在中国古老的绘画传统中，“意象”是一个非常重要的美学概念。它实质由两个部分组成，一个是“意”，一个是“象”。在《系辞传•上》中曾这样表述，“圣人立象以尽意，设卦以尽情伪，系辞焉以尽其言，变而通之以尽利，鼓之舞之以尽神。”可见，先秦以来，“意”与“象”就不可分割，彼此维系。在西汉刘勰的《文心雕龙》中，“意”与“象”不仅结合的更为紧密，并且衍化为绘画创作最为重要的一个美学原则。譬如，刘勰就曾说到，“独照之匠，窥意象而运斤”。事实上，和西方的“模仿”说，以及文艺复兴以来追求在二维的平面对外部表象世界的再现有本质的不同，中国绘画最主要的追求是主客体的统一，而且，以“应物”为前提，以“游心”为目的。比如说，“观山则情满于山，观海则意溢于海”(刘勰《文心雕龙》);“圣人含道应物，贤者澄怀味象”(宗炳《画山水序》。当然，“意象”的美学根基并非仅完全源于儒家的诗学，它也体现为“庄”、“禅”哲学的外化，是东方艺术自由精神的彰显。如果将北宋“文人画”的出现作为一个新的转折点，那么，后来的中国绘画甚至将“意”与“游心”推向了极致。

　　隋丞并不是一个水墨画家，他的本行是版画创作，1990年代中期以来，在当代版画领域，他也是较早涉猎都市题材的艺术家。在早期的《浮水者》系列中，观众可以看到各种与都市生活、都市文化相关的各种符号，高速公路、交通标志、广告牌等。所谓的“浮水者”并不是对某一个人物真实生活境况的再现，相反，更像是一种隐喻，暗示那些迷失在都市森林、被现代生活异化的人们。画面的视觉特征具有波普的意味，作品的基调则多少充斥着虚无主义的色彩。也正是在那个时期，隋丞开始积极地寻求当代版画语言的转型，希望找到属于自己的个人语汇。对平面性的强调，对线性语言的重视，对符号化表达的倚重，同时，为画面注入叙事性，使得这一时期的作品具有鲜明的个人特征。

　　尽管作品有明确的个人风格，也与外部的文化现实发生了关联，但对于隋丞来说，它们却无法脱离社会学的叙事。问题也在于，在社会学叙事与语言探索之间，在对外部社会现实的关注与个人“心性”表达之间，艺术家很容易会陷入两难的境地。亦即是说，如果要让语言完全回归本体，走向纯粹，就需要尽可能的放弃叙事性，放弃那些表征社会现实的视觉符号。唯其如此，绘画中的语言与形式才具有真正的独立价值。如果要让绘画贴近自己的内心，表达自己的性灵，那么，在绘画题材上就需要做一些调整。1996年前后，隋丞创作了一批以自然山水为主题的作品，在风格上也与此前的作品拉开了距离。一方面，艺术家积极地寻求语言上的转换，让作品中的造型与画面的视觉结构符合中国传统绘画的视觉习惯;另一方面是让作品在审美、趣味、气质上具有中国古典绘画的意味。不难发现，这批作品与《浮水者》系列构成了一种特殊的张力。这种张力的背后，实质表明了艺术家创作的两条不同的轨迹，一条是关注当代文化现实，注重叙事，侧重符号化的表达;另一条是回归传统，注重语言自身的纯粹性，强调修辞，追求个人化的审美趣味。

　　近期的水墨创作正是第二条创作路径向前延伸的结果。于是，作为造型概念的“象”，作为审美取向的“意”重新得到了强调。所谓的“象”，简言之，就是自然的表象，也是艺术家所要表达的对象。但是，在近期的水墨中，隋丞并没有用“再现”的手法去表达这个“象”，而是希望在“象”的背后，找到一种更为内在的形式。实际上，就艺术创作而言，倘若能唤起审美体验的对象，不管是自然的风景，还是人物，其表象的下面必然会隐藏一种内在的形式。从这个角度讲，艺术家的创作灵感，大多数时候是源于一种形式冲动。如果按照现代主义的方法，探索形式的表达，必然就是对表象世界进行抽离，亦即是说，在“象”的背后，赋予作品以形式感。这种方法在《云山系列》中体现得尤为充分。不过，从作品的构图与画面结构上看，这些“云山”至少包含了两个维度：一个是对“云山”的自然表象进行了形式上的提炼，另一个是作为具体的视觉元素，这些云、山在视觉结构上，大多遵从的是中国传统绘画的视觉逻辑。也可以说，它们并不是对自然对象的再现，而是一种文化上的、观念上的、符合中国人审美趣味的云山。通过这一系列作品，我们可以看到，艺术家对中国传统绘画的热爱，尤其是对“文人画”的推崇。在与传统绘画勾连的过程中，水墨无疑成为了一种重要的媒介。和版画创作中自身的媒介特征的一个重要区别是，水墨不仅有许多规范，如如何用笔、用墨、用水，还有各种各样的皴法，而且，艺术家会遵从许多审美原则，如“气韵”、“骨法”、“飘逸”等等。所以，隋丞不但要对作品的形式语言做积极的转换，还需要让作品与传统绘画的一些重要的审美特点契合。

