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Home>Service> Awardees of Fervent Global Love of Lives Award> 25th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award 2022> Painter and Supporter of Power Supply—Li, Sheng-Mao,
Li, Sheng-Mao, Painter and Supporter of Power Supply
[light up Taiwan. See the Taiwan Power ]
I like to draw the tough side of the grass-root workers, so that you can see the real Taiwan. Now you can see the tough side of Taiwan Power and its people
- Li, Sheng-Mao
 
Li,Sheng-Mao, a painter and supporter of power supply, was born in Chishan village, Wanluan Township, Pingtung in 1955. Since childhood, he likes to read comics and often play with his creative graffiti. Seeing that he likes painting, teachers in grade 5 and grade 6 of primary school not only give him the highest score for his paintings, but also encourage him not to give up this talent.
Encouraged by the enlightenment teacher Liu, Mu-Shan, at the age of 14, he went north from Pingtung alone to follow Ye, Hong-jia, a famous comic book painter of Little Hero to learn. He began to learn painting officially from then on. He also worked as an assistant to the sculptor Wei, Li-Zhi. Later, by a chance, he followed the ink painter Shen Zhen to learn ink painting techniques.
After he retired from the army, Li, Sheng-Mao was admitted to Taiwan Power as a power distributor for nearly 40 years in order to support his family.
He works in the front line, carrying wires, welding guns and other tools to climb mountains in remote areas, so as to "lead wires" for every household and illuminate darkness and light for people.
Especially when power outages caused by natural disasters such as typhoons and heavy rains, he will be busy day and night. From the July 29 power outage, the September 21 earthquake to the August 8 floods, he has participated in the power restoration project. Once he had not slept for 32 hours. Although it was hard work day and night for power repairs, it was the greatest joy in his heart to see that people in the disaster area had electricity available.
Li, Sheng-Mao used his brush in his spare time to paint, with the theme of his colleagues climbing on the poles, and painted vivid ink paintings of power distribution scenes. The delicate and realistic style of painting made him "Taiwan's first ink painting painter on electric poles".
Therefore, Li, Sheng-Mao used ink to display the power and beauty of the grassroots workers, as well as his journey through the mountains and rivers in the countryside of Taiwan to carry out emergency circuit repair projects, as well as presented the hard work of the front-line workers at the grassroots level. He won many art awards such as the gold medal of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' cultural and artistic exhibition. There will always be a story behind each of his paintings, which is all about his personal experience. The paintings not only have the strong earthy taste of Taiwan's countryside and mountainous areas, but also the sweaty smell of the grassroots labor, giving him the honor of being a "painter and supporter of power supply". He stood out from 2,979 candidates for the Fervent Global Love of Lives Award recommended by all walks of life around the world, and was awarded the "25th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award in 2022" by the Chou Ta-kuan cultural and educational foundation.
We always welcome all circles around the world to recommend life warriors that are hard-working, loving, courageous and with achievements. (recommendation line of Chou Ta-kuan cultural and educational foundation's Fervent Global Love of Lives Award​: 886-2-29178770, Fax: 886-2-29178768, Address: 3F., No.52, Mingde Rd., Xindian Dist., New Taipei City 231, Taiwan (R.O.C.), Website: http://www.ta.org.tw, e-mail: ta88ms17@gmail.com ).
 
