Su Meng-Hung, Desolate Landscape on the Golden Screens 蘇孟鴻，殘山剩水鬧金屏
／Essay by Barbara Pollack 芭芭拉・波洛克撰文
Contemporary artist Su Meng-Hung explores cross-cultural conversations with his magnificent installation, Desolate Landscape on the Golden Screens. These sumptuous works—part painting, part sculpture—incorporate Chinoiserie, lacquerware, silk screens, and Andy Warhol. Taken together, they create a maze that steers viewers through an investigation of the art histories of China, Taiwan and global contemporary art.
It is not surprising that Su Meng-Hung has studied these histories in depth. Born in Taiwan in 1976 to a family that has resided there for generations, Su studied art at National Changhua University of Education and worked for five years as a high school teacher before taking a loan to attend Goldsmiths College in London at the age of 30. He received his PhD from the Tainan National University of the Arts. Throughout his career, Su Meng-Hung has uncovered new layers to the East-meets-West metaphor applied to too many Asian artists. He is particularly concerned with terms like “Oriental,” “authenticity,” and “exotic” that underlie western expectations, but also have been internalized by artists in acts of self-orientalization.
Every aspect of Su’s art-making practice incorporates historic references and cultural idioms. From a distance, the screens appear to have the marbled surface of mother-of-pearl inlay. Up close, they reveal well-known patterns silk-screened onto canvas covered wood planks. He then sands the surface until it is as smooth and reflective as a mirror, an effective imitation of lacquer ware.
當代藝術家蘇孟鴻以其壯麗的裝置作品《殘山剩水鬧金屏》探索跨文化對話的可能。這些結合繪畫與雕塑的作品融合了中國風（Chinoiserie）、漆器、絹印與安迪・沃荷的語彙，共同構築出一座迷宮，引導觀者穿梭於中國、台灣與全球當代藝術史的脈絡之中。
蘇孟鴻對這些藝術史的深入研究並不令人意外。他於1976年出生於一個世代定居於台灣的家庭，畢業於國立彰化師範大學，曾任高中教師五年。三十歲時，他貸款赴倫敦大學金匠學院進修，後於台南藝術大學取得博士學位。在他的藝術實踐中，他不斷揭示「東西交會」這一對亞洲藝術家常見的比喻之下潛藏的複雜層次。他特別關注「東方」、「真實性」、「異國情調」等語彙，這些原本來自西方凝視的術語，如今也被部分亞洲藝術家內化，轉化為一種自我東方化的行為。
蘇孟鴻的創作實踐處處可見歷史脈絡與文化語彙的交織。遠觀下，他的屏風作品仿若螺鈿的光滑紋理；近看則可見以絹印方式印製於畫布包覆的木板上的各式圖樣。他再以反覆打磨工序，將其拋光至如鏡面般光滑閃耀，精準模擬出漆器的效果。
It is not surprising that Su Meng-Hung has studied these histories in depth. Born in Taiwan in 1976 to a family that has resided there for generations, Su studied art at National Changhua University of Education and worked for five years as a high school teacher before taking a loan to attend Goldsmiths College in London at the age of 30. He received his PhD from the Tainan National University of the Arts. Throughout his career, Su Meng-Hung has uncovered new layers to the East-meets-West metaphor applied to too many Asian artists. He is particularly concerned with terms like “Oriental,” “authenticity,” and “exotic” that underlie western expectations, but also have been internalized by artists in acts of self-orientalization.
Every aspect of Su’s art-making practice incorporates historic references and cultural idioms. From a distance, the screens appear to have the marbled surface of mother-of-pearl inlay. Up close, they reveal well-known patterns silk-screened onto canvas covered wood planks. He then sands the surface until it is as smooth and reflective as a mirror, an effective imitation of lacquer ware.
當代藝術家蘇孟鴻以其壯麗的裝置作品《殘山剩水鬧金屏》探索跨文化對話的可能。這些結合繪畫與雕塑的作品融合了中國風（Chinoiserie）、漆器、絹印與安迪・沃荷的語彙，共同構築出一座迷宮，引導觀者穿梭於中國、台灣與全球當代藝術史的脈絡之中。
蘇孟鴻對這些藝術史的深入研究並不令人意外。他於1976年出生於一個世代定居於台灣的家庭，畢業於國立彰化師範大學，曾任高中教師五年。三十歲時，他貸款赴倫敦大學金匠學院進修，後於台南藝術大學取得博士學位。在他的藝術實踐中，他不斷揭示「東西交會」這一對亞洲藝術家常見的比喻之下潛藏的複雜層次。他特別關注「東方」、「真實性」、「異國情調」等語彙，這些原本來自西方凝視的術語，如今也被部分亞洲藝術家內化，轉化為一種自我東方化的行為。
蘇孟鴻的創作實踐處處可見歷史脈絡與文化語彙的交織。遠觀下，他的屏風作品仿若螺鈿的光滑紋理；近看則可見以絹印方式印製於畫布包覆的木板上的各式圖樣。他再以反覆打磨工序，將其拋光至如鏡面般光滑閃耀，精準模擬出漆器的效果。
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Su appropriates the illustrations from three well-known books--The Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden, Dream of the Red Chamber, and The Golden Lotus–combining the innocent trope of bird-and-flower painting with the suggestive couplings of classic erotica. Su is fascinated by the way his chosen imagery, once revered, is now recycled into kitsch. For example, the bird-and-flower motif, found on paintings in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, were once incorporated into Chinoiserie produced for western consumers and are now best known in Taiwan as decorations for wedding ceremonies and shop windows. This two-sided popularity fascinates the artist.
