有人说艺术是心灵的历史。艺术家有权力在这片土地上立法，将一整套匠心独运的规则、语言、体验方式贯彻到这里的每个角落，每处细节。这是规模宏大的“作为”，并非所有的艺术家都愿意承担这样的工程，更多的时候，人们宁可“改编”，对我们称为“现实”的那些经验材料精心重构，只有最偏执或梦的最深的人才会架起楼阁，然后说：看吧，这个世界。

　　现在陈心懋说：看吧，这个世界。这是他内在的需要。

　　《史书·错版》在时空中展开，它贯穿于建立——毁灭、追寻——失落之间，每一个地方的人们满怀希望和绝望地凝望着另一个地方。印刷厂废弃的样张：佛经、医术、杂志、教材，和老旧的铅字模版，经过一次次重叠的覆盖与印刷，文字从模模糊糊渐渐到消解漫漶，人们在这历时性的大地上流浪。

　　这是乐园和失乐园的宏大主题，陈心懋把形而上落实为形而下，观念化为命运，于是，关于历史、构成历史的文字、对于历史的信心，每一种命运都发出了自己的声音，每一种声音都是对它种声音的诘问和辩驳，也都在走向自我否定。在这宏大的合鸣中，任何一种明晰的概念在心灵和命运中都变得混沌、茫然，人注定不会在任何一处找到家园。

　　在历史的惊涛骇浪中，文字和书写，还是人们心中不灭的乌托邦梦想和激情，《史书·错版》是乌托邦的心灵史，是乌托邦精神的现象学，我们悲欣交集地看到人的神力和虚弱、智慧和疯狂、幻觉与真实、坚忍不拔和自欺欺人，看到梦想如何成为神话，看到腐叶上的神话如何在时间中破灭，这一切是我们无法逃避的疑难和宿命。

　　这个系列在2001年的“中国水墨实验二十年展”中引人注目，展览还未结束就被香港艺术馆预订收藏。现在我们看到的是艺术家后来重新制作的，限于篇幅，在全部三十六幅中选择了一部分刊登。这些作品是复杂的“仪式”，所有内在的焦虑和冲动被充分表达和释放，最终，某种漆黑的底蕴有条不紊地呈现于我们的眼前。

　　策展人：姜纬

　　2007年元旦

　　The History of Mind

　　Someone says that art is the history of mind. Artists have the power to legislate in this piece of land, and to execute an original system of rules, languages, experiences to every corner and every detail here. This is an “Execution” of huge scale, and really not all artists are willing to take this kind of work. Most time, people would rather “Revise” and reconstruct elaborately those experiences and materials which we call “Reality”. Only those bigots of indulged dreamers will construct their tower and then say, ”Look, this world.”

　　Now Chen Xinmao is saying, ”Look, this world.” This is his inherent need.

　　“Mixed Editions of Historical Records” extends in space and time; it cruises between construction and demolition, pursuit and lost; people here are gazing there with hope and desperation. The discarded samples from publishing houses: Sutra, medical books, magazines, reference books and old type stencils, after being overlapped and mackled again and again, the characters on them blurs gradually and disappears in the end; people are drifting around the land of time.

　　This is a great theme of paradise and lost-paradise, Chen Xinmao transformed the metaphysics to its opposite and turned concept into fate. Thus every fate, the writings about history and constructed history, the confidence toward history, spoke itself, and each voice ensemble, any clear concept became chaos and puzzling in mind and fate, and human-beings were doomed not being able to find home anywhere.

　　Among terrifying waves of history, characters and writings are everlasting Utopian dreams and passion in people’s minds. “Mixed Editions of Historical Records” has been a Utopian history of mind, a phenomenon of Utopian spirit, from which we observed human-beings’ spirit and weakness, wisdom and insaneness, illusion and reality, persistence and self-deceit; we observed how dreams became myth, how the myth on the decayed leaves was broken. All these are the questions and destiny that all of us could never escape from.

　　This series were noticeable in the “Retrospective Exhibition of 20 Years of Experimental Chinese Painting”, and the works were reserved to be collected by Hong Kong Art Museum even before the exhibition was over. The works we see now are made by the artist afterwards, and as the space is limited, we chose some out of the total 36 works to publish. These works are complicated “Ceremonies”, through which all inherent anxiety and impulse are completely expressed and released, and finally, some inky dark details are presented to us without any confusion.

　　Curator

　　JIANG Wei

　　New Year’s Day of 2007

作者：姜纬