绘画病毒

绘画病毒

绘画病毒

时间:2009-07-31 11:00:32 来源:

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关于高风艺术作品的嬗变推论

了解一位艺术家的作品,最好的方式是看其一贯的作品演变,这样能够更加清晰地看到艺术家所关注的焦点问题何在,以及艺术家在如何努力呈现这些问题。一位艺术家往往会长期投入地关注一些焦点问题,并长期为此工作。从一系列的作品中,可以看到这位艺术家持续不变的关注点,这样就形成了艺术家作品的个人化特征。从艺术家作品面貌的变化,可以看到艺术家如何逐渐解决这些问题的轨迹,进而发现艺术家施展智慧的方式。要了解高风近期的绘画,也需要观察高风艺术作品的嬗变脉络。

我最初看到高风的作品,是他在2001年实施的行为艺术作品《洗礼》。在那件作品中,高风把自己的两针管血液与自己200克的精液混合用来刷牙漱口。在当时“尸派”艺术颇为盛行的年代,高风的这件行为作品倒显得有些温柔和幽默。三个月攒出来小半吊瓶的精液,想必也费了高风不少功夫。无论如何,这件作品还是让我感受到了高风当时在宋庄生活的片断。我那时强烈地认为,艺术与生活具有骨肉相连的逻辑。依次为标,高风的行为作品并不是那么不可理喻,甚至还颇为需要一些袒露自己私人生活的勇气和艺术创作的信心。2000年前后在北京有不少这样的年轻艺术家并不计较获利多少,尽力去做自己认定的非凡之作,行为艺术就成了这些艺术家标榜与宣泄的最佳方式。现在看来,那时也算是行为艺术的一段黄金时期。在中国的美术教育中,行为艺术缺失的最为严重。一是由于我们的传统文化对认识和使用身体抱有更多的禁忌,再者常常被不明就里的美术保守者将其妖魔化。

中国的行为艺术家,大部分的教育背景是绘画、雕塑这类传统艺术。因此对于这些艺术家而言,在行为艺术、绘画、雕塑等不同艺术方式之间跳来跳去是很平常的事。高风在这些艺术方式之间的转换,也是一种自然而然的选择。高风观察显微镜下的物体给他带来了创作微观生物形象的灵感,但这只是一个事件性的解释。高风早期的行为艺术作品与其同时期的绘画《魔幻的橙子》包含了共有的一些特征,如对常识的有意误置(血与精液的混合物用来刷牙、将屁股命名为橙子)、与身体暗示有关的微观生物形态(精子、躯体上的未明斑痕)等。这些特征,构成了高风艺术作品的基础形态。

高风将他的绘画作品命名为“前世”和“今生”两大系列,主要是因为作品表现的题材在时间线上似乎有比较明确的分野。“前世”系列,是以微观生物对中国古代绘画中的形象进行改造。“今生”系列包括《魔幻的橙子》、《手稿》、《蓝色细胞》、《魔幻现实》等不同的系列,也都包含了微观生物形象的描绘。在创作时间上,“前世”和“今生”系列也是交叠在一起的。因此“前世”和“今生”系列并不是高风绘画作品创作逻辑本身的时间线索,只是从绘画的题材上做了一个区分。包括高风本人也困惑于“前世”和“今生”在创作时间线索上的混淆,原因就在于这两个系列没有真正的创作先后的逻辑。也就是说在创作上这两者的方式没有什么根本的冲突,也不可能通过这样的命名来理解创作的发展脉络。我倒倾向于将“前世”、“今生”所暗示的时间线索淡化,不从题材的时间序列角度看待高风的绘画作品,这样其绘画作品的方式能够更加清晰地呈现出来。通过高风创作活动原有的时间序列,就能够发现他的绘画作品的实际嬗变历程。

