和大多数人一样，我知道艾敬的名字是源于她的经典代表作——《我的1997》，那是以一个恋爱中小女生的情怀去面对如此宏大叙事背景的低吟浅唱，用今天流行的话来说就是很小清新，很抓人。

　　第一次与艾敬见面是在工体北路的阿仙蒂酒吧，艺术圈的人都知道那里。当时，著名艺术家张晓刚老师、音乐人黄燎原、现代舞蹈家金星、摇滚歌手郑钧都经常“出没”于阿仙蒂。艾敬当然也不例外，“漂亮、清新、轻松”，这就是最初她给我留下的印象。

　　第一次见艾敬画画是在张晓刚老师的花家地工作室，那次艾敬给我留下了极为深刻的印象。当时她在画一幅骷髅的全身像，这类题材对于专业艺术家来讲并不陌生，但是出自一个那么漂亮、年轻、时尚的女孩之手，令我颇为震惊，很自然地就和艾敬多聊了几句。她本就是很有才华、极富创意的音乐人，所以艾敬进入当代艺术的方式也很独特，她是从创作开始直接进入，而不同于一般艺术家，通常要经历多年的基本功训练才会进入创作状态。所以，我认为张老师对艾敬的指导主要是对艺术上的理解和领悟，而并非具体的绘画技法。我也曾经问她为什么要画骷髅，冷冰冰的，没有生命，而艾敬认为这是“爱”，如果心中没有爱，它就是一副骷髅。我想这幅作品已经明显暗示了她在后来的艺术创作中较为关心的层面，比如生命、死亡、爱等宏大主题。

　　2010年5月，在国家会议中心举办的“改造历史”的展览上，艾敬又一次挑战了新的艺术语言，用装置的方式表现了荒漠枯木老树昏鸦的景象，材料的选择恰到好处，语言更是简洁明了，又一次给我留下了深刻的印象。最让我讶异与感动的是艾敬努力在与观众沟通，她一直站在自己的作品旁边热情、耐心地向观者介绍、与其讨论与交流。这种乐于分享的互动行为，看似有一股“傻劲儿”，却无意间流露出极大的真诚，这在“有意无意故扮清高状”的艺术圈是非常难能可贵的。这正是艾敬对艺术的理解与感悟，艺术不是高高在上，不食人间烟火的，它应该放下“身段”，与大众“亲密”贴近，她希望自己的艺术能带给大家更多思想上的共鸣与启示。艾敬之所以有这样的独特见地，我认为这和她最初做音乐创作有某种隐约的关联，比如和观众的互动，艺术和社会的相互承载，这些都是艾敬通过音乐的表现方式而获得的特殊经验，恰恰这是很多当代艺术家们所缺乏的。

　　说实话，最初看艾敬画画真觉得她就是玩票而已，但经过多年来的坚持与努力，她早已跃身成为独立艺术家，而且语言、观念非常清晰，单纯强烈的视觉语言恰当、充分地表达了她对这个世界的坚定信念与美好愿望。

　　衷心地祝愿艾敬可以一如既往地自由表达她的艺术梦想。

　　简介

　　俸正杰，著名当代艺术家。毕业于四川美术学院。读书时正值中国消费文化的萌芽期，他的一些作品开始解剖消费文化。至今，俸正杰创造了一个消费文化的经典。这个经典包含着中国传统文化过节的大红大绿，喜庆的色彩，在栗宪庭看来是“把这种文化逐渐融入到当代的感觉当中，创造出这样一种粉红粉绿的大美人头”。从1996年至今，俸正杰举办了27次个展，参加了70余次群展。俸正杰的作品也被全世界广泛收藏。

　　Like most people, I recognize Ai Jing’s name from her representative classic My 1997. A young girl was in love and sang softly. The backdrop was a great historical event. It was fresh and enticing.

　　I met Ai Jing in Bar Ashanti on Gongti North Road. Everyone in the art circle knows about the place. Its frequent guests included the well-known artist Zhang Xiaogang, music producer Huang Liaoyuan, modern dance artist Jing Xing and rock singer Zheng Jun. Ai Jing also --pretty, fresh and relaxed. That was my first impression of her.

　　I first saw she paint in Zhang Xiaogang’s studio in Huajiadi, which left a very strong impression on me. She was painting a skeleton. The motif was not uncommon for a professional artist, but quite unusual for a beautiful,fashionable young lady. We exchanged a few sentences that time. She was a talented and creative musician to begin with and her path to the contemporary art world was unusual. Instead of going through years of basic training, she went straight to the creative phase. It seems to me that Zhang Xiangang taught her mainly artistic interpretation rather than drawing skills. I asked her why she had chosen to paint skeleton, something cold and lifeless. Ai Jing explainedthat this was about love. Without love, a body was nothing more than askeleton. I think she already showed then what themes she preferred—those of life, death and love.

　　In Changing the Worldat the China National Convention Center in May 2010, Ai Jing took up the challenge of using a new artistic language and made an installation. A solemn bird sits on a leafless tree in a desert. Her choice of material is brilliant and her language is concise. It left me another deep impression. What surprised and moved me even more was the fact that Ai Jing was trying her best to communicate with her audience, standing beside her work and making explanations to the audience with patience and passion. It looked a bit naïve but her strong sincerity came through. This was very unusual in an art circle that was often self-righteous and arrogant. But it is Ai Jing’s interpretation of art: it is not above this mundane world; instead, it needs to come down and to be close to the people. She wishes her art to bring resonance and enlightenment to all. This perhaps was due to her background in music. How to engage the audience and how to deal with interaction between art and people are among the things Ai Jing learned from her music career. They are precisely qualities that most contemporary artists lack.

　　Honestly speaking, when I first saw Ai Jing paint I thought she was doing it for fun. But after years of perseverance and hard work she has become an independent artist. Her language and idea are clear and her works have strong visual impact. They show us that she believes in this world. And she has beautiful wishes for it.

　　I sincerely hope that Ai Jing can convey freely her artistic dreams as always.

　　Feng Zhengjie is a well-known contemporary artist. He graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts School. The Chinese consumer culture was starting while he was in school and some of his works dealt with dissecting consumer culture. His work has since become classics of consumer culture. It is the red and green of Chinese New Year celebration. According to Li Xianting,Feng’s “pinkish red and pinkish green beauty heads have blended this culture into the contemporary sense.” From 1996 to today, Feng Zhengjie has held 27 solo shows and participated in more than 70 group shows. His works have been widely collected around the world

作者：俸正杰