汤志义近年创作的取名为《河流》系列的抽象漆画，它们给人的视觉感受是如此的丰富，令人遐想无边。原本包裹、覆盖和防潮之用的大漆，被他反复打磨和铺排肌理，浑厚凝重却又泛着粼粼光泽，与其说这些作品表现的是波光闪烁、绵延千里的夏日印象，不如说，它们是坚冰消融、蓄势待发的暖春意象。厚重、板实的漆材和严整、纯正的漆色，在艺术家高超技术的处理下，宛如坚冰融化、断裂和漂移，气势磅礴又气象万千。如此撼人心魄的抽象性艺术形象，发生在漆画这个古老的画材领域，不正预示着一种老兵新传的破冰之路的出现吗?

　　长期以来，漆画的发展停留在器物、家具和建筑的装饰性图案的描绘上，尽管图画的内容随着时代的变迁而有所不同，但漆画的创作方式和理念却始终没有大的突破。即便是作为一种独立的画种而摆脱了对实用性物体的依附，由于受到材料技术特别是艺术观念的束缚，漆画无论是在内容题材还是在语言创造上，都存在着严重的程式化的因袭之气，难以传达当代社会生活中人们的真实感受，而只能去重复一些约定俗成的题材和图案，尽管这些重复充满了创作者个人娴熟的技艺和情感。

　　汤志义的出现，改变了漆画界在当代中国艺术创作中的自我边缘化的现状。他接受了系统的现代大学艺术教育，尤其是大学早期对油画的偏好，使他能够用油画的造型方法和创作理念来思考漆画的前途和未来。油画的现代转化和当代变革，一个重要的线索是语言材料自身的独立，色彩也罢，线条也罢，明暗关系也罢，都要服务于艺术家内心对周围世界的观察和提炼，都要服务于艺术家观念意识的表达，而不再简单是形象的真实与否和故事情节的叙述性表达。在汤志义的第十届全国美展漆画金奖作品中，我们能够明显地从惠安女的衣纹质感、色彩调子和空间关系等方面，看出他在大量使用漆画之外的其他艺术表现手法，特别是油画技法、水墨技法的许多要素。他的《莲蓬》系列和《人物》系列，致力于探索漆画技法在形象上的线条控制、画面的背景处理和人物的肤色表现等方面的能力，使得传统的漆画走出了厚重、板实的材料局限，有了轻松、跳跃和婉约的语言魅力。

　　景物题材和人物题材的漆画实践，丰富了汤志义对漆材表现潜力的认识范围。正是在这种跨题材的实践中，不同技术和不同条件下漆材的丰富语汇被挖掘了出来，这在此前其他漆画艺术家的创作中是极少见到的。对这些技术与条件的反复思考和实践过程，其实也是一种归纳和提炼的过程，它们不再是技术层面的数据积累和相加，而是一种对漆画媒介语言本身的深入理解和醒悟——媒介语言未必是在服务于具体的物象和内容时才具有意义，事实上，媒介语言本身，就具有相对独立的视觉含义和精神指向性。汤志义的抽象漆画，并非仅有命名《河流》的一个系列，还有其他多种图式样例，而取名《河流》也是为了人们理解的方便，绝非对景写生。在这些抽象图式的漆画中，特有的色彩光泽和肌理，被有意识地统摄在几个大的色调块面之中，它们时而被打磨得露出层层底漆，形成色彩交融的光斑;时而被积压得绽放出错综复杂的筋脉，仿佛穿越时空的原始图腾。对这些抽象性漆画的各种辨认性解读，都是不同环境和背景下的观众的个人理解，而艺术家所要追求的恰恰是漆画材料自身的独立语言和词汇，因为这些语汇能够不必拘泥于去刻意描绘现实中的物象，它们的自在呈现本身就是种种美妙的视觉形象，尽管没有具体的现实物象所指。

　　由于汤志义的工作，“漆”这种媒介开始从“画”的描绘功能中拓展开来，进入到与人的身体体验和观念意识有着更加直接联系的“艺”的境界。也就是说，尽管这其中包含着创作者的个人情感和体验，漆画已不再是简单的一种视觉描绘工具，而是一种传递作者对自己和他人以及周围世界的态度和判断的途径，它所承载的观念性要远大于它的指代性和描述性。他最新的艺术计划是，用闽南海域打捞出的五只古代商船的残片为素材，进行大漆的局部修复，让大漆这种古老的文化传统符号与历史进行一次真实的视觉对话，不需要什么图案的真实描绘，只是漆本身的独自出现和使用。这件尚在进行的艺术计划，将极大地挑战漆画艺术的原有局限性，赋予漆艺观念的当代性，阅读的广义性和价值的多样性。

