As the Chinese art critic Jia Fangzhou has pointed out, it is difficult to explain Hai Rihan’s paintings. The images presented by the artist are suffused with a primitive aspect, a certain wanton bizarreness and wildness. They defy lay viewers’ understanding, and make fellow artists shake their heads. Yet, in a sense, to explicate his paintings is also an uncomplicated matter, because there is no necessity to decipher the school of art to which he belongs, or to delineate the sources of his technique or his symbolism. Hai Rihan does not produce art for art’s sake. His art is who he is, drawn from a secret place deep within him. Just as poets, creative writers and musicians give voice to their emotive worlds through verse, prose and musical composition, Hai expresses himself by means of painting.

Hai Rihan uses paintings to tell us the stories of his life – his inner secrets, daydreams and mysterious thoughts. How do animals see humans? What is comfort? What is furthest away from you? Once you realise that he actually pursues such totally non-logical questions with earnestness, it becomes easy to approach his art.

Mongolian blood in all its unrestrained vigour, and charged with primeval, boundless emotions, runs in Hai Rihan’s veins. The Hulunbuir grasslands nurture his body and nourish his soul. “My grasslands are unlike those envisaged by others. I hope I can present the living grasslands with an aura of wildness.” Certainly, Hai has never given us a straightforward depiction of the “grasslands.” He just will not waste canvas space on simply showing a vast wilderness under a sky that stretches into infinity. His concern is with the living things in this landscape, i.e., the herdsmen, cattle, horses and sheep. Theirs is a spirit tinged with primal wildness, which the artist rapaciously pursues.

The fact is, the pure simplicity in Hai Rihan’s paintings is very evident. Initially, the only figures are he and his family members, including his mother, uncle, wife and daughter. Much of the time, the artist shows himself in the form of a bull, a metaphor for his own soul that appears in almost every scene. On rare occasions, he wears a hat, and sits on the back of a scrawny horse with striking eyes. Jia Fangzhou vividly comments on these figures thus: “They are the denizens of Hai Rihan’s inner world, passionate actors who come at the beck and call of the artist. He only relies on them to create the psychological ambience of the moment, to articulate his psychic reality at the pertinent point in time, which may be one of solitude, placidity or fervour. He never paints anything that has nothing to do with the psyche, for he sees artistic activities as a direct way of life, an experience of life itself, a rumination on everyday existence.” [“A Rover of the Psychic Realm”, in Visits to Studios (1998), pg 2]

From the mid and late 1990s onwards, more nude women come to be featured in Hai Rihan’s paintings as beautiful protagonists. Like elves or a fantasy, they run freely and unabashedly, intertwining and gambolling, while the cattle and sheep around them seem to be overtaken by panic. This is no chaotic fata morgana, for to Hai, the women are a symbol of love – love that is free and uninhibited. Even though the world often responds with a puzzled look, the artist has no qualms about parading the beauty of love, much like the female spirits in his works.

With the onset of the 21^st century, the modes of Hai’s psychic expression have grown more diverse. He converses with and romances the characters in his mind via different forms, such as rock paintings, murals, facial paintings and sacrificial rituals. Hai’s soul can never settle down in quietude, but time and again, will take him deep into the source of all things. Whether we call them fantasies or weird thoughts, what have emerged from this fountainhead have to be taken seriously when they take shape on the canvas in various ways, for such imagery is  spiritual in nature to a certain extent, and renders   mysterious phantasms visible. Hai’s artistic expression is instinctive, wondrous and intriguing to behold, albeit unsophisticated. It comes across as now almost childish, now archaic, now insane.

We sense that Hai is distorting natural morphologies arbitrarily, producing misplaced eyes, stalactitic breasts, detached limbs, and so on. It makes us wonder why. The fact is, Hai never begins with considerations about how his painting will look in the end. That is never what the original consciousness is about. He simply indulges fully in the self-performance of the primal consciousness, and then presents it as it is, in all its authenticity and plenitude. Even though the images we see are devoid of logic and order, and sometimes almost downright bizarre, they are, to the artist himself, the best embodiments of his consciousness and emotions.

In the ink and acrylic pieces from 2007 that are centred around facial paintings (or “masks”), complete formlessness prevails, and the only identifiable objects are the eyes, which are actually a classic signifier in his oeuvre. Firefly-like eyes attached to the heads of human or animal figures [seen in “Autumn” (1995)] were already a distinct feature in Hai’s works in the 1990s. From then on, they gradually developed into an independent entity, showing themselves like ubiquitous wraiths in paintings like “Illusions” (2001), “Tree of Life” (2003), etc. If the figure of the bull is Hai’s body, the eyes would be none other than his psyche. The artist uses his eyes not only to see this dazzling world of ours, but also to listen and to think. Hence, the images he paints do not represent the way things look as initially apprehended by the visual faculty, but have been reassembled mentally, such that they look phantasmagoric, richly colourful and totally altered.

“Impressions” (2000) is of particular interest, as we can finally see here that the artist is willing to adopt a little conventional mentality and paint a “proper” face or two. In the four-tiered configuration of this painting, the most “normal” face is the first one on the left in the third row from the top, given that its eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and even nasal hair are all in their normal positions. The tightly shut lips and the eyes, partially open and glancing sideways, offer endless attributive possibilities, inviting us to surmise on the mental state of the person behind this face at this precise moment. For the second visage in the same row, however, the artist pays more attention to its general bulging roundness and the indolent facial expression, which is why the brows are rendered haphazardly and the nose is almost non-existent. By the third face, the artist has moved into transcendence; he seeks only to show us a detached, contemplative look with closed eyes.  The final face marks a breaking out from the human body itself, as is evident from its misplaced eyes, the tiny hole of a mouth, and the smudge that remains where the nose has been planed off. It speaks to us of a soul that has opened its eyes to gaze upon the world once again. Now, when we examine the other three tiers in the painting, no other “proper” face can be found. Instead, we are confronted by eyes wide open, fuzzy visages or ghost-like images. It does not seem that the artist intends to convey any specific look in the first place. He is merely paying attention, second by second, to whichever part of the body to which his mind is having the strongest reaction.

After all, when one is in a certain state of mind, there will always be certain “elements” that jump out from the pre-established order of things to form new motifs on their own. Eyes are a predominant feature of the face, which is in turn a predominant feature in our life. It is in this transmigration of salient features that Hai Rihan expounds, as it were, on the multifarious intricacies of the inner world. Clearly, his works are not combinations which strive to conform to logic. Rather, his paintings correspond to the need to construct anew a stage for the assemblage of soliloquies.

Hai’s opuses range from the mellow and gentle to the rough and tempestuous. We need to exercise patience in order to appreciate their emotional intensity. While it is possible to appreciate his colourfully decorated images on a superficial level, one has to focus most intently before the internally conflicting aspects thereof truly sink in. Consider, for example, the two pieces entitled “Life I” & “Life II” (2007). The visual pandemonium of colours and shapes here is more than meets the eye; it is really a struggle between beauty and ugliness, and between freedom and panic. As the female nudes writhe unreservedly and unrestrainedly, their sexuality is greatly heightened by their orange skin. However, as beautiful and free as they are, these figures are surrounded by countless gazing eyes, including both soft and hideous ones. While the artist is always eager to portray a world of the unbridled, unencumbered, relaxed and happy, he is often also haunted in actual execution by the conflicts in the depths of his soul. As a result, there is ugliness in the midst of beauty, as well as violent restlessness in the midst of gentle touches.

The artistic imagination of Hai Rihan has been baptized by, and filtered through, his soul, such that painting and dreaming are simultaneous acts. He allows his shapes and images to each take on a life of their own. Regardless of whether they are eyes, hands, thighs or breasts, or whether they twist, rotate through the air or become entangled, the artist allows them to materialise and mutate spontaneously, and does not intervene. He merely sets up a fabulous stage for them, where they may each engage in articulations–of bitter sorrow, excitement, perplexity, privation–or by which they go all out to fulfill themselves through giving expression to souls which have had an emotional encounter. This emotional release is one that breaks free from the gravitational pull of the planet in the midst of a powerful rumbling, as it were. It is essentially a release from melancholic conventions, an entry into the sphere of Romanticism that is wholly at one with the primordial Cosmos.

