林勤霖的千里獨行 師大教授 呂清夫
 勇於嘗試，挖掘自我
在國外流行超寫實的時代，他不畫照片，在國內盛行鄉土寫實的時期，他也不畫寫實作品，他一向獨來獨往，他有將近三十年的歲月，都對抽象情有獨鍾，這就是林勤霖。但他的作品不同於一般的抽象畫，因為他的線條不多，顏色低沈，技巧既不顯得熟練，畫風也不故作前衛，保持一個完全屬於自我的世界。他早期讓我印象深刻的作品是在馬祖所畫的一些粗獷之作（1970-71），畫面是一些老房子，但造形簡樸，筆觸雄邁，用色低調，線條少而遒勁，如果說接近野獸派或表現派，那可能不免有亂套流派之嫌，其實這應該說是他的一個十分自我的世界，其中孕含了他後來發展的種種可能性。例如那種偏黑的冷色調、那種充滿拙趣的線條、那種灑脫的詩境等是。
林勤霖勇於嘗試，勤於挖掘自我，他曾在1979年作過幾何性的嘗試，以他那種固執自我、不易妥協的性格來看，幾何學的路線從某方面來看，可以說也蠻合適的，所以他曾經創作了一些直線形的作品，畫面中充滿直線或方塊，顏色仍是一貫的低調。但人是複雜的，林勤霖又有詩人般的灑脫氣質，這使他的幾何學路線終於畫不下去，必須靠反乎幾何學的自動技巧，才能將內在深層的感情、或材料彼此之間的張力充分表現出來。
他的白色時期（1980–1983）就是這種情況的寫照，他揚棄了幾何造形的推敲，導入了自動技巧，讓自我與材料充分產生對話。在畫布上蔓延的著色樹酯有如岩漿的流動，乍看是白色的主調，卻充滿熱與力。畫面的造形似乎不是刻意雕琢出來的，而是畫家內心世界的一面鏡子，或材料本性的一次淋漓演出，其中渾然的天成重於人工的機智。
其實他並非沒有這種機智，只是不隨便用而已，你看他的工作室，那些藤椅的強烈色彩，壁爐煙囪的腐朽化神奇，牆壁天花板的粗獷肌理，露台的賞心悅目，還有那低限藝術般的廚藝，那從百寶箱出其不意亮出來的桌巾都叫人拍案叫絕，他可以說是一個聰敏透頂的生活藝術家。
 惜線如金，蓆地而畫
林勤霖的作品很少線條，西方人也覺得納悶，他們會說，線條不是你們東方人的專長嗎？為什麼你不用線條。但是林勤霖似乎是個十分自我、喜歡逆向思考的人，所以他曾經畫過透明的油畫、自然也用過透明的水彩顏料去畫不透明的畫作。至於線條，他似乎惜線如金，其實他的線條十分純真、富有拙趣，但卻出現於不被預期的畫面中，亦即被發現於徹底表現材質的作品中，有時是笨拙的圓圈，有時是閒散的格子（如1975年的「東籬」）。本來，這類畫作在材質的處理上已讓畫家焦頭爛額，他卻遊刃有餘，還從中揮灑了線條；其次，材質之美本是自足的、有厚度的，但他卻又額外地加上通常是沒有厚度的線條。「東籬」是個開頭，PE網的作品（1984）是個極致。
這在他的格物時期（1984—1986）最為明顯，這個時期不但材質有厚度，連畫布本身都強調了厚度，有的作品厚達數公分，使其側面也成了觀賞的對象。這種面面俱到或三度空間的意識曾經讓他一度走向雕塑、走向裝置的方向（1994）。他的這類畫作有時是平放地面來畫，特別是一些樹酯材料，他曾使之自然流動於平面上，從中發掘偶然的效果，後來的畫作也有大半蓆地而畫，然意不在抓住筆刷與地面間的抗力，而是意在使自己融入畫中。
