纽约的Carpenters Workshop画廊近期举办了名为“Slow Motion”（慢动作）的家具展，这也是荷兰艺术家Aldo Bakker自2018年加入画廊之后举办的首次个展。展览呈现了包括凳子、桌子和器皿在内的10件全新作品，制作材料涉及金属、石材和日本漆工艺等。Carpenters Workshop画廊联合创始人Loic Le Gaillard表示：“Aldo涉及的家具充满力量、优雅与个性，为设计界提供了一种前所未有的全新视角。考虑到这些难得的品质以及他个人的影响力，没有人会愿意错过为他办展的机会。”

On April 26th Carpenters Workshop Gallery New York opened Slow Motion – a solo exhibition by Dutch artist Aldo Bakker. Slow Motion features 10 new works that have never been exhibited before. The pieces include stools, tables, and vessels; their materiality spanning stone, metal and Urushi – a Japanese lacquer process. Slow Motion is Bakker’s first exhibition with Carpenters Workshop Gallery since joining the gallery’s roster in 2018. Says gallery co-founder Loic Le Gaillard, “Powerful, elegant and filled with personality, Aldo’s furniture brings a new perspective, not seen before in the design space. These qualities coupled with his impact on the design world make it impossible to not want to represent him.”

▼展览现场，exhibition views

除了独特的外观，Aldo Bakker的作品往往有着值得深究的内涵。即使从表面上看，这些作品之间似乎拥有相似性，但事实上这也只是肤浅一瞥所得出的结论。通过放慢“看”的过程，Aldo Bakker迫使我们去一而再、再而三地观察这些作品，只有这样，它们才能够开始为自己发声。这些作品并不打算触及大众，而是试图强调自我。一个看上去像桌子的事物一方面在讲述“什么是桌子”，另一方面则是在展现“垂直与水平”的编排方式。它所创造的平衡就如两座摩天大楼之间拉起的钢索一般迷人。它是一种平衡行为。

Despite their singular appearance, Aldo Bakker’s works never seem to reveal themselves easily. Even the suggestion of similarity between the pieces is only the result of a superficial first glance. By slowing down the process of “seeing”, Aldo Bakker forces us to look twice, and twice again. Only then, the different creations start to speak. The pieces don’t try to reach the masses but instead address the individual. What looks like a table speaks about what a table could be, but it also reflects on the choreography of verticality vs. the horizontal. The equilibrium it creates is as captivating as a tightrope walk between two skyscrapers. A balancing act.

▼展品细部，pieces detailed view

Slow Motion展示了Aldo Bakker对于完美事物的不懈追求：每一件作品都如同在钢丝上行走的人，试图在行走、站立和坠落之间找到平衡。这种为作品赋予人格的做法会从一定程度上改变观众的认知。我们所关注的不再是一个没有生命的物体，也不再将我们对于风格、形式和材料的看法投射在这些物体身上。相反，是这些“生命体”在邀请我们与它们的行为进行对话，与它们的不确定性、它们的信仰以及它们自己的语言进行对话。我们不再以购买者或者艺术史学家的身份来接近它们，而是以一个“同路人”的身份去质疑自身，就像它们质疑我们那样。

Slow Motion shows how Aldo Bakker materializes the eternal quest for the perfect object through objects that guise themselves as tightrope walkers, balancing between moving, standing still, and almost crashing down. By positioning his works as individual characters, Bakker forces his audience to shift its perception. We are no longer looking at an inanimate object on which we project our knowledge of style, shape or material value. Instead, these creatures invite us to engage in a conversation about their behaviour, their uncertainties, their beliefs, their native tongue. We do not approach them as buyers or even as art historians, we become their fellow travellers, questioning ourselves as much as they question us.

▼作品系列，series on exhibition

该设计的重点在于对桌子原型的深入研究，避免过分脱离于原始草图（一条线）的核心本质。桌腿与桌面的宽度相同，从而可以平稳地摆放在任何地方。桌面底部的弧度能够让使用者自然地靠近并接触桌子，或者在远处静静地欣赏桌子所呈现出的建筑般的姿态。

In the creation of Console/Table it was important to examine the archetype of a table, without departing too much from the essence of the original drawing: a line. The legs are about as wide as the top and they can be placed freely to support the horizontal body of the tabletop. The curved shapes of the enclosed space gently invite the user to come close to the table and touch, or to keep a distance and enjoy the delicate architecture of the console.

这件家具呈现出了一种厚重与轻盈的微妙平衡。从正面看，其庞大的体量暗示着一种类似于蝙蝠的意象和美感；从侧面看，它又像纸张一般纤薄，从而塑造一种出奇妙的立体效果。唯独被切割的剖面没有涂上油漆，这种“瑕疵”进一步加强了“线”在整个物体中的主导地位。

Its delicate play between substance and lightness, and especially the frontal image created by Flat Brown are allusions to the esthetics of a bat. As paper thin as it is strong, the object combines mass and shape to create a three-dimensional rendering of a line. All parts are cut into shape. The Urushi lacquer covering the entire object doesn’t stick to the contours of separate elements. This ‘flaw’ reinforces the dominance of the line.