But the stability of the image is offset by the slightly tilted camera angle: everything, the benches, the water in the puddles, the trees and the little hut…are going to slide towards the left of the image, out of the frame, until nothing is left. In the foreground there is a big puddle, it has a strong presence, taking up half of the picture frame. In the puddle is the reflection of a tree, more lucid than reality. We don’t see the tree itself, only the reflection, in fact not even the entire reflection: the tree is half eaten up by the dry bits of the ground. Soon the puddle will dry up; the tree will die before autumn comes. Further down the footpath, a person is carrying a ship across the footpath. It is almost surreal, a ship with legs, a ship walking on the ground. But still that man behind the camera wants to board that ship, wait a minute, he shouts, take me with you, take me home. But that ship, with its pretty white sails, it has no ears. The shouts leap off the lips into thin air, disperse into particles, die. The man is unable to cross that puddle, as vast as the ocean that separates him from his homeland. He watches as the ship walks away. That tree, the dying reflection of a tree, is his only consolation.

Andre Kertesz, Homing Ship (1967)

This is a late work of Kertesz, and it is one of my favourite images in the exhibition Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century. Perhaps it provides the key to the unresolved mystery: just why did so many great Hungarian photographers made their brilliant appearance on the international stage in the early part of the last century? Some of them started as amateurs, but they all achieved technical excellence and also became immensely influencial in almost all the genres that you can think of: from war photography and photojournalism (most notably Robert Capa) to abstract and fashion photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson cites Munkasci’s Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika as his sole influence, Kertesz is often hailed as the father of photojournalism, and Capa’s war photographs count among the most iconic images of the events that they document. This extraordinary phenomenon is substantiated by Robert Capa’s remark: ‘To be a good photographer it is not enough to have skills. You also have to be Hungarian.’ Clearly there is something about being Hungarian that makes a difference.

The generation of Hungarians born before World War I, including most of the photographers featured in this show, were witnesses to a particularly turbulent period of their country’s history. On top of the traumatic wartime experience shared by many other countries, Hungary also suffered from the humiliation of losing 72% of its territory and 66% of its population after WWI. Not only did this mean that a large portion of its population became displaced overnight, this peace settlement also dealt a great blow to the country’s industries and deprived Hungary of its only seaport. This crippled the country’s economy. After the war, a coup in 1919 resulted in a short-lived Communist regime, which started the ‘Red Terror’ immediately. The Communists were driven away only five months later, only to be replaced by Rightists who now set out to revenge by starting the White Terror, marking the country’s steering towards anti-Semitism.

It was during this period that the five major photographers (Kertesz, Moholy-Nagy, Munkasci, Brassai, Capa) featured in this exhibition, who were all Jewish, chose to leave their home country. But Hungary’s misfortune did not end in the 1920s, it was devastated by WWII and was occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of the war. Soon it became a satellite state of the Soviet Union, and began a violent purge of opponents with instruments such as secret police and labour camps. Dissatisfaction of Communist rule culminated in the 1956 Revolution, which ended with the violent Soviet suppression in the same year and the reinforcement of Soviet rule. The first two and last two parts of the exhibition are swamped with records of Hungary’s painful history, mostly by photographers who chose to stay in the country.

Rudolf Balogh, Stud (1930) – Balogh was an advocate of a kind of photography that communicate the Hungarian national character, and led to the flourishing of the ‘Magyar style’, which is characterised by a romantic return to the pastoral roots of Hungary.

Erno Vadas, Harvest (1937) – This image seems to be a new take of Millet’s famous painting (The Gleaners, 1857). In the age of machinery, eighty years after the latter was painted, Vadas transformed the peasants into heroic figures through his lens. The image, with a yin-yang composition, is perfectly balanced, but is also bursting with energy. It is perhaps an allegory of the relationship between peasants and nature.

Erno Vadas, Procession (1937) – Another record of Hungary’s cultural tradition, coupled with an unusual viewpoint and compositional balance.

