這真是個「藝術即生活」的時代。 走入商場，你看見櫥窗裡賣的靚衫、靚 錶、靚手袋、閃令令引人注目，海報上 寫上一句話：Live is Art。去到餐廳，你 看到精緻可愛的 cupcake、咖啡、刀叉 桌椅。餐牌上寫道：The Art of Living。 藝術展銷會門票附送酒店晚餐優惠券， 鼓勵觀眾逛完畫展去食飯，只因為， 「藝術，源於生活」…… 今日，你再講，「藝術即生活」？大家 都一早知道啦。 問題是，當我們說「藝術即生活」，怎 樣「即」法？除了那些貼上藝術標籤的 商品，可以賣多幾倍價錢促進消費外， 藝術與生活，到底是甚麼關係？如果 「藝術即生活」，那為何那麼多活生生 的人說，藝術與他無關？又，如果「藝 術即生活」，那為甚麼，藝術愛好者總 是只識得藝術家的作品，而不知道，他 們是怎樣生活的？
This is the era of “Art is life”. In the windows of a shopping mall, you see fancy clothes, watches, hand bags, all looking sparkling next to slogans saying, “Life is Art”. In a restaurant, you find delicate cupcakes, coffee, cutleries laid out on a table with a menu which reads “The Art of Living”. You also get a complementary hotel-dining coupon attached to an art fair ticket, encouraging the audience to have a meal after visiting the fair, all simply because “Art comes from life”… And now, there is no way to say, “Art is life” without stating the obvious. The thing is: when we say “Art is life”, how does art ‘become’ life? Apart from products which get labelled as art to attract consumption and generate profit, what is the true relationship between art and life?
今次，在「藝術生活日誌」裡面，我們 有楊秀卓、黃振欽、梁以瑚（二胡婆 婆）、黎慧儀、劉學成及創藝同行（阮 美寶、翁志健），舉辦開放創作室，親 身體驗生活為本的創作；吳家俊、鍾惠 恩製作一個度身製作的「藝術組合 櫃」，歡迎大家睇吓又坐吓；最搞笑的 是 ， 程 展 緯 、 黃 宇 軒 、C&G藝 術 單 位 （張嘉莉、鄭怡敏），會充當接線生角 色，與大家作藝術對話。 我們也同時找來曾翠薇、何兆基、黃麗 貞、石家豪、劉掬色和林東鵬，透過影 像與文字，紀錄他們生活點滴。藝術， 我們談得不多，聊的卻是上班的道路、 收藏的舊物、買玩具的時間、逛街市的 喜悅……馮美華亦會在現場，與他們一 起講故仔。 這些，才是真正的「藝術即生活」吧！
文／藝術生活日誌編輯室
If “Art is life”, how come in the eyes of many, art has nothing to do with them? Also, if “Art is life”, how come while art-lovers know how to appreciate an artwork, but have little knowledge about the lives of artists? On the occasion of Live Art Daily, YEUNG Sau-churk Ricky, WONG Chun-yam Leo, Evelyna LIANG, LAI Wai-yi Monti, LAU Hok-shing Hanison, and artwalker (Meipo YUEN, YUNG Chi-kin) will teach “Hobby Classes” for the audience to experience their lively creation, while NG Ka-chun and CHUNG Wai-ian will present a specially designed Living Art Cabinet, welcoming the audience to take a look and have a rest. Also, amusingly CHING Chin-wai Luke, WONG Yu-hin Sampson and C&G Artpartment (Clara CHEUNG and CHENG Yee-man Gum) will receive phone-calls from the public and converse about art.
12.12.2015 (Sat)
上街去 On the road 游走於城市空間 Meandering through urban space
20.2.2016 (Sat)
返屋企 Back at home 家家都有藝術事 Dwelling in domesticity
12.3.2016 (Sat)
藝術生活 Live in Art 創作生活習慣 When art becomes habits
Meanwhile, we will also revisit the work of TSANG Chui-mei, HO Siu-kee, Fiona WONG, Wilson SHIEH, Gukzik LAU and LAM Tung-pang by documenting their lives through moving images and text. When you watch TV, read newspapers and join artists’ sharing at Live Art Daily, you will find that we haven’t covered much about art for art’s sake; some talked about their paths to go to work, others shared how they spent time collecting old objects and toys, or how much they enjoyed shopping at wet markets…May FUNG will also be there to host the sharing. And all these above, are what we call “Art is life”!
