Unknown Asia Osaka Art FairUnknown Asia 大阪藝術博覽會

Early on 14 October 2015, I met the artist Dong Shih-hang at Douliu Station and set off for Japan. I was a first-year university student and had to sort out weeks of coursework before I could take the time off. I was nervous, but far more excited. It was my first time abroad.

The railway south is old. Outside the window ran abandoned warehouses and prison-like buildings — places that once grew rich on the railway, now just red brick and moss.

Then my first flight. The ground turned white and small; through the clouds, the ringing in my ears drowned everything out, like sinking underwater. The clouds spread out like a snowfield, and I thought of Fritz Leiber’s science fiction story “A Pail of Air”: Earth has lost its sun, the air has frozen into snow, and a family must scoop “oxygen snow” back to the fire and melt it just to breathe.

2015 年 10 月 14 日一早，我在斗六火車站和藝術家董十行會合，出發前往日本。那時我是大一新生，先把接下來幾週的課業處理好才敢請假；擔心是有的，但興奮遠遠大過擔心。這是我第一次出國。

南下的鐵路很老。窗外一路是廢棄的貨倉和監獄般的建築——當年靠鐵道繁榮起來的地方，如今只剩紅磚和青苔。

接著是第一次搭飛機。地面變白、變小，穿過雲層時耳鳴蓋過一切，像沉進水底。窗外的雲鋪成一片雪地，我想起 Fritz Leiber 的科幻小說《A Pail of Air》：地球失去太陽，空氣結成了雪，一家人得把「氧雪」舀回火邊融化，才能呼吸。

We landed at Kansai Airport close to midnight. With my first step off the plane, cold wind and the airport’s low hum hit my face. I did not say “one small step for me, one giant leap for Xiluo” — I just kept saying: beautiful, so cool.

Dry, cold air; impossibly orderly stations; clean neighbourhoods full of everyday life. In a station kiosk, an old woman smiled as she served office workers in sharp suits. The shopping streets were nearly empty at night, and there was not a single scooter. The lit signboards were proof that the city was alive.

接近半夜抵達關西機場。踏出機艙的第一步，冷風和機場的低鳴一起打在臉上。我沒有說出「這是我的一小步，卻是西螺的一大步」，只是一直喊：好美、好帥。

乾燥冷冽的空氣、整齊得不可思議的車站、乾淨又充滿生活感的住商街區。車站小店裡，老奶奶笑著和西裝筆挺的上班族交易；夜晚的商店街人很少，也看不到任何一台機車。亮著的招牌，是一座城市還活著的證明。

The fair was held at Osaka Central Public Hall. The moment I walked in, I was stunned: every artist was racing to install. My booth was N15, and as soon as it was ready, the first crowd poured in.

I looked so young that people took me for an interpreter, so I always stepped forward first and said, in a heavy Taiwanese accent: “This is my work, welcome to ask me any questions!”

At first they asked: what do you draw with? Do you like Katsuhiro Otomo? How long did it take? After two minutes, the questions went deeper: why is there Japanese in the picture? Is the girl’s outfit from 1920s Kansai? What do the floating fish mean? Why high contrast, why fish-eye perspective?

Hardly anyone had asked me that before. So I told them the Xiluo stories I had been thinking about for years: the old buildings, the daughter sold when a family migrated to Taiwan, the bandits who raided Xiluo, the town’s rise and decline, my friends, the workers, and my grandfather’s generation. I draw because I want to tell stories. Some visitors stayed at my booth for a long time — a few because I would not let them leave.

展場在大阪中央公會堂。一走進去，我整個人被震住：所有藝術家都在拼命佈展。我的攤位是 N15，才剛佈置完，第一波人潮就湧了進來。

我看起來太年輕，常被當成翻譯，所以總是先上前一步，用很重的台灣腔說：「This is my work, welcome to ask me any questions!」

一開始大家問：用什麼畫的？喜歡大友克洋嗎？畫了多久？看了兩分鐘之後，問題開始變深：為什麼畫裡有日文？女生的服裝和 1920 年代的關西有關嗎？空中飄的魚代表什麼？為什麼用高對比、為什麼用魚眼透視？

很少有人問我這些。於是我把想了很多年的西螺故事全說了出來：老建築、移民來台時被賣掉的女兒、強盜打進西螺、小鎮的興盛與衰退、我的朋友、勞工，還有阿公那一代的打拼。我畫圖，就是因為想講故事。有些觀眾在我的攤位待了特別久——有些，是被我硬拉進來聽的。

During the fair I was invited to a special session, painting live alongside the Japanese artist Chiaki Kohara. When the three-plus days were over, we all raised a glass.

What I learned on this trip is not something you learn in a classroom in Taiwan. Thank you to everyone at G.Gallery, and to Dong Shih-hang for travelling with me.

展期中，我受邀參加特別活動，和日本藝術家 Chiaki Kohara 同台現場作畫。三天多的展期結束後，大家一起舉杯。

這趟學到的東西，是在台灣、在學校裡學不到的。謝謝居藝廊的夥伴，以及一路同行的董十行。

Shown at UNKNOWN ASIA, Osaka, 2015. Technical pen and marker.

Xiluo is my hometown. It is aging fast; the town is fading and its young people are disappearing.

2015 年 UNKNOWN ASIA 大阪展出作品，代針筆與麥克筆。

西螺是我的家鄉。這裡老化嚴重，小鎮正在凋零，年輕人正在消失。

Shown at UNKNOWN ASIA, Osaka, 2015.

2015 年 UNKNOWN ASIA 大阪展出作品。

Part of the “This is (Xiluo)” series.

「This is (Xiluo)」系列作品之一。

The second work in the “This is (Xiluo)” series.

「This is (Xiluo)」系列作品之二。

Technical pen and marker.

A girl sits on a run-down balcony, smoking and drinking Taiwanese beer, surrounded by old buildings and rusty pipes.

代針筆與麥克筆。

少女坐在破舊的陽台上抽菸、喝臺灣啤酒，四周是老建築與生鏽的管線。

The same series later travelled with G.Gallery to Art Kaohsiung. The booths were hotel rooms: drawings laid on the beds and leaned against the walls, and visitors opened the door to look at each one up close — a completely different distance from Osaka’s grand public hall.

同一系列作品之後也隨居藝廊參加 Art Kaohsiung 高雄藝術博覽會。展間是一間間飯店客房：畫就放在床上、靠在牆邊，觀眾推門進來，近距離一張一張看——和大阪公會堂完全不同的距離感。