Laszlo Fejes, Wedding (1965) – This photograph won the World Press Photo Award, but also resulted in the ban of the photographer from publishing in Hungary because it shows the facade of a damaged building, an evidence of the 1956 anti-Communist uprising.

Turning their back on their home country to avoid imminent danger, the photographers made the decision to move abroad. But speaking Hungarian as their native language must have accentuated their sense of isolation in a foreign country, for unlike most European tongues, Hungarian is a Uralic language rather than an Indo-European one. It must have been particularly hard for Hungarians to pick up a new language, be it French, German or English. In fact, none of the five photographers mastered the language of his adopted country. In the case of Robert Capa, he only became a photographer because it was the closest thing to journalism ‘for anyone who found himself without a language.’ I think only someone who has lived in a linguistically foreign country could possibly understand the pain of living ‘without a language’ and the anxiety to integrate into a new society. Perhaps this explains my instant connection with the sense of intense isolation, insecurity and despair expressed in Kertesz’s image described above.

Brassai, Picasso – Brassai is best known for his photographic book ‘Paris de nuit’, which consists of many images of the city which had become iconic with time. When he first arrived in Paris he tried to work as a journalist and only took photographs to supplement his articles. He made many artist friends in Paris, including Picasso, Dali and Matisse, and this is one of the many photographs and he took of them.

Robert Capa, Woman, Who Had a Child with a German Soldier, Being Marched Through the Street (1944) – Unlike the combat photographs for which Capa is best known, this image shows the hidden atrocities of the war. The subject is the plight of the woman at the centre of the image, who is being publicly humiliated and marched towards an unknown fate for ‘having a child with a German soldier’. It makes clear Capa’s humanistic concerns and questions the categories of perpetrators and victims in the most poignant way.

Martin Munkasci, Lucile Brakow, Harper’s Bazaar (1933) – The first image that Munkasci shot for Harper’s Bazaar after he moved to America. He brought his interest in speed and movement to fashion photography, instilling energy and liveliness into the genre.

Martin Munkasci, Boys Running into the Surf at Lake Tanganyika (1933) – Henri Cartier-Bresson on this image: ‘I suddenly understood that photography can fix eternity in a moment. It is the only photo that influenced me. There is such intensity in this image, such spontaneity, such joie de vivre, such miraculousness, that even today it still bowls me over.’

Looking at the images, one is bound to realise that there is very little that link the work of these photographers. Each had developed his own very distinctive style in his chosen genre. It is only their sensitivity to the medium and creativity fed by their hopeless solitude (to borrow the words of Arthur Koestler) that betray their common origin.

Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century was on show at Royal Academy of Art, Sackler Wing of Galleries until 2 October’, 2011

經過十位海內外知名藝術家嚴謹的評選，（巴黎一位、內地三位、香港六位）已經選出其中150位參賽者，163幅油畫作品參加展覽。（包括九位本港著名前輩油畫家和四位評委的邀請作品）這是香港開埠以來最大規模的一次油畫大展，也是香港有史以來年度油畫家最集中的一次盛會。通過展示優秀藝術家的作品，印證了被譽為經濟大都會的香港，還有許多人努力找尋精神家園的建設。
參賽作品風格多樣，琳瑯滿目。有惟妙惟肖、纖毫畢現的寫實風格，有大刀闊斧、一氣呵成的抽象表現，也有街頭巷尾、風土人情的印象描繪。有才華初顯的年輕學子，也有寶刀未老的藝壇老將。非常值得一睹他們精心佳作。屆時將有大型畫冊推出。
展覽地點：香港銅鑼灣中央圖書館 全層展覽廳。
展覽時間：2012年2月3日至13日，為期11天。
上午九時至下午八時 。

『香港首屆油畫大賽2012』

研討會 ： 2012年2月4日（星期六）下午14：30至16：30
地址： 香港中央圖書館 會議廳 (林明琛 教授主持)
開幕典禮：2012年2月4日（星期六）下午：17：00 （林鳴崗先生主持）
晚宴 ： 2012年2月4日（星期六）下午19：30至10：00