在发现了微观生物的形象之后,高风先将这种形象直观地转变为图案化的抽象风格,如《蓝色细胞》系列(2003年)。再用这些微观生物形象改变中国古代绘画,如《前世》系列(2004-2007年),并与现实的场景融合,如《魔幻现实》系列(2006-2007年)。这些微观生物的形象从自身的绚丽绽放逐渐感染到历史和现实之中,如病毒一般确立了和外在世界新的关系。所有这些绘画作品的方式在《手稿》系列(2000-2006年)里,以微观生物形象草图的形式将谜底呈现给观众,这个系列也是高风最具个人特征的作品。

绘画的无解

初次看到高风《前世》系列绘画中的《生物四季货郎图》(2004-2006年),让我感到相当惊诧。这件作品共4幅,每幅高有3.5米,挂在他的工作室里如同壁画。绘画作品的尺度是非常重要的形式因素,大尺度的作品会增加视觉上的张力。这件作品将明代的《四季货郎图》中人物形象转换为高风招牌式的面孔,将其中的物品转换为微观生物的形象。高风的这种手法,也同样运用在《前世》系列绘画里中国古代山水画中的景物描绘上。微生物形象在所有这些画作中的出现,使它成为“中国古代绘画病变”的“病毒”。《前世》系列借用了中国古代经典绘画作品作为基底,用微观生物形象对其进行改造。这些古代绘画所呈现的平面化造型,使图案化的微生物造型很容易与之结合起来。

《前世》系列开始创作的年代早于《魔幻现实》系列,属于高风比较晚近的绘画作品。我并不认为高风对这些中国古代绘画经典作品的改造,带有传统文化批判的特征。因为同样的手段,也被高风用在较晚出现的《魔幻现实》系列绘画作品中。这种对绘画中形象和场景的病毒式侵入,是高风艺术创作的基本态度,带有调侃和破坏性的倾向。我们并不需要强调太多的绘画内容,就可以从高风的绘画作品中看到对解读意义的虚无态度。或者说高风在其绘画中,将对意义的探索工作脱手给观众自己。《前世》系列的意义解读可以结合每幅古代经典绘画的意义予以延伸,也可以指将其解读为一种装饰性的绘画改造,或者作为百无聊赖的绘画游戏。也许可以将其理解为意义解读的临界状态,是对“意义解读”这种思维方式本身加以否认的消极方式。正因为微生物形象对任意形象可以进行肆无忌惮的病毒性蔓延,使高风所虚拟的带有超现实主义恶梦风貌的作品方式成为一种具有偏执狂倾向的世界观。

高风用微观生物形象所构造的,是一个封闭性的绘画世界。这个世界在《前世》系列中,因为对那些中国古代经典绘画老古董的借用而加重了其窒息性。在这个蔓延着“病毒”的空间里,外部现实世界连一丝暗示都不存在,只有艺术家对绘画一丝不苟的疯狂窜改。艺术家建立的世界是一个如此纯粹的艺术世界,但对我们的理解力来说如同挑战。高风的游戏规则,是让已经建立了生活秩序感的人们看到《前世》会产生恍如隔世的精神变异,让理解力危机者可以轻易找到一种答案。或者说,高风的《前世》系列能够让所有的意义解读失声退场。因此我愿意将高风的绘画,视为可以引发出各类意义解读的危机的一种有效方式。《前世》系列绘画中将经典绘画与莫名“病毒”的嫁接,等同于将“有意义”与“毫无意义”进行了粗暴嫁接,使对这些绘画作品的意义解读成为观者完全可以摆脱任何来自艺术家的意义暗示的自动行为。但是,观者是没有能力逃出高风所设的“意义解读苦恼”这个局的,甚至包括高风本人。当艺术品按照某种给定的游戏规则被创造出来,它的独立性能够抵挡来自艺术家本人和观众双方的“意义解读”。就像高风在《前世》系列绘画中所借用的那些中国古画一样,已经无尽地悬置在意义解读的历史长河之中。任何个人都已经失去了检验这些绘画的终极意义的资格,因为那是历史,是人类不断繁衍意义的过程。《前世》系列绘画最大的风险来自于人们是否对这样的方式保持关注和思考的兴趣,这也同时是对高风艺术创作能力的挑战。这涉及到这些作品的公共性问题,这些古画和高风的“病毒”能否在不同文化背景和不同时代的观众心里产生效力。即便转化到《魔幻现实》系列绘画里对现实形象的介入,这个问题仍然存在。因为绘画乃至艺术,是一种不适合纠缠于意义解读的人类活动方式。艺术包括绘画提供的快感,来自于我们的感官直观,它的价值往往正在于对意义解读的不断修正。

