China Box

中国盒子

文_茜茜    Text_Cecilia Freschini

译_戴伟平 Translator_Dai Weiping

　“中国盒子”是中国。“中国盒子”是社会经济与艺术架构的基础。“中国盒子”是欲望之盒，文化创造力、中国思想和理想封存其中。“中国盒子”是回答。

不确定性与适应性这两个词似乎是指向未来的关键词。很多时侯，由于不确定的信息超过我们所能承受的极限，我们不得不暂时搁置这些现实参数，转而去向与我们关系最为密切的那部分传统以及我们自身寻找栖身之地。 

经过多年剧烈的形象革新运动之后，如何去理解今天的中国？巨大的地理空间跨度使这个国家得以通过一种前所未有的令人觊觎的方式存续着她的文化遗产。沿着一条从日常出发的连接中国美学的小径，十二位艺术家在他们日渐深入的艺术探索中得到更多发现，而他们所收获的那些神秘之盒中隐藏着的正是古老智慧的珍宝。这些艺术家们试图以各自不同的方式映照自己的文化身份，寻求全球市场规则之外的独立。

这些艺术家及其艺术自成一个体系，而包含在作品中的各种创作意图形成一张稠密的网络，其中的任何联系都相当重要而不能忽视。这些艺术家的生活工作的环境、现状，以及个人的历史都是理解这些艺术家的工作的关键信息，没有什么能够真正外在于艺术品的创作过程：因此我们必须付诸观察并尝试去理解艺术创作动力的源泉。

长期以来，中国的绘画实践一度借鉴自西方，后来才逐步融合对本土资源的利用。近年来，少数艺术家也试图与集体的大趋势保持距离，而着眼于一个更为隐秘和真实的未来。

从复活远古神话的过程中，艺术家叶永青产生了对生命的自我约束和完美控制的向往。他的绘画是象征主义的诗歌，表达含蓄而有力，作品表面上充满无忧无虑的田园色彩，实际却表征着当下人与自然界之间的不适和焦虑。同样，当凝视薛珺的漂浮梦境建筑时，我们也会得到类似的体验：安适与静谧的田园气氛在我们四周氤氲。轻巧的结构消除了对未来的想象同时也消弭了真切具体的图像感受，但其背后的现实世界却埋藏着戏剧性的角力。作品中出现的每一座建筑都是现实中的知名建筑并且都具有深厚的历史价值，薛珺将一种如同生物皮肤组织的绘画材料薄涂在这些建筑物的形象表面，看上去象某种活的生物躺在一面颜色模糊的调色板上。与此同时，艺术家屠宏涛则用一种不加过滤的方式表达他对一个特定世界的看法，他眼中的世界是一张巨大的拼贴画，其中充斥着破碎而荒诞不经的图像。这种对世界的认知带领屠宏涛抵达一个弥天谎言的核心地带，在那里一群肢体残缺、丧失自主能力的木偶叠压成堆，在一个框定边界的怪异舞台场景中移动。自然风景在这里消失，而人为构造的社会风景使我们渐渐无法分清现实和幻觉的边界。与他不同，艺术家崔洁在“拼图”系列中为这相对的两极找到了结合点，她试图采用曾经触发公共舆论的真假难辨的图像 —— 如曾被大量曝光的中国宇航员的形象 —— 从中导出关于绘画自身真实性问题的讨论。

80后的一代宣布中国艺术的新纪元已经到来，而一种自主意识激励着走在前列的艺术家们与观众积极互动。李青是这一趋势中最具创新力的代表艺术家，他热衷于消遣观众，令他们细细观看他的绘画，从而接触现实的本质。在“互毁而同一的像”系列作品的“绘画行为表演”中，他将两张油漆未干的画布相对地叠在一起，导致两张图像的互毁，最终的结果只能是任意而不可预料的：新产生的图像既相似但又彼此不同。通过协调时空的概念，艺术家李超提出了一个新的艺术创造策略：在每一个三联画系列作品中，一个目击者可从三个不同的视角观看和解析画中的事件。而艺术家李威的绘画则像宽银幕上的电影画面；一连串的静止图像让人忆起昔日的默片。他如同一个电影导演，赋予人物典型特性，并试图在故事情节中预设情境，制造出强有力的悬念。这悬念及其所笼罩的神秘色彩在艺术家王亚强的作品当中进一步延伸。形式上的简洁和冷静的构图使观者回想起犯罪现场的重建，永远年轻但神情沮丧的模特儿在那里保持着警醒的状态，等待悬念的松开。艺术家王亚彬所呈现的是一系列的“自画像”，这些从自我无意识当中抽离出来的碎片被他直接涂画在迷你宝丽来所拍下的快照上。艺术家采集日常生活中拍摄下来的片段并加以干预，任由想象力自动成形。而秦琦则沉迷于在自己的幻想迷宫中行走，他利用最日常的物体，例如豆腐，营造出超现实的效果。正如我们所看到的，吸收了各种类型的文化信息以及国际化的视角凝结成喷涌的艺术创造力，同时折射出现实社会的强烈张力。然而，值得一问的是，艺术家们对本土文化的重新构建能够完全免除西方的影响吗？我们看到王光乐的系列作品“水磨石”即是向艺术传统的回归：复现的意图不再停留在事物的表象上，更多的是运用六世纪时的画家及理论家谢赫在《六法》中所提出的第二条原则，即骨法用笔与行为之间达到的和谐，也就是说，画笔和画家的个人品格之间必须建立一种紧密而一致的关系。一旦绘画被视作为一种特殊的行为，它就变成了个体心灵节奏的笔头表达。艺术家秦冲以其关乎存在的极简主义使自己区别于其他艺术家：安宁与平和借由一种简单而精致的风格跃出画面；然而从另一方面而言，他的作品表达了一种戏剧性的张力，呈现画面的是一场结局未知的无休止的争斗和冲突 —— 黑与白，阴与阳，两个依靠对方才能得以存在的对手，而生命在冲动和障碍的矛盾力量中得以自然生长。 