展覽時間：2012年2月3日至2月13日

地址： 香港 銅鑼灣 高士威道66號 （地鐵：天后）
香港中央圖書館 地下全層

這是今年看的第一個展覽，趕巧冬季度的展覽都差不多完了，而我又大部分都未看，所以這兩星期還陸續有來（只好怪自己太last minute…）。

說起當代攝影藝術，Jeff Wall可說是其中一位殿堂級大師，也是加拿大最傑出的藝術家之一。在他開始認真投入攝影藝術前，他曾師從英國著名的藝術史學者T. J. Clark，應該是少數學藝術史出身的藝術家。他對藝術史的熟悉意味着他可以隨時借用前人作品中的元素，他參考的藝術家計有Manet、Delacroix、葛飾北齋、Goya、Caravaggio、Cezanne等。另一些作品的靈感則來自文學作品，如卡夫卡和三島由紀夫的小說。

如果是為quote而quote，那就只是毫無意義的「拋書包」而已，任何一個對藝術史稍有認識的人都做得到。Jeff Wall吸收並使用前人的技法（主要是在構圖方面），是因為他想要表達的東西和那些名畫家有相通的地方。比如他談論 The Destroyed Room 時，不諱言靈感來自Delacroix的Death of Sardanapalus。兩者都以睡床為中心，Delacroix的作品表現的是一種無保留無掩飾的極致暴力，而Jeff Wall的照片中只有死物，無刀光劍影，亦不見施暴者的蹤跡，是一種比較深沉的亂暴。如果說前者所表現的是戰爭終結前最後的暴力儀式，後者則隱喻當代社會荒謬、隱祕、不可解的暴力：西方本土不再有戰爭，而暴力還在繼續。另一方面，這也是Jeff Wall對於當代的商品和櫥窗文化施加的一種象徵性的暴力。

Eugene Delacroix, Death of Sardanapalus (1827)

Jeff Wall, Destroyed Room (1978)

這次的展覽，只是展出了他近幾年的作品，所以也沒有經典作品如 Milk 和 Dead Troops Talk，不過還是很精彩。地下一層只有三幅作品，全是他2007年在西西里島拍的風景，都屬於較大型的作品。其中一幅山坡的彩照看得出塞尚的影響，不過還是沒甚麼感覺。

精華都在地庫。Jeff Wall 的創作大多是重現他在日常生活中曾見過的事物，有點像小說 The Remainder 的主角，後者為了填補一段空白的記憶而不斷用巨額賠償金重現與重演一些片段。Jeff Wall 曾把自己的作品分成兩類，一類是明顯看得出是精心布置的畫面，另一類是看上去似是無心插柳，也就是比較類似snapshot 的照片。這一層雖然也只展出七件作品，但兩種類型都有，而且作品尺寸從電腦屏幕大小到2×4米，採用的技術包括銀鹽、噴墨打印和激光打印，大與小、新與舊都包含在內，不知是否有意的安排。

Boy Falls From Tree 和 Boxing 應是第一類作品的最佳例子。兩者都以中產家居為背景，畫面呈現的是舒適、整齊、有序的中產世界，看得出每一件看似尋常的用具和擺設都是經精心安排的布置。在Boy Falls From Tree中，構圖被從樹上掉下來的男孩打破了，取而代之的是在安穩與危險之間的一種強大張力，看似溫馨別緻的家園說不定危機四伏，而中產世界的平靜也隨時可以被打破。

Boxing看起來簡直像是一聲嘲諷，背景的架子上整齊地排列了多種瓷器和雕塑模型，近前方的矮几上還放着蘭花，那種中產的體面和揮拳的動作格格不入得近乎惹笑。而正在閃避的一個男生後方掛着一幅看似名貴的油畫，仿佛暗示這兩個男孩的偽暴力隨時會破壞這個文化、品味、地位與權力的象徵。

Jeff Wall 賦予自己的角色不同於傳統的藝術家或攝影師，倒是近像一個電影導演。他設計好每幅作品，然後指揮一隊演員、燈光師、道具人員、助理、技術員等慢慢組成畫面，而他的作品就像只有一個鏡頭、一個定格的電影，其餘的情節皆在觀眾腦內上演。

