Hsu Yu-jen…and his World of Fine-Brush Ink-Wash Painting

 Gao Wei

Ancient Chinese thought that the world was composed of the five basic elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. In Hsu Yu-jen’s fine-brush ink-wash painting, however, the world is composed of interconnected small dots and extremely fine lines. Furthermore, this world takes the shapes of squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, and irregular geometric forms. It might raise some brows that these paintings are called ink-wash painting at all. Who has ever seen a Chinese ink-wash painting dominated with geometric forms? Such a contrast is astonishing indeed. In our mindset, traditional Chinese ink-wash paintings should portray natural images such as rivers, mountains, flowers, birds, fish, and insects and convey through them the spirit, charms, connotations and the way of the world in the traditional Chinese culture. That is why when we as spectators are faced with Hsu Yu-jen’s brand-new ink-wash paintings, we are provoked to think twice over the definition of the artistic form.

Who Says that Ink-Wash Shall Not Be Painted in This Way?

Surprisingly, the creator of these works received formal training in painting.

Over 30 years ago, Hsu Yu-jen graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts (National Taiwan University of Arts). The school is the former “National Academy of Arts” (renamed later as “National Taiwan Academy of Arts”) established by Mr. Cai Yuanpei and Mr. Lin Fengmian by the West Lake and has a long-standing history of innovation on the basis of the tradition. However, tradition was dominant at the school when Hsu Yu-jen studied painting there.

In his own words, Hsu Yu-jen “muddled” into the school, for he did not start learning painting until 6 months before he had the entrance examinations. As a young man, he liked traveling and making girlfriends. To go to college, he left Jiali, a rural town in South Taiwan and went to the metropolitan Taipei. He had a sudden revelation one day and fell in love with books on arts. He then frequented the library and read all the books in the school within half a year. In the mean time, he also started painting. As he did not receive much systematic painting training at the beginning and learned painting by himself, he had a distinct style that set him apart from others. “I think my painting is special. It is different from the works of anyone else. I did not know the so-called ‘style’ then, but I felt that I could really paint! I found out my potentials and my passion for artistic creation. I began to follow this direction which I liked and made do with the schoolwork.”

As his painting deviated so much from the traditional techniques taught in the classroom, and the teachers merely followed the traditional standard in grading the works, Hsu Yu-jen had a hard time graduating from the school. The teachers had a poll on his grades. Almost all the teachers in the department of ink-wash painting found his works problematic, while only Mr. Hong Ruilin, a teacher from the department of oil-painting, recognized his talent and made sure that he could finish his degree. After this incident, Hsu Yu-jen did not regret his choice, but followed his “rebellious” path firmly.

 “I Aim to Find an Absolutely Original Style of Ink-Wash Painting”

With his concern for the social reality, Hsu Yu-jen began to experiment on different materials and forms, such as sculpture, oil-painting and ink-wash painting, etc. In the recent dozen years, Hsu Yu-jen has been endeavoring on the innovation of the Chinese ink-wash painting.

“Look at my ink-wash painting. You can hardly find any predecessor of this style. Although I used the fine lines, they are different from the traditional fine-brush works. I aim to find an absolutely original style of ink-wash painting. It will be totally different from Western paintings as well.”

Hsu Yu-jen turned all the “don’ts” in traditional Chinese ink-wash painting techniques into “does”. He made use of these skills and created a distinct style out of them.

He returned to the starting point of any painting. Although the ink, paper, inkstand and brush are ancient tools, he does not regard them as ancient elements, but basic and modern ones similar to pencils and pens. Hsu began to adopt dry brushes, short strokes to paint dots and broken lines. The freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting was thrown away. Everything in his painting is a combination of dots, lines, and planes.

Meanwhile, Hsu Yu-yen is very good at thinking in the reverse way. He overthrew all traditional structures of ink-wash painting, and adopted the horizontal and vertical lines, triangles, and cubes which were discarded in former ink-wash paintings. “If I go back to the tradition, I will never be able to get out. So I began to paint ink-wash painting in a geometric way. I began by painting out my spiritual world, and later added some other subjects.” The houses that people invented are rectangular, circular, and triangular in shape. The pattern of the waves is triangular. The radial of the sun, moon and stars are straight lines, whereas the trees are shaped in a shallow rectangle…All these are turned in the reverse way. Hsu Yu-jen’s works may be resemble sketches or woodcuts, but it may give the spectators a totally different experience when they study the original works. The small dots in the shape of the paramecium are the smallest units and are integrated in the works by the painter.

