正典與延異：宜蘭藝術家四人展的群屬轉向

策展人：國立臺灣師範大學美術學系教授/系主任 白適銘

1895年，臺灣成為日本殖民屬地，進入日治時期，隨著日本政府全面性地推動「現代化」(Modernization)之建設，進入接觸西方文明的嶄新階段。「現代化」過程變遷中所造成的轉變，不僅表現在藝術家個人對於西方藝術的正面理解、思考何謂「美術」以及如何成為所謂的「現代藝術家」等藝術本質追求的問題上，更重要的是，例如美術教育的推行、美術團體的形成、展覽會的舉辦、繪畫研究組織的設置、藝術批評平臺的建置等，對臺灣而言，都是一種新型態的美術機制，從而形塑出具有「現代」特質的「美術群屬」(Art Society)，美術逐漸形構出走入生活、迎向大眾、面對「世界」之現代化特質。

日治時期以來，打破明清以來作為大陸「邊陲」的局限性，形塑出以臺灣作為一個整體、獨立美術環境的概念，創作出能夠提昇臺灣文化、代表臺灣現代文明發展成果的美術作品。透過形塑「地方色彩」的呼籲，畫家必須思考如何呈現「臺灣」作為一種創作的表現內容，因此，觀察自身所居處的環境已成為一種新的創作態度，亦因此得以形構出以「臺灣」為主體的視覺思考。雖然日治時期新式教育制度的建立，開啟美術現代化的契機，不過，卻可謂一種透過殖民地統治轉接而來的西化過程，經由殖民母國所建立的制度為中介而建構起的「間接性」、「移植式」的西方現代化概念。

日治時期，臺灣從一個傳統地方性社會透過殖民進入「現代化」、工業化，在其持續進程中，所面臨的最大課題，不可避免地必須進行一場空前、激烈而徹底的現代「文化轉向」(Cultural Transformation)。此後，國民政府來臺，戰後政治局勢丕變，國族主義凌駕一切，產生另一波以政治正確為導向的文化轉向，在冷戰中尋找民族復興的戰後美術，長久陷於「新/舊」、「東/西」、「現代/傳統」、「本土/外來」、「威權/民主」、「地方/中央」等二元論戰之中。在「去殖民化」(Decolonization)與「再中國化」(Re-Chinalization)的政治氣氛之下，美術發展面臨另一次轉型，新一代藝術家開始思索「中國美術現代化」的走向，並面對二戰以後風起雲湧、急速變遷的國際藝術思潮時，才開啟另一波「非仲介」、「自發性」美術現代化的動力。

1950年以來的正統國畫論爭，掀起文化主權爭奪，造成臺灣歷史探索長達半世紀的空白。此時，夾雜於國族主義式的現代化與地方認同再建構的縫隙之間，伴隨政治、社會等外部環境經驗的跌宕變遷，歷經不同階段的「文化轉向」，持續在體制內外尋找可能的出路，並建構出相對應的主體性。尤其是隨著七○年代鄉土主義思潮的勃發，臺灣意識及追求臺灣主體性的需求逐漸增高，繪畫創作，尤其是風景畫更如實反映此種時代趨勢，藝術家莫不透過對鄉里、地方等的重新探索，形塑出具地方性、地方認同價值的美術風貌。鄉土藝術對本土的貢獻，被認為關鍵在於其是否為「本省的題材」。換句話說，臺灣花卉植物、人物或山水等的描繪，是成就此種藝術地方性價值最重要的根據。

對藝術家等文化菁英來說，「價值觀的追尋與自主性的確立」最為重要，所有的信念都應「建構在生於斯長於斯的土地上」，提升對自身土地文化的關懷。此種透過鄉土運動的累積所形塑的自主意識，已然成為七○年代美術發展最重要的核心價值，其中，臺灣更成為所有價值的交集與中心。藝術家致力於對過往一切的重新探索、挖掘與再定位，共有的地方認同及全新的土地經驗的形塑因而成為可能，並藉由重構文化主體價值的過程，產生自我與他者的融合契機。

隨著政治環境的轉變，自八○年代解嚴後，社會價值觀或藝術面向始日趨多元，逐漸走向摸索文化身分及主體認同的嶄新時代。由於社會民主化的不斷推進，文化政策開始轉向以臺灣為主體進行思考，積極地建置專業而完整的文化藝術環境與藝術教育機制，在藝術環境日益成熟的情況下，豐富而多元的美術社會於焉成型。同時，逐漸邁向民主化的臺灣，其社會價值觀日趨多元，除了「本土化」(Lacalization)的意識、訴求及認同日漸高漲之外，臺灣亦開始邁入國際化、「全球化」(Globalization)的嶄新階段。

