​平行与交织

Parallel and Interweaving

文/何桂彦

He Guiyan

福建与重庆，一个东南，一个西南，虽说远离艺术的中心，但在中国当代艺术的版图上却熠熠生辉，两地人才辈出，涌现出许多代表性的艺术家。1980年代，福建曾发起过轰轰烈烈的前卫艺术运动，进入1990年代，以蔡国强、黄永砯等为代表，在国内与国际产生了重要影响。2000年以来，伴随着更年轻一代艺术家的崛起，形成了一个独特的、令人瞩目的福建当代艺术现象。1978年以来，中国艺术界掀起的第一个重要的艺术潮流——“伤痕美术”就由四川美院的艺术家引领。1980年代初，“乡土绘画”将地域性的生存经验发展成为一个重要的艺术文化现象，“新潮美术”时期，“西南生命流”与“厦门达达”均成为当时国内前卫艺术群体的重要代表。1993年前后，张晓刚、周春芽等艺术家立足于全球化的背景，挖掘视觉与文化心理中的“中国经验”。2000年以来，在重庆与四川，老中青三代艺术家济济一堂，各领风骚。

Fujian and Chongqing, one southeast and one southwest, are far from the center of art, but they are shining on the map of Chinese contemporary art. Both places gave birth to talented people from generation to generation, emerging many representative artists. In 1980s, Fujian launched a vigorous avant-garde art movement. In 1990s, represented by Cai Guoqiang and Huang Yongping, it made an important impact both domestically and internationally. Since 2000, with the rise of the younger generation of artists, a unique and remarkable phenomenon of Fujian contemporary art has formed. Since 1978, the first important artistic trend set off by the Chinese art world -- “Scar art”, led by artists from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. In the early 1980s, “countryside painting” developed the regional lived experience into an important artistic and cultural phenomenon. During the period of “New Wave Fine Arts”, the “Flow of Life in Southwest” and the “Xiamen Dada” both became important components of the avant-garde art group in China. Around 1993, artists such as Zhang Xiaogang and Zhou Chunya, based on the background of globalization, explored the “Chinese experience” in visual and cultural psychology. Since 2000, in Chongqing and Sichuan, artists of the old, the middle-aged and the young have gathered together, leading an important role in each of their field.

“平行”——对于福建与重庆的艺术创作来说，从1978年以来，都有着线性的、本土的、自身的发展轨迹。事实上，中国当代艺术（在1980年代普遍称为现代艺术）的发展从一开始并不是国家至上而下的产物，相反，在解放思想的时代背景之下，得益于民间、个人，以及前卫艺术群体的推动。因此，在1980年代，官方与民间、体制与非体制、主流与边缘形成了一种独特的张力，为艺术的发展注入了活力。然而，在走向现代的过程中，对于此前僵化的一元化艺术体制，以及程式化的艺术创作来说，地域文化和地域性的艺术题材，在1980年代初成为了一股重要的力量。与先前的“红光亮”“高大全”的创作范式比较，源于地域的生存经验与文化现实，不仅为既有的现实主义创作注入了人文内涵，也将艺术家的注意力从关注一个英雄、伟人的时代，转向对日常的、平凡的农村生活的关注。不过，当“新潮美术”所倡导的现代主义浪潮兴起之后，地域性的文化力量逐渐式微。伴随着1992年中国新一轮的改革开放，以及2001年加入WTO，中国不可扭转的融入全球化的浪潮中。于是，“地域性”重新在全球化与本土化、国际性vs民族性的话语体系下绽放，并被赋予了新的意义。从这个意义上讲，当代艺术中的地域性是一个非常值得研究的课题。而立足于当代艺术的发展谱系，重庆与福建从1980年代以来，在地域性艺术与文化资源的挖掘与表现上都是具有代表性的。并且，它们按照自身的发展轨迹向前推动，形成了“平行”的一种状态。

