彭小佳的作品有一种“沉思”的特质。

　　因为，这些作品既不是对真实生活的相关叙述，也不是对自然景观的转移摹写。所以，观众仅仅依据日常的生活体验以及惯常的审美经验来认识彭小佳的创作显然是不够的。

　　出生于50年代的彭小佳，在当下无疑已经隶属于中国当代艺术的“老革命”行列。与稍后于60年代出生的一辈艺术家相比，彭小佳这一辈的艺术家要显得更加得“顽强”与“坚持”。而从个人履历上来看，彭小佳又显得较之其它50年代艺术家更复杂的背景，这一背景既包括了彭小佳70年代从工艺美术工厂的工人到中国最著名美术院校的学生的身份转换，80年代从声誉渐起的中国艺术家到美国艺术留学生的境遇迭变，90年代从不倦苦读的留学生到在美国艺术界站稳脚跟的地位移转;更包括了艺术家在民族文化从封闭走向开放的当代性转型过程中的个人选择，以及艺术家在置身西方文化语境后所面临的重新权衡与再度择向。彭小佳的个案意义，或许还体现于背景愈复杂而艺术家愈“顽强”与“坚持”的“反衬原则”，并基于此一原则而最终落实为其创作的别样特质。

　　彭小佳的作品，的确有一种“沉思”的特质。

　　正如一些评论家所指出的那样，“在彭小佳的一些作品中可以看到西方现代大师的因素”，这是一个显见的事实，然而在这个事实背后所隐含着的却是一个更为显见的事实：改革开放之后中国对西方现代艺术的大胆引进与积极吸纳。或许对于彭小佳个人来说，向西方现代艺术学习的过程显得更为长久，亦如同时留学美国的其他画家的佐证——“一旦真正置身西方艺术文化的现实环境，你对西方现代艺术的认识与国内通过有限的图书资料和翻译文本而得出的结论有着完全的不同，这就是我们必须重新开始的原因”。

　　“重新开始”式的补课，似乎让彭小佳对西方现代艺术有着更深层面的体察，而经过了对西方现代艺术历时性地爬梳，艺术家关于西方当代艺术的认识也终将是与众不同的。这种与众不同，基本由两个不同的思考立场所构成的，即“东方人的身份”、以及“在西方的东方人的身份”。然而彭小佳不是文化学者，因此对于他来说更重要的就是要将这些已有的结论最终落实于自我的创作。

　　90年代开始彭小佳引起了人们的关注。这一阶段的作品，致力于走出西方现代大师的藩篱，初步显示出经过个人“沉思”而过滤纯化的进程。《栅栏》和《墙》都是创作于1990年的作品，它们的共同性还表现在皆隶属于装置性的艺术。具体而言，《栅栏》、《墙》在注重纵向发展的同时，也强调了在横向关系上的有序展开，反映出了艺术家很好的空间意识，而这在当时的国内艺术家身上是很少见的。彭小佳也引入了“互插”的结体方式，这种方式是将不同大小的木块切割成“凹”“凸”的形状，然后再加以拼接在一起，让人联想到中国传统木结构中的“榫卯”结构，带有某种特定的东方意味。艺术家还特别注意细节的处理，在木质的物体表面，彭小佳刻意留下了明显的“斧凿”痕迹。这些或横向或纵向的痕迹，既是艺术家创作行为过程的某种记录，同时又以深浅不一却粗犷激荡的“线条”印痕，增强了物体的质感和物体表面的层次、情感与张力。

