「當我沉默著的時候，我覺得充實；
我將開口，同時感到空虛。
過去的生命已經死亡。我對于這死亡有大歡喜，因為我借此知道它曾經存活。
死亡的生命已經朽腐。我對于這朽腐有大歡喜，因為我借此知道它還非空虛。」
摘自魯迅《野草》題辭

個性偏黑色幽默般「積極的悲觀」的劉哲榮在創作上與個人都非常的兩極，矛盾卻無違和感本身又是一層矛盾，而面對這種多面向矛盾的概念挑戰，似乎燃起了藝術家的鬥志與熱情。「積極的悲觀」代表著藉由負面而產生的希望光明面，好比牛糞上的野花，暗喻大環境低潮走勢如何往繁榮發展。動物對他而言是「時代語彙」，2007年開始以動物為創作的主軸，「現在的人壓力大，對黑色幽默接受度會比負面批判性來得高」，利用幽默隱藏黑暗面正是劉哲榮探討一系列議題的開始。

平面轉折至立體

原本認為會往繪畫方向發展的劉哲榮，一開始對雕塑有不瞭解與排斥，接觸雕塑後輾轉發現被平面空間限制，進而在立體創作中找到自由發展的空間與廣度。劉哲榮早期雕塑作品有將繪畫元素帶進立體的趨勢，使用油彩於強化玻璃纖維（FRP）上作畫，模糊繪畫與雕塑的界線。

「暗戀」與「表皮下的真實情意」都是劉哲榮早期平面繪畫作品的概念，都牽扯到表象與本質，縱使大眾觀點認為沒有新意，但事實上，經典的議題值得繼續深度的探索，因為對藝術家而言，尚未有滿意的結論之前，任何議題都沒有時間性與時效性。「顯性的當代是虛的，真正的當代是本質的觀念。」在訪談中劉哲榮這樣說道，更加深厚的表現出藝術家為了創作研究的精神。

生命與死亡

抽離二元論進入灰色地帶，沒有預設立場，尋找面向切入，劉哲榮的創作如同他的生命發展越來越成熟複雜，在有系統的擴張下於思維上有條不紊，但在整體的建構上卻架構出簡單的假象，看似是二維論，卻在事實上五花八門，由點至線，線條構成面，再建成體，如同幾何學一般簡單卻無限。透過這樣的基礎，可以很透徹的分析劉哲榮的作品是如何牽扯到哲學，也挑起文學的浪漫、憤世忌俗、小清新，與跨越歷史、時間的旅程。

「活著，就是不斷面對死亡的過程。」－劉哲榮

存在的價值性與意義，是否有可替代性？這是藝術家很在意的永恆議題之一，十九世紀存在主義核心人物丹麥哲學家索倫·奧貝·齊克果（Søren Aabye Kierkegaard）有句名言：「生命不是一個用來解答的問題，而是需要被體會的現實。」於某種程度上，劉哲榮的思想跨越時空延續了存在主義的討論（Discourse）而成為這個思想構造的一部份。早期從黑白分明作者觀點至後來發展往較灰色的觀者立場，參與度變高，將悲觀思維抽離加以甜蜜的包裝，減低與民眾的距離感，藉由生活化切入藝術賞析，不管是大眾文化與次文化，像與不像的矛盾，都變成劉哲榮的研究與探索。

複雜的層次

由尚未現代化的後現代文化對台灣文化的衝擊來看，如台灣早期泡沫膨脹後消失的產業，無法累積深耕，不斷地流失，有種類似經濟衰退的無力感；藝術家說道：「創作材質需要時間的累積，時間、環境、歷史性都是需要不斷累積，但在台灣都不斷的在流失。」對他而言，最後的解讀取決於觀眾的個人經驗與時代性符號。

完全不合理卻無違和感，兩個虛像構成實像，這種似有似無的存在或不存在就是劉哲榮獨具個人特色的靦腆與悶騷，表象卻又無比的純真，好比香水一般，前調甜美，中調帶有皮革與木質調的腳踏實地，後調卻有無比深沉的麝香，迷人卻黑暗。

