October 9, 2017, www.artron.net,cover story

Zhu Wei: The Influence of Ink Painting Has Never Gone Out of Asia

By Xie Mu

Once I asked Zhu Wei a question which was borrowed from “U Can U Bibi”: if in an eccentric village there is a Fool well, whoever drinks water from it will become a fool, and they will be either unconscious, or confusing right and wrong. Now everyone has drunk the water. Well, would you drink it? Zhu Wei answered: no, I certainly won’t. I’ll be a sober person in that village. Then, I asked, how will you live your life? He said, I will laugh at these silly villagers every day, haha. This simple answer sounds like a joke, but the laughing Zhu Wei made me smile. In fact, there is no a standard answer to this question, but Zhu Wei’s answer precisely shows his unbending, persistent, brave personality, as well as the humor sense and self-confidence in his gene.

Zhu Wei is one of the most important contemporary ink painters in China. His artworks are shown in group exhibitions and solo exhibitions internationally, and his market performance always remains at the forefront in the ranking of contemporary ink artists. As a native Beijinger, on the one hand he seems having a cynical attitude, a mixed sense of humor and irony, on the other hand he treats every stroke in his artworks carefully and meticulously, and he thinks artistic and social problems with a very unique angle. This kind of characteristic of both serious and humorous, both common and precious, makes him a very special artist.

Zhu Wei has always emphasized that as an artist, one’s works should reflect the social reality and must be derived from the observation and thinking of the real life. Born in the 60s of last century, Zhu Wei’s standard outfits are T-shirt, cloth shoes, a bald head in summers; and shoulder bag, army cotton jacket, a bald head in winters. Being no different from other common guys in Beijing, he said these wearing is the most comfortable. When he was young, he lived in the family member residence area of Shougang (literally “the Capital Iron and Steel Corporation”) in Shijingshan, Beijing. He studied in PLA Academy of Art and engaged in artistic creation there. After that he left the army and became an independent artist. During a creative peak in around 2000, he suddenly stopped his art creating, to, in his own words, “play for a couple years”. Later, he started his new series with new thinking.

Critics Lu Hong believes that Zhu Wei’s creation can be broadly divided into three stages, early 90s, 2000-2007, and 2012-present. His outstanding works include series like “The Story of Beijing”, “Sweet Life”, “China Diary”, “Ink and Wash Research Lectures series”, “Vernal Equinox”, and so on. He originally invented the technique of making rice paper look ancient, and successfully created bald soldier, red flag, five-pointed star, lattice window, banana leaf and other artistic symbols with strong personal characteristics. Undoubtedly, these new artistic themes and new feelings, including the process of transforming “socialism experience” into the traditional format of Gongbi painting and then reforming it, are very rare.

Zhu Wei’s solo exhibition “Virtual Focus 1987 - 2017” was held at the Indonesia National Museum from August 26 to October 26, 2017. Over 30 works which were created in a span of nearly 30 years, including ink paintings and three groups of sculptures, have been displayed. During the exhibition, Artron.net had an interview with Zhu Wei. Our topics started from the critical thinking and discussions of intellectuals. He is concerned about the political and economic situation at home and abroad, as it is the motive force of the kernel of social development. He is concerned about the anxiety of losing good traditions in the contemporary China, because for a civilization the problem of inheritance must be resolved. Above all, he once again profoundly and critically talked about the situation of contemporary Chinese ink painting in the world, which has broadened our thinking on the internationalization of ink painting, especially his point of view that the influence of ink painting has never gone outside of Asia.

Xie Mu from Artron.net (hereafter referred to as Artron): What do you think of the status of contemporary ink art?

Artist Zhu Wei (hereafter referred to as Zhu Wei): Nowadays a large number of contemporary ink paintings are created to meet the needs, tastes and decoration demands of the middle-class consumers. They have neither reached the aesthetic level, nor the contemporary level. The reason is on one hand the collectors did not ask for it, and more importantly, many contemporary ink artists never lived in the contemporary art circle. They don’t know the development of contemporary art, and don’t know that on the road toward contemporary, it is impossible to resolve the new problems by using the old values. In previous years many works of the New Ink just satisfied the daily life interest, a primary aesthetic need, which has not gone as far as contemporary art. Of course, if particularly experimental and pioneering works cannot be understood or accepted by collectors or the public, a lot of artists will have to be conservative. The situation that the present contemporary ink paintings are made to meet the need of decoration rather than aesthetic requirement is related to the history and values of ink painting. It is accord with the feudal aesthetics in Asia, it is a symbol of feudal society, and does not represent the contemporary values.

