“天语”的感觉

 

看宋红的画是种轻松的享受。因为在今天，纷乱吵杂的画界和画画都喜欢撑满画布的时候，看画有时很累，常常只是说事却看不见画。但是宋红的画不是，她会减，减得我们的注意力可以毫无阻碍进入她诗意的画里，可以迅速在视线的总体感受中看见物。事实还不单如此，宋红的画懂得留出一片空地，这片空地让物显出了绘画的魅力。我们知道艺术妙趣横生时，这空地就是境域的展开。

宋红读本科时期的美院还是精英化的艺术教育模式。良好的美术基础、充满艺术氛围的家庭影响和西湖山水朴素的自然,三者相得益彰构成了一种特殊环境，所以宋红画画有追求纯粹的倾向，同时，她有着内在不断超越、外在从不为所动、上进却不急于求成的特点。毕业出了校门以后她又曾再回美院读研究生。画画并无太多功利目的的追求，使得她画画愈加钻进去的同时，不是一味在画面增加东西，相反却总是在画中精简，减去所有画中多余之物。直观她现在的画，画中只保留那一丁点东西，正是这点非常之道，那一丁点东西异常特别，能给人新鲜。她的画作在纷乱杂多的全国青年画展中常常以另一种光彩出现，以不显出跳。如果说展览中许多画作都是在努力用劲的表现中才往外出跳，她的画摆在旁边就是一个朝里面的收和聚：仿佛是一个间隙和一个视觉收拢的停顿号，在一丝透气和活眼中让你舒坦、眼睛一亮。如果你以敞开的胸怀体会艺术美妙的亮光如何自动点燃我们的视线，那你会发现真正的绘画应该是以少胜多而绝对不是繁杂的体力劳动。

2008年以后，宋红的油画超越了实体的羁绊，有了大提高。她画中大小纷杂的物体变成了物，飘逸而又纯净。从体到物，一字之别，却让万物各就其位，事物不在实体的时候便没有了体量、质感、繁杂的纠缠，容易返身回到物的开始阶段。好像事物初始的被命名，隐约而又新鲜的重新被给出新代码。宋红觉察了这点，你瞧她总是命名那些她画中的事物为“夜语”“云语”“雾语”等等。有存在诗人对命名物写到：词语破碎之处，无物存在。

她的画也表现，但你感觉她似乎以零度状态的表现来突出表现。仿佛她先腾出空地，再让物从中焕然一新的出现。她有时只画了淡淡的几条线，抑或圈了一个涌动的单子细胞；抑或制造了一团薄雾；或者用一笔纯净的色划破空气；划破四周的凝固。这些都为了让隐藏在后的东西现形；涌出。她流畅的用笔，丝毫不造作，也不制造一种体力般的抽象。仿佛只是搭台，让许多纤细；柔弱的小灵物互进互退的登场。虽不起眼，也丝毫不堵塞你的视线，时时让你看她画仿佛是在听最轻的音。无论如何，观者却被吸进去了，不管她的画那么极减，你却觉得有趣。她用自己称谓的“天语”感觉送给你，宛如你仰望天空无穷的浩瀚（其实常常是空）。

只要她的画不去具像，不要让我们去指认什么，这时候她的画就特别出彩，反倒特别有象。由此，一种物的待出状态就此引出了我们期待的目光，似乎唤醒了我们对人生许多陈年往事的记忆和由衷的信赖。或许这种唤醒完全是漫无边际、无目的降临。但是，凭着这个直觉我们一眼断定什么是一幅不错的画。

 

                                     中国美术学院学院焦小健

      2013.11

 

 

 

Song Hong and Her “Whispering” Paintings

In today’s world, when the art circle is so noisy and painters like to fill in every inch of the canvas, reducing painting almost to storytelling, it is a rather tiring thing to look at those overcrowded dots and lines. Yet it is a relaxation and pleasure to view Song Hong’s paintings, because she knows how to do deductions—to such a degree that you can easily enter the poetic world of her paintings, and have a quick perception of the images. What’s more, she knows how to leave blanks on her paintings, blanks that set off the images and reveal the charm of paintings. As we know, a blank is actually the extension of scenarios, in which lies the charm of the arts.

     In Song Hong’s undergraduate days, CAA (China Academy of Arts) was still pursuing an elite mode of education. With a fine artistic foundation, Song Hong has been under the influence of an artistic family and the nurture of the beautiful West Lake, which explains why she tends to pursue purity in her paintings. Internally she keeps surpassing herself, while externally she remains untouched by the chaotic life. Ambitious but not bent on instant success, she went back to CAA to study for MA degree. In her paintings, you may scarcely find any utilitarian elements. Unlike those who keep adding things to their paintings, Song Hong likes to do the opposite—to reduce all the redundant elements on the canvas. She preserves only what cannot be reduced, things that are special and novel. Among so many paintings by young artists on national show, her pictures are remarkable in their own way, by staying low. While many young artists try hard to strike a high key, she just bends inward and keeps a low profile, like a self-restrained stop mark, catching your eye quietly. If you open your mind and examine her paintings more carefully, you will find that the essence of true arts lies in “less” rather than “more”.

Since 2008, Song Hong has extricated herself from the constraints of concrete objects, thus making a major change in her style. She turns concrete objects into all kinds of images in her paintings, pure and elegant. In doing this, she has freed herself from the fetter of weight, texture, and complexity, and returned to the essence of the matter. She must have realized the importance of recoding or renaming, as can be seen from the naming of ­­­­­her visions like “whispering night”, “whispering clouds”, “whispering fog”, etc. This reminds us of the famous line from German poet Stefan Anton George: “Where the word breaks off, no thing may be”.

Her paintings are also expressive, but you may feel that she expresses as if by blankness, clearing everything first before presenting her visions ingeniously. Sometimes she paints only some pale lines, a restless single cell, a cloud of mist, or simply a pure stroke breaking the stifling air. All this is to foreground what is hidden behind. She manipulates her brush smoothly, never giving herself over to affectation or abstraction, as if she was only setting up a platform for the delicate creatures to present themselves. Inconspicuous as they are, they will not block your sight. Instead, they present themselves like a whisper, simple but fascinating. Thus your interest is deeply aroused by the whispering visions, as if you are gazing at the vast universe (blankness it is in fact).

Her paintings, when they are not about something concrete, or something we can recognize definitely, are especially meaningful, and project more “images”. Consequently, our expectation is raised, and our memory of the long past is awakened. Maybe this awakening is only random and rambling, yet our instinct may tell us what is a truly nice picture.

Jiao Xiaojian

Professor at China Academy of Arts

November 11, 2013

 

                                                 

作者：焦小健