看到金善的畫作時，映入你腦海的第一個聯想可能並不是自然界。在這一點上，我們可以看到在她的近期作品中較大動作地融入了油畫的物理層面。當油彩與畫布撞擊時有一種內在的聯繫，在稠密與流體間産生了一種對抗性的張力。醒目的形狀似乎定格在超大尺寸（300cm x 400cm）的畫布上。漫步在這些畫作中，你會馬上想到二戰後紐約的抽象表現主義。色彩上讓人想到克萊福特·斯蒂爾，而那些豐滿而有弧度的形狀穿透表面，就像某種視覺干擾，讓人想到羅伯特·馬瑟韋爾。作品看起來似乎引用了上世紀中葉的美國傳統。人們很容易認為它僅僅是受到戰後美國傳統（可能是）的激發，但事實上她的作品在細微上是有差別的。幾次拜訪她的工作室後，我才意識到金善的藝術作品是深深根植于中國傳統的，並且十分尊重中國傳統的繪畫語言。多麼大的跨越啊！
金善的早期畫作屬於社會現實主義風格，但並不表達社會主義觀點。我們可以看出，人物的渲染很親切，並且很注重細節——如眼睫毛、修剪整齊的指甲、未熨燙襯衫上的褶皺、肩膀上垂下的肩章、堆積在膝蓋周圍的短褲等等。嘴唇、鼻孔和勞作的雙手都很清晰。這些作品的主題有一種共鳴，用柔軟的線條描繪出私密的細節，使觀賞者仿佛被帶入了一段過去的旅程。在這些素描畫作中有一種空間感。甚至這種鉛筆線條的質地都會喚起時間和空間的感覺。如果説繪畫是視覺藝術的基礎，那麼金善已經打下了堅實的基礎。
金善幾乎非常突然地從這些紙上的繪畫轉到了創作石頭彩繪上。走在河灘中圓形的石頭上，她突然聯想起她的童年和腌制泡菜，這是南韓一種傳統的發酵蔬菜。於是她開始在石頭表面畫畫。除了煥然一新的畫面，我們可以看出她正在嘗試一種新的表達方式——抽象主義。這些用丙烯酸創作的彩繪表現出一種愉悅和童趣——蛇形紋設計基本上覆蓋了大約100塊石頭的表面。色彩和形狀讓人想起新力婭·德洛內和保羅·克利以及他們開創性的早期現代主義作品。金善將她藝術作品的這種轉變歸因于她從遙遠的東北吉林省搬到了北京。這次搬家對她來説很突然。面對陌生的人群密集的城市環境和污染，她的作品也有了徹底的改變。作品中存在著矛盾，或者説是兩種相反觀點的融合。石頭是堅硬不屈的，而彩繪形狀是柔軟、優美的，並有女性的溫柔。清晰的輪廓旋轉著包圍石頭，通過彩繪的紋理抹掉頂部或底部的概念。金善再次把自己與自然界重新聯繫起來，她的童年世界和國際大都市北京城市的變化反差。就像她選擇創作彩繪的圓形石頭，也是腌制泡菜的工具之一，它們被用來在發酵過程中壓住大桶的木蓋。彩繪石頭是個人經歷與環境間的聯繫，面對生活中的變化，回憶中的童年時光更加充滿了歡樂。它們在空間和傳統旋律上喚起了共鳴。
這些感官上色彩鮮艷的抽象形狀逐漸從石頭上延伸開來，並紮根在越來越大的油畫布上，直到我們看到的她正在創作的這幅超大油畫。經過這段時間的創作，她進一步探索並擴大了原來畫在石頭上的那些花樣。畫作變得更活潑、更自由；單薄與厚重形成強烈的對比，而蛇形紋的形態也有了改變，在大塊的色彩中若隱若現。
畫室的工作臺上整齊的陳列著兩幅已完成的大型油畫，每一幅由4塊300cm x 100cm豎板組成；還有一幅正在用最意想不到的方式開始創作。穿過還未上色的豎版畫布是炭筆畫出的一幅美輪美奐的風景圖。如果將畫按一定方向水準放倒，則是一幅100cm高、12m長的中國式卷軸。那些醒目的炭筆線條勾畫出多節乾枯的樹，讓我想起以前造訪金善在新疆的工作室時看到的一些照片。炭筆畫的樹在廣闊的白色天空下搖擺，虛無中漂浮的輪廓與陰影區域産生了一種韻律，有一種敘事感。我看著金善開始在第一幅四聯畫上創作，她在固定的炭筆畫周圍放兩條帶子，保持整幅畫的完整性，然後就開始認真的繪畫，先用廣泛的簡筆使所有線條都限定在指定的方向上，此時並沒有選擇調色板，調色板是預先選擇好的，這與油畫上色非常不同。當她靠近畫滿線條的畫板時，幾乎沒有意識到有任何形狀和區塊，這讓人想起抽象藝術最開始就是源自於探尋無意識思維自然反應的歐洲超現實主義，層與層之間創作時她會停頓一會。這些色彩層次與意識反應間仿佛在舞蹈，行動、反應、控制，顏料潑濺、滴落、刮擦、用吹風機吹乾、拖曳並刷到畫布上時，有一種推挽式的抒情和書法動作的感覺。
仔細地欣賞完成的畫作會發現它們有著相似的起源和過程，炭筆畫風景看起來依稀朦朧，在抽象表現主義外表下就像是翻新的古畫。金善早期社會現實主義繪畫中深厚的技法和敏銳的觀察仍然是她視覺詞彙的一部分。這些畫從最初的水準方向轉成豎直方向，然後並排對齊，突出了作品的抽象風格。現在這些樹枝不再勾勒出敘事的風景，而更多地是構成自發動作的基礎。
