💕「愛台灣，我的選擇」第11發: 藝術家Jason Cole Mager 創作「致台灣」系列畫作
「我在美國印第安納波利斯長大，並在當地的約翰赫倫藝術學院攻讀藝術學士學位，後來我拿到芝加哥藝術學院的獎學金，到波士頓的美術館學院就讀學士後學位，最後在紐約亨特學院完成我的藝術碩士學位。當時，我住在紐約布魯克林區的一個大閣樓，我在Airbnb上把房間出租給來自世界各國的旅客，進而認識了許多人，他們總是很熱情地告訴我，之後一定要去拜訪他們，他們會招待我！我也從中認識了一位來自台灣的旅客，在他的邀請下，我來到了台灣。」
「當我來到這裡時，一下子便愛上了台灣，最後甚至還拿了藝術家簽證來台。台灣經驗完全改變了我創作的方式，我開始對許多新圖像和符號產生興趣。研究所畢業之後，我一直想要就家族歷史進行創作，當時我看了很多二戰的老照片，我的家人曾經派駐亞太和歐洲戰場，當我來到台灣時，我才知道有些美國人在二戰時被關在台灣的戰俘營。」
「我住在金山南路的交叉路口，那裡有一個紀念碑，是為了追悼日治時期被槍決的14位美軍戰俘。我有很多作品是關於台灣被殖民的時期，我也深深著迷於台灣人使用印章和簽名的方法，對於台灣人來說可能覺得很枯燥乏味，但我很喜歡！後來我拋下畫筆，開始使用印章創作，我也刻了很多不同樣式的印章。舉例來說，我有一個作品是有關日本人要離開台灣，和美國在其中扮演的角色；也有一個作品是將鄭成功家族家徽和荷蘭東印度公司的標誌合併在一起。我讀了很多台灣的歷史，在17世紀時，紐約和台灣都有荷蘭人的足跡，這讓我格外覺得和台灣有更深的連結！」
👉Jason Cole Mager 是一位住在台北的美國藝術家，他以日本殖民時期為背景，創作了「致台灣」系列畫作，予以象徵圖徽新的藝術呈現。
👉了解更多：http://www.jasoncolemager.com
👉追蹤他的IG: https://www.instagram.com/jasoncolemager
“ I grew up in Indianapolis, that’s where I eventually went to art school. I did my BFA at Herron School of Art, which is part of Indiana University. I had a fellowship through the Art Institute in Chicago, then I did my post-baccalaureate work in Boston at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and a master’s at Hunter college in New York City. I lived in a large loft in Brooklyn. I rented out a room on Airbnb and I started meeting tons of travelers. People always said, “You should come visit me [in their home country] and stay with me!” Someone from Taiwan stayed with me, and I actually took them up on the offer. When I came here, I just fell in love with it. Eventually, I got an artist visa. Coming to Taiwan completely changed the way I paint. I started seeing all these new images, these symbols. After grad school, I wanted to make work that was about my family’s history. I was looking at all these old photos from World War II. My family served in the Pacific and European theater. When I came out here, I learned that Americans had actually been in prison in Taiwan during WW2. I live right around the corner from金山南路, where there’s a plaque for 14 soldiers that were shot against that wall during the Japanese occupation. A lot of my work is about Taiwan being occupied. I’m also really fascinated with Taiwan’s use of stamps, how people sign their names with stamps. For people here, they’re boring, but I loved them. I stopped using brush work and started to using stamps in my work, including carving my own stamps to create all these symbols. So for example, this work deals with Japan leaving Taiwan and the U.S. role in that transition. Over there is an image that incorporates 鄭成功’s family crest with the emblem of the Dutch East Trade Company. I read a good deal of Taiwanese history and I was really interested in the fact that the Dutch colonized New York during the 1600s, the same period that they came to Taiwan, so we shared that moment.”
👉 Jason Cole Mager is an American artist living in Taipei. You can see more of his work here: http://www.jasoncolemager.com
Jason Cole Mager’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/jasoncolemager
