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彭鋒
在王彥萍于王府花園的寓所，聽她講她繪畫的歷史、意圖、困惑和欣慰，對她的藝術之路有了更加深入的理解。其實，早在04年我們就認識，而且有過交談，也關注過她的作品，但一直沒有機緣做深入的交流。那時她在美院讀博士，跟一幫比她年紀輕、資歷淺的同學混在一起，再加上她生性敏感，又不善言辭，因此多少顯得有些格格不入。後來在幾次展覽上都看到她畫的屏風，逐漸將屏風視為她的標誌。在當代藝術領域，成熟的藝術家都有自己的標誌。但是，王彥萍為什麼要畫屏風呢？按理，具有幾何結構的屏風，是不適合作為寫意國畫的題材的。她為什麼不在屏風上做畫呢？我希望通過面談，能夠解決這些多年縈繞在心頭的問題。 The Hidden & the Showing ---An Analysis of Wang Yanping’s Artwork
In her home, I listened to Wang Yanping talk about the history, intension, perplexity and gratification of her career as a painter. Actually, we met each other in 2004, we had exchanged words and I had been following her works since, we just never had the chance to talk in depth. At the time, she was obtaining a Doctorate Degree from CAFA, she was mingling amongst peers younger and less known than she, she has a sensitive quality and talks very little, and it made her seem somewhat out of place. After that, I had seen in exhibitions some of her paintings of folding-screens, which had lead to it ultimately becoming iconic of her art. In the contemporary art field, matured artists all have their own icons. So, why does Wang Yanping choose folding screens to be hers? Under normal circumstances, folding screens with their geometric structures are not suitable as subject for Freehand Brush painting in traditional Water & Ink paintings. Why doesn’t she paint directly onto folding screens? I hoped to find some answers to these long standing questions of mine as I spoke to her.
王彥萍78年考入中央美院國畫係。在讀本科期間，她總是感到國畫係同學畫的作品偏弱，不像油畫那麼強壯。當然，那時國畫係的教育，也免不了從素描色彩入手。王彥萍並不欠缺造型能力。為什麼國畫不如油畫那麼強壯？這個問題，一直縈繞在王彥萍心頭。本科四年畢業後，她都沒有找到問題的答案。
Wang Yanping enrolled in CAFA School of Traditional Painting in 1978. In her Bachelor days, she had felt that the works by her peers to be lacking in power, less powerful than oil paintings, needless to say, the curriculum of Traditional Paintings in those days began also with sketches and colors. Wang Yanping is not lacking in skills of structuring. So, why is it that the art in traditional paintings not as strong and powerful than oil paintings? This question had been on the mind of Wang Yanping over the upcoming years. After her graduation 4 years later, she had still not found the answer.
87年王彥萍再次考入中央美院國畫係，師從盧沉先生攻讀碩士學位。盧先生引進西方現代繪畫中的構成理論，與中國傳統繪畫中的經營位置對接起來，徹底改變了國畫的面貌。從此，國畫有了複雜的空間安排和結構關係，因而顯得強壯起來。王彥萍終於明白，國畫不夠強壯，既不是因為它的工具和材料不夠厚實，也不是因為它的題材不夠宏大，而是因為它的空間關係過於簡單和隨意，不能承載長時間的沉思。
In 1987, Wang enrolled into CAFA School of Traditional Painting once again, obtaining a Master Degree this time mentored by Lu Chen. Mr Lu Chen incorporated the concepts in Western contemporary art into the “positional arrangement” of Chinese Traditional Painting, and it had completely changed the appearance of Chinese Painting. From then on, there exist complicated spatial arrangement and structural relation in Chinese Paintings, thus making the artworks seem stronger. Wang Yanping realized, the lack of strength in Traditional Paintings is not due to the light-weight of its tools and materials, nor the insignificance of its subjects, but rather it is the over-simplification and the light-heartedness of the spatial relation that causes the artworks unable to withstand the test of lengthy contemplation.
