Invisibility by Ya-Wei

My last photography exhibition, Visibility, was in 2020 so this is like the Olympics! Don’t miss it! I am very excited to showcase 17 photo prints, 4 photo books and 1 video. This exhibition contains a body of works that starts in 2010 and includes countless daily photo walks and travels to 14 different cities in the world. I wish everyone could experience it in person. I will also create videos and images to make this exhibition accessible virtually. Invisibility will open on March 25 at The Annex Gallery located in Richmond Cultural Centre Annex on 7660 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC V6Y 1R8. The gallery is open Monday-Friday 9am-9pm, Saturday-Sunday 10am-5pm.


Notes on 陳澄波密碼

陳澄波密碼 by 柯宗明

P. 004 推薦序 by 陳芳明

1945年日本投降時,從中國大陸帶來的江浙語、上海與、福建話、北京話,使台灣人一夜之間就落入複雜文化的情境中。台灣人到底是日本人還是中國人,既使不提戰後初期的狀況,到二十一世紀的今天,仍然有太多知識份子還是無法釐清文化認同的問題。這是歷史所遺留下來的心靈困境,而這部小說便是希望能夠掙脫如此難解的困境,給台灣歷史一個確切的答案。這正是<<陳澄波密碼>>最迷人的地方,也是最引人深思之處。

P. 014 自序 by 柯明宗

如今科技解放了資訊,在人人一把號的年代,民間和個人,都有各自成調的歷史詮釋權。時間之劉淘盡了一代才人,似曾相識的歷史情境,依舊重來,台灣人需要說自己的故事,需要在栩栩如生的故事裡看見歷史,看見人們在這塊土地上或雄健或卑微地活過的痕跡,才能有多一點底氣,去面對中國崛起的當下此刻。

P. 080

我還記得第一次到陳老師家裡作客,竟然要脫鞋子,這讓我們很驚訝,因為當時中國沒有這樣的習慣。後來我才知道,老師與師母都深受日本文化的影響。

…我印象中的師母比較嚴肅,很少有笑容,不過她很注重禮節,很有日本婦女的氣質。

P. 113

另一方面,也是因為他那個年齡層的台灣人,對祖國有強烈的興趣與好奇心,尤其他的父親是秀才,對阿兄漢民族意識濳移默化很深,只要有機會,他總想回去看一看古詩詞裡的祖國是長什麼樣子,所以…

阿公說的這種心理,就如同十九世紀的美國人對於歐洲巴黎,同樣充滿嚮往,因為歐陸是美國人的母文化,當時美國文化位階較高的人都會有回歐洲尋根的意識,…

P.131 (1932年1月30日)

「這位留長頭髮的先生是新華藝專的陳教授,』

老士兵說:『他在學校很有名,對咱中國學生很好,雖然他們拿日本護照,但他們實在不是日本人,他們是日本台灣福建人…」

P. 133-134

「想當中國人、日本人、台灣人,這對我們那代的台籍知識分子來說,彷彿是走在迷霧森林裡,選擇哪條路走,都有可能掉落懸崖。」

「事實上,…澄波兄拿日本護照卻代表中國參加芝加哥博覽會的畫展,這本身就有著文化認同與政治現實的雙重矛盾。他遊走在漢/日、東/西不同文化裡,追求美術技法的試驗,享受著藝術人生,但命運卻不容他如此優游,一二八事變只是再次迫使他面對身分的選擇,要當日本人?或中國人?」

P. 137

「祖國人比較辛苦,因為你們傳統包袱比較深,對於接受西洋文物比較掙扎,台灣人就比較單純,日本人帶領我們接受什麼事物,我們就直接接受,很少抗拒。」

P. 138

「內人對於上海生活並不是很習慣,外國租界固然富庶繁華,但更廣大的本國人區卻充斥著髒亂、無秩序。…

祖國在文明的程度上,不僅遠遠落後於日本,也落後於台灣,這是另一個難以言明的苦惱啊。」

P. 143

… 畢竟以寫生創作的畫家,沒有尋找一塊雙腳可以踩踏的土地,是無法激發手裡的畫筆的,…

P. 160

「其實我也沒有真的想搞革命,」…

「我只是欣賞、尊敬可以改革國家弊病,拯救國家災禍的革命家,想效仿他們那種博愛的精神,如此而已。」

「…我只想要透過社會運動,讓台灣變得更好一點,就像永田一   所宣傳的理念,透過普羅文藝的改革,讓普羅大眾不再被欺壓。」

P. 161

「…而我們畫家的任務就是要當老百姓聞名的啟蒙導師,老百姓走上文明的道路,台灣才有救。」

P. 176 (陳澄波)

「…我頂著帝展入選人的光環回到台灣,卻不能跟日本人平起平坐。日本人要我們念書,是要幫忙他們統治台灣人,所以只讓台灣人讀師範與醫學,然後派到基曾當國校教員及醫療工作人員。而具有思想的藝術、哲學、法學等高級教員的工作,都不放心交給本島人,怕我們推動民族運動,日本人把台灣人才當作歹銅舊錫對待。…」

