一种需要被翻译的绘画

——以“线象”为例，试论朱维彬其人其画

作者:俞心樵(著名诗人)

朱维彬是我在圆明园艺术村时期的老朋友。最早游荡或居住在这片废墟周围的是少许几位诗人。1988年在我入住之后，才陆陆续续有零星画家入住。艺术村初具规模是在1991年之后，直到其鼎盛的1995年被驱散，不复存在。

圆明园艺术村并非中国现当代艺术的源头，但如果称其为中国体制外现当代艺术的源头是恰如其分的。圆明园艺术村也是后来在中国遍地开花的艺术区现象的源头。

朱维彬是我在圆明园艺术村时期的老朋友。最早游荡或居住在这片废墟周围的是少许几位诗人。1988年在我入住之后，才陆陆续续有零星画家入住。艺术村初具规模是在1991年之后，直到其鼎盛的1995年被驱散，不复存在。圆明园艺术村并非中国现当代艺术的源头，但如果称其为中国体制外现当代艺术的源头是恰如其分的。圆明园艺术村也是后来在中国遍地开花的艺术区现象的源头。

就此而言，如果仅仅在时间上将朱维彬称之为体制外现当代艺术的一位源头性人物，那显然是不够严肃的。深入考察朱维彬迄今为止的总体艺术成果，毫无疑问，朱维彬的源头性具有充沛的艺术史的意味。尽管当年他和极少数艺术村的艺术家的身份和工作关系仍然是在体制内，但他的整个身心早已投入这个体制外的大海。若干年后，他将世俗身份和工作关系也完全地从体制内挣脱出来。

这同时也几乎就是一个古老国家的寓言。其中有巨量的来自集体与个体的沉郁、疼痛、焦虑、彷徨、孤立无助乃至偏执病态的经验。朱维彬从传统的水墨与工笔图式转向西方现代主义以来种种艺术形式的实验，试图突出悲剧性困境，再造安身立命之所。

放眼望去，在很大程度上，艺术史几乎就是关于什么是真实的演变史。伴随着工业革命以来各种社会政治思潮和哲学美学理论的急剧转向，尤其是在弗洛伊德精神分析学、梦的解析、儿童性心理学对文艺创作与理论的革命性的影响下，终于形成关于什么是真实的翻天履地的千年未有之变局。那种古典神学或现实主义的外在的像几乎被终结了。现代主义以来艺术在形式上的爆炸终于被统一到抽象的精神上。由于现实并不等于真实，那些富于特定时代特征的图式已经经不起稍稍质疑。

当今世界，无数苍白肤浅之徒正借助诗歌和艺术的名义玩弄着可怜的个性，只有深思熟虑沉潜下来的艺术家能够审视并且警惕自身的个性与特殊性。因为他们懂得，一个不重视共性和普遍性的艺术家肯定是没有出息的。最终为了获得更高的个性与特殊性。如此循环往复，在这一螺旋式上升过程中，显现出了抽象艺术的最主要的普适性特征和人文价值。

人类为什么要有抽象艺术？这肯定与人类更深刻的审美趣味和精神需求密切相关。为什么现当代抽象艺术与原始绘画如此接近？从中是否隐藏着生命基因般的奥秘？抽象是否是为了越过作为社会和人性常态的矛盾与冲突？为了远古的梦幻与此刻在场的潜意识遥相呼应？为了更深入黑洞般的生命资源库？诸如此类的一连串问题，尽管不可能完全解答，但鉴于每个严肃的艺术家都应当有自身的哲学任务，提出这些问题是完全必要的。

当然，参照历史是更有效的提问方式。严格意义上的抽象艺术必须参照西方艺术史。在历经立体主义、构成主义、极简主义、至上主义、印象派、荷兰风格派、抽象表现主义等诸多显赫一时的流派发展，其时中国传统艺术尚未从诗书画印的超稳定迷梦中惊醒过来，西方艺术已经在19世纪中后期完成了从古典到现代的狂飙突进与全面转型，并最终在20世纪中期达到其第一个历史高峰期。

作为一种更加开放也更加扣人心弦的现代形式，抽象艺术于20世纪民国时代传入中国本土。在蔡元培、鲁迅等先生的鼓励下，以林风眠、赵无极、朱德群、庞熏琹、吴大羽等前辈艺术家将西方艺术中的形式主义因素，最主要的是立体与几何构成等因素与中国传统艺术中的形式资源如中国传统绘画和民间艺术中的线条表现等相结合，以求中西合璧、推陈出新。从中不难看出中国本土艺术家寻求自身文化现代性的强烈冲动。

那么，后继者如朱维彬不可能不受其影响。如何批判性地将西方抽象绘画形式、技法、材料与渊远流长的东方意韵相融合？如何反思与梳理中国传统中既倾向于自然哲学又倾向于皇权统治的儒道两面性或儒释道三面性甚至于种种其他多面性？如何避开种种时尚的迷雾与陷阱？

如何呈现富于中国现当代视觉张力与独特性的作品风貌？如何在多元杂陈中确立自身风格、纯化艺术语言？如何让自身进而成为中国抽象绘画发展中不可替代的一个环节？如何让中国抽象绘画在细节上以东方特有的道法自然的悟性进入更为壮阔的全球文化视野中？这几乎成了朱维彬迄今为止面临的一个最重大的艺术课题。

近年来，朱维彬最重要的艺术成果，是他的《线象》系列一二三。棍棒刀剑般的线条，一笔到底，何其犀锐？以黑白为主，偶有其他单色，层层交错叠加，辅以少许曲笔与颜料的自然流淌与渗透。既有数学般的原则性，又有诗意的弥漫。画这样的画并不容易，它是心力、智力与体力的全面劳作。

很长一个时期，朱维彬瘦得像他画中的线条，禁不住让我联想起贾科梅蒂的细长雕塑。朱维彬的绘画空间，只能是心理空间而非物理空间。线条和色彩（以及线的面积化）、笔触与肌理，其起点，终点或原点，都是非现实的。它只能是借助思考与修炼才可能获得的精神性空间。此空间自身成为工具将开拓出更神奇的可能性空间。此空间本身成为信念，成为时间之外的庙宇、教堂和钟鼓楼。层层交错与叠加的线象，像无法实施的后现代主义的建筑图纸。只能在理论上展开。因不再表现某个具体时代从而表现了所有时代。

《线象》系列一二三，作为艺术家朱维彬的内心图像，经久耐看、意味深长。其多义性、歧义性、暗示性和启示性，几近于但丁《神曲》的三重结构，可供深入而不倦地阐释。真正的艺术家不可能活得比他的艺术作品更多更久。它使得富于时代特征的图式几乎全都暴露出浅薄与速朽的气息。它携带着并且同时过滤着国恨家仇与个人喜怒哀乐的所有信息。

在终极的意义上，它几乎同时是疾病与疗救。它并不忘我，更不物我两忘，它决不扯蛋，而是以众生我来抚慰小我从而支撑大我。以笔直的线条为主体的图式，无论纵横都具有支撑性作用。同时也揭示出朱维彬做人为艺一根筋认死理的一面，他用这一面遮蔽起他对这个世界的万丈柔情。这是朱维彬最打动人心的地方，也是他对中国当代艺术的了不起的贡献。

朱维彬更独特的贡献在于，他的艺术无论抽象与否或具象与否、无论尺幅大小、甚至无论捡选何种材料，都已经无关紧要了。我们应当注意到他自身的命名，他的《线象》系列，不啻于一个重大而令人震惊的艺术事件（至少近年如此），它几乎同时以抽象艺木的名义质疑着抽象艺术。因为抽象并非万能。艺术还需要继续生成。就此而言，朱维彬的艺术几乎已经成为哲学的一个变种。并非一目了然，不足与外人（外行）道，而是有待一整套秘语来进行翻译。这其实是阐释学的另一种说法。是的，经由艺术家朱维彬之手，我们看到，一种需要被翻译的绘画诞生了。

2016.6.13.北京竹内居

A painting that has been translated

Taking "line image" as an example, discuss Zhu Weibin's man and his paintings

Zhu Weibin is an old friend of mine from the age of Yuanmingyuan Art Village. The first generation who wandered or lived around these ruins were a few poets. After I resided in the village in 1988, sporadic painters started to move in one after another ever since. The art village began to take shape after 1991, and dismantled until 1995 at its peak time, then ceased to exist. The Yuanmingyuan Art Village is not the origin of modern and contemporary art in China, but it is appropriate to call it the origin of modern and contemporary art outside the Chinese system. The Yuanmingyuan Art Village was also the origin of the phenomenon of art districts that later spread across China.

In this regard, it is obviously not serious enough to call Zhu Weibin an original figure of modern and contemporary art outside the system only in terms of time. After an in-depth examination of Zhu Weibin's overall artistic achievements to date, there is no doubt that the origins of Zhu Weibin are full of the significance of art history. Although his identity and working relationship, as well as a very small number of other artists in the art village were still within the system, his whole body and soul had already been plunged into the sea outside the system. A few years later, he then completely broke away from the system with his secular identity and work relationship.

It is also almost an allegory of an ancient country, which contains a huge amount of collective and individual experiences of depression, pain, anxiety, hesitation, isolation and even paranoia. Zhu Weibin turned from the traditional ink painting and meticulous figure drawings to experiments of various art forms since Western modernism, trying to highlight the tragic dilemma and recreate the place where he safely settles.

If you look at it, the history of art is, to a large extent, almost a history of the evolution of what is real. With the rapid transformation of various social and political trends of thought and philosophical aesthetic theories since the Industrial Revolution, especially under the revolutionary influence of Freudian psychoanalysis, dream analysis, and child sexual psychology on art creation and theory, it has finally formed an unprecedented change in what is real in a thousand years. The external image of classical theology or Realism has almost been terminized. The explosion in art in terms of form since Modernism has finally been unified into the spirit of abstraction. Since reality does not equal with truth, those schemas that are full of characteristics of a specific era can no longer sustain the slightest questioning.

In the world of today, countless pale and superficial people are playing with poor personalities in the name of poetry and art. Only thoughtful and underwater artists can examine and be alert to their own personality and particularity. Because they understand that an artist who does not pay attention to commonality and universality will definitely have no future. To achieve higher individuality and specificity ultimately, they repeat this path. In this spiral ascending process, the most important universal characteristics and humanistic value of abstract art are revealed.

Why do humans need abstract art? This is certainly closely related to the deeper aesthetic taste and spiritual needs of human beings. Why is modern and contemporary abstract art so close to primitive painting? Is there a secret like the life genes hidden in it? Is abstraction aiming to transcend the contradictions and conflicts that are the norm in society and human nature? Is it to echo the ancient dream and the subconscious mind presented at this moment? Is it to go deeper into the black hole-like life resource library? Although it is impossible to fully answer a series of questions like this, it is absolutely necessary to ask these questions for every serious artist should have his own philosophical mission.

Of course, It is a more effective way to ask questions of referring to history. Abstract art in the strict sense must refer to Western art history. After experiencing the development of many prominent schools such as Cubism, Constructivism, Minimalism, Suprematism, Impressionism, De Stijl, and Abstract Expressionism, traditional Chinese art at that period had not yet awakened from the ultra-stable dream of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seals. Western art has completed a rapid development and comprehensive transformation from classical to modern in the mid-to-late 19th century, and finally reached its first historical peak in the mid-20th century.

As a more open and exciting modern form, abstract art was introduced to China during the Republic of China in the 20th century. Encouraged by Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun, senior artists such as Lin Fengmian, Zao Wou-ki, Zhu Dequn, Pang Xunqin, and Wu Dayu combined the formalism elements of Western art, mainly the elements of three-dimensional and geometric composition, with the formal resources of Chinese traditional art, such as traditional Chinese paintings and line expressions in folk art, in an effort to combine Chinese and Western styles and bring forth the new. It is not hard to see the strong impulse of local Chinese artists to pursue their own cultural modernity.