劉哲榮說：「我經歷過台灣經濟起飛的時段，非常繁榮、有朝氣，蓬勃發展。看到現在世代因對未來的絕望反倒發起享樂主義的開始，回想以前的理想是虛的，而現在的是實的，但深層的分析後卻也有可能是虛空的。這種尷尬是我覺得很好玩的面向，我也會想拓展廣度。創作達成一種境界，是跳脫媒材的。」

抽離形式，剩下的是精神，而劉哲榮在挑戰的是不斷的將創作的精神濃縮，使觀賞者產生共鳴。問問題，不一定要有絕對的解答，但是要有迴響，雖然沒有標準答案，在消費藝術後的產品是思想與思考的結果，這才是值得抽絲剝繭細細咀嚼的深度欣賞。

自我成立與推翻

反覆的建構與毀滅後，剩下的是精華，所謂去蕪存菁，劉哲榮的創作每隔幾年會有大型的改變，不安份的藝術魂使他無法只做一件事，不斷的自我挑戰與提問，不斷的解答或無解，造就了無窮的創造力與創新。在減去的過程中「有些符號會更厚實」，這種減法的加法更是一種迷人的哲學，同樣這種虛與實的對立或關係常在他的創作中出現，Cosplay系列就是最好的例子，延續結合The Zoo系列的Top Model跟Face Off，做出建立於原本架構基礎上的新一系列創作。

看不見的多個自我

在Cosplay系列，劉哲榮將普普文化中熱門的動物角色去除某些特徵後暗喻動物扮演，比如說Cosplay-Rat即是老鼠虛構的肉體在看似皮卡丘一般的軀體內。從不複雜的角度淺談，很簡單顯然的是大自然的動物在扮演知名的人造角色，但近看之後，會發現令人聯想起皮卡丘的某些特徵卻又不太像，也不完全與真正的角色契合。在多層次上作出概念的變化與腦筋急轉彎，正是Cosplay系列引人入勝的地方，是個思維上的多道謎題，解開一個又有另一層面等著被破解。

Cosplay系列是山寨的山寨，但虛幻的虛構雖無法建構現實，卻也建構出似有似無的實際感。暫且不談符號性的隱喻，這一系列的作品經過挖掘有令人驚訝的深度。某些人在觀賞的時候或許會想起俄羅斯娃娃，而在Cosplay，正有一種未知的好奇使人發想在血色的肉組織纖維下一層隱藏的是什麼？

表皮，是外在，不一定虛偽，但劉哲榮利用外表製造出無盡的內在。從作品外觀推測、沈思，發展出類心理學的論述。大腦的腦波主要被統分為四大類，最常見的是Beta（β波），這是有意識的思維，再來是Alpha（α波）橋樑意識、Theta（θ波）淺意識、Delta（δ波）無意識。基本上中文的專有名詞翻譯以及當代科學都無法將其交代清楚。

不過，暫且將這四個分類套用在Cosplay系列的觀賞省思上，在這情況下，α波代表穿著裝扮的血肉主體，β波代表外在的裝扮，θ波是無形體的，但或許在悔恨自己無法成為真正的主流角色，或是θ波的意識認同模仿山寨的作法與思維模式，無論如何，這與觀賞者的觀點息息相關。δ波是更有意思的領域，因為若是將四大腦波種類歸類於淺意識與主意識，主意識只有一種，但淺意識有兩種，而α波是兩種意識的橋樑。無意識的δ波，正好是看不見的兩個個體之一，但因為對其不充足的理解，充滿神秘感，或許無意識也分為多種。

