Wander • Play • or Game ?

　　Seah Shin Wong (Singapore)

　　Wan Xiaojia's new art album "Wander · Play"(also known as Journey to Dreamland) will be published soon. She sent me an e-mail asking me to write something for it, "The article can be of any length, as long as it is from your heart."

　　"Wander · Play" is her latest endeavour since the exhibition and publication of the oil painting "Solitude · Dance" (also known as "Flowers in the Wind")in May 2010. I feel as if one of my family members present me an academic report, knowing that even though I am unqualified to comment, I still need to mumble something to express my feeling.

　　When my daughter, who used to work in an art gallery, died in March 2005, I sank into a depression. Eventually, I managed to cheer up and it was when I was engaged with Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts that I got to know Xiaoiia, a very talented young lady. She studied under the supervision of Guo Runwen, a famous oil painter, and took Frida Kahlo, a legendary contemporary Mexican artist as the subject of her MA thesis.

　　Not Adhering to Post-Modernism

　　At that time, post-modernism prevailed Chinese artistic circle. Many young artists scrambled to "stir up a revolution" and eventually "found a niche for themselves". This phenomenon shocked and puzzled me, despite I had been engaged in artistic circle and business for so many years. As I shuttled between Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou, I made contact and became acquainted with some young friends in the art community. One of them was Wan Xiaojia.

　　She comes from Chengdu, Sichuan Province and her parents are both artists. She majored in Chinese painting in her undergraduate studies, and studied oil painting as a graduate student at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. She is totally devoted to studying, thinking and painting.

　　During our meetings and conversations, I found her to be very different from the leading figures and followers of the art world at that time: she is brilliantly talented, but does not follow the crowd; she has unique insights, but does not seek sensationalism; she has a strong personality, but does not lack in earnestness. For these reasons, we started our collaboration in June 2007.

　　In the course of three years, Xiao Jia has created 26 character oil paintings. Together with her first painting album, thet were exhibited in Singapore ap in May 2010. In Xiaojia's these paintings represent the process in which "what you getsee is what you see and what you express is what you paintget". The characters in her painting not only tell their own stories, but also contain the trials and tribulations Xiaojia has suffered in her artistic creation.

　　Upholding the Purity of Art

　　The present collection is "live narrative" of Xiaojia's artistic journey over the past two years. The collection is a departure from her previous one in terms of the depiction of her objects and the technique of expression. However, as a close observer, I can see some common threads in all her works, and these are the maverick in the artist, her diligence, her unique spiritual world, her painstaking expressions of her intentions and her dedication to the creative process and artistic language.

　　She does not crave for public recognition nor count her personal gains and losses, because fame and fortune "are perhaps the best weapon to kill an artist." She lets the stream of creation flow freely along with her emotions, such that each character, plant, animal and the life of the common people become artistic objects that are used as an expression of life, while she relentlessly "pursues the pure and ultimate expressions of art."

　　Therefore, she advocates solitude, and stays vigilant to her conviction by constantly questioning herself "Am I still myself?" As "the creation of art is usually done in private, is very personal, and is sustained by the self-contained world of the artist's psyche", the aim of being alone is to "put myself in a prolonged state of facing my deepest, inner self." She said, "Only when I am at ease with being alone that I can uphold the purity of art."

　　Xiaojia believes that to elevate art to a spiritual height, "the spiritual form will have to dictate the artistic form and the presentation of the artistic imagery". It is no surprise, then, that for her, creating a good painting is extremely difficult, "because lying at the core of a painting is a spiritual world", that "the brush obeys my heart" to realize purified vision of the artist's inner world.

　　Treasuring the Process of Creation

　　The difficulties also arise from artist's attention to and exploration of the painting process, the presentation techniques and real life experiences, which seems more poignant. The reason why the process is more attractive stems from the fact that "it literally grows along with me", and that "the world in my painting becomes closer to my own", like "a refraction and record of the trajectory of my psychological activities". Regarding her techniques of expression, she feels that creation often has to contend with the contradiction between spiritual discovery and the language of art. Life experiences, right down to "the minutiae of any points of my life, may be sufficient to touch off sparks of inspiration."

　　It is precisely due to her in-depth understanding and unique interpretation of the complexities of the spiritual world, the creative process, artistic language and life, and her diligence in tending to her spiritual garden like a hard-working gardener, or as a honey bee busily collecting pollen to brew her "signature honey of a hundred schools", that what Xiaojia has created, after going through the process from start to the final product, can be considered to be highly sophisticated. Encapsulated in these works are "love and other emotions in life, the rhythm of music, the abstract forms of dance, and the joy of playing."

　　Thus, Xiaojia's paintings do not give the audience a sense of stuffiness, rigidity, coldness nor a world devoid of life. They are more like "what you see is more than what you get", or the building blocks of a spiritual realm, where the landscapes depict the soul that pulses with feelings, rhythm, abstract elements and fun. What she has created is in line with what Confucius meant when he said "to dabble in the Arts", and yet are never simplistic, low-level nor careless "playing". The premise to "dabbling in the Arts" is "to set one's sight on The Way". Xiao Jia's real experience and deep understanding of the Way of the Arts and life itself are reflected in the hard work that she pours into her creation. How then, can we not stand amazed and embrace these intriguing "spiritual babies" that are presented before our eyes today!

　　After I have finished writing these words, I re-read the e-mail that Xiaojia sent me; apparently she had decided to ask me to write this foreword "after much deliberation". As for me, I had to mull over her invitation for a while before I set forth to fulfill what she has entrusted me with. Yet one thing is common between us: everything had come "from the bottom of our hearts"!

　　万晓笳新画册《游 • 戏》即将付梓，她来电邮要我写点什么，"文章可长可短，只要发乎内心"。

　　这是她继2010年5月油画展和出版《独 • 舞》之后的新成绩单。我彷佛见到家人送来了学术报告，明知自己不在行，也要咿唔几句。

　　2005年3月，在画廊工作的女儿病故，我消沉一段日子后重新出发，晓笳是我把目光转向广州美术学院之后结识的才女。她师从著名油画家郭润文，完成硕士学位，论文以墨西哥当代传奇性女画家弗里达 • 卡罗(Frida Kahlo) 为研究对象。

　　当代又不当代

　　那时，当代之风正弥漫中国艺坛，年轻人纷纷"揭竿而起"，进而"独树一帜"。这种现象令我这个有多年经营经验的从业者也为之震撼，充满疑惑与好奇。奔走于北京、上海、成都、重庆，广州之间，我接触并结识了画界一些年轻朋友，当中就有眼下的万晓笳。

　　她来自四川成都，父母都是艺术家，大学的专业是中国画，后来在广州美院攻读油画系研究生。一直潜心读书、思考，作画。

　　言谈之间，发觉她与当时驰骋当代画坛的旗手和追随者很不一样：才华横溢，但不追风，见解独到，但不哗众取宠，个性强烈，但不缺少真诚。就这样，我们于2007年6月开始合作。

　　3年时间，万晓笳创作了26幅人物油画，连同她出版的第一本画册，于2010年5月，在新加坡与观众见面了。借用画家今天的话，那是"见山是山，见水是水"的创作过程，"以实物传情"。画中人物的背后，讲述各自的故事，其中也深含画家艺术表现的艰辛。

　　守住艺术的纯粹

　　而今天呈现在大家面前的，则是晓笳最近2年艺术生涯的"现身说法"。从表现对像到表现手法，与前一阶段大相迳庭。但是，作为近距离的观察者，我看到贯穿其间的一根线，那便是画家的特立独行、画家的孜孜追求，画家独有的精神世界，画家的苦心孤诣，画家对过程和艺术语言的执着。

　　不渴求公众的认可，不计较个人得失，因为名利"或许是最能扼杀画家的工具"。她让创作的生命之水，顺其自然，顺应情绪，让笔下人物、植物、动物和市井生活等对像都可以作为一种生命的表情加以表现，不断"追求艺术的纯粹和极致"。

　　因此，她崇尚独处，时刻警惕"我还是我吗?"，因为"绘画创作大多时候是私密的，个人化的，是靠自成一体的精神世界来支撑的。"独处的目的是"使自己处在一种长期面对自己内心的境地"。她说："守得住孤独，才守得住艺术的纯粹。"

　　把艺术提升到精神的、心灵的高度，认定"精神形态决定艺术形态，决定艺术图像的呈现方式"，那么，对她来说，要画出好作品当然极其不易"，因为画画的主体是一个精神世界"，"画笔要听命于我的心"，把艺术家净化后的心给呈现出来。

　　珍惜创作的过程

　　这个难度还因为画家对绘画过程、表现手法和生活的真实体验的重视和探索，而显得更加意味深长。过程之所以更具吸引力，因为"它真切地与我同成长"，而且"画中的气息愈来愈靠近我自己"，有如我"心理活动的轨迹折射和记录"。至于表现手法，她认为创作往往必须应对心灵探索与艺术语言之间的矛盾。生活的体验，哪怕是"生活细节中的任何一个点，都有可能触动灵光闪现"。

　　正因为对精神世界、创作过程、艺术语言和生活的复杂性有着深刻的认识和独到的见解，又能像勤劳的园丁每天打理自己的园子，或如蜜蜂般来回采集花粉，酿制"独门的百家蜜"，她从始发点进入过程，最终到达结局所产生的成果，说什么也是高层次的，这里头有"生命的情思、音乐的韵律、舞蹈的抽象和游戏的乐趣"。

　　于是乎，万晓笳的画作不会给读者产生一种晦涩、生硬、冷漠、死气的感觉。它"见山不是山，见水不是水"，是一种精神境界，是心中的山，心中的水，蕴含情思，韵律，抽象无素和乐趣。正合乎孔子说的"游于艺"，但决不是单纯的、低层次的、无所用心的"游戏"。

　　"游于艺"的前提是"志于道"，晓笳对艺术之道和生活的真实体验的深刻认知，延伸及她在创作实践上的努力耕耘，面对眼前耐人寻味的"精神婴儿" ，我们怎能不另眼相看、备加爱护呢!

　　完稿后，重阅晓笳的电邮，她是"想来想去"，才嘱我为文的。我则是考虑再三，才完成她的付托。但有一点却是相通的：这一切都发自我们的"内心"!

　　

作者：谢声远