Picture Haiku (2013-2016)

Picture Haiku (2013-2016)
by Lee Ka-sing

遠古的人用結繩記事，即使所記之事簡約，小品如共聚，打獵，爭執等。要是今天把往日所結之繩集結來個展示，一定非常可觀。視覺外象之下，正是日積月累下來的底氣。2013至2016年間，我開始了一組作品，以圖像(照片)創作徘句。照片均以三聯模式，每以記事為起點，生活㸃滴，或是讀書所感。當時正在閱讀白石詞，姜總喜歡在詞之前放一個長引子，敘說始末因由。再說，這個引子通常都是很可讀，有如一則小品文。這個策略很好，要寫的詞就可以放心舒懷，不那麼直接的言辭，看官也來得有個依據。我不能否認，這個想法在某程度影響了我。較長的題目也是中國傳統詩的傳統，不過盡管如此，也鮮會長如一則引子。在那幾年間，我大約做了五十多個，有著長題目如引子的圖本徘句。而且，在其中較早的那批，我還製作了實件版本，三聯照片裝裱在一件7.5吋乘2.5吋(厚1.5吋)的木件上。這些木件本大約造了二十來件便停止了，2016年，我將手頭所存的十六件，另做一框合放，作為一件完整作品，題目稱為《十六則在2013年寫的徘句》。

[Ancient people recorded events by knotting cords. Strings of primitive, simple memoranda gathered records of hunting, disputes and altercations. A collection of these knotted strings, if we stage them in an exhibition it must have looked spectacular. Behind the visual splendour of these knobs, is the accumulated energy over time, long past and forgotten histories.

In the years between 2013 to 2016, I was working on a series, writing Haikus with pictures (photographs). Sets of photographs were arranged as triptychs. The Haikus were recalls from events, matters of daily lives, or thoughts after reading. At that time I was reading Jiang Bai Shih (1154—1221), whose prelude he placed as a foreground to his poem I especially enjoyed. The prelude is like a piece of well written short prose, usually presented to outline the occasion or background of the poem. Jiang’s poems are noted for indirectness, whereas the preludes help readers, making crossable pathways to access the work.

Somehow, this idea inspired me. Long titles are common in Chinese classical poetry, but in Jiang’s practice, it pushed even further.

In those years, I have produced about 50 Haiku works, most of them with a longer title that tells about the background or my motivation. Some of the earlier twenty some pieces, I’ve developed into an objectlike format - triptych mounted on one 7.5” x 2.5” (thick 1.5”) wood panel. A year after, I ceased making these wood panels. In 2016, I constructed a wooden frame grouping the last 16 pieces small panels to become a piece of new and individual work “Sixteen pieces of Haiku written in 2013”.]

 

(Holly Lee: English translation for introduction and titles)

 

 

正在著手木造一台大片幅照相機拍攝負像照片。遠處近方黑白倒對，時空荒謬活的活在誤置光景。天地一線
[Am making a wooden large format camera for negative images on paper. Black to white in reverse walking far to near, we live in an absurd time while life hangs on a misplaced plane. The sky and earth melted into one thin line.]

(2015)

 

收到Madeleine Marie Slavick寄來她的書《50個故事，50張照片》（MCCM出版）。暴風橫雨來臨之前，你手挽的皮喼，竟然保留了多個年頭的春風，偌大的草坡上，打開來與異域的陽光共唱
[Received Madeleine Marie Slavick’s book "Fifty Stories Fifty Images"（Published by MCCM). Before the storm arrived, you've gathered with you a full baggage of many Springs. In the vast pastures today you are unpacking all sparkling stories in a different land.]

(2014)

 

剛剛收到楚喬在亞馬遜訂購Mary Jo Bang英譯但丁《地獄篇》（ISBN 978-1-55597-654-5），插圖出自好友Henrik Drescher。地獄也彷彿華麗烘烘，焚燒著燙熱體溫
[Just received Holly’s order from Amazon, Dante’s Inferno with translation from Mary Jo Bang, illustrated by our good friend Henrik Drescher. Hell broke out in magnificent fire, burning wildly with bodily heat.]

(2014)

 

在VIMEO平台搜尋Vincent Moon巧遇龔志成（Kung Hong Kong，2011）。你拉的提琴，渡輪上，海水碎段著燈火。港灣的岸綫，盪盪漾漾之間，模糊消失（給正要啟程往香港停留一周的Bob Black)
[On VIMEO searching for Vincent Moon incidentally met Kung Chi Shing (video: Kung Hong Kong, 2011). On the ferry, your violin fiddling sea sweats into light drops. The harbour line vanishing in wobbling water. (To Bob Black who is about to embark on a trip to Hong Kong for a week).]

(2014)

 

在畫廊聽葉軒聲唱演出。口中悠悠啖出濃墨高山，忽見峭壁
[Listening to Huan Ye’s aria in the gallery. Ink wash mountains emerge soft mists from her mouth. Abruptly, enter the rugged cliffs.]

(2014)

 

Bloor影院看Björk曼徹斯特演唱會Biophilia。Dagg設計的龐然放音物Sharpsichord真箇令人神往。恐龍詩意，荒漠遊吟
[Watching Björk’s Manchester concert Biophilia at Bloor cinema. The gigantic Sharpsichord designed by Dagg was really a piece of soul capturing sound machine. The dinosaurian heart beats ruminating in the far wide desert.]

(2014)

 

健威來信，羽仁未央在東京離世。總是傷感
[Kin-Wai wrote, Mio Hani passed away in Tokyo. Prevailing sadness.]

(2014)

 

Tomio來畫廊協助裝置展覽，及後楚喬弄了香草意粉，大家邊吃邊看著畫廊窗外，路過行人游動在暖調的陽光。T在看積存數月的紐約時報周刊，讀到Milton Glaser新聞舊事。追憶著七十年代，那時風景真是好
[Tomio came to the gallery to help installation, Holly prepared spaghetti sprinkled with basil. We looked out from the gallery window, pedestrians swimming under the warm toned sun rays. Tomio browsed the New York Times magazines that we accumulated for several months, he found Milton Glaser among the faded news. O seventies, those days what spectacular scenery it was.]

(2014)

 

懷想李志超。想起2010年他在多倫多我畫廊的展覽。不知他在路上可有遇上早些日子上路遠行的Lester
[We miss Julian. He had his solo in 2010 at our gallery in Toronto. Just wonder if he had met Lester, who left a little earlier.]

(2014)

 

「作品猶如衣裳，有的透明些，有的不那麼透明，它們為想象勾勒出身段體態，同時卻遮住了衣服中嬌好的肉體。」重讀宇文所安
["The text is a vestment, opaque or transparent, outlining for the imagination, yet at the same time concealing, the sweet body within." Recently a re-read on Stephen Owen.]

(2014)

 

方木小本眾人展。陳啟黑光白光，這邊廂鱗光乍閃。黑山太極十二式，風在天涯
[In the little wood-blocks group show, Kai Chan’s black light white light, shattering Tai Chi in a twelve-fold style, I saw his black mountains melting with the whistling wind.]

(2014)