【學(xué)術(shù)】李穎《強(qiáng)戈的繪畫與啟示》
強(qiáng)戈的繪畫與啟示
Qiang Ge's Paintings andinspirations
Ying.Lee
我向來(lái)喜歡觀察“過(guò)程中”的畫家，他們的作品未必完美，——事實(shí)上根本沒(méi)有客觀上完美的作品，但很有勁，這個(gè)“勁”包括作品本身的力量與張力，也包含畫家蓄勢(shì)待發(fā)的勢(shì)頭。十年多前，我們就曾提出過(guò)一個(gè)見證年輕畫家共同成長(zhǎng)的議題，這一路走來(lái)，在當(dāng)時(shí)參與的畫家中，強(qiáng)戈回歸藝術(shù)本身，對(duì)繪畫本質(zhì)的執(zhí)著，一直是讓我很感動(dòng)的。
近些年來(lái)，借助傳統(tǒng)視覺(jué)文化經(jīng)驗(yàn)及符號(hào)記憶進(jìn)行當(dāng)代圖像闡釋，是一種頗為流行的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作傾向。事實(shí)上，這樣的創(chuàng)作思路，對(duì)于以創(chuàng)作作為實(shí)現(xiàn)藝術(shù)家價(jià)值的主流論調(diào)，實(shí)在是一件太冒險(xiǎn)的事情。 一方面，從傳統(tǒng)繪畫文本中擷取圖像資料，說(shuō)得好聽一點(diǎn)是“向經(jīng)典致敬”，難聽一點(diǎn)的話，借鑒？抄襲？也就依賴于各位看客看問(wèn)題的角度了。過(guò)去，也有不少名家在此種思路上摔了跟斗，被批評(píng)界指摘過(guò)甚。從另一層面來(lái)說(shuō)，經(jīng)典的高度自然擺在那里，直接叫板，一個(gè)不小心成了東施效顰，背上走捷徑，毀經(jīng)典的罪名。再加上由于取材的相似性，給人先入為主的感覺(jué)，要想擺脫經(jīng)典留下的印象，形成自己的獨(dú)特風(fēng)格，反而更加困難。正因?yàn)槿绱?，早?/span>2010年，強(qiáng)戈開始他的《再造》系列之初，我就對(duì)他信心十足的創(chuàng)作熱情頗為擔(dān)心，——太容易留人話柄了！但是，連我自己都覺(jué)得奇怪的是，雖然我從某種程度對(duì)這種創(chuàng)作思路的突破性頗為懷疑，但卻一直很關(guān)注這位畫家的創(chuàng)作。因?yàn)椋晕覍?duì)他多年來(lái)藝術(shù)探索秉性的了解，強(qiáng)戈的興趣點(diǎn)，絕對(duì)不在于畫什么，而在于怎么畫。這也是5年之后，在他決定為他的《再造》系列打上休止符的時(shí)候，我卻覺(jué)得，這么多年對(duì)他的關(guān)注，也應(yīng)該交出一點(diǎn)什么東西了。
選擇中國(guó)古代經(jīng)典作品進(jìn)行再創(chuàng)作，何以成為時(shí)下的一種流行，主要有兩種促成因素。一是近些年來(lái)國(guó)內(nèi)對(duì)油畫創(chuàng)作的中國(guó)意味、中國(guó)氣派，中國(guó)精神的呼聲甚高，對(duì)文化身份認(rèn)同的強(qiáng)烈渴望促使畫家們回到傳統(tǒng)中去尋根。再者，海外的“后現(xiàn)代思潮”一改現(xiàn)代主義的全球一體化文化格局的思維模式，提出從歷史的文脈中去尋找當(dāng)代個(gè)體的文化歸屬的創(chuàng)作傾向，也讓回歸傳統(tǒng)變?yōu)橐环N時(shí)尚。二者兩相契合，助長(zhǎng)了油畫“中國(guó)化”的風(fēng)靡一時(shí)。
對(duì)傳統(tǒng)作品的再闡釋，關(guān)鍵在于如何在熟悉的視覺(jué)對(duì)象或符號(hào)面前轉(zhuǎn)化出自己的味道，自我的風(fēng)格，也就是在題材的選擇之外，更加專注于如何進(jìn)行畫面語(yǔ)言傳達(dá)的問(wèn)題，亦即前面說(shuō)到的怎么畫的問(wèn)題。事實(shí)上，近年來(lái)中國(guó)的油畫創(chuàng)作，無(wú)論是正統(tǒng)的主旋律宏大主題還是當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的先鋒叛逆姿態(tài)，都是在題材或主題上做文章，對(duì)繪畫中社會(huì)、哲學(xué)的思考與觀念很大程度上超過(guò)了對(duì)繪畫本身的思考，并賦予這種思路以前衛(wèi)、深刻的評(píng)價(jià)。然而，畫面的空洞（這種空洞一方面體現(xiàn)為去繪畫技術(shù)化以后作品的豐富性與美感的喪失，一方面體現(xiàn)為宏大主題的說(shuō)教背后讓人厭倦的藝術(shù)功利色彩）與解讀的恢弘?yún)s形成一種難以調(diào)和的真空，使畫面本身的說(shuō)服力大打折扣。而強(qiáng)戈的繪畫，或許能對(duì)油畫界所普遍面對(duì)的問(wèn)題帶來(lái)一些啟發(fā)性的意義。
