在北京东郊的工作室里，王衍成在巨大的画布前凝视、踌躇、拼搏，通常需要积数月之力，才完成一幅作品的创作。对一些不明就里的观众来说，要将这些颜色涂满画面，最多一两小时而已。王衍成在画布面前究竟等待什么呢？

　　In his workshop in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, Wang Yancheng stands before his canvas concentrating, deliberating and toiling, often requiring many months of effort to complete just one original artwork. To an undiscerning observer, filling the canvas with these colors should only require an hour or two at most. Standing in front of his easel, what exactly is Wang waiting for?

　　要回答这个问题，需要对王衍成的艺术生涯有所了解。要为现在的行为找到理由，通常需要回顾历史。而且，从某种意义上来说，个人的历史有可能是文化的历史的缩影。有鉴于此，我想尝试用前辈美学家邓以蛰（1892——1973）关于中国绘画的发展历程的观点，来解读王衍成的艺术历程。邓以蛰是清代大书法家邓石如（1743——1805）的五世孙，对于中国书画有极高的鉴赏力，年轻时留学日本早稻田大学和美国哥伦比亚大学，回国后担任北京大学哲学系教授，主讲美学和美术史。邓以蛰根据自己的体会，将中国绘画的发展历程概括为“体”、“形”、“意”、“理”四个阶段。“体”是器体，最早的绘画都是依附在陶器、玉器、青铜器、漆器等器物上；后来才摆脱对器物的依赖，发展为对独立的形象的描绘，进入“形”的阶段；再后来又由对形象的描绘，进入对意境的追求，于是抵达“意”的阶段；最后由意境进入气韵，由“意”的阶段过渡到“理”的阶段。尽管邓以蛰描述的中国绘画的发展历程，与王衍成的艺术生涯有诸多不同的地方。但是，用他提炼出来的“体”、“形”、“意”、“理”四个概念，来解读王衍成的艺术追求，仍然会给我们一些意想不到的启示。

　　In order to answer this question, one must first understand something of Wang’s artistic career. If one wishes to discover the reasons for present behavior, one must usually look back to history. To some degree, an individual’s history is also a miniature of his or her culture’s history. Based on this, I will attempt to use my predecessor in aesthetics Deng Yizhe’s (1892-1973) ideas concerning the historical development of Chinese painting to interpret Wang’s artistic development. Deng was a fifth-generation descendant of the great Qing Dynasty calligrapher Deng Shiru (1743-1805), and had an extremely refined appreciation of Chinese calligraphy and painting. In his youth, he studied at Waseda University in Japan and Columbia University in the United States, and upon his return to China was appointed as a professor in the Philosophy Department of Peking University, lecturing primarily on aesthetics and its history. Based on his own personal understanding, Deng divided the general historical development of Chinese painting into four periods: ‘body,’ ‘form,’ ‘meaning’ and ‘principle.’ ‘Body’ refers to the body of implements, since the earliest paintings were all attached to ceramic, jade, bronze, or lacquer implements. Only later did they become detached from their dependence on implements and develop into the independent depiction of images, entering into the period of ‘form.’ Later still, they developed from the depiction of images into the pursuit of a plane of conception, entering into the period of ‘meaning.’ Finally, from the plane of conception they developed into spiritual vitality, a transition from the period of ‘meaning’ to that of ‘principle.’ Since Deng was describing the historical development of Chinese painting, his account differs in many ways from Wang Yancheng’s artistic career. Nonetheless, utilizing the four concepts of ‘body,’ ‘form,’ ‘meaning,’ and ‘principle’ which he extracted to interpret Wang’s artistic pursuit can still provide us with some unexpected insights.

