臺灣畫家于彭--- 畫展香港漢雅軒
Life is a Halo on Candle: Paintings by YU Peng
人生燭上華: 于彭畫展
8th Jan - 6th Feb, 2010
Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong
于彭生長於臺北，見證了整個臺北城市從一九七零年代以至於今的快速變遷。他顯然比任何人都更瞭解，傳統文人山水世界中的和諧、浪漫與理想景致，已經離台灣社會現狀越來越遠。相對於台灣的大環境，或是整個臺北都會的現實情境，于彭畫中的世界彷彿充滿了戲劇性的反諷。他畫中所呈現的，是一個經過拼湊與剪接的世界。當中有針對自然山水的描摹，也有畫家針對城市模特兒寫真得來的人物造像。這兩者經過畫家的佈置與安排之後，卻可以同時出現在一座有山有水的私人庭園造景之中。出現在於彭畫中庭園的人物，一律有如參加一場文人舉辦的雅宴小集，或是道教人士正在修行煉丹之類的儀式演出。就此而言，他畫中的庭園世界，除了是他自家庭園與他個人造園哲學的局部再現及體現之外，同時，也是一個表演的場所。這種表演的慾望自然帶著濃厚的矯情做作的姿態，但同時也是對於傳統文人雅士生活及審美習慣的一種懷舊謳歌。
于彭畫中的世界，通常帶著某種程度的自傳性或自我意淫式的浪漫遐思，甚至也不乏許多暗示色慾情挑的自慰式情節。他的畫作之所以勾起旁觀者一種戲劇性的反諷氣息，主要在於他畫中近乎粉飾太平的祥瑞景象，完全與整個台灣暴戾、殺伐、功利、焦慮、分裂的社會現實格格不入。認識于彭的人，知道他有一種「以今之古人自許」的嚴肅創作動機。他筆下的庭園山水，雖然帶著一定程度的真實性，但是，其敘事的特質，卻融入了高度的虛構性，以及超現實或反現實的手法。他真正「再現」的，並不是讓人忘情的自然山水，而是他自己或台灣當代城市文化當中，中產階級特有的某些附庸風雅與矯情懷古的品味及癖好。
于彭雖有師承，曾經在青少年時期，追隨過一九五○年代自廣東移徙來台的兼習中西的畫家陳亦耕學習，但由於並未形成任何家派，所以，沒有家派傳統那種堅持家法格式的侷限。之後，他不曾再進入任何美術學院進修。這樣的身分在一九七○年代，乃至於八○年代的台灣水墨畫壇而言，也是很標準的邊緣。但也因為他這種邊緣的藝術身分，使他獲得更大的實驗空間，可以出入中西與古今，而不必受到牽絆，也不必顧慮藝壇學院派與當權派人士的批評。就以中國傳統山水繪畫的常態而論，于彭的造景與佈局觀念有部份是突破傳統的，尤其是他以手卷橫向的空間流動方式，來經營狹長垂直掛軸的佈局，形成一種獨創的縱橫如一的形式觀念。再者，對於大多數講究筆法的傳統水墨畫家而言，于彭的筆墨畢竟還是不正統，而且可能章法混亂，佈局零落，時有敗筆與髒筆出現。然而，似乎也正因為他這種難成曲調，卻又自有格律與章法的「壞畫」特質，反而使得他的作品帶有強烈的「現代性」，有時，甚至還可以媲美西方「後現代主義」藝術的形式理趣。
Yu Peng was born in Taiepi and as such has witnessed first hand the rapid change of the capital from the 1970’s to the present day. On this basis, he is clearly able to understand better than anyone else the way in which the inner harmony, romance and ideal scenes presented in the world of traditional scholarly landscape painting are drifting even further from the reality of modern Taiwanese society. When compared to the environment of Taiwan or the current condition of Taipei metropolis, the world depicted in Yu Peng’s works seem full of drama and irony. He portrays a world pieced together and edited as a whole. Within this we see the portrayal in Yu Peng’s works seem full of drama and irony. He portrays a world pieced together and edited artist’s real portraits of urban models. After manipulation and arrangement of these two elements, they can appear simultaneously in a private garden landscape with both mountains and river. The characters in Yu Peng’s garden appear as if they have just taken part in a small gathering of scholars or some form of ritual or performance of Taoist monks involved in religious activity or alchemy. As such, the garden world in Yu Peng’s paintings, in addition to being a partial representation and realization of his own family garden and garden building philosophy, is also a place of performance. The desire of this performance naturally carries with it a thick sense of the pretentious, but at the same time it is also a form of nostalgia about, and eulogizing of, the lifestyles and aesthetic standards of the traditional scholar elite.
The world presented in the art of Yu Peng is generally full of romantic contemplations that are, to a certain extent, autobiographical or self-fanaticising in nature. Indeed, there are many hints at erotic-provocative, voyeuristic plots. The reason the artist provokes a sense of dramatic irony in those viewing his work is chiefly because the pieces almost seem to be auspicious landscapes, presenting an illusive picture of peace and prosperity. This in turn works to highlight the way in which such images are completely at odds with the reality of violence, murder, material gain, anxieties and divisions we find in our real society. Those who know Yu Peng know that he has serious motivations behind his creations. Whilst the garden landscapes he depicts contain a certain degree of realism, their narrative nature means they are mixed with a high degree of fantasy, and methods that seek to go beyond or repudiate reality. In fat what he really “represents” are not the landscapes of the past, in which one can lose oneself. His works are actually representation of a subsidiary refinement and pretentious nostalgia in taste, unique to the middle class in modern Taiwanese society or himself.
Chia Chi Jason Wang
On the Edge of Tradition: Broadening the Vision of Contemporary Ink Art (excerpt)