90年畢業之後，王彥萍參加了許多重要的展覽，成了當代水墨的代表人物。不斷應邀出國展覽，也給王彥萍提供了拉開距離審視中國繪畫的機會。“不識廬山真面目，只緣身在此山中。”蘇軾詩歌所揭示的這種道理，人們在很多場合都有切身的體會。尤其在對於自身文化的特徵的認識上，如果不拉開距離，真不容易看得明白。斯瓦尼茨（Dietrich Schwanitz）也有一句名言：“我所看見在背後主宰你思維結構的，正是你自己看不見的。”要對自己的文化有清醒的認識，需要借助另一種文化作為跳板，需要借用他者的眼光來進行回望。20世紀初期去歐洲留學的宗白華，曾經有這樣的感嘆：“中國的畫，在世界中獨闢蹊徑，比較西洋畫，其價值不易論定，到歐後才覺得。”宗白華遊學歐洲之後，才發現中國畫的獨特魅力。王彥萍在歐美的遊歷，讓她對中國畫有了更加清楚的認識。她講到她參觀大都會博物館的經歷：當進入中國館時，那裏的作品和情景給她的明確感受，就是空靈。這種空靈感，在其他文化傳統中的藝術的映襯下，顯得無比清晰。王彥萍説，儘管她在國內的學習和教學中，經常碰到空靈這個概念，但對它的內涵一直沒有特別清楚的把握。直到她參觀大都會中國藝術館，這個概念的所指才算落到了實處。
Upon graduation in 1990, the artist took part in many important exhibitions, and had become a key representative of contemporary Water & Ink art. Frequently, she was invited to exhibit her works abroad; this had given her the opportunity to observe Chinese Painting from a distance. The message Su Shi tried to convey in his poems is probably something often experienced by people in various ways, especially when faced with the understanding of one’s own cultural features, if we don’t distance ourselves, it is difficult to see clearly. Dietrich Schwanitz once said: “I can see what dictates your thoughts from behind you; it is ironically what you cannot see yourself.” To have a clear vision of one’s own culture, there need to be another culture to act as a springboard; people needs the vision of another to see them own selves in retrospective. Only after studying in Europe, Zong Baihua began to see the unique charms of Chinese Painting, he once said: “On a global-scale, Chinese Painting is in a class of its own, compared with Western art, its values are difficult to define, I had realized this only after visiting Europe.” Zong Baihua had realized the unique charms of Chinese Painting after visiting Europe. Wang Yanping’s time in Europe also gave her a better understanding of Chinese Painting. She talks about her experience of touring Metropolitan Museum of Art “when I walked into the China exhibition hall, the clear feeling it gave me when looking at the artworks, was one of airiness.” This airiness, became so apparent in comparison with traditional artwork from other cultures. The artist said, though her education and curriculums had talked about the concept of this airiness, but for a long time, she was unable to grasp its contents. It wasn’t until she visited the China Hall of Metropolitan Museum of Art, had this concept been fully understood.
現在，王彥萍對於中國繪畫有了兩種截然不同的感受：一種是要有結構安排，另一種是要有空靈境界。在一般情況下，這兩種感受是難以相容的。有結構安排的繪畫，很難表達空靈；有空靈境界的繪畫，往往疏于結構。空靈和結構，甚至互為矛盾。王彥萍並沒有避免矛盾，而是迎難而上，她找到了自己要攻克的難題。
Currently, the artist has 2 completely different perceptions of Chinese Painting: one which emphasizes on positional arrangement, the other on the state of airiness. Under normal circumstances, the two hardly work well together. Paintings with strong positional arrangement incorporates airiness with difficulty, paintings which are airy often lack structure. It could even be said that the two ideas contradicts one another. Wang Yanping did not avoid this contradiction, instead, she faces this problem directly, for her, she had found the opportunity to solve the problem she had been contemplating.