欣賞者經常會對藝術家的畫室和個人空間著迷，我們相信一個藝術家的空間就是他靈魂的投影。通過這些空間可以洞察藝術家的思想、接近她的生活方式並了解她的構思方法。當我們被允許穿過毫無生氣的畫廊墻壁和燈火通明的作品展覽區，嘗試了解藝術家想法的起源時，通常會有種偷窺的感覺。拜訪一個藝術家的畫室，無論是在博物館環境中還是活躍的創作現場，我們都能看見整個過程。我們可以獲知藝術家們大腦中閃爍的靈感火花及其抓住靈感的整個過程。
在被完美保存的弗朗西斯·培根畫室（被精心地拆開、分類並從倫敦搬到都柏林，然後重新組裝）深處中，我們被那些堆疊的碎片迷住了。每件東西都被記錄在案並分類，細微到塵埃。既是聖殿、又是博物館，他在肖像畫的一片混沌中體現出的畫室雜物，現在都能在可搜索的數據庫中找到，以便加強對其作品的研究學習。
相反，喬治·莫蘭迪在義大利博洛尼亞的舊居是一個寧靜有序的地方，藝術家選擇的每件物品在形態和光澤上都在他高雅的作品中有所反映。房子/畫室現在已被修復，並作為博洛尼亞現代藝術博物館的一部分。畫作放在他珍藏的材料、傢具和物品旁邊，形成了繪畫的背景，並能看出他創作的方式；各種瓶子和花瓶擺放得好像是還沒來得及涂上油彩的作品。同樣，走進金善的創作空間也能領悟到與她作品的聯繫。
六環路以北是北京城區農田和傳統村落肆意蔓延的地方，金善2009年在這裡設計並建造了她的個人空間。這間畫室高達5米，有著現代化的結構和閃亮的油漆，給人以寧靜有序的感覺。各種書籍整齊地疊放在中間的桌子上，畫布有序地支在墻邊，每塊畫布都與一個凳子中心對齊。還有一些簡單的架子，陳列著她早期的作品。大膽的混凝土堆砌形狀和玻璃反射表現出中世紀西方現代主義風格，她的作品也是如此。和弗朗西斯·培根和喬治·莫蘭迪一樣，這個空間可以理解為她精神的蔓延。正如她的作品那樣，房子在結構上其實與第一感覺有著細微的差別。所有的玻璃、混凝土和現代感都體現了中式住宅的傳統。位於村落邊緣，穿過玉米地，面向街道的一側是一片空白的墻，僅留有一扇大鐵門。這扇門也是進入中心地帶花園庭院的通道，畫室和個人空間環繞著詩一般的中央庭院。與街道邊堅硬而令人生畏的高墻不同，這裡的墻都是玻璃做成的。整個建築沿著花園朝向內側，鐵門按傳統位於房子的西南角。這座現代建築的各個方面都體現出傳統的庭院式住宅風格，這是中國過去風靡的住宅形式。房子和畫室沿著花園展開，就像金善藝術的進步一樣。
庭院花園與她的作品密不可分，很難分清是誰影響了誰。到底是她的繪畫作品影響了花園的設計，還是花園是作品的折射？花園裏有各種各樣的結構和形狀。花圃並不是方形的，它合理的保護了各種植物肆意生長，但蛇紋石與彩繪石頭相同，色彩和質地都是一樣的。這裡還可以看見她用來創作的調色板。夏末，我看見藍色的天空下南瓜擠進了橙樹。同樣的形狀和色彩出現在畫室玻璃窗另一側的超大畫布上，藍色大地上漂浮著帶著泥土的橙色球。十月中旬的一天，我拜訪了她的畫室，並觀看了她創作，花園的顏色改變了，她創作的新作品上選擇的色彩也改變了。鮮紅的雞冠花在窗外怒放，窗內她的油畫也大量的採用了紅色。旁邊有一幅已經畫好的素描，形狀看起來像是她收穫並儲藏在工作室的那些葫蘆一樣。她辦公桌上的樹木、險峻高山等的旅行照片也是她創作的素材。穿行在她的個人空間，使人想起人與自然的交叉。就像喬治·莫蘭迪的珍藏或弗朗西斯·培根的雜物一樣，近在咫尺的花園和旅行照片中回憶的風景都為金善提供了無窮無盡的創作靈感。
金善談到了她的創造階段和變化。是的，單獨就作品表面來看似乎是很突兀的變化，但從畫作的細節來説，從彩繪石頭到抽象的油畫到紀念性的抽象形態，它們在深層次上都具有連續性，都包含了對自然和傳統的尊重。欣賞她所創造的世界時，人們可以看到的所有現代性都證明，她從未離開過自然界。自然無時無刻不存在於她的作品中，只是常常不是很明顯而已。
Christopher Pelley
美國紐約/ 北京 2014
Kim Sun Juan The Natural World
(李麗君 譯)
