Transparent Sceneries(屏景) by LAM Yau-sum 林佑森
Lam Yau-sum's forthcoming solo exhibition will offer a taste of ease from his latest Electric Landscap e series at Gallery Livi in this early summer from 23 June to 29 July 2012.
Life forms, forests and cityscapes are the elements commonly found in Lam’s works. Inspired by the circuits on electric boards, the artist composes his images with the use of very exquisite lines on canvases, which has now become his signature style of painting.
Lam’s works take references from the styles of traditional Chinese painting shanshui (“mountain-water landscapes”) and Japanese ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”), also outline drawing, the most primitive form of art expression. Motifs of the sceneries, like mountains, trees, flowers, rocks, rivers, sea waves and waterfalls are actually images found on the internet; and instead of paper and ink, these scenes on computer screen are elaborated in oil on canvas with clean and delicate lines. His digital landscapes play with the contrasts between the orient and the western, nature and technology, archaic and contemporary.
Lam’s screen and plaque shape paintings feature flat backgrounds and empty spaces, echoing the blank-leaving technique of traditional Chinese painting. Yet his vibrant colours on backgrounds are based either on the colour bars appeared at the end of everyday television broadcast, or the three primary colours which human beings see when just born. The atmosphere emanates from his layered scenes and imageries is nonetheless serene and peaceful, a reminiscence of the genres of oriental painting mentioned above.
As Lam describes, circuit boards are something invented and produced in the very century which we are living in, yet we are so oblivious of their existence. By intentionally fading away their functionality and re-arranging their abstract lines and forms, what is lost in our generation is prompted and imaginations are reified now through his sceneries and images.
About the artist
LAM Yau-sum was born in China. He graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University with a degree in Fine Art in 2010. He has joined numerous exhibitions in both Hong Kong and overseas, and has exhibited in various art fairs such as ARTHK 11 (Hong Kong International Art Fair 2011), Art Asia Miami 2010, Fine Art Asia 2011 - Hong Kong International Art & Antiques Fair, and Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair 2012. His works have fast gained recognition in the Hong Kong art scene, also are widely welcomed and collected by corporate and private collectors. He was awarded New Trend Award of the New Trend, Hong Kong in 2010.
林佑森將於二零一二年六月二十三日至七月二十九日於 Gallery Livi 舉行個人作品展'屏景'，展出最新的「電子風景」系列作品，帶來清新悠然的氣息。
在林氏的作品中，常見生命形態、森林樹木與城市景觀的元素，其靈感源自對電路板的想像。一如林氏形容，電路板是近代發明，它存在我們生活當中，我們卻渾然不覺。 藝術家企圖抹去電路板的功能，重新編排抽象的線路與結構，化成畫布上的纖細圖像，構成其獨特的創作風格。
是次展出以中式屏風及牌匾形狀為基礎的畫作，參考了中國山水畫及日本浮世繪的風格和技巧，以及白描 , 一種原始的藝術形式來呈現景物的輪廓；又刻意將景物扁平化，注入大量留白，回應傳統中國山水的特色。另一方面，林氏採用鮮豔、活潑的底色，把電視台每天全日節目播放完畢時供觀眾調整畫面的色板、以及人類出生時初見的三種原色，置入靈山活水中，讓閒適的風景伴隨明麗色彩，衝擊視覺。
對比於傳統的紙本水墨作畫模式，是次展覽皆為油畫作品。 與其親眼目睹自然風景，他從網上搜尋圖片，透過屏幕所見，把高山、樹木、花草、岩石、河川、浪濤、瀑布等景物以幼細、俐落的線條繪成。 鋪排有序的景致帶來無限想像，瀰漫一股平靜恬然的氣氛，讓人憶起傳統東方畫作的韻味。 這種電子山水風貌，融和中與西、古與今、自然與科技，彼此共存同時對比強烈，可堪玩味。
透過林氏作品，這一代人曾忽視的細節，都一一具體呈現在'屏景'中。
林佑森生於中國。 2010 年畢業於皇家墨爾本理工大學藝術系，同年獲得藝術公社《出爐2010》「傑出藝術新秀獎」。 其作品曾於多個本地、海外展覽及藝術展中展出，包括香港國際藝術展11（ARTHK11）、邁阿密亞洲藝術博覽會2010（Art Asia Miami 2010）、香港國際古玩及藝術品博覽會2011、亞洲頂級畫廊酒店藝術博覽會2012等，作品在本地藝術界迅速獲得認可，廣受機構及私人收藏家歡迎。
