三十年来，李义弘先生崭露头角于画坛。义弘的画历过程与众多的台湾画家大同小异，大学里奠基了专业的书画训练，毕业后作为一个美术教师，创作之外，更潜沉于摄影，又从学于江兆申先生，领略了文人传统意蕴，一出世就以章法布局、情境经营取胜，画境清新，骚动画坛。

　　此番画境又是如何：石头物语、华岩自芳、寂树独白、乘兴书写，这等等的题材。画是形形色色组成的总体，这一番天地里的形形色色，如何呈现出画境?山川不能言，画家才能言之。形从何来?色何所据?画面的形形色色，又是如何传达出画境?「乘兴书写」之外，总离不开具体景物，来自眼之所见，画家的本事就是入眼者就可以凭手画出，移来眼前。画题如或摹状嶙峋怪石的〈立雾溪白玉纹面〉;或描绘群木槎枒的〈玉山道中〉;或花熏隐约的〈晨雾〉;或欢乐华丽的〈春喜〉。这些画题着眼，固然有如一般的寻幽探胜，而同样的幽胜，李义弘却造出景物有境。

　　这一「境」，来自他个人独自的「眼光」。一方面是画家的眼，一方面又有摄影机的眼。摄影机的功能可以扩充眼界，义弘是此道高手，「摄影」意念所捕捉的光影，就幻化成另一番肉眼未经意的奇境，带给新的画意。中国画的设色观念，尽管六世纪谢赫的「画有六法」就提出︰「随类赋彩」，然而「随类赋彩」之下，并没有再进一步指出，色彩是随光而来的变化。十七世纪初期，来华传教的利玛窦，携进欧洲油画，国人一见，讶异赞美。利玛窦说了︰「中国画，但画阳，不画阴。」这直指光的关键所在。如何阴阳相生，画史里也曾有不少名家尝试，然而总被似者似矣逊古格，不入雅赏，也就无法转移画风的主流。对于二十世纪以来，既然东西的交流更直接密切，毕竟生活中是有光有影，现代汉文化地区的画家对光影的处理，与其是如老祖宗的知而不理，还不如是成为一种旧知新韵。

　　山光、水色、云影、乃至树石的本质感，阳光下画面上，如何调理?义弘既能投注于现实的摄影「真」趣，而又能将之升华雅化。〈立雾溪壁白石〉一大片的黑中白、灰中白，它是呈现阳光耀眼;〈立雾溪峡壁〉则是一派流光漱石;〈立雾溪绝壁〉是白光乍现，照见一角。〈海石烈日〉是云移日来，都是运用墨的对比。〈六月艳阳〉与〈云水千里〉是青空与蓝水相映，呈现了有光有色的爽朗感;〈春喜〉彩绘粲然，花饱满放，金黄恰如太阳的明亮焕发。这都是光带来的新视界。这一些景象，也都是镜影里一窗框的剪裁，正如南宋取景的一边一隅，容易聚焦于一眼之间，醒目之际也就俨然处在人间世。作品中标题许多是实地实景写生的，大都可做如此观。如〈立雾溪的白石〉就是照像机下的的近景特写。如〈石门风棱石〉，画海滨石滩，层层推远，近者迭迭墨块，且远且小，却见浮光耀曜于水中分。

　　山水造景，可简可繁，端看其所要表现者，〈石头十六物语〉，掇拾溪涧乱石，石的造形，墨痕和青，是不规则的块块简约平涂，超脱原来皴法的规范，这已然是单纯的墨象化;相对者，〈华岩1〉〈华岩2〉，用拓印石纹，影象转印，但见岩壁如经千凿万刮，复又以水墨层迭渲染，刻画的自然景观，流露出半抽象单纯质朴的版印画意，这是不辞其繁。繁简殊途，石黑暗暗，水白茫茫，手法却是同样的「执黑守白」。「执黑守白」的另一项极致发挥，就是「乘兴书写抽象」。用「书写」两字，当是掌握到毛笔时，一份挥洒意念，「率意」出了纵肆飞逸的笔画，正斜交错中，进入抽象表现画的布局，墨色与笔画共舞，产生强烈的交响声韵，宛如生命力量的宣泄。若〈八连溪的春天〉与〈夏日〉，再如〈玉山道中〉，明晦阴晴见之于色彩，而枝干交糺，何尝不是又一番的「乘兴书写」气派。

　　诗人与画家同等地置身于天地间，对共同见闻的人事物，阐扬个人主观的性情与观点，在创作的精神上，原本就有彼此交融的地方。李义弘画中笔墨的锤炼，来自传统，布景措思参用摄影。山川之体，呈现的是理性的形象，画境的传达，往往如王维的「空山不见人」、「日色冷青松」。山川之质，反而是幽深冷冽，又引领入超现实的梦境。说这是一份诗意也未尝不可。

　　After a career spanning three decades, Mr. Li Yihong has made a name for himself on the art scene. Yihong share the same experiences as most Taiwanese painters, except for a few differences. He studied Chinese painting and calligraphy at college and became an art teacher after graduation. Aside from creating paintings, he worked with photography and continued his study of Chinese painting, following master Mr. Jiang Zhao-shen. With a strong grasp of traditional literati spirit, Li has displayed special talent for composition and atmosphere, and his refreshing imagery is an inspiration to both artists and audience.