王彥萍引入屏風，來解決這個難題。表面上來看，王彥萍以屏風作為繪畫題材，原因是她酷愛傳統傢具。屏風是中國傳統傢具中的獨特樣式。但是，中國傳統傢具種類繁多，比屏風重要的傢具也不少見。比如，同樣以明式傢具為題材，王懷慶就沒有選擇屏風，而是選擇了更加厚實的桌椅。王彥萍之所以選擇屏風，與她一直想解決的那個矛盾不無關係。
The incorporation of folding-screens was used to solve this problem. On the surface, Wang Yanping uses them as the subject of her art; she has an ardent fondness for traditional furniture. Folding screens are something special in the world of Traditional Chinese Furniture. There are an abundance of important furniture pieces in Chinese Furniture. The artist Wang Huaiqing, who also uses Ming-styled furniture as his subject, did not choose folding-screens, instead, he chose something more solid, tables and chairs. The reason why Wang Yanping had chosen folding screens is because of the problem she had always wanted to solve.
屏風可以打開，也可以合攏，可以做各種不同形式的擺放，從而對空間有不同形式的分割。由於屏風的出現，畫面上的空間頓時顯得複雜起來。王彥萍每次創作時，都要認真地經營位置，將傢具、人物和場景巧妙地安排在由屏風隔開的空間之中。但是，另一方面，屏風的目的是遮擋。由於畫面上採用了起遮擋作用屏風，王彥萍有理由説其實許多內容都隱藏在屏風背後，進而她就有理由在畫面上做簡化工作。簡化工作的結果，是空靈的感覺。由此，王彥萍將結構安排與空靈追求巧妙地結合起來了，其中的焦點就是起分隔和遮擋作用的屏風。
Folding screens can be opened or closed, it can be arranged into many different compositions to give the space different segmentation. The appearance of folding screens made the spatial relation of the painting seem instantly more sophisticated. In each of her work, she had carefully undergone the arrangement of position; she places the furniture, characters and the scene in a surrounding which is segmented by the folding screen. Another purpose of the folding screens is that it is able to hide things. The incorporation of the folding screen in her painting, gives Wang Yanping logic to say that there hides much content behind the folding screen, therefore it is reasonable to simplify things on the canvas. The result of this simplification, is the airiness. Thus, the artist is able to combine positional arrangement together with the pursuit of airiness; the focus is the folding screen which acts as a way of segmentation and hiding.
屏風在中國文化中源遠流長，它的物理形態和文化內涵非常豐富。王彥萍是這方面的專家，她的博士論文就與屏風有關。屏風的採用，很好地解決了王彥萍經營位置和崇尚空靈兩方面的追求。不過，人們更感興趣的問題是，屏風後面遮擋的究竟是什麼？有朝一日，當王彥萍將被屏風遮蔽的東西描繪出來，該是一種怎樣的情景？王彥萍的繪畫，會誘導讀者産生如此疑問。或許我們可以來猜想一下，隱藏在屏風背後的東西究竟是什麼。 Folding screens have an important position in the long history of Chinese culture, it is abundant in both physical appearances as well as cultural references. The artist is a specialist in this aspect of the culture; in fact, her Doctorate thesis was related to folding screens. The incorporation of folding-screens solved her dilemma between arrangements and airiness. What’s hidden behind it, is far more interesting. One day, when Wang Yanping reveals the hidden, what will we see? The works of Wang Yanping lures the audience to pose these questions. Perhaps we can only guess what some of the things hidden behind it are.
