Unveiling recurrent overlays of memory, in addition to seeing.
“I’ve always had intense pleasure from looking. Drawing makes you see things clearer, and
clearer, and clearer still.” —David Hockney
Thinking back, it has been more than a decade since I set foot on French soil for the
first time in my life. I only stayed for a short week, but unwilling to miss anything, I
visited the small town of Auvers-sur-Oise where Vincent van Gogh ended his life, paying
tribute before a humble grave adorned with fresh flowers. I certainly could not miss the
temple of art in the hearts of most—Le Louvre, glancing at the enigmatic smile of Mona
Lisa amidst the crowds...
Memories: A Window into the Soul
Some claim that memory is neither a perception nor a notion. It is an indescribable
emotional state after the passage of time, a visual impression in the mind manifested by
a specific environment or object. Yet even so, it departs from what is visible to the
naked eye, and remains an immeasurable difference that cultivates infinite change and
transformation in literature and the arts. Therefore, every time I see Lin Hao-Bai’s
paintings based on his various European travels, they often recall familiar scenes and
ambience, enabling viewers to revisit or savor sunbeams streaming from the clouds, and
tranquil scenes illuminated by gentle, warm light.
For instance, when encountering Île de la Cité at Sunset, the left and right window
panels are opened inwards, with an almost square frame encompassing soft twilight
descending from the clouds, softly outlining the street, bridges, and historic buildings
that form a poetic counterpoint to tranquil shadows on the water. This recalls a series
of urban landscapes from Camille Pissarro, which overlook the Louvre from his residence
near Place Dauphine, each a simple but vibrant hymn of life, flecked upon undulating
travelers.
The composition of Afternoon of June 30 combines the scenery of Jardin des Tuileries and
the Seine River, methodically portioning the building on the opposite bank to one-third
of the painting, so that the white marble statue at the bottom becomes a focal point,
forming a contrast between motion and stillness against surging clouds in the sky. In
comparison, Overlooking the White Church of Montmartre Before Sunset also combines
personal memory and imagery. Utilizing the perspective of looking out the window, Lin
meticulously depicts Montmartre under a sea of clouds without missing a corner, every
detail clear and palpable, as if diamonds.
In these works, though the artist adopts painting methods of classical realism, most of
the compositions are sporadic fragments deconstructed from life experience: alone during
long, quiet nights, the result of gathering and affixing while envisioning. Only then,
can memories be superimposed layer upon layer more thoroughly. Of course such variation
in change and edit will include events that are deliberately recorded or slightly
abridged to varying degrees, but for viewers, there is no need to fret over the truth of
these painted scenes, and no need to track the source of his craft.
Notably the use of the “window,” as a spatial object that connects indoor and outdoor,
reality and imagination, simultaneously embodying the symbolism of peeking and
inhibiting, allows Lin’s precise, geometric paintings that include such strong
architectural style, to exude a peculiar flavor of time-space. Even with our eyes
closed, we can clearly see the brush strokes, colors, light, and shadow intertwine in
the paintings, and follow him, turning left or right through the avenues and alleys of
Paris, to return to our private room, counting pure quietude picked up along the way.
Drawing a flower in a state of somnambulism
Aside from relying on a large number of sketches and drafts, Lin Hao-Bai often
integrates considerations of digital imaging, mining unresolved debates and
conversations between photography and painting. Following his experience of living in
the Xindian mountainous areas for twenty years, various floras from the seasons
naturally appear under his brush. Whether the common camellia, iris, or even the popular
staghorn fern, alocasia, and hyacinth, from budding to bloom, or the pitcher plants he
saw while visiting the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam become advocates for his
sentiments.
In most of his works depicting flowers, Lin forgoes the 45-degree angle of light used in
classical realist paintings, reducing the change in light and shadow to highlight its
rationality and calm. “Splendid Light,” the recent series of floral and fruit works,
further transforms his life experience through painting, largely made during the late,
dark night. For him, this is not only a practice of seeing, but also waking to find that
the work has been completed and placed quietly on the easel, with no recollection of the
exact process, like sleepwalking. The distinct flowers, petals, buds, and colors reshape
into the most inquisitive riddle in this swift dream.
In fact, people have been known to explore the beauty of proportion and harmony through
mathematics since ancient Greece. Countless artists have taken on this quest for
thousands of years. Similarly for Lin, human beings are emotional creatures; one will be
affected by subjective consciousness and emotional state, no matter the emphasis on
pure, objective depiction. Therefore, perhaps it would be more vital to reveal hidden
emotional monologues behind the guise of life, which is rather, closer to the eternal
pursuit of spiritual purification.
While encountering his work, we must understand that they still contain meaning beyond
the visual, in spite of the pleasure they evoke. After all, an artist should not cease
at the reenactment of memory, but to tread on with a slow and steady pace, and explore
more possibilities for seeing and understanding the world, one stroke at a time. As
David Hockney once stated, “We see with memory. My memory is different from yours, so if
we are both standing in the same place we’re not quite seeing the same thing.” Thence,
Lin’s work not only reveals recurrent overlays of memory, but also invites its viewers
to eagerly regard change in everything, so as to fully enjoy the infinite pleasure
behind looking.