另一方面，日治時期缺乏正式的美術學院機構，美術專業人才的培育，需透過內地延長的方式，人數有限；到了戰後，美教機制陸續建置成型，除了省立師範學院藝術系(國立臺灣師範大學美術學系前身)之外，臺中、臺北、臺南等日治時期建置的師範學校亦開始設置藝術師範科。至解嚴之前，在反共抗俄的口號下，受到發展戰鬥文藝同時強化民族意識等政治需求政策所限，難有自主、多元的發展，但從學校到各級美展、競賽、救國團活動、縣市文藝季等多重社會機制之拓展及推展，已使臺灣建構自身美術社會的基礎條件更臻穩固而成熟。

臺灣百年美術的發展，與學院美術教育的推動息息相關，從戰前的圖畫師範教育到戰後美術院校的成立，在兼顧實用及美育理想的雙向目標下，歷經反映時局、維繫政權、跨越族裔及作為國際化文化資本等不同階段，演化出不同世代、群屬及價值觀等的美術典型。以國立臺灣師範大學美術學系為首的戰後學校美教單位，莫不在此種時代氛圍或體制主導的前提下，展開其機關面貌。透過符合國家政策及現實需求之考量，樹立其學術威權、國族或文化「正典」(National/Cultural Canon)價值。學院「正典」的存在與標舉，與維繫國家意識或身分認同具有密切關係，或者可以說，前者即為後者為達其目的所「打造的器具」。

「正典性」(the canonical)的打造、解構或再造，來自於對「文化轉向」的共識凝聚與行動實踐，藝術家若僅依賴其被賦予的特殊資格而擁有聲名地位，即無法不受主流價值的牽制。反之，拒絕牽制，或透過美學再建構的力量，始能獲致轉向的目標，形成「延異」(Différance)的外擴現象。「正典」(中心或本源)的不斷拆解，最終可能導致意義的消解。
藝術風尚的改變，關乎對「正典」所代表的價值進行重新評價，不同世代基於美學認知或對政治、社會議題投入程度之差異，產生屬於或彰顯其世代意識、群屬身分的不同「正典」類型與「延異」結果。「正典」與「延異」不斷交錯下的世代移轉，展現不同群屬之間美學價值的選擇差異反映該世代或群屬共有的文化意識及集體轉向。

歷經主體價值及文化認同不斷變動的臺灣社會，如何建構更接近土地及歷史真實的藝術「正典」？在殖民、再殖民與脫殖民的不同軌道上，建立自身文化「正典」的過程，無異於「價值觀的追尋與自主性的確立」，藉由「殊異性」與「自足性」交互演繹，藉以「建構在生於斯長於斯的土地上」的主體性。此外，在探討被慣稱為臺灣「後山」的宜蘭時，其「地方美術史」藉由學院或首都美術權力關係的連結，歷經何種「正典化」歷程？如何在國家與地方不平等的主從關係中，尋找世代或群屬認同的基礎與差異？數十年間，外移與內徙宜蘭所謂「在地」藝術家的定義是否改變、形成何種「延異」現象？其在參與「地方美術」正典化的歷史建構上，扮演何種中介角色？不同世代藝術風格群屬，在戰後以來政治、社會及藝術界諸種動盪中，維持何種態度及立場？都是本展覽企圖彰顯及思索的學術命題。

本展覽邀請陳東元、洪東標、林欽賢及陳世強等四位「宜蘭」藝術家聯合展出，其透過梳理臺灣百年西洋美術的歷史脈絡，分析中央與地方的分疏關係，經由四人出身於國立臺灣師範大學美術學系「正統」背景創作內容的對照，在學院教育的滋養、社會變動因素以及各種「文化轉向」議題的影響下，檢視其連結與差異，藉以探討「宜蘭美術」正典化的過程、現象與其後產生多元延異的階段變貌。同時提出以下提問，作為本展覽討論何謂宜蘭「地方美術史」的重要議題。例如其彼此間，共同或各自譜寫何種學院「正典」景觀？伴隨外部環境的拓展與異動，個人風格的型塑產生多少延異？在此種延異的延長線上，所謂「故鄉」宜蘭等主體概念，扮演何種回歸或建構個人「地方」認同的關鍵作用？

