文/ 蔣岳紅

總是因為太過執迷于一種為藝術家的實踐尋找語境和上下文關係的慣性和邏輯，才會在遭遇滕菲沉浸其間的諸多藝術實踐時，懷揣了怦然心動之餘卻也有著張口結舌的失語之感：從木刻浮水印作品的樸素率真到裝置作品的睿智敏感再到首飾作品的融通灑脫，滕菲都“玩”得興致盎然，刻意又得意地模糊了任何想要將她和她鍾情的藝術實踐限制在既定坐標裏來討論的企圖。

於是，我們也只有在坦然承認這其間透露出來的不確定性正是當代藝術實踐自身不可回避的內部問題時，我們才會對滕菲個人找不到任何參照範本的藝術實踐格外珍視。因為尚未進入歷史書寫、嘗試定義自身還一直未果的當代首飾 的雜糅混血，暗合著當代藝術面目隱晦的特質。更因為滕菲的藝術實踐提供的不僅僅只是經驗，還是當代藝術的一種選擇。

始於1960s的當代藝術從抽象表現進入到極簡、概念、行為和女性主義等等多種藝術實踐形式並存的時期，當代首飾在材料、技藝、形式、功能和表達上不間斷的種種置疑和衍展，以及在身體政治和物質文化領域內引發的反思、清理和討論，與其説是受到了當代藝術的影響，不如説它本身就是當代藝術的一個組成部分，同樣在為各種藝術實踐提供著舞臺。滕菲在這個舞臺上有備而來的現身和一以貫之的全情投入，演繹著她個人傾心表達的藝術課題，也提示出當代藝術境遇中關乎材料、形式和表達的種種可能。在關乎滕菲藝術作品種種意味深長的解讀誘惑面前，我選擇駐留在它們是如何生成的層面上。

滕菲對於材質本身有著由來已久的關注和敏感，從花瓣、蠶絲、馬鬃開始。十餘年之後在《對話與獨白》（2004）裏滿是手痕的銀有著肆意、粗礪而克制的生命力，成全著自身的獨白，也主導著與珍珠和寶石之間對話的進行。在《雨季》（2005）裏光纖一般的銀絲托出的是剔透的彩色琉璃。這其中她對於材料質感和組合的把控透射出來的是一种經過滌蕩之後的信手天成，是不漏痕跡的暗藏心機。如果説這兩組作品對於同一材料視覺呈現上的區隔有基於性別差異的考量，那麼《40歲日記》（2003）以及新近裝置作品《追到天堂》（2011）裏對於頭髮的收集、組合和儀式化得處理，則明顯地帶出藝術行為的意味和物質文化視野中對於紀念物的關注。顯然，一再追究對材料質感視覺呈現的各種可能同樣也是當代藝術試圖在物質語言層面上拓展的出口之一。

滕菲的《朵•頤》（2007）系列中，有令我個人感覺極為驚艷的《胎記》、《那個夏天》、《謎》和《心悸》……首先是作品形態本身的觸目感，其次是作品展示的敘事性，再則就是藝術家在這其中採用的工作方式所給出的定義個性化首飾的某種可能：作品形態來自於完全個人獨有的身體取樣。滕菲以自身為對象，揭示出如何將個人身體記憶的隱秘象徵以視覺化的物質存在轉譯成個人如同指紋般的公開符號。在凸顯自我存在的同時也傳遞出自我與外界的關聯，在肯定自我的同時也在謀求外界對於個體的認定。這一系列作品中觸及到關乎身體政治的指涉也恰恰是當代藝術染指頗深的一個視閾。

然而，滕菲的天性和她對於藝術的悟性都令她不太可能策略性地固守在某一材質的視覺化呈現或某一形態的重復獲取上。一旦有了順理成章的可能，她都會開始自覺地警醒。她自己常常會説到，她的創作是從觀念的表達出發的，只要是契合她的觀念和表達的，任何材料任何方式都有可能。正如她在《生命》（2008）和新作《寸•光陰》（2011）中，遵循自設的規則來切割已有的一個形態，或是生成和組合出一個新的形態。這些寫意的幾何形態一如既往地保有著材質、加工、表達上的渾然、乾淨和利落。在情感與理智彼此關聯的灰色地帶作著細緻和微妙的拿捏，觀念的表達變得更為鮮明和集中的同時，任何可能分散注意力的造型元素似乎都被不動聲色地放棄了。滕菲在造型中輕鬆、活潑和隨性的一些元素有意識地被分揀了出去，卻加持了內斂、沉靜和含蓄的部分。在自設的規則裏則以“為難”自己來成全了能夠讓作品有效衍生的互動行為。滕菲作品創作的全過程提示出了藝術實踐的核心不是一個既定的結果，而是開放的方式。

在這些作品裏，我們作為觀眾抑或是作為參與者都會對分離與共用、同質與差異、瞬間與消逝、具體與抽象、偶發與限制有某種悖論式的體悟。作品的最終呈現需要藝術家本人之外的另一個或另一些人的主動參與來實現。這是滕菲新近的一系列藝術實踐中所凸現出來的一個方式。互動和對話一方面是滕菲探討首飾倫理變遷的方式：首飾不再只是個人的獨享，它還是人與人之間關聯的體現，另一方面也是有別於現代藝術宣言式表達的當代藝術所特別倚重的行動上的呼應。

終究，我們會了然到首飾對於滕菲的藝術實踐從來都沒有作為一個限定和主題，而是作為了她藝術實踐的一個策略和方式。由此，我們也會更傾向於將滕菲介入當代首飾實踐的經驗看作是她對自身所處的當代藝術境況反覆思量之後的一個選擇——當代如何首飾？這裡的首飾和藝術實踐有關，這裡的當代與生存經驗相關。

2011-10

JEWELLERY AS A CONTEMPORARARY ART PRACTICE

Jiang Yuehong

Our obsession with finding a context for and relationship between the flow and logic in an artist’s practices leaves us at a loss for words yet eager when we encounter Teng Fei’s variety of art practices: from the simplicity and sincerity of woodprint pieces to wise and sensitive installations, and finally to freely flowing and unencumbered jewelry pieces, Teng Fei exuberantly ‘plays’, meticulously and proudly confusing any attempt to discuss and categorize her and her beloved art practices.

