The Heart : Mai Ta Solo Exhibition
■ 地點 Venue ｜ 大河美術 RIVER ART GALLERY
大河美術將舉辦越南藝術家 Mai Ta 首度於亞洲的個展《The Heart》，回歸其過往不斷追尋卻始終未能真正擁有的純粹狀態。全新創作系列直面了因見證悲劇所生的無力感，映照當代劇變下的失聲與無能，回應當前人類共同經驗中的脆弱、悲愴與渴望。展期恰逢第十四屆臺北雙年展《Whispers on the Horizon》，使 Mai Ta 的創作自然地進入亞洲藝 術家與國際語境的交會場域。
Mai Ta 生於 1997 年的越南，畢業於紐約視覺藝術學院，目前居住在西貢。她使用水粉在畫布、木板或紙上創作，也透過油畫描繪其錯綜複雜的內心世界——所有居於此的創傷、秘密與記憶等等，並將它們昇華為專屬的符號。藝術家試圖在情感中尋求真理，並藉由藝術來表達之於這些感覺的尊重。對她來說，藝術是可以毫無罪惡感、安全又自由 的表達形式。《The Heart》是相當直接的展題，不僅指涉個體內在最脆弱而誠實的部分， 也是一面白旗——象徵對悲痛的無力回應與情感的投降——這種感受，已被她視為人類 處境中與生俱來的一部分。
在 Mai Ta 眼中，悲劇始終是藝術創作的核心。她的作品不企圖給予解答，而是將無力感凝結於視覺語言，讓畫布成為最真誠的記錄。這些畫面既是對私人夢境的註解，也是對集體處境的回聲:當最後一筆刷痕落下，藝術的力量是否終止?當內心世界叛變，僅殘留如樹脂般黏稠而無盡的痕跡時，該如何承受?倘若夢境幻化為占卜者，心靈舉起了白旗，失去了這個自我構築的世界，藝術家又該如何安置自己?她無法豁免於此，只能交付於失效的符號:黑馬、鳥群、空曠的房間。這些不僅承載個人創傷與記憶，更折射歷史無常與世界共同的感知裂縫。
《The Heart》既是個人化的書寫，也是對集體符號失效的誠實凝視。純粹而強烈的張力使個體情感與集體文化、在地經驗與全球語境彼此交織出複雜的劇情。浪潮依舊無視暗流而拍打著岩石，鳥群冷眼旁觀扭曲的枝幹，大河美術邀請觀眾進入這片心靈場域，直面心房裡的大象，與藝術家共同承受徒勞與靜默，並在傷痛與渴望的共同處境裡，意識到自身早已深陷其中。
RIVER ART GALLERY will host the first solo exhibition by the Vietnamese artist Mai Tạ in Asia. The exhibition presents a new body of work, returning to a simplicity she had never known. “The Heart” is a collection of works reckoning with the artist’s feelings of powerlessness from being a witness to tragedy, reflecting the mutedness and incapacity amid contemporary upheavals — something she has come to accept as an intrinsic quality of the human condition. Coinciding with the upcoming 14th Taipei Biennial, “Whispers on the Horizon”, the exhibition enables Mai Tạ's works to naturally enter the intersection between Asian artists and the global context.
Born in 1997 in Việt Nam, Mai Tạ received her BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and is now based in Sài Gòn. She work with oil on cavas and uses gouache to paint on paper and wood boards, depicting her inner desires and her quest for reconciliation with the world. Through her art, she conveys the inner wounds, secrets, and memories within her, while sublimating them into her own symbols. Mai Tạ seeks truth within her emotions and expresses them with honor through her paintings. For her, art is a form that allows her to safely and freely express herself. “The Heart” is an intentionally straightforward title, pointing to the most fragile and candid part of the human self; it’s also a white flag — symbolizing a helpless response to grief and an emotional surrender — these feelings, to her, are a part of the burden humanity bears from birth.
Tragedy has always been central to the artist’s work. Her images do not attempt to provide answers, but rather crystallize a sense of incapability into visual language, allowing the canvas to become the most honest record. They are the annotations of the most private dreams, as well as the echoes of shared predicaments. What is to be done when one’s only skill ends at the final brushstroke? What is to be done when betrayal leaves its sticky residue, sap-like in quality, endless in nature? Who would she be without this world she’d created for herself, in which her dreams are fortunetellers, and her heart a white flag? She is not exempt from suffering, resolving herself to the futility of symbols — the black horse, birds, the empty rooms. They carry the individual traumas and memories, but also mirror the impermanence of history and the mutual perceptual fractures of the world.
“The Heart” is a personal statement, a sincere gaze towards the barrenness of the collective symbols. The pure and fierce tension weaves individual emotions with communal culture, local experiences with global contexts, creating intricate narratives. Water laps at shore, whirlpools form in secret. Trees twist in agony while a bird sits still, as if to watch. RIVER ART GALLERY invites the audience to enter the spiritual realm, confronting the elephant in the room, sharing the weight of futility and silence with the artist. Within this shared landscape of pain and longing, we come to realize how inescapably bound we are to these conditions.
