Page 37 - Contenporary Ink Chinese Painting Nov 27 2017 Hong Kong

A lyrical and intimate study of beloved flowers, Liu Dan’s Narcissus is a poetic
contemplation on the universe delicately rendered in ink that holds a special place
in the artist’s heart. The seemingly simple and graceful composition – with slender
leaves and the cluster of flowers blooming from an elegant stem – is complemented
by calligraphy of poems and ancient verses about the narcissus flower, executed in the
artist’s fine hand. Exuding a luminous and glowing beauty, this portrait of narcissus
appears almost timeless with a spiritual intensity. It is no wonder that Liu Dan has
written in the note accompanying the painting addressed to Mrs Eleonora Volf that
“this piece is probably the best [flower painting] I have done so far.”

Painted in 2000, Narcissus belongs to the series of flower paintings that Liu Dan
began in the late 1990s when he was living in New York. In the catalogue of his solo
exhibition, Still Expression – Recent Flower Paintings by Liu Dan held at the Chinese
Porcelain Company in New York, the artist writes eloquently that “whether it is from a
life sketch or from a photograph, [the flowers’] shapes are formed initially in order ‘not
to forget.’ Now what has been painted has become the ‘remembered’.”

The flowers the artist encountered also bore witness to friendships: it was first in the
beautiful garden of Mrs Volf that Liu Dan found important inspiration for his flower
paintings. When Liu Dan visited one day, the narcissus was in bloom and she insisted
that the artist should paint the flower. An expression of gratitude for the inspiration,
this painting was dedicated to her as the beauty of the narcissus is now immortalised
and forever remembered. On a subsequent visit to Mrs Volf, Liu Dan was captivated
by the red poppies blossoming in her garden and immediately knew he had found the
ideal subject to paint.

In Narcissus, the memory of the flowers is created by Liu’s distillation of his subject matter
into a pure visual experience, one so beautiful that it becomes impossible to forget.
For blossoms are transient beings – and the flowers depicted by Liu Dan appear more
beautiful than in reality. One would never see the objects he paints the same way again,
but ponder over the complexity of things and the emotions they can unleash.

Liu Dan’s fascination with everyday objects allows him to explore the mystery and
uncertainty in their structure before decontexturalising them. For him, it is the
aesthetics that interests him: “What I strive to build or ‘restore’ is the relationship
between a painting’s fundamental elements. This relationship can be found
somewhere between a visual impression, an image and the concept of the microcosm.
I try to identity this relationship and endow it with an epic puissance through
brushwork.” In Narcissus, Liu Dan perfectly captures the elegance and vitality of the
narcissus flowers, resulting in an image that is at once monumental and intimate,
radiating a quiet energy.

劉丹寫的《水仙》精緻細膩地描繪了花卉盛開之美。畫中優雅流暢的線條寫出水仙
綽約的風姿，含蓄的花蕊以白粉渲染，舞動的葉以墨色表達，如吳帶當風，脫俗出
塵而不沾一絲渾濁。藝術家又摘錄古文典籍中寫凌波仙子的詩詞，以雋永小楷題於
畫上。作品中深遠靈動的意境，仿佛能讓觀者洞察箇中哲理。或許正因如此，劉丹
在隨畫贈予吳爾芙女士的信函中寫道：“這可能是我目前最滿意的花卉創作。”

《水仙》作於 2000 年，為劉丹自九十年代末期居紐約時開始創作以花為主題的
作品之一。2000 年時，中國瓷器公司在紐約為劉丹舉行花卉作品的個人展覽，劉
丹在展覽圖錄中寫道：“無論以素描寫生為原本，或以攝影為素材，用繪畫去捕
捉花開瞬間是為了不去遺忘，畫面定格之後才能銘記於心。”

在劉丹的藝術世界裡，記憶中含蕾待放的鮮花見證了不少珍貴的友誼。《水仙》
為友人吳爾芙女士而作。她是愛花之人，家中的花園芳香四溢，花色迷人；一天
劉丹前往探訪時，恰好遇見盛開的水仙，被其清香雅氣深深吸引。吳爾芙女士遂
鼓勵劉丹以筆墨，將水仙盛開之姿畫於紙上，因而能將花之美永恆保存下來。劉
丹作《水仙》，正是為了感謝友人花園給他帶來的靈感。劉丹鍾愛紅罌粟，吳爾
芙女士花園中綻放的罌粟花亦令他深深著迷，成為了劉丹藝術創作的靈感源泉。

在《水仙》中，劉丹將印象中花卉之美提煉成純粹的視覺體驗，水仙之美令人難
以忘懷。花開花落雖是人間常事，但劉丹筆下展現的的水仙比肉眼所見的更美。
觀者因而不能再用同樣的眼光去看待事物，而對日常生活中的物體刮目相看，將
花卉轉化成空靈的幻想，神遊其中。

劉丹著迷於日常事物內含的神秘感與不確定性，筆墨之間將物體從它們的環境中
脫離。劉丹曾言：“我的興趣始終是在美學上的，我要建立的或也可以說要復活的，
是一種內結構中的根本關係。它介於感官印象、形象和微觀的概念之間。找到它，
並通過筆墨的手段，使其具有史詩般的張力。”《水仙》精準地展現了花卉的風
姿神韻，描繪細緻入微之餘又似宇宙浩瀚深遠，直達內在的精神國度。

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