To be and not to be 19

作品賞析

In this dim indoor space, even the air flow seems to be slow. On the platform to the right, which looks like a table, a pair of unfolded glasses is set. “Who left the glasses?” one wonders. The owner seems to have left for a moment, and might come back at any time. The dark room with no lights on suggests the owner’s “absence,” while the glasses imply the owner’s “existence.” The artist Hwang Yu-Sheng’s creation comes from a questioning attitude, with his own existence being repeatedly confirmed dialectically in his works. In To Be or Not to Be 19, there is still a faint light in the sky outside the window, and the wetland where the artist once played as a child is stained with light colors, which form a contrast with the grays of the indoor space. The teapot on the stairs reflects the world outside of the frame, which is his studio. There is a clock hanging on the wall, but we struggle in vain to read the time—we find that time does not exist here.