几米



Note: This is a Chinese-heavy post. But if you're interested, Jimmy's books are now available in other languages. It takes out some of the magic, but you'll get the gist of it. Also, I think only the Chinese version is available in Singapore now, so you'll have to get it off the net for English.


So I was at Ms Linda's house yesterday and while they were playing bridge, I got caught on a Discovery Channel special called Portraits Taiwan, which featured Taiwan's renowned artist, Jimmy.

It showed his life, and his work. I've already read his books (Cudas is a huge fan, she has all his works), but I was itching to get my hands on them again.

I took out his Beautiful Solitude (又寂寞又美好) and The Moments (照相本子) to read today.

Let me share some of the magic with you. From The Moments:




The translation (for all you Chinese-cannot-read-Chinese people, *ahem*Lazy*ahem*Botak*ahem*June*ahem*etc*) goes something like this:

"We agreed to meet at our usual place, I waited the whole afternoon, but you didn't appear.
Somehow I did not feel especially sorrowful.
I just nonchalently stared at the corner of the street where you are used to coming from.
Thinking about the past, the sweetness is no longer sweet, sadness is not longer sad.
Do you still remember the kitten we picked up, Kiki? That whole afternoon it was accompanying me.
Until I decided to fully give up, it jumped into the trees behind me, and disappeared."

It kind of loses its magic once his words get translated. Learn Chinese, lah.

On the facing page is a close up of the doggie.




"I always hoped that someone somewhere was waiting for me...
You too hope that somewhere someone is waiting for you..."

Most of his works in this book is out of the blue. He just adds a title, a watercolour painting that he does himself and jumps straight in, pulling you behind. It hooks you from the gut and jerks you right into the picture and right into how he's feeling at that point of time when he's drawing the picture.

His art reflects himself, and how he feels. Which is why the following pieces, from Beautiful Solitude, makes me want to cry.






"Febuary seventeen Weather is wet and dark

In such a sorrowful time,
She tried hard to remember,
Tried to fully reiterate,
She loved when she was young
A poem."

And the next one drives me nuts.

"March thirty-first Weather is clear

We just hug,
We only know how to hug,
But hugs are hard to last.

Only through strength of death,
Can we forever be hugging together."

But you still have to know the why. Beautiful solitude was produced after he was diagnosed with brain cancer/leukemia/something life-threatening, and so his paintings became dull and grey, just like how he was feeling inside. The picture above signify himself, his wife and his little girl, hugging together.

So for all the artists in you, get Jimmy's books. There's quite a collection, some happy, some sad. They're good for children because they're colourful and drives wild a child's imagination, and thought-provoking for adults too.

Buy buy buy!