文/林家萱
林家萱，國立台灣大學歷史學系畢業，英國倫敦大學柏貝克學院藝術史研究所畢業，主修西方現代藝術史，期望透過文字讓更多靈魂與美相遇。
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一直以來，我們所認識的林葆靈多以捕捉生命中真實的景象為創作主題，從城市繁華的夜景到冷冽壯麗的雪景，每一幅都讓人身歷其境、為之驚嘆。然而，2022年他所帶來是令人驚艷與興奮的作品。大面積平塗的豔紅、跳脫夜晚的場景、挪用名畫與漫畫的構圖、充滿戲劇張力的「沒有名字的小傢伙」與超越平面的三度空間作品。這些元素與以往大家所熟悉的藍紫色調、如夢似幻的虛實場景，以及惹人憐愛的小傢伙非常不同，或許這次畫風的轉變會讓人感到震驚，但細細探察他以往的創作，逐步梳理，就會發現一切有跡可循。這些轉變都是他在藝術創作上突破自我的證明，而他也仍在追尋那自由之光的藝術道路上不斷前行著，並持續發著光。
Until now, the Lin Baoling we know has captured the themes for his creations in real-life scenes. From bustling city nightscapes to chilly, majestic snowscapes, each one has been both immersive and surprising. Now in 2022, the works he has produced are both breathtaking and exciting. Ostentatious red smeared across a large area, scenes that transcend the night, compositions that appropriate famous paintings and manga, little guys brimming with dramatic tension, and works in three-dimensional space that transcend planes; all elements distinct from the blue-purple tones, dreamlike scenes of pseudo-reality, and the loveable “The Nameless Little Guy” that everyone has come to expect. Perhaps this stylistic shift will be a shock to some, but close examination of past creations sorted through step by step, reveals traces that can be followed throughout. These shifts in artistic production all prove that Lin has outdone himself, and continues to shine forward on an artist’s path in pursuit of the light of freedom.
藍紫色的溫柔鄉
林葆靈擅於描繪神祕浪漫的夜景，多以藍與紫為主色調創作。《雪國XVI》是以少有的廣角視野俯瞰整個日本新瀉縣小村落，前景的小雪人和觀者一同眺望遠方重重疊疊、山巒疊障的藍紫色山林，頗有山水畫的平遠氣質。雖然披著皚皚雪白的村落被山林包圍，卻不寒冷，因為如螢火般的萬家燈火照亮了夜，溫暖了心，帶來了希望。林葆靈最具標誌性的藍紫色濾鏡，看似是一種憂鬱、冷靜的畫面，但所欲傳遞的卻是溫暖與正向的感受。
The Tender Land of Blue and Purple
Lin Baoling is an expert in the depiction of mysterious, romantic nightscapes, making frequent use of blues and purples as the principal tones in his creations. Snow Country XVI is a rare panoramic view of an entire village in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture. Together with a small snowman in the foreground, the viewer looks out over layer upon layer of distant blue-and-purple mountains and forests, painted in a flat, far-off manner very much like a landscape painting. Though surrounded by mountains and forests, the snow-draped village is not cold due to its blaze of lights illuminating the night like fireflies, warming hearts and bringing hope. Lin Baoling’s most iconic blue-purple filter may seem a bleak and sullen scene, but seek to convey feelings of warmth and positivity.