 真情所至，令人動容
如此才更方便於詩意的自動性表現，這時雖然脫掉了幾何學的路線，但是畫家骨子裡的那種冷靜的嚴格性還是跑不掉，於是在他的黑色時期（1987–1996）裡面便以另一種面貌出現，那就是對稱性。這種對稱性雖被朋友指為呆板，他也有意試做改變，但都積重難返，其實這未必不是他個人的一種特色，把異質的東西組在同一畫面，把奔放的形色組進嚴格的對稱結構之中，就像他把無厚度的線條組入厚塗的顏料肌理中那樣，其中充滿了緊張的力量。
這個時期的黑色傾向，一方面來自失親之痛，即使在痛定思痛之際仍不免神傷，所以他有詩提到：「慈母見背十二秋，日夜思懷湧泉流，若得風止樹又靜，折我天年又何尤。」哥雅(Goya)在感時憂國之際也出現了黑色時期，雖然國仇家恨各有不同，但畫家的真情則同樣令人動容。
另一方面，早在早期偏黑的藍色調中已可看到此傾向之端倪，其間作者自己雖還將之細分為「時光的刻痕」、「時光的詩趣」、「時光的省思」，但其對稱性與黑色調則始終如一。如果有所演變，應在於「時光的詩趣」系列以後顏色的逐漸明朗化、以及材質的逐漸輕量化，亦即暖色逐漸出現，顏料亦從畫刀刮色變成混用噴槍。
1997年林勤霖移居加拿大，離鄉背井、去國懷鄉給他帶來極大的衝擊，他自己曾說：「在異國，當夜用千股黑紗牽動顫抖的思緒去啟開潘朵拉的盒子。剎時，鄉愁就像瘟疫般的擴散。開始渴念東方，急切的渴望無由捕捉的東方。……之後，我試著用歷史把傷處切開，用音樂洗滌，最後詩是用來縫合的。」我也可以想像他寫給我的信中提到的「老淚縱橫」的樣子。
 期待某種特別的苦澀
這個時期的作品畫家曾將自己的作品分成「鄉愁之外」（1997-98）、「鄉愁處方箋」（1999）、「凝視生命」（2000-02）三個階段，但從他的全作品來看，最大的特色應在於逐漸告別了對稱的結構，或許這才「啟開潘朵拉的盒子」，其次是顏色彩度的升高，這可能跟他移居的維多利亞城之美麗有關。他同時開始經常啟用拼貼的手法，他把一些文字資料加以影印之後貼在劃上，大概許因為「鄉愁就像瘟疫」，故只有具體物的拼貼才能彌補虛無。他並將詩的內容（如「凝視生命 在經典 在史冊 在歌 在詩 在縱放的墨韻」）大量帶入畫中，不但善畫而且工詩，因為他「開始渴念東方」、而且「詩是用來縫合的」。
但現代的時空不同於王維的時代，畫中未必有詩，繪畫不必拘泥於詩，繪畫可能志在四方，音樂、影像都可能跟它產生了新的關係，文學也可能跟在它的後面跑。林勤霖的廣泛涉獵不能比照傳統文人那樣，看成跟繪畫有直接關係，那不如說是潛意識熔爐的無數燃料，當潛意識醞釀完成之後，自有神來之筆，如「東籬」那樣清新的作品，便經過一番費神的醞釀，然後在談笑之間，一氣呵成。
日前他有這樣的自剖：「出產於中國土壤的豆子，在維多利亞烘培，重火，略帶苦澀。」其中之所以有「重火」，自然得自多方的文史涉獵與技巧嘗試，我雖還不覺得「略帶苦澀」，但對於他在抽象世界的千里獨行，仍期待某種特別的苦澀，唯不需加糖！

