Malwine Stauss「HEXEN」

HEXEN

2023.3.18 – 2023.4.23

艺术家：马尔文·斯托斯
Artist: Malwine Stauss

地址：北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路2号798艺术区中二街D06 Tong Gallery+Projects

Venue: D06, Middle 2nd St., 798 Art Zone, No. 2 Jiuxianqiao Rd, BJ

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马尔文·斯托斯在莱比锡美术学院毕业时，做了一本名为“Hexen”的小书——德语中意为“女巫”。五个女孩坐在封面上，脑后的长辫子打着圈，像在水中温顺游泳的海蛇。

作为毕业作品，这本书显得不太严肃。书中只有女性，画面里色彩明亮的花朵、圆点、几何与波纹，都在肆意散发着女性气息。然而，相较于时下有关女性主义的讨论或艺术创作，马尔文似乎有意停留在了所谓“艺术”的浅表层——她的作品仅仅关乎她的个人生活。画面上的女巫是她的家人和朋友，明亮的花朵来自她热爱的园艺，几何与波点则在致敬她喜爱的女性艺术家们，这一切构建出了马尔文单纯而快乐的艺术世界——而她的本意也正如此。

毫无疑问，你很容易能在马尔文的雕塑与绘画前感到快乐。这种快乐无关所谓任何主义，任何流派的讨论，仅仅是快乐罢了。但人们仍会感到怀疑与不安，就像马尔文在学校时不断受到教授们的质疑：这样的作品能够称之为“艺术”吗？不过，或许我们可以换一个方式来问：“艺术”与否的标准是什么？而这些标准又由谁来规定？这是马尔文邀请我们一同思考的、快乐的小问题。

When she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig,  Malwine Stauss  made a little book called “Hexen” – German for “witch”. Five girls sat on the cover, their long braids circled behind their heads, like sea snakes swimming meekly in the water.

As a graduation work, this book is not too serious. There are only women in the book, and the brightly colored flowers, dots, geometry and ripples in the picture all exude a feminine atmosphere wantonly. However, compared with the current discussions about feminism or artistic creation, Malwine seems to deliberately stay at the superficial level of so-called “art” – her works are only related to her personal life. The witches on the screen are her family and friends, the bright flowers come from her favorite gardening, and the geometry and polka dots pay tribute to her favorite female artists. That’s what she meant.

There is no doubt that it is easy to be happy in front of Malvern’s sculptures and paintings. This kind of happiness has nothing to do with any doctrine or discussion of any genre, it is just happiness. But people still feel skeptical and uneasy, just as Malwine was constantly questioned by her professors when she was in school: Can such a work be called “art”? However, perhaps we can ask this question in another way: what is the criterion of “art” or not? And who sets these standards? This is the happy little question Malwine invites us to ponder together.

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