Splash Ink Series 鎏光系列

The Splash Ink Series

“Liu” (鎏), as defined by the Song-era rhyme dictionary Jiyun, denotes gold of exceptional purity. Liujin (鎏金), or fire-gilding, is a traditional Chinese technique whose origins go back to the Warring States period (475-221BCE). China was the earliest civilization to master this craft.

In fire-gilding, gold and mercury are amalgamated into a paste that is brushed onto a bronze metal surface. Gentle heating is applied to cause the mercury to evaporate, leaving a thin, permanent film of gold bonded to the object. The earliest mention of the use of this gold–mercury amalgam appears in the Zhouyi Cantong Qi written by Eastern-Han alchemist Wei Boyang. The first technical description of the process itself is recorded during the Liang-dynasty where Li Tao Hongjing (456-536 BCE) writes: ‘Mercury can dissolve gold and silver into a paste with which objects are plated’ (cited in the Bencao Gangmu-Shuiyin Tiao (Compendium of Materia Medica). Archaeological evidence confirms that this technique was already practiced during the Warring States period.

The Splash Ink Series (鎏光系列) echoes the way molten metal glides and gleams in this ancient craft. As ‘True mastery needs no ornament,’ excessive carving or embellishment is unnecessary. Instead, the artist pours different paints such as oils and water-based acrylics onto the canvas. These interact in zones of wet and dry, thick and thin, triggering chemical reactions.

Oil and water repel one another, creating layer upon layer of shifting strata — an organic opulence akin to the mineral luster on antique bronzes. At times the acrylic paint beads up on the oily surface, evoking the crystalline clarity of ‘large and small pearls cascading onto a jade bowl.’ Elsewhere it coalesces into rhythms of organic texture and and primal motifs — evidence of the artist’s precise command of materials, achieving a visual intensity that is at once effortless and complete.

鎏光系列

鎏--是指成色好的黃金，出自於《集韻·尤韻》：「美金謂之鎏。」鎏金是中國一項傳統工藝。中國的鎏金技術始於戰國，同時中國也是世界上最早使用這一技術的國家。

鎏金技術是將金和水銀合成金汞劑，塗在銅器表面，然後加熱使水銀蒸發，金就附著在器面不脫。關於金汞劑的記載，最初見於東漢煉丹家魏伯陽的《周易參同契》。而關於鎏金技術的記載，最早見於梁代。《本草綱目·水銀條》引梁代陶弘景的話說：水銀“能消化金銀使成泥，人以鍍物是也。從已出土的文物證實，在戰國時期古人已掌握了鎏金技術。

《鎏光系列》的出現，正正呼應了此技法中珠光渙發的金屬液體任意流淌的特性，所謂「大巧不工」，藝術的精緻不同於工藝品的刻意雕琢，無須過份追求雕鑿、堆砌，藝術家將不同特性的顏料傾注於畫布上，丙稀、油彩顏料在乾濕濃淡的交滙中形成化學作用，利用水油互相排斥的原理造成層層交疊的視覺效果，渾然天成的精緻恰似器物上的礦物珠光。丙稀在油性層面上時而聚結成珠，正是「大珠小珠落玉盤」的晶瑩和通透；時而集結成疏密有致的有機紋理和天然圖騰， 正是藝術家對物料狀態的充分掌控，營造了淋漓盡致的視覺效果。