Artists｜秦松 Chin Sung、廖繼春 Liao Chi-chun、席德進 Shiy De-jinn、藍仲軒 Lan ChungHsuan、李立中 Lee LiChung、高俊宏 Kao Jun-Honn、吳其育 Wu Chi-Yu
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Each Modern 亞紀畫廊很榮幸策劃聯展「情歌」，展出台灣重要藝術家廖繼春、席德進、秦松，以及當代藝術家高俊宏、吳其育、李立中、藍仲軒，橫跨現代經典到當代前衛的世代對話。
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本展是亞紀畫廊回應疫情所誕生的展覽。在構想初期，一度將展覽聚焦疫情下藝術家反應、個人敘事、與藝術存在意義的變化，後因疫情導致國際情勢的加劇變化，畫廊傾向更宏觀地面對疫情所帶來的國際變動，而將展覽跨大成由歷史重新思索時間、地域、議題，述說在過去與現代中，藝術家與國家、國家與國家的延續、複雜、交鋒關係。
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展名「情歌」並非關於愛情的歌謠，而是藉由描述相愛、失戀、兩人關係的情歌來譬喻國際關係。在如今驟變的世界之下，國家們互相大聲地唱著不同的情歌，或陶醉其中、或哀傷痛心，如情人般相愛與決裂。以台灣為展覽核心，「情歌」所囊括的時間軸從戰後、冷戰、國際斷交、台海飛彈危機、到對近未來局勢的眺望。
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畫廊二樓的空間將展示台灣前輩藝術家廖繼春、席德進、秦松，各自獨當一面的個人故事與藝術實踐，也是他們與西方世界所激發出的曲曲情歌。
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廖繼春（1902 - 1976）出生於台中，1924年赴日本東京美術學校（現東京藝術大學）進修。早在日治時期，他就曾以風景畫進入「帝展」，並知名於台灣及日本。1962年5月，廖繼春獲美國國務院之邀參訪歐美各大美術館，見證了無數的經典名畫。停留芝加哥時期，他更是直接進行了多次的抽象繪畫嘗試。作為參訪美國的先行者，廖繼春在1963年返國後先後在五月畫會、美國新聞處、及雄獅美術訪談中分享了他這趟旅程的觀點。他曾說：『如夏卡爾所說，他之前來巴黎，並非學習那裡的畫，而是接受那裡的刺激而已。這種種因素使我儘速地覓求了新的自己的方法。』廖繼春所帶回的不僅是台灣現代藝術的可能性，也反映了在抽象主義的洪流之下，台灣藝術家該如何打破規範卻又不隨波逐流。《孫文像》（1945）是廖繼春在台南州立二中（現台南一中）任教時為學校所繪製。這件畫作的繪製年份雖是他在赴美之前，卻也是日本投降、國民政府接收台灣的歷史轉捩點，強烈地反應了廖繼春在大時代中的藝術家身份。
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席德進（1923 - 1981）出生於四川，求學時期師從中國現代繪畫大師林風眠。1948年來台後致力創作，1957年由華美協進社主辦生平第一次個展，同年與1959年亦參展巴西聖保羅國際雙年展。1960年參展、 1961年參加美國新聞處「當代中國藝術家聯展」，並在1962年8月獲美國國務院邀請赴美參訪，其中亦有在美國參展。席德進在1963年移居法國巴黎，結識了趙無極、常玉等旅法畫家，並走訪了歐洲各國。1966年，席德進回到台灣，隔年為台中美國新聞處創作了其唯一的壁畫作品，同年再次參展巴西聖保羅國際雙年展，1972年參展台北美國花旗銀行聯展。席德進的一生與美國的現代藝術進程環環相扣。在《席德進書簡》中，他曾在信中寫下『有位美國名畫家的一幅「美國國旗」完完全全與印出來的一樣。他們主張是把藝術與生活打成一片，讓觀眾自己在生活中去體會藝術。我覺得追求藝術必須把握藝術永恆的原則：人的感情。當然時代的思潮也是其重要的因素之一，還有民族文化傳統，這樣總不會走失。』
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無論是席德進最廣為人知的肖像系列、水彩作品，或是以線條、色塊所構築的中國傳統建築，我們能深切的感受到藝術家充滿情感的凝視，「情歌」中展覽兩幅他於巴黎所繪的抽象畫《抽象畫（編號Q5-31）》、《抽象畫（編號R1-27）》（皆1964），用普普而硬邊的抽象手法描繪了遙遠家鄉的房屋、文字、以及色彩樣貌。
