2002年后，旅美画家杨谦回中国常居，租北京花家地的工作室画油画、做照片，并逐渐用杨千这个新名字参加展览。名字的改变表达了艺术家更换跑道、重新出发的心态。新名字意味着新面孔，他摇身为一切都要从头开始的国内新人。这个不大不小的更名动作显示了他割舍过去、轻装上路的决然态度和信心。而杨千与杨谦，一字之改，但名字的中英文读音和字母拼写方法并未随之而有丝毫改变，这也预示了他对某种既定创作手法和价值的坚守。他的艺术态度是开放、求变的。从写实绘画到图像模糊的《浴室》系列，从活动绘画到双重绘画，他甚至变得有点义无反顾。但他却有一定之规，始终没有放弃具象表达方式和写实思路。现实关怀甚至是他的一种立场。艺术家杨千脱胎于画家杨谦，艺术媒介、形式的花样翻新愈演愈烈，但以往的审美经验并没有彻底格式化。他照常从自身的生存经验和周遭的社会环境出发，洞察新生事物，刷新全球视野。其中的现实针对性并未稍有钝化。现在的杨千与过去的杨谦，只是同一艺术个体不同时期的表象。画家杨谦是单向度的，而艺术家杨千却是双重的。杨千一方面覆盖了杨谦，一方面却比杨谦有更多的艺术维度和更大的包容度。杨千基于杨谦，又不断从杨谦的现实精神中游离出来，直叩形而上的精神的彼岸。

　　杨千定居北京后，2004年开始进入艺术创作爆发期。绘画涉及的所有媒介几乎都成为他的实验对象和工具。杨千的创作冲动喷薄而出，新想法、新招式汹涌不断。他有时几乎是在作扇面扫射，几条思路齐头并进。如此气势，他已把画家杨谦的些许底色完全“淹没”。走到双重绘画这一步，艺术家杨千则已进入了中国当代艺术的前线阵容。

　　杨千的丰富现状是艺术家秉性不安分的一种结果，他不断地跳线、越轨，刷新艺术表达形式。但他却一直用敏锐的现实关怀提示着自我的清醒，同时用一贯的现实主义的思路和方法支撑着个性的发展。由此，杨千面前并没有一条可以一蹴而就、或彻底改弦更张的通道。花样翻新的形式磨砺，往往演变为一场又一场旷日持久的自我绝杀和重生。

　　早年在国内的学院式美术训练和美国长期的职业艺术家生存经验，使杨千早在纽约就已陷于现实与观念、形式与内容辩证关系的思辩之中。20世纪90年代的纽约仍是国际当代艺术的策源地之一，苏荷、雀儿喜等艺术圈不断推陈出新的艺术观念、形式不仅冲刷着杨千的知觉经验，而且还潜移默化地解放了他一个个紧绷的思维禁区。当下语境和氛围的影响，使杨千观察现实生活的眼睛，也不得不用来洞察当代艺术的精神现实。杨千两难境地随之而来，一方面，他倾心于这种带来巨大精神自由的当代艺术观念和形式;另一方面，他难以对写实技巧和现实主义创作原则作彻底地切割。杨千彷徨其间，难以两全，内心的冲突与拉锯之激烈可想而知。他1991年的木板油画《人体与蒙德里安的投射10号》，就是这种心态的真实写照。他仍在一丝不苟地写生，画学院式的画室人体。但人体身上却用幻灯投影披上一层蒙德里安画作的光影，人体的前后左右又分别放置镜面，折射出不同的身影。可见，当时杨千仍十分固执地以自己的审美惯性“消化”着纽约的新艺术冲击。

