Darkness Light Darkness ──Discussing the work of Lin Bao Ling

By Cheng Sheng Hua

 

There will be no dawn, our world belongs completely to the eternal night. Everything takes on the essence of the darkness, whilst never becoming lifeless or dreary. Slowly, the eternal night is lit up by the light of our desires. So bright it hurts the eyes, the light even reaches the darkest places. Time starts to disappear as it falls into the unclear zone between the mortal and the underworld. It frees itself from the control of the hands of the clock and returns to sacred time, a time without any of its properties. The lights are not for lighting, rather, a celebration of life. In the dizzying splendor, a small path leads between the underworld to sub-consciousness. The paintings of Lin Bao Ling outline fantastical landscapes of the night like such. He sets a beautiful trap that no audience can help but to fall into. It evokes the fatal attraction of our desires. In the end, this trap will lead to emptiness, the gaps in history and the bleak abyss of life.

Firstly, there would be no harm in starting with a clear thread to the story...

The Light of Light: Caravaggio and Lin Bao Ling 

Obviously, Lin Bao Ling’s works focus on the portrayal of “light”. One could even say that light has almost become one of the hallmarks of his work. Be it landscapes, fantasy, still-life or portraits, Lin never ceases to strive out of the light and toward darkness. Part of the fabric of art history, we naturally think of the work of Caravaggio when light is taken as the main subject of a composition. Indeed, the use of light by both artists draws on tension and dramatic variation of back-lighting.

However, when examining the properties of light and the techniques used to present it, the two artists are completely different. Caravaggio presented light through the decisive moments of history and religion. The moment that art forms, it reaches eternity and entirety. Therefore, the light that Caravaggio presents is the impassioned transcendence of unwavering faith and the thickness of time. As for Lin Bao Ling, his presentation of light flashes between our interwoven realities and fantasies. All of a sudden, the light reaches its greatest capacity, transforming a land of darkness from banality into a heaven of our dreams. It can, however, at any moment disappear. If one were to say that Caravaggio’s light is the magnificent, powerful yet romantic light of the daytime, then Lin Bao Ling’s light is that of the night. It indulges in the endless dream-like light of darkness.

 To take things a step further and look at the light itself, Caravaggio’s light is the “light of God”. It lays the foundation of the painting and fills up the scene. Things exist which cannot be seen, but only under the premise that some things can be seen. As for Lin Bao Ling, his light is the “light of objects”. It is not natural, yet neither is it strange. It cannot hold up the great dark night, so it can only counter attack sporadically. Thus, the foundation of Lin’s works is the dimness and endless darkness. Things exist which can be seen, but only under the premise that some things cannot be seen.

   

However, to speak strictly on the purpose of using strong light and the fundamental motivations for doing so, Caravaggio and Lin Bao Ling share similarities. The work of both contains the powerful energy of art- an energy from an impersonal source.

Although Caravaggio’s light brings God’s grace, it manifests a horrific violence and the shadow of death. Therefore, his light does not have a single direction. Behind the strong light, there is the shadow of the mortal world. There is a living God of Wine who has suffered through many tragedies in life. He shows violence through the recklessness of life, yet points out the unforeseeable abyss of mankind’s destiny. Meanwhile, Lin Bao Ling's use of light is related to the destruction of images. It creates confusion, surfacing between uncertainty and mobility. The unclear borders between light and shadow give fantastical colors to the clear modern world whilst, in turn, changing the original meaning of the images. Both manifest a somewhat romantic and unconventional intent. Therefore, the purpose of the strong light is not only to emphasize the focus and immediacy of the setting, but more importantly, only with the strongest light can the deepest darkness be brought forth. In the dark abyss of the art, there is a greater image of humans and their primal and barbaric motivations.