同樣以藍紫色夜空為背景的《似夢非夢》，林葆靈使用如夏卡爾般的超現實構圖，描繪了三個難分真假的「沒有名字的小傢伙」。他是林葆靈2006年自創的角色，如孩童般、赤裸、身上包著繃帶、沒有手指、沒有瞳孔並帶有深沉的黑眼圈。雖然懷著初心、真誠待人，卻常在危險世界裡受傷，時常握不住自己想要的東西，也時常看不清未來與真實，並常受焦慮與失眠之苦。這是藝術家的自我投射，但也可代表每個人。對林葆靈來說，畫畫卻是治癒這些的唯一救贖。就像每個人，只要在生命中找到一種使命，即使過程磕磕碰碰，但仍會堅持下去，並感到幸福。畫面中半透明且巨大的小傢伙酣然入夢，彷彿與大地融為一體；而兩個輪廓較具體的小小傢伙，一個呈臥躺之姿閉目而息，另一個則是化身為蝶於空中辛苦飛行。這三者間無論何為真實，何夢境，整體畫面都呈現出小傢伙幕天席地時的安適自在。
With an equivalent background of blue-purple night sky, Lin Baoling employs a surreal, Chagall-esque composition to portray three “Nameless Little Guys” in A Dream not a Dream. A character created by Lin Baoling in 2006, childlike, naked, body wrapped in bandages, fingerless, pupiless, with dark circles under his eyes. Though possessed of openness and sincerity toward others, he is constantly wounded by the world around him, frequently unable to grasp the things he wants, unable to see the future or reality clearly, and burdened by constant anxiety and sleepless nights. This is the artist’s self-projection, but could also represent everyone. According to Lin, painting is the sole salvation to curing these ills. Just like every person need only find some kind of calling in life; though the process is bumpy, they can still persevere and enjoy happiness. The enormous, translucent little guy is dreaming soundly as if fused into one with the earth. Of the two little guys with comparatively definite outlines, one lies prone with his eyes shut while the other morphs into a butterfly and flutters exhaustedly through the air. Amid these three, regardless of what is real and what is a dream, the whole of the scene presents the little guys in a moment of quiet, unrestrained spontaneity.
從挪用啟航
2022年林葆靈開始大量地使用挪用技法，將人們所熟知的繪畫、文學、漫畫作品融入創作中，並化身為「沒有名字的小傢伙」，帶領觀者走出熟悉的藍紫色溫柔鄉，與他一同經歷藝術家追尋自由之光的漫長旅程。他從最古老的洞穴壁畫開始溯源，《創意思考》中的小傢伙躲在紙箱所做的洞穴中思考；《騎在老野牛背上》挪用了法國南部肖維岩洞壁畫中的野牛當作小傢伙的座騎，從野牛伸直的前肢和飄揚的圍巾，看出他正在快速向前奔馳。藝術創作的濫觴本應充滿能量與動力，方能拓展出將來無限的可能。藝術史如此，林葆靈的創作生涯亦是如此。
Setting Sail from Appropriation
In 2022 Lin Baoling started using a great number of appropriation techniques, taking paintings, literature, and cartoons people are used to seeing and integrating them into his creations, changing them into “The Nameless Little Guys” and leading viewers out of the familiar tender lands of blue and purple together with him on the artist’s endless journey in pursuit of the light of freedom. Beginning by investigating the oldest cave wall paintings, the little guy in Creative Thinking hides thoughtfully in a cave made out of a cardboard box. Riding on the Old Bison's Back appropriates a bison from the cave paintings of Grotte Chauvet in the south of France to serve as a mount for the little guy. From the bison’s outstretched forelegs and fluttering scarf, we can make out that he is speeding forward at a gallop. The origins of artistic production ought to be flush with energy and motivation, so it can then expand into limitless future possibilities; such is the history of art, and such is the creative career of Lin Baoling.