A case in point would be the Number IV in the “Images of Dunhuang” series (2002). So much is going on in this painting, yet the main theme seems quite unrelated to religion. Here, once again, we see the female nudes that are so readily summoned by the painter’s mind, as well as the entanglement of human and animal bodies. Nothing is what it seems, and one can hardly tell which is what. By painting in a daze, so to speak, the artist has led viewers into his fantasies. I feel excited each time I see Hai’s work. Often, I find myself searching for something on the paper, my eyes wide open. It holds everything, that which is clearly discernible, and that which is somewhat fuzzy. In viewing the painting, one becomes something of a gatherer of flowers or a treasure hunter, enjoying the process and having an adventure at the same time.  Art is like the human psyche, and can be so illogical. Art also inspires, despite the fact that it is sometimes abstruse and difficult to pin down.

As the French painter Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) once said, “When an artist expresses emotions, what he creates is a self-contained world. The painting he produces, not unlike a book, bears inherent meaning, no matter where it happens to appear.”

Chen Jiazi

Art Critic

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不需要逻辑的艺术

正如中国美术评论家贾方舟所说，要解释海日汗的画是困难的，在我们面前的作品，充满了原始意味的狂怪和粗野，常人实难理解，同行也会摇头。但从另外一种角度来说，解释他的画又是一项非常单纯的行为，因为不需要为他梳理什么画风流派、技法源头或象征手段，他不是一个为了艺术而艺术的人，他的艺术就是他自己，他内心深处的秘密，就像诗人、文学家、音乐家用韵律、文字或音符来表达他们的情感世界一样，海日汗的表达方式就是图画。

海日汗是用图画向我们讲述他整个生命中的故事——他的内心秘密，他的白日梦游，他的奇思怪想。动物看人是什么样？什么是舒服？什么离你最远？如果你知道他会如此认真地追究这样没有任何逻辑的问题，你也就容易走向他的画作了。

海日汗这位蒙古后裔，流淌着奔腾豪放的血液，蓄积着原始苍茫的情感。呼伦贝尔大草原养育了他的身体，也滋润了他的灵魂。“我的草原不是一般人眼里的草原，我希望能用野性的气息，表现活的草原。”的确，海日汗从未给我们一张直率描写“草原”的画作，天苍苍、野茫茫的景色不足以让海日汗浪费画面，他在意的是存在于这个景色中的生命——牧人和牛马羊，他贪婪地追寻着她们的气息，那些带有几分原始野性的精灵。

其实，海日汗的画十分单纯，最初画中的角色只是他和他的家人：母亲、舅舅、老婆、女儿。至于他自己，大多数是一头公牛的化身，一个几乎场场露面、自我灵魂象征的喻体，偶尔，他也会带着帽子骑在一匹瘦骨嶙峋却大眼突神的马背上，不过极为少见。贾方舟评述得很形象：“他们都是海日汗心灵世界的公民，是画家召之即来的情绪演员，他只借助他们创造他此时的心理氛围，表现他此时或孤寂、或平静、或热切的心灵现实。他从来不画与心灵无关的东西，因为艺术活动在他看来是一种直接的生命方式，一种对生命的体验，对生活的反刍”（“心灵世界的漫游者”《画室探访第二页》1998）。

九十年代中后期开始，更多的裸体女人作为美丽的主人公走进了海日汗的画面，她们毫无顾忌、自由自在地奔跑着、纠缠着、跳跃着，似精灵，像梦幻，而周围的牛羊却是一副惊恐万分的神态。这不是一个混沌的梦幻，对于海日汗来说，女人就是爱的象征体，爱是自由的、奔放的，尽管这个世界总有那些异样的眼光，但画家就像画中的女魂毫无顾忌地展示着爱的美丽。

进入21世纪，海日汗心灵的表达方式更加丰富起来，借用岩画、壁画、脸谱、祭祀等形式，与他心中的角色们谈天说爱。海日汗有一颗不甘寂寞的心灵，这心灵带着他一直深入到万物之源，从这源泉里发出来的东西——无论称之为梦幻、还是怪念——当它通过各种手法展现在画布上的时候，我们必须认真对待它，因为它在某种程度上已经具有了精神性，而且使神秘的幻觉变成了一种可视之物。海日汗的艺术表现是本能的、奇妙的和纯朴可观的，有时近乎天真幼稚，有时显得原始古朴，有时给人疯狂之感。

在海日汗的作品中，为什么我们会感觉到他是在对一些自然形态作任意扭曲，像错位的眼睛，钟乳状的乳房，分解的肢体……。对他来说，他从没有先去考虑一幅画的最后的形式，因为那并不是最初的意识，他尽情地享受在原始意识的自我表演中，然后将它们的真实面貌全盘呈现。尽管我们看到的是无逻辑的、无秩序的、有时又几近怪诞的图像，但对于画家而言，那是他意识和情感的最好体现。

2007年，海日汗画了一批“脸谱”题材的墨彩丙烯画，完全是一种无形无态的表现，唯一能认得的只有眼睛。“眼睛”是海日汗画中的经典符号， 1995年《秋》那种附在人或动物头上似萤火虫般的眼睛，是他九十年代作品的特征，之后眼睛逐渐变成一个独立体，像幽灵一样无处不在，如2001年的《幻》、2003年的《生命树》等。如果说“公牛”是海日汗的形体，那么“眼睛”就是他的心灵。他不仅用眼睛去看这个大千世界，还用眼睛去听、去想，由此，他笔下生出的，已不再是那些最初映入眼帘的原有物状，而是在心灵重新组装过的影像，充满幻觉的、色彩斑斓的、面目皆非的。

2000年的《大印像》颇有兴趣，我们终于看到画家肯用一点儿世俗心写一两个“规矩”的脸相。全幅作四个排段，先看第三排，左边第一张脸是最“正常的”，因为眼、眉、鼻、嘴甚至是鼻毛，都被安放在正常的位置，正是那紧闭的嘴唇与那微睁斜视的双眼，足可让我们用无数个形容词，来揣测这人一瞬间的心理状态。接着看第二个，画家在意的是那张圆肿的脸和一副懒散的表情，所以，眉毛随意乱点，鼻子也懒得画了；第三个，超脱了，要的是一副闭目沉思、任其索然的神态；最后一个，从人体脱壳了，错位的眼睛，空洞般的小嘴，铲平了的鼻子，一个睁开双眼重新审视这个世界的灵魂相。再看画面其它三排，我们再也找不出“规矩相”了，要么只是睁大的眼球，要么只是模糊的脸庞，要么像幽灵一般的影像，画家并没想对一个什么“相”作具体的交代，他只是在意自己内心每一秒钟在那个器官的最强烈的反应。这就像在某种特定的心境中，总有一些“要素”会从它们原来安排好的列队中跳出来，形成一个新的主题符号。眼睛是面相的主体，面相又是人生的主体，海日汗就是在这样一个主体轮回中，阐述千变万化的心灵世界。艺术作品并不是一个讲究符合逻辑的组合，而是需要重新构建一个由各自独白而合成的表演舞台。

海日汗的作品，有温和柔情的，也有粗野狂躁的，我们需要耐心才能把握其中的情感强度，你可以从肤浅的层次去欣赏他用色彩装饰的画面，但你必须全神贯注才能真正领会他内在矛盾的一面。2007年的两幅《生命之一及生命之二》，由色彩和块面引起的视觉骚动只是表面现象，实际上是一场美与丑、自由与惊恐的挣扎：裸身的美女们毫无顾忌、放任地扭动着躯体，橘黄色的肌肤增添了十分性感，她们美丽而自由。然而，就在美丽的左右，无数只眼睛在张望着，有温和也有狰狞。海日汗总是想在小小的画布上，制造出一片放任自由、轻松愉快的天地，然而， 到了具体实行的时候，却总是摆脱不了心灵深处矛盾的对抗：美丽中有丑陋，柔情中有狂躁。

