“即使最完美的复制也总是少了一样东西：那就是艺术作品的‘此时此地’——独一无二地现身于它所在之地—就是这独一的存在，且唯有这独一的存在，决定了它的整个历史。”(瓦尔特.本雅明)

　　我沿着茂名南路，走过老锦江，拐进巨鹿路，地上一路是梧桐漏下的影子;石库门的里弄，左手第二排走到头，开黑漆斑驳的门，再呀地一声关上。天井上铺着玻璃瓦，天光是滤过的，地上的花砖仍是八十年前的老样子，一只蜘蛛在墙角结网。门外渗进的人声清晰却不真切，象是从另一个世界传来的。

　　拧开台灯，光倾泻而下，我的画布闪烁着肌肤般的润泽，我的思想我的意识我的身体，空气的味道，最细微的声音，所有被遗忘和被纪念的过往，所有仍栖息着的未来—一切定格于此时此地这道最微小的光线之中，它们如尘埃般漂浮着，轻盈透明，转瞬即逝，如此微不足道却令我着迷。如同光需要时间来传送，观者的眼睛在展厅墙上看到的作品不过是尘埃落定之际留下的剪影，那个“此时此地”早已萧然远去，遥不可及。

　　2013年10月29日

　　写于上海明德里

　　The Lumen of Here And Now

　　"In even the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking: the here and now of the work of art--its unique existence in a particular place. It is this unique existence, and nothing else, that bears the mark of the history to which the work has been subject."(Walter Benjamin)

　　I stroll down South Mao Ming Road, pass the old Jing Jiang Hotel, and turn on Ju Lu Street as the buttonwood trees shade the ground with crushing patterns. I enter the maze of the Shi Ku Men and turn down the second alley on the left. Passing through the tattered black door, it closes behind me with a creaky thud. The daylight flows softly through the translucent roof of the patio. The worn, cracked floor tiles have maintained their delicate pattern despite their eighty years. A spider diligently weaves its web in the corner. The sounds of men and women chatting outside seep through the walls like waves of words and phrases from another world.

　　I switch on the lamp, and light pours down. My silk canvas shimmers like the skin of a living being; my thoughts, mind, body, the smell of air, the faintest sound, the past forgotten or remembered, and the lingering future-all are captured in the lumen of light in the here and now. Slight and transparent, countless random factors float and fleet like dust, disconnected and seemingly negligible, yet intoxicating. As light needs time to transfer, it is the silhouette that, when the dust settles, the viewer sees on a completed work hanging on the wall. That "here and now," once bathing in the lumen, is long gone-nowhere to be found.

　　October 29, 2013

　　Ming De Li, Shanghai