Young Man Wet With Rain 可歸為第二類。沒有太多細節，只是一個被雨淋濕的年輕男人肖像，簡單直接的構圖，但還是充滿力量 ﹣或許是作品的尺寸（2.8米高，照片中人物比真人大），或許是他的風衣上好像快要滴出畫面外的雨露太過逼真，站在這幅照片前感覺有點畏於直視男人的臉。

Band & Crowd 是這次展覽中最大型的作品，也是我最喜愛的一幀。寬四米多，那種青春的澎湃活力幾乎使我相信這是Jeff Wall剛巧看到的一場表演，原來還是他布置的，人也是他聘的，不過他給的指示是自由發揮，做回平日的自己 ﹣不過我想各人大約的位置還是有研究的吧。近看這幀照片很有趣，因為可以看出一種從左至右聲音和能量的流動：台上的樂隊激情地表演，最接近舞台的觀眾也很忘我地跳舞，稍遠的靜止但專注地傾聽着，而離舞台／畫面前方最遠的人幾乎對這場表演毫無知覺。這種橫向推進的手法暗示同一畫面中時間流動，可上溯至中國卷軸畫（最有名如清明上河圖）和中世紀至文藝復興時期的宗教繪畫。此作表達的粗獷原始感和在展廳另一端的Young Man Wet With Rain遙相呼應，一動一靜，把其餘的作品夾在中間，似是對老一輩所構築安穩卻平庸的世界的一種挑釁。

Boy Falls From Tree

Boxing

Young Man Wet With Rain

Band and Crowd

最後附上我在網絡上看到的一幀作品。美感與幽默感俱備呢，靈感來自葛飾北齋。

Sudden Gust of Wind

Katsushika Hokusai, Yejiri Station, Province of Suruga

剛去了大會堂看展覽，很不錯，有興趣去看看啊！展覽期到 30/1 止。

85年出生，倫敦大學學院歴史系榮譽文學士及藝術史碩士。英國衛報特約編輯，曾任職於倫敦Foundling Museum及Zabludowicz Collection，現以特約翻譯員的身份協助Hayward Gallery籌備2012年秋季展覽。

過去集中研究十九世紀法國繪畫及當代國際藝術，目前專研中國當代藝術，對攝影、裝置、行為藝術最感興趣。

藝術看法：好的當代藝術應該是真誠的、直觀的，富於批判性和挑戰性，能刺激觀眾思考。

龍捲風膠囊：http://tornadocapsule.blogspot.com/

記寫雁蕩山花　潘天壽 1962年.

潘天壽是我非常尊敬推崇的藝術大師之一。 近日，香港藝術館曾三次邀請我參觀“墨韻國風——潘天壽藝術回顧展” 、“潘天壽藝術專題講座”和“回顧展導賞活動”，均因年末忙於工作未能參加，但我通過“香港藝術館通訊”電子雜誌和網絡隨時關注此次大展和相關信息。今天週末，抽空寫了這篇短文，以表達我對潘天壽大師的尊敬。

從2011年11月25日到2012年2月5日，“墨韻國風——潘天壽藝術回顧展” 在香港藝術館展出，讓市民大眾能一睹大師的藝術風釆。是次展覽亦是香港藝術館50周年館慶的首個亮點節目。

香港藝術館在畫展介紹中稱：“潘天壽是現代中國畫史上舉足輕重的人物，與黃賓虹、齊白石同被譽為傳統派四大家。潘天壽的書畫是自學成家的，他繼承傳統個性派和金石派，融花鳥、山水於一體，用筆生辣、構圖大氣磅礡，展現奮發圖強的時代精神，賦予作品強烈的現代格調。他對中國藝術傳統的提升，影響深遠”。