Became famous in one fell swoop by paintings in poor years
Li,Sheng-Mao's family has seven children, he ranks the third. He was born in Chishan village, Wanluan Township, Pingtung County in 1955. Next to his hometown is Taiwan's oldest level-3 historical site, "Wanjin Church". If joining the church or become a Catholic in the early stage, you will have free milk powder, flour and living materials. Preschool children can enter kindergartens or nurseries.
His father's job was to contract water conservancy and irrigation projects - building tunnels and digging earth embankments. Once, due to the invasion of typhoon, the tunnels collapsed, causing him to lost all his savings. In order to recover from it, his father worked day and night with the technology of well exploration and shaft sinking, which gradually consumed his health. He died young in his 40s.
After his father died, the whole family suddenly lost all supports. They had to rely on their mother to weed on the agricultural land of Taisugar under the burning sun to earn 20 TWD a day. But their mother would always be willing to give money to them to buy some ice dessert to relieve the summer heat, or rent comic books.
At that time, the agricultural land of Taisugar was open to the public to pick up sweet potatoes during the harvest. Li, Sheng-Mao recalled that once among the people picking up sweet potatoes on holidays, he was recognized by his father's sworn brother "Junzai uncle" as one of the managers, who then asked him to come near and give him a dustpan of sweet potatoes to take back home. He was moved to be teary. Young Li, Sheng-Mao secretly vowed in his heart, "in the future, I must be able to support my family and reduce the burden on our mother."
In 1982, Li, Sheng-Mao's first award-winning painting, "the afterglow of spring in my childhood", making him famous in one fell swoop. It depicts the afterglow of the sunset shining on the figure of a mother and her son from the far side after picking up the sweet potato, which shows his affection for this land and his love for his mother.
 
Descendants of the Painter of Little Hero and others
When Li, Sheng-Mao graduated from elementary school, it was a time when television was not yet popular and comic strips were extremely popular in Taiwan. Since he loved painting since he was young, he determined to improve the economic environment of his family through his interest, painting.
So he drew a small picture, attached with a letter of self-recommendation, and sent it to Mr. Ye, Hong-Jia, the creator of the most popular comic strip at that time, Little Hero, hoping that Mr. Ye could accept him as an apprentice.
Unexpectedly, he received a reply from Mr. Ye, which made Li, Sheng-Mao scream and jump excitedly in bed, and also opened his future painting career.
Li, Sheng-Mao's apprenticeship in Taipei for more than three years was not easy. At first, he could only do chores such as cleaning, mopping and washing dishes. He had only 50 TWD of pocket money a month. It is not until a year and a half later that he could first pick up a paintbrush and copy the characters in fairy tale books, laying a foundation for character sketch.
Under the kind guidance of Mr. Ye, Li, Sheng-Mao gradually achieved results in his study. With Mr. Ye acted as a screenwriter, he drew comic books under the pseudonym of "Xiaoqing", including comic books such as Strange Shoes and Squirrel Marriage.
However, in the later stage, with the extensive introduction of Japanese comics to Taiwan, serial comics gradually declined. In order to maintain the hope of supporting his family, Li, Sheng-Mao chose to leave silently and enter the night department of Yanping middle school.
During his study, Li,Sheng-Mao, introduced by his senior schoolmate Guohua, who studied comics, entered a ceramic company in Beitou and worked part-time as an assistant to Wei Lizhi, a sculpture professor at Yanping middle school in Taipei.
With this chance, he got to know Mr. Shen Zhen, the domestic Master of ink painting, who is the direct disciple of Mr. Li, Qi-Mao. Under the guidance of Mr. Shen, he began to contact ink painting and found the main direction of painting creation in the future.
Li, Sheng-Mao benefited a lot from Mr. Shen's advice. He remembers that the teacher once said, "painting children is to show their innocent look and illustrate a childish feeling with heart". Therefore, he won a good result in the "National Youth Art Creation" for the first time, affirmed by the tutors from all walks of life.
After graduating from high school, with economic considerations, Li, Sheng-Mao did not choose to become a professional painter. Instead, he applied for the post in Taiwan Power and became a distribution attendant of the 28th batch. From then on, he joined the big family of Taiwan Power .
 
