【藝述心言】魚樂無窮 / 梁祖彝 【Intimate Portrait】No fish out of water / Joey Leung
（2016年1月）L7-23單位的「Quabitat陶瓷/攝影工作室」，三面玻璃，裡裡外外都是魚，有的渾噩、有的凌厲、有的戲謔賣萌、有的傲慢不馴，條條手工精細，活像個大魚缸，上演幕幕現實版「魚樂無窮」。一系列嬉笑怒罵的陶瓷魚，幽默中見淡淡哀愁，愁緒中卻不失希望。
突破魚盤 寄望游得更遠
魚，一直是藝術家梁祖彝Joey（「彝」讀音「ji4」兒；有常道、固定的意思）的創作圖騰。在中華傳統文化中，魚象徵「如意、有餘」，魚盤的意涵更是深遠︰「古時戰亂，生活刻苦，人們連求神庇佑的能力（祭品）都沒有，唯有在餐碟或餐盤上畫條魚聊表心意。你可以說是阿Q精神，但這亦不失為人們積極運用創意應對逆境、尋求心靈滿足的出路。」他更自創「魚彝」這個字，象徵香港魚盤精神——勉勵香港人自求多福，以創意方法爭取所想。
Joey魚盤上的魚在平面上躍動，先有一條衝破魚盤，繼而有第二、第三條，甚至洶群而出，一尾尾栩栩如生的魚兒躍現眼前，填滿一個工作室，游向香港每一角落：「寄望香港人游得更遠。」
文化是根也是翼
別看Joey思維破格兼一身不羈打扮，骨子裡他徹頭徹尾是個文藝青年。最初修讀工商設計的他，洞悉到當今著重圖像的趨勢，毅然轉科學攝影：「為賺學費，我過了一段白天上學、晚上在Disco當通宵兼職攝影師的日子。」畢業後當了五年報章攝影記者，發覺若要提煉攝影作品的深度，須先提升個人藝術造詣，於是重返校園進修藝術學士課程，主修陶藝。走上藝術家之路，他以魚為風格符號，但不拘藝術表達媒介——以陶瓷為主，同時涉獵書畫和紙糊等。
對於當前幾乎由西方主導的藝術脈絡，Joey有感而發︰「身為華人藝術家，盲從西方藝術文化，沒可能做到形神俱備。」他深信，中華文化博大精深，只要好好發揮轉化，一樣能夠在當代藝術的脈絡中自成一家。他遊走於中西文化、傳統與當代藝術之間，積極開創頭上一片天。「中華文化源遠流長、底蘊豐厚，可惜給近代政治打斷了。不過換個角度看，這個斷層可能反而給予華人藝術家更大的空間去尋找文化根本，為未來開創更多可能性。」
人生如意事 應十常八九
Joey就是一尾誓要衝破畫框的堅毅的魚，藉藝術抵禦平庸，打破高山高牆。香港人心裡有座古老石山——為求享受一年可能只有七天能輕鬆寫意的放假旅行，竟甘願苦瓜乾般捱足358日。「應倒過來才對吧，不是嗎？人生苦短，為甚麼不讓大部分日子都過得愉快愜意，做點自己喜歡的事？例如通過藝術讓生命更豐盛。」
創作讓Joey快樂，他對此義無反顧。綜合多年藝術創作經驗，他認為現時本港藝術市場前景較以往可觀，藝術家展覽機會增加，更開始有有心藝廊著力推廣本地陶藝這門相對冷門的藝術。他本月舉行的個人作品展，展出多件初登場的魚創作及藝術裝置，發放正能量，為自己與港人給力。
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(2016 January) Located at JCCAC Unit 7-23, “Quabitat Ceramics & Photography Studio” is the artist studio of Joey Leung. Surrounded on three sides by glass walls, it has a bizarre aquarium-like feel to it. Ceramic fish peer out from the dark - some coy, some sneering, some menacing. There is sadness in their humour, and madness in their hope.
Fish out of the box
Fish is traditionally symbolic of fortune and prosperity in Chinese culture. Joey has adopted the fish as the recurrent motif in his works, which consist mainly of hand-painted fish plates and ceramic sculptures. “In the old days, civil wars were rife and life was much harder. When times were so tough that people could not even have fish on their plates as offering to the Gods, they offered a painted fish on the plate instead. One might criticise it as self-deceit, but no one could deny their creativity and optimism.” Joey also invented the word “魚彝” by combining the Chinese characters for “fish” and his name “Yi”, to symbolise the spirit of the fish plate and reflect his good wishes and encouragement to the Hong Kong people.
Joey’s painted fish on ceramic plates literally break through the surface and leap out into the 3-dimensional world. One by one and then eventually the whole school of them escape, filling the studio and beyond. “It is my wish that the people of Hong Kong can break free from the confines of their flat world and reach far” Joey adds.
Culture is the roots and the wings
Joey studied industrial/commercial design before switching to photography. “I went to school during daytime and at night worked as a photographer in a disco.” His first professional full-time job, spanning 5 years, was as a photo-journalist for a major newspaper. Realising that he needed to enrich his artistic ability in order to express his profound ideas, he furthered his studies and obtained a bachelor degree in fine art, majoring in ceramic. That was when he launched his career as an artist in earnest, with ceramic as his main, but not only, medium of artistic expression. His fish motif works are also realised in paper mache, Chinese ink and calligraphy.
Mainstream art appears to be dominated by western influence. “As a Chinese artist, I think that there is no point in trying to mimic western art.” He believes that with its long and rich history, Chinese culture has much to offer in the context of contemporary art. His works reference local and Chinese culture through western and contemporary artistic medium. “It is a pity that Chinese cultural development suffered a blow due to political unrest a few decades ago. But perhaps that void was a blessing in disguise, opening up the creative possibility of a new dimension for Chinese cultural and artistic development.”
Life is created, not destined
Joey is as determined as the fish in his works, striving to say no to the ordinary and to overcome obstacles ahead. He pointed out that many Hong Kong people are strange creatures willing to slave away like a dog for 358 days just for the pleasure of a week-long foreign holiday once a year. “It’s totally absurd and should instead work the other way round, don’t you agree? Life is too precious to be miserable most of the time. We need to find things to enrich our everyday life, and one of the best ways to achieve that is through arts.”
Artistic creativity is Joey’s key to happiness. He is optimistic about recent developments in the Hong Kong art scene. Not only are there increased exposures for local artists, galleries specialised in promoting local ceramists have also sprung up. One of them will be presenting a solo exhibition of Joey’s new collection of fish sculptures and installations this month. We are sure that it will go swimmingly well.
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