Lin Bao-Ling, an artist who integrates contemporary ink painting with the art of light and shadow, uses unconventional materials such as multi-media vellum as his canvas. Because the material resembles plastic, diluted paint can flow freely before congealing — evoking city light drifting through time, yet ultimately freezing a moment and its beautiful memories in place. This has earned him the reputation of an “alchemist of light,” and he has held solo exhibitions in the United States, Singapore, and Taiwan. Lin Bao-Ling did not attend school until the age of fifteen, only entering the formal education system after moving to Singapore. This unconventional academic path ultimately gave him the courage to forge his own way in painting.
林葆靈10月於臺南舉辦個展，展名「照無眠」引自蘇軾的《水調歌頭》。夜裡無眠的蘇軾藉由文字抒發內心思念、惆悵與無力感；而林葆靈則藉由繪畫，創作出他與世界碰撞並學習的世間規則，畫面來回走筆描繪流動的夜晚光影，透露了他的焦慮與自我懷疑，並不斷尋找新的可能性。
Lin Bao-Ling held a solo exhibition in Tainan in October, titled Shining on the Sleepless — a phrase drawn from Su Shi’s classical poem Shui Diao Ge Tou. Su Shi, sleepless in the night, channeled his longing, melancholy, and sense of helplessness into words; Lin Bao-Ling, by contrast, channels these feelings into painting, creating through his art the rules of a world he is constantly colliding with and learning from. His brushwork moves back and forth across the canvas, rendering the flowing light and shadow of night, and in doing so reveals his anxiety, self-doubt, and restless search for new possibilities.
October 2015
Dynasty — China Airlines In-Flight Magazine