塔罗——熊宇个展
　　展览时间：2008年10月10日至11月25日
　　开幕酒会：2008年10月10日17:00
　　地　　点：环碧堂画廊
　　地　　址：北京市朝阳区百子湾路甲16号易构空间7号楼2、3层
　　电　　话：010-87746332
　　传　　真：010-87746339
　　邮　　箱：chinabluegallery@yahoo.com.cn
　　网　　址：www.chinabluegallery.com

　　熊宇新的主题展览《塔罗》将于10月10日在环碧堂画廊开幕。这组作品以塔罗牌的22张大阿尔卡那牌图像为主题，是熊宇历尽几年时间潜心创作而成。熊宇以塔罗为契机，将自己的内心世界外化在塔罗牌里，借此表达自己对于世界、人生的看法。

　　塔罗牌相传起源于古埃及的《叨忒之书》，是法老用来占卜和做出决策的。后被绘成卡片通过祭祀流传下来并传入欧洲，并在中世纪成为普遍使用的占卜手段，与占星术、占数术一起成为神秘学的代表之一。塔罗牌具有完备的自我体系，依托78种基本的性质，以及它们的两个可能的方向，将整个世界无限发展变化囊括其中。卡尔•荣格（Carl Jung）第一次将塔罗牌视为象征性原型，用于心理学研究，成为分析个性的重要依据。

　　在这组作品中，典型的熊宇式人物有着水一样的眼眸，常常长着羽状的翅膀，代表着人所能达到的自由。他去除掉以前较为厚重的画面铺陈，让原本就纯化的颜色因此更显出清逸，营造出类似失重的飞扬状态，这样的状态很直接就把熊宇渴望诉达的内心活动轨迹给点明。在每一张作品中，熊宇不是以阐释塔罗牌的角色为目的，而是寓涵了自己对于世界的联想，从每一张牌中生发出不同的认知和体验。例如〈愚人〉，传统这个牌面一定会出现旭日、悬崖；一个打扮近似小丑的人，满脸带笑却一只脚已经踏在悬崖外。这张牌面其实用来隐喻一个人并不清楚自己正面临什么状况。熊宇在诠释这张牌面时，就舍弃悬崖这个环节，他以一个正飞跃在半空中的人物为主图像，蓝天白云，丝毫看不出任何安全与危险的可能性。或许传统的塔罗牌面对于愚人的观感，会比较倾向于不聪明或有点失疯状况的描述。可是，在熊宇的解读中，愚人的定义不再那样的窄化，因为，当每个人所处的位置与角色不同的时候，所做出的决定对于某些人或许是蠢极，就另外的人则会是正确的选择。熊宇不断从一个现代语意学里去推翻旧思维样貌，展现一个很符合自己背景的思考范畴。

云上的占卜者

为内心的自我，所做的一份说帖

　　Tarot- Xiong Yu Solo Exhibition
　　Dates: 10th October – 25th November
　　Opening Reception: Friday 10th October, from 5pm
　　Venue: Chinablue Gallery
　　Address: 2-3/F, Bldg. 7, Jia 16 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
　　Tel: 010-87746332
　　Fax: 010-87746339
　　Email: chinabluegallery@yahoo.com.cn
　　Web: www.chinabluegallery.com

　　Xiong Yu’s new exhibition Tarot will open at Chinablue Gallery on the 10th of October. It takes the 22 tarot cards of the Major Arcana (the trump cards) as its theme and is the product of almost three years work. Xiong Yu has used the theme of tarot cards to portray an external image of his own inner world, his vision of life and the world.

　　Legend has it that tarot cards originate from the Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth, which was used as a divination and decision-making tool by the Pharaohs. The book was later sacrificed to prevent its contents falling into enemy hands, transposed onto a set of pictorial cards, which subsequently made their way to Europe to evolve into the divination cards we know today. Alongside astrology and numerology, they have become one of the pillars of occult science. Tarot cards’ fully integrated system relies upon 78 basic human characters, each with their respective dichotomies, to encompass unlimited possibilities of the world. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung viewed tarot cards as symbolic archetypes, which he used as important indicators in working with patients.

　　This series of works sees Xiong Yu’s classic figures, with their emerald eyes and long feathery wings, represent man’s potential freedom. He has done away with the heavy ornamentation from before, bringing out purity in the work and giving a sense of weightlessness to the paintings – something that has allowed Xiong Yu to highlight directly his inner world’s activity. Xiong Yu’s goal with each card isn’t to explain its meaning but rather to embody his own worldview. With each card comes different understandings and experience. The first tarot card The Fool, for example, traditionally features a rising sun over a steep cliff. Dangling one foot over the cliff edge is a figure playing the joker, sporting a broad smile as he does so. This card is used as a metaphor for someone who doesn’t realise the precarious situation they are actually facing. However, Xiong Yu’s interpretation of this card has done away with the cliff entirely. It features a figure flying down against a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds, with seemingly no danger or threat in sight. Traditional impressions of a fool were perhaps centred on the idea of someone who was either rather stupid or losing their mind but Xiong Yu’s definition of a fool is clearly not so narrow. When everyone’s roles and positions are so different, something that might seem stupid for one person could seem quite sensible for another. Thus Xiong Yu attempts to reinterpret ancient thought with contemporary semantics, exhibiting a mind-set representative of his own surroundings.