一路奔馳到19世紀的法國，《自己領導自己》的構圖來自浪漫主義畫家歐仁．德拉克洛瓦的《自由領導人民》。林葆靈將揮舞著三色旗、象徵自由的女人置換成小傢伙，他右手舉起仿漫畫《海賊王》的旗幟，骷髏與草帽替換成畫筆和畫家帽；左手執著畫筆，表情堅定展現英勇憤慨的革命情懷，好似在和身後於顏料堆裡踽踽獨行、步履蹣跚的小傢伙大聲呼喊口號。鮮紅染過的天空下，一個個聳立的畫布有如禁錮藝術家思想的牢籠，長久以來限制他的想像，而要如何衝破這個困境，就需憑藉一股奮不顧身、勇往直前的精神，進行一場創作思想的革命。
Speeding all the way to 19th-century France, the composition of One Leading Oneself comes from the romanticist painter Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. Lin Baoling replaces a tri-color-flag-waving Lady Liberty with a little guy, an imitation One Piece flag in his right hand, skull and straw hat replaced with paintbrushes and a painter’s cap; in his left hand he grips a paintbrush, his expression a resolute display of revolutionary heroism and resolve. It looks as if he is shouting slogans with the little guy staggering alone through the paint tubes behind him. Under a sky stained bright red, canvases stand aloft one after the other like cages that confine the artist’s thoughts, having limited his imagination for a long time. But in order to break free from this predicament, he must rely on his brave and reckless spirit to carry out a revolution in creative thinking.
與此同時，來自日本的庶民美學浮世繪，正漸漸在西方掀起藝術革新的巨浪，影響了馬奈、莫內與梵谷等人。《前浪》再現了葛飾北齋的《神奈川沖浪裏》。林葆靈用最擅長的藍紫色渲染整片天空，再透過精湛的寫實功力，以仰視的視角使滔天的巨浪更具量感與張力。此巨浪正是由藝術史所累積的強大能量，乘著筆筏的小傢伙在漂浮著顏料管的藝術之海中破浪而行，海浪不斷將他推送到浪頂，彷彿就快要觸及懸在天上斗大的明月。至於何時抵達頂峰，林葆靈只將答案留給了自己。
During the same time period, the Ukiyo-e folk aesthetic from Japan was gradually setting off huge waves in the West, influencing Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh. The Great Wave recreates Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Lin Baoling renders the entire sky using the blue-purple hues he is best at, and with consummate realistic abilities makes the great torrential wave seem more significant and tense from an upward-facing angle. This humongous wave is precisely due to the accumulated powerful energy of art history. The little guy riding on the pen raft braves the wave as he moves amid an art-sea of floating paint tubes, the wave continuously pushing him toward its crest as if it is about to touch and hang atop the huge celestial moon. As to when he will arrive at the peak, Lin Baoling has only kept the answer to himself.
乘著藝術之海的浪，小傢伙原以為能衝破束縛，航向更自由的航道，但怎知在《十萬八千里》中，一隻從海中冒出的巨大金色手掌，擋在他的筆筏前。此時的月亮被厚重的紫色烏雲遮住大半，好似藝術家面對創作撞牆期最真實的心境寫照。即使如此，小傢伙仍不曾停止向前航行。船帆標誌暗示著小傢伙會像《海賊王》主角一樣，為尋找「ONE PIECE（一個大秘寶）」，繼續在一片茫然未知的海上載浮載沉、乘風破浪，不顧一切追尋藝術的理想。
Riding the waves of a sea of art, the little guy originally thought he would be able to break his fetters, sailing toward a freer channel, but how could he have known that in Sisyphus on the Sea, the palm of an immense golden hand would rise out of the sea, blocking the front of the pen raft. The moonlight in this moment is half-obscured by thick purple clouds; the most realistic portrayal of the artist’s mood when he faces a creative wall. Even so, the little guy never stops sailing forward. The emblem on the sail hints that the little guy, like the main character in One Piece, is searching for “One Piece (The Great Treasure)”, continually rising and falling in a trackless sea, riding wind and braving waves in reckless pursuit of artistic ideals.
