2 017年4月2 2日,陳文令以“妙諦因心”為題,于79 8 白盒子藝術(shù)館舉辦了他的新作展。該展除展出最新創(chuàng)作的五件雕塑作品以外,還特別精選展出了近十多年來所畫的手稿。
在美術(shù)館,一般觀眾只能看到藝術(shù)家創(chuàng)作的最終成果—作品。卻很少能看到藝術(shù)家隨手涂抹的手稿。但這些富有個(gè)性的手稿卻儲(chǔ)存著藝術(shù)家思維空間中的大量信息。它像一個(gè)等待破解的密碼庫(kù),也是一張滋生大作的溫床。陳文令的許多作品,都可以在這里找到它的雛形、原型,有些是處于萌動(dòng)中的“胚胎”,有些已是處在被選擇或已選擇的狀態(tài),還有一些手稿本身已經(jīng)是一幅完整的“微作品”,其精彩的程度完全可以獨(dú)立存在。在中國(guó)的雕塑家群體中,陳文令是一個(gè)另類,他不同于那些循規(guī)蹈矩的學(xué)院派雕塑家,他的作品總是出其不意地給人以驚喜、驚詫,讓人刮目相看。看過他的手稿,我們?cè)贌o需疑團(tuán)莫釋,這些隨心所欲式的“涂鴉”,順手牽羊式的信馬由韁,玩耍式的信手拈來,最好不過地呈現(xiàn)出陳文令的藝術(shù)風(fēng)格之所以會(huì)是這樣的確鑿證據(jù)。在這些手稿中,陳文令常常突發(fā)奇想,他那令人無法招架的想象力,像一塊未經(jīng)開掘的礦源,你根本不知道它有多大的儲(chǔ)藏量。因?yàn)檫@些圖畫完全是從他的生命經(jīng)驗(yàn)中誘發(fā)出來,又在漫無邊際的想象空間中滋生、成長(zhǎng)、繁衍、重組和再造。那些生動(dòng)的、有趣的、夸張的和充滿幽默感的畫面,讓你目不暇接。當(dāng)心靈處在高度自由的狀態(tài)時(shí),陳文令手中的筆就不再聽他自己指揮,時(shí)而順著想象和聯(lián)想的翅膀自由飛翔,時(shí)而順從地被那些畫中的生命牽著鼻子走,叫它怎樣就怎樣。當(dāng)陳文令再度審視這些由他創(chuàng)造出來的生命時(shí),它們很像是一個(gè)個(gè)等著呼之欲出的精靈,時(shí)刻準(zhǔn)備著大踏步走進(jìn)他的創(chuàng)作之中。
在陳文令的手稿中,還有一批是用水墨完成。從他嫻熟的用筆中不難看到他的筆墨功夫的老到,甚至花鳥畫的格局對(duì)他雕塑的影響。這次展覽的整個(gè)空間布局就是“花鳥畫”式的,陳文令機(jī)智地將一個(gè)建筑空間轉(zhuǎn)換成一個(gè)自然空間,頂層、墻面、地面全部被調(diào)動(dòng)起來加入到自然的意境之中??戳耸指?,我才知道,傳統(tǒng)水墨的修煉經(jīng)驗(yàn)對(duì)他產(chǎn)生多么大的影響。手稿中有一幅很完整的水墨畫,主題是批判無節(jié)制的強(qiáng)拆將好多有價(jià)值的建筑毀掉。但他別出心裁的表現(xiàn)又讓你忍俊不禁。他先用墨畫了一塊懸空巨石,上面有房舍樹木,又畫了一頭小豬以一塊小石頭為支點(diǎn)來撬動(dòng)這塊巨石,幽默風(fēng)趣中不失對(duì)生存困境的思考。
陳文令說,“人生要用一種審美的眼光看待生命中的任何遭遇,生命才有意外的樂趣和逃生的可能,同時(shí),更堅(jiān)信人生的任何遭遇都有可能轉(zhuǎn)化成為有意義的好玩的藝術(shù)。只要你的心永遠(yuǎn)亮著,再黑的路都能走下去?!边@段話既是他對(duì)人生對(duì)藝術(shù)的深刻體悟,又清楚指出藝術(shù)和人生的關(guān)系:藝術(shù)就是生命的出口。有了這個(gè)出口,“你的心就永遠(yuǎn)亮著,再黑的路都能走下去?!?/p>
這句話也在暗示我們,陳文令接下來的路將會(huì)是如何地精彩!