　　他20世纪90年代的人体油画和1998年前后的 《面具》系列等摄影创作，都属于这种现实衍生、变异的图像。其实杨千在骨子里一直潜藏着一种不可救药的完美主义情怀。他选择的对象都外表完美，他却又想肆意分解这种完美。他想出走又不愿完全脱轨。他现实与观念、内容与形式这两端都要，而且把这两端的倾向都强烈地体现、整合在精心选择的图像中。于是他动用镜面的分割和镜面纸的扭曲来改变这些寻常的现实图像、提供超日常的视觉经验，然后再中规中矩地把这类图像和经验纳入画面。每个被解析、变形的形象，居然都有写实规则上的充足理由和方法上的谨严逻辑。由于镜面介质的存在，杨千的画中，人的正像和镜中的负像始终并置。正负影像的反复呈现，恰好体现了他对图像真实与虚幻关系的辩证思考。杨千每个图像的现实来源都有根有据，同时却表现出挣脱写实规范、直抒当代视觉经验的强烈企图。喜欢用镜面说事的杨千完全活用了借鉴的招数。既善于借用诸多新形式、新方法，同时又以表达真实事物为底线。他可以截取艺术史上图式，天马行空地发挥，却往往能收放自如，回归自我，万变不离其宗。杨千想软化过去的立场却一时难以软化，想超越当下的现实却一时难以超越。对写实边界的两边都难以割舍，抑或是对现实主义本体论与当代艺术核心观念的双向疏离，注定了他要选择一条艰险的骑绘画边界而行的思路。跨界，而不稍离这条边界。杨千似乎把绘画的问题都看作是自己精神家园里的事。杨千只能跟自己“死磕”。

　　虚幻与真实、表象与实质的关系一直是他画面上关心的问题。这些问题落实到具体的生存现实中，就是他对家园形式和实质的一种体验式思考。他提到，曾在美国拥有的那个家只有家的形式，但心灵的家是没有的。于是他回中国，建立了内容与形式更为协调的新家。家园认同的心理危机一时得以平复，杨千心态变得十分平实。但他的精神家园却仍漂泊在现实家园之上。

　　回国后迅速进入创作状态的杨千，把在纽约长年使用并烂熟于胸的写实手法搁置一边。试图另起炉灶，开拓一种与他在中国内地生活新经验和新感悟相对应、匹配的艺术形式。中国社会日新月异的变化及其形形色色的表象，让“海归”杨千频生知觉震撼，又有雾里看花之感。对心灵归属的孜孜以求以及追求过程中的深度迷茫和惶惑，使杨千不得不频频尝试以摄影和绘画这一实一虚来捕捉各种生活幻象。摄影中的实景，绘画中的虚构，杨千在这两种图像处理媒介中不断作切换。2002年起，他的《浴室》系列就曾经以摄影和绘画两种不同媒介分别推出。这种图像相互切换的经验，使他获得了现实图像直接转换为绘画的创作需求。既然在画布上喷涂的摄影图像还不够虚幻，为何不能以手工绘画在这类真实而机械的图像上进行处理和深加工呢?于是，杨千日益重视绘画对摄影对象的覆盖、强调或夸张。画中，玻璃上水雾所造成的浴女的模糊形象和面孔，成为他有意去遮蔽、却欲遮还休的某种现实层面。他的形象越来越淡化，画面也越来越虚幻。2006年，《面具》系列绘画中，杨千着意表现的那些“面膜女”，有时甚至连人影都难以辨识，画面焦点模糊，隐约可辨的只是些放大的水珠和水痕。杨千刻意让实景虚化，让现代人空泛的精神实质浮向不确切的表象，这些努力展示了他穷究形式至极致的勇气。

　　虽然杨千的绘画风格由实入虚，变化甚巨，但他新作品中对镜像的不断沿用，其实仍延续了旅美时期对正负影像的思考。只是镜子的借鉴对象已非冷冰冰的画室人体，而是现实生活中鲜活而敏感的年轻女性。“镜中花，水中月”说虚也虚，终归是一个个的影子;说实却也实，它们也是真实事物的一种投射。杨千在质疑视觉对象纯粹性的同时，也赋予了影像在意义建构和审美表达上的独立性。正像与负像，主体与客体，孰真孰假?孰重孰轻?杨千的质疑其实是双向的。他对真实观念的不断反思，使他终于摆脱对立统一的传统思路和话语系统，获得一种超然的态度。一旦超然，对立统一的辩证关系就成了杨千手中一种略显轻松的视觉话语游戏。

　　面对绘画这个古老而传统的视觉艺术形式，杨千不离不弃，甚至把它当作释放自己当代观念和创作能量的实验田。这足以说明他的审美趣味仍执着于绘画本体。但杨千同时也关注的问题却是：绘画形式如何在新语境下增容?绘画的边界又如何拓展?由此，活动绘画与双重绘画的产生，也就是情理中事。

