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人类的绘画活动,最早可追溯到人类幼年时期绘制的岩画。这种绘制在山地洞穴或露天岩石上的、被中外专家学者称为“原始艺术’’或“艺术前的艺术”的史前岩画,是远古的先民们发现和运用简单的天然颜色和稚拙的图形,来表达和记录某种意念或需求的产物。近几个世纪以来,这种承载着早期人类某些信息的史前岩画,受到了海内外学术界特别是考古界、历史学界以及专门从事人类起源研究的专家们的关注和重视。但是在美术界,对于这种既早于我国传统书法绘画,又早于古代青铜、彩陶的史前岩画,除美术史论界重视艺术起源研究或教学的少数专家、教授外,在中国画坛各界,似乎鲜有人关注。然而,画家刘山民在其创作的许多作品中,对这种人之初的似乎其貌不扬的绘画形式,却情有独钟。这位与我初次谋面的画家,在其绘画艺术风格上,不仅注意从其家乡徐州——古彭城先后出土的楚、汉文物和当地民间艺术、儿童绘画中吸取艺术营养,而且还着意追溯人类绘画的源头,即虽然稚拙简陋却有着原始天趣的史前岩画中寻求艺术灵感,以探索其个性化的绘画语言、形式手法及其审美追求。
在刘山民的绘画中,特别是那些以华夏民族远古神话传说为题材的作品,如其在以《华夏魂》命题的大幅作品中所表现的——开天辟地创造人类的盘古、女娲,射日的后羿,治水的大禹等等艺术形象的塑造,或者是以屈原《九歌》为题材的作品中,对东皇太乙、大司命、山鬼和国殇等等神话人物和场景的描绘,以及在表现原始农耕社会喜庆丰收的《社火》等现实生活之宏大场景中,对那些古老的歌者、舞者、鼓乐者、祭祀者等人物和鸡、犬、马、牛、羊家禽家畜等各类形象、场景的创意、塑造,不同题材内容的构思、构图、气氛的烘托、渲染和描绘等等,所有这些,用西方写实主义或中国文人画传统的写意手法,似乎都比较难于描绘的那些荒远古老的情景、氛围,及其相应的艺术情趣和审美境界,而画家刘山民却匠心独具地吸收和借鉴史前岩画的表现形式,以简括、率真、稚拙的符号化的绘画语言,壁画化和装饰性的艺术手法,以及源于金石书法意蕴的点、块、线条,古拙、斑驳、朦胧的复合色彩,不受透视、解剖法则束缚的“平面构成”式的形式构图,以及着意于自然野趣、童心童趣、原始天趣的艺术境界和审美追求等等,从而把绵延古今被历史高度概括和浓缩了的华夏远古神话传说,以及在当代社会无法一见的原始农耕生活,经过画家神驰八荒的主观努力和艺术创绘,似乎透过迷离的历史尘雾,艺术地、形象化地展现在当代世人面前,这的确是难能可贵的。
另外,画家刘山民对我国古典文学和古典乐曲也情有独钟。如在其以唐代诗人张若虚著名诗篇和后世同名古曲命名的作品《春江花月夜》画家期望把古诗、古曲中“江畔何人初见月,江月何年初照人”等旷远时空意境,古代女]女对远方亲人的思盼、怀念与祝愿等抽象意境、情以可视的绘画形象展现出来。在以古曲《梅花三弄》命名的作品中,画家在着意探索把古代名作、名曲中那些看不见的文学形象、音乐形转换为可视的绘画形象以展示人间。这是在其绘画创作实践和探索中,所追求的另一种内容和境界。
在刘山民以不同手法描绘的其它作品中,如《老子着经图》、 《橘颂》、 《摇篮曲》、 《家乡的小河》等,画家那种稚拙、简括和带有装饰性的绘画手法,都显示出既有着东方文化传统的艺术底蕴,又不同于文人画传统的写意作品,从而显示画家与众不同的艺术创意和独特风格。
据笔者所知,刘山民对有的评论家关于其作品是“中西合璧”的评述并不认同,他认为自己是在“寻根”,其艺术理念是东方的、民族的,是“古老不老的中国,不似之似的艺术”。就造型意识和审美取向而言,他既“不取具象,也不取摒弃物象而纯以几何图形和色块组合的那类抽象”,从而真正实践东方艺术“不似之似”意象造型的写意精神,将自然物象作为造型的初始依据,经由画家主观情思与审美旨趣的充分提炼、改造(变形),成为极纯粹的、似是而非又似非而是的意象(心象)符号,以意象符号组织美的图形,构 筑美的形式,传达美的意念与情感。
笔者对刘山民作品的总体印象是:
风格很独特,审美品位相当高,有着深厚的东方文化底蕴,很具学术研讨价值。
2002年12月
Origin&Innovation
—The primitive rock painting and Liu Shanmin's artistic production
Dong Yulong
Painting is originated from the rock painting in primitive culture. By rock painting with natural colors and simple composition, ancestors of human beings noted their ideas and expressed their psychological needs. In recent centuries, rock paintings bearing information of primitives were paid more attention by sphere of learning at home and abroad. But in Chinese artistic circle, few painters show solicitude for them that came earlier into being than Chinese traditional calligraphy, painting, bronze art and the art of ancient painted pottery. However, Liu Shanmin, one of the few, loves the original art of painting deeply and then applies it to his paintings. Meanwhile, Liu also tries his best to assimilate artistic nutriment from the Chu and Han cultural relics unearthed in Xuzhou area and the local folk art. As a result, he has developed his own painting system with unique artistic language, technique, pattern and aesthetic orientation.
In Liu's paintings, especially the ones describing Chinese fairy and folk tales in remote antiquity or mythical figures and occasions in poems of Qu Yuan, a famous poet in the War Period, or occasions of celebrating the bumper harvest in primitive actual life, Liu displays vividly those themes that both the Western realism and Chinese traditional art can hardly paint with his symbolic artistic expressing technique and plain composition originated from epigraphy and orientation focusing on natural and primary interest.
In addition, Liu shows much favor to Chinese classical literature and songs. He devotes himself to the probe to transform the invisible images in music and literary works into visible ones.
Some critics comment that Liu's painting is a good combination of Chinese and Western elements. But Liu himself does not think so. He thinks he is seeking the root of art and his artistic theory owns distinctive Oriental and national features. His art is a field of art between abstraction and objectivity. With his subjective feelings and aesthetic concept, Liu extracts and purifies abstract symbols from the natural images, then weaves fascinating pictures, structures beautiful composition of a picture and conveys aesthetic ideas and emotion.
About Liu's paintings, my overall comment is that they are very valuable for academic research with the characteristic style, high aesthetic standards and profound oriental cultural implications.
(Dong Yulong, the former director of Theory Research Dept. and Collecting Dept. of the nation musume of China Fine Arts.)
作者:董玉龙
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