Pencil Walker, 1996-2015

Process photograph 過程影像

Process photograph, University of California, Irvin, CA, USA, 1996 過程影像-1996年美國加州爾灣分校

Process photograph, Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan, 2000. 過程影像-2000年華山藝術特區，台北

Process photograph, Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China, 2003. 過程影像-2003年東京畫廊，北京

Process photograph, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan, 2008. 過程影像-2008年國立台灣美術館

Process photograph, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2015. 過程影像-2015年高雄市立美術館

Pencil Wall Photograph 鉛筆牆影像

Document 文件

Installation view, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2017. 展場照

Installation view, “Sports-themed Taiwanese exhibition Taiwan Cultural Center”, Tokyo, Japan; Yokohama Civic Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan, 2019. 展場照-

Shi Jin-Hua

Pencil Walker, 1996-2015

Pencils on wooden board, zipper storage bags, original objects (tapes, pencil sharpeners, audio tapes, video tapes, and extension cord), photographs, single channel video (color, sound), and document.

244 x 976 x 1.4 cm ("Pencil Wall")
16.8 x 17.3 x 2 cm, 60 packs (pencil shavings)
16.8 x 17.3 x 1.5 cm, 60 packs (pencil stubs)
16.8 x 17.3 x 5 cm, 60 packs (black duct tape)
67 × 66.5 cm, 30 packs (process photographs)
18′01″ (video)
48.3 x 32.9 cm (document)

Edition of 12 plus 2 artist's proofs

Further images

Pencil Walker attempts to go beyond the Pen Walking series; it is a personal ritual of repentance. The performer sets up a white wall made of wooden boards, and places...

Pencil Walker attempts to go beyond the Pen Walking series; it is a personal ritual of repentance. The performer sets up a white wall made of wooden boards, and places a video camera facing the wall. A pencil sharpener is taped to his left upper arm and a voice recorder to his right; the microphone from the recorder is affixed directly over his mouth. Once the video and audio equipment are activated, he uses the sharpener on his arm to sharpen a pencil, then begins walking back and forth in front of the wall, continuously drawing a pencil line with each step. He begins chanting the repentance verse from the Avatamsaka Sutra:
"All the evil karma I have created in the past,

Has arisen from beginningless greed, anger, and delusion,
Born of body, speech, and mind—
I now repent all of it."
This marks the beginning. While walking and drawing with the pencil, he chants mantras, the Heart Sutra, or recites the names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This process of sharpening the pencil, walking lines, and chanting is repeated continuously. Each session lasts about two hours and fifteen minutes, and the performance was carried out sixty times over a span of twenty years.

Embedded within the Pen Walking series and The Pencil Walker is a layered metaphor: the pencil becomes the wheel of samsara, while the once-spotless white wall—now darkened and smudged—represents the accumulated karma of countless past lives. Pen Walking surveys the labors of an entire life in silence, prompting a quiet resignation: There is nothing I can do to change what life is. By contrast, The Pencil Walker reflects upon the weight of karmic wrongdoing with meditative clarity: If a pencil stands for a human life, then what kind of line have I drawn through this endless cycle of rebirth? If birth, aging, illness, and death repeat without end, is there any meaning in struggling to live with purpose? To live such a life is not to transcend it. You still carry desire and aversion. At times, you even harbor a quiet self-hatred. And so, you fall silent. And that silence—is the pencil.
Both the Pen Walking series and Pencil Walker contain certain metaphors: each pencil becomes the wheel of samsara, while the once-spotless white wall—now darkened and stained— represents the accumulated karma of countless past lives. Pen Walking silently surveys the labor of an entire life, provoking the quiet sigh: There is nothing I can do to change what life is. In contrast, Pencil Walker meditates upon karmic burden, asking: If a pencil stands for a human life, then what kind of line have I drawn through this endless cycle of rebirth? If birth, aging, illness, and death repeat without end, is there any meaning in struggling to live with purpose?
To live such a life is not to transcend it. You still carry desire and aversion. At times, you even despise yourself. And so, you fall silent. And your silence—is the pencil.