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秦松（1932 - 2007）來自安徽，1949年隨國軍撤台後在台北師範學校（現國立台北教育大學）學習藝術創作，1959年加入東方畫會。1960年代，秦松的畫作受到西方繪畫浪潮影響逐漸轉為抽象表達，以圓形、黑色、曲線與直線等看似象形文字的書法筆觸獨樹一格。秦松在1960年獲巴西聖保羅雙年展榮譽獎，卻也在同年發生了「秦松事件」 — 兩件畫作被指控污辱國家領袖。該事件讓秦松在台灣的創作停止，也埋下了日後出國發展的原因：1965年赴巴西聖保羅國際現代藝展擔任評審委員，1969年赴美舉辦巡迴展覽後並定居紐約，從此。在美國，秦松將自己視為一個「有家歸不得的人」，與同在紐約的藝術家謝里法、趙春翔、陳昭宏、夏陽等人皆有共事或合租工作室。在秦松的作品中，我們能看到他在藝術中所追尋的自由表述。他的作品雖然多變，但不變的是一位藝術家對自由的嚮往與追求，最終在海外實現。
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廖繼春、席德進、秦松經歷時代大環境，被其驅使面對事件、或受啟發。在西方熱戀般的文化傳播過後，他們對藝術的思考再次交融昇華，繼而創造了嶄新的台灣藝術視野，是三位讓台灣現代藝術國際化最具影響力的藝術家。
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當戰後藝術家在國際間突破了藝術與生命本身時，當代藝術家們則在技法上抽離，一樓空間中將台灣與國際的歷史與未來做了新的討論。他們或在國外展演、或在歐美留學，儘管生活在一個國際交流平和的年代，卻仍激進地試圖從台灣與亞洲的歷史看向一觸即發的未來，也揭開國際間的虛偽情歌假象。
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高俊宏（1973生於台北）特別為此次展覽製作新作，透過山林研究延伸了《大豹》（2017）系列作品。他的手繪素描、地圖、錄像、行為藝術、與現成物裝置，皆如挖掘證據一般，再現了早期台灣土地、原住民、與國際勢力相遇的歷史處境遺跡；李立中（1980年生於台南）的《軍鴿》（2020）從美軍的解密檔案切入，以台南的空軍眷村飛雁新村作為中心點，挖掘出二戰時期曾發生於此的國際角力 — 作為大日本帝國南進基地的台灣，以及利用軍鴿情蒐台灣的美軍部隊。透過藝術家的重新演釋，以鴿子的角度觀看夾處在現代歷史中重大影響台灣的兩個國家之間。
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吳其育（1986年生於台北）的錄像裝置《亞洲大氣》（2018）以模仿虛擬實境的分割畫面，從現代人熟悉的客機機艙，延伸到了跨國旅行、領空的瓜分及無人機的使用。天空不停地因為國際合作或爭端而重新制定，應當看不到界限卻早已被各種方法管理與劃分。透過藝術家所採集的影像及歷史文件，引領觀眾探討了亞洲天空的未來樣貌；藍仲軒（1991年生於台北）則透過繪畫裝置影像《轟炸彼此吧》（2020）反映了從「戰後」、「冷戰」、到下一個「戰前」的混合視角。繪畫的飛彈發射尾雲更像是對台灣歷史與記憶的再現，而美軍無人機的影像重新拼湊出了一種無法辨識的樣貌，伴隨著一張人們皆能自由仰望的藍色天空影像。
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「情歌」所展示的是兩世代藝術家們在國際巨變中的態度與藝術實踐，在國與國之間的情歌中搖擺或自譜一曲。這些情歌所連結的既是藝術家們的藝術彼岸，也是左右台灣與世界未來的情人 — 甜言蜜語。心碎悲戚。然後再一廂情願聽著下一曲情歌。
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Each Modern is pleased to present “Love Songs”, a group show comprised of works by seminal Taiwanese post-war artists Shiy De-jinn, Liao Chi-chun, Chin Sung and contemporary artists Kao JunHonn, Wu Chi-Yu, Lee LiChung, and Lan ChungHsuan.
