| |
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
 |
|
| |
|
真 实 的 肖 像 |
| 罗 宾 |
| （Robin Suri） |
| 蒋 倩 译 |
| |
戴着沉默的面具，在深沉的思考中，画家何旸出现在顶层画廊的个人作品展上。孤身一人，他否定权威，也偏离着现代艺术的显著特色。多年来他退回到一个外围，他尝试着描述一个隐性的艺术过程，那是一个等同于名利场中暗流的过程，也是一个嘲弄历史循环的艺术过程。他那名为“乌托邦”的系列作品，用文艺复兴时期以来盛行的华丽服饰来装点上世纪声名卓越的或是臭名昭著的人物。何旸用作品表达了对这些至今仍带着偶像色彩的人们的关注。
何旸，上海人，出生于1963年。他在上海印刷出版学院接受过正规的艺术教育，尽管他说：“画画与受到的艺术教育毫无干系。”其实这也是他对自己早期风格的典型评述。当时大陆的艺术环境随着西方艺术实践而有所转变，其一便是欣赏技术原则，这无疑影响了他。大家普遍接受德国后现代主义与美国四、五十年代画派的影响。兼具艺术与技术的特质提高了他的鉴赏力，也将他引入反权威的事业主题中去。
八十年代，叛逆与骚动开始向当时的环境与政治系统挑战，而主旋律的颂歌也从此时开始盛行。这个时期何旸正运用一种模糊不定的画风。他尝试在画布上宣扬一种社会制度的分裂，
以说明社会结构受到的腐蚀与自由主义的威胁。1989年以后物质世界中弥漫的绝望以及价值的悲剧性死亡越来越多地出现在他的画作中，痛苦在他对人性价值的呐喊中一一呈现。
何旸在他的画作中津津有味地并列呈现历史事件、历史进程中的离奇事件以及理想化事物。社会呈现出的谬误，公众信仰的危险促使画家去揭开历史真正的意义；尽管他并不做出明确的选择，他依然以谬误中的悲剧因素向社会信仰挑战。
不过，画家并没有要履行一个社会评论者或是超然的观察家的义务，他只是将自己的努力看成是固有的尝试去描绘精神社会趋势并加以自己的主观意见。玛莉莲•梦露虚荣的存在同特丽莎修女的慈善面容并置；切•格瓦拉怒目而视，而甘地却平和依旧。2001年10月起的展览作品希冀能阐述画家的信仰：历史的“伟大”在于其固有的规律，其后续影响则是将人类的愚笨无限放大。
沉浸在阴暗的忧郁的调子中，肖像直接而硬朗的对比正好契合了画家所要刻画的理想境界，也令我们面对着他精心挑选的展示者。他的作品有着欧威尔式（Orwellian）的低调，它们没有事实那么有预见性，因为他个人对于艺术实践的哲学在于技术与刻苦。作品原型及其对于著名人物的讽刺描绘是画家对于抽象的顶尖时尚的讽刺性反潮流；尽管他坚持将文艺复兴作为自己从世界艺术所获得的至高收获的纪元，画家依然尝试着在自己的创作与方向避免重复的错误。矛盾的是，尽管作品是些相似的持续不断的讽刺诗，画家的才情表述却沉浸在对于主题的试验以及对历史的最终解构中。萌芽期风格的描绘是缺损的、无常的，是“娃娃”的野性的幽默的肖像，是克隆与再生技术的成功；是对那些非难他那艺术创新与现代艺术实践的贬抑者的挑战。当他开始欣赏技术、开始承认人性的优点以及城市画家中年轻一代的艺术创意时，他的作品开始融合警戒与固执，以及对于机械技术及其潜在破坏性的警告。尽管他是一个彻底的现实主义者，并未生长在处处充斥着对想象力敌对的社会中，他那极端而怪异的特质其实是对于早期作为超现实主义者的尝试的回顾。这种近乎自闭又尖锐的直率使何旸赢得了很多人的尊敬，尽管消费主义和塑料时代的拥护者或许将妨碍他，使他陷于艰难的无乐趣的作画中。他的愤世嫉俗与智慧交织于画作中，留给人们充满挑衅与坎坷的印象，就像萨特曾经这样评论他的同侪加缪：“……他的悲观也是属于太阳的，如果一个人仅仅记住太阳底下有多少阴影。” |
| |
|
True
Portrayal |
| |
|
By Robin
Suri |
| |
Masked in silence, in deep contemplation,
He Yang reflects following the exhibition of his works at
the Top Floor Gallery. A figure apart, the artist has
negated celebrity and deterred from the prominent spectacle
of contemporary art, retreating over past years to a
peripheral reflection on hid artistic process, one which
parallels undercurrents of vanity and derisively mocks the
cycle of history. His continuous series, entitled “Utopia”,
holds the attention of those present, the iconoclastic
images of famed and notorious figures of the past century
enrobed in the variant costumes paraded since the
Renaissance.