In terms of perspectives, Hsu Yu-jen does not adopt the Western focal perspective, nor does he use the cavalier perspective in traditional ink-wash paintings. He is more concerned with the abstract relationship between different objects. While he was painting, he would read many pictures and albums and sometimes place some bizarre objects together. These things remind him of the stories that moved him in the past. Within an ink-wash painting, some part takes the perspective from above, some takes the straightforward perspective, some takes the focal perspective, and others takes the perspective from below. Hsu Yu-jen pointed out that blank space can give rise to wonderful perspectives. “I would base all the perspectives on the blank space. There are many perspectives in a painting. I would follow my instinct in drawing and express more with blanks.” Hsu Yu-jen said in self-mockery that he was old now and had to rest every now and then while drawing, as his eyesight was failing. He had a new idea when he watched his painting from a distance in his rest. “My idea would often change at this time. I started out in a certain direction, but ended up in another. It gives me the feeling of touring around the world.” Hsu Yu-jen said that he felt as if he were shuttling between different spaces when he drew different parts of the same painting. “It’s like diving in the sea: I dive into the sea from the land and watch the colorful world underneath the water.” Hsu Yu-jen compared the wonderful feeling of creation to diving, with which he is most familiar, as he grew up by the sea. “I wish to draw as if I were playing a game. The space in my painting is fluid and yet discontinuous. I wish to draw with my own characteristics.” The ideas are interpolated in Hsu’s ink-wash paintings. “There are many original seeds of ink-wash painting in my mind. All I do is sow them and let them grow by themselves.” He pursues simplicity and leaves many things unexpressed. Simple and clean as his paintings are, they are also rich and have a flavor of spatial montage. It is based on this characteristic that different parts of Hsu’s paintings can be magnified and made into separate paintings. Every point in his paintings is a seed and every part is independent. This is truly inspiring. “My friends told me that my paintings can inspire their ideas.”

So is the case with his thought over the number “four”. The number “four” has been a taboo in Chinese culture because it is homophonic with “death”. Many public places, such as hotels, floors, and car license plates would avoid the number “four”. “Four” is equal to “death”. “I like four, for death connotes life.” You can find four trees or stones in Hsu’s paintings. Four sometimes also represents the painter’s sentiment towards the ecological pollution and the damage that human beings caused. “When I brush ink onto a piece of thin silk, the drying process of the ink itself is a dying process. However, the painting comes to life. The completion of a painting marks the end of a creative idea and of the relationship between the painter and his work, but it also marks the beginning of the communication between the painting and the spectators. Chinese people comprehend ‘four’ as ‘death’, whereas the Indian scriptures regard ‘four’ as alive. So life and death are constantly converting to each other. The dichotomy is always dynamic.” Rebel as he seems to tradition, Hsu Yu-jen has a profound insight into the mutual conversion between yin and yang in the traditional Chinese culture.

Original Forms Shall Be Connected with the Content

However, he does not search for innovative forms for their own sake. “I have worked on ink-wash paintings for many years and experimented many forms. A precondition for an artist to select a form is that it shall express his instinct. That is to say, original forms shall be combined with the instinct. It cannot come out of nothing, but shall be based on reality. We shall not search for forms for their own sake, or we would be chained by the shapes.”

The renovation in the forms of fine-brush ink-wash painting is closely related to the reality in China. Hsu Yu-jen grew up in Taiwan. In his childhood, Taiwan was still an agricultural society. “The farmers would walk barefooted. It was the case when I was a junior high student.” Later when Taiwan was opened up to the outside world, factories were set up everywhere. The agricultural society became industrialized, and pollution also arose in the process. The destruction began in the 1980s. Taiwan faced serious environmental pollution and excessive cultivation. As more and more damage was done to the environment, the coastal areas suffered from more floods and other disasters. The situation was more and more serious and later Taiwan suffered from the 921 earthquake. “When I was small, I did not have the feeling of instantaneous destruction of the living space. I worked in U.S. and came back to the countryside in Taiwan. The seashore used to be very clean, but suddenly garbage was everywhere. The environment was changed so much. The almost instantaneous impact on nature is absent in ancient ink-wash paintings, but in modern times, we have to face this problem almost every day. ”

When he went to college in Taipei, Hsu Yu-jen found the scenery in the ink-wash masterpieces similar with what he saw in childhood. The mountains and rivers in the paintings are elegant with profound charms. Hsu thought that to draw mountains and rivers in the traditional way is actually a process of recollection, as Taiwan has long ceased to be what it was. Taiwan suffers from serious environmental pollution, and so is the case with Mainland China, or even with the world as a whole. This is a question that human beings cannot afford to neglect. Hsu decided at that time that he would draw the contemporary environment and ecological situation with ink-wash painting. “I think that there should not be only one method of ink-wash painting. One of the reasons is that by simply inheriting the traditional ink-wash paintings the painters would be divorced from reality, which is actually a regression. Another reason is that I would have never succeeded if I had chosen the traditional method, as modern painters cannot be compared with their predecessors in the 5000 long years in the ability in handling forms and expression. Ancient Chinese wrote with brushes. They lived in a different natural environment and had different states of mind. I have to find out my own original method.” Hence we find the “view of the mountains and rivers” in Hsu’s original fine-brush ink-wash paintings: bare stone mountains, leaveless trees, water and stones, or waves and sand patterns. Stones are a typical image in Chinese ink-wash paintings. As Taiwan suffered from excessive cultivation and forest exploitation then, the entire mountains were left bare. Hsu did the job of measuring in the past, and is especially concerned with the environment in the mountainous areas. “I remember that I found the entire mountains were changed when I did the measuring.” He collected various documents on the earthquakes, excessive cultivation, and pollution in Taiwan to draw his “paintings on Chinese mountains and rivers”.

