《棋》系列影像艺术作品启示

​（文/仕淦）

　　《棋》系列作品直接而突兀地击打我们眼球的是:那黑与白强烈对比，如钉子般以千钧之力锲入画面的棋子，它几乎"蛮横、霸道，不讲理"。然而，只在瞬间，我们就会被这突如其来的"击打"所警醒：这突兀锲入画面的棋子，所构成黑与白--阴与阳之整体影像世界，显然是艺术家刻意所为，甚或是引领我们进入此一系列作品艺术领地，揭开其思考、追索、探求与影像艺术表达秘密而特意留下的一种"图示"路径。

　　黑与白，阴与阳，朴素的辩证思想与世界观，千百年来我们习惯以此来认知、把握宇宙自然和世界。关于"棋"，我们不排除万毅于影像构图时，在通常意义上对"棋子/棋局"之于"世界/人生"或在更宽泛意义上的比喻、象征运用，但当我们在黑白棋子上不经意地发现那些如幽灵般的具体数字，并因此发散思维而后无可抉择地"滑入"或被"拽入"黑白棋子周遭宏阔深远背景之视域时，我们不得不承受《棋》系列作品所带来的一波又一波强势冲击与震撼："2020"，细菌、口罩、针筒、防护服……一场旷日持久的生死博弈正在展开；"186、209、288"，棋局、战争、灾难、废墟……其间一场蓄势已久惊心动魄的"人机大战"以人类的彻底失败而告终；"01010101"，电脑、网络、数据、机器人……狂飙突进毫无止境的一场高科技马来松赛已然将人类推向祸福难料的危机境地--

　　我们几乎喘不过气，当我们缓过神，随之就被一种深深的忧惧和焦虑所捕获与困扰：是幻觉、梦境亦是历史、现实，是压抑潜藏的潜意识亦是清醒明确的意识，它如此混沌杂乱而又如此清晰有序。或许，在这一组组矛盾白热化的表象后面，这黑白棋子阴阳相胜的境遇里，正显示出了艺术家所要表达的真实意图：历史即现实，现实即未来，我们的忧惧和焦虑正源于我们碎片化、危机四起的当下存在，即现代科技与市场经济，政治意识形态与文化、文明，人与人、人与自然等等关系的尖锐冲突、折断与崩溃……

　　事实上，只要我们仔细辨析，在《棋》系列作品宏阔深远混沌迷蒙的背景中，那些丰富驳杂而极具历史寓意和代表性的影像反转意象（比如"方舟""航母"/"核*头""螺旋桨"/"骷髅""哲人头像"等），它们贯穿了自神话原点起始的整个人类文明史，甚至包涵了人类的生命史与心灵史。

　　在这个意义上，这些意象不唯达成《棋》艺术景象与思想维度的丰富性与深刻性，它与突兀锲入的黑白棋子得以表里内外呼应，内容形式相协，构成现象与本质、物质与精神的强大张力，从而进一步彰显出艺术家真实意图的另一向度：人类生存总在博弈中向前推进，而"棋"--这一象征东方思维智慧图腾般的存在，不只是对西方人类自我中心主义所谓之"理性"进行**与批驳，对当下存在困境进行反思、反省，"阴阳相生、天道自然",穿越几千年历史的东方智慧之光必将照亮人类的未来。

　　《棋》系列作品，万毅创作于2020新冠疫情暴发前后。这个时间节点，仿佛是对以上启示性诠释内容的一种有力佐证。然而，对于万毅而言，或许他还给我们提供了另一幅图景：

　　大地苍茫，星空浩瀚，这伟大的棋局隐于黑暗，也被光芒照亮……

　　Wan Yi's "Chess" series leaves us with a direct and abrupt impression: the  strong contrast between black and white, the chess pieces driven into the pictures like nails in a way that is almost "outrageous, domineering, unreasonable". However, in the next moment, we are alerted by a sudden "revelation": this abrupt contrast between the black and white chess pieces constitutes an overall Yin and Yang image world, which is obviously created by the artist's deliberate effort, perhaps to lead us into his artistic realm and to uncover the secret he is searching, hunting, exploring, and trying to express with his imagery art.

　　Black and white, Yin and Yang, a simple dialectical mindset and world outlook, this is how we have been recognizing and grasping the cosmic nature and the world for thousands of years. About "Chess", we do not rule out the possibility that Wan Yi has built his image composition in the usual sense of "chess game" versus "worldly life" or in a broader sense of metaphor and symbolism, but when we inadvertently find the ghost-like numbers on the black and white pieces, and therefore diverge as if unwittingly "sliding" or "being dragged" into a wide vision of their profound background, we have to bear the repeated strong shock waves the series is generating: "2020", bacteria, masks, syringes, protective clothing ....

　　A protracted game of life and death is unfolding: "186, 209, 288", chess game, war, disaster, ruins …. A long and thrilling "man-machine battle" ends in a complete human failure: 01010101, computers, networks, data, robots …. A frenetic and endless high-tech marathon race has pushed humanity into a dangerous crisis without a clear destination.

　　We are almost out of breath. When we calm down, we are troubled by a deep worry and anxiety: illusion, dream, history, reality, depressed hidden subconsciousness, and sober clear consciousness, it is so chaotic and messy and yet so explicit and orderly.

　　Perhaps, underlying this appearance of contradictions between the black and white pieces, between Yin and Yang, the artist is expressing his real intention: history is reality, reality is the future, our fear and anxiety stems from our fragmented and crisis-ridden existence, namely the sharp conflicts, breaks and collapses in relationships between  modern technology and market economy, political ideology versus culture and civilization, between people, and between man and nature ...

　　In fact, as long as we carefully distinguish, in the profoundly chaotic and confusing background of the series, those diversified reversal images rich in historical connotations (such as "ark", "aircraft carrier", "nuclear warhead", "propeller", "skull", "philosopher", etc.) run through the whole human civilization from its very mythological beginning, even comprising the history of human life and mind.

　　In this sense, these images do not only contribute to the richness and depth of the artistic and ideological dimensions of "Chess", but also interact with the abrupt presence of the black and white pieces both in form and in content to maintain the strong tension between appearance and essence, between substance and spirit, so as to further demonstrate another dimension of the artist's true intention: human survival always moves forward in game playing, and "Chess", a totemic symbol of the wisdom of Eastern thinking, not only refutes the so-called "rationality" of Western human egocentrism, but also reflects on the current existential difficulties. "Yin and Yang live together according to natural law". The light of Oriental wisdom passing through thousands of years of history will surely illuminate the future of mankind.

　　Wan Yi's "Chess" series was created around the time of the outbreak of covid-19 in 2020. This time juncture seems to be a strong proof of the above interpretation of the content. Wan Yi, however, might offer us another picture:

　　The vast earth, the vast starry sky, this great chess game hidden in the darkness is also illuminated by the light ...

　　May2,2021

　　English translation: Song Dongsheng