每次旅程從飛機(jī)的窗口往外望，看著延綿無盡的云海，心中總是有份寧靜平和的感覺，這份安逸隨著云朵形狀的變化，以至不斷延伸，容易讓我跌入胡思亂想的空間，眼前的藍(lán)天白云，時而幻化成一只巨獸的剪影，不消片刻，隨著視野的移動而變成一副慈祥的面孔，這種轉(zhuǎn)眼即逝、無窮無盡不斷變化的形象，是視覺上難得的愉快經(jīng)歷，更多的時候，看著看著便入了夢鄉(xiāng)，從真實的浮光掠影掉入夢中更廣闊的思想世界。這種感受，在日常生活中難以接觸到，而看百強(qiáng)的繪畫，能讓我頃刻找到這份熟悉的感覺，那份沒始沒終，似斷未斷的感覺特別令我著迷 。
要怎樣形容百強(qiáng)(fortes Sequeira )？他是澳門歷史和文化下制造出來的中西融合“產(chǎn)物”，亦即我們說的“土生仔”(中葡混血兒)，他們大多會說中、葡雙語，但不一定懂得同時看或?qū)懫渲幸环秸Z言，他們很多會有個傳統(tǒng)、頗長的葡文名字，那百強(qiáng)是否姓“百”？查明原來他姓“施(Sequeira)”，只是政府相關(guān)發(fā)證部門胡里胡涂將他的姓氏拿掉，自此他的身份證上只有一個像藝名一樣的名字：百強(qiáng)。主要還是因為歷史原因與時代的問題，百強(qiáng)與很多土生仔一樣，都曾嘗試過反叛的壞孩子生活，家庭的影響亦曾讓他有過自暴自棄的時候，幸而浪子回頭，進(jìn)入設(shè)計的大學(xué)課程，讓他體內(nèi)早已潛藏的創(chuàng)作基因得以重新復(fù)活，百強(qiáng)的創(chuàng)作范疇甚廣，是年青搖滾樂隊“刃記”的主音歌手，從他在臺上痛快淋漓的表演，很難想象他在臺下如何能那么冷靜與揮灑自如地繪畫創(chuàng)作。
這次“翻墻——百強(qiáng)現(xiàn)場繪畫展”是北京全藝社自零八年底開幕至今，舉辦的首個藝術(shù)家個人作品展，也是首個駐場藝術(shù)家計劃的展覽，全藝社一直期望透過北京的平臺，鼓勵澳門的藝術(shù)家前往北京進(jìn)行創(chuàng)作與交流，并將澳門優(yōu)秀的藝術(shù)作品帶到北京與廣大市民和藝文界朋友分享。
百強(qiáng)善于用簡單的線條繪畫在平滑的表面上，沒有預(yù)先整體的構(gòu)圖，而主題內(nèi)容多與器官、植物、鬼怪與難以名狀的形體所組成，線條圖案在畫面上無限延伸，有點像生長在墻上的植物蔓藤，總不知道終點在哪里。而從今年開始，百強(qiáng)將這種創(chuàng)作風(fēng)格發(fā)展成現(xiàn)場創(chuàng)作，受全藝社之邀，本年四月于“藝術(shù)北京2010——國際藝術(shù)博覽會”中進(jìn)行為期五天的現(xiàn)場繪畫，過程中吸引不少媒體關(guān)注，更有參觀者多次到訪觀看進(jìn)度。這種現(xiàn)場繪畫的形式具表演性質(zhì)，與書畫界雅集即席揮毫有點相似，但卻更具觀賞性，不是藝術(shù)家之間“露兩手”的即興交流，而是有目的地公開本應(yīng)在工作室內(nèi)閉門完成的創(chuàng)作，藝術(shù)家現(xiàn)場繪畫的過程中，無可避免地會被外界影響，而這種充滿未知之?dāng)?shù)的“互動”卻往往能產(chǎn)生出人意表的結(jié)果。
除了藝術(shù)北京，本年五月及六月百強(qiáng)更應(yīng)澳門文化局邀請，先后于深圳的第六屆文博會及廈門的第三屆文博會中的“澳門創(chuàng)意館”進(jìn)行現(xiàn)場繪畫。以上三組作品均會于這次展覽中展出，除此以外，十二幅鉛筆繪畫“小作”亦會同時展出，這批“小作”像是從大型作品中剪裁出來的局部畫面，有點像中國白描的感覺，而畫作主題卻千奇百怪、趣味盎然。而百強(qiáng)于北京駐場期間創(chuàng)作作品“翻墻”，更具意識地沖破平面的框架，在一個木制的房間上，百強(qiáng)用他的繪畫語言去翻越他內(nèi)心的墻壁。“翻墻”一詞是內(nèi)地的網(wǎng)絡(luò)用語，此“潮語”亦代表了“不走尋常路”的意思，而百強(qiáng)的“翻墻”，跟他的繪畫一樣，有沖破樊籬、延伸到墻外的意思，亦同時展現(xiàn)出一種頑強(qiáng)的生命力。一個房間，帶出“墻內(nèi)”與“墻外”的關(guān)系，“墻外”渴望“翻墻”到“墻內(nèi)”，可“墻內(nèi)”其實只是一個窄小的空間，讓大家沉迷在內(nèi)…而反過來看，可看成是政治的現(xiàn)實局面，從地區(qū)到國家到世界到宇宙，哪里是“內(nèi)”？哪里是“外”？
