一百多年前，当康定斯基画出第一张抽象画的时候，他一定不会想到自己无意间开启了视觉艺术的一种认知世界和表达思想的全新语言方式。在摄影术诞生后，各种现代艺术流派倾尽全力逃离客观记录现实世界的原始功能，转而寻求视觉艺术独立存在的主观价值。而抽象主义的诞生，极其高调地宣告了视觉艺术可以不必为任何宗教、历史、文学和政治主题服务，视觉形式可以充分远离日常经验，完全彻底地为艺术而艺术不仅是可能的、可行的，而且是大有可为的。抽象艺术不仅是整个现代艺术发展史上的终极成果，更为后来当代艺术的发展打下了坚实的立论基础，并成为日后观念艺术得以大行其道的重要理论基石。20世纪下半叶最著名的现代艺术理论家之一克莱门特·格林伯格在晚年把抽象奉为视觉艺术的最高境界，绝非心血来潮。

　　生于1960年的谭平，1980年考入中央美术学院版画系，在经历了扎实的学院写实训练后以优异的成绩毕业留校。在版画系的长期学习带给他许多独到的视觉熏陶和手工经验，尤其是对各类物质媒介的直接操作更让他领悟到视觉语言本身的奇异与精妙，他在1980年代后期开始创作的一系列强调肌理与质感的铜版画，令他开始越来越关注材料实验所造就的基本形式带来的抽象美感。1989至1994年，他获得联邦德国文化交流奖学金赴柏林艺术大学深造五年，获得硕士学位。在此期间，他经历了西方学院体系完整的抽象艺术训练，潜藏多年的实验精神和自由意志得以逐渐释放，进而让自己的创作风格从写实和表现最终完全走向抽象。这些特殊经历，更使他成为中国大陆第一位出身于西方学院体系的抽象艺术家。

　　中国大陆的抽象艺术实验，与肇始于1970年代末期的思想解放运动密切相关，并在1980年代中期席卷全国的“八五新潮”美术运动阶段得以崭露头角。但不容忽视的是，那一时期的抽象实验更多的意图是以此为姿态和工具，对当时日益僵化的美协和学院体系提出质疑和反叛，涌现出的绝大多数作品基本上都是策略性和临时性的。今天，当我们回顾这一时期的作品时，看到的大多是对西方抽象艺术诸多经典的直接模仿与复制，其艺术语言往往没有成熟度，创作观念也普遍缺乏自足性。谭平在1980年代末期到1990年代初期在德国游学的五年，正是中国现代艺术的沉潜时期和其后当代艺术的兴起阶段，大浪淘沙后留下来的成熟个体，日后几乎都成了今天当代艺术圈的中坚力量。如果我们以谭平艺术创造的个人风格历程为视角重新回顾当代艺术在中国大陆发展演进的历史，就会发现谭平是一位在多次重要关头做出了特殊选择的艺术家，其特立独行的态度耐人寻味。在乡土、寻根题材风靡一时的年代，他选择了客观冷静的主观化风景；在装置、综合材料与多媒体实验生机勃发的时候，他坚守绘画本体不为所动；等到“政治波普”和“玩世现实主义”作为新一轮主题创作样板流行起来，他却完全转向了抽象……这些特殊而关键的选择持续不断地塑造着他的价值取向，最终成就了他独特的个性。

　　谭平迄今为止的艺术之路，按照主体（创作意识）、客体（表达对象）和载体（物质材料）的关系，可以大致分为“画它”、“画我”、“我画”和“画画”四个主要阶段。

　　第一阶段：“画它”（1984—1987年）

　　这是谭平创作的初始与起步阶段，是一个出身学院的艺术家对周遭世界的反应与表达，静物、风景和人物等主题既是对学院语言训练的发展和延续，而冷静客观的态度、简洁质朴的叙事方式以及越来越倾向于形式主义的造型语汇，却也开始成为他最终脱离学院写实体系的开端。这一阶段的作品中，可以看到谭平借用各种习得的视觉资源所进行的丰富尝试，他在不同的作品中运用了写实的、诗意的、隐喻的、象征的、叙事性的、符号化的语法，版画和油画创作并行不悖。这一阶段中，“它”（即“他者”）的地位是相对突出的，创作主体的个性比较模糊，物质载体并不是特别稳定，所表现的客体内容也处在不断的变化之中。