In fact, Su Meng-Hung’s first engagement of bird-and-flower paintings was the work of Giuseppe Castiglione, an 18th century Italian Jesuit brother and missionary in China, where he served as an artist at the imperial court of three Qing emperors. Castiglione is credited with introducing the concept of perspective to the iconography of ink-and-wash paintings. The fact that cross-pollination between Asian and western cultures has been taking place for centuries inspired the young Taiwanese artist to consider what he can add to this tradition. It is also a fact that Su did not encounter screens growing up in Taiwan, no one in his workers’ family would have one in their home. He first saw one in a Coco Chanel’s Coromandel lacquer-ware screens through a photograph of her apartment in Paris. Once again, a product of design intended for a western audience, awakened Su to the potential beauty of “inauthentic” artworks.
他擷取三本知名書籍的圖像——《芥子園畫譜》、《紅樓夢》與《金瓶梅》——將花鳥畫的清雅意象與古典情色圖像中的曖昧身體交織同構。蘇孟鴻對於這些曾被視為典雅的圖像，如今淪為庸俗再製品，深感興趣。例如，在台灣國立故宮博物院中可見的花鳥圖樣，曾被用於外銷中國風裝飾品，如今在台灣則常見於婚禮布置與商業櫥窗，這種文化價值的雙面性令他著迷。
事實上，蘇孟鴻最初對花鳥畫產生興趣，是因為18世紀義大利耶穌會修士郎世寧的作品。他曾任清朝三代皇帝的宮廷畫師，被認為是將透視概念引入中國水墨畫的先驅。這段跨文化交流的歷史啟發了蘇孟鴻思考：他能為這個傳統貢獻什麼？同時，蘇孟鴻也坦言，在他成長的工人家庭中從未出現過屏風這類物件。他第一次看到這樣的屏風，是透過一張 Coco Chanel 巴黎寓所中的烏木屏風照片。這件為西方觀眾設計的裝飾品，反而讓他重新思索「不正統之美」的可能性。
In fact, Su Meng-Hung’s first engagement of bird-and-flower paintings was the work of Giuseppe Castiglione, an 18th century Italian Jesuit brother and missionary in China, where he served as an artist at the imperial court of three Qing emperors. Castiglione is credited with introducing the concept of perspective to the iconography of ink-and-wash paintings. The fact that cross-pollination between Asian and western cultures has been taking place for centuries inspired the young Taiwanese artist to consider what he can add to this tradition. It is also a fact that Su did not encounter screens growing up in Taiwan, no one in his workers’ family would have one in their home. He first saw one in a Coco Chanel’s Coromandel lacquer-ware screens through a photograph of her apartment in Paris. Once again, a product of design intended for a western audience, awakened Su to the potential beauty of “inauthentic” artworks.
他擷取三本知名書籍的圖像——《芥子園畫譜》、《紅樓夢》與《金瓶梅》——將花鳥畫的清雅意象與古典情色圖像中的曖昧身體交織同構。蘇孟鴻對於這些曾被視為典雅的圖像，如今淪為庸俗再製品，深感興趣。例如，在台灣國立故宮博物院中可見的花鳥圖樣，曾被用於外銷中國風裝飾品，如今在台灣則常見於婚禮布置與商業櫥窗，這種文化價值的雙面性令他著迷。
事實上，蘇孟鴻最初對花鳥畫產生興趣，是因為18世紀義大利耶穌會修士郎世寧的作品。他曾任清朝三代皇帝的宮廷畫師，被認為是將透視概念引入中國水墨畫的先驅。這段跨文化交流的歷史啟發了蘇孟鴻思考：他能為這個傳統貢獻什麼？同時，蘇孟鴻也坦言，在他成長的工人家庭中從未出現過屏風這類物件。他第一次看到這樣的屏風，是透過一張 Coco Chanel 巴黎寓所中的烏木屏風照片。這件為西方觀眾設計的裝飾品，反而讓他重新思索「不正統之美」的可能性。
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While stunningly beautiful, this art practice is also highly conceptual, raising the question, “What is authentic Taiwanese art?” The Taipei National Palace Museum displays the premiere works of a Chinese culture brought by the Kuomintang government. The colonial legacies of Japan, Spain, and the Netherlands are also influential. There’s also the indigenous cultures preceding them. “All together they form a multifaceted cultural archive that Taiwanese artists draw upon to redefine themselves,” according to Su Meng-Hung’s writings. He also adds in the legacy of Chinoisere (produced for trade with foreigners) and modern ideas of contemporary art introduced to Taiwan since WWIl.