　　当代中国艺术的创作，多年来绝大多数作品都是建立在以油画为主要媒介，以西方的造型理念和自由主义精神为价值观的基础上的，虽然多年来不乏传统水墨画方面的观念实验，但纸媒的材料限制和观念的空洞，影响了实验水墨的发展和水平的提高。如何在一个开放的全球化的时代，在保持艺术的观念性的同时保持住艺术的独特视觉影响力，媒介的革命依然很重要，而这种革命不是简单地推翻，也不是故弄玄虚地照搬和挪用，而是对媒介本身的长期认识、探索和琢磨，掌握其根本规律和特质，才能推陈出新，实现当代的语言转换。汤志义从自己的长期工作出发，赋予传统和边缘化的漆画以当代的视野，进入到艺术语言的自觉再造层面上来，使得我们能够看到中国当代艺术目前正在向建构有着传统文化痕迹，却全然实现了当代语言转换的目标迈进的一个路径。

高 岭   独立策展人、著名评论家

　　Ice Breaking Trip and Structure Seeker

　　-Tang’s Lacquer Art World

　　-Gao Ling (independent planner and famous reviewer)

　　River series abstract paintings made by Tang Zhiyi in recent years give the viewers rich visual experience and limitless imaginary space. Lacquer which is usually used for coating and resisting dampness is repeatedly polished and arranged to obtain a fine luster and thick texture in his works. They are not so much summer with endless and twinkling water as spring in which ice melts down and everything waits rejuvenation. With unmatched technique, the thick and solid lacquer of neat and pure color show an atmosphere of ice melting, breaking and shifting in magnificent and changeable ways. Such stirring abstract artistic image can be considered a sign of new ground for traditional lacquer painting field, isn’t it?

　　For quite some time, lacquer painting stuck in decorative patterns of objects, furniture and buildings. Though pattern styles change with time, the creation way and concept remained the same. This art is still bound to material, technique and especially traditional concept even after it becomes an independent painting form that no longer depends on objects. The severe stylization problem makes it disable to express people’s true feelings in modern society but only focus on conventionalized themes and patterns, though these non-creative reiterations also reflect painters’ wonderful skills and feelings.

　　Tang Zhiyi has broken the self-marginalized situation of lacquer painting. Based on systemic modern art education in college and preference for oil painting in his early study, he is capable of considering the future of lacquer painting in the view of oil painting's idea and technique. In modernization and contemporary change of oil painting, a significant lead is self-independence of language material. The color, line and shading should yield to the artist’s observation and distillation of real world so as to make the artist express his opinions better, not to a true figure or a narrative story. From Tang’s work which won the gold award of the 10th National Fine Art Exhibition, we can strongly sense that he has applied a great deal of expression techniques besides lacquer painting, especially elements of oil painting and wash painting, to describe the cloth texture, color tone and spatial relation. He tried to explore lacquer painting technique’s capacity in line control, background processing and skin color in Lotus Receptacle Series and People Series, giving the thick and rigid lacquer painting light and vivid linguistic charm.

　　Practices on still life and figure painting broaden Tang’s horizon about potential performance of lacquer painting. By cross-subject practices, he finds out lacquer painting's great power of expression by various techniques and under various conditions. His works can be rarely seen in previous lacquer paintings. He sums up and refines his findings by ruminating and practicing these conditions and techniques. Instead of simply accumulating techniques, his deeply understands the media language of lacquer painting that media language not only is meaningful when it serves specific objects, but also has relatively independent visual and spirit significance. Besides River Series, Tang Zhiyi has created many other patterns. Even though the name is river, the works are not paintings from life. Special luster and texture of these abstract lacquer paintings are consciously arranged in a few areas of certain colors. Sometimes primers are exposed to form mottled spots and sometimes stacked lacquers form complex venations like original totem. How viewers understand these abstract lacquer paintings depends on environment and context. What the artist pursues is independent language and vocabulary expressed by the lacquer painting as such vocabulary is not limited by real objects and are amazing visual images themselves without specific signified.

　　Thanks to Tang’s efforts, lacquer, as a medium, has expanded its function from painting to art related to bodily experience and awareness. In another word, the lacquer painting is no longer a simple visual drawing tool, though it contains personal experience and feelings of creator. It is a medium carrying creator’s attitude and judgment towards himself, others and the world around. The concept carried by it is much more significant than signified and narration. Tang’s latest plan is partial lacquer repair of wreckages of five ancient merchant ships salvaged from the ocean in South Fujian. This visual communication between lacquer, a traditional cultural symbol, and history embodiment only requires lacquer itself without drawing of specific object. This project will greatly challenge original limitation of lacquer painting, make it a contemporary art and give it extensive meanings and values.

　　The creation of contemporary Chinese art mainly depends on oil painting which reflects western concept and liberalism. Despite many experimental concept wash paintings, empty notion and limitation due to paper material hinder development of wash paintings. Media reform is essential to preservation of both concept and unique visual influence of art in the age of globalization. Simple change or copy in a confusing way is not proper. In-depth knowledge, exploration and study of the media for mastering its features are required in innovation and modern language transformation. Tang gives traditional and marginal lacquer painting modern perceptions based on his experience, making the lacquer painting reach the realm of conscious artistic language generation. So we can see that contemporary art in China is on the way to modern language transformation with traditional culture impact.

作者：高岭