Zhanshan: The Agony of Metamorphosis

　　The traceable artistic journey of Zhanshan has been highly distinctive ever since 1990s. Renowned painter Ai Xuan once commented that “harmony of bright colors and great purity is achieved in Zhanshan’s art works. Years of dedication has given his works a style uniquely of his own. When the works of an artist become immediately recognizable, felicity has come to pay its tribute.” If you have no idea that Zhanshan is born and nurtured in the countryside, you would hardly understand his incessant love of the land and that love is destined to remain the basic tune of his life.
　　Luckily for him, Zhanshan has walked out of the stage of psychological struggle and perplexity that has haunted him till 2007. He has sublimed from a pure lover of the land and the nature to one with his distinct and modern style and an independent thinker pondering over larger issues of nature and humanity. This transition may not be mature or perfect, but it is a gift and blessing for Zhanshan. And this first step in the right direction has taken the artist several years, where almost the whole of 2005 was spent on his exploration of a new passion in nature. The “red series” may have pleasantly surprised many people, as the flat painted pink is an abandonment of the washy strokes in realist paintings, giving the same land and creatures more profound and decent self-esteem. The landscape is no longer depicted from the people-oriented perspective, but rather the nature itself is now living and breathing like every one of us. The greatest inspiration for Zhanshan is to see shapes and external forms from a spiritual perspective. And on top of his love for the land and fields, you can read his respect for other forms of life in his works.
　　Zhanshan has always favored realist paintings, for only with his desired colors can he gradually awaken the suppressed passion. His affectionate infatuation for villages of North China is reflected in the colorful and neat paintings which almost served as the theme for all his art creations in the 1990s. The grandest, deepest yet simplest love for the land of North China and the carefree affection for the fields is the intrinsic tone of all his works before the year 2004. However, a piercing question remains when expressing reposeful or deep feelings in realist paintings ---- how should modernity be embodied in the paintings? For a time, Zhanshan was deeply troubled as to how to seek breakthroughs in realist paintings and add a modern touch to them and how to sustain renewed passion in the post production which is inclined to slip into a status of dull.
　　From the 1990s till now, China’s countryside paintings have entered into a brand new stage after the carol-singing depiction in the 1950s and 1960s and the pessimistic and critical approach represented by Luo Zhongli, He Duoling and other artists of the Sichuan Art Genre in early 1980s. Artists at Companionship Fine Art Studio, all of whom dedicated to realist paintings depicting countryside in North China, interpret their unfeigned love of the land in their own way, and confidently portray the natural beauty of North China as seen and perceived without imposed people-orientation. In this process, Zhanshan freewheelingly relived his childhood memories and portrayed the discrimination of different feelings for cities and villages, the telling love of broomcorn, millet and cornfield, and the resumed longing for countryside among urbanites encaged in a world of great material wealth in his paintings.
　　The dazzlingly bright colors he used to portray nature reveal how restless and fretful people were, and in his works, there seemed to be a disconnection between humans and nature, with the distressing sentiment and worry he felt for the nature reflected in his portrayal of man. His paintings during this period were typical portrait of Chinese countryside in the new era and have indeed brought him exceptional economic returns, however, something still seemed to be lacking in his works, making it hard to move people or resonate in people's hearts. Despite the thoughts he put into his works and the poetic flavor exhibited in his new-style countryside paintings, Zhanshan begun to feel an indescribable numbness and impatience for lack of breakthrough and passion.
　　We can only imagine the intense struggles in his heart when Zhanshan was trying to outgrow an established artistic style, when he was exploring a new icon to more effectively portray the countryside in the era of post-industrialization, when he was seeking a narrative approach better suited to a modern context and when he was making every effort to shrug off the influence of French landscape paintings of the 18th century. After all, he was not a recent graduate without an established style, what he needed was renascence in a new style.
　　The flat painted pink in the sky gives Zhanshan the feeling of regenesis. This is but a start, yet it conveys hope and the courage for abandonment and innovation. The pink also endows his paintings with an unfamiliar and fresh modern touch, and the mystical expressionism very effectively magnetizing people. I know when Zhanshan painted the sky pink, he was not just applying a new color, but actually having great fun. The trivial matters he has to attend to during the post production of realist paintings have long excruciated the artist who is so freewheeling in his thoughts and this restriction is making him absolutely dejected. People with knowledge of traditional Chinese art all understand the significance of the brush strokes, and as one of them, Zhanshan feels exactly the same way. Moreover, such strokes inspire more profound and critical thinking on social ideological issues and on our times.
　　The new expressionism in Zhanshan’s works best portrays the power and dimension of mountain villages in North China, in which his perspective on the nature has changed while memories of the youth are retained. By evolving from glorification of and indebtedness to the land, the fields, life and the world to giving them deep concern, a dignified life and even looking up to the boundless nature, Zhang Zhanshan forcefully depicts the great strength of the nature, leaving an unescapeable startle in people’s hearts. The most genuine harmony between man and nature and the departure from all the tedious details in  painting the land, paddy, etc reflects the artist’s pursuit of long-lost passion, the simple joy in face of the nature, the unrestricted movement of strokes, the abandonment of stiffness in realist landscape paintings, the modern touch, the nostalgia and the return to the nature without worldly ambitions, all of which are gradually unfolded in his works.
