乔?达瓦尔：会讲故事的艺术家

王思萌

对乔·达瓦尔来说，创作作品和讲述故事是有内在联系的。对故事的挚爱激发着她的热情，使她迸发出源源不断的灵感。

每个人都有爱听故事的天性，能讲一个情节跌宕起伏，引人入胜又直达内心深处的故事，便可以在瞬间缩短人与人之间的距离；乔·达瓦尔就是一位能用她的画作讲故事的艺术家。她的画作是一种初见动人，再见倾心的美。特别是在了解了故事的始末后，就会是“初见不识画中意，再赏已是画中人”的感觉。

乔·达瓦尔是西澳大利亚的著名画家，每每提及澳大利亚，绝美的碧海沙滩，独特的野生动物，神秘的艾尔斯岩，以及传奇的库克船长便会浮现眼前。作为曾经的英属殖民地和移民大国，澳大利亚的近现代艺术深受当时欧洲的影响。可是早在十九世纪末至二十世纪中叶，澳大利亚的女艺术家所取得的社会地位和认可度是完全不能和同时代男性艺术家相提并论的。说到这里，不得不提及艺术家凯瑟琳·奥康纳Kathleen OConnor （1876-1968），她生活和经历的种种不仅是这个时代的缩影，更对乔·达瓦尔的创作产生了深远的影响。

在过去的十年间，乔不断地挖掘、解读这段历史，最终演绎出两场精彩的个人画展。 2014年名为“沿着水路直至尽头”的个人画展，讲述的是凯瑟琳·奥康纳的父亲老奥康纳的故事。老奥康纳来到西澳大利亚时正直西澳发展的关键时刻，金矿的开采带来了史无前例的基础设施拓建。作为总工程师的奥康纳在天鹅河的入海口设计并修建了港口，重建了铁路系统，并且设计了长达550公里的生命水源线，从珀斯绵延至东部炎热地带以满足数以千计为了实现黄金梦的淘金人。奥康纳从一位马背上的翩翩少年，一路从爱尔兰到了新西兰，最终来到西澳大利亚，然而在人们非理性的期待和媒体的恶意扭曲之下，1902年老奥康纳结束了自己的生命。这个带着挑战和极具震撼力的画展让人们情不自禁的想去探究老奥康纳给西澳大利亚留下的遗产到底分量几何？他的遗孀和他的女儿何去何从？

2015年“巴黎之血流入印度洋”的个人画展，凯瑟琳·奥康纳的余生被呈现出来；早先在珀斯学习艺术的她，1907年随家人前往欧洲，先后居住在巴黎和伦敦，并往返于两者之间，1911-1940年间，她的作品经常会在巴黎秋季艺术沙龙、法国艺术沙龙和伦敦展出，其中包括女性艺术家的专展。随着二战中伦敦的沦陷，她赶上了德国铁骑入侵前的最后一班列车返回巴黎。20年代之后的十余年间，她尝试过织物绘画并从事过一些商务活动。1948年，她的29幅画作和70余件艺术品在珀斯美术馆展出。然而由于经济的窘迫，在辗转欧洲、澳洲后，于1955年，这位“坚毅并自持己见”的女人不情愿地回到了西澳大利亚。也许是因为永远无法原谅这个冷酷无情的城市对她父亲的伤害，亦或是因为社会环境的窒息，1968年，在终老之时，她选择将她的骨灰撒入印度洋而非埋葬在澳大利亚的土地上。时至今日，凯瑟琳的作品依然遍及澳洲的国立美术馆。

对乔·达瓦尔来说，创作作品和讲述故事是有内在联系的。对故事的挚爱激发着她的热情，使她迸发出源源不断的灵感。每一次画展都是一个契机，让人们在享受视觉刺激的同时，有空间有氛围，可以在一起，或倾听、或领略、或感悟、或批判这些故事里的事。正如乔所说的：“我们的年轻人没有任何创造性的抱负如何来应对未来的挑战？我试着通过视觉刺激的过程来创造适于讨论的环境。我思考的问题很多，我想让其他人熟悉我们的历史，引发讨论，为什么不呢？在创意空间里有什么可害怕的？”

