进入21世纪的中国艺术界承接了20世纪后期的发展态势，更加在多元多样的方向飞驰，然而，人们在面对它的时候，感觉到了一种新鲜之后的习以为常，感受到了排山倒海之后的接受疲劳，静观其变则成为一种平常的心态。虽然市场仍然在亢奋中表现出了吸引眼球的力量，一夜之间和一以贯之的比照，通过偶然性和必然性沉淀了许多现实中的机遇，因此，人们对待艺术的心态也在悄然地发生着变化，敬畏、景仰的尊严被边缘化为一种新的大众文化或日常生活。可是，人们心存不甘，心中的理想或专业的期盼，还是希望艺术位尊于社会的神殿，能够被人们参拜和供养，抑或被有意义的收藏，成为文化的传承。人们也期望像对待历史上的一些名家那样，能够品读他们复杂的艺术渊源和曲折的发展脉络，通过文化的连接把它们看成是艺术的重要补充，并为之苦思冥想，或发现探索，让艺术在社会现实中发挥它应有的功能。

　　这不是一个缺少艺术家的年代。在这样一个年代中，艺术家如果能出人头地，哪怕是崭露头角，都需要大智慧。从17岁就离开沈阳踏进艺术圈的艾敬，在风起云涌的当代艺术界，不管是在北京，还是在纽约、东京，她总是以其特有的方式、用不同的艺术形式去表现自己的思想和理想，放飞梦想。由她作词作曲并演唱的《我的1997》为开端，她将一种貌似平铺直叙的表达，变成流行于公众之中并为公众喜爱的流行文化，反映内在的深层意蕴，同时又链接了主流意识形态中的重大事件。《我的1997》从个人情感出发，表现对香港回归的期盼，正是在小中见大的特殊关系中传达了作品所具有的独特的审美魅力。艾敬艺术都关联着她的生存体验，而在此基础上的累积到如今，身份在转化之中，艺术在发展之途，她给与我们的仍然是一以贯之的努力。

　　艾敬是一位充满梦想的艺术家，她的女性特质使得她多了一份精致和委婉。以爱来支撑的艾敬艺术，将人类历史上的一个永恒的主题变成她自己的专属，不断努力挖掘和拓展，并变换语言方式使之呈现出当代的特点。她的爱是那么的精心，却不深奥，她几乎是用最为平常的方式表现宏大叙事中的关联性，真真切切，犹如大珠小珠落玉盘。显然，艾敬艺术的观念性表达并非从抽象的概念中模糊人们的思维，她放弃了错综复杂的结构关系，还原了人们清晰的思辨，因此，在中国当代艺术圈中属于另类。她从“游子身上衣”——从她的母亲为她编织毛衣的爱心记忆中，想到古往今来千千万万的“慈母手中线”，从而通过爱来反馈人性中最基本的伦理，如此就有了《我的母亲和我的家乡》，她以唤醒集体意识的方式，用母亲群体的编织行为表现了人之大爱。这里，爱这一主题是不需要阐释的，因为它不难理解；爱也不需要太多的观念缠绕，因为爱是最为直白和平易的。尽管，艾敬这一爱的编织是复杂的，包括了巨大的劳动量，可是，人们还是能够非常容易洞穿这一主题的真谛。

　　艾敬艺术的特质除了在题材意义之外的就是她的观念表达。还是在爱的主题下，她对环境和生存的关注是以切肤之痛面向现实中的未来。一根一次性筷子来自自然中对应的树木，消耗筷子就是消费树木和森林，就是以环境的消费为代价。所以，艾敬以几万双一次性筷子所植造的一棵三米五高的大树，并以乌鸦落在枝头完成她发自内心的警示。如果说《生命之树》是一种观念的编织，那么，《棋子》的观念构造就像棋子的蕴涵那样更为简单、直白，却更容易生发多样化的阐释，也更富有文化内涵。人们由此会联想到错综的社会关系，以及人们像下棋一样的人生和事业的布局，还有类如战争中的各种谋划等等，开篇和结局都如一盘棋处于精心的设计、周旋、抗衡、应对之中，艺术的观念、构成也是如同棋局一样处于难以蠡测的变化之中，耐人寻味。艾敬的观念表达就是这样小中见大，简中现繁。

　　实现艺术目标的手段有多种多样，方案也有个性差异，尤其是在材质的选择上更是不尽相同。在当代艺术的表现中，材质从来没有像今天这样受到重视，也没有像今天这样丰富多样，并且出现了许多想象不到。艾敬对于材质有特殊的敏感，由此形成了她另一方面的艺术特质。从用几万双一次性筷子，到用无数人的旧毛衣毛裤拆出来的毛线，再到紫铜的手工锻制与外表烤漆，这些都与主题相关，艾敬的刻意与选择都是她反复寻思的结果。材质对于艺术观念表达的重要性，在艾敬这里得到了充分的论证，以《棋子》而论，可以有无数种低廉价格的材料去替代紫铜，64个棋子也完全可以磨压，可是，艾敬的判断是建立在精致艺术基础上的坚守，因此不计工本，追求的是与观念相符的最完美的艺术效果和心理安慰。材质的抽象性与表达观念的具体性，包括材质中的新与旧都反映了观念的切入点，一次性筷子的新是为了警示现实中的问题，而旧毛衣毛裤的毛线的旧是为了感受往日的爱的温暖，这种必须或唯一是艾敬对于材质选择的关键，是艺术的一种独特的讲究。

