“And to me, as I am passing away, it brings to me a conclusion: What a wonderful life I am living through.”
Julian Lee passed away in 2014. His works continue to live with us. They are living without our even knowing it. They are full of memories and reflect a life full of sentiment and passion, full of design and melancholy.
After Ingres is one of his masterworks. In this blurred come together of shades of grey, white and black he is combining the pleasurable tension of Robert Mapplethorpe with the strict classic composition of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingre’s Odalisque in Grisaille.
「於我來說，在我將逝的時候，得出的結論是：我活過的生命多麼美好。」
李志超在2014年去世，他的作品繼續與我們同在。它們活著，而我們甚至不知曉。它們滿載回憶，反映充滿情感與熱情、設計和憂鬱的生命。
《After Ingres》是他其中一份代表作。在矇矓中他融合了灰、白與黑色色調，將羅伯特·梅利普愉悅的角力，與安格爾的《Odalisque in Grisaille》嚴謹的經典構圖結合為一。
Chez Moi shows a room in London where Julian conducted chemotherapy. The work reminds us of Edward Hopper’s last painting Sun in an Empty Room. In his ode to light Julian also praised the shadows. Our own transitoriness and our own fears are hidden in this empty room but also our belief in a good end. Veil of mist are thinning out and allow new perspectives.
《Chez Moi》展示了李志超在倫敦接受化療的房間，作品讓我們想起了愛德華·霍普最後一幅畫《空屋內的太陽》。他讚美光明，同時亦歌頌了陰影。這個空無一物的房間既隱含了我們自身的短暫與恐懼，又隱藏我們對美滿結局的信念。薄霧漸散，漸見遠景。
Chamonix Argentière is a very personal moment of reflection in a twilight zone between life and death. But this “I invite the viewer to reinterpret my works, although in a sense they are only ‘out-takes’ of my life.” So Julian invites us to discover life in all its aspects and to discover it now.
《Chamonix Argentière》是在生死之間，一段私密的反思時刻，但「我邀請觀眾重新詮釋我的作品，雖然某程度上它們只是我生命中的『刪剪片段』。」所以，李志超邀請我們在此時此刻，就去發掘生命的方方面面。
Julian Lee was associate professor of photography in the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong who taught film, photography and literature. He was a renowned photographer, writer and filmmaker. He merged different media into a visual and textual playground in which his photos, films and fiction explore themes of forbidden love and exotic sensuality.
He made his name in Hong Kong as the author of controversial articles in newspapers and magazines. His columns, which attracted a significant following, have appeared in Oriental Daily News, Ming Pao Newspaper, Sing Tao Newspaper, Hong Kong Economic Times, and Headline Newspaper. He gained fame as a photographer and editor/writer for City Magazine, Hong Kong’s most exciting art and culture magazine of the period. In 1988, Lee enrolled in a Master’s degree programme in photography at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1991, he won the European Eurocreation Program Award, which allowed him to work on video art projects in Frankfurt, Germany. His photographic clients included famous publishers such as Jonathan Cape, Random Century and Harper Collins.
He returned to Hong Kong in 1997, and in 2001 he was awarded a grant from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to turn his suspense novel NIGHT CORRIDOR into his second film. The film also won two nominations, for best actor and best supporting actress, in the Golden Horse Film Awards. Among the photography exhibitions since 2000, SUSPENDING TORSO, in which Lee exhibited his fine art male nude photography, at 2010’s Hong Kong Photo Festival is the most prominent one. He has launched the photographic retrospective VISIONAIRE OF SENSES in 2014, and the photo book HONG KONG PHOTOGRAPHERS 8: JULIAN LEE.
李志超曾為香港城市大學創意媒體學院擔任教授攝影、電影及文字創作。亦為攝影師、作家和電影導演，在香港藝術家中別樹一格，以大膽破格見稱。李志超的寫作及小說及攝影創作最初見於香港的報章雜誌，如《東方日報》、《明報》、《星島日報》、《頭條日報》等。攝影主力在《號外》雜誌當編輯和訪問撰稿時，才華漸現，逐漸發掘自己在形象設計、美術指導、攝影觸覺和寫作的潛能。1988年留學英國修讀攝影，獲英國皇家藝術學院碩士學位。1991年，憑攝影作品獲European Eurocreation Program 獎，並接受邀請駐德國法蘭克福從事錄像藝術，開始朝向攝影和錄像製作方面的發展，攝影藝術作品在歐洲巡迴展出，攝影客戶包括著名的出版商如Jonathan Cape，Random Century，Harper Collins等。1997年回港，短暫結束浪遊歐洲達八年的藝術生活。2003年獲香港藝術發展局電影計畫獎，用極低的成本將小說《妖夜回廊》拍攝成獨立電影，吳彥祖憑該片獲金馬獎最佳男主角提名，惠英紅奪得華語電影傳媒大獎最佳女配角，李志超近年專注攝影，由2000年起，多次攝影展中，最注目是2010年香港攝影節中的男體影像 Suspending Torso懸體。2014年推出回顧展 Visionaire of Senses 超然。感官，同時出版入行三十年精選作品攝影集Hong Kong /China Photographer 8: Julian Lee。
Photo courtesy School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong: The Age of Experience Hong Kong Vienna, 2015-2016 ©Julian Lee
