Story of Ink and Wash - Eggs Left Over by the Red Flag

January and February Issue of Hi Art, 2010

On December 24th, the Christmas Eve, Cui Jian, a famous rock singer, held his solo concert again in Beijing Exhibition Theater after an absence of 20 years. Then his fans, old and new, gathered there. Most of them were friends met again after 20 years of separation, with some having shifted to other careers and some having given up enjoying rock music. However, their love for rock music was as before: they would be excited even by the slightest news in this area. Cui’s performance started with such a sentence, ‘Merry Christmas! We are having Christmas under the red flag; we are eggs left over by the red flag! (In Chinese, ‘Christmas’ and ‘eggs left over’ sound the same)*

Fourteen years ago, I was so keenly fond of rock music that my meticulous Chinese paintings were always done accompanied by it. By rights, painting and listening to rock music ought not to be done at the same time. In ancient times, people would wash their hands and faces, change clothes, have a bath, burn license and even play the instrument before painting or writing, but what they painted or wrote were different from what I was creating. My graduation was on the implementation of reform and opening policy, and then China was still very poor. The house I rented had only basic water and power supply, and I had to wash myself yearly or half-yearly. The discos popular in Beijing, such as NASA at Xitucheng Road invested by Wang Shou and Feng Xiaogang, JJ in the commercial district of Xinjiekou, and NIGHTMAN next to International Exhibition Center, were frequented by me. I danced there madly till the midnight when I had been wet with sweat, and went home to sleep after I dried, which was similar to having a bath. Even now I feel it is remarkable that I had no lice on my body in those years. In 1995 Cui Jian invited me on phone to help with the stage decoration, including a backdrop, for his performance. Then I was so excited that I put aside all work for galleries. It took me 2 months to finish the stage backgrounds, which would be used for about ten years in his performances both at home and abroad, in the large stage-art workshop of Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Department. Recently I found the videotape shot then by accident when I was searching for materials for a review exhibition. It was silent but I still felt the hot atmosphere of rock. Now I have not heard about my assistants at that time, most of whom were students from Central Academy of Fine Arts, for years, but I still want to show my gratitude to them; they are: Zhang Lin from Department of Art History, Wang from Department of Sculpture, Piao Yan from Department of Printmaking and her sister from Department of Mathematics of Beijing Normal University, as well as two boys from the Stage Art Team of the General Political Department. Later the stage backdrop we had made was displayed on invitation in Visual Art Exhibition for the 50th Anniversary of World Rock held in Roman Museum in 2004. Decorated with ink-and-wash paintings, it can be seen as a mixture of western modernity and Chinese tradition created by blending old elements with new ones.

Twenty years ago, in 1989, with the appearance of Cui’s I Have Nothing, China began to have its own rock music. Then people saw Chinese rock bands such as Tang Dynasty, Panther, Transmigration, Three Heroes On the Magic Stone, Confucius Said, and later Brain Failure, Pain Beliefs, Thin Men, Tongue, New Trousers, Supper Market, Yaksha, Secondhand Rose, Fantastic Pharmacy, No.43 at Bao’s Street, Cloth Gown, Twisted Machine, CMCB, Queen Sea Big Shark and Fruit Flavored Vitamin C, with Cui Jian, Dou Wei, He Yong, Zhang Chu, Deng Jun, Wu Tong, Qiu Ye, Xiao Rong, Xie Tianxiao, Wang Feng, Wang Di, Wang Lei as the typical representatives. Among them, Cui Jian, He Yong, Wang Di and Xiao Rong are my best friends for years. Then there appeared China rock festivals, such as Midi Music Festival, which is with a relatively large scale, Modern Sky Festival, Snow Mountain Music Festival, Erdos Music Festival and Zebra Music Festival, which are 10 times and even 20 times smaller than WOODSTOCK. As the original one, Midi Music Festival has also established a sizable rock school of the same name. Located on the edge of the Fifth Ring District of Beijing, the school has enrolled a lot of children from all over Mainland China as well as from Hong Kong, Macaw and Taiwan, corresponding to Whampoa Military Academy, Peasant Movement Training Institute and Lu Xun Arts College in Yan’an in the past. There are also many rock composers, CD stores and rock bookstores pushed by  rock advocates such as Liang Heping, Yan Jun, Hao Fang, Huang Liaoyuan, Jiang Xiaoyu, Zhou Guoping, who are still alive. Some record companies, recording studios and producers have also existed, although only for a short period, such as Hundred Flowers, Chinese Fire, Magic Stone, Da Chenjin, Zhang Peiren and Guo Dawei.

