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Art
Special
Zhu
Wei: The Cui Jian of contemporary art
Ai
Weiwei: Not another Picasso
Capital
comeback
They
are two of China's most influential artists but Ai Weiwei and Zhu Wei
are yet to have a solo
exhibit in their home city. That's about to change, writes Stacey Duff
If
you meet Ai Weiwei on the street, you might take him for an ex-hippie
who dropped out of college to be a beatnik. Indeed, with his burly beard
and robust build, it's easy to imagine him in a tie-dye t-shirt, driving
across the American West with a bong and a dog-eared copy of Kerouac's
On the Road in the boot.
Ai
Weiwei was out West in the 1970s - the Chinese West. He was living
with his father, the poet Ai Qing, who had been exiled to Xinjiang
during the Cultural Revolution. Later, Ai Qing and his family, including
nine-year-old Weiwei, were relocated to a re-education camp where the
artist's father would clean up to 40 public toilets a day for five
years. 'Our family spent 18 years in Xinjiang,' says Ai, 'which was
fine. But we went through a very dark time.'
Today
Ai Weiwei is often thought of as one of the leading figures of
contemporary Chinese
Art. In 1979, along with Huang Rui, he was a member of China's earliest
avant-garde movement, the Stars Group. He set off for the United States
in 1981, taking English language classes in Philadelphia where his
girlfriend lived before settling in New York's East Village.
'Before
I left China, I told my mother that in 10 years I'd be another Picasso.
I had US$300 in my pocket. My mother asked me, 'What do you think you're
doing, running off to New York?' I told her, "I'm going
home."' Ai made ends meet in New York by doing odd jobs. He also
studied at the Parsons School of Design for one semester but 'I didn't
go to art history courses and couldn't keep my scholarship.' The artist
had previously dropped out of the Beijing Film Academy, where classmates
included Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.
Ai
returned to Beijing in 1993, admitting that his mother was disappointed.
Not only had he not become another Pablo Picasso, he had no money, no
job and no degree. Ai says that when he first came back he started
wandering around antique shops, his curiosity for antique objects has
become an important element in his work. Ai's current show at Urs Meile
Gallery makes use of timber from a dismantled Qing Dynasty temple from
Guangdong province, for instance.
Ai
Weiwei eventually found success as a conceptual artist and just last
year had an important solo show at New York's Richard Miller Gallery.
While he still works as a conceptual artist, for the last five years he
has devoted much of his time to architecture. He designed his own
4,000sq metre home in a single afternoon and, with help from local
farmers, built it in 60 days. His architectural abilities caught the eye
of Swiss firm Herzog and De Meuron who invited Ai to collaborate on the
design of Beijing's new Olympic Stadium.
While
the artist has gained international recognition, he still puts life
first and advises younger artists to get over the high ambitions that
dominated his own early years. 'Art is not the goal. But to live a
different, fantastic personal life. That's what is important. Maybe
people will call you an artist in the end, but that doesn't matter. Read
a good book, meet an interesting woman - or man - or be someplace.
Discover something.'
Ai
Weiwei is only one of several major artists having important shows in
Beijing this month. Others include Wang Jianwei at Arario, Yang Shaobin
at White Space, Zhang Xiaogang at Beijing Commune and Zhu Wei at Red
Gate's 798 Space. Zhu Wei, 40, is China's most famous artist to achieve
international acclaim in ink-and-wash, known in Chinese as shui mo.
Zhu's
technique is traditional but the content of his work is ultra-modern.
His bright, Riveraesque paintings have portrayed major Chinese political
figures, including Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong as well as PLA soldiers
and factory workers. Zhu insists his paintings are not a satire on
Chinese society and are not intentionally political. 'Of course, Chinese
art has a political connection almost by default. Or at least the work
is going to be viewed within a political context. Chinese artists don't
have to try to make a work political, it just happens,' he says.
Zhu
spent eight years in the army where he painted propaganda posters,
studied ink-and-wash and took a degree with the PLA Art Academy. He then
studied at the Beijing Film Academy, but after graduation returned to
what he loved best: painting. In 1994, he participated in the China Art
Expo in Guangzhou where Stephen McGuinness of the Plum Blossoms Gallery
discovered him. Later Zhu would sign an exclusive 12-year contact with
the gallery. By 2000, his work was fetching as much as $40,000 USD per
painting.
The
artist is proud of his hard-won success as a Chinese artist working in a
native Chinese art form, a feat that few artists have been able to
accomplish outside China where Western buyers still prefer Chinese
artists working in Western forms. 'I saw a catalogue from Sotheby's this
afternoon and there's going to be this big auction of Chinese art in New
York. But I was a little disappointed because 90 per cent of the work
was in oils, photography or installation. Most contemporary artists in
China today use foreign-base art forms to represent contemporary Chinese
society.'