　　艾敬对于艺术的挚爱，决定了她对艺术的态度，因此，她能够费尽心机地处理艺术观念与材质的关系，不遗余力地投入巨大的工作量去完成一件又一件作品。她对于中国当代艺术的贡献是以爱心呵护艺术的情感，而她的艺术发展没有疆域和她的爱一样，成为人们一个又一个期待。
 

　　Upon entering the 21st century, Chinese art adopts the trends of late 20th century and moves fast forward into diversity. However, initialenthusiasm soon dies away and weariness wins over. People start to sit back and want to see what happens next. The market stillcauses great excitement and attracts a lot of attention. Yet our attitude toward art is quietly going through changes. We try to compare what happens overnight to what remains constant. We put more thoughts into chance and inevitability. The dignity of awe and esteem has been marginalized into a new form of popular culture or ordinary life. But peopleare not content. Because of their ideal or professional expectation, people still wish to put art on a pedestal in the temple of society to be worshipped and sustained, or to be put in a meaningful collection so as to become cultural tradition. Like with old masters, we wish to gain a glimpse into the complex foundation and winding path of development of their art. Through cultural links, we wish to regard these works as important addition to art. We think, we search and we let art play its appropriate role in reality.

　　Artists are plenty. However, one needs wisdom to stand out or even to emerge from obscurity. Ai Jing left Shenyang and entered the art circle when she was 17. The contemporary art world has always been turbulent. Whether in Beijing, New York or Tokyo, in her characteristic ways and in different forms she always expresses her thoughts and ideal and let fly her dreams. WithMy 1997--a song she wrote and sang--she turned the seemingly relaxed story-telling way of singing into a popular culture. It broughtout what lied deep inside her and connected with an important event in mainstream ideology. My 1997 took a personal point of view when it expressed its wish for Hong Kong to revert to China. Its charm lies in its ability to address the big issue when talking about the small ones. Ai Jing’s art works are all closely related to her experience. She has come a long way and her identity keeps changing. Her art is developing and she always tries hard.

　　As an artist, Ai Jing is full of dreams. Being a female, she is also refined and graceful. Her art is supported by love. She has chosen to work on a topic of which man never gets tired. She dives into it and expands it, changing her languages to incorporate the characteristics of our times. Her love is delicate but not abstruse. She uses the simplest of methods even when dealing with very grand events and, as a result, the effect is real and clear. Her art is conceptual yet she does not try to confuse us with abstract concepts. She has abandoned complex structural relationships and brought us back to clear thinking. Therefore she stands apart from mainstream contemporary art circle. Her thoughts went from “clothing on the back of a wanderer”—fond memory of sweaters her mother made for her, tothe countless “threads in loving mother’s hand” throughout time. Using love to reflect basic human ethics, she made My Mum and My Hometown, where collective consciousness is awaken and knitting by mother and other relatives is used to reflect the love of fellow human beings. Here it is unnecessary to discuss love because it is easy to understand. Love does not need any concepts since it is straightforward and unassuming. This knitting of love might have been complicated sinceit required much labor. But it is easy for us to see its true meaning.

　　Not only is her choice of theme significant, her conceptual expression is also unique. It is about love again and this time environmental and survival issues have caught her attention. She looks painfully to a bleak future. The throwaway chopsticks are made of wood and therefore of trees from the forest. Wasting chopsticks is equivalent to killing trees and forest that could lead to destruction of environment. Ai Jing made a big tree with a height of three and a half meters, using tens of thousands of throwaway chopsticks. A black crow perching on the branches is ominous. If The Tree of Life is a knitting of concepts, then the conceptual framework behind Piecesis simpler and more straightforward, just as the board pieces themselves. But here multiple interpretations are allowed and there is more cultural content. It could allude to complex social relations, life and career arrangement, or even war strategies, all of which have starts and ends as in a game of Go. They all need to be planned, dealt with, fought and responded to. The conceptualization of art is as unpredictable as a game of Go, too. Again, Ai Jing successfully tackled a huge and complicated task in her small and simple way.

　　There are many ways to reach one’s artistic goal. For one thing, there are many materials to choose from. Materials have never been emphasized as much as they are today. There has never been this much variety, either. As a result, we see many things that we never expected before. Ai Jing has a special sensitivity toward materials and this is another one of her characteristics. Throwaway chopsticks, yarn of old sweaters, or hand-forged copper--they all correspond to her theme and are the result of her deliberate choice and careful thinking. The importance to art expression of material is well proved here. There are many cheaper materials to use instead of copper. The 64 pieces could also be molded. But Ai Jing is persistent in her pursuit of refinement. She is not concerned with cost but the best way to achieve perfect artistic effect and psychological comfort that are in line with her concept. The choice of old or new material is also deliberate. The “new” of throwaway chopsticks is warning of problems in reality. The “old” of old sweaters and sweatpants is to remind us of love’s warmth of past years. She must use this material and she will only use this material. It is how she makes her decision. Such refinement is distinct in art.

　　Ai Jing’s love of art has determined her attitude toward art. She goes through great pains to achieve rapport between concept and material. She spares no effort when creating art works. She uses love to protect art and thus makes her contribution to contemporary Chinese art. Her art has no borders, like her love. We can always expect more from her.

作者：陈履生