【藝述心言】白手興Ga……llery / 張煒詩 【Intimate Portrait】More than a White Cube / Rachel Cheung
（2016年2月）甫踏進一塵不染的Unit Gallery（L5-23單位），緊閉的眉頭不自覺地開了鎖，呼吸愈趨淡泊而沉穩、瑣碎日常愈見瑣碎然後歸於無……人頓感遠離塵囂，彷彿回到原初。採用「白盒子空間」（white cube）設計，它以乾脆利落的白塑造出一個全然中立的空間，讓藝術作品超脫時空，自成一角。憑藉這種神聖、具美感且不偏不倚的特質，白盒子得以成為當代藝術展示空間的典範。
白盒一個 前舖（展覽）後居（創作）
Unit Gallery是個白色的立方體，大小雪白展台散落，以為「一眼望晒」，原來內有乾坤。一人分飾兩角（藝術家及策展人）的張煒詩（Rachel），巧妙運用「前舖後居」的民間智慧，將單位分成兩半——前半作展覽空間，後半為陶瓷及玻璃工作室。
「展示平台及展覽機會是藝術創作的原動力。單位麻雀雖小，勝在空間運用彈性大。」Rachel於2009年創立非牟利藝術空間Unit Gallery，一方面為有志的藝術家提供多一個商業畫廊以外的展示場地選擇；另一方面則「希望試做策展，推廣陶藝。這是一次角色轉移，亦是事業延伸。」
說到做到，這裡平均每月都有新展覽登場，有時是知名藝術家的展覽白盒，有時則是新晉藝術家的試刀石，免費開放讓公眾參觀。Rachel不靠資助，出心、出力還出金。
白色作品 簡約中追尋平衡
Rachel入行前原任職時裝設計，為「升呢」報讀藝術學士課程，主修陶藝；畢業後，為追尋藝術夢，毅然卸下「初企老闆」的身份，一頭栽進藝術創作，一眨眼就十多年。她是藝術及玻璃雙碩士，一度「出走」英國及蘇格蘭參與藝術駐留，2001獲「香港藝術雙年展」獎，作品為香港藝術館、香港文化博物館及台灣鶯歌陶瓷博物館收藏。Rachel現任藝術學院講師、課程統籌，身兼多職而仍活躍於創作，新作最近在巨年畫廊和「亞洲酒店藝術博覽會」展出。
作品風格抽象簡約，色調以白色和雅素色系為主，Rachel的創作主題離不開「平衡」。「每件事都得花上很長時間去摸索。」以陶瓷為基調，就相同主題探索不同物料，她領悟到待人處世的哲學︰「人與人、人與自然，和陶泥創作一樣，需要時間磨合，尋找當中的平衡點。」
白紙一張 相信陶土、相信人
磨合與平衡的哲學，不但呈現在Rachel的創作中，亦融入她的策展理念上。成立Unit Gallery後，她身兼策展人之職，要時刻左腦和右腦（理性與感性）並用。「一個人做不完，亦做不來，全賴背後的鼎力支持。」她介紹一眾幕後功臣，包括藝術家前輩及朋友、工作夥伴（如公關及設計師）、師弟妹和學生等。朋友兩脇插刀，成就美好。
Rachel通過Unit Gallery積極以陶藝會友，曾合作過的藝術家無數，當中包括JCCAC的鄭明輝、廖家宜（Miss FAT）等。本月，Rachel會與「光影作坊」（L2-10單位藝團）合作舉行 藝術分享會 ，並於Unit Gallery主辦 《味無味間》余偉聯個人展覽。多得她和一眾駐中心藝術家的創意與熱誠，陶藝逐漸在JCCAC凝聚成一股新力量。
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(2016 February) The shoulder relaxes, breathing deepens, trivialities are forgotten…… The experience of stepping into Unit Gallery (Unit L5-23), a carefully maintained white cube gallery, can be quite extraordinary. The pristine white setting provides a neutral space free of context so that artworks in it can appear to be self-contained. White cube galleries are sacred spaces of timeless quality which has become the standard for contemporary art display.
White - a dual utility artistic space
A cube with six white surfaces and a handful of unobtrusive white plinths scattered around, Unit Gallery is more than meets the eye. Hiding at its back is the ceramic and glass studio of artist and curator Rachel Cheung.
“Originally conceived mainly as a platform for exposure and exhibitions, it became a motivation for my creative work.” Established in 2009, Unit Gallery is an independent exhibition space which provides artists with an alternative to mainstream commercial art galleries. Although relatively small, the gallery is compact and flexible enough to accommodate various spatial arrangements. “It also allows me to extend my artistic creativity into curatorial work and provides me with the opportunity to promote ceramic in Hong Kong. The transition of role from artist to curator has broadened my artistic perspective and propelled my career development.”
Despite resource limitations, Rachel manages to present a new exhibition almost every month at Unit Gallery to showcase works by both established and emerging artists. Most of the exhibitions are self-funded, and all of them are invariably admission fee.
White – works of finely balanced minimalism
Rachel originally worked in fashion design, but decided to sacrifice her startup business in pursuit of an artistic career after completing an art degree course majoring in ceramic. She possesses double Masters in Fine Art and Glass, has participated in artist residency programmes in England and Scotland, was a prize winner in Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition 2001, and has artworks collected by Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Heritage Museum and Taiwan Yingge Ceramics Museum. She is currently a lecturer and programme coordinator at Hong Kong Art School. Despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to create new works, the most recent of which have participated in exhibitions at Giant Year Gallery and Asia Hotel Art Fair 2015 in Hong Kong.
Rachel’s artworks are often white, abstract, minimal and explore the notion of “equilibrium”. She expresses her philosophy through the fragile quality of ceramics and its combination with other materials. “The thorough understanding of a single material, idea or person is a long process. It takes time and effort to find the connection and balance, whether it is between people or between people and nature.”
White – purity and sobriety
The philosophy of equilibrium is assimilated into not only Rachel’s works, but also her curatorial practices. Playing a dual role of both artist and curator at Unit Gallery, she has to make effective use of both the right and left brain to manage her emotional and logical decisions. “I do not and cannot deliver everything single-handedly by myself. None of this is possible without the strong and selfless support that everyone has given me and the gallery.” She is thankful to all the artists, friends, working partners (such as professionals in public relations and design) and students for helping her make Unit Gallery a success.
Rachel actively connects herself with the world through arts and ceramic exhibitions at Unit Gallery. It has led to collaborations with various artists, including many from JCCAC - like Reed Cheng and Kiwi Liu (Miss FAT), for example. This month, she will join Lumenvisum (Unit L2-10) to give artist talks and also present a solo exhibition 《Between the Tastes》 of Francis Yu’s works at Unit Gallery. Steadily and surely, the creative dynamics of Rachel and other ceramic artists is helping to carve a special niche for this art form at JCCAC.
Please click here to download《JCCAC PROGRAMMES》(2016 Feb issue)
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