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——析王彥萍的水墨創作及其風格轉換
王彥萍是改革開放新時期涌現出的藝術家，理解她的作品脫離不了20世紀最後20年到新世紀10餘年中國藝術所依存的文化語境，但僅僅用時代框架去解讀她的作品，就會錯過她作品中十分珍貴的獨特性和個性特色。解讀王彥萍的作品需要經歷多重的維度，既需要借助藝術史和文化思潮的宏觀視野，比照新時期“新型水墨”實踐和那些帶有前衛和實驗精神的現代藝術運動，更不可繞過對藝術家個性的分析研究，因為作品中鮮活的資訊往往隱含在其中。
From the Inert “Mental Images” to the folding “Worldly Perceptions” –An Analysis of the Transformations of Wang Yanping’s Art
Wang Yanping is an artist who emerged during the Opening-Up Reforms, to understand her artwork, one must take into consideration of cultural contexts in Chinese art from 1980 till 2010, if one only takes a chronological perception to look at her art, precious uniqueness and individuality would be overlooked. To decode Wang Yanping’s works, one must do so through multiple latitudes, from art history and the broad visions of Culture Waves. This means to compare the practices of contemporary “New Ink &Water” to the avant-garde spirit of experimentations in modern art movements. Not to forget the analysis of the artist’s character, often, the most revealing information is hidden there.
20世紀初“西學東漸”的形勢重組了中國本土的藝術生態，與西洋繪畫落根中土的劇烈變動相應，人們將以宣紙和水墨為媒介的中國繪畫代之以“中國畫”的名稱，以回應和區別“西洋畫”，之後興起的民族國家意識又曾將這一畫種定位在“國畫”的概念之下。而在逐漸演變的文化觀念中，“水墨”的概念開始興起，從媒介的角度將這一繪畫進行形態上的重新認知，這在很大程度上解放了藝術家的思想，引發了從媒介、觀念、方法和個性等新的維度來感知水墨可能性的嶄新空間，激活了藝術家的創造性和想像力。以改革開放初期的“新潮美術”運動為表徵，短短30多年的時間，中國美術界吸收和轉化了西方藝術進程中自印象派以來注重革新的現代主義和以觀念藝術為核心的當代藝術形態，同時不可避免地也將西方藝術史的“文化邏輯”納入到本土文化的生態系統，在受其啟發和牽引（某種程度上也受其思維限制）的動態過程中，新的動力系統一方面帶來了新的知識源和方法論，也為重新理解、激活和轉化“傳統”提供了契機。新世紀中國藝術的參照系統，已經脫離不了文化全球化的時代背景和本土文化在選擇性吸收和創造性重構進程中的文化自覺。這也是王彥萍藝術創作的文化情境。
The rearrangement of habitat of indigenous art came as Western art techniques came into the East in the beginning of the 20th century. To create a correspondence with the phenomenon of Western paintings taking a strong presence in Chinese society, people gave a name to the art-form of Chinese painting, which uses rice-paper and ink “Chinese Painting”, it was to be differentiated from “Western Paintings”. The rise of nationalistic consciousness changed that name into “National Painting”. But in the gradual evolution of cultural concepts, the name “Ink & Water” became widely used, this is a new perception of the mediums used, this had given vast new space for the creativity of artists, the potentials of water & ink painting had to be revised at not only of the medium used, but also the concept, the technique and its characteristics, it had refreshed the creativity and imaginations of artists. Since the 1985 Art Movement, in 30 years, the Chinese art field had absorbed and transformed everything from Western art since the Impressionist age, everything from Modernism, which emphasize on innovation to the conceptual-based contemporary art. At the same time, the incorporate of “cultural logic” of the West into local cultural habitat was also inevitable, in the process of being inspired by as well as guided by (restricted to an certain extent as well), new motivations brought new knowledge and technique, it also provided an opportunity to re-understand, reactivate and restructure the “traditional”. The reference system of Chinese art in the new century is inseparable from the environment at large, the cultural globalization, and the indigenous cultural awareness enhanced in the process of selective incorporation which later causes the innovative restructuring of the indigenous culture. This is the overall creative direction in Wang Yanping’s artworks.
