複數影像的外延意義 (文 / 沈耿立)| The Extended Meaning of Multiplicated Images （By Shen Keng Li）

 

(↓ English version below)

文 / 沈耿立

跨界的雙重語意

先說出它應該是什麼，才能定義它是什麼！是當代水墨？！還是當代藝術？！「當代水墨」這個名詞的內在觀念，很少精確地被提出並剖析。即便我們在各種藝術文評或展覽中，多少帶著熟悉這些出現的字句，卻往往被動地限制於這個名詞中所包含的文字學意或隱喻性的圖像表現。我們談論的當代水墨一詞，如同其他同類的名詞一般，不過是咬文嚼字被拘泥於字面上的解釋。

當代藝術作品的特殊性，在於藝術家已跨越不同的專業領域，身處在各種異質的媒材之間，同時處理多項複雜的作品結構。林葆靈的作品帶有一股令觀者模糊藝術界線的印象，這個結果的背後成因，多與他橫跨西方美術和東方水墨的創作背景相關。林葆靈作品光影運動中的某些詩性，並不能使他得以被作為一種單一美感的觀念概念來研究，也由於我們缺乏一個釐清作品的時間距離，現階段較難以建立一個屬於他作品合理的觀看方式。

因此我試圖疏解林葆靈自身在當代水墨和當代藝術的養成背景與創作邏輯之間，互相牽扯重疊部分的問題意識，在他跨域的交界中，建立起作品客觀結構與主觀感受之間的張力，從而連結他經驗思想所體現作品形式之中的文本與實踐的特殊形式。

平面性的綜合經驗



林葆靈的創作，是以橫跨兩種不同方式詳細記錄畫面在立體擷取、轉至平面、加深空間的整體想像，呈現自身對外在環境思考和經驗的構成關係。多數現在對他作品熟悉的群眾，往往忽略了他極度重視對主題物像設定的模式。他首先把畫面結構視為一種狀態或過程，然後再以攝影的紀實方式將畫面界定為一個知性和想像作品的運動。這個運動的模式影響他著手作品取材繪畫前，率先經由攝影的創作方式，來針對作品主題的畫面裁剪片段的部分結構。

攝影能將不易由肉眼所觀察的景物從細節中突顯出來，它可以自由切換不同角度的視點，在縮放局部或調整快門速度的步驟中，取得對物像觀察中所另外遺漏的真實。林葆靈在這些轉換結構與結構之間的運動上混合，他拾回攝影過去的時間記憶，嫁接回現在的形式工具，以用色來觀看和檢視形貌的結構，重新組裝面對畫面內容的主題、內容、形式以及技法，提供「空間」於繪畫的平面之上。或許我們無法完全進入這個看似深沉又晦澀不明亮或不明暗的深度空間，因為作品裡的時刻和被拍下來的時刻並不一樣，它反倒會將我們的記憶經驗給拉出。在形式的意義上，這個空間比觀者更為主動，因為他迫使我們承認，畫中的景象也許早已不存在。

除了攝影技法的取材方式之外，使用「製圖膠片」(Multi-media Vellum)作為替代傳統畫布(Canvas)的繪畫材料，也是林葆靈作品裡的特色之一。2011年林葆靈於美國駐村後的經驗，開始使用此種物質材料創作。製圖膠片是一種呈現半透明，並可重複以鉛筆或墨水描圖上色的建築繪稿材料；它的圖線清晰、手繪效果良好且穩定性高，同時還具有耐潮、不易撕裂或變形的物理特色，材料抗磨耐折也容易保存。

由於製圖膠片分屬不易親水性的塑膠製品材料，顏料沾染於表面上的吸附效果較弱，進而造成顏料可於膠片的表面上自由跑動。這些或點或潑的顏料被壓扁在一個平板的表面上，受力並改變形體而造成一個畫面逐漸渲染擴展的面積。自由流動的顏料面積，解構了原由量尺與角度所構成直線、曲線或是圓周的單一繪畫平面。林葆靈利用這些自動線條的跑動程序，在製圖膠片上沾染上不同層次的面積，逐一打開由平面切割出的深度空間；這些深度空間的面積或許連續，也或許能再生產的被單獨組織。