The ancient Chinese lived in an agricultural society with the atmosphere of the traditional culture. They read the various classics and scriptures and were immersed in the Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist ideas. Today China is on its way towards an industrialized society. We also read ancient classics, but the life we live is drastically different. The society nowadays is a multi-dimensional, multi-layered information society integrated with economy, politics and culture. Meanwhile, we are also faced with many practical problems. It is obviously not enough to simply return to the tradition.

Hsu’s paintings are full of reflections over industrialization and death. Though there are no human beings in the painting, traces of human interference can be found in the geometric forms, triangular mountains, rectangular block-like trees, and the triangular wave patterns. The sea enclosed by a cement dam is like a beast in the cage. The treeless triangular mountains are related to the excessive cultivation problem. The four withered trees express the painter’s sorrow at the destruction of the forest. The triangular wave pattern is also related to the dams. It can be said that Hsu Yu-jen created a painting of the site of nature after the industrialized civilization, or the death of nature under the pollution of the industrialized society. Hsu Yu-jen portrayed the post-industrialization site through ink-wash painting and expressed his light, nostalgic sentiments. In contrast to the desolation on the earth, the straight rays emitted from the sun, the moon and the stars are symbols of eternity. These rays bring hope to his paintings. Hsu Yu-jen viewed this issue from the height of the entire universe. The fact that life is transient spurred Hsu Yu-jen to pay attention to images of eternity. The paintings also embody his reflections over the time.

Renovation and Inheritance

Most people think that Hsu Yu-jen painted his works with fine points. “I actually painted with brushes. Brushes, inkstands, and ink are brilliant inventions of the Chinese people. Western people would not understand our feelings when creating with the traditional drawing tools. Japanese people did a good job in preserving the tradition. They have been using them since Tang dynasty. Nowadays important documents are still written with brush and ink in Japan. There are many ways of handling the brush in Chinese tradition.” Hsu Yu-jen is very passionate towards the traditional ink-wash painting.

Although Hsu’s paintings portray a polluted, damaged world, they are clean and simple and the mountains in them are almost semitransparent. Why are his works so clean? Hsu explained that it was difficult to find a clean thing nowadays. “I painted the scenery clean and present a complicated state in an absolute, pure way. I think this is in accordance with the spirit of the blankness in ink-wash painting.” Chinese paintings attach special importance to blanks. “Or the space in Western jargon. What I mean is the ideas about the space, not necessarily the structure of the space. Actually the entire science of ink-wash painting is about nature.”

According to Hsu Yu-jen, Chinese paintings can stand repeated appreciation if the spectators are familiar with and feel deeply for the traditional culture of ink-wash painting. Chinese ink-wash paintings are apparently very similar, but they are very refined in details. You may feel different things when you see the painting in your twenties, thirties, and even seventies. It is not like the works nowadays, which are shocking at first sight, and turn bland and flavorless when seen repeatedly. Ink-wash painting is a special branch of human artistic creation. “Among all the ancient civilizations, only the tradition of the ink-wash paintings in China has never been interrupted. No other art developed in this way in the entire world. Oil paintings in Europe had many forms and did not develop along the same line. In modern times, all the traditions of oil painting were overthrown. Why do so many Chinese painters love portraying stones, mountains, and flowers in the thousands of years? Are they crazy? No. They love painting these objects, as they find many touching, subtle, precious things that modern people cannot comprehend. The paintings are very touching. Emperor Huizong in Song dynasty was good at refined paintings of flowers and birds and at calligraphy as well. We have to absorb the nutrition of the tradition while making innovations. Few took the time to feel the refined details in the paintings. The tradition is old, but it would never die. It has been alive for thousands of years. Isn’t that amazing? Ink-wash paintings contain a lot of traditional philosophy, in which the Taoist view of nature is dominant.”

Chinese ink-wash painting was called “painting and calligraphy” in the past. Ink-wash painting and calligraphy are regarded as belonging to the same discipline. Most ancient Chinese students would learn calligraphy for several years and turn to painting. Most painters are calligraphers as well. Nowadays calligraphy was separated from painting. “Painting and calligraphy” is also closely connected with poems and articles. The two employ symbols and images and complement each other with many philosophical insights. Hsu Yu-jen inherited this tradition and often wrote his poems or articles on his ink-wash paintings. For instance, on an ink-wash painting of the sea, he wrote the following words in his idiosyncratic handwriting, “the sea flows continuously…nothing but the drifting forms…transient…transient…transient…transient…” It is a beautiful image.