　　第二阶段：“画我”（1987—2003年）

　　这个阶段是抽象创作的开端，起始于版画和素描，最终在油画布上完全发展成熟。借助一系列色块、线条、黑白关系、空间秩序的重叠组合与各种物质载体的实验，谭平在画面上开拓出纯粹而空灵的视觉世界。创作语言和手法的逐步明确，对他来说是一个基本问题得以解决的重要象征，以1990年代初期一系列纯抽象的铜版画为标志，他彻底告别了写实与表现，全部创作指向已集中到视觉探索的朴素目的上来。开始纯抽象创作后，他的绝大多数作品都被取消了标题，代之以《无题》、《素描》或纯粹的作品尺寸数字等没有任何指涉意义的文字。在这一阶段，谭平的主体意识已经明确，“自我”的地位越来越凸显出来，作品的物质载体呈现出日益强大的创新能量，所表现的客体主题也逐步走向形而上和精神性。

　　第三阶段：“我画”（2003—2013年）

　　经历了父亲的病痛与治疗，谭平第一次对癌细胞的形象有了切身体验，在此前后他的画面上开始大量出现各种圆形线条和一系列圆形变体符号的复杂组合，他开始以书写性的笔触和色彩直接画出对生命和时间的感悟。在视觉形式上，这种感悟体现为对画面表达方式的全面调整，涂绘、叠加与覆盖行为的循环往复成为这一阶段谭平油画创作的突出特征，许多作品的最终视觉效果是被覆盖十次以上的结果。在与油画交错实施的版画创作中，谭平还开始了以单幅作品占领大型空间的尝试（《+40M》、《－40M》，2012年）和与绘画有关的观念实验（《一杯》，2011年）。在这个阶段，谭平更重视主体意识与客体内容的深层次结合，“自我”和“叙事”是高度统一的，物质载体在稳健的实验中继续发展。

　　第四阶段：“画画”（2013年以来）

　　以主体、客体和载体的对应关系来看，谭平的创作历程可分为四个阶段，而从进入纯抽象的形式语言算起，谭平个人风格的演进则可分为三个重要方向：从起始于以涂绘和覆盖为主的形式语言，经由对线描和书写性的充分强调与重视，最后达成了涂绘和线描同等重要的平衡。“画画”这个阶段最初始于2013年以来的一系列木炭条素描，而后成功地实现在画布上，是谭平最新的转型，这一时期的作品打破了他此前对画面每次进行全面涂绘和覆盖的习惯，笔触和色块更加随机性的、不确定的排列组合，画面在不断割裂和重组的过程中达成了面与线、形与色、空间与时间等诸种因素的全新互动与平衡。这个最新阶段的出现，象征着主体和载体的完美融合，“绘画”和“自我”已经达成物我两忘的境界，画面所试图表现的客体已不再重要，并处在渐行渐远的趋势中。

　　从开始纯抽象创作以来，谭平的风格就带有探索视觉艺术基本语言的特质，对各种材料“物性”的把握能力也极为出色，随着时间的演进，这一特质越来越清晰地显现在他后续的大量创作中。二十多年来，他试图以追溯源头般的态度回到绘画的原初目的，从而还原自己当初学画时的初心，在纷繁变换的时代背景下找回自己当年爱上艺术的那个原点。借由这种态度，他持续不断地望向绘画的深处，在一遍遍不断的涂绘与覆盖之中，他在试图表达可见与不可见的极限。那些被时间反复覆盖着的画面，那些在画面上被不断叠加起来的时间，都是重叠之上的瞬间与永恒，如平行宇宙般的神秘。谭平的新作是对自身视觉表达的一系列破坏、颠覆和调整，并以更为直接了当的态度实现了创作心理和视觉形态的转型。从“画它”、“画我”、“我画”直到“画画”，是一个不断追寻绘画本义的艰辛路程。“画画”这个阶段的出现，充分展现了谭平强调视觉原创与形式完美的努力，在这种努力的过程中，他持续地追求着纯粹、独立与严肃的趣味，不断地丰富着艺术观念的深度和思辨性，以孤独而坚忍的姿态，拒绝着任何平庸媚俗的可能。而上述这些特征，也正暗合了抽象艺术的根本使命。

