快門落下、光影明滅，幀幀照片 30 年來中港台韓巨星精華歲月停滯瞬間，林炳存的商業攝影技術在兩岸三地早已是首屈一指，然而卸下光環回歸如常生活，細膩觀察一景一物，攝影成了創作媒材。距離前一次正式展出睽違十年，扣準東方美學，林炳存將光影作為畫筆、底片當成畫布，留下女體舞動的殘影，象徵水墨畫裡的飛白，留給觀者思緒紛飛的空間，展覽「鏡墨・流白」模糊了繪畫與攝影、東方與西方、新舊時代的界線。
The shutter captures, the bright light dims and flickers, and frozen moments have been captured in photographs of celebrities in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea over the last 30 years. Skills of the commercial photographer Joshua Lin have been second to none in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Nevertheless, he lives his private life behind the glamor in a simple style with the careful observation of every scene and details of objects, photography becomes the material media of his creation. It’s been 10 years since his last formal exhibition, and eastern aesthetics was the theme; Joshua Lin used light and shadow as paintbrushes, the film was used as the canvas that keeps the partial images of dancing feminine figures as the symbolic of hollow strokes in Chinese paintings for leaving space for spectators’ emotions and thoughts. The exhibition called Flux of Shadows blurs the boundaries between painting and photography, the east and the west, the new and the old times.
回歸攝影初衷
人像攝影講求精細校準，場景布置謹慎規劃、臉部線條仔細雕琢，透過他者的加入和林炳存的攝影技術，絕對的話語反映在被攝者的眉宇之間，看著林炳存成就完美瞬間的俐落身影和宏亮嗓音，出神入化的攝影功力已是身體記憶。然而，一旦卸下首席攝影師身分，他的生活卻彷彿掛上藝術濾鏡，生活周遭的美學俯拾即是，可以是花草樹木、天光雲影，也能是刻意翻閱的水墨畫，攝影不再只是工具，此刻成了藝術創作的媒材。
純粹的攝影創作成為另類出口，每段時間總能帶領林炳存回到初衷，他分享「沒目的去創作是很開心的，有了目的壓力也隨之而來。」也因此成就了清朝仕女圖、原住民圖騰時尚攝影等作品，然而強烈的東方語彙和在地美學，讓林炳存的個人創作陸續展至美國、日本，成為與國際對話的窗口，日常積累的創作能量，終究撼動外界眼光。
三年反覆創作
三年前，林炳存的東方攝影美學引起法國主動邀請開辦展覽，疫情延宕意外讓作品留駐國內。在他心中創作不會是舊有模式的延伸，「想讓自己嘗試新感覺和創作」再度以攝影呈現另類東方美學令他陷入苦思，一次與藝術家的偶然相遇，在對話中抽絲剝繭東西方繪畫的不同，這才讓他萌生「虛無縹緲」四字靈感，擷取過往接觸水墨畫的經驗，以鏡頭為墨、女體和背景為布，並為攝影展取名「鏡墨・流白」，透過底片相機呈現女體舞動姿態。
黑白影像寫入水墨語彙，讓攝影與繪畫的分界顯得曖昧不明，卻引人更想一探究竟。為呈現水墨留白寫意之美，林炳存採用頻閃攝影技法，以閃光為單位瞬時畫下現實世界裡躍動的女模，影像裡留有走過時空的殘影，成了水墨畫裡經典的飛白墨痕。
此次展覽作品推翻過往精準的人像拍攝，「把人的臉都去掉，少了複雜元素，單純以女體線條表現所有氛圍。」創作從簡卻好似呼應水墨作畫精髓，肢體結構留在拍攝現場，生動的氣韻只傳神不傳意，觀者的眼光得以隨著影像裡的飛白無限延伸，填補畫外之意，林炳存雖謙稱不到能真的提筆創作水墨畫的境界，然而無數個舞者踏過三年光陰，一次次拾起底片相機 20 餘張照片終究在數位時代裡顯影，淋漓盡致展現底片的生命力。
Back to the Enthusiasm for Photography
Portrait photography takes precision and acuity, a carefully planned background, and delicate enhancements of facial features; through collaborations and the photographic techniques of Joshua Lin, the absolute meaning is expressed through the features of the subjects. The visible accomplishment of Joshua Lin is adept with an attractive loud voice at perfectly capturing moments; the supreme photography skills have become memories stored in his body. However, once he took off the identity as the chief photographer, he seemingly lives his life with artistic filters, esthetics can be found everywhere around him, either flowers, grass, trees, or sky, light, cloud, or quickly browsed Chinese paintings. Photography is no longer just a tool but a material media of art creation.
The pure creation in photography turns out to be an unconventional exit, and it can always lead Joshua Lin back to his original purpose. He shared his thoughts, “creation without a purpose is a pleasure; stress comes along with intention.” Consequently, his photography, such as Portrait of a lady and Fashion. Aborigines, were created. Yet, the strong sense of eastern lexicon and local aesthetics have allowed Joshua Lin’s personal creation exhibited in the US and Japan, becoming an international dialog box of communication. The accumulation of his creative power has eventually impressed the vision worldwide.
Three-Years of Repeated Creation
Three years ago, Joshua Lin’s Eastern Aesthetics in Photography got an invitation from France to host an exhibition. However, it was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and his collection of works was kept locally. The creations in his mind are never the extension of an existing model; He “expects to try the new senses of creation.” The use of photography in the presentation of unconventional aesthetics of the east made him deal with stuck thoughts. At an encounter with an artist, their conversation that got down to every difference between eastern and western paintings inspired him with the four-word Chinese phrase, “Hsu Wu Piao Miao (it means illusory).” With the retrieval of his past experience in Chinese paintings, the lens was used as the ink, feminine figurative lines and background sets were used as the canvas, and the photography exhibition was given the name, Flux of Shadows, which manifests dancing postures of feminine figures through film cameras.
The black and white images that are inscribed with the lexicons of ink paintings have made the boundary between paintings and photographs become ambiguous and attempted to trigger the spectator’s curiosity. In order to present the aesthetics of spaces in ink painting, Joshua Lin adopted the repeating flash technique in photography; the flashing lights capture the movements of dancing models in the real world, the shadows of time and space are kept in the images to form the classic hollow strokes in Chinese paintings.
The works in this exhibition unfollow the rule of acuity in portrait photography. “The removal of faces eliminates the element of complexity; the whole ambiance is created from feminine figurative lines.” The simplicity of the creation seemingly responds to the essence of Chinese painting by leaving the structure of the body at the photoshoot location, and the vitality conception of art is expressive instead of displayed. The spectator’s vision is extended infinitely with the hollow strokes in the images for a visual metaphor. Joshua Lin is a very modest man, refusing to take any credit for creating an atmosphere like a Chinese painting. While it is true that numerous dancers were involved throughout the past 3 years of using film cameras during different times, the creation of more than 20 photos fully describes the vitality of film in the digital era.