艺术家吕顺之所以受到广泛的关注和评论，就在于他的绘画像其刚性而细腻的性格一样表现出一种个人独特风格——忧郁、伤感、诗意，这种艺术语言无疑反映了在原有绘画政治“集体无意识”消亡之后新世纪中国新绘画转向的具体案例——这种绘画观念的变化就在于艺术家以微观学方法来对绘画本体价值的恢复和对个体经验和感受的强调，明确表达了个性化的艺术语言。

　　在吕顺的作品中，无论是绘画还是雕塑，都是以动物为表现核心。由于艺术家把动物生命看作是人的活动的有机组成部分，但动物仍有某些令人迷惑不解的地方，而人除了具有其善意之外只有在放弃知识和后天教化经验时才表现出那种动物性的一面。也就是说，人总是在善与恶、真实与虚假、天使与魔鬼、崇高理想与物欲横流之间交替徘徊。当然，人从根本上来说就是动物，而人类只有否认自身的动物性，其自我身份才能得到确认。甚至人类的进步都是基于与动物的关系，伴随着人与动物无休止处于疾病的纠缠之中，人才有了永远抗击疾病的试验过程，才有了不断提高自控力的适应过程。也正是由于与动物的共生关系，改变和提升了人类对未知世界的认知。正是在这一视点下，吕顺借动物表征想揭示的是人在非理性下的兽性面目——欲望、贪婪、疯狂、恶心、残酷、背叛、淫荡等。其实，吕顺择取这样的表现方式并非要以独创自居，而是试图在人与动物的共生关系中反思人类的精神维度问题。也就是说，他者的存在促成了主体的存在。倘若考察一下艺术史中的动物图像谱系，不难发现以动物作为象征性的艺术从古至今比比皆是，无论中国古代陵寝的石刻雕塑，还是古罗马广场上纪念碑式动物雕塑，都象征性地再现了皇权意志和帝国权力。即使在现代艺术史中，我们不乏能看到一些艺术家用动物为媒介进行的创作，与古代艺术不同，现代艺术家在方法论上更多聚焦于艺术的观念、本体和系统的思考，比利时艺术家马塞尔•布拉德瑟尔(Marcel Broodthaers)在美术馆中的鹰标本。德国艺术家博伊斯(Joseph Beuys)的行为“如何向死野兔解释绘画”(1965年)，意大利“贫穷艺术”(Arte Povera)艺术家孔奈里斯(Jannis Kounellis)把12匹马拉入罗马的一家画廊(1969年)，英国艺术家赫斯特(Damien Hirst)把一头整牛解剖而成12个部分的装置(1996年)，中国艺术家徐冰用“猪”做的观念艺术，等等。他们的作品在观念和形式上着重强调了动物(他者)与人(主体)之间共生和互为的关系，并探讨了纠缠不清其中的心理、道德、信仰、秩序、界限等问题。与西方艺术家的观念不同，吕顺用“猪”的图像不是要表现那种抽象化的观念，而是巧妙利用与糅合了象征主义和犬儒主义的方法，既表达了一种对现实的叙事，又转喻了人的非理性的一面，具体说是人的动物性的一面。他的作品在事实与观念之间更多传递的是明确的批评事实信息：人像动物一样的欲望正在陷入难以自拔的深渊——人看似是对自然的一种保护，或对文明的一种维护，然而，人的自身发展却是以破坏已有的文明为代价的。这种深渊似乎一直在凝视着人类的举动。这一切都归咎于人类的欲望。吕顺只是以一种独有的艺术语言表达了对这种现象的解读。