　　在中国当代艺术潮流激荡的当下，杨千丰富的参展、观展经验，使他可以不断地从创作主体和观者的不同立场来审视作品。立场地切换，也使他得以从容把握看与被看的关系。杨千在创作中，可以随时从画里退到画外，从观者的角度出发重新打量作品。这其实是从一次性创作跃进到二度创作的表征。画里画外，出入自由。杨千不再局限于绘画的内涵，而越来越在乎其外延。因此，活动绘画与双重绘画，都是杨千频频对当代艺术的展示方法和观看制度下手出招的产物。他直接用最为机械的方法来改变绘画作品外观的物理学特征，让绘画呈现方式本身也成为一种刷新视觉经验的独特的创作资源。于是，杨千作品的呈现和展示过程也成了一种创作，甚至是创作的重头戏。在这种二度创作的强烈冲动中，单一、静态的绘画媒介，居然被杨千活用为一种动态、多义的艺术形式。可以说，杨千埋身探究的是绘画媒介在数字技术时代继续存活并激发原创的可能性，他硬是用非观念主义的思路和方法完成了当代艺术观念的表达。这种孤独的正面推进曾经让杨千备尝艰辛，然而，他却藉此打开了解放自身绘画形式的又一个窗口。

　　活动绘画是以电力驱动画作中的部分画面，使静态的双联、三联油画在画框内不断作拉锯式的水平位移和置换。艺术家静止的画作升级为活动的绘画装置，实际上也改变了观者的观展方式。绘画性的单一表达演化为模棱两可的双重表达，甚至形成多重语义。

　　可以说，双重绘画则是杨千二度创作的新模式。一种无色萤光涂料让杨千找到了绘画表达的又一种可能性。他可以用它任意篡改、涂抹自己既有的油画画面，而不必有污损的担心。这些新痕迹常光下无影无踪，只有在紫光灯下才能浮现原形。于是，无色萤光涂料成为他建构第二个画面主体的新工具。荧光图像也就构成了独立于杨千油画画面之中的又一重画面。

　　其实2006年以来，杨千对艺术的贡献主要集中在双重绘画。双重表达是他自己选择的绘画表现形式，也是他对绘画形式长期追究、思辩到了新阶段的一种状态。通过现场灯光由常光到紫光、紫光到常光地不停切换，静态图像变为动态，单面绘画变成双重。绘画传统的意义生成方式被杨千这种特有的绘画形式硬生生地打断、悬置，视觉核心一分为二，真相和本质踌躇两端。双重绘画互为表里，画的每一重面貌既可能是表象，也可能是真相。杨千刻意制造的双重性是藏有机心的，双重绘画不是简单的非此即彼、谜面谜底，而可能是亦此亦彼，也可能是非此非彼，总之充满变数。通过否定之否定，杨千完成了对图像本质和意义的一次抽离。

　　一个人可以有双重身份，一张画也可以有双重面貌。在杨千双重绘画的观念呈现中，正像与负像、主体与客体不再是确定无疑的了。两者不囿于传统的相对性，甚至不拘泥于表面的互文性。杨千放弃了隐喻，甚至模糊了价值判断。相反，他似乎不断在追究如何让矛与盾在一起而不自相矛盾，或让鱼与熊掌兼得而不舍其一。由此，杨千只有把立意凌驾于既有的画面阐释系统之上。杨千《旋转立方体No.1》《QQ之一》等双重绘画新作，在不断跳出各种本质主义桎梏的观念游戏中，表达出超然物外的一种形而上精神。虽然，双重绘画在语境上仍表现为杨千执着追究现实政治和社会问题的一种结果，但他却在自身艺术形式和内容的辩证演进之中，实施了一次不期然的突围。其实，双重绘画在表现形式上释放出的形而上精神，也是杨千对老庄学说等中国传统文化根基的一种有效传承。这种具有历史传承的精神凸显了杨千对人的抽象内涵、共性和终极命运的深入追究和思辨。于是，通过双重绘画，杨千不断精进的辩证思考开始走向达观，再也没有被喋喋不休的形而下话语所淹没。

