誕生(Birth) 130.5X162.5 炭筆、油彩、畫布 1994
文/ 蕭瓊瑞
1994 年農曆元月,女兒誕生,初為人父的李昆霖,深為生命的繁殖奧秘所震懾,「繁殖」也 成為他當年年中個展的標題。在當年的個展單張 DM 中,他如此寫道:
「今年農曆元月初五早上──我女兒從她媽媽的肚子裡跑了出來。在我拍下她出生 後的首張照片時,強烈地感受到──這是件活生生的作品,最真實,會哭、會笑、會餓、 會鬧、會拉、會睡、會想、會繁殖......」
他又說:「人生產人,人生產作品;作品生產意念,意念生產精神;精神生產生命,生命生 產存在......。人創作是為了繁衍人的精神存在,讓生命擴散出去肉體的侷限範圍,產生更多的 人,生命體、精神象徵、永恆存在,解決肉體腐朽敗壞後的存在問題。」
「繁殖」系列接續「憂媺的風與景」系列的風格,但人的成份開始取代純粹風景山水的意象,一 些室內家具、擺設的出現,也增添了人世間現實的意味。〔誕生〕就是此時期最重要的代表作。
In the year 1994, during the month of the Chinese New Year, Lee Kun-Lin's daughter was born, and as a father, Lee Kun-Lin was deeply touched by the mystery of life. As a result, reproduction became the main theme of his exhibition that year.
In this exhibition's prelude, he wrote, "On the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, my daughter was born. After taking the first picture of her, I started to experience strong emotions and was inspired to create a true life's work on this form of life, who can cry, laugh, be hungry, make trouble, pee and poo, sleep, breed, and reproduce."
He added: "Human beings produce more humans, who produce art works, the same art works which inspire ideas, ideas which give spirit in life. This life then produces human beings, and the cycle is repeated. We create arts to show the spiritual sides of our lives, which can express our body's scope in a broader way, resulting in more people, life, and physical/spiritual symbols representing the eternal condition of the body...eventually solving problems even when our bodies decay and disappear."