海日汗的心灵，通过他艺术的想象力经受着洗礼和过滤。他作画的行为和做梦是同步的，他允许画中的形状、图像形成各自独立的生命——眼睛、手、大腿、乳房，扭动、飞转、纠缠——他都听任它们任意出现，自行变化，并不多加干预。他只是给它们搭建一个美丽的舞台，让它们各自做着自我完成的表述——凄苦、兴奋、迷惘、落魄，或尽情地去表现灵魂与情感相遇后的宣泄，这种宣泄，带着剧烈震动的力量冲出了地球引力，挣脱了忧郁的规范形式，进入了与原始宇宙浑然一体的浪漫主义世界中。

2002年的《敦煌印象》系列，场面虽然很热闹，但主题似乎与宗教没什么关系，还是他心灵那群召之即来的裸女演员，以及人的、动物的肢体缠绕在一起，似是不是、似像不像。画家在神游中作画，结果也把观者带入到了他的神游梦幻中。我每次看他的画都很兴奋，在那些纸张上，我总是睁大眼睛地寻找着什么，看得清楚的，模模糊糊的，统统都在里面，像采花，像寻宝，既享受又冒险。艺术如人心，又是那样不合逻辑。艺术还予人以启迪，即使有时它很深奥难以捉摸。

法国画家皮埃尔·博纳尔（Pierre Bonnard, 1867-1947）说过：“艺术家描绘感情时，创造的是一个自给自足的世界，他创作的画，就像一本书一样，有着固有的内涵，无论它碰巧出现在哪里。”

陈家紫

艺术评论家

The tropical rainforest is identified as a signature of regional landscape. The plant signatures are powerful aspects of the landscape’s vocabulary, enabling plants to make reference to a significant place and to introduce feelings associated with it. Although in Singapore, many location-names are associated with plants, the locations have left no signs of these specific plants, and the names have become insignificant. The extensive built-up environment in Singapore has adversely affected the continuing survival of native wildlife and plants; many have become endangered or extinct. Under the government’s green policies, Singapore has been reconstructed as a garden city. The messy natural landscape—the rainforest—has been replaced by a man-made landscape.

DEFORESTATION

The tropical rainforest contains a very large number of species—insects, birds and mammals which are particularly abundant. A small area of a few square kilometers is likely to have hundreds of species of trees. Balsa, teak and other ornamental woods are from the tropical forest. The rapidly decreasing tropical forest is due to its commercial value, agricultural activities and urban development. Deforestation has caused changes in regional climate and hydrology, and threatens enormous numbers of native species with extinction.

DESTRUCTION

Mangrove-swamp ecosystems occupy coastal areas near the equator and are special nursery sites for many small animals. Mangrove trees also trap sediment, thus preventing many kinds of pollutants from reaching the ocean. The large amount of nutrients deposited by rivers which run into them makes them one of the most productive ecosystems.

EXTINCTION

Human activities have an impact on ecosystems. Native vegetation has been destroyed by land use, hunting and the harvesting of particular species, all of which are major factors which have led to the decline or extinction of native plants and animals.

TRANSFORMATION

Urban and agriculture ecosystems are particularly prone to invasion of exotics plants and animals, when the invasive species that become dominants that cause a massive damage to the native plants and animals communities. The impact includes their ecological distinctiveness and their potentials for competitive displacement, disease transmission, and genetic swamping.

When I am working in stone, the immediate contact is physical, the force of hammering, chiselling and drilling hard stone creates heat and energy. The reaction of the particles causes sparks and waves of sound. The appearance of the stone is the result, the consequence of physical reaction. Understanding the character of nature through the physical contact has become part of my sculpture.

Han Sai Por; February, 2002

Eight years have passed since the disclosure was published; yet its pertinence has not weathered, diminished and  been cast aside for different approaches, principles and outcomes. On the contrary, we are struck by its validity when apprehending Sai Por’s art today as we might have been back then. Hence, when we read the citation with the aim of culling from it attributes that illuminate formal and symbolic properties which are salient in ascertaining Sai Por’s sculptural practice and her art, our attention is directed to seeing the works on display in this exposition as largely exemplifying them.

For instance, “the appearance of the stone” which Sai Por underlines animatedly, is ever present; in regarding the sculptural forms visually and sensuously, it is not difficult to comprehend them as emerging from intense “physical reactions” or sustained physical labour. In doing so, we encounter objects that are primordially wrought. That is to say, we behold things which are carved from stone, a material that is amongst the earliest utilised by humans, and a method of making that is equally one of the oldest devised by human beings.  In these respects, sculpture as an aesthetic category in the world of art is defined primarily by these properties and techniques; what is more, it is esteemed because of its antecedents in the capacities of humans to transform and fabricate materials.

And Sai Por has not deviated from such criteria in advancing and maintaining her practice over these past thirty years, a practice that is deeply rooted in carving. (An exception to this is marked by a 1993 production titled Four Dimensions, in which instance she utilised industrial materials, mechanical procedures and installation strategies.) I have written on these matters in a modest publication issued in conjunction with a project titled 20 Tonnes ; Physical Consequences: Han Sai Por, in 2002. For the present occasion, I draw attention chiefly to the symbolic tenor of the works on display and especially to the display of drawings, which is infrequent in her art. In tracking her preoccupations along these pathways, we encounter serious changes.

Sai Por has declared a topic for this exposition. She has designated it as  “the changing landscape.” In this regard, her positions are not new and unprecedented; when they are gauged expansively, we recognise them as stemming from a life-long involvement in nature as a vital force and as a gradually transforming process. Her choice of material (stone) and her preferred technique of sculpting (carving) are profoundly determined by such existential involvements. She subjects material, application, technique, forms and individual intentions into yielding configurations signifying analogies with nature; configurations which embody felt and living principles.

Whereas in the past, analogies between forms as art and natural forms – she describes the affiliations as “understanding the character of nature” – were expansive, inter-related and empathetic, now there appears a marked diminution in scale and scope; the impact is correspondingly tenuous and enfeebled. These are not necessarily due to a depreciation of, or a failure of technical capacities. Not at all! If anything, the artifice in the productions on display is pronounced. The alteration in scale and import are, in my opinion, generated by a strangeness that envelops the sculptures. As formal entities they strike us as mutations, as discomfiting hybrids and as peculiarly shaped.

We could enlist the topic in order to further our thoughts on these prospects. It (the topic) is linked to nature in a general sense although it is cast, in this instance, with reference to matters that are particular to Singapore. In a note accompanying the exhibition, Sai Por observes that “the extensive built-up environment in Singapore has adversely affected the continuing survival of native wildlife and plants; many have become endangered or extinct. Under the government’s green policies, Singapore has been reconstructed as a garden city. The messy natural landscape – the rainforest – has been replaced by a man-made landscape.” Of course the rainforests have been cleared continuously in Singapore over the past one hundred and fifty years, making way for intensely cultivated agriculture. However, the substitution of the natural in recent years has, according to Sai Por and for all of us, led to profound estrangements and severe dislocations. For example, habitats which originated from named associations with plants are now disconnected from their historical wellsprings; they are un-rooted and bear designations that are hollow and devoid of lived significance. Sai Por remarks pointedly that “many locations-names are associated with plants”, but “the locations have left no signs of these specific plants, and the names have become insignificant.”

The sculptures effectively signify these de-natured, divorced consequences of substituting nature with artifice – i.e., the clearing away of “the messy rainforest” and reconstructing a schematised landscape garden. My suggestion that the present sculptural works are enveloped by  strangeness, when compared with the capaciousness of earlier productions, may well be linked to Sai Por’s description of constructed nature in Singapore’s urban environment.

The drawings, on the other hand, resonate very differently. They are formally robust and symbolically fecund. Their appearance will surprise many who are familiar with her work. I have not previously encountered Sai Por employing this medium towards any forceful conceptual and technical ends in her practice. This is not to say that she has not produced drawings until now, but that she has not produced drawings with the aim of displaying them as pictures until the present. Ichnographically and formally, these pictures can be seen as foils to the sculptures.