“Parallel” -- for the artistic creation of Fujian and Chongqing, both places have linear, local, and unique development paths since 1978. In fact, the development of Chinese contemporary art (commonly known as modern art in the 1980s) was not a top-down product of the country from the beginning. On the contrary, in the era of emancipating the mind, it benefited from the promotion of folk, individuals, and avant-garde art community. Therefore, in the 1980s, a unique tension formed between the official and the folk, system and non-system, mainstream and margin, which injected vitality into the development of art. However, in the process of modernization, regional culture and regional artistic themes have become an important force for the previously rigid unified art system and stylized artistic creation in early 1980s. For the previous creation modes of “red, real and brightness” and “tall, broad-minded figure who serves the people wholeheartedly”, lived experience and cultural reality originated from region not only endowed humanistic connotations into realism creations, but also turned the artists’ attention from focusing on the era of heroes and great men, to everyday and ordinary rural life. However, when the wave of modernism advocated by “New Wave Fine Arts” rose, the regional cultural power gradually waned. With the new round of China’s reform and opening up in 1992 and the accession to the WTO in 2001, China has irreversibly involved in the tide of globalization. As a result, “regionalism” has revived vitality under the global and localized, international vs. national discourse system, and has been given new meanings. From this point of view, regionalism in contemporary art is a subject worthy of study. Based on the development pedigree of contemporary art, Chongqing and Fujian have been representative in the exploring and expression of regional art and cultural resources since the 1980s. Moreover, they pushed forward according to their own development paths, forming a state of “parallel”.

2000年前后，一个非常典型的现象是当代艺术开始告别潮流，告别运动，不再像1980年代以来，一个艺术思潮接着另一个思潮，一个现象接着另一个现象，由此形成线性的发展轨迹。线性叙事由此终结，而地域性的艺术经经验，抑或艺术群体，都需要在一个具有综合性的艺术生态重新审视。2003年“非典”结束，伴随着中国进入WTO所带来的活力，中国的艺术市场迅速崛起，与此同时，北京798艺术区的出现，以及周边各种艺术区所形成的共振效应，对于分散在地方的当代艺术家来说具有巨大的吸引力。中心的崛起，带来的是边缘的衰落。就重庆的艺术生态来说，1990年代初，一拨艺术家迁居成都，2000前后，以张晓刚、叶永青、刘虹等以望京的花家地为中心，以职业艺术家的身份在那里创作与生活。同样，福建籍的许多当代艺术家如陈文令、吕山川、吴达新等也陆续聚焦在北京工作与生活。艺术人才的流失对地方的艺术生态来说无疑是一次破坏。所谓的“福建当代艺术现象”，就是在过去很长一段时间里，许多知名的福建籍当代艺术家大多不生活在本地。于是，当不同区域、省份的艺术家长期聚焦在北京的时候，一种独特的艺术生态与工作方式开始形成，艺术家的交往与艺术现象的“交织“成为了可能。

Around 2000, a very typical phenomenon was that contemporary art began to bid farewell to the trend and the movement, different from what was like since the 1980s, one artistic trend followed another, and one phenomenon followed another, forming a linear development path. While linear narrative ended, the regional art experience, or the art community, needs to be reexamined in a comprehensive art ecology. As the SARS ended in 2003, along with the vitality brought by China’s entry into the WTO, China’s art market has risen rapidly. At the same time, the emergence of the Beijing 798 Art Zone and the resonance effects formed by various art districts around it have great appeal for contemporary artists scattered locally. The rise of the center brought the decline of the edge. As for Chongqing’s art ecology, a group of artists moved to Chengdu in the early 1990s. Around 2000, Zhang Xiaogang, Ye Yongqing, Liu Hong, etc. took Wangjing Huajiadi as the center, and created and lived there as professional artists. Similarly, many contemporary Fujian artists such as Chen Wenling, Lv Shanchuan, and Wu Daxin,also gathered for creation and living in Beijing. The loss of artistic talents is undoubtedly a damage to the local art ecology. The so-called “Fujian contemporary art phenomenon” is that for a long time in the past, many well-known Fujian contemporary artists did not live in the local area. As a result, when artists from different regions and provinces inhabited in Beijing for a long time, a unique art ecology and working style began to form, and the interaction of artists and the “interweaving” of artistic phenomena became possible.

