王璜生近年的实验性作品“游·象”与“线象”系列，显示了画家对中国传统水墨画中点线面几个基本元素的探索与尝试，其中尤其对线的反复试验和探索令人瞩目。作为一个家学渊源并受过正规国画训练教育功力深厚的艺术家，在完成大量动人心魄而又淋漓精致的优秀国画作品之后，忽然乐此不疲地画起貌似每个孩童都能涂抹的一个又一个圆圈，意欲何为？

　　在造型艺术中，“线”作为表现手段不仅在中国艺术，而且在整个从印度到日本的东方艺术中都占有十分突出的地位。中国古代书画艺术可以说就是线的艺术。通过流动的、富有生命张力的线条来描绘人物和物体的轮廓，线作为主要造型和表现手段在中国绘画中延续了两千多年。中国人所使用的毛笔使线充满了以其他工具无法相比拟的表现力和生命力。对线的重视几乎是中国传统绘画的核心内容，所谓“骨法用笔”。然而，无论“线”也好，“笔墨”也罢，再重要它仍然是一个手段。“骨法用笔”是为“气韵生动”，甚至会是“明劝戒、著升沉、千载寂寥、披图可鉴。”（谢赫，《古画品录》）

　　线作为表现手段的重要意义在西方直至十九世纪还未得到艺术家充分认识。自十九世纪下半叶东方艺术（特别是日本浮世绘）传入欧洲，现代主义兴起，西方艺术家对线的态度发生了很大变化。康定斯基在《点线面》一书中，试图将线与色彩以及人的主观感受相联系，大大提升了线在西方现代艺术中的表现能力，成为抽象艺术中的重要表现手段。康定斯基说：“点——静止，线——内在张力，源于运动。这两种元素——造成他们自己‘语言’的交织并置，这是语言难以达到的。删除了‘虚饰’，捂住并减弱了这种语言的内在声音，给予画面以最简洁和最准确的表现。纯粹的形式服务于丰富、生动的内涵。”［1］在此基础上，美国抽象表现主义波洛克等人再从中国或日本的书法艺术中汲取营养，将色彩、运动与线条融为一体，开辟了甚为辽阔的艺术新天地。以线为表现手段者在当代还有Cy Twombly（1928-2011），他得灵感于涂鸦，使其抽象表现的特点逐渐与波洛式的律动和粗犷相区别。其敏感、书法式笔法颇与中国式的“写”画相神似。

　　但是“游·象”系列与抽象表现艺术家的作品有着本质的不同。抽象主义艺术家的线无论是冷静的几何形式还是充满激情的运动的结果，都与东方式的静思沉稳大异其趣，他们所表现的内心也不同于中国式的“胸中有山水”。王璜生的线首先是来自对中国传统书画笔墨的深刻认识，正如前文所述，它有其自身悠远而深厚的传统；其次这些自由游走的线，源自于他自己所擅长驾驭的大写意花鸟画。正如殷双喜教授所指出的，其线索可以追溯到2008-2009年画过的树木枝条，其中也尝试了抽象表现式的速度感和运动性。［2］

　　近两年创作的最新作品显示出，王璜生似乎有意探索更独特的道路，对笔墨不再留恋了，对速度感的追求也平淡了，他笔下的线显示出一个更为纯粹和平淡，似是达到了无笔墨的境界。这意味着笔墨之线独立了，它不一定在要去追求气韵生动，也不一定要俊逸高雅。可以说，王璜生在“游·象”和“线象”系列作品中做了一个尝试：给中国书画中的线以自由。线的自由折射了艺术家的心境：“泛若不系之舟，虚而傲游”；也似修禅者入定后所见：“菩提本无树，明镜亦非台”，见到的只是圆觉后的纯净和诸佛的灵光。

　　“游·象”系列作品中线的墨色与粗细相间，前后叠压追逐，有着丰富的层次感、节奏性和音乐性。将造型艺术与音乐相联系，也是现当代艺术感兴趣的领域，比如康定斯基甚至创作了一系列的音乐术语为题的抽象作品。在其《点线面》一书中，他谈到：“音乐的线是什么？这是众所周知的，大多数乐器都有一种线的特点，不同的乐器的音高相对于线的粗细：小提琴、长笛和短笛产生一种非常细的线，大提琴和单簧管是一种略粗的线，由低音乐器演奏产生的线则越来越粗，一直到双低音乐器或大号的低音音调。……人们可以认为，在音乐中，线提供了表现共鸣的最大仓库。这里线就像在绘画中所看到的那样确定以同样短暂和独立的方式发挥着作用。”［3］这段文字几乎就像量身定做地一样适合理解

