墨影流光——储楚水墨摄影组歌

和传统水墨艺术家不同，储楚本身横跨多种艺术形式，由此带来的艺术碰撞，制造出了更多的艺术火花。

《城市·星盘》中重叠的城市群峰，映衬金字小楷铺散的“群星”，给人以无限遐想。储楚在谈到此作时，特别强调了卡尔维诺《看不见的城市》给她带来的启思，“一座无限延伸的城市……”，这种意大利狂想的梦幻，在中国艺术家的巧思下得以独到呈现。而另一面，《树语》系列则充分挖掘了水墨摄影的古典意涵：将《诗经》《离骚》的章句隐藏于紫荆、石砾、玉兰的枝杈的阴影中，仿佛树在影中倾诉。中国传统审美历来讲究“藏”，当你在树影中发现“关关雎鸠”的句子时，好比苏州园林转角后，太湖石小象乍现。同样地，这次展览也带来了《白兰花》和《七十二候》系列，这些作品取材于杭州，也同时诉说江南故事，是艺术家生活状态的展现。《白兰花》是杭州一种极小而极白的花朵，储楚将其极尽放大后，配以洒脱行草，既婉约又洒脱，又有隽秀之气。

2021年后，储楚开始更大胆地用色彩创作摄影水墨。在这些新作品中，储楚将各式古典色相运用于水墨摄影中，制造出或明快、或沉郁或华丽的风格。本次来带的《月熏微风》《风中之竹》和《灼灼其华》都体现出了艺术家这一时期的思考，这些大胆的尝试，绚烂却不繁复，古朴却不呆板，在保有艺术家旧有的“哲思性”的同时，更多了一份装饰性和表现力。

作为一位科班出身，又有独特艺术观念的艺术家，储楚的作品既能够表达人精微的情感，又能包容不同的艺术元素。本次在深圳带来了艺术家各个时期的代表作品，让观者能一睹艺术家作品的发展脉络，充分了解一位水墨摄影艺术家的巧思与创举。

——尔威

Over the past twelve years, the artist Chu has been practicing the integration of traditional Chinese ink and the art of photography. This fusion is evident from her early “Blade” series to the later classics such as “City,” “White Orchid,” “Seventy-Two Phenomena,” and her recent colorful works. These various attempts, from different perspectives, have tirelessly explored the artistic boundaries reachable by ink photography, offering viewers diverse visual aesthetics. Unlike traditional ink artists, Chu spans multiple art forms herself, bringing about artistic collisions that ignite further creative sparks.

In “City: Stellar Disk,” the overlapping peaks of urban clusters juxtaposed with the scattered “stars” of small golden characters evoke boundless imagination. Chu, when discussing this piece, particularly emphasized the inspiration drawn from Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities,” with its notion of “an endlessly extending city…,” a fantastical dream of Italy rendered uniquely under the Chinese artist’s ingenuity. On the other hand, the “Tree Speak” series fully explores the classical connotations of ink photography, hiding verses from the “Book of Songs” and “Li Sao” within the shadows of Bauhinia, gravel, and magnolia branches, as if the trees were speaking through the shadows. Traditional Chinese aesthetics have always valued “hidden” elements, so when you discover lines like “Guan Guan Jiu Jiu” within the tree shadows, it’s akin to stumbling upon a miniature Taihu rock in a corner of a Suzhou garden. Similarly, this exhibition also features the “White Orchid” and “Seventy-Two Phenomena” series, sourced from Hangzhou, simultaneously narrating stories of the Jiangnan region, reflecting the artist’s life experiences. “White Orchid” is a tiny and extremely white flower native to Hangzhou. Chu magnifies it to the extreme, paired with freehand cursive script, exhibiting both gracefulness and freedom, along with a refined eleganc.

Since 2021, Chu has boldly incorporated color into her photographic ink creations. In these new works, she employs various classical hues in ink photography, creating styles that are either bright, melancholic, or magnificent. Pieces such as “Moon Scented Breeze,” “Bamboo in the Wind,” and “Radiant Bloom” brought to this exhibition showcase the artist’s reflections during this period. These bold attempts, splendid yet not overly complex, simple yet not rigid, preserve the artist’s existing philosophical depth while adding a decorative and expressive dimension.

As an artist with formal training and unique artistic concepts, Chu’s works can express intricate human emotions while accommodating different artistic elements. This exhibition in Shenzhen presents representative works from various periods of the artist’s career, allowing viewers to trace the development trajectory of an ink photography artist and fully understand their ingenuity and innovations.

Written by Er Wei

Er Wei, curator, hails from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and holds a Master’s degree in Literature from King’s College London. With a background in history, commerce, and engineering, he has long been interested in and follows the latest developments in the fields of art, auctions, and technology.