曾浩的艺术从新生代起步，那还是上世纪90年代初，85运动刚刚结束，新一代的艺术家赶上一个新的时代，计划经济向市场经济转变，个人的选择和机会代替了80年代的那种改造中国与社会的理想追求。艺术失去了目标，于是就画身边的所见所感，没有什么高深的想法，虽然人在社会中生存，人的活动当然也是社会生活的一部分，但曾浩觉得社会离他很遥远，因为社会生活的很多方面他并不适应。
　　从绘画到装置，对曾浩来说并不是一个特别的转变，两者都是在一个语言系统中，但言说的语言是不在场的。前者是生存的现实，后者是生存的幻觉，而起因都是生存的困境。困境是对于商业社会的不适应，不是他有意去批判商业社会，而是他本身被商业社会所排斥。他的理想是追求艺术，在艺术中实现自我的价值，于是他从云南来到广州。他本来是把转型社会中的现象作为他的表现对象，在这种乐观的情绪中并不包括他自身从这个现实中的所得。但商业社会对艺术的回应是自身的生存都不能保证就没有从事艺术的权利。于是他又逃避商业化的广州来到北京。在他的绘画上，人物是渺小的，人物所在的空间也是渺小的，这个空间是人和物的距离。压迫着这个空间的却是巨大的商业化空间。商业化空间似乎是无形的，但那种艳丽的时尚的颜色暗示着这个空间的存在。理想与现实的冲突在这个空间中显现为绝望。曾浩的《纸卷（toilet　paper）》是对这个空间的另一种表达。巨大的纸卷上写满了信息，都是某一天报纸上的内容，政治的、经济的、娱乐的，消费的信息，很奇怪的纠集在一起。这实际上是一个象征的信息的空间，个人与社会的不对称，信息、语言、消费背后的权力，对人的操控与支配。曾浩的思想是游离的，他总是从生命的漂移来体验他的境遇，在体验中构成的思想不可能用精确的语言来表达，他的作品就是把无法言说的东西言说出来。装置《环顾(looking around)》无疑是他的游离的思想的一个结点，尽管与他其他的作品在形态上有很大的差距。在他的绘画上出现了一棵树，在暗夜中孤零的无助的树，那树既是他的对象又是他的化身。在画面上可以随意地营造一个超现实的空间，而现实中的超现实则意味着荒诞。《环顾》就是树的延伸，是把生存的荒诞用现实的方式言说出来。在室内种植的树是把现实颠倒过来，人化的自然连同自我一起被封闭在狭小的空间，窗外是都市的夜景，现代的景观漫无边际地压迫过来。从他居住的地方看到小区的园林，被封锁的自然无奈地再造在水泥的壁垒之中，由此产生的念头是在水泥的四壁之内营造一个供自我逃避的空间。
　　对个人来说，这无疑是一个浩大的工程，但想法却很简单。一个自然的人，被金钱压迫，被权力压迫，被都市的空间压迫，成为不可归复的“非人”，于是在想象中让自己回到曾经的自我，这样的想法，其实我们都曾有过，不同的是，曾浩把它实现了出来。

　　Space: heavy and longing
　　Zeng Hao’s art began with the new generation. That was the early 90s of the last century, the 1985 movement had just ended, a new generation of artists was in time for a new era, a planned economy was converting into a market economy, individual choices and opportunities replaced the kind of idealistic pursuit of the 80s of transforming China and society. Art lost its objective, so he painted what he saw and felt around him, there were no profound thoughts. Although one existed in society, and one’s activities are of course a part of social life, however, Zeng Hao felt that society was very far away from him, because he was not comfortable with many aspects of social life.
　　From painting to installation art was not a particular change for Zeng Hao. Both are in a language system, but the language of speech is not present. The former is the reality of life, the latter is the illusion of life, but the causes of both are the predicaments of life. The predicament is the misfit with commercial society. Not that he wanted intentionally to criticize commercial society, but he himself was rejected by commercial society. His ideal is the pursuit of art, to achieve his self-worth in art, so he came from Yunnan to Guangzhou. Originally, he would make the phenomena in the society in transition as the object of his expression. This optimistic mood did not include his own income from this reality. But commercial society's response was that if you can’t even guarantee your own survival, then you have no right to engage in the arts. So to escape commercialized Guangzhou, he then came to Beijing. In his paintings, the characters are small, the space in which the characters exist is also small. This space is the distance between people and objects. What is suppressing this space is the huge space of commercialization. The space of commercialization seems to be invisible, but the dazzling, fashionable colors imply the existence of this space. The conflict between ideal and reality appear in this space as despair. Zeng Hao's "Toilet paper" is another expression of this space. A huge paper roll is filled with information, the content of one day’s newspapers: political, economic, entertainment, consumer information, very strangely intertwined. This is actually a symbolic information space, asymmetry between the individual and society, the power behind information, language and consumption, the manipulation and domination of people. Zeng Hao's thought is dissociated, he always experiences his situation from the drifting of life. The thoughts formed in experience cannot be expressed in precise language. His works speak out things that are unspeakable. The installation "Looking around" is unquestionably a node of his dissociated thought, even though in form there is great difference from his other works. In his painting appears a tree, a lonely, helpless tree in the dark, this tree is both his object and his embodiment. On canvas one can arbitrarily create a surreal space, and surreal in reality means absurd. "Looking around" is an extension of the tree, it speaks of the absurdity of existence in a realistic way. The tree planted indoors is to reverse reality; humanized nature along with the self is enclosed in a narrow space; outside the window is an urban night view; the modern landscape is pressing in endlessly. From his residence can be seen the sub-division’s garden. Nature, being sealed-in, is reluctantly re-created within cement walls; the resulting idea developed is a space for self escape constructed within walls of cement.
　　For an individual, this is undoubtedly a huge project, but the idea is very simple. A natural person, oppressed by money, by power, by urban space has become a "non-person", unable to regress, so one lets oneself return to the former self in imagination. In fact, we have all had this kind of idea. The difference is that Zeng Hao actualized it.
 

作者：易,英