本文根据 2009 年 4 月 14 日在北京对相关艺术家进行的一次采访创作而成。此次采访由 Marc Bollansee 进行，并获得了别处空间李京女士的大力协助。

　　他们

　　这个艺术小组最初包括三位艺术家，现在只有赖圣予和杨晓刚两名成员。他们在上中学三年级的时候便决定要以民主的方式一同工作。每名团队成员都要以图像的方式给出自己的提议，然后由团队的另外一名成员说出他对图像的理解。在这个艺术创作流程概念化阶段的最后部分，两名成员便可以达成共识，然后共同进行绘画创作。

　　他们坚信在文艺复兴末期，画作呈现方式的逻辑结构已经十分到位。从那时开始，这种结构的地位得到了不断的巩固，此后，只有在风格上的细微变更对其进行过某些扩展和加强。他们艺术小组在绘画风格上的变更涵盖了多种创新，并且希望创建自己的绘画流派，从而巩固并发展他们的艺术地位。

　　创作艺术品的目的在于它们能够被观众体会、评价和理解。我们将讨论观众体会艺术品时，经历的五个主要阶段，进而对他们艺术小组的作品进行分析。他们的图像通过一种十分复杂的纽带，将艺术家、画作中的事物以及观众连接到一起。因此，我们需要首先对艺术创作过程进行分析，然后才能对他们的作品做出判断。

　　他们曾表示自己的作品的确充满了社会政治元素，但是他们会使用美学的手法对相关的概念和属性进行转化和验证。他们深知要对绘画进行根本的结构性改良，就必须使用新的创作媒介。摄影、数码和电子技术为艺术开辟了一条全新的道路，让艺术家可以在最终选定创作方案之前，在一个庞大的资源库中对各种可能性进行尝试。

　　在第一个阶段，观众利用自己的想象力将艺术品理解为一个整体。观众的视觉感官会让他们体会到内部场景固定元素(身穿皮夹克的男子、木质柜子中的电视机和摆放成两排的四张桌子)与外部空间变化元素之间的碰撞。

　　这种碰撞会让观众进行更深入的思考，而我们会在第二个阶段对艺术品有进一步的理解。为了完全理解他们的作品，我们需要观赏他们的多幅画作，从而对相似性、差异性以及之间的联系进行分析。他们的某些画作形成了一个系列。观众能够意识到在房间内部发生的故事是十分平凡的，并且代表了在相同条件下生活的一代人乃至一个社会阶层的生存状态。当我问及那个身穿皮夹克的男子是谁的时候，他们中的一位回答：“我自己也希望知道他是谁”。那个无名男子代表了社会权力结构中被控制的大众之一。其实，房间内部的某些元素也是变化的，比如电视机上的图像和桌子上摆放的物品，它们随着窗外场景的变化而变化。有时，房间的墙壁上还会出现西方现代或当代艺术大师的知名画作。他们曾经表示自己是在借助这种方式营造东方和西方之间的强烈反差，由此，画作能给观众的感官带来美学上的张力。画作左侧的窗外风景体现了各类主题，如城市化、工业化、暴力、战争以及道德沦丧。这表现出他们艺术小组对社会现状和权力关系的批判，以及找到社会冲突根源的愿望。

　　第三个阶段是想象与理解之间的互动。一些哲学家曾指出创作艺术品的目的是满足人类的思维和感官需求。他们的作品兼具美感与智慧，因此完全可以满足人们的这种需求。然而他们还经常在平淡天真的室内景观和充满暴力或消费主义色彩的外部环境之间创造一种反差。观众经常由于这种强烈反差而产生迷惑，甚至是错乱感。而这种错乱感有时会使得观众在美学上得到满足之余，还有些许的遗憾。而这恰恰是他们作品的伟大之处，因为他们表达了当今世界无处不在的紧张感与反差性。

　　第四和第五个阶段是判断和诠释，这两个阶段紧密地结合在一起，它们甚至可以同时发生。从技术和美学上讲，他们的作品出类拔萃，并且具有丰富的实质性内容。我们有理由认为他们有必要在画作中使用开放的空间，而不是将视野局限于室内。在他们最近的一些作品中，室内的墙壁消失了，而窗外远处则出现了青山绿水。这似乎是一个乌托邦式的绿色生态之梦，但我们必须承认艺术家的确有义务揭露当前人类既损害自身又损害大自然的生活方式，并让公众知道其实我们可以有另外一种生存状态。这种变化象征了他们不断演进的创作实力，也预示着他们将为观众带来更多、更大的惊奇。

　　第五个阶段是观众对画作进行诠释。我认为我们在此需要关注他们作品的核心主题。近年来绘画领域的一大进步在于画作恢复了与日常生活和人类思维的联系，后现代时期的很多画作曾一度放弃了这样的联系。他们艺术小组的作品很好地印证了这样一个创作特征：从自己的环境出发，对消费主义、个人主义、城市化和军事化的发展进行观察，并使用自己的美学感官来表达这些普遍现象，而在表达过程中又不忽视个体的悲惨经历。

　　中国当前的巨大变化在速度和规模上都堪与整个世界相比。因此，中国艺术家能够利用这一优势对全世界的发展方向进行描绘。当今的艺术爱好者已经十分成熟，并且已经学会应对多层的艺术经历。在这样的艺术经历中，对艺术品的判断和诠释不再由某种单一的方式确定，而是由对艺术品全方位、多角度的欣赏方式确定，他们艺术小组的作品便是很好的例证。

　　This essay is based on an interview with the artists conducted on April 14, 2009 in Beijing by Marc Bollansee with the gracious help of Jean Li, Director of Beyond Art Space.