The scope for subjects in these drawings is two-fold. In one, tree trunks, branches and the earth are depicted as writhing, entwining and crackling across picture surfaces. Sai Por zooms in close; the subjects fill the entire picture mightily. Carefully controlled marks and tones register dense, textured surfaces; these settle into forms which symbolise the sinewy vitality, strength and durability of nature. In the other, the cone or the edges of viewing are dilated; we swoop, skim over specified terrain. Even so, we do not forego interest and immersion in minutiae. In these pictures with provisions for an expanded scope, we pore over earth’s formations, absorb shapes and textures, and are transfixed by remnants of trees appearing as brutally truncated stumps. The artifice of constructed nature belies or camouflages a deeper, encompassing and enduring vitality.

T.K.Sabapathy

好象是刚睡着，就被摇晃着一会梦里一会梦外，四周和梦里一样隆隆作响 “地震了，快起来往外跑。。。”是爸爸和妈妈一边抱着妹妹急切的边摇晃着迟迟不肯醒来的我，一边冲我喊着。。。

我的眼睛不愿睁开：从梦中被叫醒通常是因为怕我夜里失禁尿床，可是我这会儿并不觉得下腹部充盈难忍。。。似醒非醒梦里梦外的隆隆的轰鸣声继续着，睁开眼周围很黑和平时不一样。。。

对于地震当时我没有太多恐惧感。那时我家住的院子离马路很近，这条马路从七十年代就开始修地铁。那时修地铁是要刨开地面很深很深的施工。挖掘机，推土机，打桩机等各类机器没白天没黑夜的轰鸣和工人们的喊声交织在深夜里格外响亮。我们平时就好象睡在这个大工地里，六七十年代的人们觉悟高，也没有噪音污染的概念，只知道国家修地铁是为了国防需要，反帝反修造福人民，噪音再大也能克服少有怨言。那时总觉得别的地方的路灯不够亮，因为夜晚聚光灯，探照灯把工地照得如同白昼的同时也把我们住的院子屋子照得很亮。

记得那时我晚上总是没那么黑，想玩儿就玩想睡随时就睡，睡的很深叫都叫不醒。梦里的世界更是美好，好玩事儿好象比现实更多，和梦里那个世界的孩子们玩多久多累都不愿散去，上厕所也是实在憋不住了才拉着和我一样憋了半天的孩子同去，并说好让其孩子原地等着，生怕有人回家不能继续玩。要是撒尿就各自找就近的地方迅速解决，有的找到墙根儿，有的找到电线杆子或树下，我几次都幸运的展转跑到厕所。。。一股热流涌出，那一刻释放的快感刚出现就忽然清醒，来到四周不太黑暗的现实世界——完美的失禁。从床上座起来遗憾和懊脑地回想着刚才还阳光灿烂的世界。梦里的世界也有惊竦的历险，绵绵久久不能越过的恐慌，生死之间变幻的同时强忍着充盈的下腹，跺在黑暗里期待着一步步看到危险的结果，直到再也不能承受。。。那股热流终于涌出，也把我从危险中推倒回到了实在安全的现实世界——又一次完美典型的失禁。

被摇晃的还从梦里到现实闪进闪出的意识在大脑里渐渐开始工作，是否又一次失禁？或是发生在我梦里的一次地震？ 直到从床上翻身下地才彻底醒了，周围很黑是因为整个居民区和外面地铁工地都停电了，隆隆声也不是推土机挖掘机发出的，工地已经停工了。那声音和平时的大分贝噪音不一样，是从地下很深出发出的共鸣声。。。这次不是因为什么别的事被叫醒，是地震——1976年7月28号凌晨4点覆盖京津唐的那次地震。

我跟着大人们使劲往外跑，外面工地的砂石堆上站满了脸上满是恐慌和还睡眼惺忪的人们。大地昏暗，天空呈蓝灰色，渐渐的远出天际开始露出鱼肚白。周围的人们开始议论着他们听到的哪儿房倒屋塌啦，哪儿有伤亡的人啦，马路对面还有人在哭，据说是被突如其来的地震惊的神经失常的一女孩儿。当时我一点也不因为地震恐慌，只是掎在人群中内心切喜这次惊梦醒来不是因为尿床。。。这段记忆印象太深以至于现在半夜醒来偶尔眼前也会出那晚的景象，有时像是照片在药夜里显影一样，在眼前一点一点清晰；有时像是暴光过度的照片一闪一闪的匆匆略过。记忆中也就是从那次惊梦后就再没有尿过床，只是睡觉前紧张依旧。后来我想了想也就是这次大地震了结我偶尔会在睡梦里失禁的少年时光。不过那时梦中我得到最多的是快乐和满足，往往连白天看过的电影，到夜晚自己就会出现在那个故事中，就是失禁尿床后的自责与懊恼始终的陪伴着我漫漫的成长过程。直到后来看到了佛雷伊德先生的一些说词，我才隐约为这种羞耻感和以后的诸多困惑找到了可以释怀的理由。现在不知从什么时候起，发觉我身边的许多朋友和我一样或多或少的被睡眠质量不佳所困扰，甚至被失眠折磨。每每此时我都会怀念那许多年前的偶尔有失禁伴随的睡眠，想起年少时那些偶有失禁的鼾睡竟有那么深入，深入到失去意识能力，失去控制力的身体轻的都能像羽毛一样飘起来，就是掉下来我们也会像飞侠一样轻盈落地，安然无恙。。。如今我们的意识时无刻的不在控制着我们的一切，它不知疲惫四处游荡，从来也不愿意休息片刻，更甚的是竟在开始吞噬我们的美梦，让白天的我们轻飘飘，让夜晚的我们沉重疲惫，让我们常常会为它绵绵不休的抗奋状态而在漫漫长夜里无心睡眠。

史泽平2007—2008年于京郊。

通常艺术家有两类，一类在自己的内心世界神游，另一类则更愿意游走在现实世界。我目前的状况应属于前者，但是我们都不可能脱离纷扰的现实世界。只是表达上的差别，我的这些作品专注于表达的一些内心琐事，可能会引起一部分人的共鸣，或者是一部分人对过去认为无趣往事的回望。然而也会令一部分人觉得冷漠。。。无论怎样这些作品都是我内心世界的现时反映。从这个视点上看，选择这样的表现方式和我一直以来都欣赏法国电影导演特吕佛的作品不无关系。您看到的这些作品，是我剪断记忆这大卷胶片的一段段，像在黑屋子里的小孩儿，用手电筒的光亮把这些零散的胶片打在墙上，有图象些让他喜悦，则有些图片让他羞于见人，只是这会他正沉浸其中不能自拔。我相信这个世界有许多这样的小孩。。。我很想进入这些孩子的黑屋子，也想要他们来我这里停顿逗留，应该很多人都会有类似的琐事在记忆里缠绕，只是没有想停下来留连的愿望吧！我不指望我的作品能让他们脚步停下来，但愿他们的脚步能慢一点或回回头。

出现在我画面内的男孩形象，是目前比较合适我要表现内容的选择。之所以把太多的情感托付与这个少年形象，在于借助他能随意进出现实，让我本身游离于现实之外。给我的表现内容以自由的空间，他是能够长久相伴的朋友。借助他的形象我精神世界时而在当下，时而回到记忆中去，他把记忆撞的支离破碎！在这些碎片中你偶然拣起一片，模糊中渐渐会照见自己。拼起来几片，一段时空就清晰起来—-有粉色、有兰色、有灰色—我要做的就是让这个男孩失去理智，用情感拼起来更多的不规则的碎片，并在每幅画中和我一起体验那些应该是我们大家都有过的喜悦、迷惑、茫然。。。

Preface

Jia Fangzhou

The contemporary milieu of Chinese oil painting is rich and varied. The plethora of ideas and a great diversity of styles and schools result in a development trend that goes in a multitude of directions. In this exhibition we are unable to present the entire scheme of contemporary Chinese oil painting. Instead, we have chosen a narrative from a certain academic angle, and will develop our narrative by picking up just one of the threads in the story of contemporary Chinese oil painting.

