我向来把自己定位为一名画家。我非常钟爱自己绘画，但在这样一个文化，资讯，技术发展如此迅速的时代里，显然绘画已经不会再是以往的那个绘画，那个让绘画变得崇高，永恒的时代已经一去不复返了。在这样一个媒体时代、影像时代，甚至是影像的3D时代，我经常会这样发问，对于当下一张静态的绘画还有什么作用。之所以有这样的质疑，主要由两点原因：

一是来自对科学理性的质疑。一个人性被技术异化的时代，我们的文化和艺术随着世界的理性化不断走向世俗化。正如韦伯突显了宗教对于整体现代文化的特殊贡献，也点出在一个“解除魔咒”的现代社会中，宗教却被视为“非理性”的代表，本身即是人类历史中的一大“吊诡”。不过，韦伯也十分敏锐地觉察到理性化的“代价”，尤其对宗教来说，只是在现代的条件下，宗教的“神性”要求与其他价值领域（如经济、政治、审美与知性领域）可能产生的冲突日益严重，甚至宗教的皈依必须透过“理知的牺牲”来达成，于是宗教逐渐自世俗的领地撤退，它本身的“世俗化”似乎亦无可避免。

二是对艺术自身的质疑。在艺术的领域，同样地如同在世俗--科学的世界图像里，人类重回到世界的中心，只是不再利用巫术来控制灵异力量，而换成依靠经验科学的有效性，来操纵、支配着外在世界。问题是，科学的世界图像本身便属于一种思维的秩序，并倾向于接收宗教信仰中全体性的要求，它一方面强迫宗教退回到那“神秘体验中无从沟通”的原始状况中，另一方面却又理所当然地宣称对科学的绝对服从，已成为现代生活的“根本前提”。很快体现在当代艺术中，由于神性丧失，绘画中的永恒的“高贵的单纯”和“静穆的伟大”不再出现，绘画形象也从“真”，“善”，“美”转向对怪异，丑陋的细心描绘，艺术家以无所禁忌的状态张扬自我，美丽与恐怖.残酷与温柔并存，反艺术.反历史.我们以无法区分这是实验还是丑闻。这更加重了我的迷惑，失去了“神性”的绘画到底还有没有存在的必要？

无独有偶，中国当代艺术自上个世纪80年代，传入中国就一直颇有争议。中国当代艺术这三十年的发展是在“嫁接”和“引进”的过程中，在时间发生压缩性的紊乱中，在与传统艺术史的断裂中发展。自90年代后资本又进入到当代艺术圈内，艺术机制中渗透了商业化操作，以及社会环境的变化，当代艺术越来越趋向于平面化、娱乐化、甚至搞笑。政治波普、玩世现实、艳俗艺术到卡通一代都充斥着这种现象。从这个角度而言，当代艺术只能给我们带来一种浅薄的阅读。当代艺术这一现状既有艺术发展自身存在所致，也与当下社会我们越来越重视事物的表面，因为表面实在是好看，满足了我们感官上的审美愉悦，这种失去深度的平面化的当代艺术主宰了整个时代的审美文化有关。

当资本介入后，中国当代艺术就是一件特殊的商品，并且商业操作还将艺术赋予了很高的商业价值，这种与资本合谋的当代艺术更使我陷入了深深的迷思中。《风声水起》就是我多年对绘画艺术自身的反思和对艺术本体、绘画功能迷思的结果。我们曾纠结于艺术是什么？绘画用来表达什么？也曾让我们思考什么样的东西是艺术，什么样的绘画表达还在绘画的范畴里。现在我已经基本放弃了这种本体论的追问，甚至想抛弃艺术这个概念，以去艺术化的方式进行艺术创作。因为在工业化社会里，艺术已经失去了“光环”，艺术的神性化已经消失，与观众不再产生隔阂。每天都用大量的时间注视着电脑、电视和街头的LED大屏幕时，不确定的图像不断在我们面前变换闪烁，我们已经习惯了这种视觉的方式，视觉引发不了我们的思考。而这种视觉的方式却习以为常的被我们用各种方式消费着、娱乐着。综合上述各种原因，我总想以一种方式让观众不再以艺术的眼光看待我的架上的平面作品。