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Initially, this exhibition was focused on of artists’ responses, their personal narratives, and the shifting meaning of art during a time of pandemic. But as a result of the intense seismic fluctuations in international relations due to these circumstances, we adopted a more macroscopic view of these relationships, and expanded our scope to reconsider time, region, and topic. As a result, the exhibition endeavors to contemplate the complex tension that exists between artist and country, as well as between countries, from a historical and contemporary context. We explore how these tensions influenced the views and practice of these post-war and contemporary Taiwanese artists.
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The exhibition title, “Love Songs,” is not an explicit reference to songs that take romantic themes as their subject, rather, the show uses the trope of the love song as a metaphor for the turbulent, idealized, and at times seemingly aleatory connections between countries. They sing their affection, they break-up, they reunite.
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From colonial periods, the post-war period, the Cold War, through failed diplomatic relations, missile crises, to the near future, “Love Songs” present artists from Taiwan responding to these macro-narratives impacting their lives and practices. Beginning on the second floor, the works of Shiy De-jinn, Liao Chi-chun, and Chin Sung illuminate their histories and their art from a time when the Western world attempted to exert a particular cultural influence on Taiwan’s development.
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In 1924, Liao Chi-chun(born in Taichung,1902 - 1976) attended the Tokyo University of the Arts. He was lauded as one of the first Taiwanese artists to be shown in the Empire Art Show. In May 1962, Liao was invited by the United States Department of State to tour the museums and art institutions in the US and Europe to absorb the prevailing arts of that time. During his stay in Chicago, he began experimenting with a new method of art making. As one of the first Taiwanese artists of his generation to be sponsored to visit the US, he frequently shared his experiences with The Fifth-Moon Group, United States Information Agency, Lion Art and the other active art organizations. “Like Chagall said, he went to Paris to be inspired instead of learning how to paint. That’s why I strived to find my own new way.” Liao was not only a pioneer in developing the possibilities of Taiwanese modernism, he also imparted his knowledge to other artists, encouraging them to develop their own methods under the wave of abstract art. Liao’s “Portrait of Sun Yat-sen”(1945) was painted for the Tainan First Senior High School while he taught there. Although the painting was made before his visit to US, it strongly reflects Liao’s artist-identity during a historical turning point for Taiwan- the retreat of Japanese Empire and the retrocession of the ROC.
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Shiy De-jinn(born in SiChuan, 1923 – 1981) studied with the pioneering Chinese painter Lin FengMian. Shiy moved to Taiwan in 1948 and had his first solo show with the China Institute in America in 1957. That same year Shiy participated in the São Paulo Art Biennial, and would participate again in 1959. In 1960 and 1961, Shiy showed in group shows at United States Information Agency in Taipei, and was also invited by United States Department of State to visit the US in 1962 to research and encounter American art of that time. In 1963, he moved to Paris, France, and traveled throughout Europe. During that time, he became acquainted with Zao WouKi and Sanyu. Shiy moved back to Taiwan in 1966. In 1967, he created his only wall mural for the United States Information Agency in Taichung, and participated in the Sao Paulo Art Biennial once again. In 1972, he was in a group show held by Citibank.
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Shiy’s life and practice was tightly connected to the US. In the book “Shiy De-jinn’s Letters” he writes, “There is a famous American artist who paints the American flag realistically. To them, art is life, and the audience should experience art in life. When we pursue art, I think there is a principle to seize, to make our art infinite – our emotions. Of course, the present context is important, as well as nationality, culture, and tradition. That’s how we keep from getting lost.” In his most famous portraitures, watercolors, and traditional Chinese architectural works, composed of lines and swathes of fauvist colors, the artist’s emotional state is always legible. In his “Abstraction(No: Q5-31)” and ”Abstraction(No: R1-27)”(both 1964) painted in Paris, Shiy portrays pastoral houses, done in both a near-pop art and abstract style.
