马丁·韦默尔介绍

    成国琴
    马丁·韦默尔是一位地地道道的画家；他1966年出生于德国海廷根，受过专业学院绘画教育，获得过欧洲艺术奖，除了在商业画廊的展览，他的作品还出现在艺术博览会和博物馆，如苏黎世艺博会、巴塞尔博物馆和天津美院博物馆等。马丁精通艺术史，敏感于当代艺术风向，他除了绘画以外，还擅长于艺术教育，参与中德艺术交流项目的教学工作等。
    画如其人，他大胆的笔触和高雅的色彩是他作品给人的印象，作品的画面展现着他高超的技巧、超凡的才智和细致入微的体察。他的作品来源于内容丰富的西方绘画艺术史，这点在材料、构图、设计和空间等绘画独有的方面表现得尤为突出。
    马丁自2008年获得艺术基金来华创作，他的作品经历了几个阶段：早期的大幅油画作品有着强烈的几何型色快、倒置或变形的孙悟空图案、肢体和面具，以及近来的将具象带有观念意义的抽象表达。这些作品都试图在突破一种法则，将具象意象兼收并蓄，强调一种超越了抽象表现主义、具有国际视野的形式主义。
    绘画语言最纯粹部分不是外在的形象，正如中国的“象”，不是外在的“物象”，而是表达心性状态；这也是马丁作品给我们的启示。
    正如批评家柴中建写到：马丁是颜料和笔的使用者，但他不需要借助型和别的东西，直接留下属于他自己的笔触。这是马丁的画，而不是别的，或者理念的东西，在这个意义上，他为人们提供了新的经验和视角。文明的多样性以及被打开的天窗就会越来越多。
    最初结识马丁是他做为2008年798双年展的国际策展人之一，由于他沉默寡言，当时并不知道他是个画家；直到2010年，经前任德国大使施明德夫妇的推介才开始了解他的绘画。他的画通常需要时间来理解和消化，一旦喜欢会爱不释手。马丁骨子里那种德意志精神，在他的作品中突出体现：精益求精和一丝不苟；正如他人一样他的作品不取悦、不谄媚，每一幅作品都是深悉熟虑和调查研究后开始创作；他绝对不是高产艺术家，一年平均30幅左右；我称他为研究性画家。
    对于马丁而言，绘画是他的生命。
    MARTIN WEHMER
    AN INTRODUCTION
    Catherine Cheng
    Martin Wehmer is a true painter by almost any definition.  Born in 1966 in Hettingen, Germany, he became a practicing painter after receiving his formal art education in Germany. He has received several art awards by the Academy and Art Fund in Europe. His work has been exhibited in art fairs and museums, including the Zurich Art Fair, the Museum in Basel, as well as the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum. 
    As being proficient in art history, Wehmer 's knowledge extends to include issues of international contemporary art.  He is a dedicated painter as well as an art educator. In his role as art lecturer at CDK Hangzhou, a joint program with UDK Berlin, he facilitates art exchange programs between China and Germany.
    To quote an old Chinese saying, "the painting reflects the painter himself". One's first impressions of Wehmer's bold strokes and elegant colors are confrontational. Upon closer examination, his work demonstrates extraordinary skill, concise and intellectual investigations, that are pursued with great conviction. 
    Originating from the annals of western art history, the paintings are concerned with issues of material, structure, place, and space – issues that are distinctive to painting.
    Wehmer's turning point came in 2008, the year he came to Beijing as a resident artist with an art grant from Switzerland. He has been painting in China ever since.
    His China paintings include epically sized panoramic canvases of geometric blocks, inverted or distorted Sun Wukon graphics, and fragmented limbs and heads that seem to create a sense of unease and regret. 
    His recent works are composed of recognizable images carrying conceptual significance by means of his abstract expressionist technique. In particular, The Green Woman with a Paper in Hand is a breakthrough in his painting, as it juxtaposes the image into the imagination, implying a concept behind the image. As a result, his work initiates an international form, which pushes beyond the limits of abstract expressionism. 
    Vitality in the language of painting is more concerned with expressing emotion and affection than it is about representing an actual image. The Chinese character Xiang means image in English, although its meaning in Chinese is not about the physical appearance, but rather, the mental one or the one in one’s heart. Wehmer succeeds in giving a certain answer to this question through the emotive power of his work.
    Chai Zhongjian, an art critic and philosopher, states that “Martin Wehmer is absolutely the user of paints and brushes, he simply creates the brush strokes that belongs to him, without the need to employ outside elements."
    This is what Wehmer's paintings are all about. He provides us with a new experience and perspective, which enables us to see more clearly through the diversity of civilization and opens the window onto a new kind of reality.
    I met Martin for the first time in 2008 while he was the co-curator of 798 Art Biennale. I did not know that he was a painter at the time, as he was a man of few words. In 2010, he was reintroduced to me by the previous German Ambassador Shaefer and Mrs. Shaefer, and it was only then that I got to know his work.  Initially, it was a bit difficult to understand or to accept, but once I learned more about it, then I loved it much more. There is an undeniable Deutsche spirit in Martin Wehmer, which he expresses through his pursuit of perfection and strictness in his creativity. Just like the person himself, his work never intends to delight or appease the viewer. 
    Every work contains extensive research and contemplation. With an average of 30 works each year, he does not produce more work than is necessary. I therefore prefer to call him a "research painter".
    As for Martin Wehmer, painting is all about his life.
    English translation edited by Pengfey Huang and Patty Hudak.