陳東元早期靜物創作反映嚴謹細膩的寫實風格，為日常物件與異材質之對話，建構雄辯而客觀的典範性。其畫藝精湛，擅長乾筆精密描寫，不僅獲得水彩首獎無數，更被譽稱「水彩黃金時期」之風雲人物，霎時以學院新秀之姿引起藝壇旋風。國立臺灣師範大學求學及畢業期間，正值鄉土文學論戰甚囂塵上之際，鄉土寫實主義畫風蔚然蜂起，因而轉向關注被長久遺忘的土地邊境、自然荒野及純樸風物。不論是牛羊家禽、田畝農作、山高海闊、節日慶典，其筆下所散發的土地氣息，已成為撫慰家園鄉愁最成功的範例。隨著臺灣主體意識之開啟，解嚴後，短期出現帶有禪意、映照無垢心性的極簡畫風，展現其對政治及浮世虛幻的自我隔離；九○年代之後，足跡遍及中國各地，壯遊巨構成為此時重新認識彼邦此地之紀行圖傳。逾半世紀之畫業，不論是簡是繁、或動或靜、或宏觀或微觀，彰顯其從學院、鄉野到遠遊天下的不同轉向歷程，最終完成為所謂「人間淨土」立傳建碑的人文思維。

洪東標強調變形、分割及造型重組的表現形式，雖來自立體派、未來派，其目的卻在於解構其中的規制與模仿，反映七○年代學院中已然發展成熟的某種實驗胎動。自求學階段開始，由風景、人物及靜物等類型所建置的美學範式，似乎已被轉介在對西方藝術史經典的想像中，由形變企圖帶動質變。帶有穿越現實與時間的畫面並置，宛若記憶切片，或抒情或寫景，或黑白或彩色，或遠觀或近取，散發兼融優雅與熱情於一爐的創作情懷。千禧年之後，透過島外海上巡遊的一連串風景誌的圖寫，重新探索「美麗之島」四百年來歷史交錯的錯綜軌跡。陸地與海岸「在場」位置之替換，無異用來跳脫多重殖民的認同混雜與人事更迭，重塑「發現」此地時的驚嘆。故而，晨光、月下、日暮、秋爽等特別靜謐、沉澱的時刻，容易帶領它的子民重返其真正的原初。穿越國界、歷史與現實邊線的魔幻情境，重燃其對東方與地方美學的熱情，故鄉如詩夢土故能宛若再次初醒般地躍然紙上。

陳世強多變的創作興趣，游移在不同藝術尺標之間，或許來自求學時期的自我啟蒙以及對詭譎時局的敏銳覺察，濃重卻貼近觀者的視角、冷熱並存或凝縮現實與幻境的拼組手法，反映包含普普藝術的威權解放以及後現代乖離、雜揉、嘲諷與夢囈般真實感等的異化歷程。不同師承訓練造成的差異，使其對學習慣性與外來衝突間的懸隔，產生浮動與拉鋸的多感。解嚴，帶來身體、表述與思想監控的鬆綁，臺北都會的民主化天空或許仍烏雲密布，卻牽動新世代創作者游擊出走的熱潮。返鄉與環島，為其帶來鄉土表現主義的短期釋放，大膽直率的筆觸、鮮豔衝突的色彩與家園回歸的主題，反映往後半自傳性書寫的基調。留學紐約，為其擴充在當代社會中不斷被強化的權力解構、跨文化經驗與視覺冒險等知見，成為勇闖世界新天地的新章。再而透過情節騷動、聲光迷離的連環漫畫、塗鴉，重述那些人那些事的塵封記憶，在歷史、現實與解殖的縫隙中，交織出一部現代封神演義。

林欽賢早慧而脫俗的藝術天分，猶如開啟古老傳說般的扉頁，為其迎向一段神聖巡禮的歷險預做準備。對於學院正典的省思反芻，成為其對藝術存在本質與人類社會關係產生釋疑的燃媒，進而進入藝術史精神宇宙的漫遊。人與物的關係邏輯一直是其最關注的主題，藉由人像、肢體語彙的定格與自然物質形色萬象的「肖像化」、「寓言化」，組構兼有史學圖像、生命返視與現實觀照等多重意涵的經典畫面。來自學院時期個案研究的分析經驗，在後續的教學現場與學理演繹過程中，不斷拉近典範、存在與想像之間的差距，以古典作為文體、遊唱詩人醒世頌歌般的筆鋒，不斷形塑宛若紀念碑式的結構與氛圍，再造畫中人與物的永恆與不朽。圖騰化的軀體與地景，彷彿早被紋身的群屬紀事，加以受到後殖民論述強調文化主體、族裔身分重建的觸發，加速此種返回山海原生性的正典化工程，在細節反復重整的熔接中，透過人與物的多元「肖像」，重塑「本土價值」的桂冠榮光。