　　2009年，在今日美术馆的个展《盛宴》中，吕顺开始把视线从绘画向雕塑的转移，其雕塑的表现核心仍是动物——猪。他把猪并没有看作是一个孤立的动物，而是把它看作是与人之间存在关系的他者。也就是说，在艺术家看来，人与动物的关系是一个基本的哲学命题，也正是由于他们彼此的对照和区分，人才能确立自身的独特性。虽然吕顺的个展表露了一种玩世不恭的态度，但更为重要的是要表达某一种隐喻性和象征性的内涵，因为他把“猪”看作是蕴涵了“社会与文化”的双重指向的普遍性载体：一方面是“猪”被艺术家引申出对中国吃的文化的进一步解读，因为中国传统文化特别注重和讲究吃的东西，包含了日常的微观政治的问题，直接或间接折射出中国文化的问题，即吃的文化是通过日常生活来揭示一种充满喜悦，充满政治，充满规则，充满欲望，充满关系，充满陷阱，充满友谊，充满交换，充满浪费的微观文化景象,这一切都在现实中表露无遗：人的真实面目在餐桌上会显现出来。而《盛宴》进一步传递出的信息：在当今社会中，外表看上去很正常的东西，其实在所谓的正常中却隐藏很多暗流、危险和陷阱。另一方面从艺术的表征看艺术家以动物“猪”形象替换和消解了达•芬奇《最后的晚餐》的经典意义，进而把这种宗教经典主题巧妙挪用和转化成了对今日人类精神境遇的思考，这是一种“后现代式”的语汇方式，是一种犬儒主义的讽喻，作为他者的“猪”被赋予了更多主体的人性化内涵，显然“猪”具有的是象征意义。如果把《最后的晚餐》与《盛宴》比较，不难发现它们之间的联系和区别，值得注意的是，吕顺的雕塑《盛宴》中有两个缺席的人物耶稣和犹大，无疑暗示了人类信仰正在面临的危机。吕顺正是通过对经典作品的可变性塑造，以比喻灵魂的可塑性，并通过一种对观众具有挑衅的、困惑的反馈式回应，以引导观众联想的意识作用。吕顺的这件作品不仅仅是个人灵感的投射物，更重要的是像警世箴言一样清晰传递出对文化的反思。

　　虽然吕顺尝试了雕塑实验，但他的创作重心仍是绘画。他充分发挥了想象力、判断力和创造力，从而确立了一种极其独特的象征性叙事语言——画面被幽蓝和深绿所覆盖，画面既没有普照的阳光，又无漂浮的彩云，更缺乏透明的空气，整个氛围几乎令人窒息，营造出充满诗境的意象，幽深梦境的镜头，诡异的蓝色调散发出无限深渊及超现实的幻影。这一切都是由吕顺秉持的绘画性所决定，自由的线条、大胆的绿色、依稀的弱光、朦胧的景深编织成了独有的语言和形式，并与表现对象的内涵相吻合。尽管吕顺绘画的色调充满美好和漂亮的形式感，但这种表征背后却反映的是某种忧郁、浪漫、诗意、破碎、腐烂等信息，像花枯虽有某种性欲的暗示，但又不乏流露出莫名其妙的伤感，漂浮的雾气更是烘托出了凄美的境界，而那些动物生灵(猪、猫)被置于充满妖气的悠远空间，更营造出了悲伤和忧郁的感觉，所以，整个画面被阴霾之气所笼罩，面对这种“异常”的绘画，人在心理和情感上必然会产生难以适从的反应。在《幸福时光》中，吕顺主观地把猪描绘成了游荡于类似渺茫宇宙中的幽灵形象；在《天籁之音》中，他将青蛙描绘成受困于大自然中的生灵，成为陷入腐臭的龌龊池塘中的肮脏之物。在《空中的花朵》中，他则表现出玫瑰的腐烂感。在《消失的风景》和《消失的城市》中，艺术家以冷灰和铁青色表现出了苍凉而浩瀚的仪式美，一种经过浩劫后缺乏生命又死气沉沉的被迷雾笼罩的荒芜都市和自然之景，一种万籁俱静的恐惧气氛，画面中仅存的猫成为拟人化的对象，它那放光的诡异眼睛既像孤寂的人又像精灵一样死盯着我们，给人以颤立之感。因此，吕顺的作品无不具有警世之意：人类由于无节制的欲望才形成了这个世界扭曲变形的后果，才造成人类的不安感和危机感。

　　因此，吕顺的艺术无疑是对当代人的复杂心境的透视。他用生动而独特的视觉语言表现了对当代社会文化的寓言。当我们宣称“人是一种文化的存在”时，总会涉及另外对立的他者：动物。这种与动物的接触和再现，无论是富于隐喻的，还是表现性的，都折射出人类身心的极度恐惧、痛苦和失落感，吕顺并没有给予存在问题的答案，而是通过图像来提示人类要关注自身存在与文化之间荒谬绝伦的处境，人类由于欲望的驱使而正在走向那种盲目的和不断膨胀的深渊，而这也正是我们应对今天文化的怀疑与反思的地方。

　　The reason why the artist Lv Shun is so widely concerned and commented is that his paintings represent a special characteristic similar to his own doughty and delicate personality, which is gloomy, sentimental and poetic. His artistic language undoubtedly reflects a new specific case in Chinese new painting in the new century after the extinction of ‘collective unconsciousness’ in the earlier political art, the exchange of painting conception exists in the artist’s effort in restoring the essential value of painting and in emphasizing the personal experience. A personalized artistic language has been clearly expressed.