潘天壽（1897—1971），中國現代美術家、藝術史家、藝術理論家、美術教育家。擅長中國畫、書法、篆刻、詩文、美術史論。潘天壽原名天授，字大頤，號壽者，雷婆頭峰壽者等。浙江甯海縣人，平生從事為繼承和發展我國傳統繪畫藝術，從事藝術創作和藝術教育工作。解放後當選全國人民代表大會代表，曾任浙江美術學院院長、教授、中國美術家協會副主席、浙江省文聯副主席、中國美協浙江分會主席、中國文聯委員等職。1958年受聘為蘇聯藝術科學院名譽院士。他精於山水和寫意花鳥，書法、詩詞、篆刻等都有很高的造詣。尤善山石、野花、畫鷹、八哥、松樹、梅竹、蔬果、等題材。他的著作有《中國繪畫史》、《中國書法史》、《雷婆頭峰團瓢 畫談隨筆》，、《聽天閣詩叢》、《治印叢談》、以及其繪畫作品《潘天壽畫集》、《潘天壽美術文集》等著作。

潘天壽書、畫、印、詩俱佳，尤以繪畫盛名，他的繪畫，承南宋馬遠，明代戴進、沈周、朱耷、吳昌碩，在繼承前人的沉著老練、奇倔冷逸、豪勁奔放後，又呈現了自已的沉雄奇崛、蒼古高華的藝術風格。

潘天壽主張“以書入畫” ，以書法的筆線為基礎，在傳統基礎上變革、發展。同時，他在作畫時大多以隸書與魏碑運筆，而不以草書與篆書運筆，表現特徵是：“多方折” 、“大起大落” ，其骨氣、骨力融於畫中。在他的印章中，他常用的閒章“強其骨”， 以骨氣、骨力取勝成為他的審美追求。不僅書、畫，還包括用筆，構圖、都追求雄強、豪壯、氣勢和剛陽的力之美。其用筆蒼勁、挺拔、古拙、生辣。彰顯了骨氣、骨力， 氣勢、剛陽之美。

他畫畫動筆前，都要深思熟慮，精心推敲，一絲不苟，意在筆先，因而下筆大膽潑辣，筆墨色彩縱橫交錯，氣勢磅礴，趣韻橫生。

他的作品在畫面的構圖上很重視黑白、疏密、虛實、主賓關係，呈現出清新蒼秀而又骨力勁道的獨特風格。

還值得提及的是潘天壽的指畫，達到了清代高其佩及其之後的歷史新高度。被繪畫界一致公認為潘天壽的指畫遠超高其佩，尚無人能夠企及，堪稱高山仰止。二十世紀現代畫壇四大家之一、清晚期海派大師吳昌碩在潘天壽27歲時有詩讚譽：“天驚地怪見落筆，巷語街談總入詩”。潘天壽中晚年以後有時還時常將毛筆放在一邊，手指蘸水蘸墨，直接在宣紙上揮灑點劃，留下不少佳品。他的指墨畫，亦反映了他筆墨的內涵、力度，他獨到精謹佈局，極富節奏的匠心。

潘天壽作為藝術史家、藝術理論家和藝術教育家，他的一個重要的理論就是“中西藝術應該拉開距離”。 他主張無論是中國畫引進西方畫的技法和技巧，或者是西畫引進中國畫的技法或技巧，目的都是為了增加各自的高度，也就是說中國畫引進西方的觀點和技巧是為了增加中國畫的高度，而不是削弱這個高度，不是去消解中國畫的藝術語言。潘天壽在他的畫論中說：“一民族有一民族之文藝，有一民族之特點，因文藝是由各民族之性情智慧，結合時地之生活而創成者，非來自偶然也”。 他還說：“繪畫藝術具有民族性，其本身就蘊涵著深厚的民族文化底蘊，離開了本民族的文化，繪畫就失去了藝術的靈魂與藝術價值。中國畫若離開了中國傳統文化，也就失去了中國畫存在的意義”。 由此，我認為潘天壽受到中國傳統文化的全面薰陶，是一位傳統個性派大師，他是一位光耀史冊的大師。

（王曉波 2011-12-16 深夜 於深圳 前海南山）

光耀傳統的個性派大師潘天壽節錄陸游詩行書軸 書法 潘天壽

光耀傳統的個性派大師潘天壽梅兰夜色图轴 指墨 1962年指畫

“Mary & Chris”