中國美學很早就注意到顯與隱的關係。劉勰《文心雕龍》就有這種説法：“情在辭外曰隱，狀溢目前曰秀。”這裡的隱秀關係，發展成為詩詞中的情景關係，書畫中的虛實關係。文學藝術作品中，外顯的背後隱含的是藝術家的情感和感受。王彥萍的作品也是如此，她把自己私人的感受隱藏在畫面背後，如果不深入了解她的內心世界，就很難完全讀懂她的作品。在這種意義上，王彥萍的作品並沒有背離中國古典美學的傳統。
Since early ages, aesthetics of Chinese art had paid close attention to the concepts of the showing and the hidden. Liu Xie said in his writing : “ feelings hidden beyond words can be called as what’s hidden, forms in obvious display can be called as what’s showing.” The showing - hidden relations in her works have been transcended into the emotional relation of poetry and the relationship between reality and unreality. In literature, the emotions and feelings of the writer hide behind the showing words. The same goes for Wang Yanping’s works, she hides her personal emotions behind the picture, if one doesn’t look into her inner spheres, it could be difficult for him or her to understand the works completely. In this regard, Wang Yanping did not deviate away from the traditions of classical Chinese aesthetics.
但是，在經過歐美的廣泛遊歷之後，王彥萍開始有點不太滿足個人情感的表達。她更希望她的藝術能夠進入公共領域，進入歷史和社會生活。由此，她開始了傢具系列的創作。在這裡，傢具代表的是中國傳統文化。她希望觀眾通過她的作品，能夠看到背後所隱含的傳統文化的輝煌和尊嚴。王彥萍把自己從個人小我中解放出來，融入文化大我之中。這時屏風背後隱藏的，就不是個人的心理和感受，而是中國人的集體無意識。
However, it too was after her extensive traveling in Europe, the artist became unsatisfied with the mere expression of her personal emotion in her work. She wished for her art to find its place in public circles, into historic and social contexts. From then on, she began her creation of the furniture series. Here, furniture is a symbolism of Traditional Chinese Culture. She hoped that the audience can see the glory and solemnity of traditional culture hidden behind. The artist liberated herself from the individualistic smaller-self and became at one with the cultural greater-self. Hence, what’s hidden behind the folding-screen is no longer a reflection of the personal psyche and emotions, but rather a collective unconsciousness of the Chinese.
毫無疑問，王彥萍的傢具系列作品是非常成功的。具有共同性的歷史的介入，讓觀眾更容易進入作品，在作品中獲得共鳴。但是，王彥萍並沒有就此打住。在她心目中，對於文化的懷鄉主義感嘆過於精英主義，那種輕飄的風花雪月與當代中國人沉重的生存實際相距甚遠。她希望她的作品能夠引起觀眾關於現實的思考，讓自己的作品與當代中國人的社會生活發生關係，這樣她才會感覺到更加踏實。換句話説，在王彥萍看來，只有與自己的真實生活發生關係，作品才會接上地氣。由此，王彥萍開始了她的“聚”系列作品的創作。
Wang Yanping’s furniture series were beyond doubt, a success. Through a common understanding of history, her audience is able to have a strong grasp on the works, and resonate with it. However, the artist didn’t stop there. The nostalgic moaning for traditional culture seemed so elitist, those aloft and romantic themes are too far-fetched from the current difficulties Chinese people face in everyday life. The artist hope to arouse thoughts among the audience about the reality, to enable her work to interact with life in contemporary China, only then can she feel at ease, in other words, Wang Yanping believes that, only when there is a relationship with her own life, can the artwork be of wholesomeness and be at one with the surrounding environment. Since then, Wang Yanping started on her works, “Socializing” series.
當代中國是一個特別講人際關係的社會。各種聚會，成了解決問題的最佳場所。西方在法院裏解決問題，中國在酒桌上解決問題。王彥萍對此深有體會。她力圖將她的切身感受表達出來，於是就有了一系列有關“聚”的作品。在這個系列的作品中，顯現的是在“聚”中的各式人物和場景，隱藏的是當代中國社會的現實，當代中國的“聚”文化。
Contemporary China is a society that attaches great importance to social connections. Social occasions become an ideal place to settle quarrels. In the West, people take their problems to court, in China; people settle their scores on the dinner table. Wang Yanping has had profound experiences in such phenomenon. She tries to express her own emotions, which brings us to her new works, “Socializing”series. In this series, we can see many characters and scenes, what’s hidden is the reality of contemporary Chinese society, the “Socializing”culture of contemporary China.