It would be lucky if the present level of ink painting could have been on an even height with our predecessors in the late Qing and early Republic of China. After the Revolution of 1911 (the Chinese bourgeois democratic revolution led by Dr, Sun Yat-sen which overthrew the Qing Dynasty), a large influx of Western capitalist ideas came into China. Chinese people learned to drive cars, live in Western-style houses, go to bars and pubs, eating Western food, and wear Western suits. The capitalist lifestyle was appreciated by the public, and along with the New Life Movement (started February 19, 1934 by Chiang Kai-shek) which included the abolishment of the imperial examination, arranged marriage and foot-binding, Chinese ink painting was reformed. At that time artists were mainly engaged in ink painting, while there were only a few foreign oil painters like Giuseppe Castiglione, Jean-Denis Attiret, Ignatius Sickeltart, and a few students in Guangdong who returned from studying abroad, whose representative works is "Matteo Ricci". Faced with the Westernization, whether to accept the Western art, and how to maintain the features of local art, became the major problem that artists thought about. For this purpose artists established the Chinese Painting Research Association and Chinese Painting Society, in which they proposed slogan like “refining the ancient method to gain new knowledge”. When confronting the issue of contemporary, this slogan can be said has the most objective and sober attitude that local painters and scholars can hold in nearly a hundred years, and it is more constructive and practical than the later self-denial formulation like Ink Painting Revolution. The outstanding artists at that time include Wu Changshuo, Huang Binhong and Wu Hufan. Who among today’s ink painters can compare with them?

Artron: Why does the contemporary ink painting develop slowly?

Zhu Wei: After 1949, ink painting has undergone two shocks of Western ideological trends. The first shock happened when the socialist trend of Soviet Union and East Europe entered China in the 1950s, political slogans became popular, and all reforms must serve for the politics. The other shock happened when the Western post war ideological trend came to China after the Reform and Opening-up in 80s, painting of anti-war slogans began to spread, and all reforms must serve for the economics. Compared with the Revolution of 1911, the influence of the latter two Western ideological trends was regional and small. Therefore, artists could basically make their choice between imported goods and the works handed down from the ancients. For imported goods, what they need to do was only imitation after small adjustment. However, for the inherited works, they had to have the thorough understanding and proficient techniques before the next step transformation. And this resulted in the slow progress of ink painting today.

Artron: Could you tell us the situation of ink painting in Asia?

Zhu Wei: The influence of ink painting is only confined within Asia and some other areas where there are Chinese. It sounds good, but in fact, these areas only include China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Maucao, and Southeast Asia. For India which covers the central and western Asia, and the ancient Babylon area which covers the Mesopotamia area, they are another two civilizations and cultures, and both have the longer history than China. When ink painting spread to South Korea, they changed its name to "Korean painting". When ink painting came to Japan in the Song Dynasty, they called it “Nanga” (the Southern school of Chinese painting). The Japanese strictly followed the existing format of ink painting, so today's Japanese Nanga still retains the features and artistic conception of the literati painting in the Southern Song Dynasty. Before building up their own language system, Southeast Asia had been colonized by Europeans, thus their languages are more like European languages. Some countries like Philippines and Singapore simply use English as their official language. Both situations formed a natural barrier to the Chinese hieroglyphs culture.

We shouldn’t be blindly optimistic about the fact that many major museums in the world have a large collection of ancient Chinese ink paintings. Most Western museums have the tradition to collect works from the world, such as sculptures from Africa, miniatures from ancient Babylon, ink paintings from China, murals and weavings and bowls for drinking water from American Indian, etc. They collect everything that one expects to find in the evolution of human civilization. It has nothing to do with the influence of Chinese ink painting.

Artron: If so, then how can ink painting be spread out and be internationalized?

