Written by Vic Te Chang
Art Director, King Car Cultural and Art Center
Our nights are not exactly the same, but there always seem to be a little loneliness hiding in the darkness. The true self in our hearts will only revisit on quiet and dark nights during critical times, with no words of mockery. The lights and the blurry lights in the distance are the sole clue of the salvation of the soul.
Nocturne in Purple and Yellow
On a winter night in Taipei in 2011, I was sitting on the last row of a bus in the suburbs. The last phone call on my work list today was to inform Lin Bao Ling, the artist on the other end of the phone that he had won an award. I continued looking at the rain outside the window after hanging up the phone. The first prize winning artwork- Nocturne in Purple and Yellow- crossed my mind unconsciously. The familiar scenery bumps along with the road. The blue, melancholy building and the yellow, sparkling lights overlap continuously before my eyes.The wind and rain beat against the bus window. They are accompanied by musical notes that are out of tune. The artwork Lin Bao Ling painted on a rainy night seems to be foreseeing something. Just like that, we walked here together.
The network at midnight brought the message of insomnia at night. I can imagine this: in a tiny room which has fallen into disrepair, depending on a dark yellow old lamp. There is tailored Roselle tea in the cup. Perhaps there are some sweet-scented plantains covered with black spots on the side of the desk. There are incomplete artwork and scattered manuscripts on the desk. Messy paintbrushes and paints slowly take up every corner. Inspirations waft and eventually spread and bears fruit. Bao Ling’s shadow of sitting on the chair becomes very long. He is like an explorer searching and visiting every corner of the city. People often do not especially mind such an existence.
I joke about the fact that his unkempt hair has made us in sync every time we meet. His shy smile is always his reply to greetings. When we talk about the interesting trifles in life, he always bursts out laughing the moment he understands them. When we talk about our opinions and experience regarding art, his eyes are crystal-clear and decisive. Despite his slim figure, he always climbs steep mountains. It is as if he can only meet himself from the past or the future on the opposite side of deep valleys. We all exist as unique individuals, but his uniqueness is so obvious and is carried out in his high contrasted attitude in life.
People play many different roles at the same time throughout life. Bao Ling can always construe every role appropriately and with a different style. He wards his family strongly and gently. His home schooling background allows him to value family bonds. The family portrait he drew in his childhood is an important treasure in his family’s shared memory. He accompanies his friends friendly and kindly. He is always the first person who is willing to stand up for his friends. He gives them glory and reminders during their successes and give them care and concern and lend an ear during their failures. As a working partner, he is definitely the favorite working partner of all executive teams. He is responsible and disciplined. He is always ahead of schedule. It is his calling to be an artist. It is his responsibility and gift from God. I could not imagine how withered he would be if he were separated from art.
Tranquility Across the River
He is one of the few people I admire from the bottom of my heart. But if it weren’t for art, I would never notice the quiet person on the opposite side of the lake. His artworks give people a special kind of insecurity the modern society has. Do the mist and halo in the city and those clarity and definiteness we are usually familiar with really exist? Or do we only have the chance to be alone after losing the space we used to have? I would rather believe that all these are the return of dreams in the present life instead of saying that his artworks are construing scenery. He always stands on the other side of the dream river as a recorder. He observes, thinks, and draws attentively at a distance.
“The silence and submergence of the night is the preparation to welcome the bright dawn.” However, in Bao Ling’s artworks, I see the countless amazement that only occurs at night. There is no need to wait for something else. It is the pure exhibition of all of its beauty. From the rural to the international metropolitan, all the series present Bao Ling’s unique interpretation. He not only pursues the accuracy of the outline, but also the emotions. His paintings have a variety of topics and a clear train of thought. From the hustle and bustle of the crowd to the magnificent fairy tales in the palace, or the Ferris wheel that no longer spins for joy. Every artwork is about the lost memories people nowadays share.
The light rays flow continuously on quiet nights. The merry go round with a mind of its own and the dancers who spin continuously sing the melody with a different tone. During the showcase of paintings in 2016, Bao Ling creates a new mode of painting by using videos as paints. The diverse lights weave together, flicker, form circles, and melody become lines; the beautiful lady’s skirt spreads out; the alternation of black and white keyboard. All these form in the out of focus dynamism and blurry space paintings that always appear in Bao Ling’s paintings. Every turn and step entangles the people inside and outside the screen.
Perhaps I should write more about the shock and amazement of a particular painting. Maybe I should describe the numerous awards he won and his past exhibitions. But as far as I am concerned, Bao Ling uses daily life to paint. His paintings are boundless and full of imagination. Lately, his paintings are more refined and mature. The rare thing is that no matter how the era changes, he still has the touching mission.
Exhibitions are always crowded and noisy. Perhaps even he himself does not realize that he has become the person many art lovers pay attention to in the past few years. He stands and shares with others his painting ideas naturally and confidently in the middle of the exhibition. The person in front of us is no longer the shy and introvert young artist many years ago. He is now able to face the outer world with confidence. That confidence behind a round of applause comes from the setbacks and trials in daily life. Facing all these calmly and optimistically is his unique charisma. Perhaps this is the humanistic tolerance cultivated by entering nature out of love and having a bird eye’s view of the heaven and earth.
After the Loitering of the Light and Shadow
Reading through Bao Ling’s interview article in 2011 with the following written on it: “Blurry night, light and shadows dyed with water, the city after the rain and the lonely crowd, These blurry and illusionary elements forms Lin Bao Ling’s unique painting style”, “Lin Bao Ling has already found the path that leads to the future using the light at night. It is worth looking forward to the kind of spiritual scenery he can shine after passing through this urban jungle.”
We have now gradually found the answer to the surmise at that time after many years.
(Translated by LIN Bao Jia)
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【舞影零亂】 林葆靈個展
展期: 2016 / 11 / 05(Sat.) - 2016 / 12 / 04 (Sun.)
開幕暨座談會 : 11 / 05(Sat.) 5 pm
林葆靈 x 張瑋特 (金車文藝中心總監) x 黃亦中 (少遊島繪社社長)
11 / 19(Sat.) 4pm
形影不離 ‧ 交換計畫
展覽地點: 索卡藝術中心 (台北市中山區堤頂大道二段350號 10462 )
T/+886-2-2533-9658
F/+886-2-2533-9660
開放時間: 10:00-19:00 （週一公休)
www.facebook.com/events/201784466926889/
A Dance of Scattered Shadows - A Solo Exhibition by LIN Bao Ling
Duration: 2016/11/05(Sat.)- 2016/12/04 (Sun.)
Opening Reception & Symposium : 11/05(Sat.) 5 pm
11 / 19(Sat.) 4pm
Project Inseparable
Venue: Soka Art Center (No.350, Sec. 2, Tiding Blvd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City 104, Taiwan)
T/+886-2-2533-9658
F/+886-2-2533-9660
Opening hours: 10:00-19:00 （ close on Monday）