　　王衍成早年学习写实绘画，沉湎于在二维平面上画出三维立体效果。在写实绘画的学习上，王衍成体现出很高的天赋，1981年还在上大学期间，作品就入选第二届全国青年美展，并获得三等奖。借用邓以蛰的术语，我们可以将王衍成这个时期的艺术追求概括为对“体”的追求，也就是在平面上塑造有立体感的物象，让绘画去追求雕塑和建筑般的效果。尽管邓以蛰所说的“体”跟我们这里所说的“体”所指的对象不同，但是如果我们忽略这种不同，用“体”来概括王衍成的写实绘画追求还是非常合适的。

　　In his early years, Wang studied realistic painting, abandoning himself to achieving a three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional plane. In his practice of realistic painting, Wang displayed great talent, and in 1981, while he was still at university, his work was selected to enter the Second National Youth Art Exhibition, where he won joint third place. Borrowing Deng Yizhe’s terminology, we can summarize this period of Wang’s artistic pursuit as the pursuit of ‘body,’ i.e. creating images with a feeling of spatial perception on a planar surface, seeking to achieve the effect of sculpture or architecture through painting. Although the referents of Deng’s term ‘body’ and ours are different, if we disregard this difference, then using ‘body’ to summarize Wang’s pursuit of realistic painting is very appropriate.

　　1985年王衍成大学毕业后留在山东艺术学院任教，这时他对写实油画已经驾轻就熟。但是，在“85新潮”的冲击下，王衍成体现出对知识和理论的强烈渴望。1986——1988年王衍成进入中央美术学院美术史系学习，接受现代艺术思潮的洗礼。根据格林伯格（ClementGreenberg），现代绘画就是要划清跟雕塑和建筑的界线，回到只有绘画才具有的特性，也就是所谓的平面性。在现代艺术思潮的影响下，王衍成开始进入抽象绘画的平面性探索。1989年，王衍成的抽象绘画《不平衡的急切》入选著名的“中国现代艺术大展”。1990年，王衍成远赴法国，进入圣太田造型艺术大学学习，系统学习西方现代绘画的技法和理论。1993年毕业后，定居巴黎，与抽象艺术大师朱德群、赵无极交往甚密，深受他们的影响。王衍成这个阶段的探索，主要集中在现代艺术的平面形象和形式上，借用邓以蛰的术语，我们可以将这个阶段称之为“形”的阶段。只不过邓以蛰在中国绘画中发现的“形”，是脱离器体束缚的形象，现代绘画中的“形”是脱离物体的形象，是不依赖物体的形式和色彩的自由组合。

　　After Wang graduated from university in 1985 he began teaching at the Shandong Institute of the Arts, by which time he had already become thoroughly familiar with realistic oil painting. However, affected by the ‘85 New Wave,’ Wang showed an increasing interest in knowledge and theory. Between 1986 and 1988 Wang studied in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where he was baptized into the modern art movement. According to Clement Greenberg, modern painting represents a clear separation from sculpture and architecture, a return to the unique qualities possessed solely by painting, i.e. its so-called ‘planarity.’ Under the influence of the modern art movement, Wang began to explore the planarity of abstract painting. In 1989, Wang travelled to France where he studied at the University of St. Etienne, systematically learning the techniques and theory of modern Western painting. After graduating in 1993, he settled in Paris, where he was in close contact with masters of abstract art such as Zhu Dequn and Zhao Wuji, whose work influenced him greatly. Since this period of Wang’s explorations focused on the planar images and forms of modern art, using Deng Yizhe’s terminology, we can call this his ‘form’ period. While the ‘form’ Deng found in Chinese painting represented the image casting off the constraints of an implement, ‘form’ in modern painting represents the image detaching itself from the physical object and becoming a free assemblage of form and color unattached to any object.

　　朱德群和赵无极在西方的成功，不仅因为他们进入了西方现代艺术的潮流之中，更重要的是因为他们带去了西方艺术家所不具备的中国美学精神。朱德群和赵无极将二者结合起来，形成了独特的抒情抽象，既不同于极简主义的冷抽象，也不同于表现主义的热抽象。朱德群和赵无极的抒情抽象，具有浓厚的东方诗意。这种东方诗意就是中国美学中的“意境”。在中国传统艺术中，不仅诗歌追求意境，绘画、书法、园林建筑、音乐舞蹈、戏曲表演，无不追求意境。根据邓以蛰的说法，体现意境的艺术，就由“形”的领域，进入“意”的领域。“意”是心的对象，追求意境的绘画，也就是心画。在中国绘画史上，体现意境的绘画是山水画。中国山水画不同于西方的写实风景画，可以说山水画是心灵的风景画。中国美学用“以大观小”来概括山水画的特征，心是大，山水是小。朱德群和赵无极的抒情抽象，之所以显得苍茫大气，与“以大观小”和追求意境的中国绘画美学不无关系。王衍成继承了朱德群和赵无极的抒情抽象的传统，创作出了一系列诗意盎然的抽象绘画作品，而且很快受到西方艺术界的关注，成为继赵无极、朱德群之后，又一位冉冉升起的华人艺术明星。