Live Art Daily Editorial Team
平易近人的藝術家分享 Down-to-earth sharings
與香港當代藝術家和公眾朋友 一起尋找生活中的創作起點
講故仔 Telling Tales
Where art begins For artists and everyone 1:00 PM
Newspaper
睇電視 TV
梳士巴利花園藝術廣場
Art Square, Salisbury Garden
煲電話
Artists: LAM Tung-pang, Wilson SHIEH Moderator: May FUNG
9121 0720
Telephone
接線生：C&G藝術單位 (張嘉莉、鄭怡敏) Operator：C&G Artpartment (Clara CHEUNG, Gum CHENG) 語言：粵語 | Language: Cantonese
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
讀報紙
20.2.2016
藝術家：林東鵬、石家豪 主持：馮美華
撥個熱線電話，來個“藝術”對話 Hotline for artistic inquiry
6:00 PM
Back at Home
打電話，學畫畫 Dial-a-Painter 透過幾分鐘的電話對話， C 或 G 會以說話，引導來電者想像， 誘發其聯想力，去代替示範教學, “盡量”達至解答來電者對畫畫的疑問。
藝術家：林東鵬、石家豪、黃麗貞、曾翠薇 Artists: LAM Tung-pang, Wilson SHIEH, Fiona WONG, TSANG Chui-mei
In a short telephone call, C or G will converse with the caller and try to answer questions about painting, replacing demonstration with imagination and association.
天南地北，真情對話 Heart-to-heart dialogues
傾心事
返屋企
20.2 - 4.3.2016 | 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
藝術家分享生活細碎，捕捉生活感知與日常創意 Musings on the everyday
Private Conversations
藝術家：何兆基 | Artist: HO Siu-kee 2:00 PM - 3:45 PM 藝術家：林東鵬 | Artist: LAM Tung- pang
家家都有藝術事 Dwelling in Domesticity
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM | 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
攤抖吓 Living Room
香港藝術館“無牆唱談”展覽加料節目 A Fringe Programme for “Wall-less Chit-ChaNt” Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art
興趣班 Hobby Classes
開放創作室，親身體驗生活為本的創作 Learn art beyond the studio
度身製作的“藝術組合櫃”，歡迎大家睇吓又坐吓 A made-to-order Living Art Cabinet 師傅：鍾惠恩、吳家俊 Makers: CHUNG Wai-ian, NG Ka-chun
婆婆繞乜嘢 What Grannies Do... 藝術家：梁以瑚 | Artist : Evelyna LIANG (2-woo popo) 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM 清茶淡飯 A Simple Meal 藝術家：黎慧儀 | Artist : LAI Wai-yi, Monti 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM
林東鵬： 我不知道 甚麼是教育 文 / 葉琳
十二月一個冬季下午，天色陰沉，雨要 下不下，而林東鵬在火炭的工作室，卻 是一派樂也融融的景象。 工作室四周散落大大小小的玩具：塑膠 動物、積木、模型……還有一隻聲控的玩 具鸚鵡，只要在它面前拍手，它便會唱 歌。林東鵬六歲大的女兒和他一起組裝 木屋，三歲小兒子則忙著堆砌那巨大木 板畫下的玩具火車軌。林東鵬不時和女 兒討論每塊組件要怎麼放，小兒子則還 在牙牙學語。 林東鵬的創作花絮，就是這樣的。 「玩具其實是小朋友對大人世界的想像。 他們通過這些物件，去認識或是去想像 這個世界。」他說。「對於我來說，藝 術也是想像。」 當很多人認定，藝術家必定對藝術有固 定的定義，林東鵬卻是相反：你不斷在 生活裡面想像，透過想像產生出來的東 西，就是藝術。
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林東鵬曾經這麼說過：「Art’s ended when it is being defined 當藝術被定 義，它就玩完。」 不難推敲，若在林東鵬眼中藝術與玩具 同樣是種想像，那玩具─ 或更直接 說，小朋友認識這個世界的方式─ 教 育，亦不應被定義。問到林東鵬教育兩 個孩子的方式，他答得最多的是：「我 都唔知。」
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林東鵬在他的工作室 LAM Tung-pang in his studio
2 《移山者，愚公也》（局部），2008，炭筆木 本、照片及文字，香港藝術館藏品 Faith Moves Mountain (details), 2008, charcoal on board, photograph and text, collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art
石家豪： 藝術家， 係一份工？
他舉了個例─ 填色。媽媽總是叫兩個 孩子不要填出界，但林東鵬不會這樣 做。他會問孩子：你覺得畫出界有甚麼 不好呢？然後再觀察他們如何選擇。又 如在圖書館要安靜，最直接的教育方 法，當然是禁止孩子吵鬧。但林東鵬會 問：「你覺得圖書館可不可以吵鬧？」 等孩子自己想。
Wilson SHIEH in his studio 2 《乘雲．棲霞》（局部），2003，水墨設色 金箋，香港藝術館藏品 Victoria Bath．Victoria Pool (details), 2003, ink and colour on gold paper, collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art
「你會體會到他們畫東西有自己一套，我 覺得他們用自己方法去畫已經『好 正』。」 他坦言絕對不會讓子女「學」畫畫。 「要找到一個啟發小朋友畫畫的方法實在 太難，因為他們有自己的一套方法。我 們何必那麼快要用成年人的那套規範他 們？」 林東鵬不去為子女定義「藝術」，他們 卻啟發了他對「藝術」的想像。
所以，作為家長，他不強求女兒全部都 懂：「一份功課，她能做到八成，剩下 那兩成不明白，算啦，不管了。」他解 釋，可能因為自己做創作，對這些事情 會看開一點。「家長們往往很想事情完 美。我覺得其實不需要完美。她沒必要 拿一百分。」 這一點亦與他的藝術觀一致。他的最新展 覽「玩具亭」就把整個展館變成玩具店， 裡面有不同玩具讓小朋友隨意玩。不出所 料，有玩具在開幕數天後已被弄壞。 林東鵬卻沒有斥責「破壞者」沒教養或 是不再讓小朋友碰玩具，反而覺得這樣 挺有趣。 「本來就該有這樣的情況，我想的是怎樣 去把這情況變成創作一部份。」他把玩 具的殘骸包好，貼上字條，寫上：「我 在1月10日被殺死了。」
問到如果孩子長大後，會不會影響他這 創作靈感。林東鵬笑說他只擔心他們會 越來越不好玩。「我只會想當下的狀
同時，小朋友的笑聲、喧鬧聲此起彼 落。或許，「玩樂」、「教育」和「藝 術」真的不用分得那麼清楚。
家豪特別提到的旅美藝術家司徒強。
來，我的首要條件都是將錢、時間、精神 投放在創作上。」