His perspective of painting is also differnt. Hsu Yu-jen said that he now approaches the western paintings in a different way. He used to watch western paintings in reference to the aesthetic ideas and theories. Now he would watch them from the perspective and ideas of Chinese painting, especially Chinese ink-wash painting. There are a lot of overlapping between different cultures, though the superficial forms are not the same.

However, there are many fixed forms in Chinese ink-wash painting. It is difficult to make major changes within the fixed, sophisticated forms of ink-wash painting. “It is hard to create something of your own within a fixed form. That’s why we have to break this frame. I cannot boast that I owe a great deal to our tradition. I cannot return to the traditional times. The times changed, and so did I.”

Traditional Way of Life in Accordance with Nature

Hsu Yu-jen likes dawn and dusk very much. While watching the sky lightened up or dims away, he is fascinated with the elapse of time. The ray in the room would change in accordance with the light in the sky. He also likes seeing things in the dark. This is related to the habit he formed in the environment where he grew up. He seldom turns on the light wherever he lives, be it New York, Taipei or Beijing, except that he has to read or work. He likes to have dinner in the open and said that he could watch the stars while eating. “Such a natural living state would foster my introspection. I would be stirred emotionally. I try my best not to be bound by artificial values. The values that one accumulates in action is the biggest shatter to mankind.”

Most people do not view themselves from the values of the nature. Hsu Yu-jen often wishes to be reincarnated into a tree in his next life. “A tree stands still. It blossoms and bears fruit, and dies as it is. Humans have to die as well.” He always bears such a Taoist philosophy of the nature in his mind, which is integrated into his world of ink-wash paintings. “Humans have to suffer a lot. It is much better to live as a small tree, which grows in the cracks of stones, or as a bird, which can fly everywhere, or even as a stone. The traditional mindset is more resilient and open-minded.”

As he likes nature, Hsu Yu-jen built his two studios in a natural environment. One of his studios is located in the back of the Yangmingshan National Reserve. “When I painted in the forest, I felt as if I were an ancient Chinese who painted in the cottage in the mountains. I like this house very much. This is a spiritual and spatial connection, a connection to the natural world outside. Man and nature become closely related and can communicate at any moment.” When I asked him whether he would feel isolation when living alone in the mountain, Hsu Yu-jen said that several fellow artists also live there. “I have several friends who can drink with me. I have a really close friend who is a pottery artist. We often drink together.” Hsu likes the feeling of drinking. It is mind-freeing and relaxing and can expose one’s true personality. “Wine is a great friend. You have to handle your relation to it, become good friends of it, but you shall not be controlled by it. You would become more active in thinking when you are fully relaxed.” It is said that Hsu Yu-jen drank three times with Gu Long, a well-known Chinese writer. “Gu Long is a great intellectual, although he writes swordsmen novels. He is very liberal in character. This is a special character that is bred in the culture of the Yellow River Valley.” Hsu has adhered to the tradition to make friends through wine and tea.

Having grown up by the sea, Hsu Yu-jen also likes seashores and islands very much. He found a cement house in Hualian on the eastern coast of Taiwan and made it another studio. The flat, blue, and wide Pacific Ocean is right outside the veranda of the studio. “Taiwan is very small and the skyline is always hindered from view. The skyline here is really open. The western coast of Taiwan has a view of the sea as well, but it is not quite as pretty. The eastern coast is wide and the mountains are steep. The sight of the sea is boundless when I view it in the embrace of the mountains. This is the place where I would stay on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean. I like observing the wide ocean and the subtle changes of the seawater: at dawns, the sun rises in the east, and the sea changes within minutes. At dusk, mists arise and the sea is changed every instant. The sea unfolds different scenery at different times within a day and in different seasons.”

Hsu spent many years in U.S. He worked as part-timer, marketing executive, and jewelry designer, but he never stopped painting. “When no one would by my painting, I would work, save money, and continue painting.” He forged ahead in this way. “I would keep notes and diary while working. I wrote down my thoughts, drew many drafts, and explore new methods of creation. I never stopped such practices. Self-training is really very important, for it is also an accumulative process for painting. Many thoughts would have be lost if I had not jotted them down. Once they were written, they were materialized and accumulated.” Hsu said that many of his creative ideas were “old stuff that resurface on the lake”. While accumulating his experience and thoughts, Hsu also likes instantaneous imagination and thinks that only blind instinct can give rise to art, a typical trait of the Pollux people. “There are many doors in the world. You have to open them slowly and break them.”

Hsu has been improving himself through such reflections and self-trainings. Now his paintings have been collected as precious artistic works by many overseas museums and private owners.