身份的聯想與套用

就這樣，劉哲榮在Cosplay系列有無限的可能性，討論的主題與觀點有無限可能，不論是在觀看國家與國家，人民與國家，文化歷史等議題，Cosplay是絕佳的出發點，邀請大眾加入一系列的想像與思考冒險，而尋得的結論或許就有可能是自我的寶藏。看似簡單的創作有無法想像的深度，將傳統十二生肖與各種普普文化角色跨國界，討論自我身份，畢竟若是失去記憶的自我，身分也不復存在。記憶與身份是一體兩面，就好比淺意識看似沒有主權，卻是長期記憶不可或缺的，換句話說，若沒有淺意識的存在，就沒有主意識。若將這四種腦波依照意識強弱分佈對照光明與黑暗，沒有黑暗就沒有光明。劉哲榮的創作中心思想一直在制衡這樣的矛盾，而矛盾中的矛盾，錯綜複雜卻又精緻巧妙，負負得正但虛虛不得實，或許這也是藝術家呼籲人們思維轉變的另一種委婉方法。

平凡中的不平凡

劉哲榮很享受反其道而行，面對主流保持中立甚至無感，但對非主流，他抱著挖寶的心情，好比文化的考古學家，將不同層面的精華萃取而出進而吸收。「廢墟裡盛開的花朵有種迷人之處，與花園中百花爭寵之首相較之下，廢墟的花卻清幽脫俗。」從小到大接觸到期待與失望，藝術家藉由這樣的人生觀找到平衡點與消化情緒的出口。「人活著要幹麻？」這在哲學探討許久的議題，劉哲榮小學的時候就常在深思，從自然組的理性符號跳到社會組，年輕時的教育歷程奠定了他對藝術創作的思惟架構。

「我記憶深刻的兩句話跟我年輕時的生活息息相關，是我父親跟我說的，『爸爸只希望你開開心心的就好』以及『期望越大，失望越大』。他也談到當年若是讓我出國唸書或許會比較好，但我覺得，有時候出國不一定比較好。雖然當局者迷。」

劉哲榮的創作哲學涵蓋範圍有廣度也有深度，但最不平凡的是利用看似平常的出發點營造令人深層感動的啟發，或許，這就是廢墟中盛開花朵的美麗之處。

“I feel surfeited when I am silent;
simultaneously, I shall speak and feel void.
The past life has died. I have great joy to this death, for I know this as proof it was alive.
The life of death has decayed. I have great joy in this decay, for I know this as proof it is not voided yet.”
Excerpt from the inscription of Weed by Lu Xun, 1927.

With a slight darkly humored personality that is “positively pessimistic”, Liu Je-Rong is both polarized in terms of his artistic practice and private life. A paradox that is harmonious is another layer of oxymoron, when facing this kind of challenge to the concept of a multitude of ironies, it has ignited the artist’s passion and will to move forward. “Positive pessimism” represents the hope and brightness that was generated from the negative aspects of life, like wild flowers on cow dung, a metaphor of how the environment can go from depression to prosperity. To Liu, animal is a form of “epochal linguistics”, from 2007 onwards, he started to utilize forms of animals as his main axis of his practice. He said: “the current society experience a tremendous amount of stress, instead of presenting something that contains negative criticism, the acceptance of dark humor will be higher.” The use of comic elements to conceal the darkness of reality is the preface of Liu’s series of enquiries.

From 2D to 3D

Originally thought to direct his artistic practice toward painting, Liu had a certain degree of misunderstanding and discrimination toward sculpture as a medium, after his first contact with it, he realized the restrictions of two-dimensional space while he found freedom and space to further pursue broadness and depth in three-dimensional works. Upon preliminary contact with sculpture, Liu incorporated painterly techniques, with oil paint on FRP, blurring the boundary of painting and sculpture.

A “crush” and “real affection underneath the skin” are sources of inspiration and concepts for Liu’s early paintings, both involved intrinsic values and the appearances, even though this may not appeal to the public as something new, in fact, classical debates are worthy of in depth deliberations; to the artist, until there is a satisfying conclusion, no subject is subjected to time nor expiration date. In his interview, Liu mentioned: “The obvious contemporaneity [in contemporary art] is void, the real contemporaneity is the concept of intrinsic values.” This further proves Liu’s spirit for ideological research for his oeuvre.