賈方舟,著名批評(píng)家、策展人
20 1 7年5月1 4日
于京北槐園
Cipher of Creation, Breeding Ground of Art
Implications of Chen Wenlings Manuscript
Jia F angzhou
O n A pril 22, wit h t he t ile“G races of My Heart”, Chen Wenling exhibit ed his recent works at W hit e B ox A rt Museum. A part f rom t he f ive recent ly creat ed sculpt ures, a range of manuscripts made during t he past decade was f inely select ed and exhibited at the exhibition. I n t he museum, what t he regular audience commonly see is merely t he art is ts f inaliz ed creat ions namely t he art work s, t hey c annot readily cat c h sight of t he art is ts randomlysk et ched manus cript s . T hes e radically dist inc t iv e manusc ript s , however, ac cumulat e a mas s load of inf ormat ion of t he art ists minds cape, and f unc t ion as a cipher t o be decoded in addit ion t o a breeding ground t hat hat c hes mas t erpiec es . I n t he collec t ion, we can asc ert ain t he origin and prot ot ype of a great deal of Chen Wenlings art work s, while s ome are“embryos” suggest ing sprout s, some are in a st at e of being c hos en or having chos en, t he res t of t he manus c ript s t hems elves are wholly f inis hed “mic ro art works”whic h could s t and out independent ly and brilliant ly.
A mongs t Chines e sc ulpt ors , Chen Wenling is quit e an ex c ept ion, unlik e t he ac ademic sc ulpt ors c onf orming t o f ix ed regulat ions and rules , his work s are unforeseeably astonishing, st unning and s t aggeringly impres s iv e. A f t er v iewing his manusc ript s , we ought not t o have s us pec t ed or doubt ed any more, in ot her words, t he randomly -made“graff it i”, t he way of f reely creat ing lik e s t rolling idly and pick ing up s omet hing on t he sly, and t he eff ort less work ing lik e playing games , in a s ens e, all perf ect ly and ut t erly demons t rat e how Chen Wenlings art ist ic st yle is as c an be. W hen creat ing manus c ript , Chen Wenling get s us ed t o engaging in brains t orm, which t riggers ov erpowering imaginat ions lik e a mine unexploit ed, we c an hardly ant icipat e how much can be extracted f rom it . T hese drawings are t horoughly inspired by his liv ing experiences, and hat c hed, ripened, mult iplied, reassembled and reproduced in a rat her boundless space of imaginat ions. T he s t imulat ing, int riguing, ex aggerat ed and humorous images alt oget her easily bring a whirling sensat ion. W hile being in a highly f ree s t at e inwardly, Chen Wenling f ails t o have cont rol over t he pen, which somet imes goes like f lying by means of wings of imaginat ions and f ant asies, somet imes is cont rolled by t he lively charact ers and object s in t he drawings, complying wit h t he commands. A s Chen Wenling reexamines t he lively charact ers creat ed by himself , t hey look like a bunch of fairies wait ing t o come out and preparing t o st ride int o t he world of his creat ions.
A mong Chen Wenlings manuscript s, t here is anot her range of ink drawings. T hrough t he skilled and unint errupt ed st roke of penning, his mast ery of ink as well as t he inf luence of t he pat t ern of ink wash paint ings of f lowers and birds on his s culpt ural creat ions are bot h readily showc ased. A s t he ex hibit ing s pac e of t he ex hibit ion was arranged plainly like t he lay out of an “ink paint ing of f lowers and birds”, Chen Wenling wit t ily t rans f ormed an arc hit ec t ural s pac e int o a nat uralized one, t he t op f loor, walls and ground of which were t horoughly enliv ened and int egrat ed int o a nat ural sc ene. T he inst ant I saw t he manuscripts I realized that how great ly his prac t ices of t radit ional ink was h paint ings had inf luenced him. T heres one of t he manusc ript s c rit ic iz ing t he f ac t t hat t he immoderat ely f orc ed demolit ions had ruined a great amount of v aluable t radit ional buildings , howev er, in view of t he unc onv ent ional way of his ex press ion, it brought laught er t o t he audience. He made an ink drawing of a boulder hanging abov e along wit h hous e and t rees , bes ides , he added a s mall pig, ut iliz ing anot her s mall st one as t he piv ot t o lev er up t he boulder. S uc h a sense of humor didnt f ail t o imply ref lec t ion on surv iv ing circums t anc es .
“We have t o v iew eac h misf ort unat e inc ident f rom an aes t het ic angle, only in t his way c an we f ind a way out of s uff erings”, Chen Wenling added, “I am rat her c onv inc ed t hat any sort of ex perienc e, in all likelihood, c ould t rans f orm int o signif icant and f un art . A s long as its bright inwardly in your heart , y ou are bound t o s urv ive t he darkest road.”T his t ells his int ensive unders t anding of lif e and art , ex plic it ly point s out t he relat ion bet ween lif e and art , t hat is, art is t he way out in our lif e. O nly wit h it , your inward world will be const ant ly f illed wit h light , and you can manage it even t hough its t he darkest road. T his, in addit ion, is indicat ing how remarkable Chen Wenlings f ut ure will be as can be.
May 14, 2017, Locust
Yard, Nort h of B eijing