 

Canon and Différance: Shift in Societies in the Exhibition of Four Yilan Artists

Curator: Professor Pai Shih-Ming, Chair of the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University

Japanese rule over Taiwan began in 1895 when the island became a Japanese colony. As the Japanese government pushed for complete modernization, Taiwan entered a new stage of interaction with Western civilization. The changes that occurred in the process of modernization was reflected not only on artists’ understanding of Western art and their exploration into the fundamentals of art, including the definition of art and what makes a modern artist. More importantly, in Taiwan, new mechanisms in art can be found in the implementation of art education, the formation of art groups, exhibitions, research organizations on painting, and the establishment of art criticism platforms. Based on all of this, “art societies” with modern features came into being, and art has gradually developed accessible, public-facing, worldly attributes of modernity.
     
Since Japanese rule, Taiwan’s limitations as a remote region of the mainland dynasties have been overcome, and the perception of Taiwan as a complete, independent artistic environment have been formed, producing works that elevate Taiwanese culture and represent the progress of modern Taiwanese society. Through the call for “local features” to be highlighted, artists must consider how to present Taiwan in their art. Thus, observing one's surroundings has become a new approach to art, which has given rise to visual considerations that take Taiwan as a subject. Though the new educational system established during Japanese rule provided an impetus for modernization in art, it was a process of Westernization grafted through colonization, based on an indirect, transplanted Western concept of modernization mediated by the colonizers.
    
During Japanese rule, Taiwan progressed from a traditional, localized society into one that was modernized and industrialized. In that process, the greatest challenge was the inevitable, intense, and thorough cultural transformation. Later, the Nationalist government came to Taiwan. Post-war political landscape in Taiwan underwent dramatic changes. Nationalism reigned supreme, resulting in another wave of cultural transformation oriented toward political correctness. Post-war art in Taiwan sought opportunities of national revival yet was caught between binary debates over East vs West, modernity vs tradition, nativeness vs foreignness, and local communities vs the central government. Within a political atmosphere of decolonization and re-Chinalization, art faced another transformation. It was not until a new generation of artists began pondering the direction of the modernization of Chinese art and facing the rapidly surging and changing post-war international artistic movements that another wave of non-mediated, spontaneous modernization in art was launched.
    
Since the 1950s, the debate over the orthodoxy of traditional Chinese painting had sparked a scramble for cultural sovereignty, resulting in a stall in the exploration into Taiwanese history. Now, caught between nationalistic modernization and the reconstruction of native identities, coinciding with shifts in political and social environments, through different stages of cultural transformation, artists continued to seek paths forward within and without the system and established corresponding subjectivity. In the 1970s, with the rise of nativism, the Taiwanese consciousness and the pursuit of Taiwanese subjectivity gradually gained prominence. Painting, especially landscape painting, faithfully reflected this trend. Artists collectively embarked on rediscovery of local communities and formed an artistic landscape of endemicity and local identities. The contribution of native art to native values is believed to lie in local subject matters. In other words, the depiction of Taiwanese flora, figures, and landscape is the most essential basis for creating this kind of native artistic value.
    
For artists, the pursuit of a value system and the establishment of autonomy are of utmost importance. All beliefs should be based on the land on which they are born and raised, thus strengthening their concern for local cultures. This self-awareness, born of the accumulative nativist movement, became the most essential core value in the progression of art in the 1970s, during which time Taiwan become the hub of all such value. Artists are dedicated to the rediscovery, exploration, and repositioning of everything in the past, thus making possible the formation of shared local identities and local experiences. In the process of reconstructing subjective cultural values, opportunities for merging the self and the other also arise.
   
With shifts in the political landscape, since the 1980s, social and artistic values have begun to diversify, entering a new era of exploring cultural and subjective identities. Continuous democratization has also resulted in cultural policies that are based increasingly on Taiwanese subjectivity, actively establishing specialized and complete cultural environments and art education systems. With a maturing artistic environment, a rich and diverse artistic society thus forms. Meanwhile, as Taiwan became increasingly democratic, social values have diversified. In addition to the increase in the awareness, appeal for, and identification with localization, Taiwan has also entered a new stage of internationalization and globalization.
     
