博伊德•韋伯

博伊德•韋伯1947年生於紐西蘭基督城,及後移居倫敦,1972年在皇家藝術學院攻讀雕塑,現於英國布萊頓生活和工作。

韋伯最初以玻璃纖維塑造人像,並將之樹立於各處,但不久便因成本高昂、工序繁複而放棄,繼而轉向攝影。他曾解釋選用攝影的原因︰「攝影是現今一項不可或缺的工具,而且非常靈活,可以朝眾多方向伸展。縱然遭到濫用,卻始終保存它的真實本質—即使是最平平無奇的人造物料,也能非常清晰地重現。」韋伯顛覆性地使用這個媒介的「真實本質」,創作出疑幻似真又具戲劇性的場景,帶出真實與想像之間的張力。

韋伯攝影作品裡的各項精心格局及神秘佈景,全都是藝術家自己在工作室搭建而成。早期作品關注人與大自然關係,以寓言手法暗示人若漠視人道,最終會受到大自然的報復。《繫著鍊的鰩魚》(1981)即屬此類作品,透露了作者內心深處的想像力及思考。場景中,鰩魚看似沿著海床滑行,但實質上是被鍊子繫在地上。一道亮光射向這尾無骨扁平的魚上,營造了一種戲劇效果。這樣一來,觀者更會質疑為何這麼優雅、無殺傷力的生物,會被牢牢繫著,不能暢遊於深海中。

韋伯活躍於英國本土及海外展覽,個展包括︰白教堂畫廊(倫敦,1978及1987);赫塞霍恩博物館 (華盛頓,1990);以及奧克蘭畫廊巡迴展 (1997)。此外,亦曾參與展覽「祝好運」 (法里德里斯安林博物館,卡塞爾;奧克蘭畫廊,1999)。近期展出有「墾瑪系列24」(彭博空間,倫敦,2010)。1995年代表紐西蘭出席悉尼雙年展。

Boyd Webb

Boyd Webb was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1947 and later settled in London, studying sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London in 1972. He lives and works in Brighton, UK.

He began to make life-casts of people in fibreglass, arranging them into scenes, but soon rejected the practice as costly and cumbersome and took to photography. The artist has said that he used photography because it is “an essential tool of the age and that it is a flexible medium, capable of being stretched in many directions. Tolerant of much abuse it always retains an inherent honesty— it can reproduce with great clarity even the most featureless of man-made materials”. Webb’s subversive play on the “inherent honesty” of the medium provides the tension between the real and the imagined in his deceptive and theatrical tableaux.

Webb’s mysterious and elaborate photographic compositions are created from constructed sets built by the artist in his studio. His early works concern the underlying relationship of man with nature and provide an allegorical implication of man’s disregard for humanity that may lead to nature’s final revenge. Tethered Ray (1981) is one such work that reveals the inner imagination of Webb’s consciousness. The scene he creates reveals a ray seemingly gliding along the sea bed but on close inspection appears to be chained to the ground. A source of light shines onto the flat, boneless fish giving a theatrical atmosphere and leads the viewer to question how such a graceful and harmless creature could be held in such constraints, no longer free to roam the deep ocean.

Webb has exhibited both in the UK and abroad with solo shows at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1978 and 1987; Hirschhorn Museum, Washington DC, 1990 and the Auckland Art Gallery touring exhibition, 1997. Webb was also included in Toi Toi Toi, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, and Auckland Art Gallery, 1999. He recently presented at Comma 24 at Bloomberg Space, London, 2010. He represented New Zealand in the Sydney Biennale in 1995.