A native of Shanghai, the artist was born in 1963, and
pursued formal studies at the Shanghai College of Publishing
& Printmaking, although his comment, “Painting has little to
do with art education” is representative of his criticism of
his early formation. Admiration of technical disciplines,
which he cites as a key transition for mainland artists
following the induction of Western artistic practice, has
been the central environment, the influence of German
post-Modernism, that of the American schools of painting of
the 40’s and 50’s, were embraced, and the implementation of
both the technical and aesthetic heightened his
observations, ones which led to counter-authoritative
themes.
The rebellious and insurgent directions of the 1980’s
brought to contest the perception of environmental and
political systems, and the inception of like thematical
considerations has known adherence throughout. He Yang
pursued an obscure figuration during this period, his canvas
a field wherein he sought to address the social systems
disruption, illustrative of the erosion of the social fabric
and the threat of autocracy. Despair and the tragic demise
of values in the materialized world post-1989 came to hold
an increasing presence in his art, and the sufferance was
displayed in his address of the cost to humanity.
He Yang has been demonstrative of great juxtaposition and
parallel within his painting, historical coincidence,
mystery within the historical process, and idealization have
all held a fascination for the artist. The absurd as
expressed within the social, the hazard of popular belief,
have incited the artist to reveal the concept of history as
a carriage, and thereby challenge societal convictions,
without apparent choice, in light of the tragic within
absurdity.
Nonetheless, the artist has assumed neither the role of
social commentator nor detached observer, her views his
efforts as an intrinsic attempt to illustrate psycho-social
tendency, and juxtapose it with his own subjective bias. The
vainglorious presence of Marilyn Monroe is placed alongside
the subdued countenance of Mother Theresa, Che Guevara
glares vehemently in opposition to the pacifistic visage of
Mahatma Gandhi. The work, in process since October 2001,
seeks to demonstrate an early, emergent conviction of the
artist, that the “great” of history are merely elect of its’
own accord, and the residual effect is the amplification of
man’s folly.
Imbued with somber and melancholic tones, the stark contrast
of the portrayals suffices to delineate the ideaic stance of
the painter, and we are faced with a sardonic display of the
select entourage. His work carries an Orwellian undertone,
less prophetic than actual, as his personal philosophy on
the practice of art rests within the technique and diligence
of method. The archetypal and illustrious satirization
denotes an ironic counter-current to the predominant vogue
of abstraction, yet despite his adherence to the Renaissance
as the epoch of the highest attainment of global art, he
manages to avoid the pitfall of repetition within his
artistic creations and direction. Paradoxical, given the
semblance of the continuous parody, however, the
demonstration of his intellect and passion is embodied in
experimentation of subject and external frames of
historicity.
Depictions of embryonic forms, disfigured and abnormal, and
a savage & humourous portraiture of “Dolly”, the acclaimed
success of cloning and reproductive technology, challenge
detractors as regards both his artistic innovations as well
as place within the practice of contemporary art. While he
is appreciative of technology and acknowledges certain
merits towards humanity as well as within artistic
creation-widely popular amongst urban artists of a younger
generation, his works incorporate a vigilant and unyielding
position, ominous warning of the machinations of technology
and their destructive potential. The extreme and grotesque
characterization is reminiscent of early Surrealist
experimentation though born of a grim realism than pervase
contest of the fantastic. Such candour and near hermetic
acuity has allowed He Yang to earn the respect of many,
although the advocates of consumerism and plasticity might
balk at the formidable and joyless timbre of his painting.
His cynicism and wit are interlaced with the brushwork, and
one leaves with the impression known with challenge and
obstacle: as Sartre said of his contemporary, Camus “…his
pessimism is solar, if one only remembers how much darkness
there is in the sun”. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
特 丽 莎 嬷 嬷 |
| |
|
|
你把一粒米分成五十亿分之一
喂养我们
特丽莎嬷嬷，你走了
我们又饿了
你把一滴水分成五十亿分之一
滋润我们
特丽莎嬷嬷，你走了
我们又渴了
你把一生分成五十亿分之一
温暖我们
有了你，特丽莎嬷嬷
我才为地球感到骄傲
03年3月12日 |
|
|
|
Mother
Theresa |
|
|
By MOMO |
|
You once divided a
grain amongst five billion
to feed us
Mother Theresa, as you pass away
we again hunger
You once divided a drop amongst five billion
to quench us
Mother Theresa, as you pass away
we again thirst
You once divided a life amongst five billion
to warm us
Mother Theresa, it is for you
I feel proud of the earth
（Tr. by Coast Lee & Robin Suri）
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