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Chin Sung(born in Anhui, 1932 - 2007) moved to Taiwan in 1949 with the retreating Kuomintang government. He first studied at the National Taipei University of Education, and joined the Ton Fan Group, Taiwan’s first avant-garde art group, in 1959. Through the 1960s, Chin’s art practice was heavily influenced by trends in Western art. During this time, he developed his unique style of black patterns and hard-edged lines. In 1960, Chin Sung was granted the Honor Award of São Paulo Art Biennial. Tragically, that same year he was accused by the government of producing anti-Chiang Kaishek paintings – a high offense during that period of martial law - which would lead Chin to eventually flee Taiwan. In 1965, Chin Sung returned to Brazil to serve on the jury for the São Paulo Art Biennial. In 1969, he moved to New York after a touring show in the US. Chin would remain in New York as politically he felt he was ostracized in Taiwan due to past accusations directed at his paintings. In the US he befriended Taiwanese emigrant artists Xie Lifa, Zhao ChunXiang, Hilo Chen, and Xia Yang. In his works, we might see a turn towards liberation. Although Chin Sung’s art varied throughout his life, his dream and pursuit of freedom as an artist never changed, but for Chin, this could only be achieved abroad.
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The environment Liao Chi-chun, Shiy De-jinn, and Chin Sung lived in forced them to confront certain political realities of their time. Though their works do not take these circumstances as their main subject, they nonetheless exerted a great influence in their development. After various encounters with American and European modern art and culture, each in their own way integrated, rejected, and sublimated their own practice to create new horizons of Taiwanese arts. Thus, they are three of the most important artists to shape a globalized Taiwanese modern art.
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While these post-war artists sought new ways to integrate art and life to a new modernity, a younger generation of contemporary artists now pull themselves away from the questions of style and technique towards the conceptual and the material. On the first floor of the gallery, they offer a new narrative in regards to the history and future of Taiwan, and its international “relationships”. Some from this emerging generation have studied or exhibited abroad. And although presently they all function within a stable context, through historical fragments, present-day anxieties, and looming futures, they seek to uncover the truth of the “love songs” between Taiwan, Asia, and its international partners.
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Kao Jun-Honn(born in Taipei, 1973) presents a new field-research work made specifically for “Love Songs”. The work is an expansion of his previous series “Ncaq“(2017). Kao’s documenting sketches, maps, video, performance, and ready-made installation represent the historical trace where the land and the aboriginal peoples of early modern Taiwan encountered colonial forces and foreign powers. “Military Pigeon”(2020) series by Lee LiChung (born in Tainan, 1980) explores a hidden international conflict which occurred in Feiyan New Village in Tainan through declassified US military files. During World War II, Taiwan was an integral seat for the Japanese Empire’s southern facing military operations. During this period, the US military utilized homing pigeons to conduct reconnaissance on the Japanese. Through a reenactment by the artist, we view Taiwan as a passive actor between two countries which greatly influenced its modern history of Taiwan through the perspective of a pigeon.
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Wu Chi-Yu(born in Taipei, 1986)’s video installation “Asia Air”(2018) imitates the split-screen view of virtual reality goggles. From a flight cabin to international travel, the division of airspace and the use of a drone, the territory of the sky is in constant flux due to the divisions of geopolitical circumstance. Though it should be borderless, it is now full of invisible fences and demarcations. Wu introduces a possible future of the sky to viewers through his collective images and historical documents. Lan ChungHsuan(born in Taipei, 1991)’s painting installation “Let’s bomb each other”(2020) leads the audience from post-war, cold war, to pre-war. The paintings of the missile trails turn the threats historical and memorial, yet the “puzzled” US military drone represents an unrecognizable appearance of the future. Alongside these two is a photograph of the blue sky resonates the universality of human beings.
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“Love Songs” presents the attitudes and art practices of two different generations of artists working in the changing Taiwanese context of modern history. Together they attempt to hear the love songs within this dynamic. The songs connect not only the artist, their art practice, and their international perspectives, but also Taiwan to its “lovers.” These songs, sweet or heartbreaking, leave us wanting for love songs to come.