Life and Death

Detaching dualism into grey areas, with no predetermined viewpoint, in search of the starting point, Liu Je-Rong’s art is like his life developing into maturity and complexity, systematically expanding in an orderly fashion. However, the entirety of the structure camouflaged itself as the opposite of complicated, this disguise of duality is suppressing the multifaceted reality. From dots to lines to surfaces then forms, it is simple as geometry but infinite. From a similar structure, it can be reasoned thoroughly how Liu Je-Rong’s works are intertwined with philosophy, with the romanticism, cynicism, and independence of literature, a journey that transcends history and time.

“To be, is the perpetual process of facing death.” －Liu Je-Rong

Is the value and meaning of existence substitutable? This is one of the eternal issues Liu cares about the most, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, a prominent 19th century philosopher of existentialism in Denmark once said: “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” To a certain extent, Liu’s thinking extends time and furthered the discourse of existentialism and became part of the ideological structure. From his more contrasted works with black and white that separates the artist’s view to a grey audience’s viewpoint, the level of participation was raised, sort of sugarcoating and reducing pessimistic thinking to bring the audience closer, to present art from daily life, regardless of popular culture or sub culture, resemblance and disambiguation both turned into Liu’s research and discovery.

Intricate Layers

From a post-modernised culture that was yet to be modernised, it is an impact to the culture of Taiwan. Like many industries that have disappeared in Taiwan from early periods of inflation, the burst bubble caused the accumulation of power and rooting in-depth virtually impossible, the constant loss is almost like the Great Depression; Liu said: “Materials for artistic creation requires time to accumulate, time, environment, and history all need constant deposits, but Taiwan has been experiencing loss.” To him, the final interpretation of his works relies on the audiences’ personal experience and epochal symbols.

When there is no reason but also no lack of harmony, two voids become reality, this indistinct existence or nonexistence is Liu Je-Rong’s coy and introverted personal characteristics that appears to be innocent, cold on the outside and warm in the inside; like perfume with a sweet top note, a woody and leathery middle note that provides a sense of steadiness, then a musky base note that is alluring and dark.

Liu said: “I’ve experienced the growth of economy in Taiwan, it was a time of hope, development and prosperity. Now I see the current generation that doesn’t see any hope, their despair motivated them toward hedonism, I think back and it appears the dream in the past is void and the status quo now is surfeited, however, after profound analysis it may also be void, this awkwardness is something I find interesting and would like to pursue further. When art reaches a certain level, it is beyond mediums.”

When formality is extracted, spirit is left, Liu’s challenge is incessantly condensing the spirit of art making, to generate resonance with the viewers. A proposed question does not necessarily require an answer, but an echo is required, although there is no standardized answer, upon consuming art, the byproduct is the result of thinking and cogitation, this is the reason why appreciating art in depth can be extremely rewarding.

Self Establishment and Disintegration

After repeated construction and demolition, what’s left is the essence, this process of growth through change is part of Liu Je-Rong’s habit, every few years his oeuvre experiences a major change, it is in his very artistic nature that prohibits him to do one thing at a time, the endless self-challenge and questioning, gapless reasoning or cluelessness all contributes to an energised force of creativity and breakthrough. In the process of elimination “some symbols and elements become stronger”, this way of accumulation through dispersion is a mesmerising philosophy, in the same matter that regards the opposition of void and profusion, this is frequently visited throughout his oeuvre. The Cosplay Series is a good example of such philosophy, continuing Top Model and Face Off from The Zoo Series, Liu successfully extended a new body of work that has derived from the original structure.

The Unseen Multiple Egos

In the Cosplay Series, Liu used familiar animal characters in animated films from popular culture as base, then strip them of identifying traits, then he puts another flesh inside that suggests reality. In Cosplay-Rat, it seems to be a rat’s body in a suit that looks like Pikachu. From an uncomplicated viewpoint, it can simply be interpreted as an animal from nature playing a famous artificial role, after close examination, it doesn’t really fit the profile of Pikachu and it doesn’t match, on many levels, the changing concept that requires careful thinking is the reason why the Cosplay Series is so enticing, it is a conceptually layered riddle, with one waiting to be solved after the other is decoded.