　　杨千的执著，杨千的多变，都属于杨千的艺术个性。双重的杨千，才是杨千。

　　2007年

　　Yang Qian，once a visiting painter in the U.S.，returned to China in 2002. Ever since，he settled in Beijing and rent a studio at Huajiadi to create oil paintings and photos，and takes part in exhibitions with a new given name that shares the same pronunciation with the previous one but in different Chinese characters. The behavior shows the artist’s intention of swapping a track and departing from the start line. A new name means a new identity，with which he becomes a fresh domestic artist. His resolution and confidence of initiating a new undertaking without the burden of the past could be seen in his act of modestly re-naming himself. However，the unchanged sound of his name，both in Chinese and English，still foretells his persistence in a certain techniques and values. His attitude in art is undoubtedly open and variable，which manifest itself in his realistic painting，the blurry “Bathroom” series，the kinetic painting and dual painting. Even with a no-turning-back spirit in creations，he still follows a rule to use image expressions and realistic thinking. Concerning the reality has become one of his positions. Artist Yang Qian originates from the painter Yang Qian. The artistic media and forms used by him are constantly changing，and luckily with the non-stereotyped aesthetics views. In light of his own living experience and the social surroundings，he keeps an eye on novel issues and refurbishing the vision of the globe. Never has his focus on the reality be dimmed. The present Yang Qian and the past Yang Qian are merely the appearance of a same art body at difference times. The painter Yang is single-fold，while the artist Yang is double-fold. The latter one covers the former one in one respect，but with a wider artistic dimension as well as a bigger holding-capacity. The latter Yang originates from the former Yang，but succeeds in disassociating from the previous realistic sense and targeting at the metaphysical spirit.

　　In 2004，Yang Qian came into the period of art explosion after the settlement in Beijing. It seems each medium associated with painting has been experimented and adopted by him. The surging thoughts and methods accelerated his initiations and several ideas can be realized at the same time. The imposing manner overwhelms the previous features of the painter Yang. The Artist Yang Qian，by dealing with dual painting，has already stepping on the frontier of China contemporary art.

　　His current productivity is due to his discontented personality，which forces him to leap over the line and renew the ways to express art. Meanwhile，he still reminds himself to concern the reality with subtlety. The progress of his personality is supported by the realistic thinking and means，thus laying no direct passageway in front of him that could facilitate his thorough change. The constantly-changing forms test him，and under most circumstances become the lasting period of self-destroying and rebirth，one after another.

　　With the early academic art training experience in China and the long-term professional artist experience in the U.S.，Yang Qian immersed himself in the speculative reasoning of dialectic relations between reality and mind，form and content back in New York. New York city，in the 1990s，was still one of the sources of international contemporary art. Art circles like SoHo，Chelsea unceasingly put forward new art concepts and forms，challenging Yang Qian’s perceptual experience and imperceptibly liberating his forbidden zone of thinking one by one. The influence of context and atmosphere urged him to observe the spiritual reality of contemporary art instead of looking at the actual life alone. Here came a dilemma for Yang Qian. On one hand，he was fond of various contemporary art notions and forms which bring tremendous spiritual freedom. On the other hand，he found it impossible to give up realistic skills and principles. He paced back and forth between the two ends，with imaginable fierce intra-psychic conflict that displays in his oil painting on board “Figure and Mondrian’s Projection N0.10” created in 1991. In this work，he elaborately draws from life the nude inside the room in academic manner. But the nude is covered with the shadow of light in Mondrian’s painting by the lantern projector. Mirror are placed surrounding the body that different images are refracted. Obviously，Yang Qian still upheld his aesthetic inertia to treat the new wave of New York art.