藝術發展至今，早已不再受限於主題、形式或媒材，曾經不被學術接納的大眾文化，也可進入藝術的殿堂。除了先前提到的《海賊王》，林葆靈也受到漫畫《進擊的巨人》啟發。小傢伙在《擊破》中進化為抓狂的巨人，面部猙獰、齜牙咧嘴，嘴角與身上冒出白煙，殺紅了眼的他將眼前的紅色畫布擊破。小傢伙將藝術家獨自創作的孤獨與黑暗釋放，發狂似的突破繪畫平面性的禁錮，抓住那些一閃而現的靈光，奮力一擊，找到通往自由的下一個維度。
Artistic development has not been limited by subject, form, or medium for a long time. Once denied admittance by academia, popular culture can now enter the art world’s hallowed halls. Besides the aforementioned One Piece, Lin Baoling has also been motivated by the Attack on Titan manga. In Punch, the little guy evolves into a crazed titan, fierce-faced, fangs bared, smoke issuing from the corners of his mouth as well as off of his body, tearing apart the red canvas before him with murderous red eyes. The little guy releases the loneliness and darkness of the artist’s sole creation, madly as if breaking through the confines of the painting’s surface, grasping the flashes of halo, putting all his might into one attack in search of the next dimension leading to freedom.
通往下個維度
從二維平面轉向三維空間，林葆靈並非首次嘗試，2017年就開始將小傢伙立體化，2018年甚至將《沒有名字的小傢伙》的雕塑製作出來，這也預示了他的創作即將往此方向發展。雖然這幾年他仍以平面創作為主，但2022年開始產生比較大的轉向。
Lead to the Next Dimension
Lin Baoling is no stranger to moving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional space. In 2017, Lin started rendering the little guy in three dimensions. In 2018, he manufactured the sculpture The Nameless Little Guy, a harbinger of the direction his creations were about to go in. Though his work over the last few years has been predominantly two-dimensional, 2022 has given rise to a comparatively greater shift in direction.
《一個人的遠航》、和《死神》反映出林葆靈在藝術創作上遇到的難關與困境，而《創作的世界》系列是將他對於藝術創作的滿足與踏實感呈現出來。在《創作的世界》的圓形畫布上，林葆靈將畫筆、刷具、顏料當作森林環繞小傢伙，就好比《創作的世界III》和《棲居之所》（2020）中的小傢伙，在畫筆、紙張、顏料管等繪畫工具搭起的帳篷中，才能安然入夢。在一片雪白的寒冬夜晚，小傢伙蹲在營火邊取暖並流露出滿足的神情，此形象由《慾望》（2017）系列發展而來。對林葆靈來說，火給人帶來溫暖與心安之感，生火即是某種慾望的象徵，而他的藝術世界便是靠著創作的慾望不斷推動著。
Voyage and Death reflect the trials and tribulations Lin Baoling has met with in his work, while The Creation series is the presentation of Lin’s feelings of satisfaction and contentment toward artistic creation. On The Creation’s circular canvas, Lin Baoling surrounds the little guy with paint brushes, brushware, and paints; just like the little guys in The Creation III and Dwelling Place who can only fall into sweet dreams in tents built of paint brushes, paper, and pigment tubes. In a snow-white wintery night developed in Lin’s Desire series, the little guy squats by a campfire to warm himself and reveals an expression of contentment. According to Lin Baoling, fire gives people feelings of peace and warmth; lighting a fire is symbolic of desire, and his artistic world depends precisely on the ceaseless push of his desire to create.
進入超時空色域
在藝術史上，打破繪畫平面性的侷限，開創一種新的觀念與格局，非盧齊歐．封塔納的「割破畫布」系列莫屬。林葆靈將小傢伙化身封塔納，拿著小刀奮力地《劃破》艷紅色的巨大畫布，而這一刀劃下彷彿是一道濺血的傷口，也是藝術家在突破創作舒適圈時自虐的過程。劃破畫布還不夠，在作品《斬》中，小傢伙以畫筆為劍，一刀斬斷畫布，如此具有氣勢與殺傷力，早已不再是我們印象中憂鬱、脆弱、易受欺負的形象了。用仍在滲血的繃帶與OK繃包紮的《傷》，是接下來藝術家所經歷的陣痛階段，但唯有經過大破，才能大立；疼痛過後，藝術才得以重生。
Enter the Hyperspace Color Gamut
In the history of art, smashing the confines of the flatness of painting and initiating new concepts and patterns, there can be none other than Lucio Fontana’s Spatial Concept series. In the artwork Cut, Lin Baoling transforms the little guy into Fontana holding a knife, slashing open a giant bright red canvas with all of his strength, leaving a cut like the path of a blood-spattered wound; the process of self-abuse artist goes through when breaking out of creative comfort zones. Slashing open the canvas is still not enough, so using a paint brush like a sword, the little guy cuts the canvas in half in the work Slash. In doing so, he takes on an imposing manner and destructive power, and is no longer the depressed, frail, and easily-bullied image of memory. Using bandages still seeping with blood, Wound is the next stage of pain the artist will experience, but only after going through a big break can the artist stand tall; only after enduring pain can art achieve a rebirth.
