Hsieh Tung-shan (art critic)

In his book “On Poesy or Art”(1818), English poet and literary critic Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834) argued that art occurs in the human mind only when it is moved by external images. In this context, the source of happiness is not things that appear in front of us but things re-presented by art, a point reminiscent of the way in which readers of novels are moved not by the words themselves, but the story they are used to relate. Artists seek to imitate whatever they find inside things, that being perhaps spirit or what Plato called our memories of objects, because only then is it possible to create something truly natural. A good portrait does not necessarily have to resemble the person painted but is rather a reflection of the individual in our memory. Lin Fu-nan’s painting is a testament to this fact, because what gives us the most joy are not the colors or lines in his paintings but the objects mapped out by those colors and lines. In Lin’s “The Native Returns 2007” series, the depiction of Anping is unlike the real Anping in Tainan, but it is the Anping that resides in the artist’s memory.

A Monument for the Times
The motivating force behind recent oil paintings by Lin Fu-nan is that he is clearly keen to craft a monument for the times. “The Native Returns 2007” marks an attempt to depict the depth of the artist’s feelings for the ancient capital of Tainan through abstract painting. To that end, the canvas is infused with the artist’s feelings for the city, an emotional connection born of a long relationship between Lin and Tainan city. From this point he has come to better understand that the passing of time “Influences changes in the environment, creating solemn, sentimental emotions” and “feelings of helplessness.” “Afternoon – Anping” (2007) and “Sunset” (2007) are works that depict images based on such emotions. Through the form of abstract painting, these feelings are not represented as clearly visible objects, but are nevertheless in many ways more real than many of the real objects depicted. Lin Fu-nan’s paintings do not focus on accurately portraying a landscape, preferring to explore the feelings to which such landscapes give rise. The British poet W.B. Yeats suggested in “The Symbolism of Poetry” that all sounds, colors and forms have the ability to bring to mind or arouse certain unreal forces. When such forces enter our mind they become emotions. The pieces “Transformation (1)” and “Transformation (3)” produced by Lin in 2007 are an excellent example of what Yeats meant. In fact, the longer we stare at the works, the clearer the things they bring to mind.

Fondly Remembering the Past
Lin Fu-nan’s recent oil paintings mainly express fond remembrances of the past. “The Native Returns 2007” series does not re-present something concrete or tangible, choosing instead to focus on the painter’s own feelings, including his reactions to the passing of time, rapid changes in the city and recollections of childhood events. Lin observes: “As I review the changes of history, there is no escaping time as it cruelly tramples on the sweat, blood and tears of the past and takes a big bite out of the depth of human heart” and “Returning to Tainan or Anping brings feelings of sadness to the surface…This city has given me an accumulation of challenges and good times, warmth tinged with a little sadness and loneliness.” Returning to the old family home where he was born and grew up: “Mottled walls, the study of mysterious Taoism and Confucianism accounted for much spiritual sustenance.” The lack of alternatives in life is the central motif of this series of paintings.

Recollecting childhood impressions of the sea, the artist’s clearest memory comes from when he saw the sea for the first time not far from Anping at the age of six. That indescribable, immeasurable sea, with its billowing waves crashing to the ground made the young boy scared of being swallowed whole and swept away. The artist remembered all this as if it had been just the day before. Even today, Lin Fu-nan’s mind transforms the never ending waves into a simple eternity. This is a feeling intimately linked to the artist’s life and growth, so much so that it has become a private feeling that can never be related in full and indescribable, one that can only be expressed through abstract color and form. In this context, the artist notes that dots, lines and colors combine to create “a feeling, loss, sadness.” In 2007, Lin also produced the two combination oil paintings “Sea at Sunrise” (旭海) and “Sea at Sunrise – Strong Winds” (旭海･狂風) both of which detailing the powerful impression made by the sea on the heart and mind of a young Lin Fu-nan.

Transforming Real Life into Poetic Sentiment
Although the creative methodology adopted by Lin Fu-nan in the “The Native Returns 2007,l” is very much automatic technique, the painting effect is always richly poetic. The question for any artist is always how bet to transform sentiment into visual art? Generally speaking a painting can be considered mute verse, the use of refined pictures to express the rational objectives, ideals, concepts and feelings of the human heart. Where painting and verse differ, is that the former is not expressed through sound but form, color, magnitude, proportions etc. Because such things have no image, form in Lin Fu-nan’s paintings also doubles as content, which is to say the subject matter is dissociated. In this way, ideas, concepts and emotions are transformed into a visual language through form and color and it is these that breathe life into the artist’s work.

But how exactly are we to know whether pictures made up from visual symbols represent Lin Fu-nan’s feelings towards the natural or human world? Firstly, although natural or cultural images initially appear in the human consciousness, they also exist in rational behavior. Moreover, the human mind has the ability to focus all rational light distributed throughout natural and human phenomenon, so that these images, ideas and awareness combine. As a result, nature becomes sentiment and sentiment is nature. For Lin creativity involves being immersed in his own feelings and then the use of visual symbols to construct his experience of imagination. Those images are then made into ideas, which is to say the soul is transformed into consciousness. In this way, everything in the world the artist understands is geared towards the expression of emotion as a result of which a pure heart is essential to conveying feelings, because certain emotions are unconsciously revealed in one’s imagination. Lin’s paintings are the product of a place located somewhere between ideas and the material world where man and nature are harmoniously combined - making it the physical language of ideas.

Every perfect work of art invariably represents a balance of internal and external factors. In seeking to determine how such a balance is achieved, the artist must follow strict rational principles and original creative form so as to immerse himself in and fully understand nature. Although, for the most part, Lin Fu-nan’s painting technique is preconscious, he never departs from the idea of painting as plastic art. Throughout the creative process Lin “always doubts or questions the depth and breadth of the piece and asks whether it needs to be refined or added to in some way?” His abstract paintings make no attempt to depict the real external world, returning instead to awareness of inner reality. In this sense, consciousness of things is transformed into memories of things, expressed through color and form. With this approach art no longer imitates or follows an external reality, but rather focuses on ideas, utilizing artistic methods to unify imagination, thereby infusing reality and art with a rhythm that is rich and vital.

Conclusion
“The Native Returns 2007” series of paintings include space, time and images. When these three components are intertwined and displayed in abstract form, Lin Fu-nan’s pictures are imbued with poetic imagination. The essential nature of poetry is to locate a balance between imagination and reality, just as the role of the poet is, as Wallace Stevens suggested, to make his imagination the imagination of the reader. Only when the imagination of the poet strikes a cord in the heart of another can he/she be said to have realized his mission. Poets create a world we always yearn for but fail to understand and poetry is the highest form of fabrication in life, creating in us a willingness to live in a world that is ordinary. As a poetic painter, the creations of Lin Fu-nan are designed to introduce viewers to a world of imagination and poetry.

摘自南畫廊《林復南回鄉》畫冊