《风声水起》是运用传统架上的平面艺术来营造风水格局的作品，“风水,也叫堪舆。认为住宅基地或坟地周围的风向水流等形势,能招致住者或葬者一家的祸福。”这是《辞海》里对风水的定义。风水作为一项沿袭几千年的民俗,风水一直没有离开过中国人的生活。“五四”之后,官方和主流文化逐渐把风水归入历史的垃圾堆。在可以称之为“国粹”的东西里,它的下场恐怕最惨。然而,近三十年来,风水又重新活跃起来,各种风水大师纷纷出山,甚至大学教授也开始羞羞答答、遮遮掩掩地点评风水。前几年，南京大学“风水班事件”再次引发了风水是否是迷信的争论。说法各有不同，如今风水学也被大众普遍接受。因为其内容涉猎了术数学，天文学，地理学，心理学，环境艺术，建筑学等等，体系庞杂而多变，不易为一般人所掌握，因此一直带有浓厚的神秘色彩，《风生水起》就是想为观众消费、娱乐经典的架上艺术和传统文化搭建一个平台。当然，这个平台不在电视里、电脑网络上，更不是街头，而是在美术馆这样一个特定的空间内。

作品大概的面貌是这样的：“风声水起”就是利用美术馆的空间在墙面和地面上用传统的油画、版画、书法、摄影等对美术馆的空间进行风水营造，让观众按照作品指示图的引导下完成观看艺术的过程，同时也借以空间的风水营造来改变自身的磁场，从而实现对自身生命能量场的改造和提升，最后带走此风水阵和艺术欣赏的消费凭证——风水阵图（版画制作带印章）。作品的主要部分是四周的墙面是根据风水法师为风水阵制定的不同卦象的绘画，布局参考古老的悬空风水理念，画面的卦象是根据八卦方位而定，配以各种五行属性营造了一个良好的风水环境。作品的重点在于流年桃花位和财位的布置，我用两种方法来处理。在桃花位上以摄影、绘画提供给观者增加桃花运的方法，例如：摄影提供给观者在桃花位上自拍的姿势，而绘画可以作为增长个人桃花运势的背景，观众可以联同背景绘画一起拍下来带回家。在这里绘画和摄影只充当自娱自乐的人们的服务生，也许只有在这种情况下作为观者的朝向和作为被观者（绘画）的朝向他们是协调的，一起面向相机的镜头被拍

在这一境遇中，艺术作品不再成为艺术，它们在这里以娱乐化的方式被观者消费，与日常经验的其他消费方式没有区别。到此一游我们也正是以这种快餐式的方式与我们的文化、历史构建着这种关系。而神圣的艺术在此仅仅作为背景而存在着。

在作品的财位上我会放上一张代表财源滚滚的油画作品，它是聚财敛气的《聚宝盆》，在作品的边上展示出风水油画的基本理念，文化上的传承关系以及想定制此类风水油画的操作流程，提供订单、小样、价目。在这里一张风景油画已经偏离了艺术性的指向，取而代之的是具有聚财敛气的玄妙作用，而展览恰好是这种功能商业推广的策略。商业化的操作中只有客户和服务者的关系，艺术作品在这里必须符合商业委托的要求。中国长期以来商业一直被视为一门艺术，当下艺术也正变为一种商业的形态，无论是高端的市场和低端的都是如此。其中一个极端就是中国现代画作的不断普及，从发展的趋势上来看中国家庭的购买力也不断的增长，普通的老百姓也希望用艺术作品来装饰自己的家庭。中国的一些村落把工厂的流水装配线带入艺术家的工作室，大量制作油画复制品，据传言中国某些著名的当代画家也让助手来完成自己的作品，最后署上自己的名字。中国当代艺术的问题目前有点类似广告运作，类似与明星炒作，让当代艺术与时尚文化没有什么区别，中国的当代艺术已变质，把艺术当作奢侈品去营销，其作品自身就没有什么原创性。所以我在风水油画《聚宝盆》的制作过程中会模拟中国当代艺术市场化的运作方式，即要推广产品的理念又会展示产品的生产过程，以确保作品是由艺术家本人亲自完成，同时又要确保作品在理念到技巧上的原创性，然后用商业推广的方法把作品推广出去。当然大家都明白真正的艺术不是这样的，真正的艺术还是反商业的。可我想以一种赤裸裸的商业操作行为来反讽艺术商业化的运作诋毁了艺术的基本特征的这一现象。

假如美术馆中的《风声水起》的玄妙营造起了作用，我想当观者手持着风水地图离开这件作品的时候，那么对观者来说它就不再只是艺术，而变成了另一样东西。只有在观者对《风声水起》的功能产生怀疑的时候，它可能又会再次还原到艺术本体，没准才可能恍然顿悟艺术的真正魅力——永恒而崇高。

在这样双重建构语境下我无法为作品下一个界定，也许只能戏引禅宗经典所言“我说绘画，实非绘画，即非绘画，是名绘画”。

      

   

本文发表于《美术视线》2011年第2期  总第19期 四川出版集团  四川美术出版社  第12-14页    ISBN  978-7-5410-4750-3

同时发表于画册《宁波当代艺术30年》第48-57页

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Deficiency of Divinity and Confusion of Main Body

——Comments on Chinese Contemporary Art Invoked by Artwork<Turning out a Prestigious Institution>

By Lai Guoqiang

 

I always define myself as a painter, and thoroughly enjoy painting myself. However, in this epoch among which culture, information and technology develop so fast, it is obvious that painting is no longer the painting what it used to be, the age which made painting lofty and eternal has gone forever. In this media age, video age, even 3D age, I often ask what the functions of a static painting are. I hold this suspicion based on two main following reasons.