　　与《栅栏》与《墙》同时或稍后的作品，像“骰子”系列、“书”系列以及作品《车轮》，虽然其中的一些附着上了更多的中国意味，但是它们并非仅仅停留在文化符号借用或移用的层面。“骰子”系列是非常有意思的一个作品系列，彭小佳对这个系列的创作无疑也是情有独钟的。在2001年彭小佳推出了这个系列中的第1号作品，他出人意料地将“骰子”放大至令人吃惊的超常程度，以至于呈现出超离人们日常经验的视觉感受。为了强化这种视觉感受，彭小佳同时还使用了镶嵌性的手法，将楠木作为“骰子”的主体，而将红木镶嵌在楠木之上作为“数点”，而且艺术家也采取了一种独特的摆放形式，把“骰子”斜向地插入到一个牛皮的底座上，这种摆放的形式，让人联想到中国古代厅堂、书房中的赏器或者西方古代庙堂中的伟人胸像。以此而论，彭小佳似乎是想通过一种刻意“超离”的姿态去颠覆那些“惯常”的生活经验与审美经验，引导我们摆脱那种透过文化与惯例来体验艺术的习见，激发自由、新鲜及全新体验的欲望，正确地感知生活时代的真正变化。2003年创作的“骰子”系列第3号和“骰子”系列第4号，可以看作是第1号的不同变种，也可以视为是某种顺理成章的创作延续，然而彭小佳在对材质试验上的兴趣则一览无余，第3号是铸铜的，而第4号又跳跃回到了木质，甚至连底座都采用了木质的材料。

　　2007年创作的“骰子”系列第5号，则与该系列的前几件作品有很大的不同。这种不同，既表现在它不再是单件的形式而构成了一种组合的关系，由此而形成了某种复杂的视觉结构，同时它又以某种特殊的气氛营造为基础，强调了现场空间的仪式感甚至是一种的荒诞不经。事实上“骰子”系列5号，与此前的“书”系列或者作品“车轮”形成了逻辑上的相关性。只是在“书”系列或者作品“车轮”中，彭小佳似乎更加大了相类似的艺术致力，乃至施以“调侃”的手段，由此增强了作品的“幽默的兴味”，以及相对明确的文化针对性。

　　对空间的“沉思”，无疑催动了彭小佳更为积极的创作热情。室内展厅的优越条件，在艺术家看来或许已经成为某种对自由的约制，虽然彭小佳开始频繁参加各种艺术群展和联展，而这些展览又大多是依托于美术博物馆的固有空间。彭小佳似乎更希望在室外空间、甚至在自然环境中去创作与展示自己的作品，而这需要艺术家再次对自己创作进行深度地“沉思”，并在更大范围内展开对空间地想象。彭小佳并不想刻意制造作品与环境间的张力关系，而采取了某种相互协调的温和策略，这一点非常接近中国古典的思想传统。彭小佳甚至强调其作品与环境无限接近以致彼此互渗的新颖关系，这让艺术家的创作显得过于的内敛低调。然而，如果说彭小佳在处理“外关系”(作品与环境的关系)的时候像个“环境保护主义者”的话，那么在处理“内关系”(作品内部结构的关系)的时候则更像是一个“结构主义者”。彭小佳注重结构，通过各要素之间的特定关系来形成作品的“结构”;艺术家也注重关系，借助于各要素之间的关系而致力于形态上的差别。彭小佳似乎已经抓住了某种的实质：即任何的复杂，都是由最简单的差别逐步积累起来的;而任何的复杂，又都可以最终还原为差别。从这个意义而言，彭小佳的这些创作就是这种朴素的“辩证法”的注脚旁释。

　　关于材质，在金属、陶土等材质之外，彭小佳“顽强”与“坚持”地表达出对木质的某种偏好，而艺术家的大多数作品也都选择了这一材质。作为中央美院雕塑系80年代的毕业生，美院教学传统中对木雕的注重自然也对彭小佳产生了一定的影响。除了抽象结构性的立体作品之外，彭小佳也将人物性的木雕作为自己创作的组成部分，2007年的《七宗罪》是这部分的最新的创作呈现。《七宗罪》与稍早的有关人物的作品亦有明显不同，它不再是结构化或象征性的表达，似乎又回到了某种朴素的原点。作品以硕壮而健康的女体为表述，手法简洁，并施以彩绘，体现了彭小佳观察的深入与表达的精确，也体现了艺术家“沉思”之后而臻至裕如的精神气质。然而这些都可能只是一些表象而已，彭小佳将作品命名为“七宗罪”，并以迥异形态的单个人物来确指“贪食”、“淫欲”、“愤怒”、“贪婪”、“傲慢”……这些丑陋无比而顽固不化的人性弱点，其创作意图不仅仅是罗列直陈，却是一种无情鞭挞之后的深沉情感与人文关怀。

　　修订稿/修订于2008.2月　

 

　　Contemplation

　　Zhao Li

　　Peng Xiaojia’s works have a “contemplative” quality.