Contemporary Chinese oil painting traces its roots to the end of 1970’s, with the national “reform and open” policy propelling contemporary Chinese art into an era of unprecedented growth. During this time the oil painters emerged as the fore-runners. Indeed, almost every wave of new thought that arises in contemporary Chinese art has its point of origin in the realm of oil painting. Almost half of contemporary Chinese art history is about oil art. In the development of contemporary Chinese art, oil painting had always been the “head wave” and the oil artists had always been the main driving force of change. Even during the time of “New Wave Art”, when paintings were not the focus, the oil artists proved to be active and crucial elements.

The dominance of oil painting thus points to a consciousness, an awareness among oil artists, that oil painting is strongly related to contemporary Chinese art, including all the issues and obstacles that it faces. Thus, every trend in oil painting is a forecast of what is to come in contemporary Chinese art. It started at the end of the seventies with “Scar Art” and “Rustic Art” and went on to the “Aesthetic Movement” that leaned towards the poetic and the lyrical. Then there was “The 85 Movement”, “Searching for Roots” and “Purifying the Language”. The development of contemporary Chinese oil painting can be encapsulated in the trends of Classical Realism, Cynical Realism and Political Pop; and in its development from the expressions of imagery to its exploration of abstractionism.

In terms of foundation, oil painting was imported from the West only a century ago, thus barely holding its light when compared to the long, deep roots of Chinese ink painting. However, it is by virtue of its youth that it exudes such vitality, sensitivity, and drive. In many important international exhibitions, framed works have been largely displaced by large-scale installation art; but in China, oil painting has just stepped into its peak period. In the twenty-over years since the end of the seventies, every step of its development had become crucial links in the development of contemporary Chinese art.

In general, the structure of contemporary Chinese oil painting is made up of three components: 1. Classicalism and Realism; 2. Representational and Pop and 3. imagery and abstractionism. An overview of this structure reveals how Chinese oil painting continually evolves through a dialogue with reality that involves the reflection and pondering not only of current concerns but also the issues faced by Chinese oil painting.

If attentiveness and concern for the current reality is the basis for exploring current topics, then the consummation of self-definition is a crucial step in the self-disciplined growth of Chinese oil painting.

Gathered in this field is an important force of Chinese oil painting, and right in the core of this force is a group of middle-aged artists who boasts strong academic achievements on their resumes. They are unrelenting in propelling Chinese oil painting towards Sinification. Armed with unflinching academic convictions, they sought to distance themselves from the mainstream art promoted and sanctioned by the government. At the same time, they resist being swept under by the overwhelming wave of commercialism in art.

This exhibition “Forms of forms” picks up on the thread of “imagery – abstraction” as our academic focus. For many years, representational styles and realism were the mainstay of Chinese oil painting. Strongly guided by ideological policies before the eighties, the government had demanded that art shoulder the responsibility of propaganda. Revolutional realism was highly promoted. There was no way for abstract art to realistically or objectively reflect life, and so from its tender beginnings had always assumed the stance of being antagonistic to officially sanctioned art. This results in abstract art standing apart as being culturally adversarial. However, abstract art had evolved to be a new form of artistic expression. It had also attained maturity gradually in the nineties, producing a crop of excellent abstract artists.

We have established “Forms of forms” as the theme for this exhibition. Our objective is to relate how contemporary Chinese oil painting had evolved from the representational to the various types of “imagery – abstraction” and the transformation and changes between the various forms of expressions.  Traditional Chinese painting theories abound with many observations on and about forms. This includes: “the form that exists outside of the form”; “a conception that arises beyond the form” and “the supreme form has no form”. “The form that exists outside of the form” means that a painting has departed from the “likeliness” that is representational; it has attained a form that cannot be grasped by the visual sense, and in fact that is a type of “abstraction”. Based on this idea of “form outside the form”, we extrapolate the idea of “form within the form”. That idea refers to those “forms” that border on being abstract and departs from formal representation, yet does not overstep the boundary to become abstract. That is what we call “idea-form” or “imagery”.

Many works of contemporary Chinese oil painting fall into this lingering zone that oscillates between the representational and the abstract. These paintings display the unique characteristic of contemporary Chinese oil painting- from their dwelling on representation, to the “idea-form” that is intimate with abstraction; from abstractionism that draws on symbolic representation to pure abstract works. The repertoire presented by the artists that we have invited is emblematic of these various points along this thread that we are exploring.

Thirteen artists were invited to participate in this exhibition. In terms of age, there are representative artists that were born in the 40’s up to the 70’s. In terms of artistic accomplishment, amongst them we find influential pioneers, accomplished middle-aged artists as well as young artists who are beginning to make their mark. The heterogeneity in representation is a deliberate choice. In this way, we hope to be able to more completely showcase this artistic vein of “idea-form” to the Southeast Asian art world and art collectors. The individual styles and artistic tendencies of each artist can be more apparent by compare and contrast, and we can also discern the overall quality of contemporary Chinese oil painting as it develops on this particular axis from “idea-form” to abstraction.

For works that have morphed from being representational to a rendition that is more an imagery, we can look to the paintings of Jing Shijian, Xu Xiaoyan, Zhang Liping, Yu Ming and Zhao Wenhua. In principle their art has not abandoned the figurative description of its subject matter, yet it is not an objective depiction. They have incorporated elements of subjectivity into their creations. For instance, the “Travelers Three” series by Jing Shijian is realistic and yet not of reality. It is a sequence in time that narrates the literati sentiments of landscape, and concurrently waxes poetic of the misty landscapes. Xu Xiaoyan’s “Blooming” series expresses the imagery of Life a-blooming that is experienced through her observation of the splaying leaves of a wilting Chinese cabbage. Through the attention in realizing her image, Xu portrays her marvel and exaltation of life cycles in Nature.

Zhang Liping’s expressionistic use of colors reveals poignantly to us his passion for Life, and not just a zealousness for the natural landscape. On the other hand, Yu Ming attempts to portray a landscape “of depth”. And so in his landscapes he makes assiduous efforts to present a “peace and quiet” that is far and distant from the city chaos, but this is a sense of “peace and quiet” with an energy force field that is unsettling.

In his “City Image” series, Zhao Wenhua juxtaposes representational and non-representational images to express his concern for how modern city life is being lived out. The artist created nearly forty works on this one theme, examining a topic of current significance today: China’s urbanization and its impact. This is an issue that has global relevance, and this series elicited high compliments from the chairman of the Florence Biennial (Biennale Internazionale Dell’arte Contemporanea).

Shang Yang’s art is overall hard to classify. But we can say that fundamentally his works since the nineties are rooted in the “idea-form”. From the late eighties after he completed the “Yellow Earth Sentiments” series, his art ventured into the abstract realm for a short time. Examples of works produced during this brief phase can be seen in the series “States”. However, his vast and complex thoughts did not allow him to remain in a state that is so clearly delineated. From “Big scenery” to “Project Dong Qichang” his art has aimed to achieve two things: first to reach deep into the pulse of traditional culture; and second, to search for novel concepts and new expressions that can more intimately communicate his ideas.

The works of Liu Hui and Ning Dandan/ Ning Binbin are no longer tethered to the idea-form, yet they are also not pure abstract expressions. They exist in a state that suspends between abstraction and imagery. But pinning down the state is not important, what is essential is the experiences of life that the art is built upon. It is “the most primal and heartfelt impressions that we attained when we exposed our purest, most innocent hearts to our world” (Ning Dandan/ Ning Binbin); it is “discovering a sense of the earth” in one’s “field and garden” (Liu Hui). As they have created their works based upon the foundation of life and life experiences, we can easily sense the “sounds and rhythms” of Nature (Ning Dandan/ Ning Binbin) and feel the “sun, earth, wind, water and the sky” (Liu Hui) through these near-abstract paintings.

