Let Things Drift

July and August Combined Issue of Hi Art, 2010

This article is written for painter buddies as well as all creators. By “Let Things Drift”, I do not mean that one should be so passive as to give in to his fate, or our lives are as miserable as weeds, but that after we have finished a painting or other works, we had better stop worrying about them. On the one hand, worrying will result in tiredness; on the other hand, we cannot control the fate of the works. Just like you have made a dish with a cucumber; whether it is delicious or not should be determined by people who taste it. You can select cucumbers and flavorings to be used, but can you control what others will say?

This year sees Lao She’s 111th birthday. I know little about his great achievements, so I decide to leave them to be recalled by his families and not to make a discussion here. I have read many of his writings, such as Rickshaw Boy, Teahouse, Zhang’s Philosophy, Two Persons Named Ma, Cat Country, and Beneath the Red Banner. Lao She’s and Zhang Ailing’s novels are my favorite because they are humanistic, lifelike and full of local features, with witty and true-to-life words and dialogues. The authors did not mean to try their best to instruct or outsmart readers by talking about some major principles through characters in the novels.

In terms of creation, it seems that Lao She’s and Zhang Ailing’s novels are not great works in that what they focus on are small potatoes and layfolks with a low angle. However, what they really concerned were issues on the culture of the nation. Lao She has said in his books, “The wisdom of roses lie in not only bright color and fragrance but also their thorns! Only the combination of thorns, fragrance and beauty can ensure their safety, long-living and flourishing! Chinese are good in everything but the lack of their thorns!”

Lao She has adopted much dialects and Beijing style dialogues in his works, which can be seen as his writing skill. A lot of things, at different levels, can be spoken out by characters. In the same scene, some people are talking about national affairs and worrying about possible dangers when living in peace, while beside them may appear guys trafficking in persons, telling fortune, selling opium and doing a gang fight. Wang Shuo, a modern writer, is like him in his vivid description of the military courtyards during the Cultural Revolution Period. However, their difference lies in that Wang dared to curse Lu Xun while Lao She concerned Lu very much. Lao She considered that some of Lu’s writings were getting at him.

As an artist and a creator, Lao She was opposed to glorify oneself by writing one’s biography when he was still alive. The deed of preparing compliments for one’s death goes against the rule of creation and will tie his hands. Creators are just like scientists and explorers, whose future is unpredictable, need exploration, study and description. Artists are always creating. Zhao Jiabi, a famous publisher, had visited Lao She in Beijing for several times, attempting to publish a complete collection for the latter. Every time he went there with Yang Hansheng, Secretary of Party Committee of CFLAC (China Federation of Literary and Art Circles) then, and Lou Shiyi, Chief Editor of People’s Literature Publishing House. However, each time they expressed their intension Lao She would say, “I still have a great many of books to write and there are many works in my mind waiting for coming out. Why should we publish complete collections and anthologies right now? Now I want to focus on new works, and after that we can publish a total collection.”

I do not know whether people in literary circle would become the same as those in present artistic circle: they are just over forty or fifty and living with a good appetite as well as strong desires, but they have been covered in various versions of art history. In particular, some painters are toiling and moiling all the year round for several exhibitions in the name of “Art History”. By now the new China has been 61 years old. I have gone through historical documents and found no History of New China in any edition but a Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China adopted on the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee.

Zhu Wei

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

听天由命

《HI艺术》2010年7、8月合刊

这篇文章是写给画家哥儿们或者所有创作者的。听天由命不是生死由命、富贵在天的意思，也没有生命犹如野草那么可悲。俺是指，一张画画完，或者一个作品创作完成，后面的事最好不要管了。一是累，二是管也管不了。就像你拍了一黄瓜，好了坏了，甜了咸了，得别人吃完再说，管得了自己的黄瓜、调料，你能管得了别人的嘴吗？

今年是老舍诞辰111周年，老舍同志的丰功伟绩我就不说了，知道的不多，还是留给他的家人回忆吧。他的书我看了不少，比如《骆驼祥子》、《茶馆》、《老张的哲学》、《二马》、《猫城记》、《正红旗下》。老舍的小说、张爱玲的小说我最爱看，有人味，地方特征强，有血有肉，语言对白俏皮、真实，不是先想一大道理，最后再把它落实到几个人身上，变着法儿地想指点读者，变着法儿觉得自己比读者懂事。

从创作上讲，老舍、张爱玲的小说看上去不是什么大手笔。角度低，多半是小人物、普通人，但他们关心的是民族的文化问题。老舍曾经在书里写过，“玫瑰的智慧不仅在于它有色有香，而也在于它有刺！刺与香美的联合才会使玫瑰安全、久远，繁荣！中国人都好，只是缺少自己的刺！”

老舍的写作技巧是大量运用方言、京味对白，很多事情都是通过人物的嘴巴说出来的，且能高能低。在同一个场景，有聊国家大事、居安思危的，边上立马就有倒卖人口、算命的、倒腾鸦片的、打群架的。当代作家王朔和他很像，他对文革时期军队大院的描写也很淋漓尽致，所差的是，王朔敢骂鲁迅，老舍却很在意鲁迅，鲁迅写的文章，老舍就觉得有的是在说他。

作为一个艺术家、创作者，老舍反对在生前就为自己树碑立传。编好词搁那儿，等着你死，这样有违于创作规律，也束缚人的手脚。创作者像一科学家或者探险者，未来永远是一个未知数，需要探索、研究、描绘，艺术家的创作永远是进行时。当年出版家赵家璧曾经几次进京访问老舍，想由人民文学出版社为他出版全集，每次去的时候还特别拉上当时的中国文联党组书记阳翰笙和人民文学出版社总编辑楼适夷一起去。每次都是一张口老舍就站起来说，“我想写的东西还多得很；我肚子里的许多作品还没问世，干吗现在就出全集、出文集？现在我得集中精力写新的，到那时候，咱们编全集，算总账。”

不知道文学界会不会像现在的美术界这样，画家人都还活着，四五十岁，吃嘛嘛香，看啥都有欲望，却已经被收入了各种版本的艺术史当中，甚至有的画家一年要为好几个以艺术史为名义的展览拼命创作。新中国成立至今六十有一，我查了查，只在一九八一年由十一届六中全会通过了一个《党的若干历史问题的决议》，此外没出现过任何一种版本的新中国史。

朱伟

2010年6月24日星期四