-OLIVER LIN’S LONG AND SOLITARY PATH

By Professor, NTNU
Lu Qing Fu

– A Bold Effort to Uncover the Self

When Hyperrealism was popular internationally he did not paint to simulate photography. When Folk Realism was popular in Taiwan he did not paint realistic paintings. He has followed his own path, coming and going, dedicated to nonobjective art, for almost 30 years. This is Oliver Lin, and neither does he follow the traditions of Abstractionism, for he employs few lines and tenebrific colors in a seemingly unpracticed technique. His style eschews trends to exist in its own epoch.

Works from Lin’s earliest period that have made the deepest impression on me were painted on Matsu Island (just off the mainland coast, where Oliver Lin performed his military service, 1970-71). These rather barbaric renditions of ancient houses nevertheless manage with virile strokes and subdued colors to achieve an impressively lean vigor. To suggest that they seem close to Fauvism or Expressionism would be a procrustean parallel, for they emerge entirely from the world of the artist’s own self, pregnant with potentials that would emerge later, for instance his penchant for cool black tones, his intriguingly coarse lines and an unburdened poetic aura.

Oliver Lin boldly searches and diligently excavates the self. In 1979 he began absorbing Geometric Abstraction in the ongoing project. Certain mathematical relationships were quite suitable for his stubborn ego and obstinate personality, and so he produced a series of works featuring straight lines or squares, though with colors of tenebrism. But humans are complex, and Oliver Lin’s unbreakable poetic temperament once more asserted itself, finally driving him from the geometric path. Relying on a non-mathematical, automatic method he was able to express more completely deep interior emotions and the tensions between materials.

Lin’s ‘white period’ (1980-1983) emerged from this development. He abandoned the deliberate rigor of geometric expression in favor of automatism to realize fully the dialogue between self and material. Colored resin flows like magma over the canvas. At first they appear like melodies in white. Step back and they fill with heat and energy. The paintings do not appear polished or intentional, but as actual reflections of the painter’s interior world in which the materials are themselves the superlative and unshackled performance, more like natural phenomena than products of a nimble human intelligence.

Which is not to say that Oliver Lin’s wit is not nimble, for he is not at all haphazard. A glance through his studio reveals rattan chairs in strong colors, an iron antique wood-stove fully restored by the artist, rough-textured stucco walls and ceilings, plus a delightful balcony and a Spartan kitchen, from which emerge Minimalist expressions of edible art. From a box of a hundred treasures pops out an amazing tablecloth. It seems Oliver Lin is also nimble in the art of life.

– Treasuring Lines like Gold – Painting at Will Without Easel

Oliver Lin’s works contain very few lines, which occasionally perplexes western observers who count lines the specialty of Chinese painting. Why doesn’t he use lines? It sometimes seems that Oliver Lin makes a deliberate point of being self-reliant and persistent in reverse thinking. For example he has made oil pigments transparent, and conversely made water colors opaque. The few lines he treasures like gold are sincere and pure, intriguing and coarse, and they show up unexpectedly in his pictures to express thoroughly the quality of materials, sometimes as naïve circles, sometimes as loose squares. The technique required to produce works such as Eastern Fence of T’ao Ch’ien (1975) is often visibly taxing for painters, but Oliver Lin’s skill makes the unrestrained lines appear effortless. Thus the contrast between lines without thickness and materials with intrinsic depth forges his individuality. Eastern Fence of T’ao Ch’ien marks the beginning of a period that peaked at his work PE Net on Wooden Box (1984) which belongs to Oliver Lin’s ‘Objects Exploring Period’ (1984-86). At this point, materials and even the supporter emphasize thickness. Sometimes the thickness reaches several centimeters, enough to make the profile a significant view to appreciate. This excursion into treating every facet of the work in three-dimensions led to a brief interest in sculpture and installation art (1994). During this period he began laying canvas on the floor, especially when using liquid resin, a practice that still continues. He seeks chance effects by allowing the materials to flow and bleed over the canvas. The intention is not to appropriate physical action and reaction of floor and brush. Rather it is to assist the artist to melt into the painting.