Despite
his seemingly reactionary attitude, Zhu is neither isolationist nor
conservative - quite the contrary. He waxes poetic on rock music, which
he says has a big influence on his work, modestly adding that his friend
Cui Jian 'is like a Zhu Wei for music. He shows people a connection to
the past, but through rock.'
Like
Ai Weiwei, he also loves New York, where people recognise him on the
street, and he is excited about China's up-and-coming Post- 70s artists
who work in oils, because 'what they're doing is natural for their
generation.' he simply thinks it's time more Chinese artists work in
ink-and-wash - and that more Westerners are open to appreciating
the form. 'In my paintings, I try to show a connection between
contemporary Chinese life and a classic tradition,' he adds. 'You can't
separate them.'
Zhu
Wei Solo Exibition
Picture:
'New Pitures of the Stringly Bizarre No.5' by Zhu Wei
In
the big wide world of international art, the work of Zhu Wei has a
significant and loyal following. He has been showing his work abroad
since the early 1990s, and has been fortunate in having a string of
one-man shows. Whilst audiences love his work, it seems that curators
are often less certain what to do with it: Zhu Wei is a contemporary ink
painter, which puts him in a spot all of his own. His work follows what
he believes to be the absolute skills of the ink tradition, yet skills
that are applied to depict a very contemporary subject matter that
almost entirely relates to Zhu Wei’s own life experience and
observations. He is definitely not a painter in the conceptual mode,
despite his work being seen this way in traditional ink painting
circles. Ironically, Zhu Wei’s painting is often not construed as
avant-garde, in spite of the modern content or painting style, which
sees his work jar with the traditionalists.
His
popularity abroad, and the demand for his work have meant that until
recently he had little time to worry about fitting in to any one place
or scene.
Zhu
Wei’s work is so rarely seen in China, and that is why his solo show
at Red Gate is definitely worth a visit. The exhibition includes a
number of examples from his most recent series of ink paintings titled
‘Utopia’, and a handful of woodblock prints. The prints are nice -
black and white of this type are always going to have a certain power
and appeal - but the artist’s strength clearly remains in this
painting. Zhu Wei is proudly defiant about his approach to ink painting.
It’s bold, dynamic and lyrical. The form is all his own, and one by
which he is immediately recognisable.
The
works in this show focus on the theme of utopia. It’s an odd vision of
such an idea of perfect life, a mournful one even ... as if it has been
snatched away already rather than being perceived in the usual way as a
