創作陳述 Artist Statement 2019

文本與繪畫的物我兩忘

　　文字是我創作的關鍵，因為它讓我直視複雜的現實。世界曾經發生我們不一定明瞭的事情，各地民族走過經年累月的浮沉，藝術家與學人認真辯論過實踐過的觀點，或我們共同體會過的切膚情，均可以透過文字一一重拾，與細味。儘管建築、造像、照片、聲音或其他形式均可承載過去，但書寫的人免不了對文字的執著，甚或迷戀。同時，我在字裡行間看見撰文者的身影，及字的形狀。那些書寫人背後，連繫住某一時刻的價值態度與文化情境。這邊閱讀文章的主體，那邊察覺種種言外之音。於這多重異聲和鳴的衍詞造句間，我彷彿看到世情原初的形狀。

　　我生於香港的華人家庭，接受本地殖民地教育¾¾文化身份這回事並無選擇之餘地。傳統中文與廣東話，建構我的知識體系、情感思維及了解週遭情境的方法。中文筆劃變化甚多，字形結構秩序井然，同一類卻可有些微差異，而每個字均有自己的過去與故事，並隨時勢而意易形變。字與字的組合，既如遊戲般隨性又湊合出精妙迥異的意思。中文語意組織方法開放而著重意會，不一定有嚴謹的邏輯關係。文句表達途徑崎嶇迂迴，跳脫不覊；又經常語帶雙關，暗湧漣漣。這曖昧莫明卻到位精妙的特質，恰恰對應我對藝術的美學要求。

　　手寫文字接近繪畫，印刷文字則屬版畫圖像。過去歐美及中國藝術史裡運用文字的方法，除動用文字的語意系統，亦多按此藝術脈絡發展。電腦科技普及之後，整個城市景觀與閱讀經驗，均翻天覆地轉變。字形被規範統整，其結構再次被改造，成為我們當下生活經驗的集體認知。我的作品多使用生活裡最常見的電腦字形，除了壓抑字的個性，亦指向城市生活的幾何美學。

　　當語言聲符被書寫下來，它即轉化為物質，不論我們使用甚麼工具，或書寫於甚麼素材上。書寫，是物質化的過程。而我在繪畫上處理的，多是物質的應用。西方繪畫傳統採用的布質與顏料，厚重得過於笨重，我傾向中國繪畫的輕靈與陰柔。即使我仍依循西方繪畫的工序，但選取的物料全屬透薄輕巧；配合膠片與傳統白絹的特性，層層積疊出連繫傳統中國藝術的繪畫模樣。

　　雖然，我創作的原發點多發自文字與文本，但在文章裡打滾一段時間後，我選擇把它們放下。它們後退了，卻仍然堅實存在。文字，變得透明而虛空；文本，成為繪畫行為的註腳，延展至畫框外的知識體系，亦是觀看我的繪畫的其中一種切入方法。這種既給觀者看見一些東西，又不讓看清全部的取態，仿如我閱讀經驗之所得。我們讀罷一本書，看似獲得書本之全部，實情卻不，亦不可能，尤其是閱讀文學作品。言猶未盡，知性與情感交纏的迴蕩，是文學抽象的本質。文學自家獨立存在，不用我們以另一種藝術形式去詮釋或演繹。如果文學作為對應文本，我傾向在觀念上、意識上及美學上意會。小說的敘述結構、新詩的節奏與語言撞擊，或散文的時間編排等，均可以在繪畫或展覽上體現。只不過，前者考慮的是文字組織與書本形式，後者處理的是空間與物料。

　　水墨，是中國傳統藝術的現代代名詞。它是種文化身份，它有源遠流長的藝術傳統，它與文字、文本及文學關係密切，它亦是亞洲文化體系裡其中一種美學特質。更重要的是，水墨鬆動了亞洲藝術美學與物料間的歷史關係，放下過去已發展圓熟的表達形式，而轉為趨向在觀念上、意識上及美學上繼承傳統。紙、筆與墨，退後成為一種精神；作品形式，慢慢進入現代社會及當代藝術的情境。我的創作一直與水墨若即若離，既近亦異。近者，乃能放在現代水墨脈絡中解讀；異者，則是我有自家對傳統中國藝術的理解，與演繹方式。

　　一個人在工作室觀看窗外山林天色，不會忘卻繁華城市的生活習慣；我在繪畫裡思索文本，又在行文間記住繪畫；到別國短暫駐留旅居，倒把自身的文化身世看得一清二楚。我安然處於這種介乎幾個範疇之間的狀態，或許這本是當下藝術家的情狀。話說多了，倒不如沉默靜思，醞釀尚在意中的繪畫風景。

Text and Paintings as One

Words have always been the central motif in my creative work, as they bring me face to face with the complexity of reality. Words allow us to feel and reminisce experience and concepts – current affairs across the world that we may or may not understand, life as experienced by peoples of different cultures across centuries, concepts that have been discussed and put into practice by artists and academics, or our heart-wrenching shared experience. Although the past is also captured by means of architecture, sculpture, photography, voice recording or any other media, for writers, words are still first and foremost, or even an object of fetish. In text, I read at the same time the writer behind, and the shape of written script. Women and men behind the text are inseparable from values, attitudes and culture of particular periods of time. As I capture the subject of a piece of text, I am also reading between the lines. The original image of the world takes shape in front of me as I immerse myself in this polyphony of words.