現在，我們來分析一下王彥萍作品中的顯隱關係。根據中國傳統美學，顯隱關係是一種美學關係，通過顯能夠達到隱。就像克萊夫•貝爾的“有意味的形式”這個概念所要表達的內容那樣，藝術作品的色彩和線條構成的形式（顯），可以傳達某種形而上的意味（隱）。在中國美學中，狀溢目前的景（顯），可以傳達言辭之外的情（隱）。顯隱之間，可以通過我們的直覺和感悟通達。
Now, let’s take a look into the artist’s view on the showing and the hidden. According to traditional Chinese aesthetics, the relation between the two is a relation of aesthetics; the hidden is achieved through the showing. Similar to the concepts of Clive Bell “Art As Significant Form” puts through, the form (showing) created by the colors and lines in artworks can also convey messages metaphysically (hidden). In the history of Chinese aesthetics, the bold scenery in front of one’s eyes (showing), can convey emotional messages that are beyond words (hidden). Between the showing and the hidden, we can try to feel them with intuition and insight.
我們可以進一步追問，作品背後隱藏的究竟是什麼？王彥萍之前表達個人內心感受的作品，多半屬於這種美學類型的作品。當王彥萍把自己從自我世界解放出來，進入文化和社會之後，她的作品中的顯與隱的關係，更多的是一種社會學關係，而不僅是美學關係。在屏風背後做支撐的，是廣大的社會生活。但是，廣大的社會生活並不是王彥萍藝術的表達對象，而是王彥萍藝術的生存空間。這種社會學關係，類似于丹托所説的“理論氛圍”。在丹托看來，諸如杜尚、沃霍爾等人之所以能夠將尋常物嬗變為藝術品，原因在於他們的尋常物周圍有一種“理論氛圍”，但是這種“理論氛圍”憑藉我們的直覺是無法識別出來的，只有藝術界中的專家才能將它識別出來。 Again we ask, just what is hidden behind? Previous works by the artist were an expression of her inert emotions; most of them belong in a aesthetical category. When the artist liberated herself and had become active in a world of culture and society, the showing/hidden relation in her works became one of sociology and no longer one of only aesthetics. What supports the folding screen from behind is the life in society at large. However, life in society is not subjects of her artistic expressions; it is the habitat to her artwork. This social relationship is similar to Arthur Danto’s “atmosphere of theory”. Arthur Danto thinks that, the reason why artists such as Duchamp and Warhol are able to turn ordinary matters into works of art, is due to the fact that there surrounds these ordinary matters an “atmosphere of theory”, however, this “atmosphere of theory” cannot be detected by people such as you and I, only the specialists in the field of art are able to point them out.
王彥萍作品背後的社會生活，也不是我們憑藉直覺可以識別出來的，只有置身在中國當代社會之中的人們才能識別出來。從這種意義上來説，屏風背後的世界是不可表達的，它就是我們的日常生活本身。王彥萍用屏風將藝術與日常生活分隔開來了。她沒有像現實主義藝術家那樣去再現現實生活，而是讓我們透過屏風去觀照和反思我們的現實生活。從這種意義上來説，王彥萍的作品突破了藝術的邊界，真實的社會生活成了她的作品的背景。如果果真是這樣的話，王彥萍的作品就突破了現代藝術的形式主義範圍，進入了當代藝術領域。
Life in society which are in hiding in Wang Yanping’s art, are also something we can’t decode with our intuition alone, only people who lead a life in contemporary Chinese society are able to do so. Wang Yanping uses a folded-screen to separate life and art. Not following the path of other realist artists who creates the reappearance of realistic life, Wang Yanping asks us to obtain a retrospective view of our realistic life, her works had gone beyond the boundaries in art, and realistic social life become the backdrop of her art. If this were true, Wang Yanping’s artworks have gone beyond the realms of formalism in modern art, onto one of contemporary art.
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