當我們第一次看到許晨茜的作品時，彷彿置身於某種熟悉卻難以言喻的夢境。那些畫面似曾相識，如舊時記憶的微光，在腦海中浮現又迅速隱去。這種介於認知與誤識之間的朦朧感讓人不禁思考：這種熟悉感究竟從何而來？它是視覺經驗的殘影，抑或是藝術史深處的回聲？
When we first encounter Chenxi Xu’s work, it feels like stepping into a dream—one that is at once familiar and impossible to name. The images seem to flicker like distant echoes of memory, surfacing for a fleeting moment before dissolving into silence. In this space between knowing and forgetting, a quiet question lingers: Where does this familiarity come from? Is it the echo of something seen before, or a whisper from deep within the history of art?
The works showing in the gallery space, POETICS OF THE DEEP Series, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 15 x 21 cm, 2024
許晨茜的作品在東方藝術與歐洲現代主義抽象藝術之間遊走，像漂浮於光影之中的微塵，既承載著古老的回響，又在時光的流動中捕捉當代的瞬息。某些時刻，它們如同千年前的手跡在畫布上輕盈地訴說，而在另一些瞬間，又通過色彩與空間的交錯呈現出現代世界的感知方式。她的創作不僅僅停留於繪畫，而是跨越多種媒介，例如以「標記」來探討身體與表演的界限，或通過「銘刻」實驗不同材質在畫面中的時間性。她試圖在身體、表演與外觀之間尋找微妙的界限。她在面部上進行標記實驗，也通過一系列琺瑯繪畫，探索尺度的變奏如何影響畫面節奏，使作品在層層疊疊的肌理中顯現出不可捉摸的韻律。
Chenxi Xu’s paintings drift between Far Eastern and European Modernist art of abstraction, like dust caught in shifting light. They carry the echoes of the past, yet in the fluid passage of time, they capture the fleeting pulse of the present. At times, her paintings feel like ancient inscriptions, whispering softly across the canvas, their presence as delicate as ink on silk. In other moments, they unfold through the interplay of colour and space, evoking a more immediate, modern way of seeing—where light and form shift, dissolve, and reappear like fleeting impressions upon the senses.
Her practice extends beyond painting, embracing multiple mediums to explore the delicate boundaries between the body, performance, and appearance. She explores “marking” as a meditation on the body and performance, while “engraving” becomes a study of material and time.She has conducted marking experiments on the face, turning it into a transient canvas where the body itself becomes an extension of the artwork. In her series of enamel paintings, she examines how shifts in scale alter visual rhythm, allowing texture and form to unfold in layered movements. These overlapping surfaces, rich in subtle variations, create an elusive, almost ungraspable sense of cadence—like ripples on water, shifting with every change in light.
“Inscription of Another Life”, Performance Documentary Photograph (2017- 2019)，Wearable Sculpture Series, Enamel on Steel, Steel, Stainless Steel, from left to right, “Raptures and Folds 01”, “Rapture 01”, “Night and Light”, “Raptures and Folds 02”, “Coming and Going 01”, “Raptures and Folds 03”, Multiple size (2018- 2023)
The works showing in the gallery space, WAITING FOR THE SIGN OF PASSAGE, Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40cm, 2024; POETICS OF THE DEEP Series, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 15 x 21 cm, 2024
此次在荔枝一號的展覽 《別處的碎片》 展出了許晨茜的七幅繪畫作品，它們宛如散落的詩行，彼此呼應，構成一個完整的視覺敘事。畫面的表層細膩而光滑，如瓷釉般閃爍著溫潤的光澤，而小尺幅的構圖則拉近了觀者與作品之間的距離，使觀看成為一種私密而沈浸的體驗。在歐洲現代主義的語境下，抽象藝術往往追求突破畫面的邊界以實現某種超越性的表達。然而，許晨茜的作品並未執著於這種超越，而是通過更開放的繪畫方式來避免僵化的構圖規則，從而創造出另一種通向具象的可能性。她的畫面並非某種秩序的產物，而更像是一種流動的生成，在有形與無形之間徘徊，在邊界的游移中尋找詩意。
At Lychee One’s exhibition “Fragments of the Elsewhere”, Chenxi Xu presents seven paintings that echo one another, forming a quiet dialogue. Their surfaces are smooth as porcelain, catching light in a soft, muted glow. Their intimate scale invites the viewer closer, making the act of looking feel almost private and immersive.
Within the context of European modernist abstraction, painting often seeks to transcend its own limits, pushing beyond the frame toward a heightened visual language. Yet, Chenxi Xu does not pursue transcendence in this way. Instead, her approach is open and fluid, resisting rigid compositional structures and allowing her work to breathe in the space between abstraction and figuration. Her paintings are not bound by a predetermined order but emerge as shifting forms in motion, caught between the visible and the intangible. In this subtle interplay of presence and absence, she finds a poetry that lingers at the edges of perception—where meaning is not imposed but slowly, instinctively discovered.
POETICS OF THE DEEP Series, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 15 x 21 cm, 2024
在這一系列作品中，觀者可能會產生一種似曾相識的感覺，彷彿某些形態曾在歷史的畫布上浮現過。然而，當我們試圖抓住這些熟悉的型態時，它們卻如晨霧中的遠景，漸漸淡去。這種「既知又未知」 的張力，使得觀看作品的過程變成一場不斷調整焦距的視覺實驗，徬彿我們被邀請在某個夢境與現實交錯的界線上徘徊。在傳統繪畫中，風景不僅僅是外部世界的再現，更是內在情感的投射。而在許晨茜的作品里，這些「路徑」不再通向具體的世界，而是引領觀者走向更深層的感知疆域，讓繪畫成為一種純粹的體驗，一種超越物象的思索。
In Chenxi Xu’s work, however, these “paths” do not lead to any fixed destination. Instead, they guide the viewer into a deeper space of perception, where painting is no longer a depiction of things seen but an experience in itself—a meditation beyond the material world, a contemplation of the ephemeral.
