CONTENTS

 
  THE FALL OF A GREY WHALE— In Memory of the 20th Century 灰鯨落海──悼二十世紀
   By Hsia Ching 夏菁
   Translated by C. W. WANG 王季文
 
  SHILIN NIGHT MARKET 士林夜市
   By Duo Sui 朵思
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  ETERNAL BED—SEX VIDEO UNEARTHED
永恆的床──出土的A片

   By Bai Ling 白靈
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  CROSSING CHIHSIEN THIRD ROAD 過七賢三路
   By Jiao Tong 焦桐
   Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  THE MOTORCYCLE 機車
   By SUN Wei-min 孫維民
   Translated by the poet
 
  TRAFFIC COLLISION 車禍
   By Ko-Hua CHEN 陳克華
   Translated by Patrick CARR 柯英華
 
  A TREE’S NAME 一棵樹的名字
   By Ko-Hua CHEN 陳克華
   Translated by Patrick CARR 柯英華
 
  INVOCATIONS咒
   By Lu Pin 鹿苹
   Translated by Zona Yi-ping TSOU 鄒怡平
 
  THAT ONE那個人
   By Lu Pin 鹿苹
   Translated by Zona Yi-ping TSOU 鄒怡平
 
  THE RESTLESS ROOM無法靜止的房間
   By CHEN Wan-Chien 陳宛茜
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
 

MY CLASSMATES 同學們
   By Ah Sheng 阿盛
   Translated by Darryl STERK 石岱崙

 
  AH! THE BYGONES 啊,流年
   By Yi-Ting LEE 李儀婷
   Translated by Patty Pei-Jung LEE 李佩蓉
 
  HAVE YOU BID FAREWELL? 你道別了嗎?
   By LIN Tai Man 林黛嫚
   Translated by Danny Hsin-yueh LIN 林心嶽
 
  NANA 娜娜
   By YUAN Chiung-chiung 袁瓊瓊
   Translated by Michelle M. WU 吳敏嘉
 
  FIELDS OF TASSELGRASS 粗坑的菅芒
   By Kun-liang CHIU 邱坤良
   Translated by Chris Wen-Chao LI 李文肇
 
  TEMPER AND METAMORPHOSIS— A Painter’s True Colors 淬鍊與蛻變──畫者的真容
   By TU Chung-Kao 杜忠誥
   Translated by Gen-sheng DONG 董更生
 
  STANDSTILL AND OBSERVE THE UNIVERSE— On Mei-Yu’s Bamboo and Sparrows and The Lotus
靜觀萬物─ 談簡美育的《竹雀圖》與《芙蕖圖》
   By Shou-chien SHIH 石守謙
   Translated by Gen-sheng DONG 董更生
 
  NEW BOOKS BY TAIPEI CHINESE PEN MEMBERS 會員新書
 
  NEWS & EVENTS 文化活動
   Compiled by Sarah Jen-hui HSIANG 項人慧
 
  NOTES ON AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS
作者與譯者簡介
 
  APPENDIX : CHINESE ORIGINALS 附錄 :中文原著
 
  WHITE LOTUS 白荷,
color on silk, 38 × 40 cm, 1999 .........................Cover
 
 

BELL FLOWER 鐘花, color on silk, 40 × 38 cm, 1999 .............................................................Back Cover
   By CHIEN Mei-Yu 簡美育

 

Shou-chien SHIH 石守謙

STANDSTILL AND OBSERVE THE UNIVERSE
On Mei-Yu’s Bamboo and Sparrows and The Lotus
靜觀萬物──談簡美育的《竹雀圖》與《芙蕖圖》*

Translated by Gen-sheng DONG 董更生


  There are those who love flowers but never plant flowers, love birds but do not raise birds. They treasure life, as life is short, whereas art is forever. Miss Chien Mei-Yu 簡美育is like this. She would rather paint to show her world of flowers and birds. For her, it is not an imitation of real flowers and birds but rather her life’s passion. To carry out this passion, she observes every detail of nature carefully in order to understand its true meaning. Her style has evolved in the past twenty years. Bamboo and Sparrows《竹雀圖》and The Lotus《芙蕖圖》are

Detail of Bamboo and Sparrows 竹雀圖, color on silk, 2001

current works. It has been a long process including both the development of her style and her efforts to understand nature which culminated in her recent paintings. It is very difficult to appreciate the hardship she has endured but you can feel it when you view these two paintings.
  Bamboo and sparrows are not an unusual theme in Chinese painting. We can find them often in ancient paintings. But it’s worth pondering how a painter handles the relationship between them. First, to choose the number, single or plural. It may sound simple but often implies different ways of presentation. A single bird connotes solitude, two implies a relationship, while a flock will show the rich and fluid vigorousness of a flock. The same is with bamboo. A lone stalk of bamboo shows aloofness, but a lot of bamboo will show its complicated changes. Bamboo and sparrows mixed under these changes both restricted and show their fluidity. In the long history of Chinese painting, a pattern appeared in the 12th century, when Emperor Huizong 宋徽宗of the Song Dynasty painted The Bamboo and the Bird 《竹禽圖》. Another is The Plum and Bamboo Together with the Birds《梅竹聚禽》in the collection of the National Palace Museum. Pine, Bamboo and Plum and a Hundred Birds《三友 百禽》of the 15th century basically follow this pattern and show a rich and brisk nature. Though it is a palace painting, it however depicts outdoor scenery and a thirst for life outside the palace walls. Bamboo and Sparrows of Chien Mei-Yu is similar to Plum and Bamboo Together with the Birds and Pine, Bamboo and Plum and a Hundred Birds and we may be able to appreciate her real meaning better by viewing them together.
  The painting of Bamboo and Sparrows is longer than two meters and its traverse layout has a more modern feel, as numerous birds gather in all kinds of positions. Mei-Yu deliberately made them all different, to show her ability to describe and to glorify an ever-changing nature. But in ancient paintings, showing different birds, bamboo and trees are carefully limited. However, Bamboo and Sparrows displays the entire bamboo forest and an entire flock of birds, so that the birds mix into the bamboo forest. This wide-angle view was Mei-Yu’s microscopic observation of nature, but she did not sacrifice a detailed description of nature. This painting takes heart in the bamboo leaves being interlaced and the birds stay, feed and play in it. The entire painting is extremely detailed, but the most trouble taken was in the multi-layer fine-tone color which makes the details fade into the surrounding background. The effect is entirely different from Plum and Bamboo Together with the Birds, which emphasizes the birds. As for Pine, Bamboo and Plum and a Hundred Birds the grasp of detail in the birds manifests the painter’s ability to be restrained. The birds have to be examined very carefully though. The clamor and flaunt disappear, and insipidity and harmony set in.
  Introducing this observation to form the relationship of the bamboo and birds is basically understanding of them. The painter neither repeats ancient painters’ themes nor refrains from existing wilderness. Bamboo and Sparrows present not merely a

Detail of Bamboo and Sparrows 竹雀圖, color on silk, 2001

  beautiful bamboo forest,. . .

From Chien Mei-Yu’s 簡美育 Ching-kuan: Chien Mei-Yu tsuo-pin-ch i《靜觀: 簡美育作品集》(Contemplation: Works by Chien Mei-Yu), Taipei: National Museum of History, 2004, 8-13.


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