Solo Show 2023

“BORED”, The End of the Universe is SOHO

A solo exhibition by Matti Gao
Address: 13 Soho Square, London W1D 3QF
​
Producer: Shan Huang
Academic Advisor:​ Professor Ben Anderson
Guest advisor: Feng Tang

www.warmbath.art/bored


Foreword
'The End of the Universe is Creation'

by Feng Tang

I am stranded in London because of the epidemic. Because of London's museums, galleries, libraries, bookstores, year-round good weather for running and great parks, and because of Matti Gao, I want to be stranded in London more often.

In collaboration with New Balance to produce an advert, I had to run around in London. Matti was then the producer, both of us running crazy in London for this advert. In between shoots, I asked Matti, "Why don't you paint anymore? You went to the high school affiliated to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, and were guaranteed admission with no exam to attend the Central Academy of Fine Arts! I, though a layman without a single day of professional training in art, can't help but doodle a lot."

I forget how Matti answered me, at least not a memorable answer.

I went on to ask a second question, "What does a painter have to do to get recognised and successful? When I was in elementary school, my family's cinnabar flowers bloomed, and I thought they were so beautiful that I drew furiously on them, and after I finished, I asked my brother, "Does it look good? Did it look good? My brother-in-law said, "Is it good, like it or not, put it aside, you have to understand, the vast majority of painters can't get enough to eat, don't paint, so that you won't lose yourself and your sense."

Matti's answer showed his professionalism, but I still didn't quite get it. My rough understanding was: first, you have to paint very well, and second, you have to have God on your side.

After that New Balance advert, the two of us drank a lot of wine together, saw a lot of exhibitions, and talked a lot about art and other seemingly useless things. Matti also fell in love with running, running five or ten kilometers every now and then. He said that when he couldn't sleep in the morning, he got up and ran.

A random day three years later, Matti drank his first sip of wine that night and said, "Mr. Feng, I'm having my first solo exhibition in SOHO next month. I don't know if you still remember, but in the past three years, you asked me several times why I stopped painting. I thought hard, I couldn't figure out why not, so I started painting again."

Had I inadvertently reactivated another Gauguin?

I wasn't sure if I had done something good or something bad, if I had unintentionally helped or unintentionally harmed someone. I was certain that since Gauguin had moved on, it would be hard to hold back, so let's do it. The moon is the moon, sixpence is sixpence, this one is not two. Just don't clutch the sixpence and think of the moon, or look at the moon and think of the sixpence.

"I'm not sure how I pushed the button, and I'm not sure if I was right or wrong, but anyway, if you're set on doing it, then do your best. The exhibition opens soon, I've got a house with a room here that's vacant, come and paint anytime." I said to Matti.

In the following month, Matti came to paint whenever he was free, and when he didn't come to paint here, he also painted elsewhere; he lived in the paintings, and the paintings also lived in his brushstrokes. During this month, we drank a lot of wine together, talked about many useless and vast topics, and painted a lot of pictures. It was late fall in London, the leaves were falling all over the place, and that room was gradually filled with paintings, large and small.

"I know why I stopped painting." Matti suddenly stopped in the middle of a painting and said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I was afraid."

"Why aren't you afraid now?" I continued to ask.

"I'm bored of being afraid."

Matti said the theme of his solo exhibition was: Boredom.

I wrote a short poem looking at a house full of paintings created out of nothing, thinking about the boredom of the first half of my life:

If you're tired of London
You're tired of life
If I'm bored with you, I'm bored with life.

You are creation.


宇宙的尽头是SOHO
高宏伟 个人展览
13 Soho Square, London W1D 3QF

特邀顾问：冯唐


引言：
宇宙的尽头是创造
- 冯唐

因为疫情，我滞留伦敦。因为伦敦的博物馆、美术馆、图书馆、书店、一年四季适合跑步的天气和大公园，因为高宏伟，我想多多滞留在伦敦。

和New Balance合作，我在伦敦丧跑，高宏伟拍我在伦敦丧跑。拍摄间歇，我问高宏伟：“你为什么不画画了？你是美院附中上高中、保送美院上大学的科班出身啊！我这个没受过一天专业训练的门外汉还经常忍不住涂鸦呢。”

我忘了高宏伟是如何回答的，至少不是一个令人难忘的回答。

我接着问了第二个问题：“一个画家要怎样才能混出来啊？我小学的时候，家里的朱顶红花开了，我觉得很美，就对着花狂画，画完问我亲哥，好看不？画得像不？我亲哥说，好不好，像不像先放一边，你要明白，绝大多数画家是吃不饱饭的，别画了，省得你迷上。”

高宏伟的回答展现了他的专业素养，但是我还是没太听明白。我粗浅的理解是：第一要画得好，第二要命好。

那次合作之后，我俩一起喝了很多酒，看了不少画展，聊了不少艺术以及其他似乎没用的东西。高宏伟也爱上了跑步，隔三差五跑个五公里、十公里。他说，他早上睡不着，就起来跑。

三年后的一天，高宏伟喝了当晚第一口酒之后，说：“冯老师，我下月在SOHO办我第一个个人画展。此事缘起在您，不知道您还记不记得，过去三年，您问了我好几次，我为什么不画画？我苦苦思考，我想不出为什么不，于是又开始画了。”

难道是我无意中激活了另一个高更？

我不确定我做了好事还是做了坏事，是非故意帮人还是非故意害人。我确定，既然高宏伟已经动了念，就很难按耐住，那就干呗。月亮就是月亮，六便士就是六便士，本一不二。别攥着六便士想月亮、望着月亮想六便士，就好。

“我不确定我是怎么按动了按钮，我也不确定我是对是错，反正你定了要做，那就尽力做。展览很快开幕了，我这里有间房子空着，随时来画吧。”我和高宏伟说。

之后的一个月，高宏伟有空就来画，不来我这里画的时候也在别处画，他活在画里，画也活在他笔下。在这一个月里，我们一起喝了很多酒，聊了很多没用而辽阔的话题，画了很多画。伦敦到了深秋，叶落满地，那间房里也渐渐开满了大大小小的画。

“我知道我为什么不画了。”高宏伟在画画中突然停下来，说。

“为什么？”我问。

“我怕了。”

“现在为什么不怕了？”我继续问。

“我厌倦了害怕。”

高宏伟说他这次个展的主题是：无聊。

我看着满房子无中生有的画、想着我前半生的无聊，写了一首短诗：

如果你厌倦了伦敦
你就厌倦了生活
如果我厌倦了你，我就厌倦了生命

你是创造。


​
​