P. 179 (楊三郎)

「說起來我們這群人都是被日本教育培養出來的文藝青年,我們都是得利於日本帶給台灣文明的受益者啊。…

我們是徹徹底底地過著日本式的生活,…我們都融入日本的體制裡了,某種程度來說,我們也算是日本人,如何反自己?…」

P. 181 (楊三郎)

「總之,在我們那個年代,要當一名畫家,不是只有單純的畫畫而已,時代的變化總會影響到創作,所以要一邊畫畫一邊因應時局,這時候思想就很重要。…」

P. 219 (李石樵)

「台灣文化界在光復前已有祖國認同的分歧,光復後因為祖國更換,分歧更為嚴重,也更為複雜,不只是分裂成傳統藝術對抗前衛藝術,還分裂成左翼思想對抗右翼思想,甚至分裂成本省幫與外省掛,最後還要再分裂成大陸情結、本土情結、日本情結,美國情結,所以說,很難將每個創作者歸類在哪一個立場上。」… 「…當島上某部分的本省人,同情左派的同時也有大陸情結,但他們跟厭惡左派的本省人不合,也跟厭惡左派的外省人處不來。另一方面,厭惡左派的本省人也跟厭惡左派的外省人無法共事,這就成為台灣光復後藝文界的政治光譜,… 」

P. 232 (李石樵)

「我曾為一些大官做人像畫,不論個人意願如何,都是不容許我拒絕。但澄波兄卻從沒畫過他不想畫的題材,即便是他以前在嘉義交往過的名人 - 琳瑯山閣的主人,他也沒為他們畫人像畫,而是畫琳瑯山閣的風景,這是他作為畫家自由的地方啊!」

P. 233

「剛才你問說我為何畫風轉向,從社會題材轉到現代抽象?唉,這全是因為我們的世代遭遇到不可阻擋的橫流,我們都收藏起作畫的自由意識,走到一個安全的、無人管轄的前衛藝術的領域裡,不只是我如此,廖繼春也是如此。唯有畫抽象畫,我們才能安然地渡過那段競禁忌的歲月啊。這樣的改變,無論是你說的,我在追求潮流也罷,或是實際上的怯弱也罷,總之,我們都失去作為一個藝術家該有的自由創作的空間,不過我至少沒遺憾,因為我畫了這幅<大將軍>。」

P. 234-235

「…我對李老師所影射的大將軍是誰,並不好奇,我感到難過的是,李老師似乎不信任我。」

「我倒認為是因為我聽不懂台語,讓他不信任我。」當阿政聽到方燕如此說時,頓時一陣寒意襲擊著兩人,…當方燕把潘朵拉的盒子打開時,隱藏在兩人心中多時的心結,似乎已無閃避的可能,必得要誠實面對這道關卡。

P. 238

「他們不是出生在文明的時代裡,在他們成長的過程中,他們腦中沒有被教育過民主理念,卻又承載著太多的國破處境及無國思想的灌輸,以致他們滿腦子憂國憂民、忠黨愛國的意識,為了民族存亡的大計,寧可犧牲民主的體制,這就是他們的信仰。他們有歷史的包袱,民族的情感,還有生存的不安,以致他們成為政府的效忠者。而這一種心態,就是我說的,歷史結構下的黨國心結。」… 「我並沒有說政府沒有錯,而是說政府利用他們集體的恐懼感來操控他們的思維,甚至讓他們成為統治者的幫兇,某種程度來說,這些黨國支持者也是獨裁政權下的受害者,他們連分辨正義的能力都沒有,…因為他們被民族大義結綁架了…」

P. 242

「…當他帶著家人躲到租界區時,內心一定五味雜陳,他有著東方人的面孔,同時浸淫在西洋、日本、中國、台灣的文化中 一在當今世界正流行Globe Village(地球村)的年代裡,這樣同時擁有多元文化的能力,必是人人羨慕的資產,但在那個戰亂的年代,這樣多元、或者應該說是複雜的文化,也許正是災難的禍因呢。」

P. 275

「我的孩兒,你們的孝心我都明白,做父親的怎捨得離開你們,但眼前的局勢容不得我逃避。想當初光復後,我鼓舞百姓要相信政府,一起合作,建設台灣,但想不到現在發生國軍鎮壓百姓的事,我覺得我對台灣人有道義責任,也對十二萬嘉義市民的安危有保護的責任,所以我必須去機場,才不會愧對良心。這是職責,不得推卸,就算必死,也得赴死…」

