to replace.

周豪 Hao Zhou
O.1705154-7, 2017
布面油画  Oil on canvas
88h x 126w cm 
© Courtesy of the artist and MUD Gallery

在1983年，周豪前往日本留学，并于1988年毕业于日本武藏野美术大学油画系。随着手工仪式的画材堆积，被探寻到的似乎是人类工业的本质，与其冷酷外表下的万千神隐的思绪。这种来源于日本的传统美学范式，经过扬州周延的柔润脸庞，庄田耕峯延伸又拉长的湖面月光，小原古邨藏在尖锐鹤嘴后面的零星雪花，前往周豪层层叠叠的克制笔触之下，试图解释工业、城市与人类可能的本质，潜藏在喧闹表象之下的、令人愉悦的沉默与孤寂。

在周豪描绘的精神世界中，三维的假象不断坍缩，而二维的不确定性、不可解释的模糊与朦胧则延伸向无法度量的无限。一层层叠加的不断的再造来源于“事与愿违”，而这恰好使得画布上的数层完整的色料成为了如同沉积岩的载体，密封保存着每次绘制时转瞬即逝的情感，形成永远驻留于此的思绪。

周豪 Hao Zhou
O.120584-5，2012
布面油画  Oil on canvas
65h x 53w cm 
© Courtesy of the artist and MUD Gallery

建立在缜密而考究的材质与技法之上，周豪的创作亦深深植根于他对空间和时间的独特理解。在他笔下，画作并非仅仅是视觉元素的堆砌，更是对于人类情感与存在状态的探索发现。通过笔触的堆积，他有意识地引导观者在二维世界的平静表象下发现潜藏的复杂与冲突。在这一世界中，静与动、表与里、人工与自然的边界被模糊甚至消解。“模糊”尤其体现在他对时间的处理上，作品中的色块、形状如同沉淀了岁月的痕迹，窥视着凝华的时间。

强烈的哲学思考游移、笼罩在画作的表层，濯洗出他对工业与自然、城市与人类的关系的深深理解，并追问现代社会中的人类身份与孤独感。通过冷静而理性的构图，他将工业时代的冰冷与人类情感的脆弱并置，试图解答科技发展与人性之间的矛盾与张力。在他的画作中，看似坚硬的线条和框架反而揭示内在的柔软与细腻，以有如颂钵撞击的开端，发起关于人类存在状态的深沉冥想。

Built on meticulous and refined materials and techniques, Hao Zhou's creations are deeply rooted in his unique understanding of space and time. In his work, the canvas is not merely a gathering of visual elements, but an exploration and discovery of human emotion and existence. Through the layering of brushstrokes, he consciously leads the viewer to uncover the hidden complexities and conflicts beneath the calm surface of the two-dimensional world. In this realm, the boundaries between stillness and motion, surface and depth, the artificial and the natural are blurred, and sometimes even dissolved. This “blurring” is particularly evident in his treatment of time, where the shapes and colour blocks in his work appear as if they have absorbed the traces of passing years, glimpsing at a congealed moment of time.

A strong philosophical contemplation lingers over the surface of his paintings, illuminating his profound understanding of the relationship between industry and nature, city and humanity while questioning the sense of identity and isolation in modern society. Through his cool and rational compositions, he juxtaposes the coldness of the industrial age with the fragility of human emotion, attempting to resolve the tension between technological advancement and human nature. In his paintings, the seemingly rigid lines and frames instead reveal an underlying softness and delicacy, like the resonant strike of a meditation bowl, initiating a profound reflection on the condition of human existence.

Photo of Hao Zhou's studio © Courtesy of the artist  MUD Gallery Photo credit to Artist Yun Hui

当艺术家与世界暂别，前往他徘徊于确定与不确定之间的、自由的二维宇宙，来自上海柏油马路与砖瓦泥石的丰富灰色也由此伫立成为可供永久阅读、倾听、对话或诉说的碑石，使得观者可以在切实的城市午后夕阳中静默，容许精神与眼光细密地摩挲流淌于无声之中的思绪，再触及周遭与自己。

Text by Roxane Fu

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南柯画廊 Nan Ke Gallery