Rock music originated in America in the 1950s, rather than in England, as people often think. In 1959, Alan Frater, the disc jockey of Cleveland Radio Station, broadcasted a song We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll, which is the origin of the term ‘Rock n’ Roll’. Rock music came into being on the social basis of the presence of the middle-class-people in great numbers, while then Chinese People were still living below the poverty line; so in China, the understanding of rock music needs gradual development. Generally speaking, rock, whose form originated from Blues, are in 4/4 time, and in some songs the 3/4-time and 6/4-time appear alternatively. Then there appeared Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. The former is a rock star who was entitled ‘Father of Rock n’ Roll’, with his representative music Rock Around the Clock; while the latter has helped with the rapid popularization of rock music and has integrated Black Culture with White Culture perfectly. In 1957, Beatles formed in Liverpool, England, with John Lennon as the lead singer, Paul McCartney as the lead singer and bass player, George Harrison as the lead guitar player, and Ringo Starr as the drummer. Beatles stands for the peak of rock all around the world, and each of its single as well as album is remarkable. Later there also appeared rock bands such as Rolling Rocks, Gun n' Roses and Sex Pistols, rock singers such as Bob Dylan and acid rock represented by Jefferson Airplane.

These years I have enjoyed less rock music than I did before and have done two things for it. One is good while the other was harmful to me as well as to others. The former occurred in 2006. Then I produced lots of large posters, T-shirt and promotional products with ink-and-wash patterns I had drawn in Singapore for Midi Music Festival whose participants in that year had exceeded 100 thousand. And the latter happened in 2006, too. That night I did not attend the opening ceremony of my personal ink-and-wash painting exhibition held in Red Gate Gallery, because I had chosen to go to Shanghai for watching performance of Rolling Stones, for which Brown got so angry at me that he had not said even a word to me for three months. Now I apologize for that again.

Since the birth of rock, none of rock bands, ancient and modern, domestic and foreign, good and bad, have cooperated with and depended on the government, for which 60 years later people still consider that this kind of music stands for rebellion, anti-tradition and noncooperation. For common audience and intellectuals, rock, as before, is pure, struggling, and showing a spirit of striving in hunger. It is hard to imagine that if Beatles had supported by the Royal and represented the Queen, or Cui Jian’s band had changed into one attached to Central Ensemble of Songs and Dances, would their rock still be loved? Could the audience hear anger, dissatisfaction and cry of their inner heart from their music?

Zhu Wei

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Note:

*The phrase 'Eggs Left Over by Red Flag' came from the name of a song by Cui Jian, 'Balls Under the Red Flag' (1994). 'Laying eggs' and 'under' is the same Chinese character.

水墨的故事 红旗剩下的蛋

《HI艺术》2010年1、2月号

十二月二十四号圣诞平安夜，崔健阔别北展剧场二十年后又重新登台，举办个人演唱会。新老铁杆摇滚乐迷欢聚一堂，大部分朋友都是二十年后重新聚首，有的人已经不从事这个行业了，有的已经连听都不听了，但是他们对摇滚乐的那份感情依旧，稍有风吹草动就像干柴遇到烈火。崔健登台第一句话就是，祝大家圣诞快乐，我们是红旗下的圣诞，红旗剩下的蛋！

十四年前，当时我对摇滚乐相当发烧，一边画着工笔，一边听摇滚乐。按理说这两件事水火不容南辕北辙，古时候的人画画写毛笔字，都要洗手、洗脸、更衣、沐浴、焚香，还得抚琴，写的是另一种体，画的是另一种画。当年我毕业的时候刚刚赶上改革开放，神州大地的穷劲还没完全过去，我租的房子里边只有水电，半年或者一年洗一回澡，晚上几乎天天去当时北京流行的那几个迪厅，比如王朔冯小刚入股的位于西土城的NASA，还有新街口的JJ，国展边上的NIGHTMAN，狂蹦至深夜，浑身从头到脚湿透，晾干回家睡觉，算是洗了回澡。我现在很奇怪：当年愣是没长虱子。九五年的时候崔健电话找我，让我帮他的下一个演出做舞台美术，包括一个天幕，我听后非常激动，马上扔下手里画廊的活，用了两个月时间，在总政歌舞团的大舞美车间，完成了他以后将近十年海内外演出的舞台背景。前一阵子为一个带有回顾文献性质的展览翻腾资料，找到了当时拍摄的录像带，在没有任何声音的基础上，居然还能感觉到摇滚的气息。几个当时帮我干活的中央美院的学生现在不知在何方，已多年不见，他们是史论系的张琳、雕塑系的王?、版画系的朴燕，和她北师大数学系的妹妹，还有总政舞美队的两个哥们，感谢他们。后来这一天幕还应邀参加了二OO四年在罗马美术馆举办的世界摇滚乐五十年视觉艺术大展。这幕布是用水墨画的形式画出来的，所以也算是中西合璧，推陈出新，或者推新出陈。