Zhu Wei: The primary problem that contemporary ink artists need to solve is not aesthetic taste or technique, which our ancestors have left us enough, and we cannot even go beyond. It is easy to realize this point if we go to the Forbidden City to see an exhibition. The primary problem is not spreading or dissemination or internationalization either. What we can do is to have the contemporary consciousness. Ink painting has carried values of slavery society and feudal society for thousands of years, it keeps the trace of social development, and the works of it are more about recording, showing skills, at most complaining, but hardly introspection. This limits ink painting's depth, breadth, and even its highest level as an art form. There is a vast difference between values of ink painting and contemporary art, which affect the spreading and dissemination of ink painting today. This gap needs us to fill, and it needs the improvement and enhancement of the whole society. Contemporary ink painting is not ink painting painted by contemporary people, instead, it is art created by artists who have contemporary consciousness as well as independent thinking.

In my opinion, contemporary ink painting should be an embodiment of contemporary values, a value that has never been seen in the past and is the most advanced and realistic in human history. Whether an artwork is contemporary depends on whether the artist’s idea and motive are contemporary, rather than some contemporary symbols on the surface.

Artron: Could you tell us how to persist in observing society and express reality for so many years?

Zhu Wei: I paint ink paintings. In fact, I am more a defender, inheritor and explorer of traditional painting.

Frankly speaking, up to now China still does not have its own contemporary art form. All the art forms, except for ink painting, are imported from outside, including the peasant painting. We should respect imported goods, ask permission before we use and spread it, and lastly, indicate the source and bow to express gratitude. This is what a civilized nation or group must do, rather than just use, plagiarize and imitate it so ruthlessly that even forget who is the original. This kind of borrowlism has been severely criticized by Lu Xun in the 30s of the last century.

One day our contemporary ink painting will also go out and become an integral part of world contemporary art, even be popular. When we go out individually or in group, it’s not to return the favor, but to communicate. That is internationalization.

Postscript: China is in a time of great change. Everything is extremely uncertain. At the same time, China has a history of thousands of years, with established rules in many things. How to express, to record, to feel and to think such a great era through painting is every artist’s responsibility and destiny. The reason why Zhu Wei is Zhu Wei, a representative artist of contemporary Chinese ink painting, a contemporary artist who’s often in a critical state, a professional artist who adheres to business rules, is that under the pluralistic conditions of extremities, rules and efficiency, he uses the most traditional techniques and materials to express the present state of China, and in the meantime, to create images full of personal characteristics. He converts what he sees and feels to reveal the current situation in China. In an era of globalization and homogenization, Zhu Wei represents a unique voice of Chinese artist.

雅昌艺术网二零一七年十月九日头条专稿

【雅昌专稿】朱伟：水墨画的影响力出不了亚洲

作者：谢慕

　　曾经拿奇葩说中的一个辩题问朱伟，奇葩村有一口愚人井，喝了井水的人都会变得意识错乱，颠倒黑白，所有的人都喝了，你喝不喝?朱伟说，我一定不喝，我要做那个愚人村的清醒者。那你怎么生活呀，他说，每天对着我的这些村民们傻乐，哈哈。这个简单的回答似乎是一种玩笑，但是这个傻乐的答案让我也不禁笑了起来。实际上这个问题没有正确或者错误的答案，这个答案恰是反应朱伟的倔强、执着甚至是勇敢以及骨子里的幽默和自信。　

　　朱伟是中国最重要的当代水墨艺术家之一，每年在国际上都会个展、群展，其市场表现热度一直保持在在世当代水墨艺术家排行榜的前列。而这个土生土长的北京人，一方面是看上去玩世不恭的态度、话语里的幽默感和反讽，另一面却是对待作品时严谨细致地完成画中的一笔一划、思考艺术和社会问题的独特角度。这种亦庄亦谐的、既司空见惯又十分珍贵的性格，恰恰成就了这么一位非常特别的艺术家。

　　朱伟一直强调作为艺术家，作品要反映社会现实，作品必须源自于对现实生活的观察和思考。他是上世纪60年代出生，这些年夏天的装扮是光头、T恤、布鞋，冬天是光头、双肩包、军棉袄，他说穿着这些是最舒服的，这个打扮和北京最普通的大哥、小弟们并无差异，小时候家住北京石景山的首钢宿舍，在军艺读书并在部队从事艺术创作，离开部队成为独立艺术家，在2000年左右创作高峰期，他忽然暂停了自己的绘画创作，用他的话说，“玩了好几年”之后带着思考开始了新系列的创作。

