HOU, GUAN-TING
ART STATEMENT
創作理念
侯冠廷Hou, Gaun Ting（臺灣，b.1999）畢業於臺北藝術大學美術系。
侯冠廷的創作經常以虛構生物作為載體，透過繡線、珠子、纖維材質、礦物顏料等媒材，構築介於神話、記憶與現實之間的存在。這些生物並非特定物種的再現，而是一種情感的容器，承載著創作過程中難以言說的感受與狀態。
早期作品源自於對路殺動物的關注。創作者凝視那些被遺落在道路上的身體，思考生命如何在消失後仍留下痕跡。隨著創作持續發展，關注的對象逐漸從死亡的事件本身，轉向生命經驗中更深層的情感結構。那些受傷、變形、縫補與重組的身體，開始成為我理解自身處境的一種方式。
作品中的生物往往帶有曖昧的姿態。牠們既脆弱又堅韌，既像受傷的動物，也像正在緩慢成長的神祇。牠們身上保留著傷痕、皺褶與縫合的痕跡，如同個體在時間中累積的記憶。對侯冠廷而言，創作並非是為了消除這些痕跡，而是學習與它們共存。
纖維材料的特性也深深影響著創作者的創作思考。刺繡、縫製與堆疊需要漫長的時間，近似於一種持續性的照護行為。透過反覆勞動，創作者試圖將那些無法被直接表述的情緒轉化為具體形象，使作品成為一種介於紀念、陪伴與自我修復之間的存在。
這些生物或許帶著淡淡的哀傷，那份「哀」並非指向絕望，反而接近於對生命有限性的理解。在創作之中，創作者試圖為那些無法被完整說明的情感留下位置，也為自己建構一個能夠安放記憶與想像的棲所。
Hou, Guan-Ting (Taiwan, b. 1999) graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts.
Hou Guan-Ting’s practice centers on fictional creatures as vessels through which to explore the space between mythology, memory, and reality. Working with embroidery thread, beads, textiles, mineral pigments, and other mixed media, he constructs hybrid beings that do not represent any existing species, but instead serve as emotional containers, embodying states of feeling that resist direct articulation.
His earlier works emerged from an enduring fascination with roadkill. By observing animal bodies abandoned along roadsides, he began to reflect on how traces of life continue to linger after death. Over time, however, his focus gradually shifted away from death itself toward the deeper emotional structures embedded within lived experience. Bodies that are wounded, transformed, stitched, and reconstructed became a way of understanding his own existence.
The creatures inhabiting his works often occupy an ambiguous state. They are at once fragile and resilient, resembling both injured animals and slowly emerging deities. Their bodies retain scars, wrinkles, seams, and signs of repair, echoing the memories accumulated through time. Rather than erasing these traces, Hou regards artistic practice as a way of learning to coexist with them.
The nature of textile materials profoundly shapes his thinking. Embroidery, stitching, and layering demand patience and sustained attention, becoming a form of prolonged care. Through repetitive manual labor, he transforms emotions that cannot easily be spoken into tangible forms, allowing each work to exist somewhere between memorial, companionship, and self-restoration.
Although these imagined creatures often carry a quiet melancholy, this sadness does not point toward despair. Instead, it reflects an acceptance of life's finitude. Through his practice, Hou seeks to create a place where emotions that resist clear explanation may continue to exist, while simultaneously building a quiet refuge for memory, imagination, and the uncertainties of being.