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.”