王彥萍經歷過學院造型體系和中國畫傳統精神的洗禮，在對傳統的理解上也具有一定的水準，但隨著個人意識的成熟她逐漸發現這些訓練型的內容並不能實現她強烈的創作意願——表達她對時代和生活的真實感受。1980年代末期，一次去雲南的經歷讓她找到了和自己內心深處相呼應的強烈感覺，植物旺盛的生命力讓她開始找到生命的綠洲，茂盛的景觀由物象轉化為內心的心象，幻覺的感性涌起，仿佛電線桿都開始長葉，王彥萍開始用創作去捕捉和表現那種感覺。由此開始了她的創作生涯，剛開始畫雲南，後來逐漸從形象到色彩日臻強烈和心理化。大約在1990年代初期，她的色彩達到極限：用紅和藍隱喻著火和海，紅藍對衝的風格讓她將內心深處強烈的感受本色地宣泄出來，王彥萍也憑藉這批作品成為1990年代“中國表現型水墨”的代表人物之一，開啟了她第一個階段的創作風格。
The artist had gone through the teachings of structuralism at academic level as well as the baptism in the spirit of Traditional Chinese Art, she has a high level of awareness towards the traditional. However, as her sense of individual conciseness matured, she realized that these training were not enough to fulfill her wishes in creating art—she hoped to express her perception of the times and of life. At the end of 1980’s, a trip to Yunnan gave her strong excitement as she found external resonance which echoed with the sounds from deep within, the exuberance of plant-life helped her to find once again an oasis of life, the vibrant visions became an implant in her mind, a sense of hallucination came into play, it seemed even the telephone-poles began to grow leaves, Wang Yanping began to capture and express these feelings through her art. She began to paint these scenes of Yunnan, later the focus shifted from form into color, her spirit had bathed in sunlight. In the beginning of 1990’s, her use of colors had reached its peak: by using red and blue as a metaphor of fire and sea, she was able to fully and naturally express desires from deep within, the artist became an icon in the field of “Modern Water & Ink” in 1990’s, this had formed her earlier styles.
與那些標舉“新潮”、“前衛”和“先鋒”的藝術群體相異，王彥萍從未捲入那個時代的“激進主義思潮”，她更多地是以一種“畫學”的理性方式去吸收和借鑒現代主義，當’85新潮的理論家和藝術家試圖以“純化語言”來匡正喧囂的時代躁動時，王彥萍在1980年代末期和1990初期已經完成了一種相對成熟的個人風格，這批作品進行的是“現代主義”的文化選擇，其中不乏野獸派強烈的色彩衝擊力、立體主義的空間結構、超現實主義的潛意識幻覺和表現主義強烈的情感宣泄。確切地説，王彥萍在那時更多的是以一種現代意識去介入新時期藝術的文化語境，投身於對時代精神的詮釋，但是作為創作中主導力量的卻是王彥萍對於“個人話語”建構的強烈願望，現代派各種風格在她的作品中渾然一體，各學派的因子更多是由獨立視角導出“個人話語”的表意符碼。這種獨立的表現，源自她對於個體在特殊環境中存在方式的敏銳感知，她藝術上的精神支點建立在直面生活的心靈感受上，無論是《園林》、《個展》、《春光》、《模特》、《室內寫生》抑或《紅鳥》，各種亦幻亦真的水墨圖像都是藝術家生活線索中潛意識和想像力與某個具體的情境碰撞化合後的心靈圖式，離不開內在世界的感受。這批作品的造型方法使人聯想到超現實主義的“心靈自動主義”，從這個角度講，王彥萍是一位“向內關照”的藝術家。對比古代文人畫所講究的“寫胸中逸氣”，王彥萍早期作品中的夢境感是一種超現實狀態下的瞬間感受，一種複雜思緒的釋放和排解，而在表達方式上，許多作品與德國新表現主義的繪畫理念想通，可以説這批被冠之以“心靈本位”（郎紹君）的水墨作品在“多重意緒”（范迪安）的表達上，走向了一種“文人化”的傾向。但王彥萍不是“書寫逸氣”，她筆下的心象也不是隨風飄搖的夢境，而是一種“雄壯的演出”（殷雙喜），她那以色當墨的用筆不乏粗野的色墨碰撞，映現出強烈的衝突，將觀者引向了“日常狀態之外”那種“非同一般的感受”，在猛烈的背後也不乏敏感的女性視角和細膩的感知方式。也許可以用“幻象”來界定那個時期王彥萍的水墨創作，“幻象”風格在現實結構、心理結構和繪畫結構三者的“機”縫中找到了“同構”的平衡。
Different from those artists who are labeled “new wave” and “avant-garde”, Wang Yanping never took part in the “radical movements”, instead, she took a rational approach in the incorporation of Modernism techniques, when the artists and critiques of 85 New-Wave Movement tried to put sense back into the restlessness of the time by the “purification of language, Wang Yanping had already formed a mature and individualistic style during the end of 1980’s and early 1990’s. Her works then where “modernist”, there too were evident traces of Fauvist application of colors, Cubist spatial arrangement, subconscious hallucinations of Surrealism and lashings of emotion through Expressionism. The artist was trying to engage with New Age Art with a contemporary awareness, and to define the spirit of the times. However, the main motivation of those works was the strong desire of a “personal discourse”. In her art, the various styles of modern art were blended into an integral whole; the fibers of which fulfilled