Li Lei’s paintings can be categorized as pure abstract art. But upon examination of his inspirations, we find similarities between Li and the above three artists. We may not sense the imagery of nature in his works, but we can experience the vibration of Nature. This is because his works, like Ning’s and Liu’s, originate from “how one feels about the Universe”; it stems from how one “senses and melds with the rhythm of the Universe.” (Li Lei)

The works of the remaining four artists in this exhibition- Wang Huaiqing, Su Xiaobo, Zhou Changjiang, and Li Xiangming- all fall into the category of pure abstract art. And they all orient themselves to seek out the characteristics of abstract art that has been Sinified. They all endeavor to anchor their works in the meaning of art itself. In their early artistic phases, these four artists have all engaged in producing representational art, and after they evolved into their abstract phase they all seek to root their individual art by drawing upon traditional cultural resources, thus welding a profound internal relationship between their art and traditional culture.

Since the nineties, traditional wood-architectural construction and wood-construction furniture had not only provided insights and inspiration for Wang Huaiqing, they had also become the master vocabulary that his art is built and constructed upon. In the years that followed, Wang in his paintings experimented with de-constructing or constructing with these elements that bear genetic markers of traditional Chinese culture. In the age-old structure of pillars and beams that cross and support horizontally and vertically, Wang perceived an ancient cultural spirit of his people. This sentiment is further verified by evidence in his artwork, where he attempts to reach beyond the two-dimensional space. In thriving for an art flavor that is purely Chinese, Wang had even abandoned the advantage of color choices offered by oil painting, choosing instead to focus on black, a concise color reminiscent of Chinese ink.

The paintings of Su Xiaobo and Wang Huaiqing bear similar characteristics of rationality and nonchalance. But judging from the use of symbols and imagery, Su proves to be more puristic in his pursuit of the two-dimensional. I have said before that he is one rare Chinese artist who is truly able to penetrate western abstract art from a linguistic level, and in his thorough grasp of western art, still manages to hold pulse of the Chinese spirit. When I look at his paintings, so western in appearance, I do not perceive cultural messages from the West; instead I see an expression brought to fruition through Chinese sensitivity. Su portrays a profound sense of history and cultural sensibility through his pure artistic language and in his use of raw laquer, a traditional material used by Chinese artisans. In his paintings that describe nothing in specific we are able to fathom the memory of a people; the vicissitudes experienced by a nation; the pursuit of history and the nostalgia for an ancient culture.

Among his peers, Zhou Changjiang was one of the earliest artists to venture into abstract art. His abstract art series “Complementary” has already won a silver prize at a national exhibition in the United States back in the late eighties. In the past twenty years he has continued to extend his exploration of this theme, endeavoring to “make marriage” of this western style with “local culture”. He earnestly sought to “reflect upon my cultural background after studying modern western painting” and “amidst the transfiguration of traditional aesthetical values” Zhou deeply desires to create his “own image of modern art.” (Zhou Changjiang)

Since the eighties, the art of Li Xiangming had naturally evolved and transitioned from representational realism to the renditions of imagery to abstractionism. But to him, what counts is not the change in methodology, but the evolving of an internal sense of aesthetics. This, says he, is also a sublimation of the quality of art. Li’s works have become increasingly simple and concise; more and more they emphasize upon the special “language” of the materials themselves. Three factors come together to channel his art in the direction of Sinification and localization: cultural symbols from traditional sources; local dialects and linguistic expressions and his personal experiences of survival.

An Exhibition by Invitation of Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting

Contemporary Chinese oil painting is characterised by a rich and varied milieu from which a plethora of ideas and a great diversity of styles and schools have emerged. From these, a multitude of directions has developed. As we are unable to present the entire scenario of contemporary Chinese oil painting in one exhibition, we have selected a theme which has enabled us to draw out one of the threads in the history of contemporary Chinese oil painting.

Contemporary Chinese oil painting can trace its roots to the end of the 1970’s; when the national “reform and open” policy propelled Chinese art into an era of unprecedented growth. During this time, the oil painters emerged as forerunners. Indeed, almost every wave of new thought in contemporary Chinese art has the realm of oil painting as its point of origin. Almost half of the history of contemporary Chinese art is about oil art. In the development of contemporary Chinese art, oil painting has been in the forefront as the “head wave”, while oil artists have always been the driving force for change. Even during the time of “New Wave Art”, when paintings were not the focus, oil artists played an active and crucial role.

The dominance of oil painting is indicative of a consciousness, an awareness among oil artists of the close relationship between oil painting and contemporary Chinese art, including all the issues and obstacles the former faces. Every movement in oil painting has predicted what is to come in contemporary Chinese art. It began at the end of the seventies with “Scar Art” and “Rustic Art”, and went on to the “Aesthetic Movement” that leaned towards the poetic and lyrical. Then there were the “85 Movement”, “In Search of Roots” and “Purifying the Language.” The development of contemporary Chinese oil painting can be encapsulated in the Classical Realism, Cynical Realism and Political Pop movements; and in its movement from expressions of imagery to explorations of abstractionism.

In terms of its foundation, oil painting had been imported from the West only a century earlier, and was barely holding its own in comparison with the long, deep roots of Chinese ink painting. However, by virtue of its youth, it exudes vitality, sensitivity, and drive. While in many important international exhibitions, framed works have been largely displaced by large-scale installation art, in China, oil painting has just entered its peak. In the twenty-over years since the end of the seventies, every step of its development has been crucially linked to the development of contemporary Chinese art.

In general, contemporary Chinese oil painting comprises three components:

1. Classicism and Realism;

2. Representationalism and Pop; and

3. Imagery and Abstractionism.

An overview of this composition reveals how Chinese oil painting continually evolves through a dialogue with reality that involves not only the pondering and reflection of current concerns, but also issues faced by Chinese oil painting.

If attentiveness to, and concern for, the current reality provides the basis for artistic exploration, then the attainment of self-definition plays a crucial role in the disciplined growth of Chinese oil painting. Within this domain is a forceful group of middle-aged artists who can boast strong academic achievements in their resumes. They are unrelenting in propelling Chinese oil painting towards Sinicisation. Armed with unflinching academic convictions, they have sought to distance themselves from the mainstream art promoted and sanctioned by the government. At the same time, they have resisted being swept under by the overwhelming wave of commercialism in art.

This “From Imagery to Abstraction: An Exhibition by Invitation of Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting” exhibition uses the “imagery –- abstractionism” component for thematic focus. For many years, representational styles and realism have been the mainstay of Chinese oil painting. Before the eighties, the government, staunchly guided by ideological policies, had demanded that art shoulder the responsibility of propaganda. Revolutionary realism was highly promoted. There was no way for abstract art to realistically or objectively reflect life, and so from its tender beginnings, it had always assumed the stance of being antagonistic to officially sanctioned art. This had resulted in abstract art standing apart as being culturally adversarial. However, abstract art has evolved into a new form of artistic expression. It has also attained maturity gradually in the nineties, producing a crop of excellent abstract artists.

Our objective in establishing “From Imagery to Abstraction” as the theme for this exhibition is to relate how contemporary Chinese oil painting has evolved from the representational to various types of “imagery – abstraction”, and the transformation and changes between the various forms of expression that have ensued. In traditional Chinese painting, theories abound, with many observations on and about forms. They include “the form that exists outside the form”; “a conception that arises beyond the form”; and “the supreme form has no form.” “The form that exists outside the form” means that a painting has departed from the “likeliness” that is representational; it has attained a form that cannot be grasped by the visual sense, and in fact is a type of “abstraction.” From the idea of the “form outside the form”, we extrapolate the idea of the “form within the form.” The idea of “form outside the form” refers to those “forms” which, departing from formal representation, border on the abstract and yet do not overstep the boundary to become abstract. This is what we call “idea-form” or “imagery.”

Many works of contemporary Chinese oil painting fall within a lingering zone that oscillates between the representational and the abstract. These paintings display the unique characteristics of contemporary Chinese oil painting, from their concern with representation, to the “idea-form” that is intimately associated with abstraction; from the abstractionism that draws on symbolic representation, to pure abstract works. The repertoire presented by the artists we have invited is emblematic of various points along the route that we are exploring.

Thirteen artists were invited to participate in this exhibition. In terms of age, these are representative artists who were born in the 40’s up to the 70’s. In terms of artistic accomplishment, they are influential pioneers, accomplished middle-aged artists as well as young artists who are beginning to make their mark. The heterogeneity represented by them is deliberate. In this way, we hope to be able to showcase more comprehensively the artistic vein of “idea-form” to the Southeast Asian art world and art collectors. The individual styles and artistic tendencies of each artist are made more apparent by comparison and contrast with each other. From them, we may also discern the overall quality of contemporary Chinese oil painting as it develops along the particular axis from “idea-form” to abstraction.