　　Animals are always the main subjects in Lv Shun’s works, either paintings or sculptures. The artist regards life of animal as an integral part of human activity, yet there are still something confusing in animal, comparatively, human beings only show their animality when they give up knowledge and acquired experiences, except for the shared kindness. That is to say, human beings are always wandering between good and evil, true and false, angle and devil, lofty ideal and unchecked materialistic pursuit. Beyond all questions, human beings are essentially animals, yet only when human beings deny their animality could their self-identity be confirmed. Even the progresses of mankind are based on the relationship between them and animals. Accompanied by the endless entanglement of diseases of human beings and animals, mankind acquired the eternal experimental process confronting diseases and the adapting process constantly improving self-control ability. Only based on the coexisting relationship between human and animal, the cognition of mankind about the unknown world could be varied and promoted. From such a perspective, what Lv Shun revealed with the metaphor of animal is the bestial faces of mankind when they are irrational——desire, greed, madness, nausea, cruelty, treachery and lewdness. As a matter of fact, Lv Shun is not trying to set his works up as original creation in choosing such a way of expression, but attempting to reflect the spiritual dimension of human beings coexisting with animals. In another word, the existence of otherness precipitated the existence of main body. If we observe the image pedigree of animals in the art history, we would easily find that art using animal as a symbol is omnipresent down the ages. From the stone sculpture of ancient Chinese Mausoleum, to the monumental animal sculptures on the Roman Forum, animals were always symbolically reproducing the imperial will and power. Even in modern art history, there is no lack of creations of artists utilizing animals as media. Differing from ancient art, modern artists have more meditations focused on artistic conception, essence and system. We could see the eagle specimens displayed in galleries created by the Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers, the performance of Joseph Beuys titled ‘How to explain art to dead hare’ done in 1965, the 12 horses pulled by the Italian Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis into a gallery of Roma in 1969, the installation of British artist Damien Hirst who anatomized a whole cow into 12 pieces in 1996 and the conceptual art of Chinese artist Xu Bing who used ‘pigs’ as the media. These works emphasized the coexisting and interacting relationship between animal (otherness) and mankind (main body) both conceptually and formally, they also probed into the perplex issues about psychology, morality, faith and limits. Different from western artistic concepts, in using the image of ‘pig’, Lv Shun is not trying to show some kind of abstract concepts, but to express a narration of the reality while giving a metonymy of human irrationality through his skillful usage and blending of symbolism and cynicism, specifically the animality of human beings. His works are transmitting clear reality criticizing information between reality and concept: Human beings are feeling difficult to extricate themselves from the abyss of animal like desire——it seems that human beings are protecting nature, or to say are the symbol and maintenance of civilization, however, the development of human are at the expense of undermining the existing civilization. It seems that such an abyss is gazing at the behaviors of mankind all the way and all such undermining should be ascribed to the desire of human. Lv Shun is just expressing his own interpretation of this phenomenon with a special artistic language.