I have no choice regarding my identity – I was born and raised in an ethnic Chinese family in Hong Kong and was educated in the colonial system. My ideology, emotions, reasoning, and the way I understand the world around me are all shaped by the language(s) I use: traditional Chinese script and Cantonese. There are rich variations in the arrangement of strokes of Chinese characters, though the order of the strokes is unmistakeably clear-cut; there can be subtle differences among characters belonging to the same categories. Each character has its own unique history and story which, together with its physical shape, may change in time.  The combination of characters is at times excitingly random like a game, at times precise that sparks off ingenious nuances. The syntax of Chinese language is open and organic, with meanings often felt instead of generated from an exact internal logic. Thus, expression is often obscure and indirect, free and untamed, with puns and hidden messages ubiquitous. This propensity for obscurity and ingenuity suits my aesthetic pursuits in art aptly.

If handwriting is similar to drawing, then the printed text is a form of printmaking. This is the way words have been used throughout the development of art in the West or in China, apart from their semantic value. The urban landscape and experience of reading have been changed completely since the digital age. Our collective experience and cognition are since then shaped by uniformed typeface, with structure of the characters/alphabets changed during the process of digitalization. I often use the most common typeface in my work, to show not only the suppression of individuality of each character or alphabet, but also the geometric aesthetics of our city.

When phonemes are being transcribed, language comes into material existence, regardless of the medium with which and on which we write. To write is to materialize. The focus of my painting activity is on the application of material. Canvas and paint used in Western art are often thick and even bulky, while I have a penchant for the light and soft material of Chinese ink painting. I have chosen translucent, light and delicate material on which to paint, though I still prepare them and paint in the Western way. Through layering and the properties of transparent acrylic board and translucent traditional white silk, I have achieved an effect that echoes traditional Chinese ink paintings in my works.

Though I have always started with words and text in my paintings, I decided to let them take a back seat after I have immersed myself in the sea of text for some time. I still feel their presence even though they have receded. Words have become transparent and empty, while text has become footnotes to the paintings. Text enriches my paintings by bridging the world of knowledge outside the frame, providing one of the many ways of looking at my paintings. Text, therefore, is also one type of material. The way things are deliberately partially shown in my paintings actually was inspired by my experience as a reader. As we finish a book, we often assume that we have grasped it in its entirety, but in fact we haven’t, and couldn’t, especially with works of literature. The abstract nature of literature lies in the echo and confluence of reason and emotions. Representation of literature in another art form would be redundant as literature is in itself a form of art. Therefore, to me, if literary text is to serve as an artistic response, it should be conceptually, consciously and aesthetically intuitive and suggestive. Narrative structure of fiction, rhythm and chemistry of words in poetry, and the flow of time in essay can be represented by means of painting. While literature is about the arrangement of words and how they appear in the form of a book, the focus of painting is about space and the use of material.

 “Shui Mo” (Ink and water) is the modern Chinese term for the traditional Chinese art form of ink painting.  It is a cultural identity with a history of over a thousand years, and is one of the aesthetic characteristics of East Asian culture that is closely link to words, text and literature. Moreover, the new concept of “Shui Mo” has freed its material aspect from its historical bondage to East Asian aesthetics and its tradition of formal expression that has matured over the centuries, so that focus of the art form has shifted to manifestation of the tradition conceptually, consciously and aesthetically. Paper, brush and ink have receded to the background as a concept, as Chinese ink painting enters the modern society and the world of contemporary art. I have always kept an ambiguous distance from “Shui Mo”. While my work can be read in the context of modern Chinese ink painting, I have maintained my own interpretation and expression of Chinese art.

While I feast my eyes with natural scenery from outside the window of my studio, it does not take me away from my busy urban lifestyle. By the same token, I think about text as I paint, and I remember painting as I write. Taking up short-term residences in foreign countries has allowed me to look at my own cultural identities in a new light. I feel much at home in this in-between state among art forms and areas, or maybe this is how it should be as an artist today. Maybe I should stop talking and picture new paintings in my mind, quietly.