 “病毒感染”的绘画

《前世》系列绘画忠实于对中国古代经典绘画的构图和部分画面形象的摹写,给我了一个重新感受这些古代杰作魅力的机会,这是高风这些绘画有意思的一点。高风对这些经典作品非常精致的描摹和改造,使这些作品比那些逼真的复制品更能激起我对这些作品的观看热情。这种感受,非常不同于杜尚为达·芬奇的《蒙娜丽莎》添加胡须的正统现代主义用来颠覆传统的方式。《前世》系列绘画对古代经典的改造方式是一种非常个人化甚至私密化的改造,是对他人毫无借鉴意义的改造。因此高风的这些绘画作品所呈现的不是广泛文化性的话题,而是个人绘画趣味与选择的呈现。这一点,也许可以帮助我们理解为什么高风如此执着于这种“病毒感染式”的改造。

如果只看《前世》系列绘画的小幅印刷品,显然会使高风作品的艺术质量大打折扣。这是了解绘画艺术的不二法门,即一定要看绘画原作。之所以要特别提醒这一点,是由于《前世》系列从尺度到手法很容易由于复制品的改变而丧失其魅力。这也从反面证明,高风对《前世》系列绘画的形式把握相当成熟,充分地发挥了这一类绘画的不可替代性。绘画的创作过程,需要艺术家耗费大量时日以完成画面。单从高风创作这些绘画作品的数量上,就可以看到他是一位倾力专注的艺术家。也许正因此,高风在很短暂的时期内完成了一次次的创作嬗变,将他的“病毒”播散得越来越广。以传统绘画为创作契机,高风决不是一例孤证。但其“病毒”的变异还存在着一些未知,这些未知部分显然会产生强大的吸引力。高风那些脱离了艺术史和现实背景的“病毒”,会对我们造成持久的致命困惑,除非我们有意回避去正视这些作品。对《前世》系列绘画的无所言说,保持了我对高峰作品的观看热情。

我不愿意以艺术史或医学常识来印证高风的绘画,那样会使这些作品显得过于学究化和复杂化,丧失更多使作品获得歧义的机会,也损失了更多观看的乐趣。高风使用未明的微观生物来创作绘画,其富于装饰性的形象使绘画回到了一种与人的知觉相联的初始形态。这种绘画的初始状态与人的自然属性相平行,体现出类似人的本能生物性的气质。高风用那些“病毒”作为其绘画世界的源代码,对历史与现实进行虚拟化的编译,结果必然造成正常运作的系统的全面崩溃。而这一切无需太多的谋略,只需要高风孜孜不倦地勤勉工作就可以达到目的。高风的这些“病毒”,同样也检测到了我们自认为坚不可摧的常规世界的漏洞。

《前世》系列是高风“病毒”绘画趋于成熟的标志,从此他的微观生物形象获得了更为广阔的施展舞台。这些形象成就的不止是高风高识别性的绘画面貌,也将感染到如今日益高温的绘画艺术市场。仅仅看到这些“病毒”以绘画的方式不断地蔓延,也堪称当代奇闻一件了。

2007年8月5日于北京芳述居

Painting Viruses

Author Shu Yang

A discussion on the evolution of Gao Feng’s artwork

The best way to understand an artist is to analyze the changes undergone on his artworks through the course of time: to grasp the issues disclosed by his art and the method in which they are disclosed. An artist often remains focused on particular issues common to him and his style. From a series of artworks, it is possible to see how the artist faced these issues, thus discovering the artist’s way to make use of his wisdom. In order to understand Gao Feng’s recent art developments, it is necessary to pay attention to the development of his artworks in their entirety.