Looking at the paintings of Kim Sun Juan, the natural world may not be the first connection that enters your mind. Here, in her recent works, we see the grand gesture involving the physicality of paint. There is a visceral connection as the paint collides with the canvas developing an antagonistic tension between the dense and the fluid application . Bold shapes seem to be set adrift on the monumentally scaled (300cm x 400cm) canvases. While wandering among these paintings, the work of post WWII New York Abstract Expressionists immediately comes to mind. One thinks of Clyfford Still for the color and Robert Motherwell for the rounded and arcing shapes that cross the surface like some sort of retinal disturbance. The work appears to be referencing this mid century American tradition One could be forgiven for categorizing her work as simply inspired by that post-war American tradition (which it may be), but the work is much more nuanced. Over he course of several studio visits, I became aware how deeply Kim Sun Juan's artistic output is rooted in Chinese tradition and respect for the land. How did we get from there to here?
Kim Sun's early drawings are in a social realist style, but without the socialist commentary. Here we see figures lovingly rendered, attention paid to details - eyelashes, neatly trimmed fingernails, folds in an unpressed military shirt, epaulettes drooping off the shoulder, pants bunching up around the knee. We have details of lips and nostrils, and work worn hands. There is an empathy for the subjects in these works, the soft line describing intimate details allows the viewer to be taken on a journey to a time now past. In these drawings, sketches and studies, one experiences sense of place. Even the texture of the pencil marks is evocative of a time and place. If drawing is the foundation of visual art, then Shan has built a strong one.
