Description 溪亭峭壁 Kiosk on a Cliff
釋文：溪亭風致似蓬瀛，翠竹雪濤也自清。一笑相逢無俗慮，逍遙不必慕浮名。
款識：己丑立秋於鏡秋書屋，蓴波周澄畫。
鈐印：周澄之鉢（白文）、阿波心痕（朱文）、慈悲（白文）
Signed Zhou Cheng in Chinese
With three seals of the artist
周澄出生於依山傍海的宜蘭，從小對山靈有一種特別的情懷，曾說「山水本身並不具感情，而這種感情乃出於與它相接近的人們，接觸得越深，則感情越厚。」身為一個熱愛遊山的藝術家，描繪山水及表達對山水的敬意更是藝術家的創作宗旨。從他的山水畫，觀者不單看到山巒的起伏，水面的遼闊，懸崖的深邃，透過藝術家的手腕、筆觸、墨水及顏色的運用，令觀者更能體會到萬象的靈氣。這是藝術家過人之處，是周澄的作品跟其他山水畫之別此幅畫以平遠式描寫波濤洶湧的海邊，孤山峭壁屹立於畫面中央，後方的小舍坐落於青蔥潤澤的竹林間，上方並題「溪亭風致似蓬瀛，翠竹雪濤也自清。一笑相逢無俗慮，逍遙不必慕浮名」一詩。臨亭眺望的風景磅礡澎湃，海上翻起的白浪雪濤卻無比洶湧。自古文人以「宦海」比喻官場風波險阻猶如洶湧的大海，宋代陸游曾於《謝錢參政啟》提到：「名場蹭蹬，幾白首以無成;宦海漂流，顧青衫而自笑。」回到周澄的畫作，亭外景致雖美，卻是只能遠看而不可靠近。越過中間的小山峭壁，兩個文人在小舍相遇，面對著蔥鬱茂盛的翠竹，一笑相逢暢談往事互勉之，翠竹呼應詩中「自清」及「逍遙不必慕浮名」。此畫藉著滄海峭壁、竹林文人比喻藝術家不嚮往虛名浮塵，珍重忠誠的友誼、淳樸的生活。
Zhou Cheng was born in Yilan, which is surrounded by hills and the sea. He has a profound admiration towards Nature, as he mentioned, "the emotions of landscape stemmed from a close interaction with humans. The more the interaction, the closer the bond." As an avid traveller-artist, his goal is to portray the beauty of landscape as a tribute to Nature. His landscape paintings show vast mountain ranges, boundless seas, deep gorges through the manipulation of the wrist, the brush, ink and colour. His paintings demonstrate the essence of landscape, and this makes his works unique. This painting features a choppy sea shore through a flat and wide composition. A lonely cliff stands at the center, sheltering a cottage and the lush bamboo grove. A poem was added on the top describing a picturesque scene of the choppy sea from the kiosk on top of the cliff. White waves are daunting and fierce.Restless seas have always been used to describe the work life of court officials. Lu You of Song dynasty once mocked at his retirement that he had been fighting against the choppy sea as a court official. Returning to this painting by Zhou Cheng, the scene at the kiosk is intriguing, yet one could only experience this from afar. Under the shelter of the cliff, two scholars reunite in a cottage facing a bamboo grove. This hints a merry time away from the suffering of the outside world, while the bamboo echoes with the lines of the poem of standing against the outside world. Through the depiction of the sea, the cliff, bamboo and scholars, the artist reinstates his wish for a pure friendship and a humble life, away from worldly pleasures.
Dimensions 81 x 157.5 cm
Artist or Maker ZHOU CHENG (Taiwanese, b. 1941)
Medium 水墨 設色 紙本 鏡框 Ink and colour on paper, framed
Date 1985