 

The first comes from my suspicion towards scientific rationality. As human nature is dissimilated by technology, our culture and art are increasingly trending towards secularism according to global rationalism. Just as Max Weber emphasized the special contribution that religion made to the entire modern culture; he also pointed out that, in modern society of “breaking the spell”, religion is regarded as the representative of irrationalism, which itself is quite paradoxical in human history. Anyway, Weber was keenly aware of the cost of rationalism, especially for religion. Under modern conditions, the conflict between the divinity requirement of religion and other value realms such as economy, politics, aesthetics and intellectuality field is becoming more and more serious, even the convert of religion must be achieved by the sacrifice of rationality, thus religion is gradually retreating from secular territory, the secularity of itself seems also unavoidable.

 

The second is my questioning about art itself. In this scientific-based world image, the artistic realm just likes the secular world, human comes back to the world center. They no longer use witchcraft to control mysterious power, but change to depend on validity of empirical science to manipulate and dominate the exterior world. The problem is, scientific world image itself is a kind of thinking order, and tends to receive complete requirement of religious beliefs. On one hand, it forces religion back to the original state that “cannot be communicated through mysterious experience”, on the other hand, it understandably declares its absolute obedience to science, which has already become “the fundamental prerequisite” of modern life, and it is soon embodied in contemporary art. Because of the loss of divinity, the eternal of “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur” in painting no longer show up; the painting images also convert from the description of truth, good and beauty to the weird and ugly, artists express themselves randomly where beauty coexist with horrify and brutal coexist with gentle. Anti-art, anti-history, we no longer can differentiate whether it is experimental or scandal. This stresses my confusion, is there any need on earth for the existence of painting without divinity?

 

It is not a unique instance, but has its counterpart. There has been controversy on Chinese contemporary art since it was transmitted to China in 1980s. The 30-year period development of Chinese contemporary art occur in the process of graft and introduction, in the time of constrictive disorder, and in the breaking of traditional art history. In1990s, capital entered the contemporary art circle. Artistic mechanism has come to pervade commercial handling. Plus as the swiftness of social environment, contemporary art is changing towards more complanation, entertainment and teasing. Political Pop, Cynical Realism, Gaudy Art as well as Cartoon Generation are all flooded with this phenomenon. From this perspective, what contemporary art brought to us is merely superficial reading. The current situation of contemporary art is not only due to the development of art itself, but also due to the aesthetic culture of our time which lost profoundness but complanation, we are paying more attention to appearance, because it is indeed gorgeous, which satisfies the aesthetic pleasure of our sense.

 

After capital intervention, Chinese contemporary art became a particular product, and commercial speculation has endowed art with higher commercial value. Contemporary art co-worked with capital made me in deep thought. The artwork Turning out a Prestigious Institution is the result of my reconsideration about painting itself, art ontology as well as art function. Now I basically have abandoned the questioning of art ontology, I even thought of discarding the notion of art, and go to create art by means of de-artisticization. Because in the commercial society, art has already lost “aura”, the deifying of art disappeared, no long having gulf with the audience. Everyday we spend lot of time on computer, television and street LED screens, uncertain images constantly twinkle in front of us and we are used to this visual way. Vision cannot initiate us to think, however, this visual way is consumed and entertained habitually via different ways. Based on those factors above, I have been trying on a special way to let the audience view on my canvas artwork not in the artistic perspective.