Almost abruptly, Kim Sun moved from these drawings on paper to applying paint on rocks. Stumbling upon rounded river rocks sparked a connection to her childhood and the making of kimchi, the traditional Korean fermented vegetables. She began painting on their surfaces. Besides a new surface, we see her experimenting with new forms of expression – abstraction. These paintings in acrylic present a joyfulness and playfulness - the serpentine designs ultimately covering the surface of nearly 100 rocks. The color and shapes bring to mind the work of Sonia Delaunay, and Paul Klee and their pioneering works of early modernism. Kim Sun attributes this shift of her artistic output to her move to Beijing from her home in Jilin Province in the far northeast of China. The move was an abrupt change for her, and Shan's work changed radically in response to this new dense urban environment and its pollution. There is a contradiction here, or maybe it is a synthesis of two opposing ideas. The rocks are hard and unyielding and the painted forms are soft and sensuous and distinctly feminine. The defined edges which swirl to embrace the rocks are emphasised by textural daubs of paint erasing the notion of top or bottom. Kim Sun is reconnecting and literally grounding herself in the natural world and the world of her youth as a defensive act against the aggressive urbanism of Beijing. Rocks, like the rounded ones she chose to paint on, are a part of making the pickled vegetables. They are collected to hold down the wood lids of the vats during the fermentation process. The painted rocks serve as a connection between personal history and environment, there is a joy in a childhood remembered in the face of change. They are evocative of place and the rhythms of tradition.
These sensuous colorful abstract shapes lept off the rocks and rooted themselves on canvases that have gotten progressively larger until we have the monumental size she is working on now. The patterns originally painted on the rocks were explored and amplified over the course of time. The paint became more active and free; thin washes now play against thicker areas, and the serpentine shapes morphing into larger blocks of color.
There are two completed mega canvases perched neatly on benches in the studio. Each is made up of 4 vertical 300cm x 100cm panels. There is another one beginning in the most unexpected fashion. Across the yet unpainted vertical canvases is a sumptuous landscape sketched out in charcoal. If laid out in its suggested horizontal orientation, it would read as a traditional Chinese scroll painting 100cm high and 12 meters long. The gnarled and desiccated trees drawn with bold charcoal strokes are reminiscent of some photos I saw in Jin's office of a trip to XinJiang Province. There is a sense of narrative here as the charcoal trees sway across the vast white expanse creating a rhythm between the outlines which sometimes drift off into thin air and the cross-hatched shaded areas. I watched as Kim Sun began to work on the first of the 4 panels. A couple of lengths of tape were placed over the fixed charcoal drawing to preserve its integrity. Then the painting began in earnest. Broad brush strokes of paint were laid down, allowing the lines of the charcoal drawing sealed underneath to suggest direction. The choice of color palette was not made at the spur of the moment, but was pre chosen, contrasting sharply with the spontaneity of the paint application. As she approaches the canvas with the loaded brush she almost unconsciously finds shapes and blocks them in, reminding one that originally abstract art was an outgrowth of European surrealism, tapping into the automatic response of the unconscious mind. There is a pause between the completion of one layer and the next. A dance quickly develops between these layers of colors and the spontanous response. Action. Reaction. Manipulation. There is a push-pull lyricism going on here and a sense of a calligraphic movement as the paint is splashed, dripped, scraped, blown with a hair dryer, dragged and brushed onto the canvas.
Thoughtful looks at the completed paintings show similar origins and process. The charcoal landscapes are dimly visible like some ancient pentimento underneath the bravado of abstract expressionist paint. The strong draftsmanship and acute observation of her early social realist drawings continues to be part of Jin Shan's visual vocabulary. The paintings have been rotated from their suggested original horizontal orientation to a vertical one and aligned shoulder to shoulder, emphasizing the abstract quality of the work. The tree branches now serve less as defining a narrative landscape and more as the grounding structure for the spontaneous gesture.