Hard Works during Typhoon Morakot
Working on the front line, one has to directly face the negative emotions of many people. Li, Sheng-Mao said that he "accepts the adversity obediently" and that a lot of hard work could not be explained to outsiders. A shout sentence such as "power, needs to be repaired step by step" can resolve many unpleasantness at the scene.
In 2009, Taiwan suffered the worst flood in history, the " Typhoon Morakot (“88 Flood” Disaster) ". Typhoon Morakot not only caused the worst flood in history, but also caused the largest number of power outages in Taiwan Power 's history.
After the Bureau of Meteorology issued an onshore typhoon warning, the superiors asked Li, Sheng-Mao and other front-line patrolmen to be on full alert.
In the afternoon of the same day, he and his colleagues were sent to repair the circuit in the Tuqi mountain area. When the car drove to the house of the old couple they had met when collecting electricity bills in the past, they found that the fuse link switch on the telephone pole had tripped.
Due to the lack of time and the tendency of wind and rain to gradually become stronger, without inspecting the line, he climbed up the pole to replace the fuse switch and tried to send electricity. It trips again and fails to transmit power.
At this time, the sky was getting dark, and they felt the power of wind and rain brought by the typhoon, and his colleagues said, "Head! We have to hurry down the mountain. So that the road will not be flooded by debris and prevent us from coming out! " However, Li, Sheng-Mao thought that the old couple must be helpless if there was no electricity at tonight, so he determined to make every effort to repair it before the storm arrived.
With many years of experience in patrolling the front line, he concluded that there was a problem with the circuit, so he inspected the circuit, quickly found the burned branches that fell on the high-voltage line, and removed them. The fault was successfully repaired and the power was successfully delivered.
The old couple watched the lights come back on, and were so grateful. In the stormy night, Li, Sheng-Mao felt relieved that he could provide care and service for the elderly and let them enjoy the warmth of the light.
Li,Sheng-Mao said directly: "It's really almost impossible for us to get out." He deeply remembers that on the way back when he was driving a shop truck, in the dark night with strong wind and rain, he was driving on a winding mountain road that was only visible within two meters in sight. The lightning in the night sky was accompanied by thunders. The earth and stone lying on the road made things even worse. All he can do was to pray silently for good luck, and his hands clenching the steering wheel sweated hundreds of times because of nervousness.
After 3 to 4 hours of horrified experience, he finally left the mountain and saw the lights on the flat ground, the tense heart gradually eased. He still vividly remembers the thrilling repair experience of the " 88 Flood Disaster " even today.
 
The thrilling experience of repairing power integrated into the world of ink painting
In his experience of ink painting for more than 40 years, in the early days, Li, Sheng-Mao mainly created local folk figures, from the rural Pingtung area where he grew up, to the suburbs of Tainan in modern life; from following his mother to work in the fields, to his wife shaving the hairs of the children in the courtyard, all of these are the best material for his creation.
Until 2000, on a dark night of wind and rain when he had to rush to repair power, he and his partners climbing on the telegraph pole could hardly open their eyes to check the circuit.
Li, Sheng-Mao suddenly had an inspiration, and thought to himself, "Why don't I paint this scene of hard work?" From then on, this moment triggered a series of ink paintings of him about the hard maintenance work of Taiwan Power .
The first painting in the Taiwan Power series, "Brightness in the Rain", from the perspective of the lift-off vehicle, depicts Taiwan Power 's maintenance personnel who are not afraid of wind and rain and the danger of high-voltage electricity, working together on the towering pole to eliminate circuit obstacles. Its innovative themes and profound character descriptions have won him the affirmation of the national arts award.
The recognition from the award for the first time further inspired Li, Sheng-Mao to invest in the creation of Taiwan Power series, and since then he has established a distinctive painting style.
Although most of the ink paintings focus on the expression of artistic conception, Li, Sheng-Mao is very realistic about the characters, movements, and tool scenes in the paintings. He puts a lot of effort into each painting —from the composition, character movements, angles, and expressions, all of which are realistic. And the deep meaning, especially the composition, often takes weeks for him to conceive.
 