　　Zhu Dequn and Zhao Wuji’s success in the West is not merely due to their joining the trend of modern Western art, but is more significantly due to their bringing along a Chinese aesthetic spirit not found in Western artists. Zhu and Zhao integrated these two aspects to form a unique lyric abstraction that differs from both the cold abstraction of minimalism and the warm abstraction of expressionism. Zhu and Zhao’s lyric abstraction is deeply influenced by the Eastern poetic conception. This Eastern poetic conception is the ‘plane of conception’ of Chinese aesthetics. In traditional Chinese art, this plane of conception is not only sought by lyric poetry, but also by painting, calligraphy, garden architecture, music and dance, drama performance, etc. According to Deng Yizhe’s account, arts that embody the plane of conception shift from the realm of ‘form’ into that of ‘meaning.’ ‘Meaning’ is an object of the mind, and thus painting that seeks the plane of conception is a form of ‘mind-painting.’ In the history of Chinese painting, the form of painting that best embodies the plane of conception is landscape (mountain-and-water) painting. Chinese landscape painting differs from Western realist landscape painting in that it represents a form of ‘mental landscape painting.’ Chinese aesthetics uses ‘viewing the small through the large’ to encapsulate the key feature of landscape painting, where the mind is ‘large’ while the mountains and water are ‘small.’ That Zhu Dequn and Zhao Wuji’s lyric abstractions display such a boundless spirit is not unrelated to the Chinese painting aesthetic of ‘viewing the small through the large’ and the pursuit of a plane of conception. Wang Yancheng took up Zhu and Zhao’s tradition of lyric abstraction and produced a series of abstract paintings overflowing with poetic meaning that quickly attracted the attention of Western art circles, with Wang gradually being recognized as the next rising Chinese artist after Zhao and Zhu.

　　然而，王衍成并没有停止自己的探索脚步。在北京东郊的工作室里长时间的冥想，让他逐渐从抒情抽象中走了出来。王衍成开始不满足于诗意的轻松和浪漫，不满足于意境的自我局限，他开始向一个更加奥秘的世界进发。这是一个超越自我控制的世界，也是一个自我放逐而不知所归的世界。对于已经取得巨大成功的王衍成来说，这次转变可以说冒着巨大的风险。这究竟是一个怎样的世界呢？在通常情况下，人们认为意境已经是中国艺术追求的最高境界了。邓以蛰也赞同这种看法。不过，他发现中国艺术还有一种特别的类型，那就是对“理”的探索。借用邓以蛰的术语来说，王衍成为之着迷的世界就是“理”。“理”是对“意”的超越。但是，邓以蛰所说的“理”并不是柏拉图式的“理念”，不是任何形式的“另一个世界”，而就是我们生活于其中的“这个世界”，只不过不再是“这个世界”的有限形状，而是“这个世界”的无限延伸、拓展、弥漫、衍生、演化，它指向“这个世界”的难以捉摸、不可名状、玄远幽深、不知所终的广度和深度。