Apart from the attractiveness of his “jelly-based” ink installation during the “New Trend 2009” (出爐2009) Exhibition in Artist Commune, there’re tremendous potentials for Alan Ng Ka-lun (伍家麟)’s comics and illustrations to be acknowledged by the local art circuit as one of the influential assets that represent the meritorious features of Sino-Japanese aesthetic coexistence. Alan Ng absorbs pragmatic and reformative experiences from his illustration-art instructor called Mr. Justin Wong Chiu-tat (黃照達先生), a graduate from Department of Fine Arts at The Chinese University of Hong Kong who devotes to iconographical representations based on the trend of New Interactive Media. Then, Alan develops his unique plastic language by comprehending the noumenon of romance and mutual dependence.

Very easily, the youngsters experience a very straightforward kind of contentment from Alan Ng’s art pieces, which reflect a sophisticated level of plastic emphasis and correspond with the innocent qualities being unveiled in a reminiscing culture called “Those Bygone Years”. The couple that Alan described in his piece, called “Mary & Chris”, reflects the most updated appearance of the innocent adolescents nowadays. He has composed his own comic story that genuinely reflects his growing experiences, cultural background and individual observations upon the “flirting” phenomena in this world of humanity. It is a natural reaction in human conditions for his another art piece, called “An Immense Touch From My First Love Experience”, to comprise sexual implications despite of some audiences’ alertness on Alan’s unnoticed intention in describing the boy character with a “slightly erected” status; as Sigmund Freud theoretically regards this feature as a wholesome source of “catalysts” for an artist to rediscover the honest illusions from his/her hidden imaginative realm. Moreover, the lofty but relaxing colour tone corresponds with his adoration to the feministic temperaments, which helps raise a sense of ideological consonance among the young girls who are experiencing confusions on “lusts” in their puberty ages.

Alan showcased his ingenious ability in enriching his “perceptual experiences” (感知經驗) with a broad range of secular, frictional, digital and propagandistic contexts. He then integrated all these experiences, and transformed them into self-expressive characters with “intuition-driven” iconographies. The narrative scene of this couple originates from his fascination in Japanese animation culture, together with his consciousness on an Oriental mode of delineative precisions and moderating chrominance. Alan pays a great tribute to the “re-composing job” of his perceptual experiences, and he understands that the notion of “narrative” expression is a guiding code for him to accomplish such “superego” motive. Alan’s comics genuinely represent the cored values of 80s-born youngsters towards the ultimate ideal of unreserved love despite of insane and absurdities in the pragmatic social circumstances.

“Perceptual experience” should always be the prior emphasis, and “optical abundance” or “conceptual muddles” would be the secondary emphasis. Such sequence can never be reversed if an artist is aspired to create an approachable brand of art in the Oriental Civilization. An over-judgment on “optical abundance” or “conceptual muddles” will lead to a phenomenon that, an art piece would permanently suspend within the level of “imagery luxury”. Sooner later, the art piece will proceed to an extremely “materialistic-oriented” realm of “Nihilism”, which is much similar to the psychology of Matrix in terms of re-defining the emotional and fleshed substances with a pluralistic bunch of “functional-based” utilitarian norms. If you re-appreciated such “nihilistic” art piece after a long period of time, you could never re-pick a sustainable and nourishing sort of “aesthetic pleasures” from the corresponding visual contexts. Fortunately and gratefully, Alan Ng endeavors to preserve the “meditative” kind of intrinsic essences in his recomposed “perceptual experiences” by reserving the facial expressions of the two characters with enigmatic but sincere eyesight. So that, the ultimate values of Alan’s pieces in reflecting the patience and tolerance for the sake of eternal love can be noted and inherited within the fine art circuit for a more universal level of empathetic appreciation.