On the other hand, there was a lack of formal artistic institutions during Japanese rule. The training of artistic talents relied on resources from Mainland Japan, with limited capacity. After the war, art education systems have been established one after another. In addition to the Art Department at the Provincial Normal College (currently the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University), normal institutions founded in Taichung, Taipei, and Tainan during Japanese rule also created their respective art departments. Before the end of martial law, under anti-communist and anti-Russian banners, autonomous, diversified development in art was difficult, restricted by political needs and policies for wartime propaganda and the enhancement of the national consciousness. Nonetheless, through the expansion and implementation of various social mechanisms, from schools, art exhibitions, competitions, China Youth Corps events, to local art festivals, Taiwan has created more robust and developed infrastructure for an art society.
     
Artistic development in Taiwan over the past century has been intimately linked with the implementation of academic art education. From the pre-war normal art departments to post-war art academies, juggling both practicality and ideals in art education, through stages of reflecting the times, sustaining the regime, transcending ethnicities, and serving as international cultural assets, artistic paradigms have evolved for different generations, societies, and values. Art education institutions, headed by the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, all began exploring possibilities within such zeitgeist or system. On the premise of complying with governmental policies and practical concerns, they established values including their academic authority and national/cultural canon. The existence of and emphasis on an academic canon are closely connected to the continuation of a national consciousness and identities. To put it another way, the former are “tools” crafted by the latter for its purposes.
     
The establishment, deconstruction, or reconstruction of the canonical come from the consensus and implementation regarding cultural transformation. If artists derive their reputation and status solely from their niche assigned by the system, they cannot escape the influence of mainstream values. Conversely, by resisting constraints or through aesthetic reconstruction, they may achieve transformation and, in turn, the diffusion of différance. The constant deconstruction of canon (core or source) may ultimately lead to the disintegration of meaning.
Shifts in artistic trends involve the reevaluation of canonical values. The differences in aesthetic awareness and in the level of political and social involvement between generations has resulted in different canons and différance belonging to or manifesting generational consciousness as well as social identities. The interactions between canon and différance over generational shifts suggest the disagreements in choosing aesthetic values among different groups, reflecting a shared cultural consciousness and collective transformation of a given generation or group.
    
How does Taiwanese society, having been through constant shifts in subjective values and cultural identities, construct an artistic canon closer to the realities of its land and history? On the differing paths of colonization, re-colonization, and de-colonization, the creation of a culture-specific canon is no different from the pursuit of a value system and the establishment of autonomy. Through the complementary interaction between distinctiveness and self-sufficiency, the subjectivity of the native land is established. Moreover, when discussing Yilan - a place often referred to as Taiwan’s back garden - what kind of canonization is its local art history undergoing based on the link between academia and the power relations within the capital’s art circles? How does it clarify the basis and differences in its generational or group identities in an unequal power structure as a subordinate region in a country? Over the decades, has the definition for “local” artists changed as they emigrate from and immigrate to Yilan? What kind of différance has such circumstances engendered? What kind of mediating roles do they play historically in the canonization of local art? What attitudes and positions do the different groups of generational artistic styles play in the post-war turbulences in political, social, and artistic realms? These are the academic inquiries that this exhibition aims to highlight and explore.

This exhibition features four “Yilan” artists - Chen Tung-Yuan, Hung Tung-Piao, Chen Shih-Chiang, and Lin Chin-Hsien, surveying the historical context of a century of Western art in Taiwan to analyze the divergence between central authorities and local identities. Against their “canonical” background in the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, the exhibition examines their connections and differences as influenced by transformations such as academic and social changes, as well as by various cultural transformation issues, so as to explore the process and phenomenon of the canonization of “Yilan art” along with the progressive changes regarding the resulting diverse différance. We also raise the following questions as the exhibition’s main topics on what constitutes Yilan’s local art history. What kind of canonical landscape have the artists created collectively or individually? Along with the expansion of and changes in external environments, how much différance have personal styles created? In this direction of différance, what key impacts subjective concepts of Yilan as a “hometown” have on the return to or establishement of personal local identities?