　　They are not the narration of the real life or the transferred depiction of the natural landscape. As a result, the daily life experience and the conventional esthetic experience is not enough for the audiences to understand Peng’s works.

　　Born in the 1950s, Peng Xiaojia is now undoubtedly in the team of “old revolutionaries” in Chinese modern art. Compared with artists born in the 1960s, Peng Xiaojia and his peers are more “persisting” and “persevering”; and in terms of the personal resume, Peng seems to have a more complicated background than other artists of the 1950s, including the shift from a worker at Shanghai Technology Factory of Fine Arts to student at the most famous art institute in China in the 70s, from an emerging Chinese artist to an overseas art student in the US in the 80s, from a non-tiring overseas student to a renowned artist in the US art field in the 90s; the individual choice by an artist in the contemporary transition of national culture from enclosure to openness and the revaluation and re-selection of the artist in the Western cultural context. The case of Peng Xiaojia also has its significance in reflecting the persistence and perseverance of artists in a complicated situation, on the basis of which developed the unique quality of his works.

　　Indeed, Peng Xiaojia’s works have a contemplative quality.

　　As pointed out by some critics, “From some of Peng’s works can be seen the elements of a Western master”, which is an obvious fact. However, behind this obvious fact is an even more obvious one: the bold introduction and active absorption of modern Western art in China since the reform and opening. For Peng Xiaojia alone, maybe this process of learning from modern Western art is even longer, as is the same with other Chinese painters in the US—“Once located in the realistic context of Western art, you will get a completely different understanding of the modern Western art from the conclusion you may otherwise get from the limited library materials and translations at home. And this is precisely why wee must restart from the very beginning.”

　　This restart seems to have endowed Peng Xiaojia with a deeper understanding of the modern Western art; and through the historical study of modern Western art, artists necessarily have a different understanding, which is basically composed of two different standing points of thinking: the identity of an Eastern person and the identity of an Eastern person in the West. For Peng Xiaojia, who is not a cultural scholar, the more important is to implement these arrived summaries in his works.

　　From the 1990s, Peng Xiaojia aroused universal attention among the public. His works at this stage strived to disengage from the restrictions by modern Western masters and evolve through individual “contemplation”. Fence and Wall are both works in 1990. Their common ground also lies in that they both belong in the functional art. Specifically, Fence and Wall, while focusing on the vertical development, emphasize the orderly deployment in horizontal level, reflecting the favorable space consciousness of the artist, which is rare among then domestic artists. What’s more, Peng Xiaojia also introduces the “mutual insert” structuring method, segmenting wood blocks of varying sizes into the shape of “凹” and “凸” and then combining them together, reminding of the “Mortise-Tension Joint” in the traditional Chinese wooden structure, with a particular Oriental flavor. The artist also gives attention to the treatment of details: on the wooden surface, Peng intentionally leaves the obvious “oven cutting” trace. Such horizontal or vertical lines both are a record of the artist’s creation process and enhance the sense of quality, and hierarchy, emotion and tension of the object surface with the coarse and wild “line” marks with varying depths.