paradise that is eternally out of reach. The message here is unclear.
Does Zhu Wei wish us to learn, to cherish what we have, or simply to
recognise when we’ve got it good? KS
艺术特刊
朱伟：当代艺术界的崔健
艾未未：不是另一个毕加索
资本回流
作者：Stacey
Duff
他们两人是中国最有影响力的艺术家之一，可艾未未和朱伟却从来没有在自己的家乡办过个展。现在开始将有所改变，作者Stacey
Duff
假如你在街头遇到艾未未，你很可能会把他看作是一个辍学成为垮掉的一代的前嬉皮。老实说，他浓重的须髯和魁梧的身材的确很容易让人想到这样的画面——身穿扎染T恤，车内放着震耳欲聋的音乐，靴子里塞着本克洛克的《在路上》，疾驰在美国西部。
艾未未70年代去过西部——中国的西部。他同父亲——诗人艾青——一起，在文化大革命期间被流放到新疆。当时艾青和他的家庭，包括当时年仅九岁的未未，被分配到一所再教育营，在那里，艺术家的父亲每天需要打扫40个公厕长达5年之久。“我们家在新疆过了18年，”艾未未说，“新疆是个好地方。可那段时间对我们来说却非常黑暗。”
今天，艾未未常被视为中国当代艺术的领军人物之一。1979年和黄锐一起成为中国最早的前卫艺术运动组织“星星画会”的一员。1981年去了美国，在女朋友居住的费城学英语，后来定居纽约东村。
“我离开中国前曾对我母亲说，10年之内我会变成另一个毕加索。当时我口袋里只有300美元，我母亲这样对我说，‘你到底在想什么，跑步到纽约去吗？’我告诉她，‘我会回来的。’”艾未未最后终于来到纽约，他干过各种各样古怪的工作，在帕森斯设计学校上过一个学期的课，但是“我没有上艺术史这门课，也没有拿到学位。”艺术家之前也曾从北京电影学院辍学，他在那里的同学包括张艺谋和陈凯歌。
1993年艾未未回到北京，他承认自己的母亲当时很失望。不光是因为他没有成为另一个帕布洛·毕加索，还因为他既没有钱，也没有工作，还没有学位。艾未未说自己刚回来时喜欢在街头的古董店闲逛，对古董的兴趣后来成为作品中很重要的元素。例如，艾未未当前在Urs
Meile画廊的展览，用材料的就是从广东一座拆除的寺庙里取来的木头。
艾未未最终作为一个观念艺术家获得成功，去年在纽约的Richard
Miller画廊办了重要的个展。除了观念艺术，过去五年他还把大部分精力投入到建筑上。只不过花了一个下午，他就设计出自己那4000平方米的家，在当地农民的帮助下，只花了60天就建造完工。他的建筑能力得到瑞士公司Herzog与De Meuron的认可，并邀请其成为北京的新奥林匹克体育馆的设计成员之一。
即使艺术家获得了国际认可，他仍然把生活放在第一位，并忠告年轻的艺术家们要克服勃勃野心，这种野心曾占据他早年大部分的时光。“艺术不是目的，拥有不同一般的美好的个人生活才是重要的事。也许最终人们还是会把你称作艺术家，但那不重要。读一本好书，遇到一个有意思的女人——或者男人——或某个地方。发现某样事情。”
艾未未只是这个月在北京要举办重要展览的诸多重要艺术家之一。其他人包括阿拉里奥的汪建伟、空白空间的杨少斌、北京公社的张晓刚，和798红门画廊的朱伟。40岁的朱伟是中国最有国际名声的水墨画家。
朱伟的作品技法传统，内容却非常现代。他明快的画作描绘了中国主要的政治人物，包括邓小平、毛泽东以及解放军战士和工厂工人。朱伟坚持说他的作品既不是对中国社会的讽刺，也不是有意趋向政治化。“当然，中国艺术先天就有政治联系，或至少作品将会在一个政治的背景下被观看。中国艺术家不必让自己的作品政治化，它本就如此。”他说。
朱伟在军队里度过了八年时光，在那里他画宣传海报，学习水墨技法，并得到了解放军艺术学院的学位。接着他进入北京电影学院就读，但毕业后又回到了他的最爱：绘画。1994年他参加了在广州举办的中国艺术展，在那里遇到万玉堂画廊的老板Stephen
McGuinness。
后来朱伟与这个画廊签了长达12年的独家代理合同。到2000年，他一幅作品的价格已经卖到40000美元。
艺术家对自己作为一个用中国本土艺术形式创作的中国艺术家获得的得来不易的成功感到自豪，这种技法在中国之外几乎无人能做，西方收藏家也比较喜欢购买用西方形式创作的中国艺术家的作品。“今天下午我看了一本苏富比的拍卖手册，是关于在纽约举办的中国艺术大拍卖的。我有点儿失望，因为百分之90的作品都是油画、摄影、装置。大部分中国的当代艺术家用舶来的艺术形式表现当代中国社会。”
除了他似乎有些保守的态度，朱伟其实并不是一个孤立主义者，也不是一个保守主义者——恰恰相反。他喜欢摇滚，说摇滚对自己的作品有很大影响，并谦虚地说他的朋友崔健“就像是音乐届的朱伟。他给人们看到历史感，不过用的是摇滚。”
和艾未未一样，朱伟也喜欢纽约，那里人们会在街头认出他来，他也很期待中国即将到来的用油画创作的70后艺术家，因为“他们做的对他们这一代人而言很自然。”他只是觉得现在该是更多的中国艺术家用水墨创作的时候——更多的西方人能够开放心态欣赏这种创作形式。“在我的画中，我尽力想让当下的中国生活和古典传统联系起来，”他说，“你不能把二者分开。”
朱伟个展
作者：KS
在国际艺术深远辽阔的世界里，朱伟的作品有一群重要并忠诚的拥趸。从90年代初他的作品就开始在国外出现，并幸运地拥有一连串的个展资历。尽管观众们热爱他的作品，可评论家对他却不知如何下笔。朱伟是一个当代水墨画家，这就把他置于一个独一无二的境地。他的作品遵循他认为是绝对传统的技法，然而他用这种技法表现的却是一个相当当代的主题，并几乎全然只与朱伟自己的生活经验和观察息息相关。毫无疑问，他不是一个观念艺术家，尽管在传统的水墨艺术圈子里他被这么看待。讽刺的是，朱伟的画作经常也被排除在当代艺术之外，尽管其绘画内容的现代内涵与传统主义者亦格格不入。
他在海外的盛誉和作品的供不应求意味着直到现在他都没有时间来考虑自己在评论家眼中处境的问题。
朱伟的作品在国内非常鲜见，这就是为什么他在红门画廊的个展绝对值的一看。展览包括他最近的作品水墨画“乌托邦”系列和一些木版画。版画非常棒——黑白的版画总是很有力量和感染力——艺术家的能量清晰地显现在他的绘画中。朱伟对自己的水墨画带有叛逆性的自豪。大胆，生机勃勃，热情洋溢。这种画面是他独有的，你可以一眼辨认出那就是他。
这次展览的作品集中在乌托邦这个主题上。乌托邦是完美生活的一种扭曲的景象，你甚至能感受到悲哀……就像是看到已经消散的幻影，而不是通常意义上遥不可及的天堂。其中传达的信息难以捉摸。朱伟是希望我们去探究、珍爱已拥有的，还是仅仅提醒我们生在福中要知福？ |
