李俊賢《就是要藝術 ──註記一個一心向藝術的個展》

就是要藝術──註記一個一心向藝術的個展

李俊賢
高苑科技大學建築系副教授兼藝文中心主任

　　時空要回到1970年的高雄市前金國中，高雄市有史以來第一個「美術資優實驗班」，在激烈競爭之後，數十個高雄市的國中美術「資優」學生，被集中到前金國中美術教室上課，經過幾個禮拜天熱烈上課之後，因為當時交通或升學問題，國二、國三兩個「美術資優實驗班」，很快就變成總數不到10個學生的超級小班，其中包含現在經營「荷軒新藝空間」的沈昌明。即使年代久遠，以當年標準堪稱身材高大的沈昌明，在畫板前很大筆揮灑炭筆的姿勢，依然令人留有印象。

　　國中畢業以後，沈昌明進入「東方工專」，當時的「東方工專」匯集南部「一心向藝」青年藝術家於一堂，也有顏水龍、劉啟祥、劉清榮等前輩藝術家以藝術家風範施教，培養出很多後來在藝術界很被肯定的藝術家，這些「東方幫」藝術家多半在畢業後就投入社會，以「藝術」信念面對當時台灣 [尤其是高雄、台南] 各種社會層面，很多人勇於投入、很敢冒險，在當時原生、粗礪的藝術環境中，表現出頑強的生命力道。

　　1981年，整個高雄大環境，瀰漫著解嚴前的浮躁氣氛，剛剛退伍的沈昌明，在繼續創作的同時，立刻投入社會環境，在當時知識青年集中的「高雄學苑」旁邊，開設「藝之家」畫廊，舉辦畫展兼賣咖啡，成為當時高雄「文青」聚集的地方。在那個草莽而熱烈年代，高雄還是一個重工業嚴重汙染的城市，「畫廊」是甚麼？基本上還是一種各自表述的概念，「畫廊」如何持續經營？也沒有明確的掌握，比較重要的是，對於當時投入這種新行業的高雄青年，他們真正在一個新的時代，標舉了一個姿勢，至於那個姿勢維持多久？真的不是那麼重要。

　　「藝之家」畫廊和當時很多高雄「東方幫」青年經營的畫廊一樣，即使努力用心，最後還是要告別。暫時沒有在第一線經營畫廊的沈昌明，對於當時高雄藝術市場，仍然適時扮演穿針引線角色，繼續為藝術家、藝術愛好者服務。

　　1990年代中，沈昌明經歷一段人生沉浮後回到高雄，由藝術家彭伯平支持繼續創作，在困頓到一個程度的時間點，竟然還發生工作室起火事件，幾乎要萬念俱灰的沈昌明，每天騎著一輛500元的腳踏車，在高雄的大街小巷來回穿梭，仿佛只有藉由不斷的踩踏，得以暫忘各種人生的磨難，而一心向藝的心境，使他在踩腳踏車的過程發現台灣前輩畫家作品，在生命的谷底中，意外的機緣，沈昌明終得翻身，也開始繼續藝術經紀的前緣，開辦「荷軒新藝空間」，在穩定中持續成長。

　　即使一直在經營畫廊，沈昌明仍然持續創作，「人物畫」是他從年輕時代至今特別著重的議題，近年來，則因為抄寫「心經」而「悟」出了另一個創作面向。

　　「心經」抄寫是反覆持續的功課，抄寫者藉由書寫和「心經」對話，在對話的情境中，忘卻世俗各種罣礙、磨難，因而得出清明、放下的心境，在那樣的心境中，世事凡塵的一切，有了不同的面貌，執著可以放下，空無可以全有。抄寫「心經」的經驗，使沈昌明開發創作的一種可能，在繪畫的表象之中，呈現另一個空間，使觀者在反覆閱讀的過程中，在不同的層次中巡迴、定著，多層次交互作用，因而得出了很特別的觀賞閱讀經驗。

　　在最近期的「心經」系列中，「心經」的經文被多層覆蓋，後文覆蓋前文，而覆蓋並沒有掩蓋，前文仍在後文中顯露其痕跡，交錯的經文回應「心經」的書寫經驗，即使反覆書寫，每一次的書寫、再書寫，仍足以得出不同的情境、感應，多次書寫，更可以「圓滿化」、「完全化」書寫者。

　　「心經」書寫，在當代台灣其實可算流行化行為的一種，以「心經」為文本椼伸的物件、行為頗多，沈昌明的「心經」系列由書寫經驗切入，由「心經」書寫行為著手，是「心經」在當代的新註解。

　　多年藝海沉浮，近年喪子的悲痛，使沈昌明虔心進入「心經」的境界，如今更由「心經」境界開發出自我創作可能，而「心經」書寫是「回向」的，創新的「心經」書寫，或將「回向」新的情境意境。

Just Art!── Notes on an Exhibition of Paintings by a Single-Minded Artist

Jiun-Shyan Lee

Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Kao Yuan University

Director of KYU Art Center

The story began at Chien-Chin Junior High School in Kaohsiung City in 1981, when dozens of ‘gifted’ fine art students from various junior high schools across Kaohsiung stood out from their competitors and attended Kaohsiung’s first ‘fine art experimental classes’ for the seventh and eighth grade artistically-talented students respectively on Sundays in the art classrooms at Chien-Chin Junior High School. Nonetheless, several weeks later, most of the students dropped out due to long commutes or pressure of raising academic achievement, leaving the two classes merged into a super small one of less than ten students, including Chang-Ming Shen, who now runs the ‘Lotus Art Gallery’. Even though it was a long time ago, I still recall that Shen, who was large in stature by standards at the time, wielded a charcoal pencil freely in front of a drawing board.