To the curatorial perceptions in this contemporary art world, Alan Ng Ka-lun accomplishes the entrepreneurial spirits practiced by the retreated samurai during the epoch of Meiji Restoration. Alan Ng imitates such Samurai culture by absorbing the reformative, playful, leisurely and liberal elements from the human ideologies in marine regions. At the same time, Alan tries to consolidate the fruits of his Sino-Japanese crossovers by persisting with a very refined level of interpretation for the ethical code related to the maintenance of ideal love relations.

“An Immense Touch From My First Love Experience”

“Never Forcing For A Birth Of Babies”

Author: Vincent LEE Kwun-leung (李冠良)

(Declaration of Interests: I am the Art Officer of the Art Of Nature International Company Limited. Alan Ng Ka-lun was my university classmate at HKBU Academy of Visual Arts between 2007 and 2009, and I wrote this art review based on my admiration to Alan’s artistic enthusiasm)

Alberto Giacometti Dog 1957 45.7*99*15.5 cm Bronze

瘦骨嶙峋的狗，應該是一隻流浪狗，多數時候沒辦法吃飽，尾巴和頭都下垂，在雨中被淋成落湯雞般，拖曳著蹣跚的腳步，艱辛地前進。Giacometti自己描述這件雕塑：「在一個雨天，我走在Vanves街上，靠著建築物的牆邊走，也許覺得有點傷感，當時我覺得我就像一隻狗。所以我做了狗雕塑，那傷心的口鼻部有點像Saluki犬。」

既然Giacometti自己提到了口鼻部的靈感來源，筆者特地google來了Saluki這種犬種的照片 (如下圖)，確實跟雕塑有幾分相像啊。

下圖，Giacometti著名的照片，由Giacometti的友人，現代新聞攝影之父Henri Cartier Bresson所攝，雨中行走的Giacometti。Giacometti走路的樣子，艱難又脆弱，是不是有點像他的作品「行走的人」呢？

Photo of Alberto Giacometti by Henri Cartier Bresson

原文刊於”他方的他方”

In the 21st century, the fine-art circuit in Hong Kong is noted by the prior importance of solidifying a unique language for its local painting culture.

Both the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the academia recognize a fact that, the Modern Chinese-Ink Painting demonstrates the global art scene with the most “original” perspective of Hong Kong creativity. Thus, it can be regarded as the most “legitimate” form of Hong Kong art under a basis of Sino-Western cultural interactions. The Modern Chinese-ink Painting emerged while Lu Shoukun (呂壽琨) was initiating a “New Chinese-Ink Movement” (新水墨畫運動) during his capacity as a Chinese-painting instructor in the Extramural Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Lu Shoukun fostered a group of apprentices who showcased courage in transcending the limitations of traditional literati paintings. Since the 1960s, Lu’s apprentices, namely Ng Yiu-chung (吳耀忠), Wucius Wong (王無邪), Leung Kui-ting (梁巨廷), Kan Tai-keung (靳埭強) and so forth, united as progressive intellectuals to re-interpret the methodologies of Chinese-ink infiltration with reference to the geometrical and symmetrical emphasis of graphic-design theories.

At that time, Liu Guosong (劉國松), as a Taiwanese art master, came to Hong Kong and corresponded with Lu Shoukun’s mission to promote Modernism with Chinese-ink aesthetics. Chan Shing-kau (陳成球) is one of Liu Guosong’s devoted apprentices, who is much affected by Liu’s favor in adopting “paper-tearing” (撕紙) and “water-rubbing” (水拓) techniques as a way to recompose the fragmented illusions of natural landscapes. Chan Shing-kau realized that, the Taiwan art culture accommodated various sorts of liberal-minded art styles from Southeast Asia and the West, whereas the so-called “right-wing” cultural and ideological elements could be applied to enrich the system of Hong Kong Ink Paintings with vivid expressionistic contexts. Bearing in mind with Liu Guosong’s guidance, Chan Shing-kau openly accepts watercolor and dissolved acrylic as complements to regulate the moisturized Chinese ink. He lays stress on a harmonious coexistence among various kinds of “hydraulic paints” once recognizing a fact that they can be equivalently absorbed by xuanzhi paper (宣紙), mulberry paper (桑皮紙), mazhi paper (麻紙), synthetic-fiber paper (人造纖維紙), cotton cloth (棉布) and other types of two-dimensional Chinese mediums.