面對輪迴人生的無奈與虛無，《走鉛筆的人》試圖超越《走筆》系列，這是一個個人的懺悔儀式。行者架設一面木板白牆，面對白牆安置一組錄影機，分別用膠帶將削鉛筆機和錄音機固定在他的左上臂和右上臂，又將錄音機接出的收音麥克風封貼在嘴上。啟動錄影機、錄音機，並用臂上的削鉛筆機削尖鉛筆，在白牆前往返行走並持續地走畫鉛筆線。與此同時，行者以誦念華嚴懺悔偈：「往昔所造諸惡業，皆由無始貪嗔癡，從身語意之所生，一切我今皆懺悔。」作為開始，邊走筆邊持咒語、心經，或誦念諸佛菩薩的名號。這個削鉛筆、走線和誦念的行動不斷重覆進行著，每次為時約二小時十五分，共執行六十次歷時二十年。
《走筆》系列與《走鉛筆的人》蘊含著一些隱喻：一枝枝的筆，代表一生生的輪迴。那面本來清靜潔白，如今黝黑污濁的紙與牆，則象徵過去生生世世累積的惡業。《走筆》沈默地全覽一生的作業，使人喟嘆：「不論再怎麼樣，也不過如此」，而《走鉛筆的人》則試圖在累生造作的惡業前冥想：「如果一枝筆，可以是一個人的一生。那麼在漫長的生死輪迴中，我重複走出的是什麼樣的人生線條？不就是不斷的生、老、病、死嗎？這些辛苦有意義嗎？還要這樣繼續下去嗎？」
面對這樣的人生，其實你並未看透。你既渴念也厭棄，你有些痛恨自己。於是，你沈默⋯，而你的沈默，就是筆。

◆《走鉛筆的人》1996-2015｜木板、鉛筆、膠帶、夾鏈袋、錄影帶、錄音磁帶、削鉛筆機、延長線、數位輸出、單頻道錄像（彩色、有聲）、文件｜鉛筆牆：244 x 976 x 1.4 cm，鉛筆屑：16.8 x 17.3 x 2 cm x 60包，鉛筆尾巴： 16.8 x 17.3 x 1.5 cm x 60包，黑膠帶： 16.8 x 17.3 x 5 cm x 60包，過程影像：47 × 66.5 cm × 30 件，18′01″，文件：48.3 x 32.9 cm

Exhibitions

2019 “Sports-themed Taiwanese exhibition Taiwan Cultural Center, Tokyo, Japan; Yokohama Civic Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan

2019 “Pencil Walker”, Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

2017 “LINES - Shi Jin-Hua’s Contemporary Religious Art”, curated by Chen Hung-Hsing, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2015 “Pencil Walker”, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2014 “The Pioneers of Taiwanese Artists 1961-1970”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2008 “Pen Walking”, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2007-2008 “Taiwan: From within the Mist, Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science, South Dakota”, USA; Centre A, Vancouver, Canada; Christel Dehaan Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Illeges Gallery, Columbus State University, Georgia, USA; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
2019「淬•煉--百錬鋼を成す臺灣當代藝術展」，東京臺灣文化中心藝廊，東京，日本；橫濱市民藝廊，橫濱，日本
2019「走鉛筆的人」，安卓藝術，台北，台灣
2017「線 — 石晉華當代宗教藝術展」，陳宏星策展，高雄市立美術館，高雄，台灣
2015「走鉛筆的人」，高雄市立美術館，高雄，台灣
2014「台灣藝術家- 刺客列傳 1961-1970」，國立台灣美術館，台中，台灣

2009「何以自處-一個自我及其處境的展覽」，靜宜大學藝術中心，台中，台灣

2007-2008「迷離島：台灣當代藝術視象」巡迴展，華盛頓藝術及科學館，南達科他州，美國；當代亞洲藝術國際中心，溫哥華，加拿大；印地拿波里大學美術館，印地安納州，美國；哥倫布州立大學依爾吉藝廊，喬治亞州，美國；國立台灣美術館，台中，台灣

Publications

2018 “Lines - Contemporary Religious Art by Shi Jin-Hua”, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

2014 “The Pioneers of Taiwanese Artists, 1961-1970”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

2013 “Shi Jin-Hua”, Mind Set Art Center, Taiwan
2008 “Pen Walking Shi Jin-Hua”, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
2007 “Taiwan: From within the Mist”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

2018《線 — 石晉華當代宗教藝術展》，高雄市立美術館，台灣
2014《台灣美術家「刺客列傳」五年級生1961~1970》，國立台灣美術館，台灣2008「走筆」，台北市立美術館，台北，台灣2013 《石晉華》，安卓藝術股份有限公司，台灣
2008 《走筆石晉華》，臺北市立美術館，台灣?
2007《迷離島 — 台灣當代藝術視象》，國立台灣美術館，台灣

Related artworks

A 100km Walk, 2012-2017

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