Thus, only when we finally can admit that the uncertainty that comes out of this is actually an integral part of contemporary art practices, will we see that there is absolutely no pattern with which to compare Teng Fei’s art. Because it has yet to be characterized, we try to define without effect the characteristics of contemporary jewelry, as they mix and become entangled with contemporary art’s hybridity and obscurity. Even more so because Teng Fei’s art practices provide not only an experience, but a kind of choice for contemporary art.

Starting in the 1960’s, contemporary art moved from Abstract Expressionism into minimalism, conceptualism, performance and feminism realms: a co-existence of multiple forms and different directions of art practice. Contemporary jewelry, in every kinds of question and extension continously show in its materials, techniques, forms, function and ideas, and in the reflection, clarification and discussion it aroused in body politics and the realm of the culture of objects, was not so much influenced by contemporary art as truly one part of contemporary art, providing a stage for different kinds of art practices. Teng Fei has begun to shine on this stage and consistently invests her full range of concerns, baring her fierce love of her art, and unveiling the unlimited possibilities of materials, form and expression within the current state of contemporary art. Facing the profound interpretation and meaning of Teng Fei’s works, I would like to show how it is what it is.

Teng Fei’s attention and sensitivity towards re-valuation of material qualities, using flower petals, silk and horse hair, has ancient origins. Looking back at her works of the last decade, Dialog& Monolog (2004) is full hand-wrought silver with a willful, coarse, and self-restrained vitality, completing its own monologue, and managing a dialogue with its pearls and stones. In Rainy Season (2005), the light-like silver-thread support transparent colored glazes. The control she wields over her textures and combinations is an inherent and mature skill, the consciousness of her actions unrevealed. If we regard the discrepancies in the visual appearance of a single material in these two series as due to a consideration based on gender difference in the pieces, then Diaries of 40 (2003) and the recent installation Nirvana(2011), clearly show, in their collection of hair and its placement and ceremony, the process and implications of production, and in our material culture’s field of vision, attention to commemoration. It appears that repeated seeking of the various possibilities for materials’ textured visual appearance and meanings are in the same way an outlet for contemporary art’s attempt at expansion in the language of objects.

Teng Fei’s Birthmark, That Summer, A Riddle and Palpitation from the Palate•Pleased series (2007) are stunning in the eye-catching form, the narrative nature, the method used to give a definitive uniqueness to the jewelry’s possibility: the form come from the absolute individualism of pieces of one’s body. Teng Fei uses her own body as her subject, showing how the hidden marks on a body’s memory can transform through visualization into a public sign such as an individual’s fingerprint. As the existence of the self is magnified, it transmits the affiliation between the self and the outside world; as the self is confirmed, it strains for the belief of the world in individualism. This series penetrates the body’s politics and is a window into new directions in contemporary art.

However, Teng Fei’s nature and relationship to art make her unable to consciously cling to a defined appearance of a certain material or the reappearance of a certain kind of shape. As soon as she has a glimpse of the outcome of a new piece, she will begin to self-consciously be alert. She often says that her creations start from the expression of concepts, and as long as it agrees with her concept, any kind of material or method has possibility. In her Life (2008), and new pieces Ctrl+S(2011), she follows her rules of self-design to cut apart an existing form, or produces and combines to create a new form. This relaxed attitude helps to maintain the quality of the material, the craftsmanship, the expression, the cleanliness and orderliness. In the mixed area between emotion and reason, meticulous and subtle choices are made, and as the expression of concepts becomes more distinct and focused, all elements that might distract attention are calmly discarded. When Teng Fei is molding a piece, the relaxed, excitable and malleable elements are consciously plucked out, while the restrained, peaceful and unspoken components are retained. Within her rules of self-design, she makes it “an obstacle” for herself in order to accomplish pieces that can effectively cause interaction with the viewers. The complete process of Teng Fei’s works show that the core of art practice is not the outcome proposed, but the method provided for unpredictable effect.

In these works, we as the audience, or even we as participants, can experience the paradox between the private and public, homogenous and different, momentary and lasting, concrete and abstract, spontaneous and limited. The final expression of the work needs other people to initiate participation in order to be realized. This is a method that has emerged in Teng Fei’s newest series. One side of interaction and conversation is how Teng Fei investigates the changes in the ethics of jewelry: jewelry is no longer an individual adornment, it is the embodiment of a connection between people; the other side is the response in action that contemporary art especially counts on and thus differentiate itself from the modern art who values manifesto a lot.

In the end, it is evident to us that jewelry has never been a restricted objective within Teng Fei’s art practices, but rather a tactical means in her art practices. So, we can see Teng Fei’s experiences with contemporary jewelry as a choice made after contemplation on her own place in contemporary art—what is contemporary art as adornment? Here, jewelry and art practices are intertwined; here, contemporary art and life experiences are interrelated.

2011-10