Chan Shing-kau upholds a new concept that, the Chinese ink can be regarded as a kind of chrominance, or to say, a kind of “pigment” for highlighting the vitality of our secularity and ecology. Chan Shing-kau and his fellow Chinese-ink painters in Hong Kong made a wide range of experimental effects by a fully pledged manifestation on the inter-relationship among paper, brush and ink. A kind reference was made on the seven kinds of Chinese-ink applications advocated by Huang Binhong (黃賓虹), which were, condensed ink (濃墨法), paled ink (淡墨法), cleaved ink (破墨法), sprinkled ink (潑墨法), soaked ink (漬墨法), scorched ink (焦墨法) and shrunk ink (宿墨法). For the use of new textural strokes, apart from following his old acquaintances to pursue “pearl” strokes (珍珠皴), “leaf vein” strokes (葉脈皴), “fish net” strokes (漁網皴), “shifting sand” strokes (流沙皴) and “ripple” strokes (波紋皴), Chan Shing-kau attempt to enrich the methodologies by inventing the “plucking sinew and peeling skin” strokes (抽筋剝皮皴), “white linear as a substitute to black linear” (以白線代替黑線), and “white linear for a production of tensions”(白線產出張力). Liu Guosong, his master, endeavored for his art creations during the period that the United States accomplished its mission in sending astronauts, like Neil Armstrong, to reach the space and explore the noumenon of moon. Getting admired with the scientific achievements of the Americans, Liu Guosong guided Chan Shing-kau to withdraw from the “scholarly-liked” restricted eyesight on our Nature and re-explore the virtues of this Universe based on the Western mode of rational philosophy. Since then, Chan adapts to foster inspirations related to the idea of eternity given by our Creator. Even though Chan’s description on mountainous landscapes reflects a self-expressive mode of liberation from the ancient doctrines, we can still comprehend Chan’s nationalistic sentiments due to his persisting efforts in making the Western visual elements conciliate with the harmonious norm of Confucian-Taoist culture. Up to now, his Chinese-ink pieces reserve an appropriate scale of spatial distributions, and he enables ink strokes to interlace as decorative patterns.

Indeed, Chan Shing-kau encourages the younger generation to remold the “self-images” of their Chinese-ink paintings with compositional innovations. In 2010, corresponding with Liu Guosong’s ongoing efforts in conducting Modern Ink seminars in various institutes and academies of Mainland China, Chan Shing-kau found the “Contemporary Innovative Ink Painting Association” (當代創意水墨畫會) and united a group of Chinese-ink enthusiasts for organizing a persisting series of joint exhibitions. The establishment of “Contemporary Innovative Ink Painting Association” further acknowledges those who honor “traveling spirits”, as Chan Shing-kau conveys “self-expressiveness” and “leisure” as two important criterions for making Modern Ink Painting emerge as an orthodox institution in the fine-art circuit of Hong Kong.

Recently, Chan Shing-kau concentrates on portraying climatic, atmospheric and hydraulic transformations during the seasonal changes. He dares to constitute fogs, mists, smog and dew as the major substances in his imaginative landscapes. Putting aside the centralized use of brush forces (中鋒), Chan Shing-kau adopts a huge portion of moisture to create washing effects for the piecemeal ink drops that are mixed with color pigments. Being successful in presenting art lovers with the vision of immensity and tranquility, Chan Shing-kau accomplishes the goal of pursuing a utopian realm of internalized enhancements with Zen philosophy as a guiding code.

Author: Vincent LEE Kwun-leung (李冠良)

(Declaration of Interests: I am the Art Officer from the Art Of Nature International Company Limited. The Art Of Nature establishes its exhibition booth in the 4th Cross-Strait Xiamen Cultural Industries Fair between 28 and 31 October 2011. Chan Shing-kau is a participating artist in this event, and I possess the ultimate right to write about the creative ideas of Chan Shing-kau’s paintings based on his first-hand interpretations.)