（Cecilia Freschini：独立策展人，第四届布拉格双年展《中国盒子》策展人。）

李青，互毁而同一的像·梅兰芳2，布面油画，170*1271厘米*2幅，2008

China box is China. China box is the basement of the social, economic and artistic structure. China box is the weft, a desires¡¯ pix in which are hedged in ideals, thoughts and cultural creativity. China box is the answer.

Uncertainty and adaptability seem to be the key words when referring to the future. And as always happens when the inputs are numerous and uncertain, as to overhang the established parameters, we take refuge and develop the most intimate part of our past and ourselves.

After years of frenzied efforts to change its image, what is China today? Now more than ever, China is a huge macrocosm which jealously preserves its heritage. 12 artists from the everyday follow a path close to a leading Chinese aesthetic. A search that deep down, to discover more and more small and mysterious boxes, wherein lie the ancient pearls of wisdom. These artists, in different ways, strive to shine light upon their own cultural identity and independence from the rules of the global market ...

There is a system that encompass art and artists, whose intentions then contain their own works. A dense network of connections that can not be ignored or trivialized. The environment, the present, but also the past, are essential for understanding the work of these artists. Nothing can be external to the process of creation: there are passages that must be observed and dynamics to be understood.

For long, the Chinese painting¡¯s practice has borrowed from the West, joining gradually the use of local resources. In recent years, a minority of artists has sought to distance themselves from this collective trend, focusing on a more intimate and authentic prospective.

The revival of the myths of the past centuries leads Ye Yongqin to aspire to a life of restraint and perfect control. His painting is symbolist poetry, which is expressed in an undertone, but with strength. The paintings, apparently so bucolic and carefree, showing, in fact, the discomfort and anxiety to the current relationship between man and nature. This same idyllic feeling surrounds us as we watch Xue Jun¡¯s floating dream state architectures. The lightness of the structure with no prospect, concreteness and solidity, hides, in reality, the drama of combat power. The buildings where he performs are well known, rich of history, shapes that the artist fills with a thin veil of matter similar to biological tissue. A sort of living organism which lies on a palette of improbable colors. Meanwhile, Tu Hongtao, without filters, expresses his polemic to a world that he perceives as a huge collage of broken, ridiculous and unnecessary images. His research brings him the essence of full blown lie, where stacked masses made from puppets, deformed and devoid of autonomy, are moving in a bizarre scene with undertaken borders. The natural scenery is gone, and the artificial social scene has slowly dissipated the ability to distinguish between illusion and reality. Those two opposite poles are what Cui Jie tries to join in Puzzles. She contrasts the truth of painting, by presenting images that have actually inspired a public debate regarding their presumed authenticity, as in the case of a flagrant Chinese cosmonaut.

This generation of the 80s announces the arrival of a new era for Chinese art. A sense of self-determination has been encouraging leading artists to actively interact with their audience. Li Qing is one of the most innovative and representative artists of this tendency. He loves to entertain the viewers, inviting them to carefully observe his paintings and, therefore, reality itself. In the series, "Images of Mutual Undoing and Unity", the artist causes the mutual destruction of two of his paintings that, still fresh, are pressed together in a "painting performance". The result is completely random and the new images are similar but different. Li Chao proposes creative new strategies that are based on a concept of space-time coordination. In each triptych, a single witness has the opportunity to analyze the topic from three different angles. Li Wei's paintings are like films on the big screen; a series of still images reminiscent of old silent films. Like a film director, he personifies his characters and tries to prefigure the environment before developing the plot, creating a strong element of suspense. That sense of mystery continues in the enigmatic paintings of Wang Yaqiang. The formal simplicity and cool designs recall a crime scene reconstruction, where eternally young mannequins, with dejected faces, are at state of alert, waiting for a solution. Wang Yabin presents a series of "Self-Portraits", fragments of his unconscious that he paints directly on snapshots taken from a Mini-Polaroid. Shots of a daily life that the artist tampers with, letting the imagination take shape. Qin Qi runs in the maze of his own fantasies, putting together mundane objects, as Tofu, in order to create a surrealistic effect. An eruption of vitality that reflects the rapid social expansion, which absorbs various types of cultural information, incorporating an international perspective. But can these artists make a reconfiguration of their local civilization, free from interference by the West? The " Terrazzo," by Wang Guangle, is a self-homage to tradition. The purpose of representation, it is no longer a certain object, but the harmony of the act in accord with the method of Bones, the second of the "Six Principles of traditional Chinese painting," proposed in the sixth century by the critic and painter, Xie He. The brush and the personality of the artist must be intimately and consistently related, able to intuitively move in unison. Once the painting is seen as a special type of action, it becomes the written representation of an individual rhythm. Qin Chong distinguishes himself by his own existential minimalism: a simple and refined style that communicates a feeling of calm and peace. But his works are the dramatic scene of an endless conflict devoid of solution. Black and white, yin and yang, two antagonists that exist only in virtue of each other and represent the struggle for life, between the impulses and obstacles of natural growth.

崔洁，接力系列：紫禁城，布面油画，200*280厘米，2008