For works that have evolved from being representational to renditions that are more in the vein of imagery expression, we may look to the paintings of Jing Shijian, Xu Xiaoyan, Zhang Liping, Yu Ming and Zhao Wenhua. In principle, their art has not abandoned the figurative depiction of subject matter, yet it is not an objective one. They have incorporated elements of subjectivity into their creations. For instance, the “Travellers Three” series by Jing Shijian are realistic, and yet not of reality. They comprise a sequence in time that narrates literati sentiments towards landscape, and concurrently waxes poetic on the misty landscapes. Xu Xiaoyan’s “Blooming” series express the imagery of Life a-blooming that is experienced through her observations of the splayed leaves of a wilting Chinese cabbage. Through the attention devoted to realizing her image, Xu marvels at and exalts the life-cycles of Nature.

Zhang Liping’s expressionistic use of colour reveals poignantly to us his passion for life, and not just a zeal for natural landscape. On the other hand, Yu Ming attempts to portray a landscape “of depth.” And so in his landscapes, he assiduously presents a “peace and quiet” that is far and distant from the city chaos, but his is a sense of “peace and quiet” with an energy force field that is unsettling.

In his “City Image” series, Zhao Wenhua juxtaposes representational and non-representational images to express his concern for how modern city life is being lived. The artist has created nearly forty works on this one theme, examining a subject of current significance: China’s urbanization and its impact. With their focus on an issue that has global relevance, the series have elicited high praise from the chairman of the Florence Biennial (Biennale Internazionale Dell’arte Contemporanea).

Shang Yang’s art is hard to classify as a whole. But we can say that fundamentally, his works since the nineties have been rooted in “idea-form.” In the late eighties, after he completed the “Yellow Earth Sentiments” series, his art ventured for a short time into the abstract realm. Examples of works produced during this brief phase can be seen in the “States” series. However, his wide-ranging and complex reach has not allowed him to remain in a state so clearly delineated. From “Big Scenery” to “Project Dong Qichang”, his art has aimed to achieve two things: first, to reach deep into the pulse of traditional culture; and second, to search for novel concepts and new expressions that can more intimately communicate his ideas.

While the works of Liu Hui and Ning Dandan / Ning Binbin are no longer tethered to the idea-form, they are also not pure expressions of the abstract. They exist in a state suspended between abstraction and imagery. But pinning the state down is not important; what is essential is the experiences of life that the art is built upon. It is “the most primal and heartfelt impressions that we attain when we expose our purest, most innocent hearts to our world” (Ning Dandan/ Ning Binbin); it is “discovering a sense of the earth” in one’s “field and garden” (Liu Hui). As they have created their works based on life and life experiences, we can easily sense the “sounds and rhythms” of Nature (Ning Dandan/ Ning Binbin) and feel the “sun, earth, wind, water and sky” (Liu Hui) through these near-abstract paintings.

Li Lei’s paintings may be categorized as pure abstract art. But upon examination of the sources of his inspiration, we find similarities between Li and the three artists above. We may not sense the imagery of nature in his works, but we can experience the vibration of Nature. This is because his works, like Ning’s and Liu’s, originate from “how one feels about the Universe”; they stem from how one “senses and melds with the rhythm of the Universe” (Li Lei).

The works of the remaining four artists in this exhibition—Wang Huaiqing, Su Xiaobo, Zhou Changjiang, and Li Xiangming—all fall within the category of pure abstract art. They all position themselves towards seeking out the characteristics of abstract art that have been Sinicised. They all endeavour to anchor their works in the meaning of art itself. In their early artistic phases, these four artists were engaged in producing representational art, and after evolving into their abstract phase, have sought to root their individual art by drawing upon traditional cultural resources, thus welding a profound intrinsic relationship between their art and traditional culture.

Since the nineties, traditional wood-architectural construction and wood-construction furniture have not only provided insights and inspiration for Wang Huaiqing, they have also become the master vocabulary on which his art is built and constructed. In these subsequent years, Wang’s paintings have experimented with the construction and deconstruction of elements that are genetic markers of traditional Chinese culture. In the age-old structure of pillars and beams that cross and support horizontally and vertically, Wang has perceived an ancient cultural spirit of his people. This sentiment is further verified in the evidence of his works, where he attempts to reach beyond two-dimensional space. In striving for an aesthetic dimension that is purely Chinese, Wang has even abandoned the advantage of the possibilities of colour offered by oil painting, and chosen instead to focus on black, a precise colour reminiscent of Chinese ink.

The paintings of Su Xiaobo and Wang Huaiqing show similar characteristics of rationality and nonchalance. To judge from their use of symbols and imagery, Su proves to be more purist in his pursuit of the two-dimensional. I have said before that he is a rare Chinese artist who is truly able to penetrate western abstract art from a linguistic level and yet, in the thorough grasp of western art, to hold still the pulse of the Chinese spirit. When I look at his paintings, so western in appearance, I do not perceive cultural messages from the West; instead, I see expression brought to fruition through Chinese sensitivity. Su demonstrates a profound sense of history and cultural sensibility through his pure artistic language and use of raw lacquer, a traditional material used by Chinese artisans. In his paintings which describe nothing specific, we are able to fathom the memory of a people; the vicissitudes experienced by a nation; the pursuit of history, and the nostalgia for an ancient culture.

Among his peers, Zhou Changjiang was one of the earliest artists to venture into abstract art. His abstract art series “Complementary”, won a silver award at a national exhibition in the United States in the late eighties. In the past twenty years, he has continued to extend his exploration of this theme, endeavouring to “make a marriage” of the western style with “local culture”. He has earnestly sought to “reflect upon my cultural background after studying modern western painting” and “amidst the transfiguration of traditional aesthetic values.” Zhou desires deeply to create his “own image of modern art.”

Since the eighties, the art of Li Xiangming has naturally evolved and made the transitions from representational realism to renditions of imagery to abstractionism. But to him, what has been of significance is not the change in methodology, but the evolution of an internal sense of aesthetics. For him, this is also a sublimation of the quality of art. Li’s works have become increasingly simple and concise; more and more, they emphasize the unique “language” of the materials themselves. Three factors have come together to channel Li’s art in the direction of Sinicisation and localization: cultural symbols from traditional sources; local dialects and linguistic expressions; and personal experiences of survival.

Jia Fangzhou

Chinese Art Critic

象内象外–中国当代油画邀请展

中国油画的当代面貌丰富多彩，不同的观念、不同的风格流派，呈现出一种多元多向的发展态势。在有限的展览规模中我们无法全面地呈现这种整体格局，因此，本次展览只侧重于某一学术层面，只从某一条线索上展开我们的描述。

中国当代油画的发展始于七十年代末，改革开放的国策使中国当代艺术进入一个前所未有的发展阶段。在这个阶段油画家空前活跃，当代艺术中每一个新思潮的出现，几乎都首先来自油画领域，一部中国当代美术史，几乎被油画占去一半，也就是说，在中国当代艺术的发展过程中，油画始终处在一种“主流”地位，油画家始终是构成这种发展的主导力量，即使在不以画种为界的“新潮美术”中，油画家也是首当其冲，成为最活跃的因素。

这种情况说明，中国油画在其发展过程中自觉意识到，其自身课题与中国当代艺术普遍面临的问题直接相关。因此，在油画领域出现的每一种倾向，也便同时预示着中国当代艺术的发展趋向。从七十年代末的“伤痕”与“乡土”思潮，到倾向诗意抒情的“唯美风”；从“85新潮”到“寻根热”与“纯化语言风”；从古典写实风到玩世现实主义与政治波普，从意象表现到抽象探索，共同构成了中国当代油画发展的主要线索。

