子集介紹

【文化資產】

聚光燈下《廖慶章和他的門神們》

出生雲林麥寮一個小村莊的廖慶章,從小就喜歡黃俊雄的布袋戲,小學放學後經常拿著柴刀,到屋後砍黃槿木雕刻人偶,戲偶的造形及傳統服裝深深吸引著他,長大後他便開始學習廟宇彩繪,畫了很多門神及傳統人物畫。

在廟裡畫了幾十年,得到了薪傳獎,但隨著年歲增長,廖慶章感嘆門神終究不能永久保存,會舊會消失,越來越想留下生命中的「永恆」。他決定把廟裡的門神移到紙本來創作,一個人摸索實驗了二年,終於完成了三丈高的門神,陸續創作一系列紙本門神。廖慶章運用西方繪畫法,做了很多實驗跟創新,把門神傳統對比色置換成柔和色彩,並用水墨暈染的方式來畫臉部肌理的變化,使得門神增添了些許現代感與脫俗的氣質。

廖慶章已經多年不畫廟宇彩繪了,去年他決定為古蹟台南新市永安宮畫門神。他說:「我們宗教藝術它是深入民間,它是存在於人的心,它跟純美術不一樣,這種東西對我們來說比較有感情,最主要是你的熱情,當然很深才有辦法這樣。」不過,這一次他不到廟裡頭畫了,他要把門片帶回家畫。

LIAO Chin-Chang and his Guardian Deities

LIAO Chin-Chang was born in a small village near Mailiao Township in Yunlin county. As a kid, he loved watching puppet shows by Huang Chun-Hsiung. He also remembers grabbing an axe to carve faces on the cottonwood trees in his backyard after finishing elementary school classes.LIAO was deeply drawn to the expressions and traditional garments worn by these wooden puppets and started studying temple painting when he grew up. The artist went on to paint several guardian deities and traditional Chinese portraits.

LIAO Chin-Chang is a recipient of the Global Chinese Arts and Culture Award who has been painting temples for decades; however, as he grew older, Chin-Chang realized that his breathtaking guardian deities wouldn’t last forever. Knowing that his guardians would grow old and disappear, LIAO sought to leave behind a “permanent” legacy. He decided to take his guardian deities out of the temple and onto the canvas. After experimenting for two years, he finally finished a guardian deity standing 3 zhang tall and later completed an entire series of these guardian deities.

LIAO Chin-Chang learned to apply Western painting techniques through a process of trial and error. He chose to replace the traditionally contrastive color palates of guardian deities with complimentary colors. He also used ink wash painting techniques to highlight changes in their facial muscles and expressions. These variations give his guardian deities a modern feel and refined character.

LIAO Chin-Chang hasn’t painted temples in years; but last year he decided to paint guardian deities at the Yongan Temple in Tainan. “Religious art is deeply engrained in folklore,” he said, “It exists within our hearts. It’s different from aesthetic art because we’re more emotionally invested in these things. The most important thing is that you need to be profoundly passionate before you can do this kind of work.”

大城小調【孫啟榕,在齊東街留一首日式建築詩】

建築師孫啟榕從小在日式建築中長大,他和他的父親孫茂宏都是建築師,因為對老房子特別有感情,父子倆一起修護了幾個台北老房子。他們家附近的齊東街上,有許多百年歷史的日式建築,那是台北市唯一剩下最大塊的日式建築宿舍群,但多年來一直面臨著被惡意破壞,要被拆除、蓋大樓的危機。

孫啟榕很討厭用挖土機式的方式,把土地上的東西剷平,他認為歷史建築能夠見證我們的過去,同時也能指引我們的未來。於是,他和他的父親、學生們用一年多的時間,一起在齊東街修護了古蹟《臺北琴道館》和歷史建築《臺北書畫院》、《齊東詩社25號 27號》等三棟歷史建築,讓它們盡量回復到過去的樣貌。

在建築修護的過程中,孫啟榕看見最珍貴的東西反而是人,因為這些建築是當地家庭主婦禇陳寶貴和社區居民,努力捍衛保存下來的,他們堅信教孩子認識這些百年老樹和房子,比蓋大樓還重要。

齊東街很美,從台北的空中看,它被綠樹環繞。它新舊並陳,有過去鄰里情感親近的空間痕跡,現在還多了新的開放性、公共性的時代動線。

SUN Chi-Jong’s poetic restoration of a Japanese neighborhood on Qi Dong Street

Architect SUN Chi-Jong grew up in Japanese houses. He and his father, SUN Mao-hong are both architects and their passion for antique houses inspired them to work together on restoring a series of old homes in Taipei. Their home is close to a group of Japanese houses on Qidong Street with more than 100 years of history. This is the only surviving large-scale Japanese neighborhood in Taipei; however, after several years of malicious damage, the neighborhood faced the threat of demolition in favor of building a skyscraper.

SUN Chi-Jong detests leveling plots of land with an excavator. He believes that historic architecture is a testament to our past that can lead us into the future. SUN Chi-Jong, his father and their students, went to Qi Dong Street to restore the landmark Taipei Qin Hall and three historic buildings: the Taipei Calligraphy Salon, Qi Dong Poetry Salon Building no. 25, and Qi Dong Poetry Salon Building No. 27. They sought to restore these buildings to their former glory.

The process of restoring these buildings helped SUN Chi-Jong to understand that people are an incredibly valuable resource because of homemakers like, CHU-CHEN Bao-gui, and local residents who advocated for the preservation of the neighborhood. They firmly believe that teaching their children about these hundred year old wooden houses is more important than building a skyscraper.

Qidong Street is beautiful. Aerial views of the neighborhood are surrounded with greenery amidst the hustle and bustle of Taipei. The old and new coexist in such a way that neighbors are drawn closer to traces of the past within these spaces. They represent the march toward an age of openness and public accessibility.