The light of each artist originates from humanity's potential power, a power that we are not aware of and one which involves the question of sovereignty. Through the spirit of the alchemist, Mercurius, the very source of spirit itself possesses the double identity of elevation and degeneration. Under this creative and destructive power, all of Caravaggio’s lights incubated the intertwined, twisted and elevated motivation behind the later Baroque art. As for Lin Bao Ling, the light he presents brings forth the dialectical relationship between the beauty of reality and fantasy through destruction, dissolution and disappearance. It evokes the existing deviation issues of reality. If Lin’s works have any concrete image, then they were all formed accidentally under mobile and intertwined shapeless vestiges. The《Nocturne Series》(2003-2015), for example, looks like a purely accidental splash of ink. Yet, this mistake accidentally brings about a surprising image that shines radiantly. Therefore, the image of the work comes from accident and ambiguity. However, it is precisely this ambiguity that makes us delve further into the deepest layers of the façade. Only then can we begin to seriously face the fact that the image itself might just be the origin of the problem.

 

Darkness - Art 

 It is also possible that Lin Bao Ling touched on the decadent aesthetics of the contemporary period, or further still, the power of evil. This is an intermediate version of Charles Baudelaire’s melancholic aesthetics, in which, we find refinery, beauty and horror. When the audience gazes upon uncontrollable disappearance and disintegration, they do not fear it anymore. Rather, they run towards it, seeing it as the ever desirable embodiment of beauty. Baudelaire’s melancholy came from Paris, a capital city in the process of modernization. This unique period at the end of the 19th century replaced the surrender to the conditions that had gone before, unveiling anxiety and loss evoked by dissolution of the enormous system and values. In this period was born the 20th century’s aesthetics of denial and ruin.

In terms of the aesthetic of ruins hidden in the waves of avant-garde art movements at the beginning of the 20th century, Lin Bao Ling’s works have not yet reached such status. This is not because the image of his paintings seem sharp under the high contrasts of lights and shadows, it is rather a demonstration of Lin Bao Ling's skill which is yet to disperse or dissolve. Conversely, he has worked hard to create such dazzling images taking shape under the uncertainty of mobility. Such a chance encounter is actually the result of well-practiced operation. Therefore, the disintegration present in Lin’s works is rather a natural result of careful planning, not some kind of uncontrollable disintegration. The works attempt to correspond with the alarm of decline and craziness activated by extreme rationality.

In fact, disintegration cannot be launched by individuals alone. History has set ruins on humanity long ago. Art is just a way to unearth it.

This aesthetic movement did not completely disappear after the post-war economic recovery and stabilization of society. If there is any active meaning, then it is to make us truly understand, “there is a shadow behind every light.” Something important to look at is that, although shadow has repeatedly been suppressed and muted, it is still at the core of the history. If modernization and instrumental reason were the light, then we will inevitably become the shadow when we cast the light forward and move toward the future and dreams. Though time passes by, modernization has never stopped: cities around the world keep growing, spreading and invading; the modern Babel seems to get bigger and taller; the path and range of labor and migrant work seems to be farther and farther. Humanity has been torn and twisted with a greater force, and due to this, Baudelaire’s themes are still relevant in art. Lin Bao Ling took it from Paris to cities such as Taipei and New York and many more unknown spaces. For example, 《Night Fantasia》（2014-5）or《Palace of Light and Shadow》（2013-5）repeatedly portrays the ubiquitous underworld. We never woke up from it. Or could it be said that we never slept? We are stuck in between reality and dreams. The scenes are both endless nights and endless days. It seems to be eternity and a moment at the same time.

Yet, this fantastical land is already where the modern dwell poetically. If “I am my own hiding place,” then shadow has already been waiting there since before my birth.

   

Suddenly, perhaps we can finally understand the French poet Joë Bousquet’s strange lines. He said:

 

My wound existed before me,

I was born to embody it...

Yes, everyone carries at least one wound that aches quietly on its own. The wound has existed before the confirmation of the self. Or we can say that we never really existed before finding the wound. The self that “I” thought I was, is ultimately realized through the wound. Before this, the subject is only a mirage. Through Lin Bao Ling’s works, we are forced to see that wound and look head-on into the dark realm into which we were born.

 

The final absolute gaze, we cannot stop but throw ourselves in. In the most hidden wound, between the flickering of light and shadow and the random chance of destruction, flowing and gathering of the form, we shudder with a burning desire.