　　抽象艺术在中国大陆的发展历程是相当坎坷的，如今看似热闹的市场关注很容易令人忘却那些曾经多年坚守抽象的个体所付出的艰辛。回首来时的路，我们可以看到在当今的众多抽象艺术家中，上海的丁乙与北京的谭平是非常突出的两个优秀个案，二人年龄相仿，介入抽象艺术创作的年代也极为同步，在艺术风格的“变”与“不变”方面，两个人也有诸多相似之处，一旦选择抽象，他们都坚持了二十多年。丁乙在个人色彩异常强烈的标志性风格建立之后，一直保持着旺盛的创造力，以一个看似极其单纯的视觉符号为起点开拓出浩瀚的空间，他作品中保持着简约和繁复的对峙，是“理性”、“冷峻”和“酷炫”的结合。而谭平在视觉创造、观念探索方面所做出的持续努力，让他的作品中持续释放出令人印象深刻的生命活力，用更形象化的比喻说来，他的作品中一直散发出一种更为亲切、明显的“物性”、“手感”和“性情”。在中国大陆的抽象艺术家中，谭平与丁乙堪称一北一南最典型的两个代表人物，他们多年来倾心构建的个人艺术脉络最终造就了个性迥异的风格，共同为中国当代抽象艺术的发展做出了难能可贵的贡献。

李旭 2015年5月3日 写于上海当代艺术博物馆

On "Drawing"

Brief Review of Tan Ping's Abstract Art

　　Over a hundred years ago, when Kandinsky painted out the first abstract painting, he could not imagined that he inadvertently created a new language of learning the world and expressing ideas for visual arts. After the birth of photography, various schools of modern arts have made great efforts to escape from the original function of recording the real world objectively, and turned into seeking for the independent and subjective value of visual arts. The birth of abstraction made a high-profile declaration that the visual arts do not have to serve the theme of any religion, history, literature or politics. Visual arts can be far away from daily experiences, art for art's sake not only is possible and feasible, but also has a bright prospect. Abstract art is not merely the ultimate outcome of the whole history of modern art, moreover, it has established the solid argument foundation for the future development of contemporary art,

　　and became into the major theoretical cornerstone for concept art later. Clement Greenberg, the most prominent modern art theorist in the latter half of the 20th century, regarded abstraction as the highest realm of the visual art, which was not a whim.

　　Tan Ping, born in 1960, was admitted to the Department of Printmaking, China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1980. After receiving solid academic realistic training, He graduated with honors and was recruited as a lecturer upon graduation. The long-term learning and training in Printmaking Department has brought him unique visual artistic influence and rich experiences in handicraft, especially, the direct operation of material media made him realize the singularity and subtleties of visual language itself. In the late 1980s, he started to create a series of etchings emphasizing on texture, which made him begin to pay more attention to the abstract esthetics from the basic form of the experimental materials. From 1989 to 1994, A grant of Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst to Universitaet der Kuenste Berlin. He completed his master's degree after five years' studying. During this period, he experienced the complete abstract artistic training of the western academic system, which gradually released his experimental spirit and free wills hidden in his heart for years. His artistic style eventually converted into abstraction from realism and expressionism. These special experiences make him grow up into the first abstract artist in the mainland with the western school system education background.

