文/易英
很早的時候，英國的哲學家博克就説過，一切恐怖的、驚懼的、可怕的東西都可以成為美的對象。這是那種喚起崇高情感的美。人們的認識總是從美好的東西開始，就像一個人的成長過程一樣，對於崇高的體驗來自經驗的積累，生活的磨煉。徐曉燕的畫也是從美好開始，繪畫之美，土地之美。這兩者是緊密相連的。她後來的畫是繪畫之美依舊，土地卻失去了原來的美麗，卻是滲透著悲哀與沉重。她的畫面之美與美的對象似乎是分離的，博克的崇高之美是來自地象本身，對象就是自然，是人在作用於自然時的情感與自信。也不是原來意義上的人化的自然。而是被人破壞的自然。如果説崇高是人的自然情感對應于自然，那麼異化的自然就派生不出崇高，不論自然被涂上多麼美麗的色彩。
徐曉燕的畫像一個寓言，儘管還是那麼寫實。她的每一個鏡頭幾乎都是真實的確，經過油畫語言的轉換，客體的真實就成了繪畫的表像。徐曉燕原先是一個田園歌手，她用近似印象派的筆法畫出華北原野迷人的景色，秋日的陽光下，一望無邊的田野，裼色的土地和金色的秸稈交相輝映。徐曉燕不僅有良好的色彩感覺，準確地把握了微妙動人的色彩關係，而且她那種一筆到位的造型技巧使繪畫的美感與自然的真實達到完美的結合。從本質上説，從藝術的感覺和技術的完美來表現自然，還是以自然的真實為基礎。從什麼時候開始，自然已經離我們遠去，自然美從我們的視線中消失？徐曉燕的田園牧歌猶如鄉土現實主義最後的餘音，此後，圖片、廣告、影像、波普、卡通取代了繪畫的經驗，都市的叢林取代了田野。人在遠離自然的時候也在破壞自然，在複製客體的時候把客體的垃圾也拋向了自然。因此，人們在失去自然的經驗的時候也失去了自我的環境。
徐曉燕的藝術是用本質對應非本質，她作為一個畫家仍然保持了自然的本質，她的顏色、用筆和構圖的方式都是非常本色的。或者説是自然的。這種繪畫性是和她的生命歷程，對自在的感覺融為一體的，她的畫面，除了顏色和用筆以外，她的構圖和表現自然的方式也是非常抒情的。她以前的田原風景有一種蓬勃的生氣，後來發生了變化 ，比如在那幅叫《月亮灣》的畫中，構圖還是那麼漂亮，一條優美的弧線分開了水面與田野，濃秋的黃裼色應該與反射著天光的藍色水面相對比，但是畫面上是一片衰敗的秸稈和渾黑色的死水，繪畫的生動倒是應著死寂的自然。繪畫就像徐曉燕的個人本質，她的處克碎裂義不僅反映在她的畫上，也反映了她的本性。對她來説，個人的本質依然存在，但那樣一種非本質的現象已經發生了變化，自然已經失去了本質。在中國畫家中以綠生生態、環境保護為題村的不在少數，徐曉燕則表現了她的獨特方式，一方面是非常的優美，另一方面是非常的憂慮，因為自然在她的眼前是一點一點的破壞，從原來抒情的牧歌的田野, 到死寂的衰敗的自然。自然並非自然地死亡，而是河水的污染，垃圾的封堵。垃圾出現在徐曉燕的筆下，進入她的風景，仿佛這旨自然的一部分，然而它天是自然的殺手，它在顏色上非常斑斕，卻像腐爛的腫瘤和毒瘡，裏面充滿著邪惡，這是人類自己在破壞著自己的環境，所以説徐曉燕的畫這也是一種象徵，當我們的生活越來越走向後現代，越來越被我們所製造的東西所環繞的時候，我們的環境已經發生了深刻了變化，當我們用波普和卡通來反映我們的視覺經驗的時候，實際上我們已經失去了我們的自然本性。徐曉燕是用人的自然本質來面對已經非本質的自然，她的畫面是美麗的， 但給人的感受是憂傷的，她不是從認識上來告訴我們什麼是環境，什麼是生態，而是從她自身的體驗，從她的美的創造和美的表現中，反襯生態的破環和自然的腐敗。
BEAUTY AND PATHOS----ON RECENT WORKS OF XU XIAOYAN
In the 18 th century, the British philosopher Edmund Burke has observed that all things that are horrible and fearsome can serve as the subject of beauty, It is the kind of beauty that will provoke lofty emotions, What people first get to know in the world art mostly beautiful things, Just like the way an individual grows into adulthood; the accumulation of life experiences will gradually teach him to sense the loftiness around him, Likewise, Xu Xiaoyan,s art has its origin in beauty, in her case, the beauty of painting and the beauty of the earth, which are two closely linked elements. In her more recent works, the beauty of painted images is still there, but the earth has given up its charm to the crushing weight of sorrow. It seems that the beauty of painted images has been separated from the subject of beauty itself in Xu Xiaoyan,s art, The beauty of loftiness proposed by Edmund Burke derived from the subject itself, which is nature, of humanity’s emotion and confidence in nature. In Xu Xiaoyan,s case, the subject is still a subject observed and perceived by human beings, but nature is on long what is used to be; it is not the original nature favorably decorated with human activities, but a nature damaged by its two-legged inhabitants. If oftiness is one of the spontaneous human sentiments about nature, an alienated nature, however embellished it is, will never generate a quality like that.