　　批评家鲁虹认为，朱伟从上个世纪90年代到现在的创作大致分成90年代、2000年-2007年、2012年至今三大阶段，一共创作了《北京故事》系列、《甜蜜的生活》系列、《中国日记》系列、《水墨课徒研究》系列与《开春图》系列等优秀作品。他在独创了将熟宣纸做旧的手法时，还成功地创造了光头男(军)人、大红帷幕、五角星、格子窗、芭蕉叶等具有个人特点的艺术符号。毫无疑问，这是新的艺术题材与新的感受——包括“社会主义经验”进入传统工笔画程式，继而对其进行改造的过程，这些都是非常难得的。　　

　　“虚拟的焦点”朱伟1987-2017个展在2017年08月26日至10月26日在印尼国家博物馆开幕，共展出三十多件作品，主要包括水墨作品和三组雕塑作品，作品创作时间跨度将近30年。在展览期间，朱伟与雅昌艺术网进行了一次对谈，从知识分子批判式的思考和讨论开始，他关心国内外政治经济局势，因为这是社会发展内核的动力问题;他关心当代中国优秀传统丢失的焦虑，因为社会文明中必须解决传承问题。更重要的他又一次深度批判地方式谈到了中国当代水墨今天国际处境，尤其是水墨绘画辐射半径不超过亚洲的观点拓展了我们对于水墨国际化进程的思考。

雅昌艺术网 谢慕（下文简称雅昌艺术网）：当代水墨创作现状你怎么看?

　　艺术家朱伟(下文简称朱伟)：现在大量当代水墨作品是满足中产阶级的消费需求、欣赏趣味、环境装饰的需求，没到审美层面，也没有在往当代的层面发展。其原因一方面在于收藏家没有提出要求，更重要的原因是很多当代水墨的艺术家没在当代艺术圈中混过，不了解当代艺术的发展进程，水墨画不可能以旧的价值观解决当代路上遇到的新问题。前几年新水墨中的很多作品只是满足了大家生活上的一个趣味，满足一个审美的初级需求，达不到当代艺术的程度。当然，如果创作了特别实验的、先锋的水墨作品往往不受到藏家和公众的关注和理解，很多艺术家不得不还保持传统所应有的面貌。 现有的当代水墨作品为了能满足大家装饰的需求，但不是审美上的需求，这个和水墨画的历史形成和价值观有关，符合亚洲的封建审美，是封建社会的一个标志，不代表当代的价值观。

　　水墨画的现状和清末民初能找齐就不错。1911年辛亥革命后西方欧美资本主义思想大量涌入，与此同时汽车洋房酒吧歌厅说洋文吃洋饭穿西装，资本主义腐朽的生活方式被民众所欣赏，中国画伴随着废除科举包办婚姻反对妇女裹小脚等等新生活运动开始进行改良。当时的艺术家们基本上都是画丹青水墨的，画油画的仅限郎世宁王致诚艾启蒙等几个老外。另外还有广东几个留洋回来的学生，他们的代表作《利玛窦像》。面对着全盘西化，要不要接受西方艺术，怎样保持本土艺术的面貌，成了艺术家们思考的最多的问题，为此当时的艺术家们成立了中国画研究会，国画研究会，提出了“精研古法博取新知”的口号。这一口号可以说是近一百年来本土画家和学者们面对当代最为客观和冷静的态度，比之后的水墨画革命等等自我否定式的提法更具有建设性和务实的意义。当时出现的优秀艺术家吴昌硕，黄宾虹，吴湖帆，当下我们的水墨画家哪个能和他们比?

　　雅昌艺术网：当代水墨发展缓慢，这个在外部体现在哪些方面呢?

　　朱伟：1949年之后，水墨画又经历了两次西方思潮的冲击。一次是五十年代苏联东欧社会主义思潮进入中国，政治口号式绘画开始流行，一切改良为政治服务。另一次是八十年改革开放西方战后当代思潮进入，反思政治口号式绘画开始蔓延，一切改良为经济建设服务。相比辛亥革命，后两次西方思潮的影响是局部和小范围的，因此艺术家们基本是在舶来品和古人传承下来的作品之间做出选择，对于舶来品只需要在原有的基础上做小范围调整模仿即可轻装上阵，而传承下来的古人作品，则必须吃透变换思维方式手上功力相当才能谈下一步，这就造成了水墨在进入当下之后进展缓慢的现状。

　　雅昌艺术网：水墨画在亚洲的发展情况是怎么样的?