本次展览正是基于上述的背景。八位艺术家既有个案的意义，也能充分的反映当代艺术生态在边缘vs中心、地域vs全球化背景下，艺术家工作方式与创作观念发生的变化。当然，回到展览作品本身，我们可以看到他们创作中的一些共性。譬如，倚重图像化的表达，强调图像叙事，注重具象语言的观念性。钟飙的作品借助图像，呈现了一种混杂的、多时空的生存景观。何剑的作品传递出一种既熟悉又陌生的当代生存体验。李晓伟的作品不仅涉及到图像的挪用，也是对画中人物的文化身份的考量。陈文令在绘画作品中注入了戏拟与调侃。吕山川的绘画不仅涉及到对原图像的篡改与修正，而且，在不断覆盖的过程中，力图将绘画行为观念化。再比如，这次的参展艺术家都强调个人话语与修辞的表达。赵能智将“身体”作为一种通道，呈现了精神与肉身遭受的异化。圆大西在表现与抽象之间，探索一种个人化的修辞方式。李占洋既追求戏拟的叙事方法，更强调民间的、学院的、后现代的语汇与表现手法的融汇与调和。毫无疑问，他们的作品都看不到1980年代那种独特的地域性与审美气质，相反，用个人化的语言与表述方式，传递的是对当下文化与生存经验的独特感受。

This exhibition is based on the above background. The eight artists not only have the significance of individual cases, but also fully reflect the changes in the artists’ working methods and creative concepts in the context of contemporary art ecology at the edge vs. center, region vs. globalization. Of course, returning to the exhibition works themselves, we can see something in common in their creations, such as relying on imagery expression, emphasizing image narrative, and focusing on the conceptuality of figurative language. Zhong Biao’s works present a mixed, multi-space-time living landscape enabled by images. He Jian’s works convey a contemporary lived experience that is both familiar and strange. Li Xiaowei’s works not only involve the appropriation of images, but also consider the cultural identity of the characters in the painting. Chen Wenling added parody and ridicule into his paintings. Lv Shanchuan’s paintings not only involve modification and correction of the original image, but also try to conceptualize the painting behavior in the process of continuous coverage. For another example, the participating artists this time all emphasize the expression of individual discourse and rhetoric. Zhao Nengzhi uses the “body” as a channel to present the alienation suffered by the spirit and the flesh. Yuan Daxi explores a personal rhetorical method between expression and abstraction. Li Zhanyang not only pursues narrative methods of parody, but also emphasizes the integration and reconciliation of folk, academic and postmodern vocabulary and expression techniques. There is no doubt that the unique regionalism and aesthetic qualities of the 1980s cannot be seen in their works. On the contrary, they use personal language and expression to convey the unique feelings of the current culture and lived experience.

然而，基于当代艺术外部生态与文化环境的迅速变化，对“地域性”的重新审视将变得愈加急迫。与2000年前后北京的崛起所不同的是，“中心”的衰落，或者说“去中心化”正在成为一种新的趋势。二线城市是否需要当代艺术？区域性的、本土化的、在地性的文化资源能否为当代艺术提供丰富的滋养，以及带来新的可能性？答案显然是肯定的。当然，与1980年代所强调的地域性有本质的区别的是，今天的地域应该是基于全球化视域的地域，而不再是将地域作为一种文化与艺术策略。同时，我们应看到，伴随着“美术馆时代”的来临，未来中国当代艺术的生态与格局将变得越来越去同质化。这也正是我们此次相聚福州玄之美术馆的内在动因。

However, based on the rapid changes in the external ecology and cultural environment of contemporary art, a re-examination of “regionalism” will become increasingly urgent. Different from the rise of Beijing around 2000, the decline of “center”, or “decentralization”, is becoming a new trend. Do second-tier cities need contemporary art? Can regional, local, and site-specific cultural resources provide rich nourishment for contemporary art and bring new possibilities? The answer is obviously yes. Of course, the essential difference from the regionalism emphasized in the 1980s is that today’s region should be a region based on the global vision, instead of using region as a cultural and artistic strategy. Meanwhile, we should see that with the advent of the “era of art museums”, the ecology and structure of Chinese contemporary art will become more and more dehomogenization in the future. This is also the inner motivation for our gathering in Xuanzhi Art Museum in Fuzhou.

2019年12月25日圣诞节于四川美院新校区

On Christmas Day of December 25, 2019, at the new campus of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute