鲁虹：私密与表现——解读邓箭今

“艺术中的真可能比美更重要。它之所以重要，是因为意义重要。艺术家都有意通过作为视觉思想的例证的艺术品来揭示意义。今天的艺术批评更关注这些意义是否同时具有真实性，而不是关注传统的视觉愉悦的关照。艺术家已经成为哲学家过去担任的角色，指引着我们思考他们的作品表达的东西。这样，艺术的事实就是关于经验艺术的那些人。它也是关于我们是谁、我们如何生活。”


（美）阿瑟•C•丹托（1）

私密与表现
——解读邓箭今






鲁虹

只要对艺术家邓箭今的创作进行一番必要的回顾，我们并不难发现：这位资深艺术家近年的创作与前些年的创作，在艺术风格上是完全不相同的。事实上，在前一阶段（1993年——1998年），他的作品在造型上显然更加接近于学院派写实的传统，只不过从表现与感受出发，常常使用了漫画般的夸张语言、非常态的人物造型与超写实的构图方式。而在具体的艺术表现上，邓箭今则主要采用一些干涩的、结巴的、厚涂的、生猛的色彩。与此相关的是，他画面上的笔触基本上是用画笔或用画刀摆放上去的。但在近一阶段（2001年——2007年）（2），他的创作在造型上无疑更加写意、更加自由，也更加接近于传统艺术的“意向造型观”，至于在具体的艺术表现上，可以说，用色更加湿润、用笔更加流畅，更加强调运动的过程与留下时间的印记，也更加注意偶然性在绘画过程中的作用。打个不太恰当的比喻，前者更加接近于浅浮雕的效果，后者更加接近于水墨人物画的效果。于是，我十分关心的问题是，邓箭今为什么要在艺术风格上进行如此巨大的转换？他为什么不延用以往的风格去画新的题材？也许，一个最容易给出的答案是，他希望超越过去，重塑自我。不过，这样的答案尽管正确，却未免空泛，相当于一句十分正确的废话。

那么，更加令人信服的原因究竟出自何处？这几天，为了较好地回答这一问题，我不仅认真研读了邓箭今十多年来创作的大量作品，也与我的朋友，如杨国辛、李邦耀等人进行了广泛深入的讨论。这样的过程对于我是非常有帮助的。结果我发现，虽然在邓箭今的所有创作中，叙事性一直是很重要的因素，而且他始终强调对亲身经历或“自我形象”的表达，但在前后两个艺术阶段里，还是有着明显区别的。具体地说吧，在前者，他有意无意地在追求将个人感受社会化，以尽力表现“对生命的追问与关怀”，（3）他这一阶段作品涉及的文化主题大致有：当下人的虚弱无助、人际关系的错综复杂、暴力的威胁、道德的崩溃、个人隐私的不受保护等等。如果按照一些西方艺术史家对类似作品的定位，他在当时的创作似乎可以放在“邪恶的现实主义”范畴内。我甚至认为，艺术家的这种追求与当时强调观念表达的大潮流十分有关，这就使得他常常是想办法在一个宏大叙事的框架内塞进个人感受的东西。倘若要说，邓箭今以往的作品多少显得有些牵强、生硬，其原因也正在如此。当然，这些因素也不可避免地渗透到了他的艺术表现中。比如他参加 “首届当代艺术学术邀请展”（1996年）的系列作品《身份》就很说明问题。在这组作品中，为了强调身份与人之间存在的一种十分无奈关系，他在画中女人的头像与身体上画有大量暗示身份证的数码符号。相对此前的作品，个人感受性的东西明显是减少了，概念则在过分突出，显得比较干。以致有朋友认为，为人率意、富于感性的邓箭今在其作品里表示了一种分裂的“人格”。毫无疑问，画这样的画，对于邓箭今来说，绝不可能享受创作的快乐。

我猜想，邓箭今要么是清楚地意识到了以上问题，要么是深深感受到了以前创作模式与自己的本性相去甚远。所以在1998年以后，他一直在寻求超越过去与学院模式的路径。所幸的是，经过不懈的努力探索，他在2001年后终于寻找到了一种崭新的创作模式，这也使他的艺术风格发生极大的变化。对于这种变化，他自己也好，他周边的朋友也好，都认为更加符合他的本性，而且，画味更足，更耐看，艺术的品质也更高一些。

