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作品簡介 / 創作自述 About Artworks

作品〈北海岸〉是年屆82高齡的葉世強，於2008年秋天描繪由鼻頭角眺望北海岸的壯闊海岬。

2008年，葉世強已由居住12年的花蓮吉安鄉移居新北市安坑山上，然而在1995年因病移居花蓮前，葉世強在新北瑞芳陰陽海上方，背靠基隆山面向北海的懸崖聚落水湳洞已居住多年，這裡是葉世強鍾情的居住地點，他認為水湳洞周圍的北海岸是臺灣最美麗的海岸，也經常到附近學校教小朋友畫畫與製作風箏，他認為小孩就應該在大自然成長，用生活中取得的自然材料做玩具。與小孩為伍是葉世強極為喜愛的事。〈北海岸〉應是他2008年秋天再次來到北海岸邊的鼻頭國小教小朋友繪畫時所繪。

大海是葉世強居住於水湳洞時日夜照面的世界，也成為其鍾情的繪畫主題，葉世強以簡練的構圖、筆法與色彩，描繪晨光初透的海岸、波濤綿瓞的海浪或是黃昏日落的海天一線。〈北海岸〉壯闊的海岸景色，僅以留白、灰與黑三個顏色表現，黑色與灰色構成兩塊巨石，海浪與天空以留白相連，海面波濤與天空雲影以灰色勾勒。如詩人黃粱所評：「葉世強的繪畫無論構圖之空滿或色彩之醞釀，都能使觀者產生目不避障、心無壓縮的審美經驗。所謂目不避障者，視野無礙畫面純粹，構圖絕不繁複，色調崇尚素樸。」（文／漢雅軒提供）

Created by Shih-Chiang Yeh at the great age of 82, Northern Coast depicts the majestic cape of Taiwan’s northern coast seen from the Bitou Cape in the autumn of 2008.

In 2008, Yeh moved from Ji’an, Hualien County, where he had resided for 12 years, to the mountains in Ankeng, New Taipei City. However, before Yeh moved to Hualien in 1995 due to illness, he had lived for many years in Shueinandong, a cliffside settlement facing the northern coast with the backdrop of Keelung Mountain, overlooking the Yinyang Sea of Ruifang, New Taipei City. Shueinandong was his favorite dwelling, since he considered the northern coast around there to be the most enchanting coast in Taiwan. He used to teach painting and kite-making to children in nearby schools. He believed that children should grow up in the arms of Mother Nature and make toys from natural materials available in quotidian life. He found great delight in keeping company with children. Northern Coast was probably drawn in the autumn of 2008 when he returned to the Bitou Elementary School on the northern coast to teach children painting.

The sea was the world that greeted Yeh every day when he lived in Shueinandong, and it ergo became the subject of his paintings. Using concise composition, brushstroke and color, he portrayed the coast in the dawn light, the lapping waves, and the sea melting into the sky in the gathering dusk. The magnificent scenery in Northern Coast is presented with no other colors than white, gray and black. The black and the gray constitute two giant rocks, whilst the blank blends the sea and the sky together, with the rolling waves and the scudding clouds outlined in gray. Poet Huang Liang made the following remarks: “Yeh’s paintings, whether in terms of composition or coloring, tend to offer the viewers the aesthetic experience of unhindered vision and unconstrained mind. The scene maintains absolute purity, the composition exudes an aura of brevity, and the tone is characterized by simplicity.” (Text / Hanart TZ Gallery)

關於藝術家 About Artist

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葉世強

1926生於中國廣東，1948年考進廣州市立藝術專科學校西畫科，1949年與同學離校壯遊來到臺灣。1950年，考入臺灣省立師範學院藝術系（現為國立臺灣師範大學），後因白色恐怖而長年陋居山崖海陬，生活清寂，過著禪行者的生活。1972年與南懷謹學禪之時也開始斲琴生涯，將製作古琴視為藝術創作。葉世強長年離群索居，浸淫在禪心清靜的境界中，其流麗而純粹的繪畫風格，意境悠遠而氣息浩蕩。當時臺灣雖有各種水墨運動與前衛藝術組織，葉世強堅守他個人藝術的精神，一直以藝術作為修身與修禪的操守，炯炯獨行，因而深受學生與追隨者敬重。

Shih-Chiang Yeh

Born in Guangdong province, China in 1926, Shih-Chiang Yeh studied at the Guangzhou College of Art in 1948. With the spread of China’s Civil War, Yeh came to Taiwan and studied fine arts at the Taiwan Provincial Teachers’ College (now National Taiwan Normal University) in Taipei, where his talent and originality as a painter were immediately recognized. However, as time passed and the political rift between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China made return to his home impossible, Yeh grew increasingly reclusive and finally shunned official art circles to seclude himself in the countryside, where he lived a simple, ascetic life, practicing Zen Buddhism, teaching and painting. Every aspect of Yeh’s daily activities was informed by a conscious awareness of the ideal of inner cultivation shared by both the literati and Zen traditions.