大清早的西環卑路乍灣公園，聚集不少前 來晨運的街坊。廣場上有跳健康舞的大 媽，也有環繞公園緩跑的大叔。 石家豪隔天就會在這個公園晨跑。 「長時間坐著畫畫，腰頸很容易勞損，容易 肥，於是逼住運動。」訪問那天他只穿著 一件單薄汗衣，而當日氣溫不過十幾度。
大多數人看主流藝術家，不是唯美主義 者，就是風流浪蕩子。家豪偏偏兩者都不 是。他總是穩穩的架著眼鏡，予人老實、 認真的感覺；他做事有條理，工作室整齊 有序。更不同的是，石家豪對金錢的態 度。他從不迴避談錢─當別的藝術家不 屑為財折腰；當社會上不少人認為，藝術 掛上錢就等於被污染；家豪從不避談錢與 藝術的關係。比如說他送我的「如何向父 母解釋，搞藝術未必乞米」海報，就以圖 文闡釋與藝術有關的工作，以及如何從創 作得到收入和贊助。最近，家豪也繪畫了 一系列《銀紙》作品，上有香港藝術家的 肖像及其代表作。 「創作是純粹的，但事實上，藝術是一個龐 大的行業。」
石家豪在他的工作室
林東鵬說，女兒從來沒有問過他藝術家 和藝術是甚麼。她只會跟他說，哪些東 西不好看、不喜歡。有時林東鵬也會和 女兒一起畫畫，通常是他畫一部份，女 兒接著畫。他也試過把女兒的畫變成自 己畫作的一部份，甚至是互相交換畫畫 物料用。
大女兒正唸小一，少不免要面對最近熱 門話題─ TSA。談到這個，一直笑瞇 瞇的林東鵬也忍不住勞氣。女兒數學功 課有三頁，兩頁是文字題。林東鵬直指 問題太難，不是小一學生可以應付。 「她連問題都看不懂，怎麼叫她做文字 題？」林東鵬說。「TSA很多題目都是 通過文字去理解的，其實很單一。」他 認為理解能力有很多種，如果看完兩小 時卡通片能夠把故事完整清晰地講出 來，也是一種理解能力。「可是你不可 以在這個教育制度裡面，給他（看卡通 片的孩子）一個分數。」
「當然這個很花時間和氣力，我試過，要 實行的話，每日時間要多四倍才夠 用。」林東鵬說。「教育的難度在於，
「根據經驗，有規律是最有效率的方法。」
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唸小一的女兒曾在功課上寫爸爸的職業 是藝術家，但有人訪問她甚麼是藝術 時，她卻答：「……不知道……沒聽過」 林東鵬對這回答感到欣慰。「其實小朋 友不會理會甚麼是藝術家。這個也是我 最喜歡小朋友的地方，因為他們很直 接、簡單。」
或許教育與藝術同樣都沒有必然正確的 答案。不過林東鵬知道，有些事情一定 對孩子不好。
只要是家長都會明白，要拒絕規範定義 的教育，在實踐上有一定困難。要不讓 孩子吵鬧，只要罵幾句，一分鐘就可以 停止他們吵下去。讓孩子自己想，他可 能要想兩個小時。當孩子問，「這是甚 麼？」「那是甚麼？」你也總不能每次 都答：「你覺得呢？」
家豪大概由八時左右開始跑。之後他會回 家洗澡、更衣、吃早餐，約十一時回到工 作室開始工作。直至晚上八時，他才回家 與太太吃飯、餵貓、做家務。「很多人以 為做藝術的人好搞鬼，但我偏偏係好有規 律的人。」石家豪直言喜歡為自己妥善安 排時間。
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林東鵬極力避免為孩子下定義，尤其是 他最熟悉的「藝術」。這個做法似乎也 十分奏效。
況，創作是同步出現的，之後可能和玩 具無關。」他坦言：「因為創作其實是 你經歷改變的時候，它也會改變，不是 固定的。」
兩個孩子都對模型車情有獨鍾，玩玩具 車成為兩姊弟的交流方法。有次兩姊弟 拿著玩具車模仿「泊車」，不知道從哪 裡搞來一塊木頭，說是停車場都有柱 子，這塊木頭就是那根柱子。林東鵬 說：「除了我們去製造一個想像給孩子 之外，其實他們本身有自己的想像。有 時候我是透過他們來看這想像的。」林 東鵬從子女的身上得到靈感。「這些有 時會變成我創作的一部份。」
文 / 蔚藍
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小朋友學習的時候，有些東西是固定 的。他要很清楚這個是甚麼，那個是甚 麼，這是學習的過程。」那麼幼兒教育 是否所有事情都要給孩子選擇？還是所 有事情都不解釋？怎樣才是對孩子最 好？種種問題，林東鵬都一直問自己。 結果答案還是：「我都唔知。」
