Wisdom Rhino | 蒼 犀

語音導覽 青銅 bronze  470x165x220cm

  「天蒼蒼,野茫茫,風吹草低,見牛羊」 犀牛──原古生命、奇趾類動物科目中的龐然大物,以身形而獲讚稱奇、以靈角而聞名遐邇。古老的生物犀牛,這尊出自藝術家施力仁之手的蒼犀牛周身圍繞圓形鎧甲,神色從容。體態渾厚的《蒼犀》風格延續了犀牛家族、金鋼犀牛等系列的生命脈絡,脊背上層層溝壑,也似雲嶺高原之巔,在牛身見證了時間的縱向發展,令人聯想起宋畫「萬壑松風」中不畏逆境,生命力十足的巍峨高大山水意象。

犀角上印著指紋圖樣的同心圓並向上指向天際,高聳雲霄,雄偉「穹廬」的四面八方,以此來形容極目遠望,天野相接。如謝道韞在晉詩《登山》筆下五岳之首的泰山「峨峨東嶽高,秀極衝青天」,施力仁以充滿浪漫與蓬勃向上的朝氣描繪著雄偉磅礡的氣象,藉以借喻無比壯闊、世界大同的美好寄願。

“The expanse of blueness above,
The boundless wilderness across,
Wind blowing by, grass nodding low,
Herds of cattle and goats emerge.”
-- Chinese Poetry

The rhinoceros, a giant creature from the ancient and peculiar class of odd-toed ungulates, is renowned for its impressive physique and famous horn. The ancient animal is depicted in this sculpture, created by artist Shi Li-ren, with a calm and composed expression, surrounded by a circular armor. The style of the "Wisdom Rhino," with its massive build and deep grooves on its back, continues the lineage of the rhinoceros family, including the Javan rhinoceros, and symbolizes the longitudinal development of time on its body. This reminds us of the landscape imagery in Song Dynasty paintings, such as "The Pine Breeze in Myriad Valleys," which depicts a towering mountain full of vitality and strength in the face of adversity. The concentric circles imprinted on the rhino's horn point upwards to the sky, soaring high into the clouds like a majestic "dome." This is used to describe the vastness of the world, as far as the eye can see. Just like the first of the Five Sacred Mountains in Xie Daoyun's Jin Dynasty poem "Climbing a Mountain," Mount Tai is described as "towering high, exquisite and piercing the blue sky." Through Shi Li-ren's romantic and upwardly mobile portrayal of the magnificent and grand atmosphere, he hopes to convey the beautiful wish of an immensely vast and united world.