The family members as models
While diligently carrying out maintenance work every day, Li, Sheng-Mao pays attention to observing the surrounding characters and environment. If he encounters a subject that worth to be painted, he will pick up a pen and paper to quickly draw a draft without affecting his work; The scene was kept in his mind, and when he got home from get off work, he asked his family member to act as a model to make a draft.
Mrs. Li revealed that when her husband was creating, he occasionally asked his family to "cooperate with the performance". Therefore, the Li family became the biggest supporters behind Li, Sheng-Mao's paintings.
Mrs. Li said: "There is a painting with a rope-pulling scene, there are several people pulling the rope. At that time our whole family with the children happened to be at home. So some of them were wearing raincoats, pulled the rope like this to let him to draw the pose, so that he could have more details of the hands.
In addition, in order to make the paintings rich and realistic, Li, Sheng-Mao also borrowed the maintenance tools used on weekdays and brings them home, such as tool kits, bamboo ladders, etc., only to perfectly convey the scene of the electrician's hard maintenance work, so that Li, Sheng-Mao's paintings, in addition to the charm of ink, there will always be a dramatic tension.
Even as an amateur painter, Li, Sheng-Mao's attitude towards creation is very rigorous, and he never be careless when he draws about the painting style, method and timing.
So not only did the Li family become models, but he also often stood in front of the mirror in Taiwan Power clothes and giggled, just trying to draw the most real scene.
Li, Sheng-Mao said, "when my colleagues are asleep, I secretly go to the studio to get round spades and cross spades, ponder in front of the mirror and giggle. The mirror knows me best. Finally, the painting "Brightness in the Rain" was sent to the Tainan Fucheng art exhibition and achieved good results, which inspired me a lot. "
 
 [light up Taiwan. See Taiwan Power ]
In order to convey the maintenance work scene of Taiwan Power all year round despite weather conditions, most of the ink works of Li, Sheng-Mao's Taiwan Power series are mainly in gray and black, and the lines are drawn with simple and smooth brushstrokes. The shadow of the early comic strips can still be seen. If you look closely, you may find that each character in the painting has a different expression and verve, and their movements echo each other.
Coupled with the realistic depiction of tools and equipment, the figures of Taiwan Power people who work hard in heavy rain, strong wind, dense fog, late night, and scorching sun are all vivid and alive.
"I still remember my feet trembling when I climbed a 20-meter-tall telephone pole, which is the equivalent of a five-story building." Recalling the work along the way, Li, Sheng-Mao said that after years of training, he has already mastered the climbing skills like the "Spiderman" in the movie. The power distribution scene has also become a painting theme for his creative inspiration.
So Li, Sheng-Mao painted scenes of himself and his colleagues going up and down the mountains and seas in various parts of Taiwan, sweating in connecting the power. The unique style of painting made Li, Sheng-Mao the first amateur ink painter in Taiwan depicting power distribution personnel with paintbrushes while himself also repairing electricity on telephone poles.
His nearly 40 years of service in the suburbs of Taiwan Power , coupled with his service in the suburbs of Tainan, have made Li, Sheng-Mao's painting themes very diverse and retro. From the high-voltage power tower in the mountains to the Yuchang line by the sea, the situation of human-carrying transformers weighing more than 100 kilograms on their shoulders or on bamboo rafts, are all the materials of his paintings. Here are a few paintings containing many interesting stories about the joys and hardships of the maintenance of the front-line employees of Taiwan Power .
 
