把雕塑艺术称为“凝固的音乐”，把音乐艺术称为“流动的雕塑”，似乎已经是老掉牙的比喻了。但我一直认为，无论是雕塑还是音乐，也无论是其他的任何艺术，假如能上升到哲学的高度，甚或有一点哲学的意味，才是艺术的至境。当然，艺术与哲学，是人类认知世界、表述世界的两种不同的智慧表现形式，哲学的高度抽象与理论性和艺术的直观与感性，似乎截然不同。但也正因为其不同，才使艺术与哲学在一个更高的层面，有了互为参照与超越自己的可能。

　　在刘若望的雕塑作品里，总有一丝哲学的意味。

　　第一次看到他的作品，是在798那个小小的广场。那天，我应邀去参加另一个艺术家朋友的展览开幕，在寻找我要去的那间展厅的时候，我忽然看到了那群狼。

　　那组雕塑被命名为“狼来了”，但当我突然遇到这群狼的时候，却根本没有想到这个为了教育孩子不要撒谎而充分普及的儿童道德故事。我记得当时的那种莫名的震撼，也许是因为“突然”，我似乎真的在荒原上独自遭遇了一群狼，触目惊心！

　　但凡让人感到震撼的艺术品，不仅仅是它的体量和力度，常常还要有“出人意料”的创意和手段。“狼来了”就是如此，这群混合着野性与神性的动物被刘若望“请”到这里，在唤醒人类集体潜意识里的恐惧的同时嘲笑着人类——这个在千万年残酷“生存竞争”中的胜利者。同时，它还强迫重新面对这个物种的人们考虑：当这个人类的“世仇”真的从这个世界上完全消失的话，那么，人类的“胜利”究竟有什么意义？为了个体的生存与种族的延续，不断在物种内外进行你死我活的争斗，似乎是“进化论”描绘给我们的真实图景。但是，生命的终极目的就是为了自己的生命去消灭其他的生命吗？

　　面对这群狼，我感到后脊梁一阵阵发凉。这种恐惧，与千百年前我的某个祖先在荒原上遭遇真实的狼群同样真切！但是，与祖先“逃跑”还是“拼命”的选择难题不同，我的困惑似乎更加沉重，也更加难解。面对这群在现代生活中已经基本消失、更多地存在于故事、神话或动物园里的物种，我不得不想到人类的命运和未来。人类，被我们自己称为“万物之灵”，俨然是世界的主宰。为了人类的生存甚至远超生存需要的贪欲，我们一直肆无忌惮地攫取着这个星球上的一切资源，无限制地扩大着“文明”的领地，而且，理所当然地、毫无内疚地消灭着一切“人类的敌人”。今天，面对自然资源的迅速枯竭、环境的急剧恶化和人类无休止的贪欲与野心，人类的处境，恐怕比我们的祖先在荒野里遇到狼群还要危险！那个代表人类挥鐧与狼群对峙的武士，显得那样的力不从心与渺小。他的英勇显得可怜巴巴，而他的孤独，却分外深刻而强烈。人与狼，在同一个时空里，有着同样的壮烈，同样的无奈，同样的悲剧性。在汉语的语境里，狼从来都是残暴与凶恶的代名词，“狼子野心”、“狼心狗肺”等等成语，似乎寄托着人类对狼的深仇大恨。但，正如佛家所说：“境由心造”，存在于人心中的贪欲，是比“狼来了”还要可怕的威胁。

　　刘若望的其他作品也有着同样的“列阵”方式，同样的规模，同样的大气磅礴，同样的震撼力，也都促使读者由观照而生哲思。读他的《东方红》、《尚武》系列、《天兵》系列、《车马仪仗》系列、《原罪》系列，似乎看到了雕塑家一条清晰的思想轨迹。假如说在《东方红》系列里那群仰天高歌的陕北壮汉让我们产生了个体与群体、大众与英雄、历史与现实、歌声与枪声等一系列由“革命”而引发的思考的话，那么，在《人民》、《尚武》、《车马仪仗》里的形形色色的百姓与士兵，却让我们进一步思考人与人、心与物、文与武、对与错、和平与暴力、使命与责任、胜利与失败、草根与精英等等一系列值得深思的问题。