　　Such variant images deriving from reality can be represented by his nude paintings in the 1990s and photograph “Mask” series in 1998. In fact，Yang Qian is an incurable perfectionist deep in his character. The models he chooses are all perfect in appearance. But he is intentionally disassembles such perfection at the same time. He is willing to leave，but unwilling to run off the rails. Both ends of reality & mind，and content & form，belong to his objectives，and he displays and integrates such tendency in the deliberately selected images. Therefore，he utilizes the cut-off mirrors and distorted mirror paper to transform the common realistic images，offer supernormal visual experience and absorb such images and experiences into the frame in a disciplined way. Each interpreted and deformed image，surprisingly，is based on abundant reasoning in realistic rules and compact logic in methods. In his paintings，the medium of mirror actualizes the side-by-side placement of man’s positive view and negative view in the mirror. The repeated display of positive and negative images signifies the artist’s dialectic meditation over the relations between reality and illusion. The actual source of each image is so clear that his strong eagerness of getting rid of realistic norms and expressing contemporary visual experience is reflected. With mirrors as the tools，Yang Qian flexibly utilizes a large amount of new forms and methods as reference，and conveys the actual objects as the bottom line. He is able to capture the image forms from art history and use them in unconstrained style. In addition，his technique is wonderfully within command and remains the same despite all apparent changes. Wish to moderate his previous position but cannot for the time being，wish to surpass the current reality but cannot for the time being. It is difficult for him to cut apart either side of realistic borders，or alienate the dual directions of realistic ontology and core notions of contemporary art. Accordingly，he is doomed to choose a perilous path along the border of painting. It is to cross over the border but stay close to it. Yang Qian regards issues of painting as the concerns in his own spiritual homeland. So，he cannot help giving himself a hard time.

　　The relations between illusion and reality，between appearance and actuality have always been the concern in his paintings. In the concrete reality，these issues stand for his thinking through practice on forms and essence of homeland. He has stated that his home in the U.S was just a form，not a home of soul. So he came back to China and set up a new home with coordinated content and form. The psychological crisis on homeland identification has been settled and now Yang Qian owns a peaceful mind. Still，his spiritual homeland is floating over the actual homeland.

　　Shortly after Yang came back to China，he was in the state of creation without applying realistic techniques that he used for years in New York and got quite familiar with. What he did is to make a fresh start and explore an art form that corresponds to his new experience and inspiration when living in mainland China. The never-ending changes and assorted matters in China frequently strike the overseas returnee but he finds it vague to understand them. During his pursuit for soul belonging，the great bewilderment forces the artist to catch the illusions in life with photograph and painting，one actual and the other unreal. He keeps switching between these two media of image treatment---the actual scene in photography and the unreal scene in painting. Since 2002，his “Bathroom” series have been delivered by these two different media. The image-switching conduct meets his demand to directly transfer the actual image into painting. Now that the photographed images sprayed on the canvas are not illusive enough，why not further process these real and mechanic images by hand painting? Consequently，Yang Qian pays more and more attention to covering，stressing and exaggerating photographed objects through painting. In the painting，the mist on the glass makes the bathing girl burred in face and shape，by which the artist intentionally and hesitantly obscures a certain reality sphere. The figures in his works become vaguer and the pictures become more illusory. In the “Mask” series of 2006，Yang Qian focuses on the masked girls who can barely seen. The pictures，with dim focus，can only be faintly recognized by the enlarged globules and wash-marking. He purposely makes the actual scene illusory，signifying modern people’s vague spirit in indefinite surface. Such endeavor shows his boldness in seeking form of extremity.

　　Even though the tremendous change take place in Yang Qian’s painting style，his persistent use of mirrors in the new works follow the meditation over positive and negative images during his stay in the U.S. The difference lies in the reflected target in mirrors that the alive and sensitive young women substitute the cold body in paint room. It is like flowers in mirror and the moon in water. They can be commented as illusory because they are just shadows，or they are real as the projection of real objects. While questioning the purity of visual objects，Yang also endows the images with independence of meaning construction and aesthetic expression. Between the positive and negative images，the subject and object，which one is true and outweighs the other? Such question is actually dual oriented. His retrospection over true concepts enables him to shake off the shackle of traditional thoughts and verbal system that are a unity of opposites. A detached position has been attained that the dialectic relations of the unity are played by Yang as an easy visual & verbal game.

　　Yang sticks to utilizing painting，an ancient and traditional form of visual art，and even makes it as the trial field to release his contemporary concepts and creative energy. It is sufficient to prove his insistence on painting itself that fits his aesthetic taste. In addition，he also pays close attention to the following questions: how to explore more painting ways in the new context? How to expand the edge of painting? Consequently，kinetic painting and dual painting emerge.

