CaveMan: An Exhibition of Loy Luo's Works

Wang Chunchen

The Cave is an ancient metaphor. The allegory of the cave became a basic way for philosophers to debate the world and perception and reality of it. For Loy Luo, it became a way to imagine herself, her art, her worlds. To imagine anew.

Loy Luo arrived in New York in early January 2020 and planned to stay for three months. While a brief visit turned into four years of experiences. In these years, she saw a lot and thought a lot. She struggled for survival in realms she did not know. It was not easy. She tried to make sense of things in her art. She painted portraits with masks for friends she made and for strangers she came across. Then came several especially timely solo exhibitions in which Loy Luo painted “The me in others “and “The homeless” in New York. It attracted the attention of dozens in local artistic circles and in the art media.

After moving from place to place, she built her New York studio, from which she could engage the art world and that of the city itself. All the while, her vision broadened and sharpened as she painted, wrote, and enacted performance works.

In a cleft, we are caveman. When we go out, we become different caveman; we’re not the same but also not entirely different. When Loy Luo showed her work in New York, viewers there encountered what was for many of them an unusual vision of time and space. Two kinds of time and space can be found in works she brought back to Beijing and those she left in Li Qiao's studio. Look at them carefully: they may appear the same in spirit, but the energy in them is not. The works she left has strong direct impact; they are sometimes dense. The works created in New York are saturated by other atmospheres, of tenacity and firmness, of speculation about cave and non-cave.

Today's artistic creation is often in that kind of a situation in one way or another. Here is here, there is there, and they don’t seem to meet. For the cave is in a mountain; it is inseparable from the whole mountain, with its many peaks and heights, allowing boundless vistas. Yet, after the years of observing, exploring, communicating, thinking, and acting, Loy Luo is not the same one who was four years ago. This exhibition looks back and to the distance, Loy Luo’s vision rushes to the sea and to a new world.

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洞穴人:罗一作品展

王春辰

洞穴是古代对外部世界的一种比喻，人在洞穴中，总想看到外面的世界。他在洞穴中看到的世界是一个局部，甚至看 到的仅仅是自己的影子。这就是著名的洞穴理论，也成为哲学家论辩世界关系的一种最原始的案例。

罗一在 2020 年 1 月上旬去纽约，计划在那里待三个月，看看展览、走一走。没成想，这一待，就是整整四年。在 这四年里，她经历了很多，看到了很多，也思考了很多，一句话，相当不容易。这是一次生存与停摆之间的战斗，在 陌生的世界里，要生存，就必须拿出十二万分的努力和勤劳，她从一点点的事情做起，给身边的朋友画像，成为那段 困难时刻大家相互温暖的一种支持。她的作品也吸引了当地艺术界和不少艺术媒体的关注。

几经辗转，她在纽约市内建立了自己的工作室，从那里她可以参与艺术界和城市本身。随着同时进行的绘画、写作和 表演，她的视野变得宽广和敏锐。一直以来，她都在思考这个世界，思考她的艺术在其中的位置，在生命中的位置。

当我们在洞穴里，我们是洞穴人;当我们走出洞穴，我们是不一样的洞穴人;此非彼也。所以，当罗一把自己的作品 做一展示的时候，里面包含了不一样的时空观;她带回的一小部分作品与之前留在李桥工作室的作品就形成了两种时 空中的作品。看它们的相貌，好像差不多，但细细体会，就发现一种劲头的不一样。在国内的作品，有冲击、厚重感; 在那边的作品，浸透了坚韧、坚决的坚实感，这里面有了一种通透的气息，也有了更多的思辨。

今天做艺术，时常处在这样的境况中，要么这样，要么那样，此在是此在，彼处是彼处，似乎不相汇合。但洞穴乃一 座山是也，必然要链接其外的整个山脉峰峦，由此必一览无限风光。经过这四年的观察、摸索、交流、思考、行动， 罗一已非四年前的罗一，对于自己的艺术实践又有了新的界面，本次展是她的一次回望与远望，奔流到海，一片新天 地。