　　His works at the same time as or after Fence and Wall, such as Dice series, Book series and Wheels, though with more Chinese flavor, are more than the borrowing or transfer of cultural signs. The Dice series is a very meaningful and interesting series, which Peng Xiaojia is especially fond of. In his No. 1 work in this series introduced in 2001, Peng magnifies the die to a surprisingly abnormal degree such that it exceeds people’s daily experience of visual feeling. To strengthen this visual feeling, Peng also uses the embedding technique, using Joe wood for the main body of the Die and embedding red wood in the die as the points. In addition, the artist adopts a unique lying method for the die, inserting it slantways on a cowhide base. This inclined deployment reminds people of ancient Chinese living room, decoration-ware in the study, or the sculpture above chest of a sage in ancient Western temples. It seems that Peng intends to overthrow the normal life and esthetic experience in an intentionally “superhuman” posture, inspiring the audience to free from the conventional culture and practice to experience the art, stimulate the desire for free, fresh and brand-new experiences, and properly perceive the real changes of life and time. His No. 3 and No. 4 works in the Dice series created in 2003 can be regarded as the variants of the No. 1 work and a certain natural extension of his creation. From these works, Peng’s interest in trying different materials becomes obvious: No. 3 is of bronze and No. 4 is again of wood, with the base made also of wood.

　　Work No. 5 in the Dice series in 2007 differs quite a lot from the previous works of the same series in that it is no longer a single-ware but a combination, thus forming a complicated visual structure, and by creating a special atmosphere, emphasizes the ceremonial, or even ridiculous, feeling of the space. As a matter of fact, No. 5 of the Dice series is logically related to the previous Book series or the work of Wheel. In Book series and Wheel, Peng seems to aggrandize the similar artistic tension in a way of joking, thereby increasing the humorous flavor and the cultural pertinence of the work.

　　The contemplation on the space has undoubtedly catalyzed the positive creation passion of Peng Xiaojia. For the artist, the favorable conditions of the indoor exhibition hall become a restraint of creation freedom. Though Peng frequently attends various artistic group exhibitions and joint exhibitions, which mostly rely upon the intrinsic space of the art museum, Peng seems to give preference to the creation and exhibition of his works outdoors or even in the natural environment—this, in turn, requires the deep contemplation of the artist on his creation and a wider imagination of the space. Reluctant to intentionally manipulate or create the tension between his work and the environment, Peng adopts instead a mild strategy for mutual harmony. This resembles to a considerable degree the classical thinking tradition in China. Peng even emphasizes the novel relationship of infinite approaching and mutual infiltration between his work and the environment, which makes his work overly low-profile and conserved. However, if we say that Peng is an “environmental protectionist” in handling “external relationship” (between works and environment), then he is more a “structuralist” in handling the “internal relationship” (of the intrinsic structure of his works). With his focus on structure, Peng utilizes the particular relationship between various elements to form the structure of his works; with his attention to relationship, Peng strives to express the formal difference through the relationship between elements; and he seems to have grasped the essence: which is, any kind of complexity is the result of gradual accumulation of the simplest differences; and similarly, any kind of complexity can be finally resolved into such differences. From this perspective, the works of Peng Xiaojia are the interpretation of this simple and plain dialectic.

　　And in terms of material, besides metal and china clay, Peng persistently and perseveringly expresses his preferences on wood, which is therefore used in most of his works. As a graduate from the Department of Sculpture, Central Institute of Art, in the 1980s, Peng Xiaojia has been influenced by the traditional focus on wooden sculpture in the teaching of the institute. Besides the tri-dimensional works with abstract structure, human figure wooden sculpture is also an integral part of Peng’s creations. His Se7en in 2007 is the best proof. With obvious difference from his earlier figure works, Se7en is no longer a structural or symbolic expression but returns to a plain starting point. The healthy and plump female body, in simple and brief technique, with color painting, embodies the in-depth observation and precise expression of Peng Xiaojia and the supreme and rich spiritual temperament of the artist after contemplation. However, these may only fall short of superficial expressions. Naming his work Se7en, Peng Xiaojia uses different figures to refer to gluttony, lust, wrath, greed, pride… these ugly and obstinate human sins are expressed with an intention of profound emotions and humanity concern after ruthless condemnation.

作者：赵力