　　Yet the path of Wang’s exploration did not end there. Extended periods of meditative thought in his workshop in eastern Beijing led him gradually away from lyric abstraction. Wang began to feel dissatisfied with the ease and romance of poetic conception, the self-imposed limitations of the plane of conception, and started out on a journey towards a more arcane world, a world that would transcend self-control, one of self-imposed exile with no prospect of return. For Wang, with all his great achievements thus far, such a transformation represented a serious risk. What kind of world was this? Generally, people take the plane of conception to be the highest plane sought in Chinese art. Deng Yizhe himself approved of this view. However, he discovered that Chinese art also possesses another singular form, namely the exploration of ‘principle.’ Using Deng’s terminology, the world that captivated Wang was that of principle, where principle represents a transcendence of meaning. The ‘principle’ spoken of by Deng is not the Platonic Idea or Form, nor is it any kind of ‘other world,’ but rather precisely ‘this world’ that we find ourselves living within, except that it is no longer this world in its finite form but rather an infinite extension, expansion, diffusion, derivation, and evolution of this world, pointing towards its elusive, indescribable, profound, and unfathomable breadth and depth.

　　由于这个无限深远的世界已经超出了意识的控制，它不再是意识的对象，不再受意识的掌控，而是与意识的交换或者交化，因此邓以蛰认为它是一个比“意”更高级的阶段，他称之为“理”。在中国绘画中，表现“意”的是“意境”，表现“理”的是“气韵”。“意境”是“以大观小”，“气韵”是“以大观大”；“意境”是从艺术之内来看艺术，“气韵”是从艺术之外来看艺术。“以大观小”是从“心”的角度来看“物”，心为大，物为小。“以大观大”是从“心”的角度来看“宇宙”，心为大，宇宙亦大。正因为如此，邓以蛰强调，“理”与“意”不同，“意”是“心”对“物”的统辖；“理”是“心”与“宇宙”的契合。这时候的“心”已经不再是个体的“私心”，而是无私的“天心”；个体不再是有限的“小我”，而是无限的“大我”。正因为如此，进入“理”的阶段的绘画，不再是主观情感的流露，不再是个人的诗情画意，而是更加客观和深邃的真理。另一位中国美学家宗白华（1897——1986）也触及到中国绘画的这种客观性，他明确主张：西洋印象派乃是写个人主观立场的印象，表现派是主观幻想情感的表现，而中国画是客观的自然生命，二者不能混为一谈。

　　Since this infinitely profound world already exceeds conscious control, it is no longer an object for consciousness, no longer controlled by consciousness, but rather exists in a relationship of exchange, interaction, and transformation with consciousness, and hence Deng viewed it as a stage higher than that of ‘meaning,’ one which he referred to as that of ‘principle.’ In Chinese painting, the plane of conception expresses meaning, while spiritual vitality expresses principle. The plane of conception entails ‘viewing the small through the large,’ while spiritual vitality entails ‘viewing the large through the large;’ the plane of conception means looking at art from within art itself, while spiritual vitality means looking at art from beyond art. ‘Viewing the small through the large’ means looking at things from the perspective of the mind, where the mind is large and things are small, while ‘viewing the large through the large’ means looking at the cosmos from the perspective of the mind, where the mind is large and the cosmos is also large. Precisely because of this, Deng emphasized that principle and meaning are different, in that meaning represents a domination of things by the mind, while principle represents a conjunction of the mind and the cosmos. Here, ‘mind’ no longer refers to the ‘self-centered mind’ of the individual, but to the selfless ‘mind of nature’; the individual is no longer a finite ‘small self’ but an infinite ‘large self.’ Thus, painting that enters into the stage of principle is no longer an outpouring of subjective emotion or a depiction of the lyric sentiment of an individual, but rather a more objective and profound truth. Another Chinese aesthetic theorist Zong Baihua (1897-1986) also touched upon this form of objectivity in Chinese painting, stating clearly that while Western impressionism depicts an impression from a personal subjective position and expressionism expresses emotion through subjective fantasy, Chinese painting concerns the objectivity of spontaneous vitality, and thus the two should not be confused.