Looking at these paintings, one might feel a sense of déjà vu, as if certain shapes and forms have surfaced before—perhaps traces lingering on the canvases of history. Yet the moment one attempts to grasp them, they recede, like distant landscapes dissolving into morning mist.
This delicate tension between the “known and unknown” transforms viewing into an experiment in shifting focus, an invitation to wander along the delicate threshold between dream and reality. In traditional painting, landscapes are not just representations of the external world but reflections of an inner self. In Chenxi Xu’s work, however, these “paths” do not lead to any fixed destination. Instead, they guide the viewer into a deeper space of perception, where painting is no longer a depiction of things seen but an experience in itself—a meditation beyond the material world, a contemplation of the ephemeral.
此外，許晨茜的作品在節奏感和層次變化上展現出類似唐詩中 「虛詞」與「實詞」 之間的微妙對比。虛詞雖不直接塑造語義，卻賦予詩歌流動的氣息，使其在沈默間充滿回響。同樣地，在她的繪畫中，色彩如波紋般交錯層疊，形成一種無聲的旋律，與畫面情緒相互呼應。它們並非靜止的，而是在觀看的過程中緩緩展開，像風吹過湖面，漾起一圈圈漸遠的漣漪。
她的繪畫並不是對抽象藝術的覆述，也不試圖成為某種既定圖像的終點。相反，她讓畫面成為感知與思考的流動載體，使抽象在其中不斷生長、變幻，永遠處於未完成的狀態。她避免冗余的引用，也不設下明確的敘事，而是讓作品保持開放，讓觀看成為一種無拘束的體驗，讓每一次凝視都成為一次新的旅程。
Furthermore, Chenxi Xu’s work echoes the rhythm of classical Chinese Tang poetry, where “empty words” (xuci, 虛詞) and “real words” (shici, 實詞) weave together in quiet harmony. In poetry, “xuci” do not carry direct meaning, yet they shape the breath and pacing of a verse, allowing silence itself to resonate.In much the same way, in Chenxi’s paintings, colour drifts like waves, layering in soft ripples that respond to the emotions embedded in the canvas. They do not remain still; they unfold gradually, like wind stirring across a lake, leaving behind fleeting traces of impermanence.
Chenxi Xu’s paintings are neither wholly abstract nor purely representational. They are vessels for thought and perception, where form remains in flux, meaning forever shifting. She does not root her work in rigid references or narratives. Instead, she leaves it open— allowing each viewing to be an unrestrained experience, where every gaze becomes a journey into something new.
最終，許晨茜的作品打開了一種 「游離於邊界之間」 的空間。它們既追溯著遙遠的記憶，又捕捉著當代世界的新鮮感知。在她的畫面裡，色彩與形態彷彿漂浮在無形的海洋之上，不被固定的認知框架束縛，也不急於抵達某個終點，而是在無盡的變化之中自由展開。這些作品就像心跳間短暫的停頓，或屏息時的靜默瞬間，讓人全身心投入感知的流動。它們彷彿來自另一個時空，在身體與空間之間自由穿梭，創造出全新的畫面層次與未知的深度。它們既具象，又超越具象；既在累積，又在剝離，如同自由流動的詩篇，在行進中不斷調整自身的型態，彷彿來自遙遠記憶的碎片，隨風飄浮，不斷重新組織與消散。
它們從未尋求固定的立足點，而是如流動的意識般在感知世界的邊緣游離。它們不被語言定義，也不歸屬於單一的視覺邏輯，而是本能地徘徊在已知與未知的交匯處，讓觀看成為一次自由的、無垠的體驗。因此，在許晨茜的作品中，繪畫不再只是視覺的表達，而是成為一種帶有肌理與記憶的存在，如光的餘韻，如風的迴響。在不斷探索的過程中，它們緩緩向本質靠近—不疾不徐，詩意生長。
In the end, Chenxi Xu’s paintings open up a space between boundaries, where memory drifts and perception flows freely.Within her canvases, colour and form seem to float upon an invisible sea, like fragments of light, neither constrained by certainty nor seeking a final form. They do not arrive at conclusions but remain in motion, tracing something fleeting yet profound.These paintings are like the pause between heartbeats, the hush before an exhale, drawing the viewer into a suspended state of perception. . They slip between body and space, revealing unexpected depths, new surfaces waiting to be discovered.They are both accumulating and dissolving, both presence and absence—like poetry in motion, forever adjusting their form. Like fragments of distant memory, weightless yet persistent, endlessly recombining, never settling.
These works do not seek a fixed place to stand. Instead, they drift along the edges of perception, where the known meets the unknown. They resist definition, refusing to be confined to a single visual language, existing instead in an instinctive state of flux, inviting the viewer into an experience that is boundless, fluid, and free.Thus, in Chenxi Xu’s work, painting is no longer merely an act of visual representation—it becomes a living trace, a quiet resonance, like the lingering glow of light, the whisper of wind, the shimmer of something just beyond reach. And in their slow, quiet unfolding, they move ever closer to essence—softly, patiently, with poetic grace.
Text by 撰文 x Michelle Yu 余小悅