敏感是乔作为艺术家的特质。慧智的她善于把握各种介质，通过不同手法和技术搭配场景来满足主题，以获得平面和空间的多样性。比如：精致、发光的版画用来营造空灵的感觉，而大尺度的尤金·冯·格尔德斯克油画则是她表现沉重历史题材时的选择。她精通各种各样的技术——从水彩、丙烯、水粉、油画到单次印刷的蜡画、直至雕塑和安装——并尝试在教堂、长廊、背光仓库墙壁和白墙画廊等不同的地方展出。更让人惊叹的是她甚至将音乐、香气和味道融入到画展中，充分调动了人类的所有感官。

2013年，当乔·达瓦尔带着她的入围雕塑参加广场雕塑展时，邂逅了为她开启她新加坡艺术之旅的伙伴，并随之结识Marjorie Chu——新加坡最古老的当代艺术画廊ArtForum的拥有者和主理人，以及姚诗韵——新加坡艺术空间INSTINC主理人，隨之2014年新加坡个展应运而生。2017年，乔又与姚诗韵合作，名为“所有一切都在改变”的联展在新加坡举办。

在新加坡访问期间，一个偶然的机会，乔在Art Forum画廊展厅里被一幅作品深深打动，作者的名字叫做陈荔英，一位中国出生，欧美长大，漂至南洋，在新加坡终老的传奇华裔女画家。之所以传奇，是因为出生于1906年的她，生命中有四个节点，而每一个节点都是由战争“塑造”的。陈荔英本姓张，由于孙中山与她父亲张静江是至交朋友，发生在1911年的那场革命“大大改变了张家的命运”。二次大战之间时期，她在巴黎习画，在孙夫人宋庆龄牵线下嫁给正流亡巴黎的陈友仁（Eugene Chen），自后改姓夫姓。日军侵华时期，丈夫陈友仁在香港被拘押，继而软禁上海，1944年因病辞世。那年张荔英才38岁。至于第四个节点，说的是40年代末中国的那场内战。也是那场战争，把陈荔英带到了新加坡。更为偶然的是，乔在研究她作品、拜读她私人信件时发现，陈荔英与凯瑟琳这两位艺术家的作品在1930年竟同时出现在曾见证过二十世纪最善于运用色彩的伟大画家——野兽派代表人物亨利·马蒂斯的巴黎秋季艺术沙龙上。虽然两人是否相识已无从考证，但是两位女性艺术家对历史和艺术的贡献却值得尊敬。

名为“所有一切都在改变”的新加坡联展，正是乔·达瓦尔与姚诗韵联袂打造的，通过对凯瑟琳和陈荔英作品的揣摩和借鉴，升华出的一系列新作。作品试图通过揭示那个独特的年代下女艺术家奋斗的个人足迹，反衬出变化中的女艺术家的创作生活。虽然横亘历史，但却绵延流长。

现实中作为一位自筹资金的女艺术家乔·达瓦尔如是说：“我是一个自筹资金的艺术家，我必须去运作——这是一种成本效益。一个艺术家到一个新的环境，并打造一个没有预期结果的新工作。对我来说，是一种难以承受的奢侈。然而我在实践中给了自己一种方法，为最大的结果创造最新的作品，创造最好的作品，接受严格的辩论、放之网络并完成研究，任何展览都不例外。”endprint

其实很多偶然都有必然，仿佛冥冥中注定一样，2014年，“沿着水路直至尽头”中奥康纳与他的骏马“暮光”震人心魄，当时正值中国马年；2017年，“所有一切都在改变”中出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖的荷花气质清新；加之对华裔女画家陈荔英女士的敬畏，乔·达瓦尔真的应该带着她的作品來中国了！

2017年12月2日，中国北京马奈草地，我们等你！

乔·达瓦尔，出生于澳大利亚维多利亚州的Yarram，在维多利亚艺术学院学习，1998年获得了美术学士学位。在20世纪90年代乔与其他的Roar艺术家一道创立了儿童文化信托，并为慈善项目募集了超过100万澳元的捐款。自2009年移居西澳大利亚Fremantle后，一直致力于通过发掘历史，提炼素材进行创作。其中备受关注的是以西澳大利亚的历史人物奥康纳和他的女儿凯瑟琳·奥康纳为题材的两个销售系列和一个巡回展。这些作品都在她位于Fremantle Pakenham街艺术工作室创作完成。此外她还在Fremantle艺术中心任教。