“Recently I am interested in moving the real space to the sky, or the so-called universe.” Perhaps in the near future, we will witness again the outstanding expression of Hsu Yu-jen’s endless imagination on ink-wash painting.

許雨仁……和他創造的細筆水墨世界

高偉

古人用金、木、水、火、土五種元素來概括這個世界最基本的構成，而在許雨仁所建構的創新細筆水墨世界裏，世界是由小點和極細的線綴連而成的。而且，構成這個世界的形狀是方形的、圓形的、長方形的、三角形的、和不規則的幾何形體。更有甚者，這些作品還號稱是水墨作品！有誰見過這滿眼都是幾何形體的中國水墨？這樣的反差讓人驚訝。印象中的中國傳統水墨都是山山水水、花鳥魚蟲這樣的自然物象，承載著中國傳統文化的氣、意、韻、道；而面對許雨仁所創造的一個全新的水墨作品，不由得我們不去思考其中的嬗變。

誰說水墨不可以這樣畫？

畫出這樣水墨畫的畫家竟然還是科班出身。

三十多年前，許雨仁畢業於國立藝專（現在的臺灣藝術大學）水墨畫系。追溯起來，臺灣的國立藝專與一九二八年初蔡元培、林風眠先生在杭州西子湖畔創建的“國立藝術院”（後改名國立藝術專科學校）是一脈相承的，向來有在傳統中創新的傳統。不過許雨仁當年在學校學畫畫的時候，傳統的勢力還是佔了上風。

考大學前半年才開始自學畫畫的許雨仁，用他自己的話說，當初是“混”進學校的。年輕的時候喜歡遊山玩水，喜歡交女朋友。從臺灣南部鄉下的佳里到了臺北這樣的大都市上學，有一天，忽然自己開竅了，變得很喜歡看藝術方面的書，於是就開始去圖書館借書看，在不到半年的時間就把學校的書全看完了。而且開始自己亂畫，因為一開始是自學，並沒有受過多少系統啟蒙教育，反而讓他的畫區別與他人。“自己覺得蠻特別的，跟別人畫的不一樣，那時候還不知道所謂的個性。當時的感覺是我真的可以畫畫了！我感覺到自己的潛力，對藝術創造的熱情，越來越喜歡沿著自己的路走，學校那邊就應付過去了。”

因為畫法跟學校教授的傳統技法不太一樣，老師又按照傳統眼光評分，當年許雨仁的畢業問題頗費周折。老師們評分投票，幾乎所有的水墨畫系的老師都認為他的作品有問題，而只有油畫系科的洪瑞麟老師力保他畢業。而經歷這樣的事情以後，許雨仁並不“悔改”，反而更堅定了他的叛逆之路。

 “我要找到一個水墨畫的絕對原創”

根基於現實主義的關懷，許雨仁開始嘗試各種材質，立體、油畫、水墨都嘗試。包括這十幾年，許雨仁一直在嘗試中國水墨的創新。

“你看我的水墨畫，幾乎看不到前人的影子，雖然我是用細筆斷線，跟工筆畫還不一樣。用這樣的方式，我要找到一個水墨畫的絕對原創。與西方的畫又完全不同。”

以往中國水墨畫法中的一切忌諱，許雨仁全部把它們“變廢為寶”，為自己所用，成為自己獨特的招牌。

徹底回到畫畫的最原點。墨，紙，硯，筆雖然是古老的工具，但不把它們當作古老的元素，而看作一個基礎而現代的元素，就跟拿鉛筆，拿鋼筆一樣。許雨仁開始用幹筆、小筆畫點跟斷線。以往水墨的潑墨寫意全沒了。畫面上所有的東西都是點線面的結合。

同時，許雨仁非常善於利用反思考和逆向思維。傳統水墨架構都打翻：全部用以前水墨畫中摒棄的水平線、垂直線、三角形和立體形，儘量避開了傳統水墨的構圖。“如果回到傳統，又走不出來了。所以我就開始用幾何的想法來畫水墨。我一開始先從自己的內心世界開始畫，後來又加如了其他東西。”人發明的房子是方形的，圓形和三角型的，水紋是三角的，日月星辰的射線是直線，樹是細長方形的……所有的一切，都反其道而行之。許雨仁的作品，看縮小的印刷品，可能會覺得象素描，又有點象版畫，其實，看原作卻完全不同，一個個如同草履蟲一般的小點成為最小的單位，被畫家有機的安排在畫作上。

