河南摄影家的作品大多以稳实的风格见长，浓郁的乡土气息带上些许精明和狡诘，稳稳坐镇了中原地区的第一把交椅。然而以这样的先入之见浏览高鸿勋的作品，却会生出一些迷惘之感，尤其是飘忽不定的思维方式和入木三分的创作功力，让人游走在现实与虚拟之间迷途而不得返——或许这正是高鸿勋作品的独到之处。

　　好多年前在上海的一次展览中读到高鸿勋的“空间·感受”，就有一种莫名的惊诧。原本黑白的乡土中原画面，被看似漫不经心的色彩染上了一层“艳俗”，却又从不同的角度折射出摄影家对这片土地的哲学思考。这样的涂抹并非是高鸿勋的首创，但是用在这里却有一种恰如其分的准确感。它在现实和梦境之间构成了隐隐约约的关联，却又毫不留情地截断了往事的记忆和现实的追求之间的线索。尽管作者富有诗意地解释说：“在空间中去感受存在，在梦境中去感受真实，在记忆中去感受色彩。”但是这样的三重感受，一旦变成了平面的视觉创意，就会给人以不同的感悟，也许会远远超出摄影家自身的想象。其实画面中色彩的出现，只是作为一种隐喻的结构，大大拓宽了关于时间和空间的魔力。因为所有问题的关键，正是我们这个生活时代的时空感所造成的迷乱。

　　无可否认的是，时间和空间的问题是现代艺术中一个重要问题，尤其可以在摄影家的“创造”中得到充分的验证。新世纪人类存在的空间性不断对时间性进行剥蚀，现时的空间则是人产生孤独和无助感的直接原因，人被空间分割与剥蚀，空间带给人的更多的是放逐感、陌生感，这样的压迫感还不断地由城市向乡村延伸。正如詹明信所说，这是一个没有时间深度的时代。而如何重新获得时间的深度，摆脱现时空间对人的直接压迫，正是许多艺术家包括摄影家一直在思考的问题。高鸿勋的实践，也许正是从这样的角度展开的。

　　阅读高鸿勋的作品，包括近年来的其他系列，尤其是他最近引起很大反响的“隐逸”等专题，更是强化了这样一种时空的交错。现代人的时间已经成为永远的现在时，因此是具有空间性的。这就是现代人感到焦虑、不安与烦躁的深层原因：时间的纵深感没有了，心理的归趋和稳定感也就没有了。而挽救这一切的“最后一束稻草”就是现代人的记忆——人类尽管可能一无所有，但至少还拥有记忆，在记忆中尚能维持自己的自足性和统一性的幻觉。但是无可讳言的是，到了“隐逸”这一系列的出现，高鸿勋干脆将空间中支撑人类活动的所有道具通过电脑处理移去了，因此生存的困惑感也被推向了极限，在一片荒诞的感觉中记忆也就被推向了更为远离现实的空间，使人手足无措。

　　无可否认，高鸿勋的这些作品都是带有一种先锋的姿态出现的，他试图在有限的时空范围内，超越生活中所可能阻止他前进的一切，同时也都意味着逃避重复，拒绝传统。于是，一切既有的成功都失去了参照的意义。换言之，这样的义务是挣开成功带来的惯性，寻找新的可能。那么，我们就会在这些作品中读到一种孤独，而孤独只能是高鸿勋这样一些摄影家的宿命。孤独之中，他们或者走穿漫长的隧道，或者为黑暗所吞没。他们的荣誉是不可分享的，他们的痛苦也是不可分担的。于是，叛逆就是他们的典型性格。这种叛逆并不是违反交通规则、砸碎商店橱窗或是扰乱咖啡馆秩序，这种叛逆拥有一个精神形式。有时，叛逆甚至可能以极为温柔的面目出现，比如“游动的夜”，比如“童年的玩具”等等。它在于提前发现未来的主题，并且通过作品将这样的主题引入当前的时代，同时也给阅读者带来了某些兴奋点和兴趣点。

　　然而我并不是说高鸿勋已经到了不食人间烟火的境地，其实他的内心是非常的传统和本分的。离开了他所生活的土地，一切观念或技巧上的创新，也许就会变成了无源之水，无本之木。因此当我们静下心来读他的“乡村纪事”或者是“祝寿”系列时，一种浓郁的乡土气息就会扑面而来，甚至浓郁得有点让人无法喘息。所以我才说，高鸿勋自己才是一个真正游走在现实与虚拟之间的高手，他所面对的现实有着泥土的芬芳和乡民的质朴，他的虚拟又具备了一个现代艺术家所应该具备的敏感和敏锐。童年的记忆纬度在日常生活的积累过程中被逐渐放大了，变成了生活中无法承受之“轻”。然而只要假以时日，高鸿勋的视觉魅力一定会变得举重若轻，在现实和虚拟之间找到一个合适的支撑点，撑起中原土地上最令人值得骄傲的岁月!