  • "Determination always sparkles in the rush to repair - Carrying Electric Bucket Series (1)"
This work is Li, Sheng-Mao's first work to participate in Tainan County Art Exhibition. It depicts the scene of Taiwan Power maintenance personnel carrying electric buckets in the muddy land in the mountains after heavy rain in blue-green cool colors.
It can be seen in the painting that people carry hundreds of kilograms of transformers and electric drums with bamboo ribs. Although this scene is not that common nowadays, in the early days, most of the distribution lines were set in deep mountains and places that cannot be reached by vehicles, where there were no well renovated asphalt roads, but only mottled and difficult muddy paths.
All maintenance related equipment and tools can only be carried manually by Taiwan Power maintenance personnel. For example, the transformer is about 100kg to 400kg, which often requires the concerted efforts of three or four people.
In particular, when the power fails and needs maintenance, it is usually after natural disasters and winds, which means the road conditions are more dangerous than usual with dark tides, surging streams, knee-deep mud, scattered falling stones, etc., it often takes more than half a day to carry equipment to the failure site. These are unforgettable experiences that Li, Sheng-Mao has personally experienced.
He was particularly impressed by an experience when once a transformer in the deep mountain of Zuozhen broke down, and the maintenance personnel of Taiwan Power entered the mountain for maintenance. The weather was unbearable hot that day and they had to carry transformers of hundreds of kilograms all the way. They were so tired but they could only swallow their own saliva to quench the thirst.
A young repairman joked, "there is a stream next to itus I really want the transformer to flow down the mountain in it!" Of course, this is just a joke, but it shows the hardship of the first-line maintenance personnel of Taiwan Power . Without experience it in person, no one could understand this. So it is very lucky to have Li, Sheng-Mao's ink painting as a record for the public to appreciate these precious scene.
 
  • "Determination always sparkles in the rush to repair - Manual electric barrel lifting"
This work depicts the scene of manually lifting the transformer and electric barrel to the electric pole for maintenance.
As mentioned earlier, in the early days, the power wiring was often located in the deep mountains where the boom truck could not reach, and the transformer could only be lifted to the poles 2~3 stories high by manual lever jacks.
Usually, the senior maintenance team leader will climb to the pole, disassemble the damaged transformer, and then other maintenance personnel will operate the lever crane to replace it. It can be seen that there is one person operating the lever on the lower left and one person on the right. The electric barrel is pulled by the rope below to avoid danger.
The white space above the painting and its strong contrast with the trees below make one feel the dangers of working on towering telephone poles.
But for Li, Sheng-Mao and his partners, who are in charge of emergency power repairs, all this is nothing, and they have only one wish in heart, that is, to repair the power distribution lines sooner, so that the people can use electricity as soon as possible.
 
  • "Repair during the Dark Night "
He still remembers the power outage in the mountainous area of the duck farm at that time, and it was about 10 o'clock in the evening when he received a notification and entered the mountain for repairs with two work partners.
Because of the trails entering the mountain along the way suffered the electric jump, there are no street lights, and the mountain road is slippery after the rain.
The main repair site is a duck farmer's place, because if there is no electricity and lighting at night, the ducks will probably trample on each other and die, causing great losses to the owner. Therefore, Li, Sheng-Mao and his partners have to find the line fault and complete the repair that night.
In the dark night, the mountains are pitch-black and they couls see nothing. Not afraid of the danger of mosquito and poisonous snakes, the maintenance personnel neatly climbed onto the telephone poles and carefully inspected each line with the dim light of the lights, lest they be missed.
After a whole night of climbing and inspection, they finally found that it was the falling bamboo that crushed the line and caused the failure.
After the bamboo was removed, the lighting was restored. The ducks could enjoy the warm light again, and the owner thanked Li, Sheng-Mao and his colleagues with great joy. Although it was hard and dangerous, the three of them felt satisfied that they could complete this arduous restoration task.
 
  • "Memories"
This work is the story of a senior monitor who is about to retire in the Taiwan Power Service Office where Li, Sheng-Mao works.
On the eve of his retirement, the squad monitor, who was sitting leisurely on a power transformer, was dressed in Taiwan Power uniform and working rubber shoes. He held a battle-worn work cap in his left hand and a cigarette in his right hand.
Recalling the time when he was young, climbing electric poles to repair the circuit in the wind and rain, and realizing now he ha grown from a young man to this gray-hair person, the joys and sorrows of the past more than 40 years gives him the longlasting aftertaste.
Li, Sheng-Mao recalled that when he was admitted to the power distribution service class, the instructor at that time introduced himself as a senior employee who had served in Taiwan Power for 28 years. Now, he had also served in Taiwan Power for nearly 40 years! This painting must be the true feeling and experience shared by most of Taiwan Power 's senior maintenance personnel.
 
