Let humor take you to another place in time Ming-Tse Lee artist from Kaohsiung / 以幽默帶你穿梭無時空國度──來自高雄的藝術家 李明則
◎By Jessica Lin
Ming-Tse Lee paintings have a reputation of always managing to instantly grab the attention of onlookers. His artwork is highly detailed and they transcend spiritual stories through their images.
Captivation, detail, and spirituality are the essence of Mr. Lee's paintings. Lee Ming-Tse has been living in Kaohsiung for 20 years and is no stranger to qualities of sincerity, straightforwardness, and honesty - qualities commonly associated with citizens of southern Taiwan, and qualities that are clearly seen in Mr. Lee upon first meeting him. Mr. Lee's artwork, full of vivid imagery of Taiwan, never fails to tell a story.
Lee Ming-Tse grew up in a farming family in Gungshan. When Lee was young, he was fascinated by Chinese Kung Fu comics, which involved characters who could fly, run up walls, and travel through time. Other comics included fighting puppetry and shadow drama - all of which have influenced his creations.
Most of Mr. Lee's inspiration for his work comes from things that are around him everyday, such as Gods from the temples, his hometown, hot springs, Lotus Lake, as well as his notions of current-day Taiwan.
As a little boy, Ming-Tse Lee liked to read comics on his roof, where he came to realize a different perspective of the world from the one he had whilst down on the ground. He attributes his ability of looking at things from different angles, as well as being able to create bright, colorful paintings that transcend stories, to this childhood habit of sitting on the roof.
Mr. Lee has enjoyed painting since a young age and has always liked the Wu Xia fantasy world. He studied Fine Arts and Craft in High School, and had teachers who allowed him to experiment with his paintings. Therefore, Mr. Lee's paintings, of which styles include elegant Chinese ink paintings, exaggerations of comics, traditional and realism paintings, have always had an element of freeness about them. Due to his unique style, his works can be found not only in Taiwanese art museums, but also in Japan, Europe and other western countries. Ming-Tse Lee is also the only artist from Kaohsiung who attended the La Biennale di Venezia.
Kaohsiung who attended the La Biennale di Venezia.
Despite all of his remarkable achievements, Ming-Tse Lee still lives a very simple life. When he's not painting, he rides his bike around looking at traditional artwork, or takes a ferry to Cijin to ride his bike around the island. Ming-Tse Lee believes strongly that the ocean is Kaohsiung's best feature and therefore enjoys being around it whenever he can be. Visitors to Kaohsiung could try to experience the atmosphere of southern Taiwan by bicycle - just like local artist, Ming-Tse Lee.
◎文．攝影／林昀熹
李明則的畫，總是在第一時間就能吸引住人們，興味十足地仔細地探尋畫面裡每一個細節，他的畫訴說著出神入化的故事，不論什麼人都深深受到吸引。
這就是李明則畫作所散發的獨特魅力。已在高雄市定居二十年的李明則，卻仍一直保有南部人淳樸自然的特質，不善言詞、卻和氣真誠，是李明則給人的第一印象，然而也許是受到成長歷程的影響，他的作品裡頭卻充滿說不完的故事，以及趣味十足的台灣意象。
李明則生長在岡山務農的家族，小學時迷上了當時最火紅的武俠漫畫，「諸葛四郎大戰魔鬼黨」之類的情節讓他的想像力也跟著飛簷走壁、穿越時空；而在廟會時絕不會錯過的布袋戲、皮影戲，也都深深烙印在他的心中，成為日後創作的養分。
因此他的創作靈感也從身邊熟悉的事物出發，像是小時候讓他感到相當震撼的七爺、八爺形象，家鄉後紅里、泡溫泉的經驗、目前居住的明德新村、離住家不遠的左營蓮池潭、台灣的現象......，都是李明則畫作的題材。
另一方面，李明則小時候常喜歡爬到屋頂上看漫畫、卻發現另一個與從地面觀看截然不同的視覺經驗，這或許也使得他日後在畫面上總是同時運用各種不同的透視表現，在鮮明的主題中，向四面八方鋪陳出層次豐富的意象、故事與想法。
從小喜歡畫畫，並且優游於武俠想像世界中的李明則，高中唸的雖是美工科，學習過程沒有受到太多制式規範，也讓李明則的畫作始終保有自由的創作風格；既有水墨山水的優雅，又有漫畫般的誇張，既有令人熟悉的傳統圖騰元素，又有天外飛來一筆的超寫實異想，這樣獨特的風格，不但使得他的畫作被收藏於國內與日本重要美術館，也經常受邀在歐美各地展覽，更是高雄目前唯一一位曾參加稱得上是世界藝術標竿的威尼斯雙年展之藝術家。
儘管有這許多成就，然而李明則的生活仍然恬淡悠閒，不作畫的時候，也許騎著單車四處逛逛，或從民藝品中尋找前人生活與想法的蛛絲馬跡，要不就是搭乘渡輪到旗津燈塔或旗津自行車道走走，李明則說，「海」是高雄最大的特色，也是最能感受高雄文化的地方；來到高雄的朋友們不妨跟著藝術家的腳步，感受最真實的南方氣息。