　　2005.11.3上海

Wandering between the Reality and the Illusion

Analysis on Gao Hongxun’s Photography works

Lin Lu   Famous Chinese Photography Critic 

The photography works of Henan photographers are always good at being stable and practical. A rich native countryside taste, mixed with some shrewdness and cunningness, is no doubtly the top character in the Central China. But if you glance over Gao Hongxun’s works with such a preoccupied viewpoint, you will feel a little puzzled. His floating thinking way and his penetrating photographing skill will make you feel lost wandering between the reality and the illusion----maybe this is just what makes his works different.

Many years ago when I saw Gao’s “Space and Sense”at an exhibition in Shanghai, I felt an unspeakable surprise. The pictures of the countryside in the Central China, originally white and black, were daubed with a “bright vulgarity” in seemingly careless colours. And this just refracts the photographer’s philosophic thinking towards this land from different angles. Though such kind of daub is not invented by Gao Hongxun, here it is used most accurately. While it linkes faintly the reality and the dream, it also cuts the clue between the memory of the past and the persue of the present ruthlessly. The author give it a poetic explanation, “to feel the existence in the space, the reality in the dream, and the colour in the memory”. But once this kind of treble feeling becomes a visual orignality on the paper, it will give us different inspirations, which may greatly exceed what the photographer himself has imagined. In fact the colours in the pictures act just as the structure of metaphor which broadens the magic power of the space-time. Because the crux of the matter is just the mess and confusion made by the sense of the space-time of our current existing age.

It can’t be denied that the matter about the time and space is an important issue for modern arts, which can be fully verified especially in the “inventions” of the photographers. In the new century, the sense of space where human beings live in has a constant erosion on the sence of time, and the current space is the direct reason for the isolation and helplessness of the people. People are seperated and eroded by the space. What the space brings more to people are feelings of being exiled and being a stranger. This pressure is constantly stretching from cities to the countryside. It’s just as what Zhan Mingxin has said that this is an era with no profoundity of time. And how to regainthe profoundity of the time to escape the dirrect oppression from the current space? It’s just the problem that most artists, including photographers, are thingking all the time. It’s most probably that Gao Hongxun starts his practice from this very angle. 

This kind of interlacement of the space-time will be strengthened if you have a taste of Gao Hongxun’s works, including his other recent series, especially the highly repercussion-arousing series such as “Hiding & Floating”. The time of modern people has become forever a present tense, so it has a quality of space. Because there is no sense of the profoundity of time, there is no sense of belonging and stability. That’s the deep-seated reason why modern people feel anxious, uneasy and agitated. And the memory of modern people is their last hope to save themself from it----At least human beings have memories even if they have nothing else. It is in their memories their own delusions of self-satisfaction and oneness can be maintained. But it is indisputable that with the emerge of the series of “Hiding & Floating”, Gao Hongxun, by using computers, simply removed all the props supporting human activities in the space. By this way the perplexing sense was pushed to the extremity, and the memory was pushed to a remoter space from the reality in fantastic feelings. This makes people feel completely at a loss.

Admittedly, Gao Hongxun has accomplished his works in a pioneer’s attitude. He tried his best, in a limite space-time, to surmount all that could be barriers on his advancing way in life. Meanwhile this also means that he is escaping from repetition and refusing tradition. So all existing successes have no reference significance for him. In other words, he has an obligation to find new possibilities by breaking himself loose from the inertia of success. Then we can read a sense of loneliness from his works. And being lonely can only be a predestination for photographers like Gao Hongxun. In loneliness, they either pass through the endless tunnel or be swallowed up by the darkness. Both their honours and pains can’t be shared by others. Therefore, being rebellious becomes their typical disposition. This kind of rebellion has a spiritual form, which is not of the kind such as violating traffic rules, breaking shopwindows or harassing cafes. Sometimes this rebellion may appear in a very gentle look, for instance, the “Drifting Nights”, the“Childhood toy”, and so on. It lies in its finding the future themes in advance and introducing these theme to the present era through their works, and at the same time bringing for the readers some exciting points and interesting points.

What I said above doesn’t mean that Gao Hongxun is out touch with mundane affairs. In fact his inner world is very traditional and dutiful. Without the land where he lives, all his conceptional and technical innovations may become waters without sources and trees without roots. So when we quieten down to read his series of “Happenings in Countryside”and “The 95th Birthday”, we can feel the rich smells of the soil which can even make us hole our breathe. That’s why I have to say that Gao Hongxun is a real master-hand wandering between the reality and the illusion.He faces a reality of the sweet-smelling soil and the simple and plain country folks. And he has a illusion of sensitivity and sharpness which a modern artist should possesses. The memorial latitudes of his childhood are enlarged gradually in the accumulating process of his daily life, and has become unbearable “humblenesses”. But only if given enough time, Gao Hongxun’s visual charm can handle everything in an easy way. He can find a suitable supporting point to sustain the most proud years in the land of the Central China! 

Nov.13, 2005, in Shanghai