The first artwork made by Gao Feng that I saw is “Baptism”, a performance completed in 2001. In this work, after mixing 50 grams of his blood with 200 grams of his semen, Gao Feng finally brushes his teeth, and rinses his mouth with the mixture. At a time when the trend of “corpse-art” was the main tendency, Gao Feng’s performance was indeed filled with gentle and humoristic tones. The semen, which Gao Feng had been accumulating with efforts for more than three months, was less than half a bottle. In any case, this work enabled me to shed some light on the life Gao Feng led in Songzhuang. At that time I strongly believed that, art and life were driven by the same close logic. The subsequent performances of Gao Feng were more rational, but he needed a similar strong conviction in his art as well as a great courage in exhibiting his private living experiences. In the year 2000 in Beijing, many young artists, uninterested in profit making like Gao Feng, made what they strongly believed were extraordinary works of art. Performance art was the best tool for them to make themselves known and to be proud of themselves. In retrospect, it could be considered the golden period of performance art. Despite that, performance art is still the most ignored genre in Chinese art education. On one hand it is because Chinese traditional culture has inhibited people from knowing and using their own body as a resource; on the other hand, it is because it has often been demonized by those conservatives ruling the art field and unable to understand performance.

Most of Chinese performers have been trained academically in quite traditional media like painting and sculpture. Therefore, for these artists it is natural to jump from one artistic genre to the other, from performance, to painting, or sculpture. Gao Feng’s choice to move among different media is a natural choice. The organisms Gao Feng observes under the microscope have provided him with the inspiration to create his own micro organisms. But this is merely a literal understanding of his choice. Gao Feng’s early “Orange”, a performance piece and paintings in the same artwork, share some common elements, for example the sense of displacement they throw on purpose towards common sense (the mixture of blood and semen used to brush the teeth, or the artist’s naming the buttocks orange) as well as the use of forms of microscopic bodily organisms (sperm, or unclear spots over the bodies). These characteristics lay at the basis of Gao Feng’s art.
Gao Feng has named two of his series of paintings “Past existence” and “Present life”: these names derive from the fact that the paintings seem to belong to different periods. In the series “Past existence” the artist intervenes on ancient Chinese paintings by transforming them through the use of micro organisms.  The series “Present Life” which includes works like “Orange,” “Sketch,” “Blue cell,” “Mischievous reality” and other works, is a portrayal of micro organisms, as well.  These two series have been painted simultaneously so, they don’t follow the chronological order of Gao Feng’s creative logic, even if from the point of view of their content they portray and disclose two different periods. Gao Feng himself often feels puzzled by the chronological confusion involving “Past existence” and “Present life,” because these two series haven’t really been created following a chronological order. The creative process used to complete these two series is very similar, thus proving that people cannot understand the development of these artworks just through analyzing their titles. I am inclined not to emphasize the chronological order implied by “Past existence” and “Present life”, thus avoiding considering Gao Feng’s works just from the historical perspective expressed by the subjects he paints. I believe that in this way his painting style can emerge more vividly. But through the different chronological layers employed in Gao Feng’s works, it is indeed possible to discover the process of change undergone by his works.

After discovering the existence of  micro organisms through the use of the microscope, Gao Feng directly transforms this shapes into abstract patterns, like in the series “Blue cell” (2003), and “Past existence” (2004-2007), in which he uses these micro organisms to modify Chinese ancient paintings or in the series “Mischievous reality” (2006-2007), where he combines micro organism with real landscapes. The forms of these micro organisms from their florid blossoming gradually infect history and reality, like viruses that establish a new relationship with the outside world. So in the series “Sketch,” (2000-2006), the drawings of these micro organisms, seem to reveal the answer to the riddle for the audience: this series is one of the most original works by Gao Feng.