強(qiáng)戈的“怎么畫”，首先體現(xiàn)在他對(duì)油畫材料研究的極端迷戀和材料使用的極端講究上面。油畫創(chuàng)作的中國(guó)化傾向是近些年來(lái)油畫界的熱選方向，在國(guó)畫界痛心疾首著寫意精神淪喪的今天，油畫界卻熱衷于探索畫面上滴淌、揮灑的效果，色彩上簡(jiǎn)淡，意境上空疏、蕭瑟，總之，油畫界近年來(lái)的中國(guó)意味大行其道，是非常明顯的事實(shí)。但是，寫意的流行，也造成了畫面上形態(tài)糜爛的弊端，這與油畫材質(zhì)在造型、結(jié)構(gòu)、色彩等表達(dá)上的優(yōu)勢(shì)是非常不符的。因此，如何結(jié)合油畫媒材的特殊性與美感，來(lái)傳達(dá)中國(guó)式的意象，就成了當(dāng)代中國(guó)油畫家們思考的重大問(wèn)題之一。顯然，強(qiáng)戈在這方面的貢獻(xiàn)是值得關(guān)注的。反復(fù)滴灑，偶然與必然的沖撞，形成微妙的底色肌理與質(zhì)感的變化，既像是在模仿古畫斑駁褪色的背景效果，給人一種時(shí)間隧道的游離感，又是在探索油畫語(yǔ)言的全新表達(dá)。而這種語(yǔ)言本身完全有別于中國(guó)古典繪畫，是非常油畫味的，是充分體現(xiàn)油畫這種材料的特質(zhì)的，與如今一些油畫家放棄油畫的材質(zhì)特征一味追求中國(guó)古典繪畫的構(gòu)成、筆墨、意境，有著明顯的不同。在這種與自身傳統(tǒng)文化進(jìn)行對(duì)話的過(guò)程中，對(duì)這種來(lái)自異域的材料表現(xiàn)力的發(fā)掘也就自然形成了。
這種對(duì)繪畫材料、表現(xiàn)語(yǔ)言進(jìn)行探索，而非拘泥于題材選擇的傾向，早在學(xué)生時(shí)期就已經(jīng)開始：本科階段的《春池》系列，研究生時(shí)期的《帶魚》系列，都在題材恒定的情況下，反復(fù)不同的表現(xiàn)手段，呈現(xiàn)出同一題材多達(dá)幾十種的不同畫面效果。這不禁讓人想起莫奈當(dāng)年反復(fù)畫睡蓮、火車站、干草垛，不過(guò)莫奈是為了捕捉自然光線稍縱即逝的微妙變化，而強(qiáng)戈則是想多方嘗試油畫材質(zhì)在表現(xiàn)上的極限。從這些早期作品來(lái)看，強(qiáng)戈對(duì)中國(guó)式的微妙、含蓄、清淡，有書寫意味的審美傾向已經(jīng)非常明顯了，但或許對(duì)他而言，還不足以形成獨(dú)到的表現(xiàn)語(yǔ)言和對(duì)中國(guó)經(jīng)典美學(xué)思想的深度挖掘。于是《再造》系列就出現(xiàn)了。
《再造》系列在具體題材的選擇上也有一個(gè)變化的過(guò)程：從主要以宋代的工筆花鳥到近期的明清寫意花鳥，與此同時(shí)的，也有表達(dá)方式上從受到原型版本的較強(qiáng)牽制到漸趨自由的過(guò)程。在傳統(tǒng)中國(guó)的文化語(yǔ)境內(nèi)，臨摹向來(lái)是一種傳承時(shí)間相當(dāng)久遠(yuǎn)的學(xué)習(xí)方法。這種方法到了20世紀(jì)成為曾一度成為眾矢之的，成為中國(guó)藝術(shù)只知模仿而不知?jiǎng)?chuàng)新的罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。而?dāng)時(shí)的油畫，則是以革命者與先進(jìn)畫種代言人的身份，被將引進(jìn)來(lái)治病的。曾幾何時(shí)，這種觀點(diǎn)已經(jīng)悄然消退，轉(zhuǎn)換才是更重要的議題，貢布里希所說(shuō)“預(yù)成圖式與修正”，大概也就是這個(gè)道理。照抄自然與照抄古人都是機(jī)械的學(xué)習(xí)，啟發(fā)性的思考在藝術(shù)家的創(chuàng)作過(guò)程中顯得尤其重要。從這個(gè)角度來(lái)看強(qiáng)戈的畫，就會(huì)有豁然開朗的感受，因?yàn)槟切┗B作品，早就剝離了中國(guó)古典的情趣、意蘊(yùn)、審美感受。對(duì)于觀者來(lái)說(shuō)，總想喚起經(jīng)驗(yàn)中、記憶里那些圖像，強(qiáng)戈的圖像借鑒提供了一個(gè)形式上有情感鏈接的點(diǎn)，但是，當(dāng)觀者還想更進(jìn)一步在其中尋找經(jīng)驗(yàn)時(shí)，經(jīng)驗(yàn)被打破了。圖像依稀相識(shí)，審美感受卻完全不同：宋代花鳥小品的清新自然轉(zhuǎn)化成為嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)厚重，而寫意花鳥的酣暢淋漓也不見蹤影，一變而為素描似的疏密結(jié)構(gòu)與分割。在色彩搭配這個(gè)問(wèn)題上，畫家甚至把自己在版畫系任教多年的經(jīng)驗(yàn)也帶了進(jìn)來(lái)，變?cè)O(shè)色濃艷為幾個(gè)主要顏色的搭配組合，讓原本水潤(rùn)透明的古畫居然有了幾分套色版畫的平面構(gòu)成與裝飾感。尤其是那些對(duì)徐渭的大寫意水墨花鳥的“再造”，不但被切割，長(zhǎng)卷式構(gòu)圖被破壞，就連那種熟悉的文人書寫的味道也被重新解讀了，哪里還有寫意？哪里還有淋漓暢快、任意揮灑的書寫？跡象，痕跡，似曾相識(shí)，又是似而非，剝離了原作品的瀟灑，只保留了圖式上的痕跡，渾然化解在藝術(shù)家強(qiáng)勢(shì)的再闡釋語(yǔ)義之中了。從對(duì)經(jīng)典圖本的在闡釋中，逐漸帶入自我意識(shí)與主觀創(chuàng)作，這也是強(qiáng)戈作品所展現(xiàn)出的第二層含義。