P. 280

「於是我偷偷地靠近軍卡車,約莫只有五、六公尺的距離,我刻意用日語輕輕喊著: 『多桑』,父親轉過頭來看到我,露出激動的眼神…」

「雖然當時我們對看的時間可能只有短短的不到一分鐘,但對我們父女來說,卻彷彿有一世紀那麼長。直到不知過了多久,卡車突然加速往前開,才把我倆的視線拆開,於是我更加用力地往前奔跑,拼命跟隨在卡車後面,不斷撞到騎樓的旁人、攤位,連我的木屐都掉了…」

P. 283(陳碧女)

「…嘉義噴水池是我父親生前常去做畫的地點,當父親被五花大綁經過此地時,不知父親心中作何感想?他曾透過畫作歌頌這個進步文明的象徵之地,在生命的最終旅程,卻被以極不文明的手段逼迫路過此地,這何嘗不是對人類文明的嘲弄?…」

P. 286

「…因為人民的文明素質若不好,民主制度交到他們手中會像是不守交通規則的駕駛一樣,開著車橫衝亂撞,這也是買票有效的原因。人民的素質才是民主體制成敗的關鍵因素,所以我認為推動現代文明的教育才能真正推翻獨裁體制,…」

「…文明程度接近的人,很快就能變成一家人,文明程度落差很大的人,即便是同文同種同母語,也是隔閡很深。…」

P. 303

「…左一的陳澄波穿西服,左二的二女兒穿日式披風,中間的妻子穿台灣女衫,左四的兒子穿中式的馬褂,右邊的大女兒穿台灣原住民的服裝,傳達他多元文化、族群共榮的理念。」

P. 307

「我納悶的是,陳澄波在上海時就已經見識到國民政府的血腥鎮壓手段,為何他還敢到水上機場與軍隊洽談和解?」

「或許…是他與陳植棋的革命因子以深藏心中,他在追尋理想時,充滿著一種浪漫的勇氣,與一種近乎於赤子的…傻氣吧,所以他是去執行他應盡的責任。」

P. 311

…第一次親眼見到陳澄波的妻子,一個讓他們感到陌生卻又形象鮮明的女人;一個總是默默為家人拼搏、犧牲的女人;一個勇敢把畫作收藏起來,等待歷史還丈夫清白的女人;一個不識字,卻比絕大多數識字男人有膽識的女人…

P. 317

「你知道嗎?我突然想起我的父母不也正是陳澄波畫中的人物嗎?永遠是那麼的務實,那麼的勤勞,那麼的善良。而一個畫家眼中永遠存在著最平凡的人民,這不就是托爾斯泰在他的<<藝術論>>裡,所進求的真善美的藝術真諦嗎?」


Notes on Hiroshi Sugimoto

Revolution / Hiroshi Sugimoto

P. 6-7 Foreword by Armin Zweite

Contrary to photography’s conventional function as a means of reproducing “reality”, these works are pared down to the minimum in formal terms and thus more like visualized concepts through which to explore the fundamentals of life: space and time, past and present, art and science, imagination and reality. Moreover, their arresting beauty and aura cannot fail to leave a lasting impression on all those who see them.

… an oeuvre that stands out on account of its superb craftsmanship and the almost magical effect of its powerful aesthetic presence. 

“Art is technique: a means by which to materialize the invisible realm of the mind,” explains Sugimoto. “As such, my art is an emblematic rendering of part of my mind in visible form - or perhaps we might say, samplings from my consciousness. Over my many years as an artist, I have endeavored to hone my technique.”

What Sugimoto visualizes so emphatically in these new works is ultimately the presence of the aesthetic.

P. 10

For a long time it was my calling to stand in cliffs and gaze at the horizon, where the sea touches the sky. The horizon is not a straight line but a segment of a great arc. One day, standing atop a lone island peak in a remote sea, the horizon encompassing my entire field of vision, for a moment it felt as if I was floating above an immeasurable void. But then, as I viewed the horizon encircling me, I had a distinct sensation of the earth as a watery globe, a clear vision of the horizon not as an endless expanse but the edge of an oceanic sphere. 

P. 11

Obviously, the scientific views and laws we currently believe will falter and be superceded in due course. Centuries from now people will consider us as unenlightened as those who lived in the geocentric age - if humanity survives until then, that is. There remains, however, a great divide between comprehending the world and being able to explain what we ourselves are. And even then, what we can explain of the world is far less than what we cannot - though people tend be more attracted by the unexplained. In all this, I somehow feel we are nearing an era when religion and art will once again cast doubts upon science, or else an era when things better seen through to a scientific conclusion will bow to religious judgement.