the role of ideographic symbolism in this “personal discourse”. Her strong sense of independence is a product of her sensitive perception of life in special environments, her spiritual pillars were built upon her feeling of dealing with life head-on. Part-true part-fantasy art-pieces such as《The Garden》、《Solo Exhibition》、《Spring Sun》、《The Model》、《Indoor Sketches》and《Red Bird》， seem to be a compound of her sub-consciousness and imaginations in life, they all meld together and is placed within a realistic setting, still inseparable from her world within. The structure of these works remind the audience of the Surrealist concept of “Psychism”, in light of this, the artist can be regarded as an “introvert”. In comparison to the classical ideal of “depiction of aloft visions”, the dream-like scenes in her earlier works were surreal moments captured or a release of complex fusions of emotion. Her artistic expressions were interlinked with German Neo-Expressionist concepts, it can be said that these ink & water artworks which are complimented as “psyche-based” (Lang Shaojun) have “multiple connotative” (Fan Di’an) expressions, and it veers towards something “scholarly”. It must be reminded that her art is not an attempt to “depict the aloft visions”, nor is it an adrift dreamscape, it is a “mighty performance” (Yin Shuangxi), her replacement of ink with colors made her art show clashes between the two, these clashes bring the audience “extraordinary sensation” and “a world beyond the norm”. Behind the turbulence is the refined and feminist perception. Maybe the word “mirage” could be used to define her earlier style, the reality, psychology and painterly mechanisms of the artworks finds its place through subtlety and creates a balance with the structure.
1990年代後期經歷了西方世界的遊歷，王彥萍對中國的傳統和西方藝術的現代性有了新的感悟，這也促使了她藝術風格的轉變。1999年的《自畫像》系列預示著王彥萍開始告別1990年代的“幻象”風格，首先告別的是“擁擠的空間”，《自畫像》系列的構圖方法和空間感因簡化的趨向而逐漸開始“透氣”，之前那種粗野、猛烈、衝突甚至壓抑的心理矛盾“優化”為一種心靈的舒緩，視覺上也開始轉向雅致和簡潔，在個人自傳式的時光速寫中回味和憧憬著自己的人生；作為一位“繪畫者”，從《自畫像》開始，王彥萍開始自覺轉向對西方藝術中的“抽象性”和“平面構成”的探索，通過馬列維奇、蒙德里安和包豪斯等歐洲大師和設計團體，她延續了盧沉先生提出的“水墨構成”的中國畫創新方向，並跟中國傳統中的“經營位置”形成聯繫和交融，“正負形”、“統領規律”等一些原則的使用也讓她在創作和教學體系的構建中貢獻著自己的真摯與專注。
Her experiences of traveling to the West in late 1990’s gave her new visions in Traditional Chinese Art as well as Western Art; this had also brought a change in her style. 《Self Portrait》series of 1999 indicated an end of her “mirage” style. “Cramped spaces” were the first to be changed, the structuring of《Self Portrait》series became more ventilated as a result of structural simplification, the previous coarse, violent, and even depressive psychological dilemmas “transcended” into a relaxation of the spirit. Visually, things had also taken a turn for the more simplistic. She sketches herself in a biographical manner in retrospect of her life that’s gone past. As a “painter”, Wang Yanping begins with her self-portraits, this is for her a new beginning in the exploration of “abstraction” and “plane composition” of Western art. Through her contemplations of great artists in the West such as Malevich, Mondrian and institutions such as Bauhaus, she developed the concept of “ink & water composition” which was raised by Mr Lu Chen, created for raising innovation in Chinese painting. The artist was also able to incorporate traditional Chinese painting technique “positional arrangement” into her works, the application of “positive and negative form”, “command pattern” and other theories were practiced in her art, as well as taught in her classes.