空間的非線性結構

結構或解構的光線、跳動或緩慢的光影，林葆靈曾提到自己的創作是以不斷流動易位的光與影，構成模糊且沒有明顯的地景以及地物；意圖表現出一種精神氛圍、內心感受，甚至自以為的事物背後表象真實。他說明這些象徵意義的黑暗與光明，宛若呈現擺盪不定又轉瞬即逝的狀態感。其實林葆靈要捕捉的「抽象」不是作品中那些針對光線、亮度、陰影、反射、色彩所進行描繪的物件，而是藉由它們劃開平面的「圖層」(Layer)，堆砌出空間的場域。如果林葆靈的作品可以從側面的厚度來進行觀察，就可以察覺畫面是由各種角度和距離所締結出的大小圖層，而不是一種純粹的圖像透視方法。圖層與圖層之間的錯位遮蔽，隱藏著眼睛與水平視線所共構的視覺導引，它們之間相互消解的圖地關係引出畫面的負空間結構，造成畫面第三維度的深度現象。這種透過畫家自身建構的人工透視，終結了過去線性透視的阻礙，將繪畫平面與觀者視覺中的操作，加入一個藉由推抹、擠壓、流佈所控制顏料的位移軌跡，打開平面深度所產生的多維空間。

打開視覺後的觀看

克服傳統水墨中的難題，對於林葆靈這個時代的藝術表現來說，早已完全失去了意義。他熟悉各種創作的方式，包含他所使用的材料、繼承的風格、延續的道統、指定或自由選擇的主題等。林葆靈用更多數的時間，探討作品的本質與存在、想像和真實、可見或不可見等。橫跨攝影與繪畫的特殊性格，讓他的作品存有一種兩極化的辯證關係，從立體的攝影方式開始再至平面的繪畫現場，觀看經驗在多次的回饋中，不斷重複先前與現在的視覺經驗。證明林葆靈不全然的重複畫面中那個我們原來熟悉的模樣，他的作品讓我們以同於生活中，看見真實事物的方式去看見不在場的事物，在穿越想像(The Imaginary)─象徵(The Symbolic)─真實(The Real)的繪畫時間中，暗示平面空間的變動，是為一種空間中的藝術。

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The Extended Meaning of Multiplicated Images

By Shen Keng  Li

The Double Meaning of Transboundary

In order to define something, we first need to say what it is! Is it Contemporary Ink Art? Or Contemporary Art? The concept of the term “Contemporary Ink Art” has seldom been mentioned and analyzed. Although the term often appears in art reviews and exhibitions, its use is often limited to the literal meaning or metaphoric pictorial presentation of the term. The contemporary ink art we talk about is just like any other words of a similar nature, just an over-analyzed explanation limited to a literal meaning.

The unique quality of contemporary art work is that artists crossover different professional fields and various unusual media, handling several complex structures at the same time. Lin Bao Ling’s works blur an audience's impression of the boundaries of art. This is a result of his creative background, which crosses over between western art and eastern ink art. We cannot study Lin’s works as a singular aesthetic concept just because of his poetic use of light and shadow. Due to a lack of clear space between us and the work, it is hard to build a method to rationally view Lin’s works at this time.

Therefore, I try to decongest the tugging and overlapping problem that Lin faces between being a contemporary ink artist and someone who was raised with a background in contemporary art and creative logic. At this crossover juncture, Lin builds the tension between the objective structure and the subjective reception. From this point, he links particular forms of literary writing and personal experience through the various artworks his experienced ideology is able to embody.

The Comprehensive Experience of Flatness

Lin Bao Ling’s artwork crosses-over two different ways of recording detailed images with three-dimensional extraction before converting them into two-dimensions, deepening our ability to imagine a body of space. This method presents the relationship formed between the artist’s own thoughts and his experience of the outside world. . Most of the audience familiar with his works often overlook how much emphasis Lin places on the way in which his subjects are set. First, he sees the structure of the scene as a situation or process, then he defines it as a movement of a sensual and imaginative work through photography. This style of movement affects the way Lin photographs before painting. He focuses on the scenes with the subject and captures parts of the scenes.