　　In the solo-exhibition ‘Feast’ held in Today Art Museum in 2009, Lv Shun started to move his attention from painting towards sculpture, while the core of his sculpture is still the animal——pig. He never sees pig as an isolated animal, but the otherness in the coexisting relationship with human beings. In another word, the artist regards the relationship between mankind and animal as a basic philosophical proposition, and it is just because the comparison and distinction between them, that human could confirm their uniqueness. Although Lv Shun showed a cynical attitude in this solo-exhibition, what’s more important for him is to express a metaphorical and symbolic connotation, because Lv has extended the ‘pig’ to be a universal carrier with double references to both ‘society and culture’: On one hand, the artist amplified further interpretation of Chinese culture on eating from ‘pig’, because things to eat are specially paid attention to in traditional Chinese culture, which include micro-political issues in daily life, directly or indirectly, they reflected out problems in Chinese culture, that is to say, culture of eating is revealing the micro cultural phenomena full of happiness, politics, rules, desire, relationship, traps, friendship, exchange and lavishment through daily life. All of these are exposed in reality: the true colors of human beings would be presented on the dinner table. What’s more we could read from ‘Feast’ is that in our society nowadays, those seemingly regular things sometimes conceal a lot of undercurrent, danger and trap behind the so called regular. On the other hand, from the artistic representation, we could see that Lv replaced and dissolved the classic meaning of ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci with the image of the animal ‘pig’, and then he skillfully appropriated such a classic religious subject into the reflection on mankind’s mental situation today. This is a ‘post-modernist’ vocabulary form and a cynical allegory, ‘pig’ as the otherness is bestowed with more humanized meaning of mankind as the main body; obviously, ‘pig’ has a symbolic meaning. If we compare ‘The Last Supper’ with ‘Feast’, we could feel easy to find the connection and distinction between them. It is noteworthy that in the sculpture ‘Feast’ by Lv Shun, the two figures Jesus and Judah are absent. Undoubtedly, Lv is implying the crisis of human faith. Lv Shun is comparing the plasticity of soul with the flexibility of classic works and trying to conduct audiences to conscious association through their feed back reflection against his defiant and confusing works. This piece of work by Lv Shun not only reflected his personal inspiration, but also transmitted a clear introspection for culture like a motto.

　　Although Lv Shun has done experiments in sculpture, he is still focusing on the creation of paintings. He brought his imagination, judgment, and creativity into full play and established a unique symbolic narrative language——the pictures are covered by dark-blue and deep-green, no sunshine, no colored clouds, and no transparent air are displayed on his paintings, the whole atmosphere is so smothery, constructed a poetic and dreamlike shot. The mysterious blue tone gives out the surrealistic illusion of infinite abyss. Lv Shun’s persistence on painting determined all these unique languages and forms constructed by free lines, bold green, vague dim light and hazy deep scenery, as well as the coincidence with the objects represented. Although the hue of Lv Shun’s paintings is full of fine and beautiful sense of form, behind this representation, information of gloomy, romantic, poetic, broken and rotten is reflected. For example, the withering of flower sometimes implies sex on one hand, yet on the other hand, some inexplicable sadness would be expressed, further more, the floating fog well outlined a sadly beautiful world, while those animals like pigs and cats are located in the evil distant space and constructed a sad and melancholic sense. Therefore, the whole picture is covered by haze. Facing these ‘unique’ paintings, people would feel difficult to accept them both psychologically and emotionally. In ‘Happy Times’ (xingfu shiguang), Lv Shun subjectively depicted pigs as ghosts wandering in the space like the infinite outer space; in ‘The Sound of Nature’ (tianlai zhi yin), he depicted frogs as lives trapped in nature which became the dirty things sunk into the filthy pond. In his ‘Flowers in the Sky’ (kongzhong de huaduo), Lv represented the rotten sense of rose, while in his ‘Lost Landscape’ (xiaoshi de fengjing) and ‘Lost City’ (xiaoshi de chengshi), the artist created a desolate and vast ritual beauty with cold grey and livid color. The ruined city and natural scenery are covered with fog, nonliving and stagnant, as has just experienced a catastrophe, in this horror atmosphere all in still, the only existing cat became the humanized object, its shining mysterious eyes gazed at us like a lonely people or a ghost, made us tremble. Anyway, Lv Shun’s works always have an admonishing meaning that just because the limitless desire of human beings, twisted and terrible results are shaped on this world, and crisis as well as uneasiness are aroused in mankind’s mind.

　　In any case, Lv Shun’s art is undoubtedly a penetration into the complex states of mind of contemporary peoples. He expressed his fable of the nowadays society through his vivid and unique visual language. When we manifest that ‘mankind is a kind of existing form of culture’, we always touch upon the opposite otherness: animal. Such a contact and representation of animals always reflects the extreme fear, agony and sense of loss in mankind either metaphorically or representatively. Lv Shun never gives any answer to the questions of existing, he, however, reminds people to pay attention to the absurd situation of human’s self-existing and their culture through images. Impelled by desire, mankind are slipping into the blind and ever expanding abyss; what we should question and reflect against our culture today is just this point.

作者：黄笃