　　They

　　Originally the artistic group consisted of three members, but today only Lai Shengyu and Yang Xiaogang continue their association. Very early on, since their third year in university, they decided they wanted to work together on a democratic basis which means that each member is supposed to come up with proposals, mainly visual images, which are then elaborated on by the other member. At the end of this conceptual stage of the artistic process, both members will arrive to a consensus and proceed to a joint execution of the physical painting.

　　They quite rightly argue that the logical structure of picture representation was completely in place at the end of the Renaissance. Since then there have been only stylistic variations that extend or emphasize various aspects of this structure. The stylistic variations in They’s realistic painting style introduce various novelties and no wonder the artists intend to create their own school of realistic painting which will defend and develop their artistic position.

　　Artworks are made to be experienced, evaluated and interpreted by the viewer. I will focus on five separate moments or phases, during which the viewer experiences an artwork, to proceed to the analysis of They’s works. Of course They’s images link artists, objects and audience in an extraordinarily complex bond and therefore the artistic process needs to be analyzed first before any judgment can be made.

　　They acknowledge that their work is dominated by socio-political elements, but that they use aesthetics to transform or validate ideas or attitudes. Of course the artists are aware that new media with their own distinctive structures and scope are required to make radical structural advances in painting. Photography, digital technology and electronic idioms can open new avenues and the artists use some of these possibilities by culling images from a widely available pool before agreeing on the final composition.

　　In the first phase the viewer uses his imagination to perceive the artwork as a whole. His visual experience leads to a feeling or a sensation of conflict between the fixed elements contained in the inside scene (a man with a leather jacket, a TV set inside a wooden cabinet, four tables arranged in two rows) and the variable elements in the outside space which tell a societal story.

　　This conflict triggers the intellect and the viewer wants to understand the artwork in the second phase. In order to fully understand They’s works one needs to look at several of their works in order to analyze the similarities, the variations and the associations. Some of their paintings form a series. The viewer will understand that what happens in the utterly simple room of the inside scene is very ordinary and represents the lives of a generation and a social class that lives under identical conditions. When I asked They who the man with the leather jacket was one of them replied: “I wish I’d knew”. It is a reference to the anonymous masses that are controlled by power structures. Some of the elements in the room are variable as well like the image on the TV set and the objects on the tables, which are adapted to the outside or inside scene. Sometimes a famous painting by a Western modern or contemporary master is exhibited on the wall. The artists have confirmed that this is only a device to create a contrast between East and West and often the painting is oddly out of place adding to the feeling of aesthetic tension. Various themes like urbanization, industrialization, bloody demonstrations, warfare or moral decay are represented on the left through a huge window and demonstrate the group’s intention to criticize social conditions and power relations and to identify potential sources of conflict.

　　The third phase is one of interaction between imagination and understanding. Philosophers argue that artworks are made to fulfil the needs of the intellect and the senses. They’s works are aesthetical and intellectual and are therefore fully able to fulfil these needs. However they often generate a sense of contradiction between the idyllic inside scene and the violent or overly consumerist view seen outside. The viewers are often disconcerted or confused by this contrast and it might lead to a feeling of discontent rather than sheer pleasure. On the other hand it is exactly the great strength of They’s works that they are able to convey palpable tension and conflict which is ubiquitous in today’s world.

　　The fourth and fifth phases are judgment and interpretation and are so closely linked together that they can be conducted nearly simultaneously. Technically and aesthetically They’s works stand out and have meaningful content. One could argue that they need to open the space instead of restricting part of the action to the inside room. The artists are aware of this and in some of their recent works the walls within the room have vanished while a green landscape of mountains and rivers rises in the distance. An ecological dream situation appears that seems utopian at this point in time, but we must consider that it is the artist’s duty to show alternatives to our way of living that is damaging to mankind and nature. This change is a token of their evolutionary capacity and means that they are on a journey that will lead to more surprises.

　　The fifth phase concerns interpretation. I feel there is a need to focus on the subject matter of They’s oeuvre. One of the great advances made by painting in recent years is that it has recovered its connection with daily life and preoccupations, which was somewhat lost during the post-modern period. They’s work is a perfect illustration of this point: starting from their own environment they observe the rise of consumerism, individualism, urbanization, militarization and use their sense of aesthetics to articulate a deep reflection on these universal phenomena, without neglecting the plight of the individual.

　　China, being the microcosm that presently most aptly represents the global world in terms of speed, size and evolution puts its artists in a privileged position to comment on the direction of our global society. Art lovers are quite sophisticated today and have learned to deal with a multi-layered experience of art where judgment and interpretation are not determined by a single epiphany but rather by a multi-disciplinarian appreciation of complex artworks like those created by They.