面對(duì)傳統(tǒng)，我們總是喜歡持有謙遜的態(tài)度，但是，奴化思想太重，畫家的個(gè)性無(wú)以伸張，也有違藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作的初衷。然而，即便是藝術(shù)家喜歡談?wù)搫?chuàng)作的自由，其實(shí)從來(lái)也都是一個(gè)相對(duì)的概念：技術(shù)不過(guò)關(guān)，無(wú)自由；思想無(wú)序，情緒混亂，創(chuàng)作自由更無(wú)從談起。所以，感性與理性向來(lái)都是一個(gè)敏感而又回避不了的話題。強(qiáng)戈的畫，倒讓筆者明顯看到了藝術(shù)家諱忌的理性的駕馭和控制。素描自不必說(shuō)，那既是畫家自我審視與感悟的體驗(yàn)，也是觀察、技術(shù)、材質(zhì)控制的綜合體現(xiàn)。而油畫中看似偶然的滴灑效果，也很大程度建構(gòu)在畫家對(duì)材料的反復(fù)實(shí)踐、精心經(jīng)營(yíng)之上，這也使得強(qiáng)戈的畫呈現(xiàn)出內(nèi)斂豐富，意在筆先的意蘊(yùn)。畫家對(duì)創(chuàng)作的自由與控制力的理性操控，或許又給我們一種不同的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作的思路。
2015年晚春于美國(guó)哥倫布
InRecent years, it becomes a popular tendencyin China that extracting visualpictorial images and hieroglyphs fromtraditional art history serves tocontemporary cultural re-interpretation as anexperienced reminiscence oftraditional symbols in artistic creation. Actually,this methodology is , in myopinion, too risky particularly as the idea ofrevolutionary original creationis thought as the mainstream of artisticcreation. On the one hand, the wayextracting pictorial episodic images fromancient painting, might easily beascribed as emulation or even plagiary,despite it also could be explained as inthe manner of classic work. That is tosay, it might be criticized as an immoraldeed in some points of view. And,evidence did suggest that in the past therewere famous artists who followed thiskind of creative thought were denounced bycritics before. On the other hand, italso tends to be depreciated as a deed todestroy the preeminent masterpieceswhich have already been endowed a well-knownreputation. In addition, theeffort of getting rid of the deep impression fromoriginal work and of formingpersonal style on the basis of ancient images wouldmake the painting processmuch more difficult to control. Because of thesereasons, I was not as enoughoptimistic as the artist's enthusiasm andself-confidence when he started his Series of Re-creation. However, itisstrange to a certain extent that despite I keep my dubiousness aboutthebreakthrough of this kind of creation thought, I am very interestinginobserving this artist,---both his creation process and works as well. I haveknownhim for more than ten years, and I am very clear that the artist'sexplorationis not much more concern with the subject of the painting but more concentration to the point of variousexpressive ways of thepainting.
