此水彩圖像系列建基於我在一段長時間裡創作的一連串抽象畫作。部分早期作品同樣以水彩作媒介，但其中許多探索是以丙烯顏料為媒介進行的。偶爾，從形式主義的角度看來，抽象藝術 被視為一種與主題無關的藝術形式。然而，對我來說，藝術與意義之間的關係密不可分，縱然其意涵可能難以言喻。要將文字意旨轉化成視覺圖像同樣困難重重，但是這並非意味著言辭 文字本身欠缺深意，反之亦然。

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色彩與光線是此系列的關鍵。透過摒棄描繪具象事物，色彩得以更直接地作為一種獨立的力量展現在作品之中。一筆一劃的色彩依然保留各自的獨立性，而非融合成一體來達成某種具象的表達。觀者不時可感知到勾勒這些筆觸背後的那隻手。我們意識到繪畫是一個隨時間推移而產生的創作過程，個中並無決定性、終結的假象。然則，這裡卻有一種對全面的整體性的考量：縱使每一次的勾勒都在建構畫面，那種整體性從來也不是一種靜止不變的完整性。畫面中的重疊與並置，引起因這種層疊方式所容許（或需要）的混色而生的色彩變化。

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我通常避免使用幾何形狀。有時候，與生物形態相關的聯繫會以極其隱晦的形式出現在畫面 之中，間接地喚起對渺小與浩瀚事物的想像。我們可能從中看到微觀世界或宏觀宇宙的萬象， 譬如在顯微鏡下的極微，抑或在望遠鏡之中的浩渺。我們也許身處太空，又或海底。作品的個別視覺元素佔據了主導地位：點狀、圓形、具韻律感的短線、偶爾較長且趨向垂直或水平的 線條。這些較長的線條保持一種有節奏的能量，令人難以視之為畫面本身的建築結構。其他視覺 元素可以出現在它們面前，因此削弱了它們本身的主導性。有時候，垂直和水平的短線結合成近似方狀的間隔結構，並在畫面上蔓延，形成一個酷似棋盤的視覺效果。畫面上的形態重復未必是規整的：空間不僅存在於形態之中，流動的形態之間，也可留有空間。圓形圖案亦彼此交疊，進而削減觀者對網格狀結構的聯想。

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即使畫中顏料有時較為厚重，但是筆觸始終具有動態或流動的質感，水彩的流動性從未被遺忘。底色的雪白鮮少被完全覆蓋，並持續地在畫面的整體構成中扮演重要角色。畫面的留白令一切有呼吸舒展的空間。雪白底色與色彩的鮮明產生強烈對比，賦予色彩一個可盡情發揮的舞台， 並有助營造一種更為寬敞，甚至無垠的空間感。形態往往延伸至作品的邊框之外，而這種視覺表現同樣引發一種使空間擴張的效果。畫面裡並無透視法所用的空間框架，亦不受這種技法所帶來的邊界所限。相反，視覺深度自層疊交錯的畫面而生。比起被安放在畫紙背後的一個想像空間，各種形態更似是正朝我們的空間前來。

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我長時間從事版畫創作，主要製作影本印刷作品，近年來則常以數位版畫形式將其呈現。我亦有利用這些方式去展示自己的一些攝影圖像，例如我以花和水果為題材的寶麗萊作品。在那個創作中，我對以另一種藝術媒介來呈現原圖的手法深感興趣，當中一部分是希望藉此對作品的尺寸大小進行試驗，亦逐漸把尺寸視為一個獨立的美學考量，促使我以這種經過介入的印刷形式來呈現這些手繪水彩畫作。這個項目的核心是：在一個尺寸的畫紙上留下筆觸，再將其重現於另一個、更大的畫面。

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我們所見的是生命的一體性⸺一種容納異同，不單是千篇一律的一體性。歸根究柢，這裡實際上並無任何獨立的部分，唯有一個整體。那整體性本是完美無缺，因其蘊含了我們對此的覺知。我們已身處最佳之境，亙古亦然！

This series of watercolour images builds on a line of abstract paintings I have created over a long period of time. Earlier works have also sometimes been watercolours, but many of those explorations also used acrylic as a medium. Sometimes, abstract art is viewed formalistically, as being unconcerned with subject matter. However, to me art is always tied up with meaning, even if the meaning it shares may not be something which is easy to put into words. It is also difficult to translate verbal meaning into visual images, but that doesn’t mean words are not meaningful in their own right—and the reverse is also true.

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Colour and light are essential concerns of this series. Abandoning recognisable objects in the paintings allows colour to be present more directly as a force in its own right. Individual touches of paint still retain autonomy, not being merged together to play some representational goal. The presence of the hand that made the marks can frequently be sensed. We are aware of painting as a process taking place over time, with no illusion of closure. There is a concern for an all-over totality, however, that individual painterly gestures contribute towards, but that totality is never a static completeness. Overlap occurs as well as juxtaposition, with colours shifting as a result of the mixing that this layered approach permits (or requires).

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Geometric forms are generally avoided. Sometimes biomorphic associations are present, but usually in an extremely distanced way. Both the very small and the very large can be indirectly evoked. We could be looking at microcosmic or macroscopic phenomena. Either something one might see with the aid of a powerful microscope or something viewed through a telescope. We might be in outer space or underwater. Certain elements predominate: dots, circles, short rhythmic lines and occasionally longer lines that tend to orientate either vertically or horizontally. These longer lines retain a rhythmic energy which works against their being read as an architectural structure for the images, and other elements can appear in front of them, thereby undermining their otherwise dominant presence. Sometimes shorter lines that are also vertical and horizontal cohere into squarish cell-like structures which proliferate across the surface to create a chessboard-like effect. The repetition of forms across the surface can also be less cell-like, allowing space between the mobile forms—not just space within them. Circular forms also overlap, thus undermining grid-like associations.

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At times the paint builds up relatively thickly, but there is always a sense of the marks having a dynamic orfluid quality. The wateriness of watercolour is never forgotten. The white of the ground is rarely entirely lost, and remains to play a part in the overall scheme. There is room to breathe. The white ground provides a contrast to the vibrancy of the colours, offering them an arena in which to act, and helps to create a more open and potentially unbounded sense of space. Forms will often continue outside the framing edge, and this too invokes a sense of spatial expansion. There is no perspectival spatial box here—with all the limitations to boundaries that implies—but depth is created by the overlapping layers in the images. Forms are more likely to appear as if they are moving into our space rather than being disposed of in an imaginary space behind the image’s surface.

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I have a long-standing involvement with printmaking. My main work in this area has been photocopy prints, which in more recent years I have often chosen to present as giclée prints. I have also used these prints to present certain of my photographic images; for example, my Polaroid works of flowers and fruit. In that instance, I was interested in presenting the original images in a new medium, partly to experiment with scale. The concern with making scale a deliberate aesthetic variable in its own right has also emerged, leading me to present the hand-made watercolour images as prints in this mediated format. Making marks at one scale and then presenting them at a different—and larger—scale has been a central consideration of this project.

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Life in its oneness is what we are seeing. A oneness which accepts and contains difference, rather than a monotonous sameness. Ultimately there are not really any parts, only a whole. And that wholeness is perfect as it is, containing as it does our conscious awareness of it. We are all already in the best seat—always!

​前言

Foreword