　　王衍成告别了赏心悦目的抒情抽象，他着迷于那个隐藏宇宙奥秘的幽深的黑洞。他的作品中明亮的色彩逐渐减少，象征幽玄奥秘的黑色不断增多。王衍成放下自我，进入了一个更加难以掌控的世界，一个在根本上无法表达的世界。当艺术家最终面对这个无法表达的世界时，我们可以想象一下，他是多么的欣喜，又是多么的绝望。欣喜的是终于进入了“理”的汪洋大海，绝望的是面对它竟然毫无作为，无从表达，尽管是处在急切的表达之中。现在我们终于明白了王衍成为什么在画布面前踌躇，因为在很多情况下，他知道要画，但又不知道从哪里开始，他在等待绘画自己来画。中国哲人经常面临这种表达的困难。就像庄子在《寓言》中所说的那样，“不言则齐，齐与言不齐，言与齐不齐也，故曰无言。言无言，终身言，未尝不言；终身不言，未尝不言。”

　　After leaving behind the pleasures and delights of lyric abstraction, Wang Yancheng became fascinated by the depths of those dark caverns in which the mysteries of the cosmos hide themselves. His works gradually lost their brightness, and the black that symbolizes abstruse mystery steadily increased. Wang cast himself aside and entered a world more diffficult to control, a fundamentally inexpressible world. We can imagine how joyous and yet how desperate an artist must be when he or she is finally faced with this inexpressible world: joyous at having finally entered the boundless ocean of ‘principle,’ yet desperate at being faced with something that one can find no way to express, despite being filled with the urgency to do so. Now we can fully understand why Wang deliberates so in front of his canvas, since in most cases he knows that he must paint, and yet does not know from where to begin, waiting for the painting to paint itself. Chinese philosophers often face this kind of difficulty of expression. As Zhuangzi put it in his Fabled Words, “While one does not speak, things are unified, yet this unity and speech are not unified; since speech and this unity are not unified, thus I speak of the unspoken. By speaking of the unspoken, one may speak one’s whole life and yet never have begun to speak; one may spend one’s whole life not speaking, and yet never have stopped speaking.”

　　王衍成是如何来解决他的表达的困难呢？就像哲人们一样，对于不可表达的表达，最好的方式就是否定，借用冯友兰（1895——1990）的术语来说，就是“负的方法”。回顾王衍成的艺术生涯，他采取的方式就是否定。用“形”来否定“体”，用“意”来否定“形”，最后用“理”来否定“意”。

　　How then did Wang come to resolve his difficulties of expression? Just as for philosophers, the best way to express the inexpressible is by negation, to use the words of Feng Youlan (1895-1990), a “negative method.” Looking back on Wang’s artistic career, we can see that the method he chose was negation: using ‘form’ to negate ‘body,’ using ‘meaning’ to negate ‘form,’ and finally using ‘principle’ to negate ‘meaning.’

　　王衍成首先否定的是物象，接着否定的是心意。对物象的否定相对容易，对心意的否定尤其困难，因为否定心意的还是心意。也就是说，我们用心意来否定物象，但是否定心意的仍然只能是心意，而不能是别的什么。因此，对心意的否定，对自我的否定，不能一蹴而就；需要长时间的修行和觉悟。中国古人将这种修养称之为“散”。正如蔡邕在《书论》中所说的那样，“书者，散也。欲书先散怀抱，任情恣性，然后书之；若迫于事，虽中山兔豪不能佳也。夫书，先默坐静思，随意所适，言不出口，气不盈息，沉密神采，如对至尊，则无不善矣。”散怀抱即散心，散心即散急迫，散执着，将心灵从各种功利、概念、目的的考量的束缚中解放出来。散心并非无心，而是消解个人和主观的束缚，让“私心”成为“天心”，将“习心”还原为“本心”。

　　Wang first negated the images of objects, and then went on to negate the meanings of the mind. Negating the images of objects is relatively easy, while negating the meanings of the mind is especially difficult, since that which negates the meanings of the mind is itself a meaning of the mind. That is, we use the meanings of the mind to negate the images of things, yet that which negates the meanings of the mind can still only be a meaning of the mind, and not anything else. Thus, negating the meanings of the mind, negating the self, cannot be achieved in one step, but requires a long period of self-cultivation and enlightenment. Ancient Chinese people called this form of cultivation “dispersal.” As Cai Yong put it in his On Writing, “Writing means dispersal. If one wishes to write, one must first disperse one’s thoughts and aspirations, allowing one’s emotions and inner nature to flow freely, and only then begin to write; if one is forced [to write] by events, then even if one uses a Zhongshan rabbit-hair brush, the results will not be fine. In writing, one must first sit silently in quiet contemplation, following whatever suits one’s meaning, words not escaping one’s mouth, and breath not filling one’s breast; if one maintains a serious bearing, as if facing an important dignitary, one’s writing will not fail to be excellent.” Dispersing one’s thoughts and aspirations means dispersing the mind; dispersing the mind means dispersing one’s anxieties and urgencies, dispersing one’s attachments, liberating the mind from the constraints of any kind of concern with utility, concepts, or goals. Dispersing the mind does not mean having no mind, but rather dispelling personal and subjective constraints, allowing one’s ‘self-centered mind’ to become a ‘mind of nature,’ one’s ‘habitual mind’ to return to one’s ‘original mind.’