Thereason why choosing Chinese ancientmasterpieces as an important source ofre-interpretation becomes a common artcreative trend currently dues to twoaspects. Firstly, in Chinese oil paintingcircle, the trend of expression in China'smeaning, China's spirit and China'sethos with Western painting media has beingcome into mainstream during theseyears accompanying with the strong necessaryto pursue cultural identity backinto Chinese traditional history. And Moreover,the influence of Post-modernismfrom Western contemporary culture which ischaracterized as personal identity, metaphoricalexpression, and regionalhistorical context as an advanced thought way increation, also makes thisreturn become possible in the substituting of formerModernist internationalstyle. Therefore, the combination of these two aspectspromotes the Chinesecharacteristics in oil painting being extremely popular inrecent years.
Thekey point for re-interpretation oftraditional pieces, is based on how to transferpersonal style from these familiarclassical visual subjects and symbols,---moreconcern with the expression ofartistic language in paintings than the subjectsthemselves,---that is, theissue of how to create a typical language to expressartist's emotion. In fact,the recent China's oil painting creation,--- eitherthe orthodox governmental mainstreamor grandiose and iconoclastic Avant-gardein "contemporary art",---focuseson the subjects simultaneously,paying more attention to the deliberation ofsociety and philosophy rather thanart itself, and thus endowing this sort ofdeliberation as features ofprogression and theoretical meaning. The vanity ofpainting ---which can beexemplified as the vain in lacking of complexity andaesthetics after the de-skilledin painting in one hand, and the meretriciousutilitarian of painting in thesupporting of dogmatism of grandiose in theother hand,---causes irreconcilablecontroversy with the seemingly magnificenceof literal interpretation, andgreatly declined the cogency of painting itself.Qiang Ge's painting, may bringsome kinds of inspiration meanings to today's oilpainting world.
QiangGe's expression way, is demonstrated primarily to his extremefascination in theresearch of oil painting materials and fastidiousness inusing of thesematerials. Nowadays, when guohuaartists and critics generally rebuke the lostof Chinese traditional xieyi spirit; conversely, many oilartists are obsessingin the exploration of Chinese styles on canvas, includingthe vision of distilldots and trace, calligraphic brushwork, simply and purein colors, melancholyand expressive sense as well. In one word, it is stronglyobvious that in oilpainting field, the creation in Chinese traditional stylesare popular. Thispopularity, however, also brings another problem, that is theproblem indecomposition in shape and form, which does not match to theadvantages of oilmaterials in expression in shaping, construction andcomplicated colors.Therefore, how to conduct Chinese style imaginary imagescombining withparticularities and aesthetics of the specific oil media,becomes a significantproblem to today's Chinese oil artists. In term of this,Qiang Ge's contributionis considerable. With the repetition of distill andcolors' interexchangecoincidently and necessarily on canvas, the forming oftexture and strokes onthe painting's background, either symbolizes historicaleffects in time channelwith the emulation of ancient masterpieces' mottled andfading colors, as thesame time also seeks a complete expression of oilpainting language. The mostimportant is that the language is based on the characteristicsof oil media,departing from the China's classical painting; it is totallydifferent to someof the oil painters who discard the particular materialisticfeatures in oilpainting to chasing desperately the Chinese styles ofcombination, brushwork andimaginary environments. In the process ofconversation to personal traditionalculture, the discovery of expression fromthe exotic media are spontaneously advanced.