首先，他已经不太考虑外在的看法，更多是从本人的特殊感受与体验出发。此时，他的艺术目标是在艺术与性的边缘狎嬉，而艺术的母题也随之转向了对 “身体”的表现。不过，他并不是像“新古典主义”画家那样，即从“传统主义”与“大男子主义”的角度对女人体进行“理想美”的表现，而是大胆地涉及了艺术表现的“空白地带”——这当中包括对性与同性恋等问题的表现。准确地说，他既表现了一种不太为人们关注或熟悉的生存状态或境界，也揭示了生命的本能、无意识与非常态状况，因此会给人以一种直击内心深处的震撼，并引发人们的相关反思。我很同意批评家杨小彦的看法，即在这类绘画中，“他把自己作为‘他者’，同时又作为‘主体’。深切地表达了处身在私人空间与公共空间之间的狭窄地域的窘况。而另一个邓箭今则是面对青春的诉说者，他内心的生命力促使他一而再再而三地去回顾青春期的各种情态，并把青春作为真实的对象而不是主体，不断地呈现在画面上。”（4）不可否认，他的这一类绘画对于那些长期经受传统文化与正统文化教养的人来说肯定是一种严峻的挑衅。据我所知，这不时会给他参加展览与发表作品带来麻烦。好在一个开放的社会越来越重视与人生存相关的所有文化问题，所以理解他这类绘画作品的人也越来越多。其实，与色情类绘画，还有色情网络用各种人体来搞色情诱惑完全不同，由于他的作品强调的是直面人类生存的现实世界，进而以无所畏惧的姿态挑战传统禁忌或突出当代与个人的价值立场。根本不能简单地用 “脱”字与 “色”字来概括。这一点人们只要加以认真比较与研究，是不难体会得到的。

再者，为了很好地表达个人秘密经验或服从于个人的艺术天性,他智慧地将一些有意味的艺术图像吸收到了非常有个人特点的色、线、面、笔触与构图中，这无疑是非常不简单的。那阴暗、暧昧或迷茫的色调、那放松、流畅或随意的曲形笔触、那出神入化的人物造型、那油水分离的肌理效果，还有那虚拟化的画面空间安排无不与作品的艺术主题水乳交融，所以给我留下了极为深刻的印象。从艺术本体的角度看，我认为，邓箭今的近作不仅在艺术表现上已经达到了相当高的境界，而且对于“找个好图像就意味着一切”的时髦做法也是很好的反击。批评家漆澜前不久在上海策划了一个名为“超越图像”的中国当代油画展，他的本意是要反拨只关注图像以迎合市场与外国策展人，却忽视艺术本体质量的恶劣做法。对此，我深为理解，可惜他忘记了，在架上艺术的创作中，特别是涉及到对现实的关注与观念的表达，图像终究是无法超越的。邓箭今近作的巨大启示性就在于：虽然在当下的绘画创作中，图像的作用十分重要，但如果没有特定的个人感受、观念文本与艺术技巧的支撑，仍然是无济于事的。因为图像并不能代表一切。不过，如果仅仅由于有人滥用图像就一味攻击图像本身，那是很不专业、很不明智的。关于后一个问题，我会专门撰文谈及，在此就不多费笔墨了。


2008-1-31于深圳美术馆




注：
（1）《艺术的终结之后》，第8页。凤凰出版集团、江苏人民出版社，2007年4月版。
（2）从1998年到2001年是邓箭今创作的过渡期，他在这一阶段的作品兼有前后两个阶段艺术的特点。
（3）详见邓箭今撰写的文章《》。
（4）转引自《中国现代主义——油画表现大系：邓箭今》第43页。长城出版社，2007年8月版。





Truth in art is probably more important than beauty, because its significance is more important. Artists are interested in revealing meaning through the art works as samples of visual thinking. Today’s art criticism is more concerned about whether these significances have authenticity rather than the traditional concern of visual pleasure. Artists have taken the roles played by philosophers, guiding us to think what their works express. In this way, the fact of art is about these people experiencing art. It’s also about whom we are, how we live.”

---- (United States) Arthur•C • Danto (1)

Privacy and Expression
--- Read on Deng Jianjin

By Lu Hong

Given a necessary retrospection to artist Deng Jian’s works, it’s not hard to find that: the artistic style of the senior artist‘s recent works are totally different with those in a few years ago. In fact, in the previous phase (1993-1998), his works on shape are closer to the academic realist tradition, although starting from expression and experience he always used exaggerated cartoon-like language, abnormal figures and super-realistic composition. For the concrete artistic expression, Deng Jianjin mainly adopted some dry, stammering, thick and fierce colors. What related is the strokes on his screen are basically posed by brush or painting knife. But in the last phase (2001-2007)(2), his creation is undoubtedly more impressionistic, free and closer to the “intention shape concept” of traditional art. For the concrete artistic performance, it can be said that the use of color is more humid, the use of brush is more fluid, the movement process and the imprint of time are more emphasized, and the use of contingency in the painting process are paid more attention. Making an analogy which is not so appropriate, the former is closer to the effect of bas-relief and the latter is closer to the effect of ink figure. Hence, the question I mostly concern is why Deng Jianjin makes such a huge conversion on artistic style. Why didn’t he continue the previous style to paint new themes? Perhaps the easiest answer to be given is he hopes to transcend the past and remodel self. However, although the answer is right, it’s as vague as a very correct nonsense.

