INVISIBLE BORDER by Alex Face INVISIBLE BORDER is Alex’s latest body of studio work, transpiring into a series of paintings. Grappling with the issue of borders, the presentation addresses the troubling divisive restraints and separations caused by borders, from geographical to mental boundaries. It is a continuation of addressing his social concerns about the home, displacement, and adjustment that the youth of today and tomorrow are facing in the highly unstable global conditions.
Alex Face隱形的邊界是藝術家最新的創作，具現化成一系列的畫作，正面討論邊疆的議題，作品的象徵處理了邊疆造成的動盪分裂與分離枷鎖，從地理上到心靈層面的邊界。此系列延續著藝術家始終為現今與未來孩子們在動盪國際情勢下對家園、迷失與調整種種的社會擔憂。
The subject matter caught his attention from observing and conversing with people that he met during his street mural spray painting trips from small towns to newly-developed urban cities. In 2017, Alex was invited to create a mural painting in Shenzhen, China. On location, he was struck with a contrasting scene of the trendy café that was located next to the port and a laborers’ shacks:
作品主題來自他於街頭壁畫創作時所觀察、談話等的人事物，從小鎮到新興城市。在2017年，Alex受邀至中國深圳進行壁畫創作，在當地，他被印入眼前的畫面衝擊到，一處坐落於港口旁的時髦咖啡廳與勞工棲身的簡陋小屋形成鮮明對比。
“I saw many people visit the café to take photos for social media. Some of them took it so seriously that they even brought a change of clothes. However, later I saw a ragged child who came from a shack run to the café and he was stunned. The café was like a different world to him. I felt as if there was an invisible line that divides people,…” – Alex Face
“我看見許多人在咖啡廳前拍了許多照片上傳至社群媒體，有些人甚至帶了許多服裝更換。然而，不久我又看見一位穿著簡陋的孩童從小屋跑了出來，來到了咖啡廳被眼前景象震懾住，咖啡廳對他而言彷彿是不同世界，我感覺像是有一道隱形的牆分化著當前的人們” —Alex Face
The scene, thus, became his inspiration for his mural painting titled Invisible Borders (2017) that he conceived for the site in Shenzhen. The monumental-sized mural depicted his iconic three-eyed child character sits silently on a swing gazing outwards while being separated by the opening surrounded with barbed wire.
這一幕因此成為藝術家的壁畫創作靈感，於深圳構想出名為隱形疆界的作品，紀念碑大小的壁畫描繪著經典三眼孩童，安靜坐在鞦韆上望著前方，被充滿針的鐵線空地區隔開來。
Alex Face, Invisible Borders, 2017, Shenzhen, China. Courtesy of the Artist.
Alex Face, 隱形的疆界，2017中國深圳，藝術家的敬禮。
Becoming a recurring motif in his work, barbed wire made another appearance in his duo painting series titled Playground’s Borders (2020) presented in a show at the Vertical Gallery, Chicago, USA. The series is a result of his encounter with the conversations and experiences that he picked up during his trip to the US in 2019. The works grasp an unsettling moment of impasse imposed on the migrant children that were separated from their parents due to the major deportation of unauthorized immigrants enforced by the White House under Donald J. Trump’s presidency.
鐵圈至此成為藝術家作品中的常規圖案，鐵圈再次出現於他標題為”遊戲場的疆界”的作品中，於美國芝加哥的垂直畫廊展出。該系列來自於他2019年美國旅程中的所見所聞，作品烙印著當移民的孩子們被迫於與他們非法入境的父母親們分離時那令人不安的片刻，由川普總統掌權的白宮下令這一切法令的執行。
In parallel to his street art practice, Alex’s idiosyncratic approach is known for combining his self-taught street art spray painting techniques with his mastery of classical artistic skills that he has honed since his days in an art school. Through surreal visuals, his works are conceived based on the notion about the current critical situation under the oppressive laws and regulations in the context of post-capitalism and the post-pandemic world that he experienced and accumulated across decades of his practices. Alex Face and his iconic character gradually immerse into the everyday life of people on different continents through his mural paintings, including the mural painting at Huashan Creative Park, Taipei, 2020. Inspired by the birth of his daughter, his iconic three-eyed child bunny character, often dressed in ripped attire, represents his own heartfelt worries on the current and future troubling environments that his daughter and the younger generation are growing up in. Through his endearing character that penetrates the heart of many, Alex subtly evokes weighty social issues and surrounding circumstances that we are living in: “within its cuteness, there lies a certain seriousness. […] It’s kind of a collision of positivity and negativity, which results in more questions.”
與他的街頭藝術創作並併行，Alex的怪誕創作方式以結合自學的噴漆技巧及在藝術學校中陶勳的專業藝術技能聞名，透過超現實視覺表達，他的作品構想來自數十年創作中的經驗累積，在後資本主義及後疫情下受壓迫性的法律所規範眼下，人們活著的當今重要局勢
Alex Face與他經典的角色投過壁畫逐漸融入各大陸人們的日常生活中，包含他受女兒出生啟發的2015台北華山公園的壁畫，他經典的三眼兔裝孩子，經常著破爛衣裳，象徵著他自身的擔憂，對於女兒及年輕世代成長所處的當前及未來動盪環境下。透過楚楚可憐的角色貫穿許多人心， Alex委婉的喚起我們生活中的沉重社會議題及周遭情況，”在可愛外表內，存在著某種嚴肅”如同某種正能量與負能量的碰撞，進而導出更多疑問。
Mural painting at Huashan Creative Park, Taipei 2015. Courtesy of the Artist. ——–
台北華山公園的壁畫，2015年，藝術價的敬禮。
