聶小倩
中國畫 四尺條幅 1981年 香港
Nie Xiaoqian
Chinese ink painting Hanging Scroll (138x69cm) 1981 Hong Kong
文革結束那些年，在廣東美術界流行起中國畫來，原來畫油畫、作工藝美術的都來畫國畫。我原來的同學、朋友中就有不少國畫高手，我開始動筆摸索就在那段時間。取材不外乎「詩經」、「聊齋」，粵北瑤族生活。累積幾年小有所得。1979年我的作品與國畫人物畫高手林墉為香港「明報月刊」同期刊登。
In the years after the Cultural Revolution (late 1970s), Chinese ink painting became popular in Guangzhou art circles. Oil painters and industrial design artists all started doing Chinese ink paintings. Many of my fellow classmates and friends were already exceptional Chinese ink painters and my own forays into the field took place around that time. The subjects were invariably the Classic of Poetry, Liao Zhai (a collection of ghost stories), and the lifestyle of the Yao people in Yuebei (north of Guangdong province). I developed some expertise in the discipline after several years. In 1979, my artwork was featured in Hong Kong's Ming Pao Monthly in the same issue as Lin Yong, a master of figurative Chinese ink painting.
八十年代初到香港那些年，白天畫油畫，晚上就畫水墨畫。每畫必作構圖小稿，甚而初稿，再行落墨揮寫。畫詩經「碩人」，畫曹植筆下的「洛神」，畫「聊齋」的鬼狐，畫瑤族姑娘。何以那時對中國畫水墨人物如此狂熱？還想以此有番作為？回想起來，我也不明所以。來台之初還未放棄畫國畫，直至八十年代末尾才徹底轉入油畫，再也沒有時間碰水墨畫了。
In my first few years in Hong Kong during the 1980s, I worked on oil paintings during the day and painted with ink at night. For every painting, I would create a small sketch or even initial draft before putting ink to paper. I painted 'Shuo Ren' from the Classic of Poetry, 'Luo Shen' as depicted by Cao Zhi, the demon fox of Liao Zhai, and Yao maidens. Why was I so obsessed with painting characters in ink? Why did I seek to make a career out of it? My reasoning at the time now eludes me. I had not yet abandoned Chinese painting when I first came to Taiwan, but by the end of the 1980s my attention was fully directed towards oil paintings and I had no time for ink paintings any longer.