Then, where’s the more convictive reason? In these days, in order to better answer this question, I not only carefully read the large amount of Deng Jianjin’s works for more than a decade. I also had in-depth discussions with my friends, Yang Guoxin and Li Bangyao and others. This process is very helpful to me. Finally, I found that although narrative is a very important factor in all of Deng Jianjin’s works and he always emphasizes the expression of personal experience or “self-image”, there are obvious distinctions between the two artistic stages before and after. Specifically speaking, in the former stage, he intentionally or unintentionally pursued the socialization of personal experience to make every effort to express the “question and care to life”.(3) The cultural themes works of this phase roughly are the weakness and helplessness of the current people, the complicated personal relationships, the threat of violence, the collapse of morality, the non-protection of privacy and so on. If according to the western art historians’ locations of these works, his creations at that time could be categorized in the catalog of “evil realism”. I even believe that the pursue of the artist is related to the trend of the stress on conceptual expression. This makes him always try to put the personal experience into the framework of grand narrative. If we say that the pervious works of Deng Jianjin are a bit far-fetched and blunt, its reason is right here. Of course, these factors inevitably penetrate into his artistic performance. The series work named Identity attended “The First Academic Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art Exhibition” (1996) is an example. In this series, in order to emphasize the helpless relation between identity and people, he painted a large number of number-signs implying identities in the images of female heads and bodies. Compared with the previous works, the stuffs of individual sensitivity are obviously reduced, and concepts are quite prominent, appearing relatively dry. In so far some friends thought Deng Jianjin who is straight and emotional expresses a kind of split “personality”. Undoubtedly, for Deng Jianjin, painting such kind of pictures cannot enjoy the pleasure of creation.
I guess Deng Jianjin is well aware of the above questions, or feel strongly the previous creative model is far from his nature. Thus since 1998 he has been always looking for the path to transcend the past academic model. Fortunately, through unremitting efforts and explorations, in 2001 he finally found a new creative model, which dramatically changed his artistic style. For this change, both his friends and himself think it’s more adequate to his nature, the favor is strong, never lose it appeal and the artistic quality is higher.
First, rather than concerning the external view, he more starts from his specific experience. Now his artistic goal is not to play at the edge of art and sex. Accordingly, his art motif is turned to the expression of “body”. However, he is not like the artists of “neo-classicalism” who are expressing female body in the way of “ideal beauty” from the angels of “traditionalism” and “male chauvinism”, but he boldly concerns the “blank belt” of artistic expression—which includes the expressions of sex, homosexuality and other issues.

To be precise, he not only demonstrates a life state not familiar or concerned by people, but also reveals the life instinct, unconsciousness and abnormal state, therefore it can give people a shock addressed in deep heart and cause the relevant reflects. I greatly agree with the opinion of the critics Yang Xiaoyan that is in this kind of paintings “he takes himself as ‘the other’” as well as ‘subjectivity’”. It deeply expresses the predicament of locating in the narrow region between private space and public space. The other Deng Jianjin is the teller in the face of youth. His inner vitality pushes him to repeatedly review the various modals of adolescence, taking youth as real object rather than subject and continuously presenting on the screens.” (4) It cannot be denied that his painting of this kind is a serious provocation to these ones experiencing long-term traditional culture and orthodox cultural cultivation. As far as I know, every now and then this will bring trouble to his attendance of exhibition and publication. Fortunately, an open society pays more and more attention to all of the cultural issues related to survival, so more and more people understand his paintings of this kind. In fact, totally different from pornographic paintings and the sexual temptation using various bodies of pornographic website, because his works emphasize on the real world directly facing the human survival, he challenges the traditional taboos through fearless attitudes or outline the value position of the contemporary and individual. It cannot be easily summarized by the words of “undress” or “erotic”. It is not hard to experience it by careful comparison and study.

Furthermore, in order to well express private experience or subject to personal artistic nature, he wisely absorbs some significant artistic images into the personalized color, line, surface, brushwork and composition. This is undoubtedly not easy. The dark, ambiguous or confused tone, the relaxed, fluent or free curve strokes, the impressive figures, the fabric effect of the oil-water separation, and the virtualized arrangement of screen space, are harmony with the themes of the works, so I was deeply impressed. To the aspect of artistic ontology, I think Deng Jianjin’s works not only reach a very high level on artistic expression, but also become the good counterattack to the modern saying “finding a good image means everything”. Not long ago the critics Qi Lan curated a Chinese contemporary oil painting exhibition named “Beyond Image” in Shanghai. His purported to object the poor activities that only concern images to cater to the market and foreign curators but ignore the intrinsic quality of art. I deeply understand it, but pityingly he forgot that in the creations of the art on easels, especially concerning the attention of reality and the expression of ideas, after all, images cannot be transcended.

The great enlightenment of Deng Jianjin’s recent works lies here: Although in the current creation of paintings, the function of image is very important, it’s still of no avail without particular personal experience, conceptual text and the support of art techniques, because image cannot represent everything. However, if we blindly attack image itself just because of somebody’s abuse of image, it’s unprofessional and unwise. With regard to the latter question, I will specifically write an article on it, so there will be no more writings on it.

Jan 31, 2008
Shenzhen Art Museum

Note:
(1) After the End of Art, P8. Phoenix Publishing Group, Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, April 2007
(2) 1998-2001 is the transitional period of Deng Jianjin’s creation. His works during this period have the characteristics of the two phases before and after.
(3) See Deng Jianjin’s article.
(4) Cited from Chinese Modernism--- Expressive Oil Painting Series: Deng Jianjin, P43. Great Wall Press, August 2007.