在畫畫的視點上，許雨仁不用西方的透視，也不太用中國傳統水墨的散點透視，而更看重物象之間的抽象關係。許雨仁畫畫的時候會看很多圖片和畫冊，有的時候甚至會擺很多奇奇怪怪的東西，這些東西能喚醒許雨仁記憶中感動的影子。一張水墨畫裏面，有的視點是從空中向下看的，有的是平視，有的帶有透視點，有時候視點是從地上向上看。許雨仁提到，留白能產生奇妙視點。“我會把所有的視點歸到留白裏面。一張畫裏面有很多視點，用留白來想旁邊的東西，靠直覺來畫。”許雨仁自嘲年紀大了，眼睛沒有以前那麼好，畫一會就得停下來休息。正是在休息時遠觀自己的水墨畫，又產生了新的想法。“往往這個時候會有變化，本來想這樣的，結果又想那樣了。有一種遊山玩水的感覺，仿佛遨遊天地間。” 許雨仁說在畫一幅畫面中不同部分的時候，就仿佛是從一個時空進入了另一個時空，“跟在大海裏浮潛有點象。從陸地一下進入了海裏，在海裏看水下面的繽紛世界”，從小生活在海邊的許雨仁用最熟悉的比喻來形容他作畫過程中的妙境。“我希望在一種遊戲的感覺中畫畫。我水墨畫面的空間是流動的、跳躍的，想把這幅畫畫得更特別。”許雨仁的水墨，畫面中的想法是交錯的。“我的內心有很多水墨原創的種子，我就播撒進畫中，讓它去生。”而他也在追求一種簡單的美感，想要那種留白的感覺，畫面雖然很乾淨簡單，但卻很豐富，有一種空間的蒙太奇的味道。正是基於這樣的特點，許雨仁的畫，每個部分切下來，再放大又會變成另一張畫。他水墨畫裏面的每一個點都是一個種子，每一部分都有獨立性。讓人很受啟發，“朋友們說我的畫能幫助他們產生某種想法。”

對“四”的觀念也是一樣。因為諧音的緣故，中國文化當中向來是很忌諱“四”這個數字的。很多公共的空間，比如旅館、樓層、車牌號碼都會避免用“四”。“四”就是“死”。 “我喜歡四，是因為死就是生。”在許雨仁的畫裏面，可以看到四塊石頭，四棵樹等等。四有時候代表畫家對人類對生態破壞污染的的一種感傷。“用筆把墨畫到絹上面，墨蹟乾了就是一個死亡的過程，但同時畫活了；畫完一幅畫是一個創意終結的過程，意味著畫家和畫關係的結束，但卻是作品與觀者交流的開始；我們中國把“四”理解成“死”， 印度的宗教書又認為四是一個“活”的東西；所以死和生都在向對方轉換，並不是一成不變的。”許雨仁看似對傳統反叛，其實，他對中國傳統文化中的陰陽轉換悟的很透。

創新，形式要跟內容相聯繫

但是，尋求創新的形式並不是為形式而形式。“水墨我做了很多年，也嘗試了很多種方式。藝術家用一種形式來表現，前提是這種形式跟內心的感覺要共鳴——原創的形式要跟內心的直覺結合，不可能憑空而來，一定有一個現實的原型，不能為形式而形式，這樣才不會被型所綁住。”創新的形式必須有現實基礎。藝術，只有對當代社會狀況有所反映才是有價值的。

談起創新細筆水墨形式上的改變跟中國的現狀息息相關。許雨仁從小生活在臺灣。在許雨仁小時候，臺灣還是一個農業社會。“鄉下人甚至打赤腳，不穿鞋，直到我上初中還是如此。”臺灣後來就開放了，到處蓋工廠，從農業化社會進入到工業化社會，污染也跟著進來。破壞從八十年代開始，臺灣碰到很嚴重的環境污染和亂墾，環境人為的破壞，靠海風災多，水災也多，情況越來越嚴重。接著又發生了臺灣921大地震。“以前沒有瞬間空間毀滅的感覺，我在美國打工，回到臺灣鄉下，海邊本來很乾淨，忽然變地到處都是垃圾。整個環境有很大的改變。環境瞬間的衝擊在古代的水墨中是沒有的，但是在現代，幾乎每天都會面臨這樣的問題。”

許雨仁在臺北念書的時候，看著那些名家的水墨畫就覺得是小時候記憶中的情景，畫中的山水都是那麼雅致，意韻深遠。許雨仁在思考，用傳統的方式畫水墨中的山水，其實是依靠回憶在畫水墨，因為臺灣的現狀早已不是如此了。污染不僅僅在臺灣，在大陸的狀況也一樣，甚至在全世界也一樣，是人類面臨的不可忽視的問題。許雨仁當時就考慮，要用水墨來畫出當代的環境和當代的生態。“我感覺水墨不應該只有一種畫法。一個原因是當下承襲的傳統水墨畫脫離現狀，只是簡單的遵循傳統，這其實是一種退步；另一個原因是，從傳統我肯定走不出來，因為幾千年累計的水墨的功力，形式上的能力，繪畫表達能力，都不及古人。古人都用毛筆寫字，整個環境也不一樣，人的心態也不一樣。我要尋找到屬於自己的原創。”於是，我們看到許雨仁目前創新細筆水墨作品中的“山水觀”：光禿禿的石山，幾乎沒有樹葉，排列著一些枯樹，不然就是水和石頭，水波和沙紋。石頭在中國水墨畫裏是最基本的一個典型代表，臺灣那個時候由於砍伐濫墾厲害，整個山都露出來，許雨仁以前做過測量的工作，特別關注山區的環境。“我記得當時去測量，發現整個山都變了。”他收集了臺灣地震的、亂墾的、污染的各種資料來畫他的“中國山水畫”。

