西方艺术界对中国当代艺术的关注，基本上肇始于上个世纪九十年代。那时的中国当代艺术虽然有着较为独特的本土表现方式，也的确令人兴奋，但终究波普趣味过于浓重，让人担忧这种对西方业已过去的艺术思潮，在形式上外在模仿的迷恋，多少会伤害到对自身伟大传统的继承，从而走上一条迷失之路。

　　与此相反，中国某些方面的艺术传统，却成为了西方一些重要艺术家的创作营养。大卫·霍克尼对中国古代绘画有关透视、结构以及光线深有研究，他甚至认为荷兰绘画大师伦勃朗从中国陶瓷的彩釉中获得了创作的灵感。同样，在安东尼奥·洛佩斯的一些作品中，也可以感受到他和中国古代一些绘画大师一样，在精神层面上对于艺术高度的追求。

　　在近几年的创作中，中国当代艺术家似乎对这个问题重新进行了反思，有关自我身份的认知，有关传统和当代的定位，有关不可或缺的历史的意识，逐渐在一些自觉的艺术家身上显现出来。英国诗人T·S·艾略特曾经说过：“不但要理解过去的过去性，而且还要理解过去的现存性，历史的意识不但使人写作时有他自己那一代的背景……同时也使一个作家员敏锐地意识到自己在时间中的地位，自己和当代的关系。”（见《传统与个人才能》）作家和诗人如此，艺术家也不例外。

　　毫无疑问，雷子人是具备这样历史意识的一位艺术家。在他的作品中，我们看到了东方美学传统彰显出来的力量，绵延不绝，中国古代大师如倪瓒、陈洪绶、八大山人的一些经典意象，时常穿插在他的画面中；同时我们也看到了马克·夏加尔、巴尔蒂斯的色彩和构图对他的影响。正如他最新创作的向元代大师倪瓒致敬的“一河两岸”，雷子人似乎站在河中间，东西方的美学体系成为他的“两岸”。他既在寻找传统，传统也在寻找自己的继承人。流亡诗人约瑟夫·布罗茨基有一首诗叫做《黑马》，诗中喻示了马与骑手、诗与诗人的相互寻找的微妙关系。艺术创作大体也不外乎如此：传统与当代的关系，作品与艺术家的关系——“它在我们中间寻找骑手”，雷子人或许就是那个被选作骑手的幸运儿。

　　Looking for a Rider amongst Us

　　Juan Carlos Moya Zafra

　　Around the 1990s, western art circles first cast their eyes upon contemporary Chinese art which at

　　that time though possessing a unique and intriguing local representation still concerned people that

　　its obsession with formally imitation of the obsolete Western pop art might somewhat damage the

　　inheritance of our great traditions and thus went stray.

　　On the contrary, some important Western artists unexpectedly drew nourishment from Chinese artistic

　　traditions. David Hockney has done profound studies of perspective, structure and lights of ancient

　　Chinese paintings and further claimed that the Dutch master Rembrandt acquired his creation muse

　　from Chinese colored ceramic glazes. Moreover, in some of his paintings, António López García

　　clearly expressed a spiritually pursuit of high-end art, same as those ancient Chinese painters did.

　　In recent years, contemporary Chinese artists seem to have gained a new perspective on this matter

　　and some artists even consciously redefine their self-identities, positioning of tradition and modernity,

　　as well as the indispensable historical awareness. British poet T·S· Eliot once said: "and the historical

　　sense involves a perception not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical

　　sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones…And it is at the same

　　time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his own contemporaneity."

　　(Tradition and the Individual Talent). Not only the writers and poets are as such, the artists are no

　　exception.

　　Lei Ziren undoubtedly possesses this historical sense. In his works, we can see both a continuous

　　strength of traditional oriental esthetics like several classic images of such ancient Chinese painting

　　masters as Ni Zan, Chen Hongshou and Zhu Da and an influence of Marc Chagall and Balthus on him

　　in terms of color and composition. Just as his latest work "Two-bank River" which was created in

　　honor of the Yuan Master Ni Zan suggests, Lei Ziren is standing in the middle of a "river" with eastern and western esthetics being the "Two Banks" respectively. He is pursuing the tradition which happens

　　to search for an heir.

　　Exiled poet Joseph Brodsky composed a poem Black Horse, in which he metaphorically showed the

　　subtlety of mutual-searching between horse and rider, poem and poet. Artistic creations are more or

　　less the same: relations between tradition and contemporaneity; between works and artists-"It's

　　looking for a rider among us" and Lei Ziren, perhaps, is the lucky one to be chosen.

作者：胡安·卡洛斯·莫亚·萨弗拉