　　刘若望在他一系列作品里对故乡的回望、对历史的凝视、对人生的思考没有停留在形式和感性的层面，也没有局限于对个人命运的追索与诘问。当他最终发现他充满感情塑造的陕北乡亲与跃马挥刀的武士们，都像那些在家乡黄土地下埋藏了两千年才重见天日的“兵马俑”一样，白白浪费了孔武与忠诚的时候，他应该感到了“人”的无奈，甚至感到“人民”的软弱与无力。人民，这个在我们的教育里被赋予了无限希望、终极力量、道德的制高点乃至一切政治的天生合法性的群体概念，被雕塑家用泥土、青铜、生铁、玻璃钢和他凝重、稚拙、甚至呆板的群像不断地重复表达。的确，这个生在陕北黄土地的雕塑家“宿命”般地被笼罩在“兵马俑”的气场里，他的许多表现“人”的群塑，都似乎在回应来自故土、来自地下的“俑”的咏叹。当高度褒义的“人民”被还原为“芸芸众生”之后，失望与无力感便是所有理想主义者必然产生的情绪。

　　于是，雕塑家把目光从地下转到了天上。他的《天兵》系列，反映了雕塑家试图摆脱“俑”的阴影、“人”的束缚，克服“群体”的无力而做的尝试。那些身穿古代甲胄、锤击导弹、刀斩航母、充满神力的“天兵”，不再列阵，不再做无谓的集体冲锋，而是用貌似原始的冷兵器与现代化的武器“单挑独斗”！我们可以从这组作品中领略到雕塑家瑰丽而充满趣味的想象力，看到雕塑家幼年时代沉浸在神怪故事、武侠小说里的灵魂，也能悟到雕塑家希图用传统文化对抗现代文明的理想，但我们不知道雕塑家弃“人”归“神”的转变是给了他新的希望，还是给了他更深刻的无力感？

　　终于，《原罪》系列横空出世！那群兀立在莽原上的巨猿仰面苍天，如泣如诉，如怨如怒，在空寂寥落的地平线上，发出了“大音希声”般的呐喊。不知道为了什么，当我看到这群猿的那一瞬间，我仿佛听到了元杂剧《感天动地窦娥冤》里窦娥撕心裂肺般的吼唱：

　　“没来由犯王法，不提防遭刑陷！

　　叫声屈，动地惊天！

　　顷刻间，游魂先赴森罗殿，

　　怎不将，天地也，生埋怨……”

　　怒斥天地的激情，被雕塑家用巨猿充满力度与紧张感的巨大身躯和不可名状的表情传达给观众，令人震撼，令人惊悚，令人深思。这群将苦与痛、呐喊与沉默、力量与无力感揉杂在一起的动物的“天问”，更将“我们从哪里来？又到那里去？”、“你是谁？我是谁？”的古老哲学命题横亘在我们面前，让我们无从逃避！

　　在这群巨猿面前，我又想到了那群面貌同样狰狞可怖的狼和那个独自面对狼群的武士。雕塑家从这个孤独的“人”开始、经历了凡人（《东方红》、《人民》）、武人（《尚武》）、贤人（《高山流水》）、圣人（《高山流水》）、半人半神（《天兵》、《战神》）等不断的寻觅，最终又回到了野兽（《原罪》）。雕塑家在他短短的几年时间里，用他一个接一个的系列作品，从始点到终点，画出了一个巨大的圆。这个圆，正如人们所熟悉的太极图，极抽象、极概括地体现了中国古典哲学的美与精粹。而雕塑家正是用他勾勒出的这条“从人到猿”的轨迹，在嘲笑了“从猿到人”的进化论的同时，揭示了人类苦苦追索的思想轨迹。假如说那个孤独面对狼群的武士反映了人类今天的整体困境，而用冷兵器战胜了导弹、航母的“天兵”反映了雕塑家对“人民”的失望，那么，这群猿的出现，则分明体现了雕塑家绝望中的呐喊。