古人生活的環境是農業化社會下、中國傳統文化的氛圍，讀經史子集，浸淫於儒家、道家和禪宗思想；今天中國已經進入工業化社會，我們也讀古書，學習古典，但現實生活已經完全不同，現在的社會是一個多緯度，多層面的經濟、政治、文化一體化的資訊社會裏，同時也面臨著很多現實的問題，僅僅簡單的回歸傳統，顯然是不夠的。

在許雨仁的畫裏面，充滿了對工業化、死亡的思考，他的水墨畫中雖然沒有人的痕跡，但是畫中的幾何形體，三角形的山，長條木塊似的枯樹，三角形的水紋處處留下了人為的痕跡。畫中被水泥堤圍住的海就像是籠中之獸，沒有樹的三角形的山與山的被開墾有關，四根枯木表達著對樹木砍伐後綠化造成破壞的傷感，三角形的水紋和水壩不無關係。可以說，許雨仁描繪了一幅自然世界在工業文明之後的遺跡——在工業化社會的污染之下，自然的死亡。許雨仁用水墨來描繪這個工業化之後的遺跡，以一種淡淡的傷感的筆調。而太陽、星星、月亮等星球所散發出來的直線的光芒卻是永恆的，他們的光輝，讓他的畫中有一絲希望之意。許雨仁從宇宙的高度來看待這個問題。萬物一瞬間，世界只是暫時的，所以才讓許雨仁不自覺的關注起一些永恆的意象，這裏面也帶著他對時間的思考。

發揚中間有傳承

大部分人認為許雨仁的畫是用針筆劃的，“其實我是用毛筆劃的，毛筆、硯、墨是中國很了不起的發明，用中國傳統繪畫工具創作，是西方人不能體會的。日本人用的很好，他們唐朝就延續用這個，現在日本重要的檔還是用毛筆磨墨來寫。中國的毛筆運用是很豐富的。”許雨仁對傳統的水墨充滿了感情。

儘管是畫被污染、被損害的世界，許雨仁的畫顯得很乾淨，又很簡單，能看到很透的山。為什麼把水墨畫這麼乾淨？許雨仁說現在要找到乾淨的東西很難。“我處理的很乾淨，用很絕對很單純的方式來展現一個複雜狀態的，我認為這是延續水墨的留白精神。” 中國畫講究留白，“用西方的話來說叫空間。我說的是空間的想法，不是空間的佈局。其實整個水墨都在講自然。”

許雨仁說，如果對中國書畫水墨的傳統文化有瞭解和深刻感受的話，看中國畫是回味的，很耐看。中國水墨表面上很雷同，但是又很細緻。在二十歲看是一種感覺，三十歲看又是一種感覺，七十歲看可能又變了。不象現在的作品，初看被SHOCK一下，多看就不太耐看，再看就什麼也沒有了。水墨是很特別的人類藝術創作的一支脈絡。“全世界所有的古文明，只有中國的水墨書畫沒斷過。全世界沒有一個藝術是這樣發展的。歐洲的油畫也有很多種形式，它不是單一的脈絡，而且在近代，整個形式都顛覆。中國畫山，畫石頭，畫花，幾前年為什麼有這麼多人這麼愛呢，那些人是瘋子嗎？不是的，是因為裏面有很多讓人感動的、微妙的，現代人不太瞭解的寶貴東西，人類手繪的很感動藝術。宋徽宗花鳥就很細緻，書法也很好。創新的同時也要吸收傳統的營養。很少有人去感受這種細緻的東西。雖然它很老，但是它永遠都不會死。幾千年都這樣，很奇妙。水墨裏面蘊涵了很多傳統哲學，以道家自然觀為主。”

中國水墨以前叫書畫，水墨和書畫是同源的。以往大部分人練習幾年書法然後再來畫畫，能畫的都能寫。現在把書法分裂出去了。書畫往往也與詩文相輔相成，或寓意，或象徵，充滿哲理，相得益彰。許雨仁秉承了這一特質，往往在他的水墨畫上寫他的詩文。比如，有一張畫海的水墨畫上就用他特有的字體就寫道：“海海流流不斷…只是形形體體浮浮淺淺，那暫時的…那暫時的…那暫時的…那暫時的…”意境很美。

甚至看畫的角度也不一樣，許雨仁說現在看西畫不太一樣，以前會用西方的美術觀點美術理論來看西畫，現在會用中國看畫的觀點、中國水墨的觀點來看。精神領域有些東西是相通的，雖然形式不一樣。