P.20

Sugimoto’s pictorial strategy could be evidence of Bergson’s notion that memory is formed during cognition. As demonstrated by Wilhelm Roskamm, this refers to Bergson’s theory of time and his definition of the present. “If we consider the passing of time, Bergson paradoxically states that it is only the present that passes, while the past has not passed but perpetuates and has a continuing impact. The past repeats itself each and every moment in time, it continuously alters itself and its structure as its extends to the future. Past and present, materiality and immateriality, weave a virtual image. This virtual image is the transforming repetition of the past as well as the recollection of the present. The fact that the present does not repeat the past is due to the fact that the current movement quasi selects this virtual image, and that the weight of the past on the present results in a transformation and alteration/compression. In that sense, the virtual image is not a place of repetition but one of difference.

P.23

The search for the origins of forms of representation, which allows fossils and calotype to be compared as such, is related to Sugimoto’s seascapes inasmuch as they are also supposed to be an inherent manifestation of fundamental human experiences, which Sugimoto sees as removed from time. Faced with the horizon and the expansiveness of the sea and the sky, Sugimoto argues that his experience differs in no way from that of early humans. He declares this original experience of being as the origin of universal consciousness and his personal existence.

P.25

Sugimoto is not concerned with aesthetic issues, but rather with matters of representation, images and diagrams.

P.26

“Art is techniques: a means by which to materialize the invisible realm of the mind. As such, my art is an emblematic rendering of part of my mind in visible form - or perhaps one might say, sampling’s from my consciousness.”

P.27-28

He does not use photography for photograph’s sake but increasingly uses the mediums to examine its inherent possibilities and to convert the potential of the past into the present, give it a new place and, if possible, expand it … frequently contrarily to its original character.

P.28

A continuous horizon line determines their structure. All in all a classically balanced composition in four clearly differential parallel layers, whereby the topmost layer with its gently modulated quality takes up half the frame.

P.29

At any rate, the photograph evokes a sense of remoteness and stillness. The pale milky sheen of the layer of clouds accentuates this feeling, although it remains to be seen whether there is a boundless expanse of ocean beneath this mist.

The suggestion of distance and transcendence, however, is lost in prolonged viewing. The photographic quality of the image becomes more and more apparent and begins to dominate the graphic character of the image, thus displaying the illusory character of the work, indexical elements diminish while aesthetic ones begin to inform our perception.

P.31

The series comprising fifteen images is based on photographs taken from 1986-97. They were produced in irregular order, most of them in 1990. In 2011 and 2012 they were enlarged to measure ninety-four by forty seven inches, a double square format. The night shots are, however turned clockwise by ninety degrees, a perplexing manipulation that is not immediately obvious in some works.

P.32

This starting point for Sugimoto’s works is easily recognized. They are all nighttime photographs of the moon above the ocean. The subjects are water, sky, the celestial body, the horizon, clouds and reflections, although not all of them are discernible at any one time. Sea and sky frequently merge seamlessly; the line of the horizon is sometimes only visible in part. Apparently, Sugimoto rarely, or in some cases never presented the original images in public; he possibly even did not produce enlargements at the time. The decision in favor of the large format and to tilt the image from horizontal to vertical was only made a few months ago.

P.33

The term “revolution” is mentioned again and again in context with the ideas and photographs of Conceptual Forms, especially when describing complex curve progressions that are impossible to represent in a Euclidean, three-dimensional space. The curvatures expressed by mathematical formulae exhibit either a hyperbolic, parabolic or an elliptical course. They demonstrate that the physical-mathematical space can no longer be imagined as flat or synchronous but as the sum of spiral tracks leading from top of bottom, front to back, and left to right. The purpose is no longer the determination of lengths, angles, and distances in a box-like  space but the formulaic recording of highly complex yet continuous rotations and movements of faces.

P. 34

The question remains, however, of what Sugimoto is trying to achieve with this rotation. His result is fundamentally different from the examples mentioned above, insofar as the resulting images basically do not change their meaning. They are essentially moonlit seascapes, yet they forfeit everything their regular landscape format might evoke. The ninety-degree tilt annihilates the Romantic atmosphere, cancels out any movement in depth, and indeed, the images appear that, almost abstract, the more so when the horizon, originally separating the ocean from the sky, emerges as a sharp vertical line, bifurcating the images.

P. 35

The transformation of the horizontal into vertical amounts to a radical cataclysm in Sugimoto’s work insofar as we are refused the familiar order of top and bottom, of left and right, and the original context of a view onto the ocean, the sea, and the moon is denied.

P. 38

The bodily aspect of our perception appears repealed. This is an experience rather alien to a European consciousness oriented toward Maurice Merleau-Ponty. What makes Sugimoto’s art so fascinating is his rendering this mode of perception comprehensible in striking pictures. And he succeeds in doing so through the extraordinary aesthetic presence of his works.

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