Chen Tung-Yuan’s early works of still life reflect a meticulous, realistic style, constructing an eloquent yet objective paradigm for everyday objects and materials. His excellent skills can be seen in detailed depictions using dry brushes. Not only has he won numerous top prizes in watercolor competitions, but he has also been recognized as a leading figure in the “golden age of watercolor,” thrilling art circles as an emerging academically trained artist. Coinciding with his years at National Taiwan Normal University and the time of his graduation was the height of the Taiwan nativist literature movement. Nativist realism was on the rise, and he, therefore, turned his attention to the long-neglected remote lands, wilderness, and rustic scenery. From the raising of animals and cultivation of crops to natural landscape and festivities, the spirit of the land under his brush has become the most prominent example of what soothes the homesick. As the Taiwanese subjective consciousness developed, over a short period after the lifting of martial law, he produced zen-like, minimalist works that reflect his pure heart and his self-isolation from politics and fleeting worldly affairs. After the 90s, he traveled all over China. His journeys culminated in paintings that bear witness to his rediscovery of the foreign land. In a career spanning over half a century, in simple or complex forms, dynamically or statically, in broad strokes or in details, he has demonstrated how the different stages of academic training, field exploration, and overseas travels informed his humanistic perspective that celebrate a so-called “heaven on earth.”

Hung Tung-Piao places emphasis on expressions of distortion, division, and reconstruction. Despite coming from the cubist and futurist schools, his goal is to deconstruct the rules and imitations therein and reflect the experimental impetus that had fully developed in the 70s academia. Since his school years, aesthetic paradigms based on genres including landscape, figures, and still life seem to have been projected onto imaginations regarding the classics in Western art history, with attempts at qualitative shifts driven by changes in form. Images that transcend reality and time are juxtaposed like memory fragments. In lyricism or realism, in black-and-white or in color, viewed from afar or in close range, his works emanate a creative sentiment that merge grace with passion. Since the turn of the millennium, through voyages off the island, his series of portrayals of scenery has re-explored the four centuries of complex history surrounding Formosa. The switching of land and coasts as locales has indeed transcended the hybrid identities and changing environments born of the multitude of colonizers, recreating the amazement upon the discovery of the island. Thus, silent, reflective moments such as dawn, moonlight, dusk, and the brisk autumn can easily bring its people back to its origins. Fantastical scenarios that cross the boundaries of nations, history, and reality rekindle their passion for Oriental and native aesthetics. Their native land, poetic and dream-like, comes to life on paper as if awakening for the first time.

Chen Shih-Chiang’s shifting creative interests wander among varying artistic disciplines. Influenced perhaps by his self-enlightenment during school years and his keen perceptions of our treacherous times, his style is strong yet close to the perspective of the viewer. His techniques that blend hot and cold or condense reality and fantasy reflect the liberation from authority in pop art as well as the alienation processes in post-modernism with biases, hybridity, satire, and an unreal realism. The disparities resulting from his varied training has created floating and clashing sentiments toward the divide between his learning habits and external conflicts. With the lifting of martial law came the liberation in body, expression, and thought. The prospect of democratization in Taipei may have been gloomy, yet it spurred on a new generation of artists in a wave of exploration outside the city. Returning to his hometown and traveling around the island brought about a period of freedom in native expressionism. The bold and direct strokes, clashing vivid colors and homecoming themes reflect the underlying tone of his semi-autobiographical works to come. His time studying in New York expanded his understanding of the deconstruction of power structures, cross-cultural experiences, and visual adventures, which have continuously intensified in modern society, becoming a new chapter in his exploration into new worlds. Along with comic strips and graffiti with stimulating plots and mysterious styles, he has recreated old memories of the people and stories, between history, reality, and decolonization, forging a modern Investiture of the Gods.   

Lin Chin-Hsien’s prodigious and refined artistic talent is like the prologue to an ancient legend, preparing him for a sacred expedition. His reflections on the academic canon fueled his inquiries into the essence of art and human social relations, bringing him on a journey into the spiritual realm of art history. The logical relation between people and objects has always been his main concern. By framing figures and body language as well as portraitizing and allegorizing myriad natural materials, he has constructed classic imagery containing historical iconography, reflections on life, and examination of reality at the same time. With analytical experience from doing case studies during his academic years, in pedagogical scenarios, and in the process of theoretical deduction, he constantly closes the gap between paradigms, existence, and imagination. Based on classics as texts and a bard-like cautionary approach, he continues to create monumental structures and atmospheres, cementing the immortality of the subjects in his paintings. Totemized bodies and landscapes and etched-in group histories, triggered by the emphasis on cultural subjectivity and reconstruction of ethnic identities in post-colonial narratives, nativist canonizing endeavors have been accelerated. In repeated recontextualizing of details, through diverse portraiture of both figures and objects, he reestablishes the laureate glory of native values.

---

---