　　占山的艺术轨迹从20世纪90年代至今是异常清晰的。著名油画家艾轩就此评论说：“占山的作品色彩强烈、斑斓、高纯度的协调。多年的笔耕竟然渐渐地形成了一种面貌，一种占山独有的面貌。当一个艺术家的作品能被人一眼认出来的时候，就是这个艺术家走入了幸运之门之际。”乡土情怀的延续注定是他的生命情结。如果不了解占山曾经是那样一个生长在乡村的孩子，很难理解他现在持续的对于土地的热爱。
　　令人喜悦的是，2007年至今的占山跨越了一个挣扎、迷茫的自己，从以往单纯地对乡土斑斓的热恋、对自然亲切的依恋，转而成为有着自己鲜明当代风格又有着对自然和人类独立深层思考的绘者。尽管这个转变还远不成熟和完美，但对于占山却是那样的难得与幸运。其实可能是刚刚开始的第一步，但为了找寻这步伐的方向，占山的思考持续了几年，2005年几乎一年都在自然里摸索，找寻记忆中另一个激情的脉络。可能“红色系列”让很多人都惊讶了，占山消除了写实画派脆弱的技术用笔，只那么稍稍肯定地用了平涂的粉红色，还是那个大地、那个牛羊，但他赋予它们更深沉而体面的自尊，不再以人本位的意识看待风景，而是把自然本身看成生命，大地还原成了大地，牲畜还原成了牲畜。除了那以往对田野的热爱，还有对另一种生命的仰视。站在精神层面思考形成的来源，这是占山近期最大的收获。
　　写实绘画一直为占山所钟爱，因为只有在他想象的色彩中，他记忆深处的激情才渐渐地被唤醒。他那充满深情的对中国北方乡村的眷恋，一直是以一种璀璨而有秩序的画面呈现的，这个主题几乎占据他20世纪90年代的整个创作。他对北方土地那份壮阔、拙朴的深爱，对田野的那份无忧无虑、自由自在的情感，是他2004年前所有创作的内在基调，但在用写实绘画表达平稳或深沉情感的同时，总是会非常尖锐地遇到一个绘画的当代性问题。写实绘画如何突破自身的形式，表现出当代绘画语感，如何在太容易麻木的后期制作笔触中，始终保持着一种鲜活的激情，这样的思索，让占山陷入深深的矛盾和困惑中。
　　中国乡土绘画在经过了20世纪五六十年代颂歌式的描述和80年代初四川画派罗中立、何多苓等悲悯批判式的情感历程后，从90年代至今，应该说进入了自身的新乡土画风中。在北方乡村写实画派“同路而行美术合作社”的画家中，他们都有着自己对于土地由衷热爱的个性描述，不再强加以人本意识，而是很自信地描绘出自我感觉下的北方的自然。占山在这个过程中，自由地挥洒了自己童年的记忆，以及他内心对于城市、乡村不同情怀的甄别，表现出对高粱、谷子、麦田极度的爱恋，和物质极度张扬的都市现代人对乡村田间的一种回望。此时的占山不是没有思考，他描绘的斑斓而亮丽的自然的色彩下透露出人的不安与焦躁，人与自然在他的画面中似乎有种脱节，他对自然的深度感伤和忧患不经意地流露在对人物的描绘中。应该说占山这一时期的绘画是典型的中国新时期乡村风情的，也确实给占山带来了丰厚的物质回报，但是似乎画面还是缺少了什么，好像还不能由衷地让人感动或直至观者的心灵。尽管此时占山的新乡土语式绘画也诗意也风情，但他已经感觉到一种难以诉说的麻木和停滞不前缺少激情的难耐。
　　为了找寻一种更有力地表现后工业时代下乡村风景的标志，为了寻找与当代语境更接近的叙述方式，为了从18世纪法国风景画中蜕变而出，占山面对已经成熟的风格，内心的挣扎可想而知。毕竟，他不是刚刚走出校门，也不是从未形成风格，他是要在新的风格中重生。
　　粉色，就是这块平涂在天空中的粉色，让占山真正有了重生的感觉，尽管这只是开始，但毕竟是希望，这是一个人敢于放弃、敢于创新的勇气。就是因为这块平涂的粉色，占山的绘画有了不曾有的陌生而新鲜的当代感，徒增了神秘的表现主义的味道，使观者的眼睛被更加有力地吸引住。我知道占山在用粉色描绘天空时，不仅是颜色的变化，还表现出了一种书写的过瘾，因为那细碎的写实主义的后期制作早把占山这个随时思想都会变化的人限制得沮丧至极。对于现实的意义，受过中国传统艺术教育的人都能感觉到，不仅仅如此，这样的笔触还唤起了占山内心对时代、对社会意识更深邃、更敏锐的思考。
　　应该说占山以一种新表现主义的风格，画出了中国北方山村的力度与恢弘。青春的记忆从不曾改变，但关注自然的视角改变了，从对大地、田野、生命和世界的赞美和感恩主题到对它们深切地关注、赋予它们有尊严的生命，甚至仰视这无穷的自然，以求最真切的天人合一，不再强调大地、稻谷每一个繁琐的细节，却强势地把自然的强悍一面推到最前端，让观者有一种无法推脱的震撼。事实上，占山是想找寻久违的、鲜活的内心激情，那份简单的面对自然的喜悦，那种书写般的意趣，那种突破写实主义风景中的呆板又张扬着当代感但依然深深眷恋乡土之情，都在他的探索中慢慢地凸显而出，更纯粹地回归自然，无欲无求。