巧手傳情(上) Affection through fingers (I)

搬到一個全新的生活環境，交友圈自然也跟著變動，異國媳婦的生活圈，自然而然必得跟著另一半打轉。米奇是音樂家，因此我最先認識的義大利朋友，絕大部分都是音樂人，而一個牽一個，在各種場合中，音樂圈變成了藝術圈，我也樂得開始跟著米奇在地方上大小藝術展中出沒，一起拓展我們的交友圈。
Moving to a brand new place, one’s friend circle is surely changed. Someone like me, a foreigner in a foreign place, the focus of life and friends is anyway following my husband. Michele is a musician. So most people I got to know here at the beginning are all people related to the music industry. One by one, little by little, music circle becomes art circle. I happily go around art exhibitions and activities with Michele to broaden our friend circle.

芭芭拉就是在某次藝術展開幕酒會中認識的戒指設計師，嚴格說來，她是米奇的好友的朋友。兩年前的某一天，在某個藝術展的開幕酒會裡，大家伙兒有一搭沒一搭地聊著，講到芭芭拉近期將在離寒舍不遠的巴薩諾開個展，幾個人於是便約了一起去看展。那次看展的經驗，成了我個人和芭芭拉的第一次親密接觸。
Barbara is a ring designer whom we got to know in the opening of an art exhibition. She’s actually a very good friend of Michele’s good friend. Two years ago, in the opening party of an exhibition, we’re chatting with a group of people that Barbara was included. She mentioned that she’s going to have a personal exhibition in Bassano. So some of us made an appointment and went together, which has become my very first intimate contact with Barbara and her artworks.

第一次看到芭芭拉的作品，是「Deinos」系列的各式戒指。此系列很有外太空的感覺，一件件形狀極不規則，流動感極高卻看似笨重的大塊金屬，拿在手上竟是如此的輕巧，更神奇的是，戴起來完全不會阻礙到手指的活動，跟乍看之下的印象竟有著如此大的差別！「Deinos」這個字源自希臘文，是「令人害怕」的意思，我私底下常常偷偷地想著，也許因為人們的第一印象都會是「這種東西怎麼戴」或「看起來好奇怪」，造成心態上的遲疑，所以芭芭拉才會替這個系列起了這個名次，只是，我總害怕自己會提出一些‘不上道’的問題，所以一直都沒有真的向芭芭拉求證。
The first series of works I saw is Deinos. These rings seem coming from the space. Their shapes are irregular, fluid and seem to be heavy. When I picked them up, I was amazed by their lightness. The more amazing thing is, their shapes do not impede finger movement. There’s a great difference between their appearance and actual feeling one gets from touching them. The word “Deinos” comes from Greek. It means “frightening”. I used to think secretly that it’s probably because of the first impression and appearance of this series that people will feel hesitated to touch them so that Barbara has named it this way. However, I never have the courage to ask Barbara this question because I’m afraid to “sound stupid”…

看到「Deinos」的同時，我也看了不少先前個展的紀錄照與作品集，木製戒指上的超迷你仙人掌盆栽、形狀各異的彩色蠟燭戒指、靈感來自老電影幽浮魔點（The Blob）裡巨大食人果洞的塑膠戒指等，完全顛覆了我對戒指的概念。某次到芭芭拉家裡拜訪，閒聊之際得知，芭芭拉所採用的材質，都是一系列反覆試驗與深入研究的成果，她對有機材料的性質非常有興趣，喜歡天馬行空地思考，拿各種材料來實驗，書架上滿滿的材料相關專業書籍，讓我看到芭芭拉對此一主題的執著與努力，也讓我滿心期待，看她下次會變出什麼花樣來。
I saw Deinos with some photos and catalogues of previous exhibitions. Mini cactus in wooden rings, colorful candle rings, special plastic rings inspired by the cannibal jelly in the old move “The Blob”, and all of them changed my perspectives and ideas about ring design. She invited us to her place for several times. And I gradually got to know that all the materials she uses come from a series of repeating test and in-depth studies. She is much interested in organic materials, likes to think liberally and experiments with various kinds of materials. On her bookshelves there’re lots of professional publications, from which I can tell her persistence and hard working of her dreams and makes me wait for her new ideas expectantly.







圖片取自設計師之官網.
Image from designe's official web site.