在文化资本透支的当下，回忆本身就是一种昂贵的奢侈。奇货可居的市场运作，也使回忆变为商品。在虚构的历史语境中，微缈的视角更是被贴以个性的标签。关注恒定而永久的精神维度，不啻于思想的冒险。因为，那很容易被资本权贵以金钱的天枰加以衡量，一旦失去媒体或所谓“主流话语”的聚焦，就以藐视的目光将其打入观察的暗角。

　　从这一点来看，刘若望的回忆与坚守近乎执扭。对投机者而言，民族的灿烂过于耀眼，不如躲入松荫，把酒欢盏，让沉重在无聊与虚无中消解。虚拟的图像，伪造的困窘大都描画着未来的极乐世界，以此来建立中国人已在审美上进入了后现代的进步体系的信心。回忆过去，也应当站在西方“他者”的视角来涂抹，伪造的民俗和色彩最可能轻松入围，太宏大而真挚的创造容易戳破假面，长袖善舞也自然会被揭去肤浅的表皮，从这一点看，刘若望的艺术“不合时宜”。

　　然而，刘若望创作的珍贵却又在于此。他出生于古老的三秦大地，残破的瓦当与兵马俑，使贫瘠的土地具有了历史的充沛营养，那是尚未发蒙就已开始吸吮的乳汁。同时，革命老区的特殊身份，也使这片土地涌现过无数的传奇和激情。大同社会和善良的祈愿是支撑秦腔的一口底气，那意味在他们忠厚的表情背后是无法言语的慷慨激昂。这些共同构成了刘若望艺术的根脉。

　　当他游走在西方艺术的技法长廊时，回忆似乎是内心呼唤着的号角，使他无法不驻足回眸。在他的作品中，民族的精神与其说是造型的表达，不如说是灵魂的一缕挂牵。看《东方红》，如看秦俑，通过无数均质的个体重复，产生排山倒海的力量，他们在为寻觅幸福而长久呐喊。观《人民系列雕塑》，却如读加缪，纯朴的人以西西弗般的执着将历史的巨石推到高点，具有调侃和反讽意味的却是，他们仍然生活在贫困与期待中，真可谓近乎宿命的悲剧。

　　而这种抵达元素的力度，不免让人被刘若望的思考维度所震动，毕竟，他刚及而立之年，这是都市男孩的消遣岁月，是花前月下的轻柔与曼妙，刘若望却以回忆的方式使自己的艺术浸透了三千年的文化血脉，这是何等的严肃与沉重。也许，回忆并不是唤醒一个时间，实际上是建构让魂魄回家休憩的场域，在那里最重要的不是对抗虚伪民俗的矫饰，而是让纯粹的记忆阻止尴尬的忘却!

　　清华大学美术学院博士研究生 韩雪岩

　　Memories and Arrivals

　　Liu Ruowang's Sculptures

　　In the current climate of cultural overspending, recollection is itself a  luxury.Rare commodities in the marketplace,memories have become  merchandise.Within the context of sham history, small details are even more a  mark of character.To focus on an unchanging and permanent world of imagination   is not just a theoretical gamble. It is very easy to be judged by the  standards of big wigs and in terms of money, and very quickly lose the  attention of the so-called 'mainstream',ending up in one's own dark corner.

　　From this perspective,Liu Ruowang grasps hold of and sticks close to his  memories.For a gambler, the glory of the people is too bright, it is better to  hide away,drink shots of liquor,and let boredom nd nothingness clear up heavy  feelings. Fictitious images and false difficulties are usually portrayed in a  future where it is established that Chinese people have already grown in  confidence with regard to the appreciation of beauty.Memories are the past,  and the general feeling is that one ought to create from the "Western point of  view",false folklore and colour is more likely to be accepted,overly fantastic  and sentimental masquerades that are easily seen through. Insuch  circumstances,opportunists will eventually be exposed as shallow. Within such  a context, Liu Ruowang's art is very different from the norm.

　　Liu Ruowang's creativity is particularly precious here and now. He was born in  the ancient land of the Qin , a land of broken roof tiles and Terracotta  Warriors, barren earth with only the nourishment of history;that was the milk  he began to absorb before anything else.At the same time,this revolutionary  area's special status also produced innumerable legends and intense emotion.  The ideal society and kind-hearted wishes are an important part of the Shaanxi  Opera;the passionate significance behind these expressions lies beyond  words.These shared characteristics of his land are the roots of Liu Ruowang's  art.

　　When he began to travel through the gallery of Western artistic techniques,  recolletions seemed to be a bugle call sounding in his heart,so that he had no  choice but to stop and glance back. In his works, the spirit of the people and  their words are modeled expressions,which one could also say are an important  thread that runs through his soul. Look at 'DongfangHong' and compare the  Terracotta Warriors, which through innumerable replications of the same  individual models produce a power that can topple the mountains and overturn  the seas. Liu Ruowang's figures, on the other hand, are searching for  happiness and stand forever crying out. Look also at the 'People Series'.If  you read Camus, honest people are like Sisyphus, constantly pushing the  boulder of history up a hill, which is a mocking and satiric picture,but the  figures in the People Series's are still waiting with anticipation even if  imporverished; one can genuinely feel that their tragic destiny is at hand.

　　Furthermore, the intensity of this feeling of arrival, cannot but make one  feelshaken by Liu Ruowang's inner world,after all,he has only just reached the  age when  one must take his stand', these are often years of distraction for  young men in the big city, it is a time of softness and gracefulness amid the  flowers and beneath the moon. But Liu Ruowang uses his memories to infuse his  art with 3000 years of history;to create his own realm of solemnity and  seriousness. Maybe recollection is not arousing a certain moment in time, but  in reality is the act of constructing a place where the soul can return home  to rest. The most important thing there is not the appearance of sham  folklore, but rather that pure memories can hold back the tide of  forgetfulness!

Han Xueyan

Qinhua University Fine Arts Institute,Doctor and Researcher,

2 February 2007,Qinghua University

作者：韩雪岩