TEXT BY 撰文 x Harry Liu 劉競晨
TRANSLATED BY 翻譯 x Syndi Huang 黃煥欣
IMAGE COURTESY BY 圖片提供 x Patrick Furness 帕特里克·弗內斯
Patrick Furness and Martina Poppe are sharing an artist studio located in Hackney which was converted from a warehouse. The studio was split into two, one as Patrick’s experimental playground and the other as Martina’s painting studio.
When we went there, the two were chatting with their friends downstairs in the sunshine. They greeted us warmly and led us to their studio. The space is about 20 square meters and is filled with Furness’s experimental materials and all sorts of bicycles and accessories.
Furness is a typical British boy, bright, wearing simple shirt, shorts, canvas shoes, and a pair of pop art-style sunglasses. Having lived in London for 15 years, Furness spent the recent four years in Hackney. His apartment is quite close to the studio. After graduation, he shared a studio with Poppe for further art practice, and he supplements his freelance artist income by dog-walking and some educational work with young children. Regarding his life in Hackney, Furness said, “It is quite difficult for an artist to survive in London since the rent is too expensive. However, it is quite good to live in Hackney which is a diversified and vibrant community. I can visit my friends by walking distance and have all kinds of parties. Great changes have taken place in this area in the recent ten years.” He and his girl friend enjoyed their life here very much and so did their two cats.
When it comes to his art practice, Furness found it difficult to define his work accurately as it combines performance art and installation art.
“My artworks use quite diverse mediums, ranging from sound, video, performance and interactive electronics. They all are quite playful, sometimes surreal with influences from science fiction. I like the latest experiments I have been doing with goo, it’s a very tactile material and always generates excitement and childlike playfulness in people.”
帕特里克·弗內斯(Patrick Furness)和馬丁娜·波佩(Martina Poppe)兩人合租一個工作室，是在哈克尼區裡面的一個倉庫改裝的藝術家工作室。他們倆把工作室一分為二，外面是帕特里克的工作區域，裡面是馬丁娜的畫室。
我們到訪的時候，他們倆正在樓下和朋友聊天曬太陽，看到我們過來他們特別熱情地把我們帶到了他們的工作室。在20平米左右的空間里放滿了弗內斯的“實驗”材料，還堆滿了各種的自行車和零配件。
弗內斯是一個典型的英國大男孩形象，襯衣短褲加軍跑（中國綠色軍用布鞋）配波譜風格的太陽鏡，典型的“英范兒”裝扮，而且說到要進行採訪，他還紳士地一指波佩說：“女士優先。”
弗內斯在倫敦生活了15年，最近四年都是在哈克尼地區度過的，他的公寓距離工作室很近。在學校畢業以後，他就和波佩一起租了工作室進行藝術創作，除此之外，弗內斯還會幫人遛狗和做一些社區的青年教育工作來增加日常收入。提到在哈克尼的生活，他表示，“作為一個藝術家在倫敦生存是很困難的，房租太貴了，不過在哈克尼這裡真的很好，這是一個非常好的社區，非常多樣化，生活也很便利，走路就可以去拜訪朋友和參加各種派對，這10年來，這個地區的變化非常的大。”
關於自己的藝術創作，他覺得很難給自己的作品一個準確的定義，他的作品混雜了行為藝術和裝置藝術；他將影像聲音和機械裝置結合起來製作各種“科幻效果”的藝術作品，他覺得他做的作品都很有趣，很好玩，能喚起人們對童年時光的回憶，而且作品中蘊含的幽默是非常重要的，幽默能吸引人們的注意力和更好的與觀眾溝通。他最近正在實驗的一種新材料很有意思，是一種像橡皮膠似的的材料，很柔軟，有一點粘性，但卻能製造出匪夷所思的神奇效果。
“這是一種非常有質感的材料，總是會讓人覺得興奮異常，而且總是給人以像孩子般玩耍的感覺。”弗內斯一邊得意地說，一邊伸手抓起來一坨給我們演示。看到這麼有喜感的材質，大家都上去玩了起來，看到他最近使用這種材質在公共畫廊空間進行的行為藝術表演，真的非常有意思，可以說是一個很嚴肅的在做非常不嚴肅作品的藝術家。近兩年，弗內斯的作品在越來越多的藝術空間進行展示，也受到了越來越多藝術機構的重視。
Find out more：
http://patrickfurness.com