但二十年前，在家豪剛出道的年代，專職 藝術家這個概念在香港其實並不普遍。 學生年代的石家豪，曾經計劃畢業後「打 份工，再業餘創作」，但兩次打工的經歷 叫他以一種新的視野看「藝術家」這個 詞。他的第二份全職是在藝術館當展覽助 理。透過這份工作，他得以接觸到海外的 專職藝術家；亦了解到世界上的確有人能 單靠藝術創作生存。 當時，香港藝術家大多是正職教書，業餘 才搞藝術。當然總會有些個別例子，例如
「他畫的是一些猶如攝影的寫實畫，加上一 些現成物。不論你是甚麼人，都會很容易 被他的作品吸引。」從那時候開始，家豪 感受到藝術未必是沉悶、難懂的東西，它 也可以與人連繫。這亦成為家豪往後的創 作方向。 隨著家豪對「藝術家」的想像愈來愈深 刻，他決意好趁年輕，試試全職搞藝術。 「這是很難的事，但並非不可能。」在打 工的日子，他租住劏房，善用下班後，睡 覺前的時間練習工筆畫。儲了兩年錢，便 決定放手一試：辭掉工作，搬到元朗十八 鄉村屋，做隱世畫家，一過就是三年。 卻別以為他像東籬把酒。「七點狗吠雞啼 就醒，食早餐，八點就開始工作。早上 畫，下午食過飯再畫，晚上也畫，差不多 十一點才收工。」不用打工的時光，一寸 光陰一寸金。「我用積蓄去支持這段時間 的生活，所以時間好矜貴。」 時間，是創作的金錢。 隱居繪畫的光陰令家豪漸漸走出以國畫臨 摹為本的限制，建立出自己的風格。如今 許多人都認得石家豪的作品：裡頭的男 女，表情認真、動作趣怪，不無「惡搞」 意味。或許當下不少插畫，甚至工筆畫， 都不乏類似形式的表現；然而在十多年 前，石家豪在同輩間，算是創新的表表 者。在展覽裡，家豪的作品在同輩間明顯 突出。 於是有藏家開始向他買畫。他終於成為一 名全職藝術家─這個稱謂意味著，他能 夠靠創作維生。 「原來投入多些時間創作，就會有多些人欣 賞。」 如果說石家豪隱世三年創作是「投資」， 出售作品所得到的金錢和機會就是「回 報」。有回報，家豪亦將之再投入創作， 周而復始，維持至今。 香港人愛投資，但很多人投資的往往僅一 紙數字，目的只是將銀碼愈滾愈大。石家 豪談錢，卻不好錢。他好藝術。「十幾年
細心看，在展場中，林東鵬在牆上寫下 了一段創作日記：「親子版的記者，不 要再問我跟小朋友做什麼藝術了，我真 的不懂什麼是教育，也並不知道什麼是 藝術，我只知道，我觀察了一些事情， 嘗試將不同的東西連起來，有時創造了 些物件，或空間，就此而已。」
如今，作為一個有市場價值的藝術家，石 家豪用賺來的錢買下自己的工作室；然 而，他的住家還是租的。家豪平日生活樸 素，娛樂不多，也沒有收藏癖好。除衣食 住行，基本上他的支出，大多回到個人藝 術創作上。 「為咗錢我就唔做藝術啦。」 但他從不否定錢與藝術的關係：「如果藝 術有價值，它應該可以換取一些東西；而 在這個系統裡，錢是中間的交易工具。」 藝術要能賣錢，藝術家才能繼續創作。石 家豪最近完成的自傳《賣畫維生》，主要 談的就是他二十年來以創作為業的經驗。 書的封面有八位著名藝術家的肖像，家豪 再加上他自己吃飯的模樣，喻意自己以藝 術「搵食」。封底繪上印有他肖像的銀 紙，作為「搵錢」的符號。 石家豪說，香港人始終難以理解「專業藝 術家」的概念。儘管現在香港不乏學院培 訓藝術專才，畫廊展覽更如雨後春筍；然 而，不少人對藝術系畢業生的出路依然停 留在教授繪畫的印象。 石家豪認為，這是因為某種傳統思想仍然 植根在很多人心底：「中國文人傳統視繪 畫為業餘雅好，盡量不提金錢，即使賣畫 也是私下交易。」 家豪反問，時代已經轉變，香港人何不能 循一種新視野認識世界？ 「除非你將藝術當做一種興趣，如行山、游 水；即是你有另一正職賺錢，然後再投放 資源到你的興趣上。」 石家豪並不希望他的藝術止於陶冶性情。 在人生中，他想投撥更多時間在創作上。 若將藝術置於行業層次，藝術家就要在行 業內找到定位。石家豪如此說：「要走下 去，就不可以永遠停留在那個部分，而是 開創一些新的方法。」
On a winter afternoon in December, the sky is gloomy and the rain has been waiting to drop. But in LAM Tung-pang’s studio in Fo Tan, the vibe is bright and happy.