　　“游·象”和“线象”系列作品中的音乐性。那么，王璜生的作品听起来会是什么样的？

　　如果说，中国的音乐的主流为单声音乐，也即只有一个旋律而没有其他独立或衬托性伴随的音乐。那么，中国音乐也是线性的，但如同中国画中的笔墨的浓淡变换一样，中国传统音乐也会采用婉转的装饰音，或是采用支声的手法，来使音乐的结构与色彩更加丰富。在西方自中世纪后期，人们不再满足于一个声部，而是注意到不同的音同时发声或相对独立的旋律同时演奏会得到更为丰富和优美的音乐而不失和谐，于是渐渐产生了复调音乐。复调音乐以对位法将各个相对独立的旋律线和谐地结合在一起，同时演奏。直至18世纪才由以柱式的和声为特征的主调音乐逐渐取代，但作为一种表现手法，至今仍然会在创作中使用。

　　如果音乐是在时间里流动的线，那么在王璜生笔下则是让线在画面上表现音乐般的流动。“游·象”和“线象”系列中的很多作品似乎可以以不同的复调音乐形式來理解：在有的画面上，流动的线之下有淡墨渲染，似通奏低音，类似于复调早期形式之奥尔加农；有的层次非常丰富，背景明亮，似教堂中传来的多声部人声弥撒；有的似有相同动机不同墨色和笔触在不同层面上追逐呼应，恰似巴赫的赋格曲；也有的作品墨线、色块和金箔并用，与大型乐队所演奏之当代作品气质甚合，在画面上几乎可以听到多声部的进行和东方音乐的五声特点。创作于2011年的“游·象”系列中的一幅较大的作品（No.26）气势广阔，层次丰富，有着多重的阐释空间：线条的律动生机勃勃，似猛虎下山，又似惊涛骇浪，势不可挡；近视之却有轻重缓急，“大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私语”。这里，每一条线像一个个独自吟唱的旋律，不知从哪里开始到哪里结束，其中的丰富与层次让我耳中响起了巴赫的《赋格的艺术》。

　　我们期待着王璜生创作出更多通向自由之线，带领我们进入艺术的自由王国。

赵洲 德国海德堡大学艺术史博士，德国海德堡科学院研究员

2013年4月15日于海德堡

　　注释：

　　［1］瓦西里·康定斯基：《点线面——抽象艺术的基础》，上海人民美术出版社，1988年，第90页。

　　［2］殷双喜：“后雅兴：手迹与心迹”，载于《后雅兴——王璜生的艺术天地》，河北教育出版社，2012年，第9-10页。

　　［3］瓦西里·康定斯基：《点线面——抽象艺术的基础》，上海人民美术出版社，1988年，第76页。　　

The Lines to Freedom: Ink Painting Series "Moving Visions" and "Lines Visions"
　　The experimental works by Wang Huangsheng since recent years--the series of "MovingVisions" and "LinesVisions", show his exploring and probing on point, line and plane such elements in the traditional Chinese ink painting, of which the repeated experiments and exploration on lines are especially noteworthy. Originated from a family with long tradition of Chinese painting and trained professionally in art academy, after completing a great amount of imposing and delicate ink paintings, the experienced artist begins to enjoy drawing circles that seemingly can be done by every child. What is he intended to do?

　　As a means of artistic expression, "lines" have an outstanding status in fine arts, not only in Chinese art, but also in the whole oriental world from India to Japan. To a certain extent the ancient Chinese art of painting and calligraphy could be regarded as the art of lines. By means of flowing and dynamic lines Chinese painters depicted the contours of figures and objects, thus lines as the main technique of moulding and expressing in Chinese painting have been continuing for more than two thousand years. Ink brushes used by the Chinese endow the lines with power of expression and liveliness incomparable with other painting tools, and the esteeming of lines has been almost the core content in traditional Chinese painting - "to paint (the lines) as if they have bones" claimed by Xie He (479-502) belongs to one of the most important principles. However, either "lines" or "techniques of ink brushes" still remain on the level of tools, even if they are highly evaluated. "To paint (the lines) as if they have bones" is to reach the goal of liveliness, or even to help people to accept the Confucian values.

　　In Europe the important meaning of lines as the instrument of expression has not been recognized until the period of Romanticism. But since the import of oriental art (especially Ukyo-e) into Europe in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of modernism, the attitude of the western artists towards the lines has been changed drastically. In Point and Line to Plane Kandinsky has tried to connect the lines and colours with the feelings of human beings, and thus enhanced the potentials of lines in the modern art to a significant means of expression in the abstract art. According to Kandinsky, "Point - rest. Line - inwardly animated tension created by movement. The two elements - their intermingling and their combinations develop their own 'language' which cannot be attained with words. The exclusion of 'trimmings', which hush and obscure the inner sound of this message, lends the greatest brevity and precision to pictorial expressions. The pure form places itself at the disposal of the living content."[1]On that basis and drawn additional nutrition from the art of calligraphy in China or Japan, the American Abstract Expressionist like Jason Pollock integrated colour, action and lines, and thus opened a new perspective of modern art. In contemporary period time the artist Cy Twombly (1928-2011), who used lines inspired by graffiti, differentiated his works from the dynamics and wildness of Pollock, and developed his sensitive and calligraphically strokes resembling the way of "writing" the paintings in a Chinese manner.
　　However, the series of Moving Visions is different essentially from the works by the Abstract Expressionists, whose "lines", either in a cool geographical manner or as a result of passionate action, deviate fundamentally from the meditational characteristics in the oriental culture, nor could their conveyed spirits be comparable with the Chinese temperament of "having landscape with one's mind". Wang's lines originate on one hand from his deep consideration on the strokes of brushes in the traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy, as stated above that they are rooted in their own long and deep tradition; on the other hand those roaming lines are unfettered from his own blossom-bird paintings that he has mastered and brought forth in an impressive manner. As Yin Shuangxi has pointed out, the clue of the lines can be traced back to the branches and twigs painted during 2008 to 2009, in which the speed and movement in an abstract expressionistic manner has been experimented. [2]