　　The experiments of abstract art in mainland of China, is closely related to the ideological liberation movement which began in the late 1970s, and rise in the stage of "85 New Trend "arts movement which swept the whole country in the mid-1980s. But what can not be ignored is most of intentions of abstract art experiments in that period was to use it as attitude and tools, to put forward questions and revolt to the increasingly rigid system of Artists Association and art colleges, so basically, most of works created in that period were strategic and temporary. Today, when we review the art works in that period, we can tell most of them were direct imitation and replication to the western classical. Their artistic language was often not mature, and their creative ideas generally lacked self-sufficiency. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, when Tan Ping studied in Germany for five years, it was also the prehistoric period of Chinese modern art and the rising period of the contemporary art. Today, the mature individuals who experienced the history selection have grown up into the dominant force of Chinese contemporary art circle. If we review the evolution history of contemporary art in the mainland of China from the perspective of Tan Ping's personal artistic style, we will find that he is an artist who made his special choices in many critical moments, his unconventional attitude is very intriguing. In the period when the rural and the root-seeking themes were in fashion, he chose the subjective landscapes with objective and calm attitude. When the installation, mixed material and multimedia experiment were thriving, he persisted in focusing on the ontology of painting. When Political Pop and Cynical Realism became popular as a new round of theme creation model, he completely converted to abstraction… These special and crucial choices have been keeping shaping his value orientation, and built his unique personality ultimately.

　　Tan Ping's artistic career can be divided into four major stages so far: "Drawing it" "Drawing me" "I draw" and "drawing" in the light of the relations between subject (consciousness of creation), object (expression objects) and carrier (materials)

　　The first stage: " Drawing it " (1984 -1987)

　　It is the initial stage of Tan Ping's artistic creation, and an artist's reaction and expression to the world around him with academic education background. The themes of still life, landscapes and figures were not only the evolution and continuation of the academic language training, but also the calm and objective attitude the simple and plain style of narration and the modeling vocabulary with the increased inclination of formalism became the beginning of his final separation from the academic realistic system. In Tan Ping's artworks of this period, we can see his rich experiments through borrowing from all types of acquired visual resources, he used the realistic, poetic, metaphorical, symbolic, narrative, symbolized grammars in his different artworks. His creation of Prints and paintings coexisted peacefully. In this period, the of "it" ("other") relatively occupied a prominent position, the personality of the subject creation relatively vague, the material carrier were not very stable, the contents of the object also had been constantly changing.

　　The second stage: "Drawing me" (1987 - 2003)

　　This stage is the beginning of his abstract creation. It started from prints and drawings, and ultimately made its full development on the oil painting canvas. Tan Ping created a pure and ethereal visual world through a series of color blocks, lines, the relations of black & white, the overlapping & combination of space order, and experiments of various material carriers. The creation language and the techniques gradually were identified, for him, It is an important symbol of a fundamental problem that has been solved. The series of the pure abstract etching he created in the early 1990s is the symbol that he bid farewell to the realism and expressionism, the direction of his creation has been concentrated into the simple goal of the visual exploration. Since He started pure abstract creation, most of his works has been canceled the titles and replaced by the text without any implications such as "Untitled", "Sketch" or the figures of the sizes of his works ect. At this stage, Tan Ping's subject consciousness was identified, the position of "self" became more and more visible, the material carrier of his works presented increasingly powerful and innovative energy, The theme of the objects also gradually moved towards the metaphysical and spiritual.

　　The third stage: "I draw" (2003-2013)

　　After undergoing his father's illness and medical treatment, Tan Ping had the real personal experience to the images of cancer cells for the first time, before and after this, a complex combination of a large number of various circular lines and a series of circular variant symbols began to appear in his paintings, he drew his understanding and feeling of life and time directly through the calligraphic brushstrokes and colors. In visual form, this understanding and feeling is reflected as the cycles of the comprehensive adjustment, painting, overlapping and covering on the expression way of the painting, which became a striking feature of Tan Ping's oil painting at this stage. The final visual effect of most of his art works is the results that had been covered for over ten times. In his printmaking at the same stage, Tan Ping also started his trial using a single piece of work to occupy large space(+ 40 M, to 40 M, in 2012) and the conceptual experiment of painting (" A Cup " in 2011). In this period, Tan Ping paid more attention to the deeper-level combination between the subject consciousness and the object content. "Self" and "narration" was highly integrated, the material carrier in solid experiments has been continuing to develop.

