[畫作介紹文] Chopin, Delacroix and Bao Ling

Little Guilin Night #9 / 80 x 150 cm / oil and acrylic on canvas / 2008  (我的個展 《夜曲IV》 (Nocturne IV)將展出的作品之一)

In Chopin's "Nocturnos" there is a fluid, romantic, historical pregnancy, a sort of revolutionary "Beauty" and "Light". Invisible conflict of light and dark, playfulness of raindrops in the night, colored contrasts. Through abstract tones images and forms emerge, lit emotive that like butterflies fly in the wind. 

Maybe that is why there is a similarity of application of color between Chopin and his friend Delacroix, and tone and dynamics of Lin Bao-Ling's newest works. There is a certain historical turn, a gentle revolution.

If these are the tipping points in the similarities which connect him to the European tradition, then the composition of the painting is similar to the Chinese vertical. That is, semi abstract tones of dark and light distributed through the vertical with an accent on the reflection of the narrative not the narrative itself. This shift of action is one of the main qualities of his work. Something like El Greco's "Toledo" in the dark but under the city lights.

The lack of physical presence of figures in Bao-Lings paintings does not mean their absence. The generators of light (and sometime dark) hide behind the light and the dark. The vibration of the scene anticipates the human involvement. The makers of fireworks don’t sleep at night. We don’t see them but we know for sure that in his paintings no one sleeps, even us as the viewers, it is total insomnia.

Bao ­ Ling has enriched and armed his pallet with mostly monochrome contrast and beautifully painted surfaces. The association to the old Masters and the forgotten preoccupation with aesthetics brings us back to the times of candles and natural light.

Consciously, with light and dark he covers the city, the cars, the civilization, the progress, the restaurants, boats, trains...and only reflections of this civilization emerge covered in bright, sparkling lights. Like shooting stars, frozen on the canvas. 

I am not sure if Lin Bao ­Ling heard Chopin's "Nocturnos" was working on his midnight scenes. And maybe he was not thinking about El Greco and Goya. But it so happens that he blurred our vision, troubled our water and left to some past time, leaving us by ourselves, sleepless.

The question now is when and how will Lin Bao ­ Ling finish his "Nocturno" and when this "Drunken night" will end-and the sun will go up. It seems like never, because Bao ­ Ling has loved that space and atmosphere for many years, since his study years at LASALLE. And in it he feels like the master of ceremony. Like an explorer who discovers and a magician who hides.
 

Milenko Prvacki Artist,

Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts


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拉薩爾藝術學院純美術系系主任Milenko 

百忙中抽空幫我的新畫作寫的介紹文

(將收錄在7月的個展《夜曲IV》展覽畫冊裡)特此感謝!