在無有 - 馬書佳個展

無論是放開的筆勢，或被保留下來的空白，所呈現的，是同一種真實。

大成若缺，其用不弊。

大盈若沖，其用不窮。

大直若屈，大巧若拙，大辯若訥。

躁勝寒，靜勝熱。

清靜為天下正。

老子《道德經》第四十五章

這個展覽是從問題開始討論：是什麼支撐著一個動作？而當動作停止之後，又有什麼留在沉默？

同一雙手，可以讓顏料毫不遲疑地落下，一層又一層地堆疊；也可以在畫布前停下來，選擇只留下極少的痕跡。一件作品承接完整而直接的動勢，任由力量在畫面中展開；另一件作品也許只有一隻鳥、一朵花，以及大片未被佔據的空間；這些看似不同的畫面，要求觀看者以不同的方式停留。面對空白，有些人感受到平靜，也有人產生不安。

當畫面留下大量空間，我們很容易產生填補它的衝動，彷彿空白意味著某種缺少。然而，當我們站在充滿筆勢與痕跡的作品前，另一個問題又會出現：眼前所看到的，究竟是失去控制，還是完全交付於當下？

Matheus Almeida 將這兩種狀態放在一起。對他而言，它們來自同一個創作根源，只是以不同的形式出現。一種向外展開，一種向內收斂；一種讓痕跡充分出現，一種讓空間承載更多尚未被說出的內容。貫穿 Matheus Almeida 創作的重要影響之一，是中國寫意傳統。「寫意」所關注的，從來不只在於事物外在形貌的再現，更在於如何透過筆勢、節奏、留白與身體的動作，留下創作者面對事物時的感受與意念。因此，意並沒有固定的形態。它可以化成近乎失控的筆勢，在畫布上流動、堆疊與擴散；也可以收束在極少的形象之中，讓一隻鳥、一朵花，甚至一片看似空無的畫面，承載完整的觀看經驗。

空白因此具有重量；它保存著尚未發生的可能，也讓觀看意識到自己的存在。

當我們站在作品前，真正被觀看的或許不只有畫面，也包括我們如何面對空缺、豐滿、安靜與力量。這些作品所談論的，最終是一種關於「完整」的狀態。

完整未必意味著增加，也未必意味著減少。它可能存在於毫無保留的動勢之中，也可能存在於極度節制的沉默裡。當一個人能夠在兩者之間自由存在，不再急著填滿空白，也不再害怕力量的展開，作品便開始回到更根本的位置，對自身狀態的理解，以及在每一個當下，如其所是地存在。或許，這正是「在無有」所希望留下的觀看經驗：在有與無之間，在動與靜之間，在放開與收斂之間，重新感受存在本身。

在無有 | THE ESSENCE OF BEING

Whether in the loose gesture or the held emptiness, it is the same truth that reveals itself.

Great perfection seems incomplete, yet its use is never exhausted.
Great fullness seems empty, yet its use is never spent.
Great straightness seems bent, great skill seems clumsy, great eloquence seems halting.
Restlessness overcomes cold, stillness overcomes heat.
Clarity and stillness are the measure of all under heaven.

Laozi, Tao Te Ching, chapter 45

This exhibition is born from a question: what sustains the gesture, and what remains in the silence that follows it? The same hand that lets the ink spill without hesitation, layer upon layer, is also the hand that steps back from the canvas and chooses to touch almost nothing. One canvas receives the whole gesture, without shame, without fear of excess. Beside it, another receives a single bird, a single flower, and an emptiness so vast that it compels the viewer to linger there, with nothing else to intervene.

This unsettles, and it should. For the calm mind, emptiness brings peace. For the restless mind, it brings anguish, or the anxious urge to fill what the artist deliberately left blank. And before the gesture that spills, the reaction reverses, the same viewer once disturbed by emptiness now wonders whether what they see is a loss of control or a total surrender. It is neither. It is the same truth, wearing two different forms.

The influence of the Xieyi tradition, which runs through the whole of Matheus Almeida's work, was never about reproducing the exact form of things, it was always about writing the intention behind them. And intention does not have a single appearance. It can spill like uncontrolled ink across the linen, or it can hold itself whole within a space that seems empty, but never is. Both are the same truth, and neither needs to justify itself before the other.

Happy will be whoever allows themselves to be whole on either path, the gesture that spills and the silence that holds, because both are born of the same essence, and essence was never about having less or having more. It is about not being afraid to show yourself as you are.