Su captures these layers of history in his process itself, but also is aware of his own engagement with “self-exoticism,” manipulating materials to raise the intrigue and mystery associated with Asian art. He likes to point out that he himself is not painting at all, merely scraping colors through silkscreens without using a brush. His labor-intensive process then involves sanding the surface, literally erasing layers of culture, then coating the surface and sanding again until he achieves the surface he desires. His body is literally in the work, his movements back-and-forth incorporated into the making. Su is aware that in addition to the history of the imagery, the history of craftsmanship is equally important. Combining imagery and abstraction, mass production and touch, craft and concept, this artist works for and achieves a powerful statement about the fractured nature of identity in a post-global world. 儘管其作品在形式上極為精美，蘇孟鴻的創作同時也富有高度觀念性，他提出一個核心問題：「什麼是道地的台灣藝術？」台北故宮展示的是隨國民黨來台的中國文化精粹；台灣同時也承載著日本、西班牙、荷蘭等殖民遺緒，以及更早之前的原住民族文化。蘇孟鴻在其著作中指出：「這些元素共同構成一座多面向的文化資料庫，供台灣藝術家從中取材，進而重塑自我認同。」此外，他亦納入中國風（Chinoiserie）藝術與戰後當代藝術觀念的傳入作為思考素材。 蘇孟鴻不僅透過創作工序反映歷史的層層堆疊，也清楚意識到自己在進行一種「自我異國化」，透過操控材料來強化亞洲藝術常被賦予的神秘感。他時常指出，自己其實並未「作畫」，而是透過絹印技術將色彩壓印於畫面之上，再以徒手打磨來修飾細節。這樣的高強度勞動過程，如同抹去文化的一層層積累，再重新建構一個新表面。他的身體勞動直接參與作品製作——來回打磨的動作即為其痕跡。他深知，除了圖像背後的歷史，工藝的歷史同樣不可忽視。在圖像與抽象、大量生產與手工製作、工藝與觀念之間，他建立出一種有力語言，道出全球化後身份認同的破碎現實。 |
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In this way, Su reimagines the traditional folding screen as both high art and commodity, literati culture and kitsch. The vibrant colors revealed beneath the ebony surface can be examined and reexamined on each viewing or can be taken in as whole from a distance. This builds to a multifaceted experience of art, akin to a multimedia environment or a spectacle achieved through digital means. Su acknowledges that people are completely “screen-obsessed” including laptops, monitors, iPhones and IMAX, without even thinking of an art encounter with multipaneled furniture or painted silkscreens. From screens to screens to screens, Su literally updates the act of viewing from early history to the present-day without missing a beat.
透過這樣的實踐，蘇孟鴻重新想像了傳統屏風：既是高雅藝術也是商品、既是文人品味也是庸俗裝飾。他以黑色為底的層層結構中蘊藏的鮮豔色彩，引導觀眾在每次觀看中重新發現細節，也可遠觀整體色塊。這種觀看經驗多層並置，猶如數位時代的多媒體場景或視覺奇觀。他也指出，當代人對各種「螢幕」幾乎成癮——從筆電、顯示器、手機到IMAX，卻鮮少意識到屏風或絹印繪畫也是觀看文化的一部分。從古代屏風到今日數位顯示，他無縫連結過去與現在的觀看經驗。 Do not be distracted by Su Meng-Hung’s craftsmanship when viewing these magnificent artworks, his folding screens. The works are stunning, but elevating the craft over concept only diminishes the impact and meaning, just as western viewers have exoticized Asian art for centuries. Try to open the mind to the ways that Su is deconstructing that history and at the same time, sharing with us the pressures to “self-exoticize” , to become an “Asian artist” instead of being himself. He is undeniably an international artist, presenting important insights into the way culture is produced and reproduced. Desolate Landscape on the Golden Screens is a significant contribution to this discussion and a major achievement for the artist. 觀賞蘇孟鴻的屏風作品時，請不要只被其工藝之美所吸引。這些作品固然令人驚豔，但若將「工藝」凌駕於「觀念」之上，反而會削弱作品的文化意義，就如同西方觀眾數世紀以來對亞洲藝術的異國化凝視。請打開思維，理解蘇孟鴻如何解構這段歷史，同時向我們揭示亞洲藝術家「自我異國化」的壓力。他無疑是一位國際型藝術家，為我們提供了文化如何生成與再製的重要洞見。《殘山剩水鬧金屏》正是對這場文化討論的深刻回應，也是藝術家重要的創作成就。 |
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