乔曾凭借油画Gorge Landscape 获得Mandjar Art艺术奖，2015年获得Belmont公开艺术奖。2016年取得澳大利亚文化部和艺术协会资助，开始在国际范围内办展。2017年接受亚洲艺术新闻专访。她的多幅作品被收藏于珍妮特·霍姆斯法院、澳大利亚艺术银行、西澳大利亚水资源公司、珀斯皇冠塔、西澳大利亚皇家儿童医院、维多利亚州立图书馆、瑞士信贷集团、新加坡华乐酒店等。

Author Wang Simeng （Australia）

Translator Jin Zi（Beijing）

Everyone loves to listen to a good story： a story that has a twisted plot， fascinating and direct to your heart that you can instantly shorten the distance between people； Jo Darvall is one painter that can use her paintings to tell such stories. Her paintings are touching， delicate and have an alluring beauty. Especially after understanding the beginning and ending of the story behind her painting， you will have the feeling that “when you first admire the artwork you do not see the meaning of the painting and the second time you admire it， you are embedded within the painting”.

Jo Darvall is a famous painter from Western Australia. Often when people refer to Australia， the beautiful blue sea， golden sandy beaches， unique wild animals， the mysterious Ayers Rock and the legendary Captain Cook will emerge in front of their eyes. As a former British colony and a powerful nation with diverse influx of immigration from around the world， Australias modern art was deeply influenced by Europe. But as early as the end of nineteenth century to the middle twentieth century， the social status and recognition of female artists in Australia were not completely comparable to male artists from the same era. Speaking of this， we must mention the artist Kathleen OConnor （1876 - 1968）， her life and experience are not only the epitome of this era， but also have a profound impact on the creation of Jo Darvall.

In the past decade， Jo has been digging and interpreting this part of history and her final result are two wonderful personal exhibition. Named “along the water until the end” personal exhibition held in 2014， told the story of Kathleen OConnors father. The old OConnor came to Western Australia in a critical time in the development of Western Australia， the mining of gold brought unprecedented infrastructure. As the chief engineer of the design of Swan River estuary and construction of the port， the reconstruction of the railway system and the design of 550 km of water lifelines from Perth to the eastern hot areas to fulfil the dream of thousands of gold rush people. OConnor was a charming young man when he moved all the way from Ireland to New Zealand， and ultimately to Western Australia. Unfortunately， under the pressure of the peoples irrational expectations and malicious distortions from the media， old OConnor ended his life in 1902. This challenging and shocking exhibition let people can not help but want to explore exactly how much is the legacy of old OConnor left to Western Australia？ And what happened to his widow and daughter afterwards？endprint

In 2015， personal exhibition “Blood of Paris flew into the Indian Ocean"， the remain of Kathleen O'Connor's life was presented； Originally studied art in Perth， in 1907， she travelled to Europe with her family， first living in Paris and then London， she also travelled frequently between these two cities. Between 1911 to 1940， her works are often exhibited at the Fall Art Salon in Paris， the French Art Salon and London， including the special exhibition of female artists. With the fall of London in World War II， she caught the last train ride back to Paris before the German cavalry invasion. After more than ten years after the 1920s， she had tried fabric painting and engaged in some business activities. In 1948， her 29 paintings and more than 70 pieces of art were exhibited at Perth Art Museum. However， due to economic distress， after moving among different places in Europe， in 1955， “the perseverance and independent-minded” lady reluctantly returned to Western Australia. Perhaps because she could never forgive the cruelty of this city towards her father， or perhaps because of the choking social environment back then， in1968， she chose to have her ashes thrown into the Indian Ocean rather than buried on Australian land. Today， Kathleens works are still displayed in the Australias National Museum of Art.

For Jo Darvall， creating art and storytelling are interconnected. Out of her love for stories inspired her enthusiasm and provided endless inspirations for her artworks. Every single exhibition of hers is an opportunity for people to enjoy the visual stimulation， at the same time together listen， taste， percept and criticise these stories. As Jo said： “ Our young people do not have any creative ambitions to cope with the challenges from the future？ I try to create a suitable environment for discussion through the process of visual stimulation. I think a lot of questions. I want other people to be familiar with our history， lead discussions. Why not？ In a creative space， what are we afraid of？

Sensitivity is the character for Joe as an artist. The intelligent lady is good at grasp a variety of media， through different techniques and combinations with scene to meet the theme， in order to obtain the diversity of space. For example： exquisite， glowing prints used to create the feeling of ethereal. Large-scale Eugene Von Geldesk painting is her choice of heavy historical themes. She is skilled in a variety of techniques - from watercolour， acrylic， gouache， oil painting to a single printed wax painting， to sculpting and installation - and she tried to display and install her artworks in different places from churches， corridors， backlighting warehouse walls to white walls of galleries. Even more amazing is that she even incorporate music， aroma and taste into the exhibition， fully mobilise all the senses of mankind.endprint