　　不管以那种方法来处理“象”，但对于艺术家而言，追求“意”才是目的。那么，这个“意”如何在画面中生成呢?如前文所言，“意”肇始于“象”，发端于“象”。如果往深处讲，对于艺术家的才情、修为、审美气质等方面考虑，“意”与艺术家的生活方式是密不可分的。批评家陈向兵先生曾这样描述隋丞的生活，“每天准时来到画室，点上烟后，先将其收藏的紫沙壶用泡好的茶水养一遍，然后慢慢地喝茶。遇到有感觉时则开始画画，如有人来，则能闲聊至深夜，大有不醉不归之意(据说喝茶也有喝醉的)。隋丞常以茶会友，谈画论道， 纵论时势，以此为乐，好似‘雅集’。喝茶本身虽只是一种休闲方式，对隋丞而言，却不仅仅是一种生活方式，还包含了他认同的中国文人的生存方式与存在的意义。而且茶的品性是苦涩中见甘爽，与寻觅清静的心境相通，在对茶的品尝中，寄寓着一种文化精神——似乎以古代文人隐士的生活为模，与世无争。事实上，这种隐逸之风，反映了知识分子文化心理结构自我调整心态与自我救赎的本质。”可见，清净的背后隐藏的是一种淡泊，在淡泊的背后，则是一种超逸，而超逸的背后就是一种人文情怀。在我看来，《云山系列》、《游观系列》等在本质上更接近传统的文人画，在审美方面，则多少受到了老庄哲学的影响。它们同时也与90年代以来的作品构成了一个张力，表明了艺术家向语言的回归，向传统的回归，进而让作品贴近内心，接近自己的性灵。

2015年7月于四川美院

Tranquility and Detachment——On Sui Cheng’s Latest Ink Paintings

He Guiyan

　　In the history of Chinese ancient paintings, “imagery” is a very important aesthetic concept. Actually it consists of two things: “meaning” and “appearance”. It was said in The Book of Changes (Part I): “A saint will make use of images to express his meaning, diagrams to tell the truth, interpretation to present his idea…” From this we can see that since Qin dynasty, “image” and “meaning” are inseparable and connected together. In Carving a Dragon at the Core of Literature written by Liu Xie in Han dynasty, the two were not only combined together closer, but also developed into the most important aesthetic rule in painting creation. For instance, Liu Xie thought an excellent artist should start his work after he fully grasps the meaning under the image. Actually, essentially different from the imitation theory in the western countries and their reproduction of the world conception in two dimensions after renaissance, China paintings mainly seek for the subject-object unity. In Carving a Dragon at the Core of Literature, Liu Xie mentioned when people watched the mountains, they would love the mountains; when they watched the sea, they would be fond of the sea. Of course, the base of “image and meaning” theory originated not only from Confucianism, but also Daoism and Zen philosophy. It is the symbol of oriental freedom spirit of art. If we regard the appearance of literati paintings in North Song dynasty as a turning point, the subsequent China paintings have pushed “meaning” and “mind excursion” to the extreme.

　　Sui Cheng is not an ink painter. He majored in printmaking in his college. In the mid 1990s in contemporary printmaking field, he was one of the few artists engaged in the creation of works on urban themes. In his early Swimmers series, people can see various symbols of urban life and urban culture: expressway, traffic signs, and advertising boards, etc. The swimmers in his works are not the real persons in our life. On the contrary, they are a kind of metaphor, symbolizing those who are lost in urban forests and alienated by modern life. His works have visual characteristics of pop art, and their fundamental key is nihilism. During this period, Sui Cheng began his road to transition of contemporary printmaking language, hoping to find his own personal vocabulary. Emphasis on planarity, linearity, narration of the images and the expression of symbolization has become the distinctive personal characteristic of his works in this period.

