Prose 生活隨筆: Jimmy’s Sometimes Sometimes 幾米的閉上眼睛一下下

(This post was published on my old blog on August 30, 2022.)
(這篇貼文在 2022 年 8 月 30 日發表於我的舊部落格。)

When I was in Taiwan this summer, we lived in Danhai New Town. When we went to Taipei, we would take the Danhai light rail, either Green Mountain Line opened in 2018 or the Blue Ocean Line open in 2020. The train is pretty new and very comfortable. What made me even happier was that I could see cute sculptures and illustrations at every platform of the light rail station. Sometimes there was also a sculpture sitting on the seat and it made people seem to be living in an imaginary world. It was not until I had time to search for information after returning to the United States that I found out that these are the series of works by the internationally renowned illustrator Jimmy’s “Sometimes Sometimes” ( “Close your eyes for a moment”). What’s more interesting is that these creations are collected into a book and there is also music and animations related to it. I took the following photos on the Danhai Light Rail. I didn’t deliberately get off the train to take pictures so the photos were just ok. But from these photos, you could see that Jimmy wanted everyone to close their eyes and indulge in the fairy tale world. In a busy life, it is a very good concept to be able to use the time of commuting to imagine living in another world and relax yourself.

Jimmy Liao’s real name is Lao Fu-Bin. He graduated from Chinese Culture University Department of Fine Arts with a major in Design. After graduating from university, he worked for an advertising company and was responsible for the art design and creative work of advertisements. But in the process of completing advertising assignments, it is often necessary to incorporate the different opinions of other people and these opinions might often interfere with his creation. When the opportunity presented itself, he also started to do some part-time book illustrations in his spare time. After working in an advertising agency for 12 years, at the end of 1994, Jimmy chose to go home to concentrate on illustration work which he believed was a job that he “could really do without being forced”. Who knew that in 1995 without any warning signs Jimmy suffered from “acute myeloid leukemia”. Being sick makes him appreciate the preciousness of every ordinary moment in life, and he realized that all the good things are happening right now. Being sick makes him love life more and also makes him more sensitive and keen. His drawing style also changed. The ‘little people’ in the previous drawings, he only regarded them as tools to make money and earn a living. But now he began to feel that these “little people” really were part of him, he said: They have become me, and I have become them. Since 1988 he published his first illustrated book, he has published nearly 50 illustrated books and other kinds of books since then. Several films and musicals have been adapted from his works and even many authorized exhibitions or merchandise have been produced. He has also won many awards. He is a very talented and beloved creator.

這次回台灣我們住在淡海新市鎮，每當我們要去台北時就會坐淡海輕軌，我們可以搭 2018 年通車的綠山線，也可以搭 2020 年通車的藍海線，車子很新坐起來很舒服，更讓我覺得開心的是延路每一站月台候車站能看到可愛的雕塑或插畫，有時車椅上也坐著個雕塑，讓人好像活在一個幻想中的世界。我一直到回美國後有時間搜尋資料，才知道這些是國際知名插畫家幾米「閉上眼睛一下下」的系列作品，更有趣的是這些創作也繪製成書，而且也有音樂及動畫與這系列有關。以下照片是我在淡海輕軌上照的，我沒有刻意下車照相，所以照片不是特別好，但是從這些照片中可感受幾米要大家能夠閉上眼睛一下下，好好的沉醉在繽紛想像的童話世界裏。在繁瑣的生活中，能利用通勤的時間漫遊另一個世界，放鬆自己，是一個很不錯的概念。

幾米，原名廖福彬。他畢業於中國文化大學美術系設計組。大學畢業後，幾米進入廣告公司，負責廣告的美術設計和創意工作。但是在完成廣告作業的過程中常需要融入許多人的不同意見，這些意見會干擾到他的創作，當他有機會時，他在業餘時間也開始做一些畫書籍插圖的兼職。在廣告公司工作了12年後，1994年底幾米選擇回家做插畫工作，他認為那是“自己真正可以做而不勉強”的工作。誰知1995年幾米在沒有任何徵兆的情況下患上了“急性骨髓性白血病”，生病讓他體會生命中每個平凡瞬間的可貴，所有的美好都在當下，生病讓他他更熱愛生命，生病也讓他變得更感性而敏鋭。他的繪畫風格也有所改變。之前畫裏的‘小人’們，他只把他們視為賺錢謀生的工具，如今他開始覺得這些“小人”才真正地屬於自己，他說：他們已變成了我，而我也變成了他們。自1998年首度出版了個人繪本後，他又出了將近50本繪本及其他書籍，由他的作品改編而來的又有數個電影及音樂劇，甚至有許多受權展示展覽或商品，他也榮獲過許多獎項，是個非常有才氣並受眾人喜愛的創作者。