Photography can make things that are not easily visible to the naked eye stand out from details. It can freely switch between viewpoints and different angles. Through zooming in and out or adjusting the shutter speed, it also captures truths that could be overlooked by observation. Lin Bao Ling mixes structures in transformation with the movement between structures together, grafting the memories of his time doing photography and integrating it with his style and tools now. He uses colors to view and inspect the structure of the form and re-assemble the themes, content, style and techniques; thus, providing “space” on a two-dimensional painting. Perhaps we are prevented from completely entering this deep and dark space because of the fact that the moment captured in the piece is different from that at which it was photographed. It instead brings out our memory and experience. In terms of style, this space is more active than the audience because it makes us face the fact that the scene in the painting might no longer exist.

Other than collecting materials through photography, the use of multi-media vellum instead of the traditional canvas is also one of Lin Bao Ling’s distinguishing methods. After his experience at an artist village in the U.S. in 2011, Lin began using this material. Multi-media vellum is a half-transparent material used by architects to draw sketches. It can be used repeatedly or colored with ink. Drawings appear clear on this material. It is also easy to draw on with high stability. Moreover, it's physical properties mean that it will not be affected by humidity, tearing or reshaping. The material can withstand abrasion and folding, and is easy to store.

Due to the low hydrophilic property of the plastic material the multi-media vellum is made of, paint does not apply well and can flow around freely on the surface. The paint splashed on multi-media vellum is flattened on a flat surface. Through pressure and changing the form, it creates a scene that expands with the bleeding of the paint. The areas of freely moving paint deconstruct the singular two-dimensional painting of straight lines, curves or circles made with rulers and angles. Lin Bao Ling utilizes the way that these lines freely flow on the multi-media vellum to create different layers of areas with bleeding paint; thus, he can open up depth from every layer. Perhaps the areas or continuation of these deep spaces can go on to recreate on their own.

Non-Linear Structure of the Space 

Structure and the deconstruction of lights, movements or slow-moving shadows are all characteristics of Lin Bao Ling’s works. He once mentioned that his works consists of blurred landscapes and objects made with ever-changing lights and shadows. He hopes to present a spiritual atmosphere, inner feelings and even truths behind things we once made assumptions of. He explains that such symbolic darkness and light are like exhibiting indefiniteness and transience. The “abstractness” Lin wants to capture is not the portrayal of lights, brightness, shadows, reflections and colors, but rather the positive space opened up by these two-dimensional layers. If we can observe Lin’s works by seeing through their thicknesses, we can find out  that the scenes are made of layers of various sizes through different angles and distances. There is not merely one simple way to view these images. The misplaced obstructions between layers are hidden from the visual guidance of normal vision. They cancel out the reversible figures amongst themselves, then draw forth the negative space; thus, creating the phenomenon of depth within the third dimension. The artist erased the traditional obstacles of linear perspective and manipulated two-dimensionality and the audience’s viewing experience by manually constructing his own three-dimensional viewing perspective. He added moving patterns from the wiping, pushing and flowing of the paint; therefore, opening up a multi-dimensional space on a flat object.

Viewing after Opening up Visual Experience 

Overcoming the problems of traditional Chinese ink is already meaningless for Lin Bao Ling’s artistic generation. He is familiar with various methods of creation, including the materials he uses, the styles he has inherited, the continuation of tradition and the subjects which are chosen for him or he chooses for himself. Lin spends time probing the essence of his work, existence, imagination, reality, things that can be seen or not seen. His works have a kind of polarized dialectical relationship due to his unique crossover between photography and painting. From three-dimensional photography to two-dimensional painting, the viewing experience comes from their own feedback. They repeat the past and present visual experiences. Lin does not just repeat familiar images in the scene, but rather makes us feel our lives are present in his works. He sees things that are not present with the way he sees real things. Through “The Imaginary", “The symbolic”, and “The Real” time in painting, Lin hints at the changes in flatness; thus, making his works an art that transposes the levels of space.