 

Turning out a Prestigious Institution is a piece of artwork using easel plan art to construct geomantic structure. The definition of “geomancy (feng shui)” in Cihai (a well-known Chinese lexicon and character dictionary, first published in 1936) goes like this “Geomancy is also called geomantic omen. It says that residential base or the terrain like wind direction and the current around graveyard can call for fortune and misfortune for families of the living and the dead.” As an item of folk custom following a history of several thousands years, geomancy has never gone away from Chinese life. After “The May Fourth”, the official and mainstream culture gradually threw “geomancy” on to the rubbish heap of history. Among those so called “the quintessence of Chinese culture”, the end of “geomancy” is feared to be the worst. Nonetheless, for the past thirty yeas geomancy has been back in revival, various kinds of “feng shui masters” emerge, even professors begin to criticize on geomancy bashfully and secretively. Several years ago, “Geomancy Class Event” in Nanjing University caused dispute about whether geomancy is superstition, there were different views. Currently, the art of geomancy is generally accepted because it involves mathematics, astronomy, geology, psychology, environmental art and so on. The system is numerous and jumbled as well as changeable, not being mastered by usual people, it has been bearing with strong mystique. Turning out a Prestigious Institution intends to establish a platform for easel art concerning audience consumption, entertainment classic and traditional culture. Of course, this platform is neither on TV or website nor on street, but in a specific space, saying, art museum.

 

The features of this artwork are to create geomancy in museum space using traditional oil painting, prints, calligraphy, photography on the wall and floor of the space, and let the audience complete the process of viewing art under in accordance with the guidance of instruction map. With the help of dimensional geomancy creation, the audience can alter their own magnetic field to realize transformation and promotion of their own life energy, in the end they take away consumption certificate of this feng shui array and art appreciation, Feng Shui Array Map (printed with seal). The main part of the work is surrounding wall developed according to different feng shui images planned by feng shui masters. The layout consults the floating feng shui concepts, the images are based on eight trigrams, accompanied by a variety of five elements to create a good feng shui environment. The focus of the work is romantic and financial arrangement. I use two methods to handle them respectively. In the lucky position, photography and painting serve as methods to increase the audience’s lucky chance. For example, photography can enable the viewers to photo themselves, while painting can be used as the background of increasing individual’s fortune. The audience can shoot and take home their portraits along with the background painting. Here, the painting and photography only act as a waiter for self-amusing people, and perhaps only in this case, the orientations of the viewer and painting are coordinated. They face the camera lens and are shot.

 

In this situation, artwork is no longer art, and they are here consumed by viewers in amusement manner, having no difference with other consumption ways related to daily experience. Through this fast-food style, coming for a visit, we establish the relationship with our culture and history. The sacred art merely exists as background.

 

In the financial position an oil painting named “cornucopia” is put on behalf of profits pouring in from all sides, indicating accumulated funds. Aside the painting, I will also show basic concepts of feng shui painting, the relationship between feng shui painting with cultural heritage, as well as the operation process of customizing relevant to feng shui oil painting, such as provide work orders, samples and price. A landscape painting has deviated from the artistic point, replaced by having a mysterious role of accumulated funds. In commercial marketing exhibition is exactly the strategy of this feature. Since there is only relationship between customers and service providers in commercial operation, artwork must comply with the requirement of commercial commission. In China business has been considered as art for a long time, contemporary art becomes a commercial form, no matter whether it is high-end market or low-end. There is one extreme that modern Chinese paintings gradually gain popularity. Judging from the development trend, Chinese household’s purchasing power is ceaselessly growing. Common people also hope to decorate their houses with artworks. And some Chinese villages bring factory assembly line into artists’ studios, producing a large quantity of painting reproductions. There are rumors that some famous Chinese contemporary artists employ assistants to complete their artwork, and sign their own name in the end. Right now the problem of Chinese contemporary art is somewhat similar to the advertising operations and star hype, making there is no difference between contemporary art and fashion culture. Chinese contemporary art is on the turn, art is marketed as luxury, and itself has nothing originality. Hence, during the process of creating feng shui painting “cornucopia”, I simulate the function mode of Chinese contemporary art market, not only promoting the concept of the product but also showing the production process to ensure that the artwork is finished by the artist himself and also assure that originality of the artwork both in concept and technique, and then publicize the artwork via business method. Of course, we all understand that true art is not like this but anti-commercial. I tend to use a blatant commercial operation behavior to question the phenomenon of art commercial operation that discredits the basic features of art.

 

If the mysterious creation of artwork Turning out a Prestigious Institution in museum takes effect, I believe that when the viewers leave holding feng shui map in their hands, for them it is not art any more but something different. Only when viewers throw doubt about the functions of this artwork, can it go back to art ontology. Chances are they may suddenly come to realize the true art charming-the eternal and lofty.

 

Under this double construction context, I cannot define this artwork. Perhaps the famous saying cited by Zen explains well, “I say painting, actually not painting, saying non-painting, name painting.”

 

 

 

 

Published on <Art Sight>     No.19    Second Issue, 2011

Sichuan Publishing Group   Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House

Page 12-14   ISBN 978-7-5410-4750-3

 

 

Also in Catalogue <30 Years of Ningbo Contemporary Art 1981-2011>

Page 48-57

作者：来国强