　　Despite of the personal style and the connection with the reality, Sui Cheng’s works are full of sociological narrativity. The dilemma always exists for artists on the relationship between sociological narrativity and language research, the concern on social reality and the expression of one’s personal idea. That is to say, if the painting language returns to its noumenon, the narrativity has to be given up to some extent, so will be the visual symbols expressing the social reality. Only in this way can the language and form in art have their own independent value. If the artist hopes his works loyal to his heart and expresses his soul, he has to adjust his painting theme. In about 1996, Sui Cheng created a series of works with the theme of landscape. His art style also changed. On the one hand, the artist pursued transformation of his language so that the image form and the visual structure are in accordance with Chinese traditional visual habit; on the other hand, he brought some Chinese ancient painting appeal to his works on aesthetics, style and taste. And it can be easily seen that these works and the Swimmer series have formed a special stretching force. Behind this force, the two different creative approaches of the artist can be clearly seen: one is to focus on modern cultural reality with emphasis on expression via symbolization; the other one is to return to the tradition with the emphasis on the purity of painting language and rhetoric, and pursuit of personal aesthetic style.

　　His recent ink paintings are the extension of the second approach above. The “image” as the modeling concept and the “meaning” as the aesthetic style are refocused on. The so-called “image”, briefly speaking, is the representation of the nature, and also the subject the artist intends to present. However, in his latest ink paintings, Sui Cheng doesn’t express the “image” in the way of representation. Instead, he hopes to find out an internal form behind the “image”. In fact, there must be an internal form within the art creation which can arouse an aesthetic experience. From this point of view, the creation inspiration of an artist, more often than not, comes from an impulse of form. According to modernism, the expression of form must be the dissociation from the world of image, i.e. endow the works a sense of form behind the “image”. This approach is reflected in Clouds and Mountains series more clearly. Observing the structure of the works, people can find two dimensions in these clouds and mountains: one is the extraction in form of the natural appearance; the other is the visual elements people can see. Most of these clouds and mountains follow the visual logic of Chinese traditional paintings. It might also be said that they are not representing the natural objects, but a kind of clouds and mountains conforming to Chinese aesthetic taste on culture and ideology. In these series of work, people can see the artist’s love to Chinese traditional paintings, especially his reverence for literati paintings. To associate with traditional paintings, ink and water, without any doubt, become important media. An essential difference from printmaking medium, ink painting has not only lots of rules, such as how to use brushes, ink and water, but also various skills and techniques. Moreover, the artist has to follow many aesthetic rules, such as style, artistic conception, frame, and elegance, etc. Therefore, Sui Cheng has to transform the painting language, and meanwhile, he tries hard to make his works corresponding to some important aesthetic characteristics of traditional paintings.

　　Whatever approach the artist takes, for him, the final purpose is pursuing “meaning”. The point is how this “meaning” come into being in the image. As what is mentioned above, the “meaning” starts from “image” and comes from “image”. As a matter of fact, considering the artist’s talent, cultivation and aesthetic qualification, “meaning” is closely connected with his life style. Professor Chen Xiangbing, an art critic, once described Sui Cheng’s life: “He comes to his studio on time every day, lighting a cigarette, appreciating his dark-red clay teapots and starts his tea ceremony. When he gets the feeling, he will start his art creation. When visitors come, they will chat till midnight…” Sui Cheng often entertains his friends with tea, talking about art and current affairs, like the “elegant assembly” in ancient China. Tea tasting itself is a way of leisure, but for Sui Cheng, it is more than that. It includes the Chinese refined scholars’ living style and significance he identifies with. The nature of tea is bitter-sweet, coinciding with pursuit of tranquility. In tea tasting, there is a kind of cultural spirit---seemingly take ancient literati and hermits as models and stand aloof from the worldly success. In fact, this kind of seclusion shows the nature of intellectuals’ adjustment of cultural and psychological structure and their self redemption. Behind peace and quiet is free from fame, and behind being free from fame is detachment, and behind detachment are humanistic feelings. As I see it, the essence of Clouds and Mountains and Flowing Vision series is close to traditional literati paintings. And their aesthetics is influenced by Daoism to certain extent. Meanwhile, these works and those in 1990s have constituted a stretching force, indicating the artist’s return to painting language and Chinese tradition. Therefore, his works are closer to his heart and approaching his soul.

July 2015

Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts

作者：何桂彦