【轉載】蜷尾家老闆一手當收藏家 一手賣冰淇淋｜[Repost] Ninao Gelato Founder: A Collector in One Hand, An Ice Cream Artisan in the Other
林葆靈 LIN Bao Ling
《淡水之夜III》 Tamshui Night III
《淡水之夜III》 Tamshui Night III
水墨複合媒材於宣紙 Mixed media on rice paper
42 x 70cm
2009
私人收藏 Private collection
（ ↓ English version below)
2016年09月28日
台南蜷尾家老闆李豫是個7年級生，2012年租下正興街老房子賣冰淇淋，遊客大排長龍，打造人氣名店，讓正興街再度翻紅。回到生活，他從26歲就收藏藝術品，曾是台南畫廊最年輕的收藏家，更因此和聯電榮譽董事長曹興誠同桌吃飯，他說：「若不是收藏，我根本不會有這樣的機會。」
25歲時李豫在國外進口家具店工作，「我們賣的家具比較高檔，接觸到買家具的客人多少都會收藏。」當時辦公室的1樓是間畫廊，他有空就會進去看看，「看久了，也會看到自己屬意的作品。」
26歲買下生平第一件藝術品，林葆靈的《淡水3》，「這幅畫很夢幻，畫觀音山，我曾在淡水住過一段時間，看觀音山就是那樣，裡面有一隻狗，覺得那隻狗就是我，在台北流浪。」結婚後，老家在淡水的太太要搬到台南住，「她來台南人生地不熟，我告訴她，會讓她看到和家鄉一樣的風景。」這幅畫見證他倆的愛情。
「我是從草間彌生的版畫，開始確認收藏。」李豫常去逛畫廊，「一回畫廊拿出她的版畫，是一張紙、沒有錶框，隔天看到蘇富比拍賣預估價是4000~6000港元，畫廊開價15萬，我覺得很合理，也說服姐姐買一張。」2年後，畫廊以兩倍價格買回，「從此以後家人才知道，原來這也是一種理財方式。」
後來創業，他對買畫更有想法，「以前我看不懂曾雍甯的畫，為何要用原子筆一直繞圓圈，做冰淇淋也是用手，有一天在打冰淇淋時我忽然懂了。」先後買下曾雍甯的2件作品。
2013年在關渡美術館看到謝牧岐的畫，買下大件作品《繪畫的榮耀》，「他是一位行為藝術家，這幅畫藉由和群眾的互動，一起創作，他想表達藝術沒那麼偉大，只是一份職業而已。」李豫買藝術品，也買自己的叛逆思維。
開冰淇淋店，他想走一條創新的路，過程中遇到許多挫折。他說，創業之初有很多話不想聽，張雍的攝影《蒸發》，其中一張拍攝摀上耳朵的人，「很像我當下的心情。」也曾壓力大到每天都害怕起床，侯俊明的《八仙過海》版畫，第一句話就打動了他，「他寫到，清晨總是在驚恐中醒來。」在藝術裡，他找到知音。
2014年赴安平開第2間店，「這個空間原本是展售中心，拿到後我想辦展覽。」他將自己的收藏大方擺放出來，讓客人欣賞，「曾有一位老外專門騎著腳踏車來看畫，看完就走。」李豫說：「我有能力買畫，就要和人分享，這是我的責任。」（彭蕙珍／台南報導）
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Ninao Gelato Founder: A Collector in One Hand, An Ice Cream Artisan in the Other
September 28, 2016
Li Yu, the founder of Tainan’s famous ice cream shop "Ninao," was born in the 1980s. In 2012, he rented an old house on Zhengxing Street to sell ice cream. The shop instantly drew massive, endless lines, transforming into a local sensation and single-handedly revitalizing the historic street. Behind the scenes, Li has been an art collector since the age of 26, once holding the title of the youngest collector in Tainan's gallery circle. This passion even earned him a seat at the dining table with Robert Tsao, the Honorary Chairman of UMC. "If it weren't for art collecting, I would never have had such an opportunity," Li reflects.
At 25, Li worked at an upscale imported furniture store. "The furniture we sold was high-end, and the clients we interacted with usually dabbled in art collection." At the time, the first floor of his office building happened to be an art gallery. He would wander in whenever he had free time. "After looking at art for so long, I eventually found pieces that truly spoke to me."
At 26, he purchased his very first artwork: Tamsui 3 by Lin Bao-ling. "The painting is very dreamlike, depicting Mount Guanyin. I had lived in Tamsui for a while, and that was exactly how the mountain looked to me. There’s a dog in the painting, and back then, I felt like that dog—wandering and drifting alone in Taipei." After they got married, his wife, whose hometown is Tamsui, had to move to Tainan. "She was completely unfamiliar with Tainan, so I told her that I would make sure she could still see the scenery of her hometown." This painting stands as a beautiful testament to their love story.
"It was with Yayoi Kusama’s prints that I truly committed to art collecting." Li frequented galleries back then. "One day, a gallery showed me one of her prints—it was just a loose sheet of paper, unframed. The next day, I saw that Sotheby's had estimated its auction value at 4,000 to 6,000 HKD. The gallery was offering it for 150,000 TWD, which I felt was very reasonable, so I even convinced my sister to buy one." Two years later, the gallery bought it back at double the price. "From then on, my family finally realized that art could also be a form of financial investment."
After starting his own business, his perspective on buying art matured. "I used to not understand Zeng Yong-ning’s paintings—why he would just keep drawing circles with a ballpoint pen. But making ice cream also requires constant hand movements. One day, while churning ice cream, it suddenly clicked." He went on to purchase two of Zeng’s pieces.
In 2013, he saw Hsieh Mu-chi’s work at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts and bought a large-scale piece titled The Glory of Painting. "He is a performance artist. This painting was co-created through interaction with the public. He wanted to convey that art isn't something incredibly holy and grand—it’s just a profession." When Li buys art, he is also buying pieces that mirror his own rebellious streak.
Opening an ice cream shop meant carving out an innovative path, a journey filled with setbacks. Li shares that in the early days of his business, there were many opinions he simply didn't want to hear. One photograph from Chang Yung’s Evaporation series captured a person covering their ears. "That perfectly mirrored my state of mind at the time." There were also days when the pressure was so suffocating that he was terrified to wake up. The first line of Hou Chun-ming's The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea print struck a deep chord with him: "He wrote, 'Dawn always arrives in panic.' Within art, I found a kindred spirit who truly understood me."
In 2014, he went to Anping to open his second shop. "The space was originally a showroom, and when I got it, I wanted to host exhibitions." He generously displays his private collection for customers to enjoy. "Once, a foreigner rode his bicycle all the way here just to look at the paintings, and left right after finishing." Li says, "Since I have the financial ability to buy paintings, it is my responsibility to share them with others." (Reported by Peng Hui-zhen / Tainan)
Original article from Apple Daily website.
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