LAM Tung-pang: I Don’t Know What Education Is
In the studio, there lie toys of all sizes: plastic animals, building blocks, models… There is also a sound-control parrot which sings when one claps in front of it. Tung-pang’s six-year-old daughter is building a wooden house, while his three-year-old son is busy making a railway track under a large woodblock painting panel. Tung-pang often discusses with his daughter about the placement of each block (emphasis on the discussion with his daughter). His son is still learning to talk.
Original text in Chinese: YIP Lam Translation: Enoch CHENG
That is more or less what happens when Tung-pang works. “Toys are children’s projection of their idea of the adult world. Through these objects, they learn about and imagine the world,” he says. “For me, art is also about imagination.”
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LAM Tung-pang in his studio 2 《火．炭》（局部），2003，墨、炭筆、油彩及 沙板本，香港藝術館藏品 Fotan (details), 2003, ink, charcoal, oil and sand on board, collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art
Is being an Artist a Job?
He says that he would never let his kids go to drawing classes.
If in Tung-pang’s eyes, art and toys are both about imagination, along these lines, toys ─ or more directly, education, through which children learn about the world, should not be defined either. When asked about how he teaches his two kids, Tung-pang often says, “I don’t know.”
“It’s way too difficult to find a way to inspire a kid to draw, because they have their own very particular way. Why force them to follow the adult’s way so soon?”
He cites an example: colouring. Unlike their mother who always tells the kids not to colour outside the lines, Tung-pang would ask, “Do you think if there is anything wrong with colouring outside the lines?” And then, he would observe how they make their choice. Or when they are in the library, where everyone is supposed be quiet, instead of simply quieting down his kids, Tung-pang would ask them if it is all right to make noise. He lets them think.
His two children love toy cars, and this has become their channel of communication. They once tried to play out parking with toy cars. They took a wooden block out of nowhere as a pillar, because they found pillars everywhere in parking lots. Tung-pang says, “Children have their own imagination apart from what we’ve created for them. Sometimes I imagine through their eyes.” He finds inspiration from his kids: “sometimes they become part of my art.”
All parents understand how hard it is to educate the kids in an unconventional way. Scolding quiets down noisy kids in a minute. It may, however, take two hours for them to think why they have to be quiet. When they ask “What’s this and that?”, you cannot just say “What do you think?” without giving any guidance.
When asked whether his inspiration would be affected by his children’s growth, Tung-pang laughs and says that his only worry is that his children would become less fun. “I only think about the present. My creative process is in sync with its time. Perhaps in the future, my work will have nothing to do with toys.” He is clear when he says, “The creative process comes as your experience change. The process itself also changes; it is not fixed.”
“Sitting and painting for long hours hurts my neck and back. It’s easy to get fat too. I have no choice but to exercise,” he says, wearing a thin undershirt despite the low temperature. It is only above 10 degrees Celsius.
Translation: Enoch CHENG
Wilson starts jogging around 8 AM. Afterwards he would go home for a shower, get changed, and breakfast before starting to work at his studio at around 11 AM. At 8 PM, he would go home, have dinner with his wife, feed his cats and do the chores. “People think that artists are lousy with their lives, but I am rather disciplined,” he admits that he likes to manage his time properly. “From experience, efficiency.”
discipline
leads
to
1 To many people, artists are either perfectionists or libertines. Wilson is neither; he looks solid and serious with his pair of glasses. He is an organized person, which is reflected in his tidy studio. What makes him more different is that he never shies away from talking about money. When other artists hate compromising for money, and when many think that art is tainted when it has anything to do with money, Wilson is open to discuss the relationship between money and art. For example, How to Explain to Parents that Making Art May Not Lead to Begging, a poster he has given me, is an image-text illustration of art-related jobs, and how one can earn an income and sponsorship from making art. Recently, Wilson has also painted the Banknotes series, with portraits of Hong Kong artists and their signature works.
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“Making art can be pure, but in fact, art is also a large industry.” Yet, when Wilson began 20 years ago, being a professional artist was not a common idea in Hong Kong.