The unexplainable nature of painting

The first time I saw Gao Feng’s “Living organisms. Itinerant peddler in four seasons” part of the series “Past existence,” I was very surprised: the work consists of four parts, and each painting is 3,5 meters long. Once hung on the walls of Gao Feng’s studio this work conveys to people the feeling of standing in front of a fresco. Actually the size of a painting is a formal element which plays a key role, since large scale works are able to intensify visual tension. The characters of this painting, originally the Ming dynasty “Itinerant peddler in four seasons” have all been painted with Gao Feng’s trademark faces, and even the objects in the setting have been transformed into micro organisms. This approach has already been used in the previous series of painting entitled “Past existence” to describe Chinese traditional landscapes. The appearance of micro organisms in all these paintings has resulted in their becoming a kind of virus affecting infecting the pathology of traditional Chinese painting. Even if the series “Past existence” has employed Chinese traditional painting as medium; it has been transformed by adding micro organisms to the composition. The surface of traditional Chinese paintings and the figurative micro organisms are combined with great ease in a natural way.

The series “Past existence” has been created before the series “Mischievous reality” and represents Gao Feng’s recent artistic achievement. I don’t regard the changes Gao Feng has applied to these ancient classic Chinese paintings as a critique against tradition. This is because Gao Feng has employed the same methodology even in the series of paintings “Mischievous reality” which appeared later. This kind of intrusion in the structure and scenes of these paintings carried on through the use of viruses represents Gao Feng’s creative approach, and is filled with sarcastic and harsh tones.  Here it is not necessary to focus too much on the content of his paintings, since from Gao Feng’s works we can assume the ineffectiveness of giving an interpretation to the meaning of a painting. We can also infer that in his paintings, Gao Feng leaves the task of interpreting the meaning directly to the public. The interpretation of the meanings hidden in the series “Past existence” is the combination and the deepening of the interpretations conveyed by each single classic painting used by the artist. This interpretation can be seen also as a kind of “embellishing” the paintings themselves, or the already-bored and stiffed game of painting. Perhaps we can interpret it as an “in between” condition, a negation of the mentality which drives people’s minds to give interpretations to paintings. It is because microbes can infect any organisms with viruses that Gao Feng’s style is imbued with virtual tones, being filled with a nightmarish and surreal atmosphere, but nevertheless disclosing what turns out to be a bigoted world’s view.

Microbes in Gao Feng’s works give birth to a self-enclosed world, like in the series “Past existence”. The world disclosed in this series reveals even more clearly an impasse because of the use of old fashioned antiques. In this space where viruses spread, there is no room for the thought associations ruling the outside world: there is room just for the bizarre changes carried on consciously and meticulously by the artist. The world created by the artist belongs to the artistic realm, but it represents a challenge to our common understanding. The rules of Gao Feng’s game lead people to perceive that even if life has already been given an established sequence, “Past existence” can stimulate the birth of brand new spiritual changes. And this will help people unable to grasp firmly the meaning of his works to achieve an answer. In other words, Gao Feng’s series “Past existence” makes all possible interpretations meaningless and feeble. Therefore I like to consider Gao Feng’s paintings as a successful tool able to stimulate a crisis involving the interpretation of the different layers of meanings conveyed by an artwork.  The series “Past existence” combines classical Chinese paintings with viruses of various types, brings together rational and irrational elements. On this basis the interpretation of the artworks’ meaning completely belongs to the viewers who actively express their opinion independently from the ideas of the artist. Despite this, viewers are not able to free themselves from the difficulty of “giving an interpretation to the meaning of the artworks” wisely orchestrated by Gao Feng. Probably Gao Feng himself cannot either. But, when artworks are created according to certain fixed rules, their independent nature is able to resist the interpretation of meanings carried on by the artist and by the public. This happens for the ancient paintings employed by Gao Feng in the series “Past existence”, whose interpretation lies unsolved in the long river of history.  。Everyone has already lost the right to search the ultimate meaning of these paintings, because they have become history, a process in which human beings continuously produce new meanings. The highest risk of the series “Past existence” is trying to keep the interest and curiosity of the public alive. This is also a major challenge for the work of Gao Feng. This leads us to examine the issue of the public nature of these works, and whether these ancient paintings and Gao Feng’s viruses would be considered successful also in different cultural and historical contexts. This issue still remains valid also for the series “Mischievous reality” which shows Gao Feng’s interventions on reality. Painting and art are means to exercise human beings which don’t match with the worry about the interpretation of meanings. Art embraces the sense of pleasure derived from painting, derived from the viewers’ direct observation through their senses. Therefore the value of art consists of the continuous adjustment of the interpretations of art’s meanings.