　　Nowadays，China contemporary art is experiencing a riptide，in which Yang Qian examines the works from different angles of subject and viewers thanks to his rich knowledge of attending or visiting exhibitions. The relations between viewing and being viewed are well manipulated by him through the shift of positions. While making works，Yang Qian is ready to extract himself out of the paintings at any time，and reviews them from the point of a viewer. It signifies the leap of the first-time creation to the second time creation. Yang is free to enter the paintings and get out of them，which shows more concern for denotation instead of connotation of the paintings. Therefore，kinetic painting and dual painting come into existence because of Yang’s constant adjustments to the exhibiting ways and viewing rules of contemporary art. By altering the physical features of painting appearance with the most mechanical methods，he succeeds in making the expressing ways of painting to be a unique creation resource for refreshing visual experience. As a result，the displaying and exhibiting process of Yang Qian’s works also serve as a kind of creation，or even the major part of the creation. The intense impulse of the second-time production has urged Yang Qian to make an endeavor that the static and one-meaning medium of painting is being activated to a dynamic and multiple-meaning form of art. It is fair to state that Yang has probed into the possibilities of survival of painting as well as that of stimulating the original works in this digital hi-tech era. He insists on conveying the concepts of contemporary art with non-conceptual methods. The unaccompanied insistence gave him a hard time，but also opened another window for the artist to liberate his drawing types. In kinetic paintings，a section is activated by electric power. The once static diptych and triptych become moving and replacing each other horizontally within the frame like the movement of a dragsaw. Viewers’ habit is changed in upgraded static-to-dynamic installation. The monologue has progressed into ambiguous dual expressions or even generates multiple semantic meanings.

　　Dual paintings，with the transparent fluorescent paint，serve as the new mode and opportunity for Yang Qian to produce works in the second-time creation. The transparent fluorescent paint can be used to modify and daub over the existing painted images without defiling them. The fresh marks are invisible under normal light，but only manifest themselves under ultraviolet light. Therefore，this is a new tool for the artist to construct another image at the second-time . The transperent fluorescent image separates from the original image of the painting.

　　What Yang Qian has contributed to art since 2006 mainly focuses on dual paintings. He chose dual expressions as the manner which marks his progress in new stage after the long-term probing and reasoning. The on-site lamplight keeps switching from ordinary rays to ultraviolet rays and in the reversed order，so that the static images turn to kinetic ones，and single-cover painting change to dual status. The traditional way of meaning of paintings has been wildly cut off and suspended. The focus of vision has been cut apart，and the truth and essence linger between the two extremities. In dual paintings，either tier could be appearance or truth. A deep thinking is hided by Yang Qian in this deliberate duality. Dual paintings are not simple works that one can distinguish one tier from the other. It is so variable that both tiers may be answers or neither tier is the key. Yang Qian manages to extract the essence of images from the significance through the double negation.

　　A person can own dual identities，thus a painting can be entrusted with dual tiers. The roles of positive images and negative ones，the subject and the object are indefinite anymore in Yang Qian’s dual paintings. Neither the traditional relativity nor the superficial intertextuality could confine the two notions. Yang Qian abandoned metaphor or even bleared the judgment over values. On the contrary，he has been conducting the seemingly impossible research by putting the two opposite objects together in a harmonious status. Due to this，Yang Qian has no choice but to overtop the conception on the fixed system of picture interpreting. His new works represented by “Rotating Cube No.1” and “ QQ No.1” fall the category of dual painting，which display the metaphysical spirit out of the conceptual games bound by kinds of essentialism. Contextually speaking，dual paintings of Yang Qian have shown his concern for political and social issues in reality. Still，he succeeds in realizing an unexpected breakthrough in the dialectic progress of his art form and content. In fact，the metaphysical sense of expressing forms of dual paintings inherits China’s traditional culture like Laozi and Zhuangzi’s philosophy. Such historical inheritance reveals the profound meditation of Yang Qian over the abstract connotation，common characteristics and ultimate fate of human beings. With the medium of dual paintings，Yang Qian strides toward philosophical state on the basis of ever-proceeding reasoning. He will not be bewildered by the physical murmuring anymore.

　　Persistent and varied，that’s Yang Qian’ s artistic features. A dual Yang Qian is the true Yang Qian.

　　2007

作者：顾振清