百強(qiáng)于北京駐場創(chuàng)作的某天，電郵跟我說：“晚上的北京這邊特別靜，靜得就連自己的呼吸聲一呼一吸也清楚聽見，這使我憶起很多兒時回憶，在我三歲多時我外婆經(jīng)常會帶我到她干姊姊家過夜，干婆婆家在澳門陸軍俱樂部附近，屋子大得要命，夜晚特別靜，靜得可怕，在我記憶里面好像沒一次能入夢鄉(xiāng)，就要辛苦婆婆把我?guī)Щ丶遥?rdquo;未知是北京的寧靜讓百強(qiáng)穿越時光隧道回到過去，抑或是他的思緒在有意無意之間引領(lǐng)他尋回生活中純樸愉快的童年？這些腦海中一瞬即逝的畫面與印象，似曾相識，說不清那一瞬的感覺是在睡夢中經(jīng)歷過，還是在飛機(jī)上半夢半醒的流離狀態(tài)里，或是在上一次觀看百強(qiáng)作畫的過程中…
朱焯信
策展人
Every time I look out of the window of the plane while travelling, I inevitably find my mind immersed in perfect tranquillity and peace at the sight of countless seas of cloud stretching to infinity. This sense of ease continues with the changing shape of clouds, leading me into wide flights of fancy. The blue sky and white cloud before my eyes sometimes transform into the silhouette of a huge monster but in a short while it becomes an amiable face. These transient and ever-changing images bring me a memorably pleasant visual experience. Many times I find myself unconsciously falling into a boundless dream world awash with the transient lights and shadows of reality. Such experiences are rare in our daily lives but the paintings by Pakeong bring me a moment of familiarity – an off-and-on feeling without end or beginning – which deeply impresses me.
How should I describe Pakeong? He is a ‘product’ of Chinese and Western integration from Macao’s history and culture, often referred to as so-called ‘Macanese’ (Chinese-Portuguese mixed race). Most Macanese can speak the Chinese and Portuguese languages but they do not really know how to read or write both languages. Conventionally, they have a long Portuguese name. Obviously, Pakeong’s family name is not ‘Pak’ or ‘Fortes’. His real family name is ‘Sequeira’ or ‘Si’, which was accidentally removed by the relevant identification card issuing authority. Since then, the pseudonym-like name of Fortes appears on his identification card.