在《自畫像》系列的過渡後，《屏風系列》的出現和不斷發展意味著王彥萍實現了創作上的新突破。屏風是中國傳統室內傢具中極為引人入勝的器物，也是古代繪畫所熱衷的繪畫媒介和描繪對象。王彥萍的《屏風系列》將屏風從其原有的存在秩序中“抽離原境”，將其發展為一種獨立的符號，橫貫畫面、頂天立地的屏風割斷了觀者的視線，佔據了他們的視野，形成一種逼近之勢。在這裡，屏風不是普通意義上的一般傢具，而是“屏風心理”的文化符號。王彥萍認為“與外國人的心理環境不同，‘屏風心理’是中國人的歷史積澱，是中國文化中含蓄和隱藏心理的表徵；屏風象徵著中國人的性格，直到現在中國人也沒有離開‘心理的屏風’，需要遮蔽、防範和隱藏的心理”。
After , the emergence and gradual development of were evidence that the artist had made breakthroughs in her artistic endeavor. Folding-screens has a special place in traditional Chinese furniture, it is also a medium used, as well as a subject to depiction by artists in classical times. In《Folding Screen》series, the artist removed the folding screen away from its “original context”, and turned it into an independent icon, they stretch across the picture frames, these indomitable screens cut across the vision of the audience, taking over their view and press towards the audience. In this instance, the folding screens are not ordinary items of home appliance, but a cultural icon of “screened psychology”. The artist believes “different to that of the West, “screened psychology” is the historic sediment of the Chinese, it is the appearance of the implicit and concealment of the mind in Chinese culture, the folding screen is symbolic of the character of the Chinese, till this day, the Chinese are still attached to the psychology of hiding and protecting the inner-mind”.
對於王彥萍來説，屏風既是實體的又是象徵的，放在屏風裏的任何東西都有折有隱，由於屏風的空間分離所産生的正\背之別會給人一種神秘的感覺。王彥萍開始將她熟悉的畫室裏的靜物、模特和創作現場置放進屏風之中，在一種“極單純”的清新之調中推進著她的繪畫實驗，《屏風系列》的《靜物》、《草花》、《冷色》、《暖色》、《人體》、《單背椅》、《和平鴿》、《室內室外》等作品在不乏裝飾意味的純凈中勾勒出一條不同於早期“幻象”的輕鬆愉快之路。以《屏風系列-八仙桌》和《屏風系列-民國桌》為代表的作品開始在屏風中做中國古典傢具，在平面構成的提煉、錯位和圖像解構中，王彥萍重溫了古典傢具簡潔的造型和獨特的美感，從結構主義的角度去完成對中國文化的一種個人化的致敬。
For the artist, folding screens are materialistic as well as symbolic, everything placed in the folding screen have things showing as well as in hiding, the spatial divide was brought by the folding screens, creating a sense of mysticism. In an “ultimately purified” state of surrounding, together with the incorporation of still objects, models and her studio space, she begins her experiment, different from her earlier works, In《Folding Series-Classical-styled Table》 and 《Folding Series-Table of Nationalistic Era》begins to appear on the folding screens, through the applications of plane composition, misplacement and deconstruction, Wang Yanping revise the simplicity and unique aesthetics of antique furniture, thus completing her homage to Chinese culture from a structural perspective.
