門外家園：荒蕪的邊緣 – 黃步青個展 Homeland: Edge of Desolation—Hwang Buh-Ching Solo Exhibition

Hwang Buh-Ching was born in Lukang, Changhua, 1948. He received his MFA from the Department of Plastic Art, University of Paris St-Denis, France in 1987. He currently lives in Tainan as an artist teaching at the Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University.

Hwang Buh-Ching is an idiosyncratic talent and one of the most consistent mix media artists in Taiwan. In 1999, he was invited to represent Taiwan at the Venice Biennale. His installation work Feast in the Wild combines diverse plant seeds to represent the natural vibrancy of Taiwan and outdoor banquet to display unique Taiwanese culture. During the 2012 Olympics, Hwang led architecture students of National Cheng Kung University to create a large site-specific installation Gaze, of which he incorporated natural elements, cultural concepts, and engineering designs in the exhibition, merging various disciplines in an artwork that allows interactive interpretation. For many years, his mixed media and installation exhibitions travel to Shanghai, Macau, Hungary, Quebec, London, and Korea. His important works of different periods are collected by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.

Homeland: Edge of Desolation is Hwang Buh-Ching’s solo show. The show gathers Hwang’s thirty-four mixed media and installation works and introduces them in four themes, presenting the artist’s observation of nature, home, environment, and civilization. Through these four aspects, he expresses his sentiments and suggests how art can improve the cultural depth of society in this fast changing time.

This exhibition is divided into four themes. “Message to the Ocean” traces the artist’s childhood memories and presents his imagination of the ocean. This theme can be seen as Hwang’s spiritual realm in which he interprets life and death through art. “Caring for the Environment” displays Hwang’s mixed media works that give objects a new visual language and serve as his ode to nature and the local environment. “Industrial Desolation” introduces works made from deserted objects from our society and forms a thought-provoking artistic vocabulary. By viewing these works, audiences are inspired to think about the harms of industrial production and consumerist culture. “Life‧Love” extends Hwang’s care for nature to the love of life. It shows Hwang’s concern for the diminished quality of environment, infiltration of industry in society, and the decline of humanist values. Here presents a unique bond and representation of his love for nature and his family and wife.
 

黃步青，1948年出生於鹿港，1987年法國巴黎大學造型藝術碩士畢業，現居於台南，除了專事創作，也在國立成功大學建築系任教至今。

黃步青是台灣使用複合媒材創作的藝術家中，最一以貫之，卓有獨特風格和多元成就的代表性 人物。他在台師大美術系就學期間，因不滿於學院教育的制式保守，遂私下投入倡導自由創作的李仲生畫室，熱情研習現代藝術思潮；1977年他與同門幾位李氏 學生合組「自由畫會」，被視為繼60年代「東方畫會」之後，另一波前衛導向的藝術同儕團體。1981年他與妻子李錦繡辭去教職赴法留學，旅法7年期間，他 大量學習和吸收藝術新知，因特別認同戰後貧窮藝術以素樸的媒材展現人文的覺知與創新的力量，他的藝術之路也有了新的發展方向。他開始轉向複合媒材創作，希 望透過造型語言的力量，洞照尋常事物的意義，發掘廢棄物件的美感，並賦予之嶄新的意涵。1999年，他應邀代表台灣參加第48屆「威尼斯雙年展」，並備受 好評的【野宴】空間裝置作品，即創意結合了象徵台灣原生自然活力的各式植物種子、以及指涉台灣獨特人文風情的流水筵席。2012年倫敦奧運期間，他帶領成 大建築系學生赴倫敦西敏寺大學就地創制的【雙凝】，也是立意將台灣的自然元素、人文意象、工學設計等置入展場空間，使之有機融合並開啟一種互動閱讀機制的 超大型裝置作品。多年來，他的複合媒材及裝置作品展，足跡遍及上海、澳門、匈牙利、魁北克、倫敦、韓國等地，各期代表作也先後被台北市立美術館、高雄市立 美術館，以及國立台灣美術館等典藏。

另值一提的是，除了致力個人創作之外，黃步青在藝術教育上也延伸了其師李仲生的理念和影響，多年前他在大甲高中任教時，曾受他啟蒙和激勵而以藝術為志業的幾位學生，例如:林英玉、李真、張忘(張鶴金)、陳尚平、梁志清、余燈銓…等，在創作上也都各有路線風格和相當成就。

針對黃步青作品的多元指涉和多樣發展，藝評人黃海鳴曾點出其中特色是：「一邊循環，一邊 差異，一邊分化，一邊融合，一種面對無可抗拒的暴力時反覆不定的『被動認命』與『執拗反抗』的曖昧態度，則一直滲透於這些線條之中，形成獨特的色彩。」黃 步青結合了敏銳的藝術視野和低調的技術手法，創造出一件件情感內斂而具生命哲理的作品。正如知名策展人徐文瑞所言：「黃步青的作品獨樹一幟之處，…既有強 烈的東方味道(禪宗、修行)，但又深入藝術創作的本質核心。」寓意深遠且又耐人尋味。事實上，他的藝術創作，不僅長程紀錄了自我成長的心路歷程與情感記 憶，也同時印證了台灣不斷轉型發展的社會情境與環境變化。