二十年前，一九八九年，崔健的一嗓子《一无所有》，中国开始了有自己本土的摇滚乐。后来沥沥拉拉出现了唐朝、黑豹、轮回、魔岩三杰、子曰，以至后边的脑浊、痛苦的信仰、瘦人、舌头、新裤子、超级市场、夜叉、二手玫瑰、美好药店、鲍家街四十三号、布衣、扭曲机器、CMCB、后海大鲨鱼、果味VC等。代表人物崔健、窦唯、何勇、张楚、郑钧、吴桐、秋野、肖容、谢天笑、汪峰、王迪、王磊。其中崔健、何勇、王迪、肖容已经是我多年生活中最好的朋友之一。后来又有了比WOODSTOCK小十倍二十倍的中国摇滚音乐节，比如规模相对来说比较大的迷迪音乐节，又有摩登天空、雪山音乐节、鄂尔多斯音乐节、热波音乐节。迷迪音乐节是首创，同时他们还办了一所规模不小的同名摇滚乐音乐学校。来自全国各地包括港澳台的孩子们在这里学习，五环边上的迷迪音乐学校相当于当年的黄埔军校，或者是农民运动讲习所，或者是延安的鲁艺。和摇滚乐相关的写作者、CD店、摇滚乐书店也有很多，这些幕后推手至今仍活着，他们是梁和平、颜峻、郝舫、黄燎原、江小鱼、周国平等等等等。还有当时鬼火一样的瞬间即灭的一些和摇滚乐有关的唱片公司、录音棚和制作人：百花、中国火、魔岩、大陈进、张培仁、郭大炜等等。

摇滚乐二十世纪五十年代出现在美国，而不是人们印象当中的诞生于英国，一九五一年克利夫兰电台唱片节目主持人艾伦·费里德播放了一首歌曲《我们要去摇，我们要去滚》（We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll），创造出了摇滚乐（Rock n’ Roll）这个名词。摇滚乐诞生的社会基础是社会出现了大量中产阶级，而不是当年中国，全部都还在贫困线上，所以中国摇滚乐对摇滚音乐的理解是逐步完善的。摇滚乐的音乐形式来源于布鲁斯，一般选用4/4拍，也有用3/4拍和6/4拍交替出现。早期摇滚乐的偶像，后来被称为摇滚乐之父的美国人比尔·哈利，其代表作《昼夜摇滚》，后边有埃尔维斯·普莱斯利，后者使摇滚乐迅速在群众中传播普及，他出色地把黑人文化、白人文化结合在一起。一九五八年Beatles乐队在英国利物浦诞生，主唱约翰·列侬，贝斯兼主唱保罗·麦卡蒂尼，主音吉他乔治·哈里森，鼓手林格·斯塔尔。甲壳虫乐队是世界摇滚乐的巅峰，他们的每一首单曲每一个专辑都是摇滚乐的经典。后边还出现了滚石乐队、枪花、性手枪，以及鲍勃·迪伦和以杰弗逊飞机为代表的迷幻摇滚乐。

这两年摇滚乐听得少了，为摇滚乐多多少少做过两件事：一件是积德的事儿，一件是损人不利己的事儿。积德的事是O六年，我用在新加坡制作的水墨画图案为迷迪音乐节制作了大型的海报、T恤和各种宣传品，那一届参加的人数超过十万。另一件损事是，O六年为了去上海看滚石乐队现场演出，放弃了参加在同一天晚上红门画廊为我举办的水墨画个展开幕式，为此布朗曾三个月没理我。在此再一次道歉。

摇滚乐从诞生之日起，古今中外不论好的还是次的摇滚乐队，至今没有一个和政府拉手，让官方抱着出来玩儿。这就是六十年过去摇滚乐依旧在人们心中代表着反叛、另类、不合作的意义和象征。在普通观众和知识分子的心目中，它还是那么纯粹，挣扎，在饥饿中奋斗。人们很难想象，如果当年Beatles乐队受到皇家庇护，代表老太太的声音；崔健的摇滚乐队变成中央歌舞团附属崔健摇滚乐队，人们还会听他们的摇滚乐吗？人们在他们的音乐当中还能听到自己内心的愤懑、不满和呐喊吗？

朱伟

2009年12月26日星期六