论传统根基，油画从西方舶来不过一个世纪，远不能与水墨画相比，但也唯其年轻，才显示出它的生命力，显示出它的敏感与锐气，虽然在许多重要的国际展事中，架上绘画已被大量的装置作品所取代，但在中国，油画却让人觉得正在步人它的“盛期”，在自七十年代末以来的二十几年中，它所走过的每一步，都构成中国当代美术发展中不可缺少的重要环节。

中国当代油画的格局大体由三个板块构成：一，古典与写实；二，具象与波普；三，意象与抽象。这一格局说明，中国油画是在自身命题与当代课题的双向关照中不断前行。 如果说以关注当下现实为契机的当代课题的展开，是一种具有当代意义的转化，那么，自身命题的完成则是中国油画在自律发展的方向上不可缺少的环节。在这个领域，聚集着中国油画的一支重要力量，它的核心是一批有学术建树的中年辈艺术家。他们坚持不懈于中国油画的本土化探索，以坚定不移的学术立场，一方面与官方的主流艺术拉开距离，一方面排拒着商业大潮的冲击。

“象内象外——中国当代油画邀请展”，正是在“意象—抽象”这条脉络上展开我们的学术命题。在过去许多年中，具象与写实在中国油画中一直处在主导性的地位，80年代以前，由于意识形态影响，官方要求艺术要承担宣传的使命，倡导的是革命现实主义。而抽象艺术不能真实客观地反映生活，因此它在发展的初期一直是以一种与官方艺术相对抗的姿态出现，具有鲜明的文化针对性。它作为艺术演进中的一个新形态，在90年代逐渐走向成熟，并且产生了一批优秀的抽象艺术家。

以“象内象外”作为本次展览的主题，意在描述中国当代油画从具象进到“意象—抽象”阶段的几种不同形态以及它们之间的转化。中国古代画论中有“象外之象”、“境生象外”、“大象无形”之说，所谓“象外之象”，意即离开了具象之“象”，无法直接用视觉把握的“象”，实际上就是一种“抽象”之境。依此我们从“象外”延伸到 “象内”，意即那些接近抽象但还未越过抽象边界的“象”，也即我们所称谓的“意象”。中国当代油画处于意象——抽象临界状态的作品很多，从具象到接近抽象的 “意象”，从保留形象符号的抽象到纯抽象，这正是中国当代油画在形态上所具有一个特征。我们邀请参展的艺术家正处是在这条脉络上的几个不同点位。

“象内象外”展共邀请13位中国油画家。从出生的年代看，从40年代到70年代几个年龄段的艺术家都有；从艺术成就看，他们中既有影响很大的领军式的人物，也有卓有成就的中年艺术家，还有崭露头角的青年艺术家。这样一种组合方式，是想在这条艺术脉络上尽可能比较全面地给东南亚艺术界和收藏界介绍中国当代油画家各自不同的个人风貌和艺术倾向，同时也可从意象到抽象这个艺术坐标上，看到中国当代油画发展的整体水准。

在从具象转向意象性表现的层面上，我们可以从井士剑、徐晓燕、张立平、余明、赵文华的作品中得到印证。他们的艺术基本上没有放弃对客体的描绘，但又不是写实主义的客观再现，他们在作品中融入了更多主观的因素。如井士剑所描绘的《三人行》江湖系列，既是现实的，又是非现实的，既是在时间序列中展开的山水人文情怀，又是在茫茫山色中对诗意的呼唤；徐晓燕的《怒放》系列则是在白菜叶片的绽放中感受到了“开花”的生命意象，从而表达对自然生命的生长过程的惊叹和礼赞；张立平的表现主义色彩让我们更多地看到的是画家的生命激情而非面对纯粹的自然景色；而余明则试图表现一种“有深度”的风景，于是他在他的风景中竭力表达一种远离都市的“宁静”，宁静到有些令人不安的程度。赵文华的《城市影像》系列更是在具象与非具象的措置中表达他对现代都市生存方式的忧虑。画家所以用近40幅连作来表现这一主题，是因为今日中国的都市化进程是一个具有当代意义的话题，同时也是一个全球性的话题。所以佛罗伦萨双年展主席对他的这一系列作品给予很高的评价。

就整体看，尚扬的艺术是难以归类的，但90年代以来的作品基本上是在意象的层面上展开。从80年代后期告别“黄土情怀”，他的艺术曾一度在抽象领域做短期逗留（如《状态》系列），但他广阔而错综的思绪使他无法停留在那种纯粹的状态里，从《大风景》到《董其昌计划》，他的艺术一方面延伸到传统文化的根脉之中，一方面又在寻找一种更切近他的思路的新观念和新表达方式。

刘辉、宁丹丹/宁彬彬的作品已经游离意象，但又不是纯粹的抽象。在形态上应是介于意象与抽象之间。其实形态本身并不重要，重要的是艺术所籍助的生命感悟，是“用最单纯的心灵去体悟自己所生存的环境”（ 宁丹丹/宁彬彬），是在自己的“田园”中“找到大地的感觉”（刘辉）。正是这个原因，我们才能在他们近于抽象的作品中依然感受到“自然的声响与节奏”（ 宁丹丹/宁彬彬），感受到“阳光、大地、风水和天空”（刘辉）。

李磊的作品可以归入纯抽象的范畴，但从他创作灵感的源头看，他与上述三位艺术家有相同之处。我们虽然不能从他的作品中感受到自然的意象，却能感受到自然的气息。因为他的作品同样来自于“内心对宇宙万物的感受”，来自于对宇宙生命的气息的“判断与契合”（李磊）。

展览中其余4位——王怀庆、苏笑柏、周长江、李向明的作品都在纯抽象的范围之内。他们的共同取向是，都在寻求抽象艺术的本土化特征，都在艺术本体的意义上展开他们的工作。他们早期都从事过具象艺术创作，进入抽象阶段后又都能从传统文化资源中寻找自己艺术的出发点，从而使他们的艺术与传统文化保持着深刻的内在联系。

王怀庆从90年代起，就在传统的木结构建筑和木结构家具中获得启示与灵感，并从中找到支撑自己艺术的母语。在此后的十几年中，他一直在画面上对这些具有传统文化基因的形式因素进行结构主义或解构主义的“试验”，因为他从那些横穿竖插的隼卯结构中感受到支撑一个民族的古老文化精神的存在，他的作品从平面向空间的延伸，更加证明了这点。他甚至不惜放弃油画在色彩上的优势，而以一种以墨色为主的极简的色彩，为的是寻求一种纯属于中国的艺术趣味。

在理性、冷静这一层面，苏笑柏与王怀庆有相同之处，但从借用符号和意象的角度看，苏笑柏是一位更纯粹的平面艺术家。我曾说过，他是真正在语言层面进入西方抽象艺术的不可多得的一位中国艺术家，也是在对西方艺术的充分理解中，仍然能在精神层面延续中国文脉的一位艺术家。他的那些貌似很西方的作品所给予我的并不是西方的文化内涵，而是从中国的文脉中延伸而来的一种成果。他运用大漆这种传统材料和纯绘画语言所传达出的是一种厚重的历史感和文化感，我们从那些什么也没有描绘的画面上读出的是一个族群的记忆、一个民族的阅历与沧桑，是一种对历史的回望和文化的怀旧情绪。

在同辈人中，周长江是从事抽象艺术创作最早的艺术家之一，他以“互补”为主题的抽象作品，早在80年代末就曾在全国美展中获得银奖。20年来，他一直在延伸着这一主题，并且力求将这一西方的样式“与本土文化联姻”，力求在“研究了西方现代绘画后反现自身文化背景”， 力求在传统审美价值的现代转型中，创造出“自己的现代艺术形象”（周长江）。

李向明的艺术从80年代以来，也自然经历了一个由具象写实向意象表现再到抽象的过度和衍化过程。但对他而言，重要的不是艺术样式的转换，而是一种内在的审美趣味的转化，同时也是一种艺术品质的升华。他的作品愈来愈倾向于单纯、简约，愈来愈倾向于材料本身的语言特质。来自传统的文化符号和来自民间的“泥言土语”，加以他自身的生存体验，都促成了他的艺术朝着本土化方向发展。

贾方舟

中国美术评论家