The Cosplay Series is a “shanzhai of shanzhai”, in other words, it is an imitation of an imitation, but even though two voids don’t make up reality, it made up an indistinct sense of reality. With the symbolisms aside, this series of works demonstrate surprising depth after mental excavation. The associated thought of Russian dolls may come to mind, while in the Cosplay Series, an unknown curiosity invites the questioning of what is underneath the blood-colored muscle tissues.

The skin represents the exterior, it is not necessarily hypocritical, but Liu Je-Rong employed the façade to create an infinite intrinsic reality. From the skin of the works to reason, ponder and develop a theory that is similar and parallel to pseudo-psychology, the brainwave in human brains can be categorized into 4 main types, with the most common Beta waves (β) is consciousness thought, then Alpha waves (α) that bridges the consciousness and sub-consciousness, Theta waves (θ) occur in the sub-consciousness, and Delta (δ) waves that is non-consciousness. So far there’s no effect way of translating these terms through languages because of the lack of their studies in depth in contemporary sciences.

However, if the 4 categories are applied onto the process of analysing the Cosplay series, under this circumstances, α wave represents the main bloody body that is under the costume, β waves represents the costume, θ is unseen, but maybe it is dissatisfied by the fact that it can never really become the mainstream character it is pretending to be, or θ is in concurrence of the imitation practice, no matter what, this is closely related to the eyes of the beholder. δ waves enter uncharted area when things get interesting, because if the 4 categories are further classified into consciousness and sub-consciousness, there’s only one waking self that is the consciousness, while there are two types of sub-consciousness, with α waves being the bridge of two different consciousness. The non-consciousness δ wave is one of two selves that cannot be seen, with uncertainty to its nature, this arouses mystery, perhaps non-consciousness has the potential to be further classified into many different types.

Associated Identities and Application

Continuing what was mentioned above, Liu Je-Rong’s Consplay series has unlimited potential, there are an infinite number of possibilities to the subject in question, no matter it is regarding the relations between two countries, the people and the country, culture and history, the Cosplay series has become a great starting point for the discussion, inviting the public to be part of the adventurous trail of thoughts, and each conclusion can be their personal treasure. This seemingly simple theme has insurmountable potential of development, using the traditional Chinese horoscopes of 12 animals combined with international animated animal characters to discuss self identity, after all, an entity that has lost its memory will also loose its identity. Memory and identity are two sides of one coin, just like the sub-consciousness doesn’t seem to have control, it is crucial in making long term memories, in other words, without sub-consciousness, there will be no consciousness, if the 4 type of brainwaves are sequenced according to their strength like a gradient of light to darkness, there will be no darkness if there is no light. Liu Je-Rong’s philosophy on art is persistently battling this type of paradox, one oxymoron within another, it’s complex yet intricate, two voids may not create one solid truth, perhaps this is another subtle way for the artist to call for change of the thinking methods.

The Ordinary in Extraordinary

Liu enjoys going against mainstream movements, he is neutral toward the mainstream, even immuned, one might say, to the non-mainstream, he is like a treasure hunter, a cultural archaeologist, extracting and absorbing the essence of multiple layers of cultural sediments. Liu said: “There’s a certain charming quality of flowers in ruins, compared to the bright colors in fancy gardens, the flower in the ruins stands out with elegance and freshness.” Since his childhood he experienced anticipation and disappointment, and this concept served as his way of finding balance to dissipate emotions. “What is the meaning of human life?” This long discussed philosophical query has troubled Liu since he was little, from a science focus shift to society focus in school, his adolescent education provided a firm foundation for his structure of artistic creations.

“I remember two phrases in my childhood from my father, he said: ‘Dad only wants you to be happy.’ And ‘The more you anticipate, the more you will be disappointed.’ He also said that he thought if he had sent me to study abroad, it may have benefitted me more. On the contrary, I think studying abroad is not always a better option, even though this may not be clear to the people involved at the time.”

Liu Je-Rong’s artistic philosophy covers in depth with broadness, the most extraordinary of his works is to use banal objects or concepts to incite poignancy on a deeper level, perhaps, this is exactly the beauty of full blossoms in abandoned ruins.