However realistic they are, Xu Xiaoyan,s painting resemble a fable. Every single view of hers is real, but after a conversion through the oil painting language, the reality of the subject is transformed into a mere representation in the form of a painting. Like a pastoral singer, Xu Xiaoyan has employed the near-impressionist techniques in depicting the fascinating views of the open country in North China Plains; under the autumn sun, the yellowing crop stalks are shining against the dark, rich soil, which stretches as fat as the eye can see. While her remarkable perception of colors enables her to grasp the subtle interaction between different hues, her superb precision of drawing realizes the perfect combination of the beauty of paining and the truthfulness of nature, In representing nature through artistic perception and perfect techniques, the reality of nature is still the ultimate basis. Now, however, nature itself has abandoned us, taking away with it its inherent beauty, The pastoral paintings of Xu Xiaoyan are like an enduring echo of rural realism, as graphics, advertisements, imagism, pop art and cartoon are usurping the experience of painting is the way how concrete jungles have replaced the wilderness. Besides isolating itself from nature, humanity is also ruining nature, as the garbage produced in the process of replicating human objects and ideas are being thrown to nature, As a result, humanity is losing both the experience of nature and the physical environment of it.
In her art, Xu Xiaoyan has pitted essence against non-essence. As a painter, she has retained the essence of nature; the manners she uses colors and brushes as well as the compositions of her paintings are quite undecorated, in another word, nature. For her, painting is a way to experience life and merge with nature. Besides the colors and brushwork, she is also very lyrical in the composition of her painting and her representation of nature. Her pastoral landscapes used to bean a vigorous force of life, which has changed now, Take the work titled “Moon Bay” for example, while the composition is still beautiful as ever with the graceful arch dividing the water and land, a dead, sordid pool is there beside a field of yellowing crop stalks, in the place of a crystal clear lake surface reflecting a blue sky that the spectator would expect, The vivdness of the composition is in sharp contrast with a nature that is dying For Xu Xiaoyan, painting is a way to express her essence as individual, and the naturalism in her paintings reflects her true self. However, while her essence as an individual is still there, the non-essential phenomenon has changed as nature’s essence is being deprived. Among the Chinese artists working on the themes of eco-friendliness and protection of environment, Xu Xiaoyan has chosen a distinctive style of her own, which conveys at once extreme beauty and harrowing anxiety. Xu Xiaoyan,s pastoral lyricism has been replaced with the pathos of a dying nature deteriorating bit by bit before her very eyes. Nature is not dying a natural death, but being choked by polluted waters and heaps of garbage. The garbage, which seems to have become part of nature in Xu Xiaoyan,s landscapes, is the very culprit that is killing nature. The garbage’s bright colors are like those of decaying tumors and sores filled with wickedness. This is how human beings are destroying the environment that is their homeland. In a sense, Xu Xiaoyan,s paintings convey a kind of symbolism. As our life is veering toward post-modernism and we are getting surrounded by more and more products of our own manufacturing, the environment is undergoing an irreversible change; as we turn to pop art and cartoon for visual experiences, we are actually losing our natural essence. Xu Xiaoyan insists on representing nature through natural techniques; as the nature is not its old self, she is contrasting the natural essence of humanity with a nature deprived of essence. As a result, the images of her paintings, though beautiful, tend to provoke sorrow in spectators. Instead of teaching her audience what environmentalism and eco-friendliness means, she chooses to reflect the deterioration of the ecological system and nature through her creation and representation of beauty, based on her own experences.