　　“本心”或者“天心”，借用冯友兰的术语来说，就是“宇宙的心”。有心灵的渗透，宇宙便不再是一团漆黑。王衍成通过不断打磨、破坏、添加、覆盖，让密不透风的黑色中有气韵流动，有呼吸运动，有生命涌动。尽管心灵不再能征服宇宙，因为宇宙与心灵一样博大；但是，正是因为心灵与宇宙一样博大，心灵也不会被宇宙压倒。心灵与宇宙从再现与被再现的关系，转换为气息或能量的交换和流通关系。于是，在王衍成的画面上，我们看见的不再是物象的再现，也不是情感的表现，而是气息的隐显、沉浮、聚散、周流。对于它的概括，还有什么词汇能够比气韵更好的呢？邓以蛰从中国山水画中看到的气韵，在王衍成的抽象绘画中得以复现。长期生活在欧洲的王衍成，最终在自己的文化母体中找到了创作的源泉和动力，由此可见文化根性是多么的重要和顽固；但是，王衍成并没有陷入充满文化密码的呓语之中，经过他的创造性的转换，气韵不再是一个封闭的地域文化概念，而是可以与今天的科学和文化对话的当代文化概念。在今天全球化在西方国家遭遇挫折之时，王衍成努力发掘中国传统美学的普遍价值，这在某种意义上表明了中国文化本身所具有的包容性和开放性。谁说纯粹艺术就没有政治性呢？这或许是真的：只有在艺术彻底从政治中独立出来的时候，它才能发挥它的政治效力。

　　In Feng Youlan’s words, the ‘original mind’ or ‘mind of nature’ is the ‘mind of the cosmos.’ Permeated by the mind, the cosmos is no longer a ‘night in which all cows are black.’ Through continual polishing, damaging, accretion and overlaying, Wang Yancheng allows flows of spiritual vitality, movements of breath, and surges of life to appear amid the suffocating blackness. Although the mind is no longer able to conquer the cosmos, since the cosmos and the mind are equal in their vastness, precisely because of this, the mind cannot be overwhelmed by the cosmos. The mind and the cosmos transform from a relationship of representation and represented, to one of the exchange and circulation of breath or energy. Thus, in Wang’s paintings, we see no longer representational images of objects, nor the expression of emotion, but rather the appearance and disappearance, rise and fall, gathering and scattering, and circumfluence of breath. To encapsulate this, what term could be better than spiritual vitality? The spiritual vitality Deng Yizhe glimpsed in Chinese landscape painting thus reemerges in Wang’s abstract paintings. After living for so long in Europe, Wang finally found the wellspring and motivation for creation in his own mother culture, showing the importance and persistence of cultural rootedness. Nonetheless, Wang has not slipped into reveries crammed with cultural codes, since through his creative transformation, spiritual vitality is no longer a concept of a closed regional culture, but has become a contemporary cultural concept that can enter into dialogue with today’s science and culture. Today, when globalization is meeting with setbacks in Western countries, Wang has endeavored to reveal the universal value of traditional Chinese aesthetics, which to some degree expresses the inclusivity and openness of Chinese culture itself. Who says pure art is lacking in political value? Is it not more the case that it is only when art becomes radically independent of politics that it is truly able to exercise its political efficacy?

2017年2月10日于北京大学均斋

作者：彭锋