林葆靈的最新作品中，最令人驚豔的是跳脫以往既定的藍紫色系框架，用色大膽且無時間性的《斬》系列，它就像是藝術革命再重生的過程，先前提到的《自己領導自己》彷彿為此系列的發展揭開序幕。在此，林葆靈以大面積平塗的方式處理背景，鮮豔的紅色抹去了時間。畫面不再是我們所熟悉的藍紫色夜晚，跳出藍紫色溫柔的舒適圈，小傢伙在象徵革命的紅色包圍之下，顯得更有殺氣與能量，強烈的視覺印象衝擊著感官，挑戰觀者的視覺極限。
Among Lin Baoling’s newest works, the most stunning are those which have moved beyond the previously established blue and purple patterns. The use of bold colors and timelessness in the Slash series is like the process of rebirth after an artistic revolution, the aforementioned One Leading Oneself seeming like the prologue that kicked off this series. Here, Lin Baoling handles the background applying a flat coating of paint to a large area, the bright and colorful red erasing time. The scene is no longer the blue and purple nightscape we are familiar with. Jumping out of the tender blue and purple comfort zone, surrounded by red symbolizing revolution, the little guy appears even more murderous and energetic. The strong visual impression attacks the senses with visual extremes that challenge viewers.
小傢伙在《斬II》中化身為漫畫《浪客劍心》的主角，展式威力強大的劍技「九頭龍閃」。林葆靈在此融合了封塔納的概念，將每個方位的畫布劃破，讓作品從二維衝破至三維空間。為了顯現出速度感，他也以漫畫慣用的粗細速度線來表達，使得整件作品更具破壞性與張力。《斬IV》中的小傢伙的角色又變成了《進擊的巨人》的調查兵團，此兵團肩負著帶領人類衝破高牆邁向自由生活的使命，因此每次出動都抱著決一死戰的心情戰鬥。此精神好比他在藝術道路上所踏出的每一步，每一個新嘗試都是前所未進之地，充滿冒險與驚奇，同時也需抱持破釜沉舟、只進不退的決心。透過2022年林葆靈的最新作品，我們看到了他在追求志業的道路上不斷突破自我，並且在追尋那自由光芒的同時，自身也閃耀著更加耀眼的光芒。
The little guy in Slash II transforms into the main character of manga Rurouni Kenshin, exhibiting the formidable “hitenmitsurugi style” of swordplay. Here, Lin Baoling incorporates Fontana’s concept, slashing canvases from every direction, causing the painting to jump from two dimensions into three-dimensional space. To express a sense of speed, Lin uses thick and thin speed lines habitually adopted in manga, making the whole work more tense and destructive. The little guy’s role in Slash IV becomes the survey corps from Attack on Titan. This corps shoulders the mission to lead humanity in breaking down high walls on the march toward a life of freedom, thus every time they are dispatched, they fight with a do-or-die spirit. This spirit is much like each step Lin treads down the road of art, each new attempt a place yet undiscovered full of adventure and surprise while at the same time cutting off any means of retreat, leaving only the determination to move forward. Through Lin Baoling’s newest works in 2022, we see constant personal breakthroughs in pursuit of his career, and that in pursuit of the radiant light of freedom, Lin too shines all the brighter.
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