After his graduation from junior high school, Shen studied at ‘Tung Fang Junior College of Technology’, where at the time young artists based in southern Taiwan who were ‘single-mindedly devoted to art’ gathered together and some senior artists, such as Shui-Long Yen, Chi-Hsiang Liu, and Ching-Jong Liu, passed down their artistic manner and skill and helped develop many artists who later became widely recognized in art circles. Most of the artists arising from the ‘Tung Fang Circle' threw themselves into work after graduation and braved life with their faith in ‘art’ in every social stratum in Taiwan [particularly in Kaohsiung and Tainan]. They devoted themselves to art and took risks, showing great strength in a social context where art development still struggled on a primitive and rugged terrain.

In 1981, when restlessness was floating in the air of Kaohsiung prior to the lifting of martial law, Shen, who continuously worked on art creation, entered society immediately after being discharged from the army and opened the ‘Home of Art’ Gallery near the Kaohsiung CYC Hostel, where young intellectuals converged. The gallery, which was a venue for art exhibition with coffee served, soon attracted many ‘arty youths’ across Kaohsiung. At the time of wildness and passion, Kaohsiung was a city with serious industrial pollution, where the concept of a ‘gallery’ was still interpreted variously and no definite principles of keeping a gallery well-run were established. What was of real significance was that those Kaohsiung youths who joined this new profession struck a meaningful pose in a new era. As for how long the pose was being held, it really does not matter.

The ‘Home of Art’ Gallery, just like many other galleries run by the artists of the ‘Tung Fang Circle’ in Kaohsiung, finally bade farewell and took a bow even though it had been managed with great care and effort. Despite stopping running a gallery for the moment, Shen still provided timely services for artists and art lovers as a go-between.

In the 1990s, Shen returned to Kaohsiung after experiencing ups and downs of his life and continued his art creation with the support of artist Po-Ping Peng. Just as he thought he was at rock bottom, a fire broke out at his studio. Feeling despair, Shen rode a bicycle, which was worth 500 NT dollars, and pedaled around the streets and lanes in Kaohsiung every day as if only by pedaling continuously could he forget all the sufferings temporarily. While he pedaled around with his single-minded devotion to art, his discovery of some Taiwanese senior artists’ works gave him a chance to rise again and resume his career in art brokerage by opening the ‘Lotus Art Gallery’, which has grown in strength ever since.     

While running the gallery, Shen remains active in his art creation. ‘Figure painting’ has been a particular focus of his creation since his youth. In recent years, his transcription of the ‘Heart Sutra’ has become another source of inspiration for him.

Transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ involves repeated and continuous effort and leads the transcriber to enter into a dialogue with the ‘Heart Sutra'. Through the dialogue, the transcriber forgets all the worldly concerns and sufferings and enters a calm and detached state of mind, in which everything secular is seen in a different light, emotional attachment can be removed, and emptiness generates spiritual contentment. Shen’s experience of transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ has inspired him to explore a possibility of creating multiple spaces beneath the surface of a painting, which enables viewers to travel around the different spaces or adhere to one of them while repeatedly reading the painting and gain a special viewing or reading experience through interaction among the spaces.

In Shen’s most recent ‘Heart Sutra Fugue’ series, the texts of the ‘Heart Sutra’ are arranged in layers in the paintings, and each layer of texts, whether covering or being covered by the other layers of texts, can be observed. The interlaced religious texts reflect Shen’s experience of transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’. More precisely, transcribing the same texts at different times arouses various responses and feelings from the transcriber; repeated transcription may ‘perfect’ and ‘complete’ the transcriber.          

Transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ is actually quite popular in contemporary Taiwan, with many objects or acts emerging as derivatives of the ‘Heart Sutra’. Shen’s ‘Heart Sutra Fugue' series, where his experience of transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ has been applied, can be seen as a new contemporary annotated version of the ‘Heart Sutra’.

The ups and downs in his art-centered life and the recent painful loss of his son have prompted Shen to enter a detached state of mind by transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ with piety. Now he even draws inspiration from the ‘Heart Sutra’ and explores the possibility of innovative creations. While transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ is a ‘dedication’, Shen’s innovation in transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ may facilitate the quest for spiritual enlightenment.   

沈昌明2013高雄個展

【空故納萬境】

展出日期 ７ / ８ ~ ８ / １８

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