In 2013， when Jo Darvall took her finalist sculpture to attend the Square Sculpture Exhibition， she met her partner who would opened her art tour in Singapore and met Marjorie Chu - owner of Singapore's oldest contemporary art gallery and the director of ArtForum， as well as Yao Shiyun - principal of Singapore Art Space INSTINC. As follows， the Singapore Solo Exhibition was held in 2014. In 2017， Jo and Yao cooperated and held the joint exhibition "everything is changing" in Singapore.

During her visit to Singapore， at an accidental opportunity， Jo was deeply touched by a work showed in the Art Forum Gallery exhibition. The painters name is Chen Liying. She was born in China， grew up in Europe and America， drifted to Southeast Asia and ended up in Singapore. Chen is a legendary Chinese-Singapore female painter. Her legendary life consists of four crucial turning points — each point is “shaped” by a war. Chen Liyings maiden name was Zhang. Sun Yat-sen and her father Zhang Jingjiang were close friends. The revolution occurred in 1911 "greatly changed the fate of Zhang family." During the second world war， she was studying painting in Paris. Suns wife Song Ching Ling introduced and married her to Chen Youren （Eugene Chen） exiled in Paris. She changed her name to Chen. During the Japanese invasion of China， her husband Chen Youren was detained in Hong Kong， and then under house arrest in Shanghai， died in 1944 due to illness. That year Chen Liying was only 38 years old. As for the fourth turning point， it was the civil war of China at the end of 1940s. That war brought Chen to Singapore. More surprisingly， when Jo was studying her work and her private correspondences， she found that both works of Chen and Kathleen have shown on the Paris Art Salon by Henry Matisse — one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century. Although we are unable to verify whether they were acquaintances， but it is worth respect that the two female artists contribution in art in history.

Singapore joint exhibition “Everything is changing” was created by Jo Darrell and Yao Shiyun side by side. Through their study of artworks by Kathleen OConnor and Chen Liying， they created a series of new works. The works attempt to reveal the personal footprint of female artists in that unique age and reflect their creative life.

In real life， as a self-financing female artist Jo said： “I am a self-financing artist， I have to work — its a cost-effective. When a artist come to a new environment and create a work that has not met the expected results. For me， it is an unbearable luxury. However， in practice I gave myself a way to create the latest works for the greatest results， to create the best works， to accept rigorous debate， put them on internet and complete the study， any exhibition is no exception.endprint

In fact， many accidents are inevitable， as if somewhere destined， in 2014， in the "along the water until the end” exhibition， old O'Connor and his horse “twilight” is shocking people， and it happened to be the Chinese horse year； in 2017， " Everything is changing” has the temperament of fresh lotus came out from the mud but was not dyed. Coupled with the tribute to the Chinese female painter Chen Liying， Jo Darrell should really bring her artworks to China！

On December 2， 2017， in Manai Gallery， Beijing， China， we are waiting for you！

Artist Profile：

Jo Darvall was born in Yarram， Victoria， Australia， studied at the Victorian Art Institute and received a Bachelor degree of Fine Arts in 1998. In the 1990s， Jo founded a children's cultural trust with other Roar artists and raised more than $ 1 million in donations for charity projects. Since moving to Fremantle， Western Australia in 2009， she has been committed to discovering history and refining material. The two sale series and a tour show focused on Western Australian historical figure OConnor and his daughter Kathleen OConnor have drew many attentions. All these works are completed at her art studio in Fremantle Pakenham Street. In addition， she is also teaching at the Fremantle Art Center.

Jo has won the Mandjar Art Prize by oil painting “ Gorge Landscape” and she also won the Belmont Open Art Award in 2015. In 2016， funded by the Australian Ministry of Culture and Arts Association， she began her exhibitions internationally. She also received an exclusive interview with Asian Art News in 2017. Her works are collected at the Janet Holmes Court， the Australian Arts Bank， Western Australian Water Company， the Perth Crown Tower， the Royal Australian Children's Hospital， the Victorian State Library， Credit Suisse Group， Singapore Hua Le Hotel and so on.endprint