＜水禾田＞BLINK Gallery | Water Poon | 水禾田 2024

Isabel NEE Yeh-Su was born 1946 in Shanghai and wrote proflifically under a number of pen names. She is famous in Hong Kong for her series of contemporary romantic fiction “Story of Rose” by Yi Shu which first came out in 1963.

Water Poon has illustrated more than hundreds of covers for this series of Yi Shu’s books since 1988, which was very popular among young girls at that time. Water Poon used watercolour and pencil for the artwork. He created the iconic female figure to represent the educated , single, young ladies in the city. She is elegant, quiet, alone, wears blue eye shadow and dresses in brightly coloured simple stylish clothes.

In his latest series of paintings (worldwide exclusive to BLINK Gallery) this female figure is shown in contemplative poses near famous Hong Kong landmarks such as the Clock Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Hong Kong Covention Centre in Wanchai, the Star Ferry. Roses feature frequently as a theme, scattered about the painting. Beside the image, at the edge of the paper, he sometimes writes a sentance or two in pencil to represent his thoughts , feelings and philosophy at that moment of artistic creation.

相信大家對這些作品都不會感到陌生，特別是女孩子——基本上香港作家亦舒的所有作品封面，都會出現這位弱質女子。大家也許不知道，這位弱質女子，竟是出於一位七十多歲的著名攝影師之手——水禾田。

水禾田原名潘炯榮，筆名「水禾田」就是由其姓氏「潘」字分拆。水禾田才華橫溢，最初酷愛畫畫，後來亦從事廣告製作、攝影、廣告影片、撰稿、導演等工作，歷年來均有出版攝影集、畫集及遊記，並於世界各地展出其攝影及繪畫作品。

水禾田筆下女性往往都是優美、閒靜、寂寞，筆觸簡單但又能細膩地表達女性的內心。而這些作品，都成為了亦舒的作品封面，兩人分別用了不同的方法，表達了其對女性內心世界的看法，和女性在現代社會的自我追尋，因此，這些畫作總會出現一些耐人尋味的副標題："Life is like a stage, you dont know what role you are acting, just do your best"、"I wish there would be more rain, because mankind would need a rinse"。水禾田的女性畫作偶爾又會出現一些代表香港的建築、交通工具等，本地味道十分濃厚。

現在這些作品收藏在香港 Blink Gallery裡，說到和 Blink Gallery的關係，他們認為：「畫家需要有好的畫廊展示作品和推介，而畫廊亦需求好的畫家的作品，本是昔昔相關的。」

「藝術創作要不斷演變，才能有生命，創作是藝術家的活力，不能原地踏步。亦舒筆下寫女主角，而我畫筆下繪女性。」

藝趣談 Art Uncovered [1]

References 藝趣談 Art Uncovered (www.facebook.com)