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When he was a student, Wilson used to plan that he would get a job and then make art as an amateur upon graduation. Yet his two job experiences have allowed him to view the title ‘artist’ differently. His second full-time job was a curatorial assistant in the museum. He had the opportunity to work with professional artists from overseas. He was then aware that there were people who could make a living with art.
石家豪在他的工作室 Wilson SHIEH in his studio
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林夕詞話《再見二丁目》（局部），2003， 水墨設色紙板本，香港藝術館藏品 Lyrics by Linxi (details), 2003, ink and colour on cardboard, collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art
加料節目策劃小隊 Fringe Programme Curatorial Team
藝術家短片拍攝及製作 Artist Video Production
Stephanie CHEUNG Helen FAN YIP Kai-chun TSIM Hui-laam, Liv CHAN Yi-kwan, Sardonna
《立場新聞》The Stand News
張慧婷 樊樂怡 葉啟俊 詹昫嵐 陳怡君
研究團隊 Research Team 楊天帥及《立場新聞》藝評班 YEUNG Tin-shui and The Stand News art criticism class
He says that his daughter never asked him what art or an artist is. All she cares about is what looks good and what she likes. Sometimes as Tung-pang draws with her, he would draw part of it and let her finish the work. He also tried using her drawing as part of his work, and exchanging their painting materials.
Tung-pang once said, “Art’s ended when it is being defined”.
Wilson SHIEH jogs here every other day.
Original text in Chinese: Blue
His daughter who is in Primary One once wrote in her schoolwork that his father’s occupation is an artist. But when asked what art is, she says, “I don’t know. I have never heard of that.” Tung-pang is pleased with the answer, “Kids don’t care what an artist is. This is what I like about them. They are direct and simple.”
“You can feel that they have their own way of drawing. I think it is already awesome to see them do it as they please.”
In the early morning, many residents from the neighbourhood exercise at Belcher Bay Park. There are groups of housewives dancing in the square, as well as middle-aged men jogging around the park.
Wilson SHIEH:
Tung-pang tries his best to avoid giving definitions to his kids, especially on the subject with which he is most familiar: art. And it seems to work very well.
Unlike many who think that artists must have fixed definitions of art, Tung-pang thinks otherwise: if one constantly imagines, art is produced through such a process.
“Of course it takes time and effort. From my experience, it takes 4 times longer,” Tung-pang says. “The challenging part in education is that in a world of fixed definitions, a kid should understand the meaning of things when they learn. This is the process of learning.” But how about preschool education? Should one explain everything or nothing at all? What works
林東鵬在他的工作室
best for the kids? Tung-pang asks himself these questions all the time, but he always has the same answer, “I don’t know.”
報紙設計 Newspaper Design 鍾惠恩 CHUNG Wai-ian
鳴謝 Acknowledgement
Tung-pang does not define art for his kids.Rather, he is inspired by them.
Therefore, as a parent, he does not expect his daughter to know everything. “If she is able to finish up to 80% of her homework, it’s alright to miss the remaining 20%.” He explains that perhaps because he makes art, he can be more open about these things. “Parents want everything to be perfect. But I think there is no need for perfection. There is no need to get full marks.” This is similar to his philosophy of art. In his recent exhibition “Toys Stop”, he turned the entire exhibition space into an actual toy shop where kids could play with the toys they like. Not surprisingly, some toys were broken a few days after the opening. Tung-pang does not blame the ‘destroyers’ for their lack of manners, nor has he stopped the kids from touching the toys. He actually finds this situation interesting. “This is what should have happened. I thought about how this could become part of my creative process.” He wrapped the broken toys and labeled it with a sticker saying, “I was killed on 10th January”. Had a visitor looked carefully in the exhibition space, he might find what Tung-pang had written in his creative diary, “Reporters from the Parenting Section, please don’t ask me what kind of art I’ve done with the kids. I really don’t know what education or art is. I only know that I have observed something and put them together in my work. Sometimes they become objects, sometimes a space. That’s all.” In the midst of children’s laughter and chatters, perhaps there is no point telling ‘play’, ‘education’ and ‘art’ apart.