Then, it is impossible for successors such as Zhu Weibin to be unaffected by it. How to critically integrate Western abstract painting forms, techniques, and materials with the time-honored Eastern connotations? How to reflect on and sort out the duality of Confucianism and Taoism, both of which incline to natural philosophy and imperial rule, or the three-sidedness of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, or even various other multi-faceted characteristics in Chinese tradition?   How to dodge the fog and traps of fashion? How to present works that are full of visual tension and uniqueness in modern and contemporary China? How to establish your own style and purify your artistic language amidst the diversity? How to make oneself an irreplaceable link in the development of Chinese abstract painting? How can Chinese abstract painting enter a broader global cultural perspective with its unique Eastern understanding of Taoism and nature in terms of details? This has almost become the most important art issue Zhu Weibin has faced so far.

In recent years, Zhu Weibin's most important artistic achievement is his "Image of Lines" series 1, 2 and 3. The lines are like sticks and swords, one stroke at a time, how sharp are they? Mainly in the color of black and white, with occasional other single color, interlaced and superimposed layer by layer, supplemented by a few curved strokes and the natural flow and penetration of paint. It is both mathematically principled and poetic. It is not easy to paint such a painting, which is the comprehensive labor of mind, intelligence, and physical strength. For a long period, Zhu Weibin was as thin as the lines in his paintings, which reminded me of Giacometti's slender sculptures. Zhu Weibin's painting space can only be a psychological space rather than a physical space. Lines and colors (and the areaization of lines), brushstrokes and textures, their starting points, end points or origins are all unrealistic. It is a spiritual space that can only be obtained through thinking and practice. This space has become a tool in itself and will open up a more magical space of possibilities. This space itself becomes a belief, a temple, a church and a bell and drum tower outside of time. The lines that layered, intertwined, and superimposed are like postmodernist architectural drawings that cannot be implemented. It can only be developed theoretically. Because it no longer represents a specific era, it represents all eras.

"Image of Lines" series 1, 2 and 3, as the inner images inside artist Zhu Weibin, are enduring and meaningful. Its polysemy, ambiguity, insinuation, and revelation are almost similar with the triple structure of Dante's "Divine Comedy", which can be interpreted in depth tirelessly. A true artist cannot outlive his works of art. Hence almost all the schemas’ rich in the characteristics of the times reveal their shallowness and decay. It carries and simultaneously filters all information about national and family hatred and personal joy, anger, sorrow, and joy. In the ultimate sense, it is almost the disease and the cure simultaneously. It does not forget about itself, nor is it unconscious of the boundary between oneself and the external world. It does not bullshit but uses the self of all living beings to comfort the small self and thereby support the greater self. The Schema with straight lines as the main body has a supporting role both vertically and horizontally. At the same time, it also reveals the side of Zhu Weibin who is one track minded in his life and in art, which he uses to cover up his tenderness towards the world. This is the most touching point about Zhu Weibin, and it is also his great contribution to Chinese contemporary art.                                 

The more unique contribution of Zhu Weibin is that it no longer matters whether his art is abstract or figurative, regardless of its size, or even the materials he chooses. We should pay attention to his own naming. His "Image of Lines " series is no less than a major and shocking art event (at least in recent years). It almost simultaneously questioned abstract art in the name of abstract art. Because abstraction is not everything, art needs to continue to be generated. In this regard, Zhu Weibin's art has almost become a variant of philosophy, which is not that clear at a glance, nor is enough to be explained to outsiders (laymen), but it requires a whole set of secret languages to translate. This is another interpretation of hermeneutics. Yes, through the hands of artist Zhu Weibin, we see the birth of a painting that needs to be translated.

June 17^th, 2016, in Beijing