臺灣水墨藝術的主體形塑－以1980世代藝術家之當代實踐為例

Abstract

水墨藝術在臺灣美術史的發展進程中，歷經「美術現代化」的殖民統治、「正統中原文化」的強勢襲臺、「現代水墨」的激烈改革，以及「鄉土水墨」的本土意識崛起後，臺灣水墨藝術的主體軸心便自「東洋的」文化附屬、「中國的」文化嫁接、轉移到「西方的」思想挪移，最終回歸於「本土的」在地關懷。面對史觀脈絡儼然成形的同時，更凸顯出臺灣水墨藝術的主體發展有其深入探討的必要性，本文將檢視臺灣水墨藝術主體的形塑過程。 臺灣水墨藝術的主體在非線性的發展過程中，主體的核心價值多受制於政治力的介入，文化話語權始終由當時的政權所把持。但自1987年解嚴，臺灣社會不僅擺脫威權統治的壟斷，水墨藝術同時也意識到當代藝術所帶來的時代挑戰，如水墨藝術與當代藝術之間的隔閡，其中拘泥於媒材性的把守、觀念性的守舊與視覺語彙的疲乏等，而直接造成水墨藝術與當代社會的斷裂與疏離，「邊陲化」的現象敲響了臺灣水墨主體於當代中的生存警鐘。 然而，1980世代臺灣藝術家的成長背景中，大多已褪去戒嚴時期的威權色彩，相比與前幾個世代的藝術家而言，創作意念較不受到政治力的壓迫，使得此世代的藝術家有嶄新的創作思維與時代使命，在創作形式以及議題表達上，更能貼合與時代性的映照關係，因而本文將臺灣水墨的當代主體聚焦於此世代藝術家的創作實踐上。 當今臺灣水墨藝術仍承受著由時空環境所趨的主體變異，無論是關注在臺灣本土的環境議題、回應於大中國歷史文化的命脈支系，抑或是應對著全球當代潮流的議題操作等，當臺灣水墨身處於主體性的存疑爭辯時，其主體性的確立與當代核心，可藉由1980世代臺灣藝術家的創作表現作為參照，以彰顯新世代臺灣水墨藝術的主體研究。Throughout the course of Taiwan art history, the development of ink art has been subjected to a number of large-scale trends and influences. Among them include the colonialism of art modernization, the powerful arrival of “traditional” Zhongyuan Chinese culture to Taiwan, the intense revolution of modern ink art, and the emerging local awareness of native ink art. These overarching forces have shifted the core axes of Taiwanese ink art. What was once Japan’s cultural subsidiary and a graft of Chinese culture has shifted towards Western ideologies and finally, made a return to a caring attentiveness towards the native and the local. In the face of constructing an overall historical context in such a manner, the need to comprehensively explore the developments of Taiwanese ink art becomes ever clearer. This article thus aims to examine the principal formation of Taiwanese ink art. By way of nonlinear developments, the core values of Taiwanese ink art have been extensively controlled by intervening political forces; its freedom of cultural speech, long monopolized by then regimes. However, with the lifting of martial law in 1987, the reins of an authoritarian regime were cast off. It was then that ink art encountered a set of temporal challenges brought on by the contemporary arts, such as the gap that laid between the two realms. This gap could be attributed to a guarded and rigid adherence to artistic mediums, conceptual conservatism, and an exhaustion in visual language. All these challenges directly induced a fracturing and an estrangement between ink art and contemporary art. Taiwanese ink art as a whole were becoming marginalized. The days of its existence in contemporary times appeared to be numbered. The upbringings of Taiwanese artists in the 1980s, however, were largely shed of the authoritarian tones of the martial law era. Their creative ideologies were comparatively freer than their politically-repressed predecessors. This gave rise to artists with entirely new creative thoughts and their own generational mission. In regards to artistic form and conceptual conveyance, they could better adapt to the reflections of the times. This article will thus place the focus of contemporary Taiwanese ink art on the creative practice of this generation of artists. Current Taiwanese ink art remain subject to the vicissitudes of time and space. This art form may take an interest in local Taiwanese affairs, respond to its place as a branch in Greater Chinese history and culture, or react to conceptual realizations of contemporary trends worldwide. Regardless, as Taiwanese ink art finds itself amidst existential wranglings, its principal roots and contemporary core can be inferred from the creative expressions of 1980’s Taiwanese artists. In this manner, principal research and analyses of a new age in Taiwanese ink art will become ever manifest.