– The Locus of Emotion Contacted

And so the practice becomes convenient for the automatic expression of poetic sensitivities. In the early 90s, although he had abandoned the path of mathematical relations, that detached and exacting character could not leave the bones of the artist, and so another unifying characteristic – symmetry — emerged during his ‘black period’ (1987-1996). Although some of his friends call this symmetry inflexible, in fact he himself was trying to change. But old inclinations die hard, and in any case,
the urge to symmetry was not necessarily outside his character, for he continued to compose elements of disparate nature into a single expression. He still combined unrestrained shapes and colors within stringent symmetries, just as he had juxtaposed lines without thickness and impasto of rich color and texture. The resulting works are full of the same smoldering power. The tendency to use black stems on one hand from the death of his mother , for even though he had made poetry of his nostalgia and regret, the injury was nevertheless real. And so he wrote in a poem:
The 12th year has come since
Death closed my dear mother’s eyes.
Deep yearning wells up
Higher and higher as days go by.
If I could but win the Golden Bough and the lyre of Orpheus,
I would ford the Styx to beseech Pluto
To lend her to me and shorten my own life.

When Francisco Goya’s country was suffering in turmoil he also went through a black period. Despite the difference in scale between national chaos and family loss, genuine emotions expressed by artists are similarly touching. On the other hand, his early use of dark blue heralds the black period. Oliver Lin divides the black period into three series: Tracks of Time, Poetics of Time, and Reflections of Time. The emphasis on black and on symmetry is consistent throughout these series, but after Poetics of Time, colors gradually become brighter and clearer even as materials become lighter and thinner. The warm colors correspond to an increasing use of the spray gun rather than the knife.

In 1997 Oliver Lin immigrated to Canada. Tearing himself from his native country, wrenching himself from his hometown, brought upon him a huge attack of homesickness. He said, ‘In a foreign country, when night like a thousand mourning bands plucks at my shaking and trembling emotions and Pandora’s box of horrors opens spreading homesickness through me like a pestilence, I begin to thirst for the east; urgently yearn and gaze searchingly to the east. I let history lance my wound, let music rinse and cleanse it, and allow poetry to provide sutures.’ I also can imagine the look he mentioned in a letter he wrote to me, the look of ‘tears flowing from aged eyes.’

– Expecting an Extraordinary Bitterness

Oliver Lin divides the works of his early Canadian period into Beyond Homesickness, the Ethics of Homesickness, and Gaze into Life. But looking at the overall progression, a gradual departure from reliance on symmetry is the greatest transition, and perhaps the opening of Pandora’s Box. Another major shift is the increasing use of color, which may be connected with his move to beautiful Victoria British Columbia. At the same time he begins using collage, copying Chinese characters and pasting them onto the picture. Perhaps the collage stems from his homesickness ‘like a pestilence’. Only applying concrete objects can fill the void left behind. He embeds shards of his poetry within paintings, for example, “Gaze into life – through scripture, through history, through song, through poem and through the untrammeled ink-tone.” Thus he demonstrates the complementary expressions of poetry and painting, and thus ‘he thirsts for the East’ and ‘lets poetry provide sutures.’

But this generation is different from that of the Tang painter/poet Wang Wei. Paintings do not necessarily contain poems; a painting is not necessarily limited by a poem, but can extend in all directions. Music and images can all connect with a painting to produce new relationships, and literature too pursues painting. Unlike the classical literati-artists who exteriorized their scholarship directly to painting, Lin’s erudition makes an indirect approach. When the subconscious has finished fermenting countless volatile matters within, it naturally and mysteriously guides the brush. For example, the pure and fresh warmth of Oliver Lin’s Eastern Fence went through an arduous fermentation and then, amidst laughter and conversation, in one joyous burst it materialized. Recently Oliver Lin commented, “It’s like beans from Chinese soil, dried and then roasted in Victoria – they are re-burned, slightly bitter.” The re-burning naturally arises from Oliver Lin’s comprehensive readings in literature and history, as well as his technical experiments. I don’t really feel this ‘slight bitterness.’ But regarding Oliver Lin’s long and solitary path in abstract painting, I expect new and extraordinary bitterness yet, and I won’t add sugar.

Translated by Yihua Chen & Robert Curry