《林亦軒：一個叫木材的傢伙》
Lin YiHsuan : a man called log
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‣ Part I：May 12 – 29, 2021
▸ Part II：June 5 – 19, 2021
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Each Modern 亞紀畫廊很榮幸宣布旅巴西藝術家林亦軒的最新個展「一個叫木材的傢伙」，展出藝術家 2020 年至 2021 年創作的繪畫作品，並以兩部分的形式首次在台灣發表。展名中的「木材」直指了巴西重要的出口物：巴西紅木（Pau Brasil），而從樹木被破壞、半加工成為木材、再次出口的狀態，也意指了林亦軒對巴西與自身創作的反應與思考。
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巴西詩人奧斯瓦爾德・德・安德拉德（Oswald de Andrade）在 1928 年所出版的《食人宣言》（Manifesto Antropófago）與 1960 年代末的巴西文藝運動「熱帶主義」（Tropicália）都被視為巴西在後殖民時期的重要文藝復興里程碑。這樣的文化核心在於吞噬、消化來自如非洲、歐洲、亞洲的外來文化，再與巴西當地相互結合，最後「再生」成一種新的、屬於巴西卻又多元的狀態。長年生活在拉丁美洲，林亦軒的抽象繪畫看似巴西塗鴉與東方線條的混合體，敘述著藝術家從宏都拉斯、阿根廷、到最後在巴西落腳的所見風景。如同巴西文藝運動的進程般，線條、圓點、色塊等基本繪畫元素在他的作品中不斷地被組合、衝擊、與分解，最終合而為一。在這樣的過程中，他也從「流浪者」逐漸轉變為「居住者」的狀態，成為了另一種「原生」狀態。
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大小不一、粗糙裁切，林亦軒的畫布與紙看似隨性、狂野、自由，卻富含了對繪畫本身的細膩感受與思考。從過往對多種「形狀」的嘗試，到新作中更為明確的「圓」與「線」，這樣的過程似乎對繪畫本質提問：該畫什麼？如何去畫？然而對於林亦軒來說，這樣的答案似乎無須刻意追求，而是在實踐的過程中重複著熟悉與陌生、溫柔與野蠻，將生命經驗與時間在繪畫中自然地發生，如他在《在此想做什麼就做什麼》（2021）中塗抹掉了畫布上原有的圖案，重新繪製了不同於其它畫作的強烈矩形。
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當疫情在 2020 年攀上高峰，身處巴西的林亦軒也被迫在封城之下持續創作。這樣的狀態使他的創作時間放慢，不明確的模糊形狀也逐漸在畫布上聚焦成了鮮明的符號。在《下午一點的葉子》（2020）中，我們可以清楚看見許多綠色圓形，饒富節奏地跳躍在了畫面之中。這些綠色圓形意指了一片片的綠葉，以幻想的姿態展現。在這些強烈的圖形之下，林亦軒所繪製的背景也是一種對於風景的抽象渲染。《馬拉赫塞斯》（2020）描繪了巴西倫索伊斯・馬拉赫塞斯國家公園（Lençóis Maranhenses National Park）特有的沙漠水窪地形，似沙紋與水波的螺旋線條下映襯著藍白交雜的天空與水面。
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呈現黑色強烈線條的數件《生食與熟食》（2020 - 2021）則取名自法國人類學家克勞德・李維史陀（Claude Lévi-Strauss，1908 - 2009）的 1964 年著作《神話學：生食與熟食》（Mythologiques: Le Cru et le Cuit）。因為環境的不同與壓力，樹木會調整自己並生長出不同的形狀的枝幹與樹葉，而林亦軒就是將這樣的概念放進了繪畫當中，以熟食比喻過於純熟的技術，而生食比喻樸拙生澀的技術，彼此勾勒出抬頭仰望時能看見的交錯樹枝。在《晾在樹梢的一片片天空》（2021）、《樹葡萄》（2021）中，我們都能看見矩形化的天空下，蜿蜒崎嶇、不受背景干擾、迷宮般的樹枝點綴著幾片橘黃數葉。
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林亦軒的抽象畫作關於風景，但那不熟悉的異國已然不是它們既有的樣貌，也絕非是我們所能預期的南美洲。「應屬於」巴西的風景早已超越了「原始的」巴西，回應了當地與藝術家本身由多元文化組成的歷史背景。這些與奢華、精緻相去甚遠的繪畫如同美國文學運動「垮掉的一代」（Beat Generation）般叛逆不羈，卻又極富追尋自由的詩意；又或者說，利用曾被西方中心主視為貶低巴西的「食人」一詞作為一種反擊，將樹木做為木材重新出口。那麼，林亦軒所開啟的不只是一種對特定風景的想像與解釋，而是在文化相互侵入與融合的過程中，創造一種屬於「世界」的繪畫。
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▎關於藝術家
林亦軒，1985 年生於台灣宜蘭，畢業於國立台北藝術大學。他在 2009 年前往拉丁美洲生活與創作，曾居住宏都拉斯、阿根廷，最終落腳巴西。近年重要個展包括 2019 年巴西聖保羅 Ateliê Fidalga「在星空下」（為該年古里提巴雙年展會外展）與台北關渡美術館「我們是烏龜」、2018 年台北亞紀畫廊「吸管」、2017 年費城Basin「Baby Danger Baby Extraño」與亦安畫廊台北「河馬啊」、以及 2016 年紐約 Jeffrey Stark「A Chicken and a dog, they walk」等；重要聯展包括 2019 年香港 Simon Lee Gallery「夏日外出」與台北亞紀畫廊「李元佳與年輕藝術家」、2018 年宜蘭美術館「詩意的凝視：宜蘭美術館典藏特展」、2016 年洛杉磯 Moran Moran「Paper in Practice」與台北双方藝廊「寫生：書寫與繪畫」、 2014 年紐約 Suzanne Geiss「That’s the neighbor, always dressing these boulders in the yard」、2013 年聖保羅Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz「Olhae e escolher」、以及 2011 年台北鳳甲美術館「台灣當代素描展」等。林亦軒曾參與 2019 年聖保羅 Ateliê Fidalga 與紐約ISCP、以及 2013 年洛杉磯 18 街藝術中心的駐村計畫。
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Each Modern is pleased to announce Brazil-based artist Lin YiHsuan’s latest solo exhibition, “a man called log”. This two-part exhibition presents, for the very first time in Taiwan, a series of recent paintings made in 2020 and 2021. The titular “log” references the important export product of the Pau Brasil tree, which is destroyed, semi-processed, and prepared for distribution around the globe. This changing status – from tree to log - also reflects Lin’s reaction and thoughts on the context of Brazil, and his own art.