　　What are the subjects and images presented in Li’s paintings? There are stories of stones, mountains, lonely trees, or free style writing. Paintings are composed of forms and colors. So, how do artists create their subjects and images out of the forms and colors of the universe? Where do we find ‘form’, how do we see ‘color’? How can forms and colors express the subject and image?

　　In Li’s ‘Free Style Writing with High Spirits’, vivid features emerge and become apparent. That is the skill of an artist - catching a scene on paper. We see this in the rugged rocks in ‘White Stone Patterns of Liwu River’, the trees in ‘On the Jade Mountain Trail’, the scented flowers, vaguely felt in ‘Morning Mist’, or the joyous, beautiful scenery depicted in ‘Spring Surprise’. In these paintings, Li Yihong did not just explore gorgeous sceneries, but also the atmosphere of it.

　　The atmosphere is created by Li’s own ‘vision’, caught by the artistic eye or through a camera lens. In photography, an idea is captured in light and shadow and transformed into a new medium. Li Yihong is a master of bringing this art into Chinese painting. In his ‘Six Methods in Painting’, Xiehe, a 6th Century art theorist, advised artists only to 'use the color according to the assigned object’. This point, however, says little about the influence of light and shadow on color.

　　In the early 17th Century, the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci came to China for a missionary expedition and he brought with him some oil paintings from Europe, the quality of which astonished the Chinese. Ricci commented that, “In Chinese paintings, there are only lights, no shadows.” That is, ‘light’ as the key element was missing.

　　In the history of Chinese painting, only a few artists tried to introduce the play of light and shadow. The results were deemed amateurish and were never accepted into the mainstream of Chinese art.

　　Since the 20th Century, with direct and close cultural exchange between East and West, artists of modern Chinese painting have found inspiration to deal the existence of light in a new way. Instead of ignoring the fact like the old masters, they have turned light into a new idea.

　　How does an artist deal with lights in the mountains, reflections on the water, the shadows of clouds, and the texture of wood and stones? Li focused on reflecting reality and transforming images. For example, in ‘White Cliff Stone on Liwu River’ a big area of white in black or grey shows bright sunlight, Movement and reflections of sunlight cast on rocks and water is found in ‘Liwu River Gorge’, and in ‘Liwu River Cliff’ a sharp ray of sunlight light up a corner. There are movement of clouds and sun in ‘Sea, Stones and Blazing Sun’. In all these works Li makes use of the contrasting shades of ink. The ‘Sunny June’ and ‘Thousands Miles of Clouds and Water’ are fine examples of light and color used to depict the interaction between sunny skies and blue water, and in ‘Spring Surprises’, the saturated colors of the blossoming flowers, are shining as the golden sun.

　　These works show the new vision that light has opened for Chinese painting. The scenes are chosen through the camera lens, like in the composition of a Southern Song painting where a glimpse or a detail of a scene is made to represent a whole landscape. Many of his landscapes, sketched from nature, can be viewed this way. ‘The White Stone of Liwu River’ depicts this close-up view taken from the camera. In ‘Shimen Windkanter’, Li painted piles of ink blocks to show the coastal rocks in front, and piled up with smaller rocks as the perspective moves into distance. In between, there are reflections on the water.

　　A landscape painting can be simple or intricate, depending on the artist. In ‘The Story of Sixteen Stones’, Li painted irregular shapes with an even brush, which broke with traditional ‘cun’ strokes applied on rocks and stones. In ‘Mountain Rocks I’ and ‘Mountain Rocks II’, however, Li used a different approach. First he got the rock patterns from stone rubbing, then he applied thousands of strokes - like scraping the surface – and, finally, he added several layers of ink paint on top to achieve a natural, yet abstract image.

　　Whether intricate or simple in composition, the images of dark black stones and vast white waters are formed by the balance of black and white. One of the fine examples of controlling the balance between black and white is ‘Free Style Writing with High Spirits’. In ‘writing’, one has to lead the brush – to balance will and spirited intuition. The crossed strokes then become the rendering of an abstract expressionist painting, a dancing image, in which colored inks will join. These elements create a symphony, giving form to our strong life force. Good examples of this ‘free style writing’ can be observed in ‘The Spring of Balian River’, ‘Summer Days’, and ‘On the Jade Mountain Trail’.

　　Poet and painter are both creators in the world. They express subjective views and individual temperament in their works. In terms of creative spirits, they share things in common. Li Yihong’s painting strokes have their origin in tradition, while his approach to composition is influenced by photography. The rational nature of Li’s landscape images express an atmosphere described in the poetry of Wang Wei: “There seems to be no one on the empty mountain... (and yet I think I hear a voice)”, “The sun is tempered by green pines...” Li Yihong transformed the nature of the landscape into a surreal dream, a poetic world.

作者：王耀庭