花蓮縣石雕博物館

水的品味

黎志文雕塑主題特展

2021.4.17-7.31(延長展期)

 

黎志文(LAI Chi-Man），開拓臺灣現代石雕藝術重要代表藝術家。1949年生於香港，大學時選擇就讀國立臺灣藝專(今國立臺灣藝術大學)雕塑科，畢業後至義大利著名的世界雕塑中心卡拉拉 (Carrara)石礦區亨魯(Henraux)石雕工作室學習雕刻，在工作室見習期間使黎志文有機會接觸到如亨利．摩爾(Henry Moore)、野口勇 (Isamu Noguchi)、彼得．卡耶拿 (Pietro Cascella )等國際著名的藝術家。經歷四年學藝生涯，獲美國雕塑家羅伯．魯辛 (Robert Russin )研究獎學金至美國懷俄明州攻讀碩士，並於1980年取得美國懷俄明大學雕塑碩士學位。後遠赴荷蘭遊學，於1982年取得荷蘭職業藝術家資格，正式展開專職藝術家生涯。

1982國立藝術學院(今臺北藝術大學)於關渡創校，1984年邀請黎志文回臺任教於美術系，成為臺灣現代雕刻學院系統第一代的教學開拓者，至2016年退休，超過三十年時間奉獻於教授石雕藝術。同時黎志文也以臺灣為創作基地，其雕刻創作產量豐且質量高，受到國際藝術界的廣泛認可，包括荷蘭國家BKR視覺藝術機構、美國懷俄明大學美術館、台北市立美術館、國立臺灣美術館、高雄市立美術館、日本原美術館、香港康樂及文化事務署、韓國首爾市政府、中國上海雕塑公園等都收藏有他的作品。在國內，他也是誠品畫廊第一位簽約代理的藝術家，更是臺灣公共藝術界的先鋒，可謂華人雕塑界中的指標人物。

即便年輕時遍遊各國，歷經香港、臺灣、義大利、美國、荷蘭等，讓黎志文擁有豐富的國際閱歷，並且深刻涉獵西方美學思潮，但黎志文心中很早就確立以東方精神為創作核心，尤其是亞洲世界饒富哲學詩意的大山大水，無論在內在思想上或美感形趣上，都與他一生追求的藝術理想十分契合。因此黎志文近四十多年的雕塑風格大半皆與「山水」這個主題相關。至今創作豐富多元，其創作形式、觀念皆以現代西方藝術主流為體，而內在思維及創作理念則以東方文化為源頭。作品質樸自然、沉著簡練、優雅且具有高級的時尚感 。

知名雕刻家羅丹曾說「所見之顏色與線條並無法動人，動人的是滲入其中的那種深刻意義。」黎志文的雕刻創作，擅長利用原石自然的型態與質感，加上人為意志的切割造境，看似接近偶然的隨意，以及材料關係營造中所產生的天趣，是藝術家反覆與材料對話，經年累月推敲，去蕪存菁的心得。黎志文的石雕哲學，展現出一種從容的自信、清晰的永恆，代表的是臺灣一整個世代雕刻美學的總結。

 

The characters of water

Solo Exhibition of LAI Chi-Man

17 Apr.- 31 July., 2021

LAI Chi-Man is an important artist and pioneer of contemporary Taiwanese stone sculpture. Born in Hong Kong in 1949, he studied sculpture at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts, NTUA). After graduating, he went on to hone his craft at the world renowned Henraux studio at the Carrara quarry in Italy, where he would encounter internationally celebrated artists such as Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Pietro Cascella. After training there for four years, Lai received the Robert I. Russin sculpture fellowship and went to Wyoming in the US where he also successfully completed a Master of Fine Art degree in 1980. He subsequently travelled to the Netherlands, where he obtained the status as a professional artist in 1982 and launched his career as a fulltime artist.

In 1982, the National Taiwan College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts, NTUA) was established in the Kuandu area of Taipei, and Lai was invited to return to Taiwan to teach at their Department of Fine Arts, making him a pioneer in the academic training of modern Taiwanese sculpture. Since then, until his retirement in 2016, Lai has invested more than thirty years of his life to teaching sculpture. At the same time, Taiwan also became Lai's new creative base, where he has been producing works of high quality, achieving international recognition. His works have been collected by the Dutch National BKR Visual Arts Agency, the University of Wyoming Art Museum, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the Hara Museum ARC in Japan, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong, Seoul City Hall, the Shanghai Sculpture Park, among others. Domestically, he was the first artist ever signed by Eslite Gallery, he is a leading figure in Taiwanese public art; indeed, an iconic figure in the ethnic Chinese world of sculpture.

Having lived and travelled across the world, Lai's experience spans across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Italy, USA, and the Netherlands. This has fostered a deep understanding of western aesthetics in him. However, he decided very early on to base his creativity on oriental philosophy, drawing his inspiration from the great landscapes of the East, as this corresponded perfectly with his artistic direction, both conceptually and formatively. As a result, most of the work over his forty-year career related in one way or another to the theme of “shanshui” (landscapes). His art is rich and diverse, and while his skills and technique follow western traditions, his core ideals originate from the East.

As Rodin once said that colours and lines alone cannot move us, what touches us is the meaning that is imbued in them. Lai uses the forms and textures of the raw stones and accentuates them with cuts and his human will. The result appears natural and almost haphazard, and intrigues through the playful interaction between materials. However, this is only possible through years of trial and error, and boiling things down to their essence. Lai’s stone carving shows a laid back, confident, eternal clarity, summarising a generation of Taiwanese sculptural aesthetics.