　　面对现代文明，这个给人类提供了无限可能同时又暗藏着无限危机的怪物，雕塑家把这群猿用他习惯的方式列阵排开。我们听不到群猿无声的呐喊，也不知道这群野兽是“代人请命”，还是“替天行道”；我们更不好武断地推测“从人到猿”仅仅是雕塑家创作题材的随意选择，还是他深思熟虑、蕴含深意的天才之笔，但我们可以肯定地说：生物学的理论无论如何解决不了人类面对的基本问题。当“科学”超越所有宗教赢得地球上最多信徒的时候，当“进化论”培养出的“科学家”们发明了越来越多“转基因”食品和铺天盖地的化肥、农药、抗生素、维他命的时候，一江春水飘死猪，沉沉雾霾锁京都，“万物之灵”面临着从未有过的危险与挑战，“发展”的“硬道理”遇到了无数剪不断、理还乱的“软阻力”。虽然玛雅人的预言被证明系子虚乌有，但不断龟裂的土地、不断干涸的河流、越来越频繁的恶劣天气和自然灾害，让人们不得不审视自己的行为是不是“触犯天条”、因而开始遭到大自然的惩罚？

　　真的希望达尔文的理论是对的——当人类毁灭了自己之后，衷心祝愿猿们再次“进化”成人，开始下一个轮回。

　　人啊！人！

　　From Human to Ape

　　--the Philosophical Sense of Liu Ruowang‘s Sculptures

　　It seems cliché to call sculpture “condensed music” and music “flowing sculpture”. For me, any art form being sculpture or music only ascends to the zenith of art with a philosophical sense. Surely, highly abstract and theoretical philosophy differs greatly from direct and emotional art since they represent two different wisdom expressions of the cognitive world and the expressive world. That, however, enabled art and philosophy to take contrasts and transcend themselves at a higher level.

　　Liu Ruowang’s sculptures are philosophical ones.

　　I happed to see those wolves at 798 Art District, a little square for the first time while I was looking for an exhibition hall to attend a friend‘s opening ceremony.

　　Those sculptures were named Wolves are Coming, also the name for a widely popular story on children’s honesty, then, however, I didn‘t think of that story when I suddenly run into them. I was shocked, as if actually encountering those wolves on a wasteland and I still remember those feelings may be out of its unexpectedness.

　　Besides mass and dynamics, shocking art works demonstrate unexpected creations and measures. So Wolves are Coming does. These wild as well as sacred animals were “invited” there to waken the fear from the human’s pre-consciousness, meanwhile laugh at the human species-the winner of the “survival contest” over the past thousands of years. Also, people are forced to re-consider what on earth does the victory mean if this species， human‘s bitter enemy, disappear from earth? The evolution theory believes killing inside or beyond species is necessary for the survival of individual and species. Does that mean life’s ultimate goal is to eradicate other lives to save ours?

　　I shivered confronting those wolves. The fear was as real as the feelings experienced by some ancestor of mine on a wasteland thousands of years ago. However, my confusions are heavier and harder to solve compared to their choice between “running away” and “fighting for life”. I can‘t help worrying about the fate and future of human species given now wolf is basically vanished from our modern life, but more in story, legend or zoo. The world is dominated by human, called “the wisest of all creatures” by ourselves. We have been recklessly taking advantage of the resources on the planet, expanding the territory of “culture” as well as eradicating all “human enemies” for granted to satisfy our greedy desire and even beyond real necessities. Today, we are exposed to a more dangerous environment than our ancestors who run into wolves on a wasteland confronting the rapidly depleting natural resources, degrading environment and infinite greedy desires and ambitions. The warrior fighting the wolves seems incompetent and negligible. His solitude is more prominent than his bravery. Human and wolf share the same heroic and pathetic fortunes under the same circumstance. In Chinese, wolves represent brutality and cruelty. People injected their hatred into phrases like “wolfish ambition” and “be as cruel as a wolf”. However, the Buddhism believes“you create your own world”. Greed is far scarier than “coming wolves”.

　　Liu’s other works showcase the same “array”manner, all in large scale, shocking and empowering viewers to perceive philosophically. There seems to be a clear train of thought in his series as Red East、Martial Arts, Heaven Soldiers, Guard of Honor with Cars and Horses series, Original Sin. If we say thoughts were sparked on individual and group, the general public and hero, history and reality and singing and gunshots triggered by “revolution” from the singing strong Shaanxi man in Red East series,  then further thoughts were provoked on human to human, heart and things, literature and martial arts, right and wrong, peace and violence, mission and responsibility, victory and failure, grassroots and elites by the various people and solider from People, Martial Arts, Guard of Honor with Cars and Horses series.