不過，中國水墨有很多固定的形式，在微妙的水墨的固定形式裏面做一些很大的改變，這是不容易的。“在固定的形式裏面，要達到一種創作，一種屬於你自己的東西，很難，所以才要打破這個框架。我不敢說秉承那麼多傳統，我是沒辦法回到那個時代。因為時代變了，我也得變。”

傳統的因循自然的生活方式

許雨仁最喜歡黃昏跟天亮這兩個時間，看著光線慢慢變亮或者變暗，那種流逝的感覺，讓時光變得很奇妙。房間中的一切光線都會隨著天光在變化。他也喜歡在黑暗中看東西。這跟小時候的生長環境和習慣有關係，不管在哪個地方，紐約、臺北或者北京，晚上都很少開燈，除非是要看書或是做事情。吃晚飯，也喜歡坐在外面吃，他戲言可以邊吃邊看星星。“這些自然的生活狀態，會影響我達到內觀，你會感到某種感動。我儘量不讓人創造的價值觀來束縛我自己，人在行為過程中累積的價值觀是對人最大的束縛。”

大部分人很少站在一種自然的價值觀來看自己。許雨仁常常想下輩子變成一棵樹多好，“站在那邊就可以不動了，它可以開花結果，死了就死了，人也是要死的。”這種中國的老莊哲學自然觀一直在他心裏，這與水墨的世界是一體的。“人漂泊多苦，樹長在石縫裏面多好，小小的；變成一隻鳥多好，可以到處飛；變成一塊石頭也好。傳統的意識形態來說還是要更達觀，要想得開。”

因為喜歡自然，許雨仁把兩個畫室都放在大自然的環境中。在陽明山國家森林公園後山有個畫室。“住在森林裏面畫畫的時候，我覺得自己就像古人在山中的茅屋裏畫畫一樣。買了這個房子以後我很是喜歡，這是一種精神與空間的連接，與外面自然世界的連接。人跟大自然的關係變的很近，溝通是隨時的。”當我問他一個人在山中是否會覺得與世隔絕，許雨仁說，有幾個藝術家朋友也住在那邊。“有幾個好的酒友，有一個關係特別好，做陶藝的，經常一起喝酒。”許雨仁喜歡喝酒的感覺，很豪爽，讓人完全放鬆，能看出一個人的特質。“酒其實是一個很好的朋友。嘗試著跟它處理好關係做很好的朋友，而不要被它所控制。達到某種放鬆的狀態，思考會更靈敏。”據說，當年許雨仁還跟古龍喝過三次酒，“古龍是很了不起的文人，雖然他寫的是武俠小說。他的性格也特別豪爽，這是中國黃河流域文化發展出來的很特殊的性格。”以酒會友，以茶會友，這種古已有之的方式一直被許雨仁所推崇。

小時侯在海邊長大的許雨仁也喜歡海灘和海島。他在臺灣東海岸花蓮，找了一個水泥房子作為畫室。上了畫室陽臺外面就是太平洋，整個寬的、平的、藍色的海洋。“臺灣是很窄小的，看東西老是被擋住，這邊的視野真的是太開闊了。臺灣的西海岸也可以看見海，可是西海岸沒那麼漂亮，東海岸很寬，而且山很陡，真的是靠山背海，一望無際。這是我在太平洋東海岸的一個落腳點，去感受海洋的寬闊和海水微妙的變化：日出的時候，太陽從東邊的海邊出來，海面千變萬化，幾分鐘就變了。到黃昏有起一些霧，海面上霧氣濛濛，那是一種很瞬間的變化。一天中變化多端，春夏秋冬又不一樣。”

曾經在美國待了好多年，打工賺錢，做過行銷，珠寶設計等等好多工作，畫畫一直沒有斷過。“以前沒有人買畫的時候，打工存錢再畫畫。”許雨仁就是這樣執著與畫畫。“打工的時候會寫雜記和筆記，很多感觸會寫下來，畫一些草圖，亂寫亂塗，做一些對自己創作的探討，一直沒有斷過。自我訓練是很重要的，為畫畫做積累。很多想法，不寫下來也就忘記了。寫下來就累計下來了。” 許雨仁稱自己的很多想法和創意是從“湖底下翻湧上來的陳年舊物”。 在積累的同時，雙子座的許雨仁也喜歡瞬間突現的想像力，認為只有盲目的衝動才會有藝術。“世界有很多門，你要慢慢開，要把它打破。”

許雨仁就在這種自我總結、自我訓練中提高，現在他的畫已經被很多海外的博物館和私人所收藏，價值不菲。

“我最近趕興趣的是把現實的空間移到天空，所謂的宇宙，我現在很感興趣。”可能在不久的將來，我們又將見到許雨仁那永不枯竭的想像力在水墨上的出色表現了吧。