艺术展览（中-英）

漆的艺事与漆品初探

Preliminary Exploration on the Art and Nature of Chinese Lacquer

思考漆的审美当从漆的艺事说起。漆的工序是层层涂积，层层密封。每道涂漆必须静候沉淀凝固，是与时日的封积同步而行的。待累积有日，最后呈现图象却是以减法施行，以磨减上层来界定下层的图样。因为漆画受限于漆的高度“流平”特质，所以不能像油画或丙烯直接绘画，而须以减法磨现。积叠的技法所引喻的是时日的积淀，是生化之功的过程，以时日“养”育的“成物”过程。“养”是培植过程，也是“即物”的道术。以减法显像的方法则与“把玩”的抚玩相仿，那也因时日的亲近狎玩而致。这种绘画是在封隐的复层涂漆之后，所浮现的记忆的掠影。

The aesthetic study of Chinese lacquer should start from the art of the painting process. Lacquer is painted one layer after another with the latter layer closely covering the lower one. Before the next layer is coated, a period of time is needed for the solidification of the lower layer. After a long time, the final image emerges when the upper layers fade to reveal the lower layers. The final images are shaped in this special way because of the high smoothness and fluidity of Chinese lacquer, so it is quite different from oil paint or propylene which can manifest the final images directly without relying on the upper layers to fade. The technique of layered painting suggests the sediment of time. The painting of Chinese lacquer is the work of a biochemical process, like a “plant cultured” by time as its nutrition. “Cultivation” means the process, and also the way to “make things”. The unique process in which the final images emerge has something in common with the process of appreciating or enjoying something in that they both take time to move to the end. Paintings of Chinese lacquer are something like flashbacks of memory rising up from layer after layer of coatings.

漆的另一个重要用途是作为修补的材料。它既密封，且又防酸防火。在漆的艺事里，封隐与修补并时进行。这种艺事的“德”可以合于君子大人的处世。漆艺的工作精神应该是：沉淀如史迹，修缮如日新。修残补缺的先决条件是对“物”的珍惜，推而广之，是对生命的爱惜与遗憾。因为有憾而起修缮之心，而修复或翻新都必须来自传承，所以修缮的形式又是对原物德性的爱护与新解。

Another important application of Chinese lacquer is as a repairing material. Chinese lacquer has good sealing capacity and is resistant to acids and fire. When it is used, it closely covers the defects while repairing them at the same time. This virtue of it can be compared with that of a true noble man. Chinese lacquer deposits like the sediment of history while it repairs things to make them as fresh as if they were brand-new. The desire to repair defects originates from the cherishing for “things” or, to a broader extent, the cherishing and pity for life. It is because one feels pity about something that he gets the desire to repair it. And either repair or renovation involves the inheritance of the older work. In this regard, to repair is to cherish and rediscover the virtue of the original.