Viewers are fascinated with artist's studios and personal spaces. We believe an artist's space is a projection of the artist's psyche. The spaces offer insights to an artists' mind, the way they approach life, the way they organize thoughts. A sense of voyeurism exists as we are allowed to peek beyond the sterile gallery walls and well lit spaces where the finished work is exhibited, to try and grasp the origin of the artists' ideas. A visit to an artists' studio, whether in a museum setting or an active, productive space, we see process. We gain clues to the stimuli that sparks those synapses in an artists' brain and grease the thought process.
We are mesmerised by the cyclonic debris piled deep in Francis Bacon's perfectly preserved studio – which was meticulously taken apart, cataloged, moved from London to Dublin, and then re-constructed. Everything was documented and cataloged, right down to the dust. Part shrine, part museum, the studio clutter that is reflected in the chaos of his painted portraits, is now in a search-able database set up to enhance the study of his work.
Giorgio Morandi's former residence in Bologna, Italy, by contrast is serene and ordered, each object chosen by the artist for its shape and patina is mirrored in his sublimely arranged compositions. The house / studio was restored and is part of the Museo D'Arte Moderna di Bologna . Paintings live along side his materials, furniture and the objects he admired, giving context to the work and insight to the way he worked; the bottles and vases arranged like yet unpainted compositions. Similarly, a walk around Jin Shan's space yields insight and unthought of connections to her work.
North of the 6th ring road, where Beijing's relentless urban sprawl yields to agricultural land and traditional villages, Kim Sun designed and constructed her personal space in 2009. A modernist structure with a luminous painting studio soaring 5 meters high, there is a sense of tranquility and order. Books are neatly stacked on a centered table, canvases rest in a regimented order against the wall, each aligned and centered on a stool. There are pristine racks which archive earlier work. The boldly massed shapes of concrete and glass reflecting, as do her paintings, a mid-century western modernism. This space, like that of Francis Bacon or Giorgio Morandi, can be read as an extension of her spirit. And like her paintings, this structure is more nuanced than first perceived. For all its glass and concrete and modernity it respects the tradition of Chinese housing. Located at the edge of a village, across from cornfields, the street facade offers only a blank wall, pierced by an iron gate. This gate in turn gives access to the heart of the compound, the garden courtyard. The studio and personal spaces wrap around his poetic central court. The walls which are solid and forbidding on the street side are here replaced with glass, the orientation of the building facing inwards around the garden, the iron gate located in the tradition dictated south west corner of the compound. In every way this contemporary building reflects and honors the traditional courtyard house, once the predominant form of dwelling in China. The house and studio unfold around the garden as does the progress of Kim Sun 's art
The courtyard garden shares many visual affinities with her work. It is hard to distinguish which influenced the other. Did her paintings influence the garden design, or are the gardens a reflection of the paintings? There are a wide variety of texture and shapes in the gardens. The beds are not a squared and offering rational protection to the different types of flora that are encouraged to grow there, but serpentine similar to the painted stones, the colors and textures are both defined and spreading with amoebic tenacity. The color palette that she chooses for her work is also visible here. In late summer, I saw round squash ripening to orange against a blue sky. The same shapes and colors appeared on a super sized canvas just on the other side of the glass in the studio as an earthy orange orb floating on a blue ground. A day in mid October when I paid a studio visit and watched her paint, the colors of the garden had changed, and so had her color choices for the new painting she was working on. Bright red coxcombs were ablaze outside, and red was used liberally on the canvas inside. A preparatory sketch for another work showed shapes that looked like the gourds that she collects and stores in her office. Travel photos of trees and forbidding mountains that lay on her office desk have also become source material. Walking through her space suggests the intersection of the personal and the natural world. Like Giorgio Morandi's prized objects, or Francis Bacon's clutter, landscape, both immediately adjacent in the garden and the landscape of memory maintained in travel photos provide Kim Sun an endless source of inspiration.
Kim Sun Juan talks about the phases her work and the changes. Yes, taken individually there are seemingly abrupt changes. From drawings which delight in the details, to painted rocks to abstract canvases to monumental abstracts. But there is also an underlying sense of continuity. There is respect for nature and tradition. For all the modernity one sees as one looks at the universe she has created, she has never turned her back on the natural world. It is present, just not always obvious.
Christopher Pelley
New York / Beijing 2014