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Manifesto Antropófago, written by Brazilian poet novelist Oswald de Andrade in 1928, and the subsequent Tropicália artistic movement of the 1960s, are seen as Renaissances of post-colonial Brazil. The core tenant of these cultural movements was to swallow and digest cultures from Africa, Europe, and Asia, and then synthesize them with Brazil itself to regenerate a new multicultural Brazilian status quo. Having lived in Latin America for years, Lin’s abstract paintings reflect a mixture of Brazilian graffiti and Asian lines, depicting what he has seen from Honduras, Argentina, and adopted home, Brazil, where he has resided for over a decade. Just like the artistic movements of Brazil, fundamental painting elements, such as lines, circles, and color fields, are constantly combined, juxtaposed, decomposed, and unified in Lin’s work. Gradually, he turns from a wanderer to an inhabitant – or approaches a localized status.
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Large and small, roughly cut, Lin’s canvases and paper works may look casual, wild, and unfettered. However, Lin always maintains a delicate sentiment and concept toward painting. From his past attempts with shapes, to clearer circles and lines in the latest works, his process questions the essence of painting, on what to paint, and how to paint. For Lin, we do not need to pursue the answer intentionally. He is more concerned with letting life experiences and time occur within the painting naturally; to repeat the familiar and the unfamiliar, the gentle, and the brutal in this process. As seen in “Do whatever you want here”(2021), Lin covers an initial work, reworking the surface with obvious rectangles, setting it apart.
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During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, Lin continued to paint while in lockdown in Brazil. For the artist, time seemed to flow at a slower pace, and his ambiguous shapes slowly turned into defined symbols. In “Leaves at 1 PM”(2020), we can see multiple green circles jumping with rhythm – the leaves are presented with an illusionary appearance. Beneath strong visual motifs, Lin’s backgrounds are an abstract rendering of a landscape. “Lençóis Maranhenses“(2020) portrays the unique desert lake scene of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil, the blue white sky and water are under the spiral lines of the dunes and waves.
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Adorned with black lines, “le cru et le cuit”(2020 - 2021) references French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss(1908 - 2009)’s Mythologiques: Le Cru et le Cuit, first published in 1964. As a result of different surrounding, trees will always adapt themselves to grow branches and leaves in varied shapes most suited for their environment. In this series, Lin utilizes this concept of “le cru”(the raw) which he takes to indicate an unpracticed skill, and “le cuit”(the cooked) which indicates a skill he is familiar with – to paints his staggered tree branches. In “Pieces of sky hanging on the treetops”(2021) and “jabuticaba”(2021), we can also see the twisted, maze-like tree boughs with yellow leaves standing out from an angular sky.
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Indeed, Lin’s abstract painting is about landscape. But the foreign land is no longer what it looks like, and it is not the South America we expect, either. This landscape which belongs to Brazil is now beyond the native Brazil, instead responding to the multicultural history of the country and the artist. Perhaps, his paintings are as rough, rebellious, and poetically free as the Beat Generation. Perhaps, using the term “cannibalism” is a kind of counterattack to exportation the “log” back to the Western world, which would otherwise use such a term to depreciate Brazil. What Lin has aroused is not only an imagination or interpretation to a specific place. What he has achieved belongs to the world, and sits within the invasion and mixing of cultures.
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▎About the artist
Lin YiHsuan, born Yilan, Taiwan in 1985, graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts. In 2009, he moved to Latin America and lived in Honduras, Argentina, and eventually Brazil. Lin’s recent important solo shows include “Sob o Céu Estrelado”(2019) at Ateliê Fidalga, São Paulo, “We are Turtles”(2019) at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, “Straw”(2018) at Each Modern, Taipei, “Baby Danger Baby Extraño”(2017) at Basin, Philadelphia, “Argh. Hippos.”(2017) at aura gallery Taipei, Taipei, and “A Chicken and a dog, they walk” at Jeffrey Stark, New York. His recent group shows include “Out of Summer”(2019) at Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong, “Li Yuan-chia and the Homages to”(2019) at Each Modern, Taipei, “Poetic Gaze : Yilan Art Museum Collection Exhibition”(2018) at Yilan Art Museum, Yilan, “Paper in Practice”(2016) at Moran Moran, Los Angeles, “Seize the Life: Contemporary Writing and Painting”(2016) at Double Square Gallery, Taipei, “That’s the neighbor, always dressing these boulders in the yard”(2014) at Suzanne Geiss, New York, “Olhae e escolher”(2013) at Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Sao Paulo, and “Drawing Now: Contemporary Taiwanese Drawing” at Hong–Gah Museum, Taipei. Lin also participated residency programs at Ateliê Fidalga, Sao Paulo(2019), ISCP, New York(2019), and 18th Street Art Center(2013).