　　Liu‘s works didn’t stop at the form and perceptual level, and were not restrained by personal life inquiry. He must have felt the weakness and helplessness when he finally found that the folks and warriors in northern Shaanxi created with his full passion wasted their power and loyalty just like those “terracotta warriors”buried underground for 2,000 years. People, a group concept embodied limitless hope, ultimate power, zenith of morality and even born legality of all politics, have been repeatedly created by sculptors with mud, bronze,pig iron, glass fiber reinforced plastics and his heavy, childish and even dumb group sculptures. Indeed, his works on “people” seem to be echoing with the chant of the underground “tomb figure” . The idealists would undoubted feel disappointed and helpless after highly regarded “people” being returned to “the general public”.

　　So, he turned his attention from underground to heaven. Heaven Soldiers series, the sculptor tried to get rid of the shadows of “tomb figure”, bandage of “human” and the helplessness of “groups”. The super powered “heaven soldiers” wearing ancient armor, hammering the missile, chopping the aircraft carrier are fighting one by one against modern weapons with seemingly original cold weapon, no longer charging in group. From this set of works, we perceived the sculptor‘s splendid and interesting imagination,， his soul once lost in legendary stories and Kung fu novels as a child as well as his ideal to counter modern civilization with traditional cultures. Still, we don’t know whether that transition from “people” to “god” give him new hopes or deeper sense of helplessness.

　　Finally, the Original Sin series were born. Giant apes standing on the vast land, as if they are telling a sad story on the distant horizon. Upon seeing them, I thought of the lines from Wronged Dou‘e Shaking Heaven and Earth cried out by Dou’e.

　　"I never broke the law， but framed to jail by someone evil

　　Cries shaking heaven and earth

　　Suddenly, my soul was into hell

　　How can I not blame the heaven and earth…”

　　The shocking, shivering and thought-provoking effects are well transferred to viewers through the giant apes‘ huge bodies and unspeakable expressions. Cries from these animals mixed with pains and sufferings, cries and silence, strength and weakness put ancient philosophical propositions before us: "Where did we come from? Where are we going?” and “Who are you? Who am I?”

　　I once again thought of those scary wolves and the warrior confronting them alone before these giant apes. From this lonely “man”, the sculptor created common man（The East is Red， People）, soldier （Martial Arts ）, noble man （Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water）, saint（Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water）, half man and half god（Heaven Soldiers, God of War）and finally came to beasts（Original Sin）. The artist drew a circle over the past couple of years with his series works. This circle, like the well known Taiji Diagram, represented the beauty and essence of Chinese ancient philosophy in a highly abstract and condensed way. While being sarcastic about the evolution from “ape to human”, he also revealed thought trains painstakingly sought by human beings with this trail from “human to ape”. If that lonely warrior facing the wolves reflected the plight confronting the whole human species, cold weapon’s triumph over “heaven soldiers‘” with missile and aircraft carrier meant disappointment of “people”, then these apes clearly symbolized the artist’s cries in desperation.

　　The sculptor arranged those apes‘ position in his usual ways. These are monsters provided people with infinite possibilities and dangers. We can’t hear their silent cries, and have no idea whether they are "pleading on others‘ behalf” or “enforcing justice on behalf of heaven”. What’s more, we don‘t know this “from human to ape” a random creating subject or a well thought one. But I’m sure that the biological theories can‘t solve the basic problems human face. As “science” wins over the most ever believers on earth rather than any religion, "theory of revolution” cultivates “scientists” developing more and more genetically modified foods and wide-spreading fertilizers, pesticide, antibiotics, vitamins, dead pigs floating in river and heavily smoky Beijing, "the wisest of all creatures” are facing unprecedented dangers and challenges, meanwhile, the “hard truth” of “development” have met numerous complicated “soft resistance”. Though Mayan’s prediction was proved wrong, facing the dried up land and river and more frequent bad weather and natural disasters, people still have to consider whether our behavior has betrayed the “rule of heaven” and are starting to subject to nature‘s punishment.

　　I do hope Darwin’s theory is right-when people came to their doom‘s day, I wish the apes could “evolve” again and start another circle.

　　Human! Oh, human!

By Tian Qing

2013.3.31

March 31， 2013

作者：田青