"Virus infection" paintings

The series of paintings “Past existence” is the faithful copy from the point of view of the structure and of some details of some of China’s ancient classic paintings. This series gave me a new opportunity to appreciate the charm of ancient masterpieces: this is an interesting aspect of Gao Feng’s works. He exquisitely copied and at the same time changed these classic paintings, being able to arise my enthusiasm to watch these works much more than true to life copies would do. The feeling conveyed by Gao Feng’s work is completely different from that inspired by Duchamp’s intervention on Da Vinci’s Monna Lisa by painting a moustache on her face. This was aimed at overturning tradition through the use of conformist realism. The way in which the series “Past existence” changes ancient paintings is highly personal and even private: the artist remakes these works stressing the impossibility of drawing a lesson from somebody else’s experience. 
Therefore Gao Feng’s paintings don’t reveal any wide-ranging cultural issues; on the contrary they do reveal personal taste and inclinations. Maybe this aspect can help the viewers understand why Gao Feng has carried on “his infections under the form of viruses” so painstakingly.

The small scale reproductions of Gao Feng’s series “Past existence”, don’t give justice to the quality of Gao Feng’s works. So, in order to understand the paintings it is necessary to have a look at the real works. The reason why I want to stress this point is that the series “Past existence” from its size to its technique can easily loose its charm if seen in the form of reproductions. This also attests to Gao Feng’s painting technique maturity shown clearly in the series “Past existence,” and able to fully express the unique nature of this kind of painting. The artist has gone through a painstaking process to create these works. Looking at the number of paintings produced by Gao Feng, we assume his complete devotion to art. This can also be the reason why Gao Feng has gone through different changes one after the other in a relatively short period of time, thus letting his viruses spread more and more. The use of traditional painting as a turning point is not only Gao Feng’s characteristics. But, there still is something inexplicable about these various kinds of “viruses”: herein lies their attractiveness. Gao Feng’s viruses don’t have anything to do with history of art or reality. So viewers can feel puzzled by their sight. The only possible way to avoid this feeling, is avoiding interpreting. The fact that I don’t have anything to say about Gao Feng’s series “Past existence” proves my enthusiasm towards his works.

I don’t want to emphasize Gao Feng’s works either from the point of view of history of art or medicine, as may happen quite often. In this way, the works would appear rather pedant and complex, would lose their ambiguity and would lose much of the visual pleasure they convey. Gao Feng uses unknown micro organisms to create his paintings, but their richly decorated patterns stimulate the interaction with the viewers’ senses. This interaction follows people’s nature and embodies their instinctive disposition. Gao Feng makes use of viruses as the original code of his painting world, carrying on a virtual translation of history and reality. This inevitably results in the total collapse of the traditional way of working. Gao Feng’s art is not the product of deviousness; indeed it is the result of Gao Feng’s diligent and assiduous approach to art. Gao Feng’s viruses also examine the lack of conventions which people had always considered invulnerable.

The series “Past existence” attests to the maturity of Gao Feng’s “virus” paintings. This series allowed Gao Feng’s micro organisms to play a more and more decisive role. The success obtained by these micro organisms is not just a personal success. These viruses are successfully infecting also the Chinese painting market becoming hotter day after day. 
The fact that Gao Feng’s viruses continuously spread make them appear a kind of contemporary fantastic story.

August 5, 2007 Beijing, Fang Shuju

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