Theinclination of exploring materials andlanguage of painting has began as earlyas his student period of undergraduateand graduate: Series of Spring pondandSeries of Ribbonfish, both areexamples of repetition of expression methodswith stable subjects, sometimeseven having dozens of different visualperformances with the same subject. Bythis way he accumulated varietyexperiences in oil painting media. From theseearlier works, his Chineseaesthetic tendency in extent of subtly, implicit,pure, and calligraphic strokeswas very clear at that time, despite that itmight not enough for him to formspecific expressing language and understandingof Chinese classical aestheticthoughts. Consequently, the Series of Re-creation came into birth.
Achanging process of subject choosing can be observed from the Series ofRe-creation: mainly from the gongbi flower-and-bird in Song dynastytorelatively recent xiyi flower-and-birdpainting in Ming and Qing dynasties; andin the same time, the expressing wayswere also enduring a course from thelimitation by prototypes to a more and morefree description. Under the Chinesecultural painting context, copying has beena primary important learning way fora long period of time. However, in theearly of 20th century, copying wascondemned as a criminal, false and unprogressivemethod for its emulation ratherthan creation. At that time, oil painting wasregarded as an advanced andrevolutionary kind of art imported from West tocure the illness of China's art.But unnoticeably, this thought was fadedgradually, being supplanted bytransference, another more important issue, justlike the famous saying from E.H. Gombrich "formula and correction".Either copying directly fromnature or copying from ancient masters are bothmechanically learning,inspiration from them during painting process is indeedextremely significant.Appreciating Qiang Ge's paintings from this perspective,one will have areleased understanding from limitation of copying, since there-interpretationof the bird-and-flower work, was completely departed from theclassical emotion.As a viewer, it is easy to evoke former experience in his orher memory, theborrowing images in Qiang Ge's paintings provide a sensational linkbetween past and present,but the experience in memory was broken when viewercontinues seeking for it. Imagesseem to be familiar faintly, otherwise, theemotion of aesthetics is totallydistinctive: without the naturalist andfreshness in Song flower-and-birdpaintings but turning into seriousness and composurein visual sense, withoutthe calligraphic xieyi feeling withease, verse, andbrightness, but changing into compositional density anddivision being similarto Western drawing. As an veteran instructor in carvepainting teaching, hebrings his teaching experience in the use and concert ofcolors and tones,transferring the wet and apparent ancient painting intographic and decorativeconstruction being alike to chromatographic woodcuts. Particularly,when hiscreation is based on Xu Wi's work, masterpieces from later Mingdynasty, he notonly cuts Xu's typical long scroll composition into squareformat, but alsoreinterprets the freehand brushwork from the originals intohis own language.Here, the second connotation of Qiang Ge's work appears: bythe reinterpretationof classical images, he interposes his own understandingand creativeactivities.
Facingthe power of tradition, we always serveto humble and modest attitude, in somecases, however, the bondage is tooserious to suppress artists' individualism, violatethe artistic creativenature. Even though most of artists prefer to the artisticcreative freedom, itis in fact a relative conception: there is no freedom aslimitation oftechnological methods, and also, there is no freedom when artisthas no way tocontrol the emotion and in a mass of confusion. Despite I concedeemotionalsense is important to artists, I also want to emphasize thealternativeimportance of rationality. The seemingly controversial dichotomousperceptionsmay be show in a reconciling demonstration in Qiang Ge's painting.His delicateand detailed sketches, conspicuously tend to have a combination ofemotionalityand rationality; even his oil paintings, are also controlledbetween the coincidencesand imperatives . This kind of rational control, mightbe a different thoughtin artistic creation.
For along time, I prefer toobserve the artists who are "in the process".Perhaps their work isnot perfect,---actually there is no really perfect work atall,---but they arefull of strength and vitality, both in work and artiststhemselves. As early asmore than ten years ago, we used to have a proposal inwitness of young artists'growing process. Among these young artists whoattended this project at thattime, I have been moved by Qiang Ge's dedicationfor "art for art'ssake".
（李穎：美術(shù)史家，理論家，多年從事現(xiàn)當(dāng)代美術(shù)史研究?，F(xiàn)為美國(guó)俄亥俄州立大學(xué)訪問(wèn)學(xué)者。）
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