Tough guy and soft goodbye
From Li, Sheng-Mao's hearty laughter, sturdy body, and childlike excitement when talking about his paintings, it's really hard to believe that he is actually over fifty years old.
During the conversation, in addition to feeling his love for painting creation and his earnest and down-to-earth personality, we can also deeply perceive his concern for people and daily life.
As soon as he was admitted to Taiwan Power , he was assigned to a service station near Tainan. He has been in charge of various businesses for more than 30 years. In addition to power construction, obstacle removal, and taking turns on duty, Li, Sheng-Mao also has to be responsible for other related businesses, such as early day's meter reading, the collection of electricity bills and the collection of arrears today, these are all within the scope of his responsibility.
Before the electricity bill payment system was established and the meter copying business was outsourced, Li, Sheng-Mao often had to go door-to-door in the nearby mountainous areas to read electricity meters and collect electricity bills. Although this work was not as hard as maintenance, it still required time and labor.
Li,Sheng-Mao, who has a serious and responsible personality, even if it is an empty house or a household where the vehicle is hard to reach in deep mountain, he will carefully read the meter one by one and collect the bills, lest the meter index be incorrect.
Li, Sheng-Mao, who treats people politely and kindly, has also cultivated friendship and family-type affection with users. Even his wife, who he has married to for more than 20 years, also met him during the meter reading!
Besides, Li, Sheng-Mao still remembers a certain New Year's Eve, he give a red envelope to an old grandma who lived in the mountains in her 80s, which made her very happy.
Later, these businesses have been outsourced, and he had no chance to visit that grandma again. Unexpectedly, 10 years later, he met the grandmother's daughter-in-law who came to work by chance in the city. She said that the grandmother was in her 90s right now. Although her memory was a little degraded, she still missed the "electricity bill guy" that gave her the red envelope that year, which made Li, Sheng-Mao so touched. A small red envelope can greatly shorten the distance between people.
Due to the poverty of his childhood, Li, Sheng-Mao has a warm and caring heart, and can put himself in the shoes of users with financial difficulties.
When he collected electricity bills, he did not use the common cold and rigid reminder seals, but handwritten down each reminder in a polite way; even when he met an illiterate old man, Li, Sheng-Mao would use his painting talent, depicting a pair of scissors and a light bulb wire on the collection note, indicating that the electricity will be cut off if the fee could not be paid.
The next day, the old man immediately went to the service center for inquiries and pay the fee, and the collection task was successfully completed. It can be seen that Li, Sheng-Mao's warm and caring manners not only affected every user who came into contact with him, but also showed in his paintings.
 
Speak for all workers with paintings
At present, there are more than 20 related works in his Taiwan Power series. Since 2003, Li, Sheng-Mao has held several solo exhibitions successively, and won many awards for participating in competitions.
However, in order to improve his painting skills, he took the holiday to study at the Fine Arts Department of Chang Jung Christian University since 2007. Being busy with his studies and work, he often slept only three or four hours a day, like burning candles at both ends. But for Li, Sheng-Mao, this kind of life made him really happy.
In 2011, he became more skillful with artistic creations other than ink painting, such as oil painting, clay sculpture, etc., and also successfully graduated. He put on a bachelor's uniform and received his diploma, and felt that all his efforts were worthwhile.
When it comes to the future, Li, Sheng-Mao does not have lofty and unrealistic dreams. He just wants to take one step at a time and fulfill his duty in Taiwan Power , and then devote himself into his beloved artistic creation.
In addition to continuing to extend the Taiwan Power series, Li, Sheng-Mao hopes to expand the scope of his creation to all working classes, like the miner painter Hong, Rui-Lin, and truly record all the hardships in all walks of life.