　　The fourth stage: "Drawing"(since 2013)

　　In terms of the corresponding relation of subject, object and carrier, Tan Ping's creative process can be divided into four stages, but from the period of his entering the pure abstract form language, the evolution of Tan Ping's personal style could be divided into three important directions: It began from the form language predominantly consisting of painting and covering, then experienced the stage of the full emphasis on the line- drawing and graphology, and reached the equally important balance between painting and line-drawing finally. The stage of " Drawing " first started from a series of charcoal sketch in 2013, and later successfully were realized on the canvas, which is the latest transformation of Tan Ping's creation. His artworks in this period broke through the habit of full- painting and covering, the arrangement and combination of brushstroke and color blocks were more random and uncertain, in the process of the constant separation and recombination, the various factors in the painting reached a new interaction and balance between surface and lines, shapes and colors, space and time ect. In this latest period, the subject and the carrier integrated together perfectly. The "painting" and "self" reached a harmonious state, the object of the painting is no longer important, moreover it is fading-away.

　　Since Tan Ping started pure abstract art creation, his artistic style has the characteristics of the basic language of visual art. He also has the extremely outstanding abilities to master the "properties" of the materials. These characteristics in his subsequent creation has become increasingly clear over time. For more than 20 years, he has been trying to return back to the original purpose of the drawing with an attitude of tracing the source, and to regain the beginner's mind when he started to learn drawing, and to find the original point when he first fell in love with the art. He constantly explores the deeper-level of the drawing. With the over and over painting and covering, he is trying to express both the visible and invisible limitation.

　　Both the images covered by time repeatedly and the time stacked up on the images over and over are the overlapping moments and eternity, like the balanced and mysterious universe. Tan Ping's new works are a series of damage, overthrow and adjustment to the visual expression of himself, and has achieved the transformation of creation psychology and visual form in a more straightforward way. From "Drawing it: "Drawing me" "I draw" to "Drawing", It is a hard journey of constantly pursuing the original meaning of drawing. The emergence of the fourth stage fully demonstrates Tan Ping's great efforts in original visual art and perfect forms. In the process of the effort, he has been insisting on pursuing the pure, independent, and serious taste, constantly enriching the depth and speculation of artistic concept, he resists any possibility of mediocrity and obsequiousness with a lonely and Stoic attitude. And all these characteristics above are also coincided with the fundamental mission of abstract art.

　　The history of abstract art in China is full of frustrations. Today's seemingly bustling market is easy to let people forget those individuals' hard work who have insisted on the abstract art road for years. When we look back, Tan Ping and Ding Yi are two outstanding cases among numerous Chinese abstract artists in the mainland, they are at about same age and they were involved into the abstract art creation at the same time. There are many similarities in their artistic style with the perspectives of the changed and the unchanged, once they chose abstract art, they both have persisted in this road for over twenty years. After Ding Yi established his symbolic style of unusually intense colors, he has maintained exuberant creativity. He started with a seemingly extremely simple visual symbol, and created vast space. His art works have the confrontations between simplicity and complex with the combination of "ration", "solemnity" and "dazzle". While Tan Ping's constant efforts in visual creation and conceptual exploration, make his works keep releasing impressive life vitality. Describing with a more vivid metaphor, his artworks always exudes a kind of more friendly and obvious "property", "feel" and "personality". Tan Ping and Ding Yi are the most typical representative artists of the north and the south in the mainland. Their personal artistic context built after years' extraordinarily persistent and painstaking efforts ultimately created their unique styles. They both together made valuable contributions to the development of Chinese contemporary abstract art.

By Li Xu, At Power Station of Art, Shanghai

May 3rd 2015

作者：李旭