「改造感官世界」

張頌仁

漆藝的各種技法都有一個共通的審美觀，那就是華麗絢爛、矜貴典雅。例外的，也有把漆材與瓦灰混合為土壁的質感，以反樸歸實的趣味對照熟悉的華麗，但那不是漆藝的主流。漆藝手法中，鑲嵌螺鈿尤其炫目，但如林濤這樣螺鈿鋪地至整幅填滿不見漆地，使圖像都被幻彩炫光所融化，則明顯反應了一種趣味選擇和藝術訊息。

使用漆材就表示以某種工作過程為創作精神。漆藝所表態的不外是：沈澱、煉瀝的修為。林濤告訴觀眾：他的作品目的是為了把我們不停丟棄、遺忘的日常保留下來。他於是以反日常的大量工作，反襯出瞬間消逝的普通事件，發揮這些看似沒有深刻意義的事件所隱藏的意義。由於作者沒有明確告訴我們他所指的「社會意識」與「人的生活狀態」是什麼，只告訴我們他以藝術手法帶出這些「不具備深刻意義的事件」的「藝術性」，於此他給觀眾留了一道懸疑。

藝術家長年累積收藏老報紙，作品的內容往往來自早就失去時效的新聞圖片。所以，要了解什麼事物可以轉化出「藝術性」，藝術家本人選擇的立場才是關鍵。他要提煉的「藝術性」有如漆工序所隱藏的胎底。漆畫積澱的無數層次掩蓋了胎型的本質，轉化出最後留在表層的矜貴華彩。於林濤來說，他的胎型是曾經一度帶有新聞效果的公共圖像，從無數新聞圖片中被他提拔出來。綜觀這些圖片的故事，無論是季節的轉換、交通事故、工事意外、政策變動，尤其是日常生活裡的各種小災難，對於小市民來說都是宇宙的力量，是超逾人力能夠抗衡的命運安排。這些訊息構成生活的無聊和無可奈何，每天通過媒體變成大眾的新聞娛樂，同時構成百姓對生命感受的日常頻調。由於新聞媒體每天披露的內容基本都是對正常生活的傷害，因此無趣、乏味、以致喪失意義也就成為一般人的生命感受。

於此林濤介入了藝術的力量。雖然林濤選擇的題材是失去時效的小新聞，但他對抗的是恆常的現代社會感知。他的作品表示他不願意被灰暗、無趣、破碎的日常所壓迫。他的螺鈿圖面讓人驚訝與驚喜。支離破碎的、讓人不快的各種小新聞，在龐大工作量的藝術轉化下，變成了和諧統一的畫面，同樣地華美絢爛。他整個系列作品可以說就是同一件作品，面對一切的具體新聞圖片，拒絕所有在社會上流通的缺陷與無奈。林濤似乎宣告：人生的意義與美好來自積極的創作，他的工作就是對感官世界的改造。

人民共和六十九年一月

Restoring the Sensory World

Chang Tsong-Zung

The many different techniques used in lacquer art all share a common aesthetic: the creation of an object that is at once opulent and elegant, dazzling and refined. There are some exceptions to this rule, as for example in the alternative aesthetics of a textured earthen feel, produced by mixing large amounts of ground pottery tile with lacquer; but this is outside of the main practices of lacquer art. Lacquer works featuring mother-of-pearl inlay are particularly luxurious and eye-catching, and artist Lin Tao takes this technique to an extreme, creating works in which the mother-of-pearl inlay covers the entire lacquer surface, so that the images are almost overwhelmed by, and even absorbed into, the opulent sheens of the inlay. This approach is a conscious choice by the artist, expressing a particular artistic point of view and sensibility. His use of lacquer in his art reflects the spirit of a certain kind of working process.

Through his process, Lin Tao is telling his audience that the purpose of his works is to preserve that which we are constantly discarding and forgetting. The extraordinarily labour-intensive nature of his work makes a stark contrast to the fleeting nature of the ordinary events he is portraying, and at the same time helps make manifest the hidden significance of events that on the surface seem to have no deeper meaning. The artist does not explicitly define for us what he means by ‘social consciousness’ or ‘people’s living conditions’; rather, he only reveals that he is using these artistic techniques to bring out the ‘artistic nature’ of these ‘events of no profound significance’, leaving his audience in a kind of suspense.

Over a period of many years, the artist has been collecting old newspapers, and his artworks contain many images culled from old newspaper photos of events that have long passed into the obscurity of time. Thus, in order to understand what kind of things can be transformed into something ‘artistic’, the position the artist uses in determining his selection is of key importance. The numerous layers used in creating lacquer ware serve to conceal the nature of the original mould over which lacquer is applied, and in the final product it is transformed into a work of refined beauty. As for Lin Tao, the ‘mould’ he uses in his work is comprised of once-newsworthy public images, which he has selected from among thousands of old news photographs. Taken as a whole, the stories these photographs tell — whether concerning weather changes, traffic incidents, industrial accidents, government shake-ups or the various small disasters of daily life for the common people, to the general public they all seem to be result of some kind of cosmic force, because they are beyond their human power to control. Together, these news stories constitute the mundanity and helplessness of daily life. Disseminated through the daily media, they become entertainment for the masses, but they also represent the frequency to which the common people’s sensibility is tuned. Every day the news media exploits the hurts which have become part of normal life, to the extent that they become meaningless and boring — even death itself just becomes another story.
 
This explains why Lin Tao introduces the power of art into these stories. Significantly the news report he selects is always old news that has lost its timeliness; yet at the same time what he is confronting is the permanent condition of contemporary society. His artworks are a testament to his refusal to become oppressed by the darkness, meaninglessness and destructiveness of everyday life. His opulent artworks created with mother-of-pearl inlay are both astonishing and deeply appealing. Through the power of an art form that requires intense amounts of labour and commitment, the artist transforms fleeting, unpleasant news events of every kind into harmonious, luminously beautiful compositions that intimate permanence. One could say that this series of artworks is actually a single work in which the artist both confronts the reality of these ubiquitous news photos and at the same time rejects the deficiencies and helplessness that infect daily life. Lin Tao seems to be proclaiming that the meaning and beauty of life come from the act of positive creation. In this way his true work is that of restoring the sensory world.

January, 69th year of the People’s Republic

(Translation by Valerie C. Doran and the Author)