Perhaps education is like art that it does not have a fixed answer. But Tung-pang knows that something is certainly not good for the kids. His daughter is in Primary One, which
At that time, most Hong Kong artists were full-time teachers, and made art only in their spare time. But there were some exceptions, such as Chinese-American artist SZETO Keung. “Szeto’s work is photorealistic, combined with readymades. It attracts people regardless of their backgrounds.” Since then, Wilson realized that art did not have to be boring or elusive. It could connect with people. This has become the direction for his artistic pursuit.
Now, as an artist recognized by the market, Wilson has brought a studio with what he has earned, but his home is rented. His life is simple with little entertainment; he doesn’t have the desire to collect anything. Apart from clothing, food, housing and transportation, basically his expenses all go to art.
The prospect of being an ‘artist’ gradually took root in his head. Wilson decided to try pursuing art full-time while he was still young. “It was difficult, but it wasn’t impossible.” With this in mind, while he was still working full-time, he rented a partitioned flat, and made use of his after-work hours to practice gongbi painting. After saving up for two years, he quit his job and moved to a village house at Shap Pat Heung in Yuen Long. He became a hermit painter for three years.
But he does not negate the relationship between money and art. “If art has value, it can be traded for something else. In the current system, money is the currency.”
But Wilson was not a stereotypical hermit who indulged in insobriety. “I woke up at 7 AM when the rooster crowed. After breakfast, I started working at 8 AM. I kept painting in the morning till lunch break, and then continued until 11 PM.” Without a salaried job, every minute mattered. “I lived off my savings. Time was precious.” Yes, time is the capital for art making. Painting in seclusion allowed Wilson to go beyond the convention of copying master paintings. He began to establish a style of his own. Now, many people recognize Wilson’s signature style: his figures, with serious facial expressions mixed with awkward movements, often give a funny impression. This style is getting common in a lot of illustrations, and even in gongbi paintings these days. Yet a decade ago, Wilson was a pioneer and his works stood out among his contemporaries. Collectors started to acquire his works. He became a proper full-time artist, and could make a living from art. “I realized that the more time I invested on art making, the more people appreciated my work.” If the 3-year seclusion was an ‘investment’, then the money and opportunities gained from selling works were the return. Wilson put them back to invest in his work, in a cycle, up until today.
“If it were for money, I would not have chosen art.”
Money from sales can sustain an artist’s practice. In his recently published autobiography Make a Living by Selling Art, Wilson talks about his experience as a professional artist over the past 20 years. On the book cover, he painted the portraits of eight well-known artists , with himself eating in the middle, to suggest that he feeds himself through art. On the back cover, there is a banknote with his portrait, symbolizing money making. Wilson says that it is difficult for Hong Kong people to understand what a ‘professional artist’ does. Although there are many institutions training art professionals, and commercial galleries are springing up like mushrooms, many still think that art graduates can only teach drawing. Wilson says that there is a kind of rooted ideology: “The Chinese literati tradition sees painting as a hobby. Money shouldn’t really be mentioned; even selling a painting has to be a private deal.” Yet, he questions why Hong Kong people cannot see the world from a new perspective, as now our time has changed. “Otherwise, art can only be a hobby, like hiking and swimming. That means you earn your money from a day job, and invest it in your hobby.” Wilson does not wish for his art to be only a means to cultivate one’s temperament. He wants to dedicate his time to art making. If art is a profession in an industry, artists need to find their position in the field. “But if one wants to keep going, he must go beyond that level and explore new possibilities.”
Hong Kong people love investment. They are mostly interested in growing numbers. Although Wilson talks about money, he is not really into it. He is into art. “For more than a decade, my priority has been art. I put my money, time and effort into making art.”
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means that she is facing the heated issued: The Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA). When talking about this, the smiley Tung-pang pulls a long face. Two out of the three pages of his daughter’s Mathematics exercise were text-based questions. Tung-pang thinks that they are too hard for a Primary One student. “She cannot even understand the questions, how can she answer with words?” Tung-pang says. “A lot of questions require students to comprehend words. The TSA is rather narrow-minded.” He thinks comprehension takes many forms. For instance, after watching a two-hour cartoon programme on TV, if a kid can fully articulate the story, it shows comprehension. “But in the current educational system, credits are not given for comprehending a cartoon programme.”
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