與靜物和傢具的“物之象”平行，屏風系列開始朝另外一類傾向延伸，關於“人之象”的《屏風系列-聚》成為王彥萍近期創作的主打方向，在屏風裏展示人們的各種聚會。王彥萍的關注點從早年對畫室和個人生活的私人空間擴展到了公共領域，經歷了心境的轉換、視覺的轉換，觀念的轉換之後又進入到一個更新的階段，就是關注中國的 “聚文化”，對社會性和公共性的介入。在這裡屏風相當於一個載體，除了分離空間、隔離視線，其扇面結構的打開還具有轉折的功能，視覺上的轉折和觀念上的轉折。也許“折疊世象”的概唸有助於闡釋這批作品，所謂“世象”，即為感知系統中體現在文化上的世界之象。這批作品實現了視覺和觀念上的“雙重折疊”，從空間視覺進入到觀念表達。王彥萍筆下屏風中的聚會，聚者聚在同一張桌或同一地點，但各自又被安排在不同的扇面轉折狀態中，不同的扇面轉折可能代表了不同的心理狀態，個體的這種獨特性，以及這種獨特性體現在個體和群體之間的關係，個體參與同群體顯現之間的關係，很耐人尋味。如同義大利符號學家艾柯（Umberto Eco，1932- ）的美學，這是一種開放性的作品，它沒有給觀者一個不可商量的定性或者明確的價值判斷，而是把一種思考的廣闊空間提供給了觀者。“屏風-聚”系列的獨到之處是打破了各種聚的通常佈局和人物關係，將其“屏風化”，置放進一個觀念性劇場的“轉折”排演中去，隨著屏風扇面的折疊節奏形成作品意義的顯示和隱藏。在空間觀上，平面構成的設計思維、中國畫傳統的“經營位置”和篆刻藝術的“即白當黑”都沁入了創作時的繪畫直覺，在圖與底、形與反形、空與實之間，王彥萍將世俗化的現世圖像沉于圖底，經由幾條勾勒屏風的細線給畫面引入上升的心理感受。
Parallel to the “form” of still objects and furniture, begins to stretch toward another direction.《Folding-Socializing》which is related to “human characters” had become the artist’s most recent focus, all sorts of gathering of people are placed within the folding screen. Wang Yanping’s focus had shifted away from her private spheres onto one of the communal, after the transformation of the visual and the concept, her art had entered a new phase, the “Socializing Culture” of China from a social and communal perspective. Here, folding screens are a vessel, besides the segmenting of space and obstruction of view, the unfolding of the screens serve a purpose of transition, both in terms of the concept and the visualization. Perhaps the term “folded worldly perception” could better explain these works, the term “worldly perceptions” is the cognition of worldly matters displayed though culture. These works have achieved a “double folding” in both visual and conceptual terms, from spatial visualization onto conceptual expression. In the social gatherings as appeared on the screens, the socialites gather around the same table or in a same setting, yet they are all uniquely arranged upon the hinging of the screens, different forms of hinging could be interpreted as different psychologies, the character and the uniqueness of the individuals are attached to the relation between the participation of the individual and the revealing of the crowd, and the self revealing of the crowd. Similar to the aesthetical values of Italian semiologist Umberto Eco, Wang Yanping’s art does not force an evaluation upon the audience, but rather a vast space is given to the audience. “Folding-Socializing”series’ uniqueness is that it had broken the norms of arrangement and the character relationship in socializing. Having made it “folding screen-like”, then placed in a theater-like situation where it is left to keep on “folding”, the showing and the hiding is in rhythm with the folding of the screens. In spatial visualization, plane composition, positional arrangements in Traditional Chinese Art, positive & negative form, had all left their marks in her creative process, between the picture & the film negative, the shape & the transoid, the materialistic & the void, Wang Yanping sunk worldly visions into the profundity of her art, and uses simplistic elegant lines to sketch a sense of elevation.
王彥萍藝術的最大特徵是超越了傳統和現代、東方和西方二元對立思維的人為制約，以一個當代人對生命和時代切身感受的真誠立場去發揮繪畫媒介自身的奧妙，突破了既有概念和法則的限制，擴展了用水墨去表現中國藝術精神和當代文化感知的視覺疆界。她育具象的形象于抽象和觀念性的視覺法則之中，在擁擠和極簡兩種空間嘗試中都留下了“因心造境”的水墨心印。這對學術界探索和討論當代水墨畫的發展與當代藝術的水墨表達提供了具有啟發意義的個案。
The greatest character of Wang Yanping’s art is that it had surpassed the man-made limitations of binary opposition, placing the traditional against the contemporary, the East against the West, she puts her applications in full motion through her honest stand of her perceptions of people’s views of life and of the times, surpassing the limitations of concepts and rules, expanding the visual panoramas of the expressions of Chinese art through ink & water. She incorporates the materialistic into the abstract and the conceptual, and left her marks of “deep-down” in both cramped and minimalist spatial arrangement. This provides an innovative case study for the explorations in contemporary ink & water expressions.
王萌 2012年10月于中國美術館
Wang Meng National Art Museum of China October 2012
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