　　The works since recent two year show that Wang Huangshen is interested to explore new directions, i.e. he does not stick to the enjoyment of strokes of brushes and thus slow the brushes down. He uses his lines to indicate his inner purity and calmness, with which he tries to reach the goal of the emptiness of brush strokes. That means the lines of brush strokes become independent, and since then they do not strike for liveliness of figures or objects, nor have they to be proficient or elegant. In that sense, we can say, that Wang has made an attempt in his new series: to liberate the lines from Chinese paintings and calligraphies. The freedom of lines reflects that of the artist - "floating as a boat without lasso into the infinite emptiness", also similar to the vision after the enlightenment - what one sees is only the purity and perfectness.

　　The lines in the series of MovingVisions vary in terms of ink colour, fineness, direction, and they chase one after another in multiple layers, rhythm and musicality. Associating fine arts and music has been an interesting topic to the modern artists, for instance Kandinsky has given several works with musical terms as titles. In his Point and Line to Plane he wrote, "What a musical line is, is well known. Most musical instruments are of a linear character. The pitch of the various instruments corresponds to the width of the line: a very fine line represents the sound produced by the violin, flute, piccolo; a somewhat thicker line represents the tone of the viola, clarinet; and the lines become more broad via the deep- toned instruments, finally culminating in the broadest line representing the deepest tones produced by the bass-viol or the tuba. ...... It can be asserted that in music the line supplies the greatest means of expression. It manifests itself here in time and space just as it does in painting." [3]That passage adapt itself well to the musicality in the lines by Wang's new series. So, how would Wang's works sound like?

　　With normally one single melody in centre, the mainstream of Chinese music is monophonic and thus also linear. But similar to the shading and fineness of the brush strokes, Chinese music has various techniques like decorations and heterophony to enrich the texture, colour and construction. In Europe since the late Middle Ages musician were not satisfied with one musical part any longer, and rather they noticed that simultaneous sounding of different notes or playing of independent melodies in parallel could be enriched and gracious without loosing their harmony, thus polyphonic music has been gradually developed. By means of counterpoint various independent melodies are integrated harmoniously. Until the 18th century the polyphonic music has been systematically replaced by tonal music, while as musical technique polyphony is still in use even today.

　　If music melodies could be understood as the moving lines, the lines under the brushes of Wang Huangsheng would show the musical moving of lines on paper. Interestingly, many works in the new series can interpreted as various forms of polyphonic music: those with light-coloured ink under floating lines remind the early form of polyphony organum with basso continuo; those with clear multiple layers and bright background resemble a vocal mass from the Renaissance period; those with seemingly similar motives and various colours or strokes chasing on different layers mirror the fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach; and those which amalgamate ink lines, colour areas and gold foils appear in accordance with the contemporary works played by large orchestra as if one could hear the procession of numerous parts and pentatonic characteristics of the oriental music. The work No.26 in the series of Motion Visions finished in 2011 has a marvellous perspective and breath-taking rich texture. The dynamics of the lines are so lively like a tiger assaulting from a mountain slope, or formidable gigantic waves. If one come closer, one would feel the lines with various weight and speed, like "the thick strings loudly thrummed like the pattering rain; the fine strings softly tinkled in murmuring strain." Here, each line is similar to an independently singing melody without knowing where it begins and ends, und the richness and multiple layers echo in my ears Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge.

　　We expect that Wang Huangsheng could create more lines to freedom, leading us into the"Kingdom of Freedom of Art".

Zhao Zhou PhD in art history of Heidelberg University, Researcher of Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Heidelberg, Apr. 15, 2013

　　Notes:
　　[1] Wassily Kandinsky,  Point and Line to Plane, New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1947. p. 112.
　　[2] Yin Shuanxi, "Post Refined Joy: Traces of Hand and Heart", in Wang Huangsheng ed., Post Refined Joy: Wang Huangsheng's World of Art, Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2012, p. 9-10.
　　[3] Wassily Kandinsky,  Point and Line to Plane,  New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1947.p. 88-89.

作者：赵洲