Like many other young Macanese, Pakeong was a wilful and reckless child due to historical reasons and the influence of the times. Family issues made him lose much confidence and give up on what he was doing. Fortunately, he soon realised that he was being led astray so he attended a design course at university, which inspired him to unleash the creative genes hidden in his body. Pakeong’s works involve a wide variety of genres. As the lead singer of local teenage rock band BladeMark, Pakeong is a fully dedicated artist who greatly enjoys performing on stage. It is difficult to imagine how he can calmly and freely compose paintings off-stage.
Since the opening of AFA Beijing in late 2008, the exhibition Off the Wall – Live Painting by Pakeong is the first solo art exhibition and artist-in-residency show held at the Centre. Via the platform of Beijing, AFA has sought to encourage Macao artists to go to Beijing to create works and exchange ideas, with a view to introducing Macao’s outstanding art works to Beijing and sharing them with the residents and arts circles of the city.
Pakeong excels at drawing simple lines on smooth surfaces without making a sketch, themed largely around organs, plants, ghosts and monsters plus other indescribable shapes and objects. The painting lines, extending to infinity, are like vines without end growing on a wall. This year, Pakeong has developed this style into live painting. In April, he was invited by AFA to conduct a live five-day painting at the ‘Art Beijing 2010’ Contemporary Art Fair and received wide acclaim from the media, attracting audiences to revisit and update themselves on his progress. The form of live painting which entails performing nature is similar to the concept of improvised composition in calligraphy and painting circles but possesses higher visual value. Rather than a form of impromptu exchanges between artists, it is intended to unveil the process of composition that is usually accomplished inside a studio. During the process of live painting, the artist is inevitably influenced by foreign factors; however, such an unexpected ‘interaction’ is often attributable to an unusual work.
In addition to Art Beijing, Pakeong was also invited by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the MSAR to conduct live painting at the 6th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair and the 3rd Cross-strait (Xiamen) Cultural Industry Fair in May and June this year. Apart from the three work series mentioned above, the forthcoming exhibition features twelve small pencil drawings, which seem like the partial painting of a large-scale work resembling the baimiao (ink outline) technique of Chinese painting. These drawings feature all sorts of strange and interesting themes.
While composing his Off the Wall artist-in-residence project in Beijing, he consciously broke the limitations of plain space and scaled his dwelling wall through his painting language in a wooden room. ‘Off the Wall’ (‘Fanqiang’ or ‘scaling the wall’) is an internet slang used in Mainland China. This slang also has the meaning of ‘not following the usual path’. Similar to his painting, the ‘Off the Wall’ by Pekeong seeks to break barriers and extend to the wall outside while demonstrating vigorous vitality. The room - which reflects the relationship between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ of the wall - denotes that people outside the wall yearn for ‘off the wall’ experiences and getting into the inside of the wall. The inside of the wall is in fact a narrow space, which hooks people; on the contrary, it can be viewed as a political status in reality, from a region to a county, and from the world to the universe, but where is the ‘inside’ and where is the ‘outside’?
One day in Beijing, while creating his live painting, Pakeong sent me an email reading, “The Beijing night is particularly silent and I can clearly hear the sounds of my breath, which brings back childhood memories – when I was three, my grandma would bring me to her sworn sister’s home to stay overnight. The house, which was located near the Macao Military Club, was very large and especially silent at night. The silence frightened me and in my memory not even once could I fall asleep, and my grandma could do nothing but take me home”.
Is it the tranquillity of Beijing that makes Pakeong revisit his past through a time tunnel or do his thoughts consciously or unconsciously lead him to revisit his primitive and pleasant childhood? Such transient mental images and impressions are familiar moments of experience which can hardly be explained, perhaps happening in a dream, in the borderland between sleeping and waking, or during the last time I saw Pakeong create his painting.
Curator
James Chu
【編輯：霍春?！?/span>