　　朱伟：水墨画的影响只限于亚洲或世界各地有华人的地方，那还是好听的，其实只限于中日韩，港澳台地区和东南亚华人华侨聚集地，亚洲中部和西部的印度以及古巴比伦所在的两河流域是另外两个文明和另外两种文化，他们的历史更加悠久。水墨画到韩国改叫韩国画，宋代传到日本叫南画，日本人严格遵循水墨画的既有格式加以继承，至今保留着宋时期的水墨特征和文人意境。东南亚国家大部分还没来得及形成自己的文字便被欧洲殖民，他们现有的语言文字书写和发音更接近欧美，像菲律宾新加坡索性直接使用英语作为官方语言，天然的对使用象形文字的中国文化形成了阻隔。

　　另外世界各大博物馆都有大量的古代中国水墨画收藏，这点我们一定不要盲目乐观。西方的博物馆大部分都具备世界性的收藏，非洲的雕刻、伊朗古巴比伦的细密画、中国的水墨画、印第安人的壁画编织以及喝水用过的碗等等，人类文明进化过程中该有的应有尽有，它和中国水墨画的影响力没什么关系。

　　雅昌艺术网：那水墨画如何扩展和国际化呢?

　　朱伟：当代的水墨画家首要的不是解决情趣和技法问题，这些祖宗留给我们的已经完全够用，甚至我们都无法超越，去趟故宫看展览我们就能心中有数。当代水墨首要的也不是解决如何扩展传播，非要国际化的问题。我们能做的是如何具有当代意识。水墨画承载着几千年的奴隶和封建社会的价值观和社会发展的痕迹，作品更多的是描写记录，展示艺术家手上的技法和功力，最多只是抱怨，几乎没有反思的意思，这就定位了水墨画作为一种艺术形式它的深度广度乃至最高水平，它和当代艺术的价值观有着天壤之别。这个差别，影响着水墨画在当代的扩展以及传播。这个差别，需要我们去弥补，需要整个社会的进步和提升。当代水墨不是当下活着的人画的水墨，而是具有当代意识的水墨画家通过自己的思考创作出的水墨作品。

　　在我眼里当代水墨应该是当代价值观的体现，是以往未曾有过，是人类历史进程中最接近现实选择的进步的价值观。当代艺术作品要看作者的观念和创作动机是否具有当代性，而不是表面传递给大家的当代符号。

　　雅昌艺术网：在创作中如何坚持这么多年做到观察社会，表现现实生活呢?

　　朱伟：我画的是水墨画的，其实我更是传统绘画的捍卫者、继承者和探索者。

　　说白了，时至今日中国没有自己的当代艺术形式，除水墨画以外所有绘画样式皆是外来，包括农民画在内。外来的东西我们就要多一份敬畏，尊重，征得同意才可以拿来借鉴使用传播，最后还要注明出处，鞠躬感谢，这是一个文明国家或群体必须做到的，而不是毫不留情拿来就用，剽窃模仿以至于忘了是谁的原创，这种拿来主义上世纪三十年代年曾被鲁迅狠批。

　　总有一天我们的当代水墨画也要走出去，成为世界当代艺术的组成部分，甚至流行开来，到那时候我们单个或者组团出去，都不会是回报演出的性质，而是交流，那才是有来有往的国际化。

　　后记：当代中国处于一个大变革的时代，一切都具有极强的不确定性，同时当代中国又处于一个几千年发展历程，很多事物都有既定的规则、规定和规矩，这样一个伟大的时代如何通过绘画来表现、来记录、来感知、来思考，这是每一位艺术家都无法逃避的责任与命运。朱伟之所以是朱伟，一位中国当代水墨的代表艺术家，一位常常处于批判状态的当代艺术家，一位谨守商业规则的职业艺术家，这些多元状态下的极致、规则和效率，使得他在用最传统的中国绘画技法和传统的媒材充分表现当下的中国状态， 同时创造了个人的特色形象。通过画笔把看到的、感受到的转换出来，再现当下中国的现状，在全球化、同质化的发展下，朱伟是一个中国艺术家的独特声音。