Southern Weekend, February 14 2008

In 2007, Beijing surprisingly did not snow. We have waited for so long, a few snowflakes dropped, then they disappeared without one taken a clear look. At the front and back of the house, there was no trace of snow on the tiles. If you tell anyone that it has just snowed, they will surely give you a fussy look, like you have just told a lie. I heard this vividly from the radio announcer: “There shall be snow”, then later claimed, “Sorry, it never fell”.

This year was not a totally uneventful year. To begin with, my 12-year global exclusive deal with Plum Blossoms Gallery has expired. Since then, I have started communications with a few galleries that we long have mutual admiration but never had a chance to work together. I painted four paintings last year, totaling eight with the ones I did this year. This autumn, all of these ink paintings will be exhibiting in the most hyped Xin Dong Cheng Space for Contemporary Art, in Beijing’s 798 Area. Among all the old and young artists that paint to make a living, only Chen Yifei and me have signed such kind of exclusive contract with a gallery. Chen signed a 9-year oil painting contract with London’s Marlborough Gallery, which was not fulfilled following his sudden death. Such an opportunity is rare to come by for any painter. The oil painters that have fled the country in early years, those who claimed that opportunities were not adequate in China, are still without representative overseas, after 20 years having gone by. Chen Yifei returned to China in late 1990s for business venture, whereas I did not leave rural Beijing area for over a day.

There is a sentimental difference for an artist between signing exclusively with a gallery and working with multiple representatives. Exclusive deal allows the artist time to work at ease, pretty much like a state painter, working in calculated and relaxed pace. All they have to do is follow the orders of the cadre. In contrary, an artist that works for multiple sources would have a lot of offers. They have to take more initiatives, and are given less time to sit down and paint. Exclusive artist is pretty much like the wife of a wealthy family from the old days; she holds the keys to every door, the budget and manages the household. She could unruffled the power she has. Working for different galleries make an artist feel like one of the five or six concubines, they think like there is constantly a wolf chasing them from behind, making it difficult to be practical, although occasionally there may be some unexpected bonuses. Over all, there are advantages and disadvantages for both, merely a different way of making a living.

Since there are differences in their livelihood, the artworks produced differ. Artworks are directly associated with the living condition of an artist, much like a man running on the street naked in the winter; even though nobody may care, one is destined to feel the cold, because weather and your body corresponds to one another. Even if you force yourself to be passionate about the activity, it simply does not last very long. Artworks shall reflect your life; never try to make it up. Marvelous works allow people to instantly identify the nationality of the artist, when the work was produced, and was it an original creation. Those works that could not reflect whether it was produced by a Chinese painting a foreigner, or by a foreigner painting Chinese, may look timeless, but is in fact vague, intending to mislead the viewers to believe that they are of something splendid. No matter how garnish those works are, they may be able to deceive for a short while, but after all, they are destined to be disposed of.

Another occurrence is meeting with icons in the industry and fellow painters. Eating, drinking with them and if you do not talk about auctions and prices with them after a few exchange, the meal guaranteed would not last long. Before, an artist could sense it after producing a good painting. They know that they have painted a nice work. Then, it was up to art critics and curators to decide, even though these people never painted in their entire life. In the last couple of years, the speculators made the call, and every year there were dramatic changes in price. The prices of artworks have a direct connection with the speculators’ cash flows, and have nothing to do with art. Since the end of 2007, all Western speculators have shifted and only the Chinese speculators are running around London, New York and Hong Kong to make the biddings. What surprises the Western auction houses is the courageous nature of the Chinese bidders, dashing out money without much hesitation. Prices for Chinese artists’ works are rising drastically. Like Guo De Gang[1] once said, if the house is seven feet tall and the fire in the stove is higher than nine feet, one must drill a hole at the roof to let the flame exit. There are over a hundred artists copying Gerhard Richter’s Capitalist Realism style, yet, at the end of last year, prices for his works did not even reach half of what is sold for by a Chinese artist, and was not even as popular. If one says this is fabricated, there is not even a logical ground to support it. Giuseppe Castiglione [2] paints Chinese ink paintings on silk with an added Italian flavour, and he did not even get nearly half as rewarded. Tough luck.

Another issue arise is, traditional painting of locality, ink paintings, did not get much attention in the 798 area. After efforts of several generations, the area showcases works that are wholesomely westernized Chinese contemporary art. Since the 40s in the last century, after war, the country did not do much except for learning from the outside world. Artists like Lin Fengmien, Xu Beihong were returning from Europe and started the upsurge of learning from the West. Soon after, the country fell into the hands of Socialists. The state initiated the movement of looking at the Soviet Union as role model, legitimately taken different streams of Europe, mainly Soviet’s, theories and schools of thoughts into China. The state also sent vast amount of students over to the Soviet Union. Up until today, talents returning from Russia have yet to secure any offer from the state. When I read articles from that era, written by Chinese theorists who studied there, I am convinced that they are leveled with the current crop. Whoever they were writing about, they could always refer to an appropriate ideology, much slicker than many modern Western minds. After the Open Door policy in 1978, the state has again returned to fiercely learning from the contemporary Western art. This was reflected in the last few decades, by art movements like the “85’ New Wave” and the “post-89’ generation”. The condition of contemporary Chinese art—drawing inspiration and imitating Europe, Russia and America, is considered as complete. Since artists did not steamroll this train of contemporary art movement, critics, the art market two-way merchants and artists-alike do not have any clue about the situation. All they could do is acting like the railway guerilla bands that fought the Japanese troops in the war period; everyone holding a harrow in their hands. Whenever a train comes along, snatch whatever they can get their hands on, get as much and as fast as they can, without any room of hesitation.

Sign with a gallery is nothing new; it has always been a practice. Every wealthy family would at least have a couple of authentic ink paintings. At the beginning of liberation, artworks by Qí Báishí are found along Liulichang Cultural Street. One can take a 4-feet ink painting away with merely RMD15. Auction houses were like pawnshops- one can always associate the act of pawning as parting away with beloved children: if one can maintain a respectable living standard, would anyone like to send their possession to auction houses? Auction houses have 321 years of history in the Western world; our pawnshops also have few hundred years of history. Can you say that they are anything new? Chinese contemporary art is like a mirror to its Western counterpart. If you found a certain thing there, you are guaranteed to be able to find them here. If they were not found there, then surely it would not be found here. Nowadays, people recognize, none of the contemporary Chinese artworks that they see are anything original. Up until now, we have been learning and emulating for half a century, yet we are still repeatedly emulating, year after year, so, would you say that the years are memorable? It has been 30 years since China reform and open to the outside world, yet, where are our own cultural beliefs?

[1] (1973- ) Famous Beijing comic dialogue artist

[2] (1688-1766) Western missionary-painter in Ch’ing Court, known for his Chinese name Lang Shih-ning

2007年一年北京愣没下什么雪，眼瞅就要翻篇了才掉了那么几滴雪花，还没看清楚就没了，房前屋后，瓦上一点雪的痕迹都没有，你要是跟人说刚才下雪了，别人会瞪眼看着你，一脸烦躁，好像你在说谎，忽悠他。我亲耳朵听见电台里主持人说：今天白天有雪，对不起没下。

这一年也不是一点事没有：一是结束了和Plum Blossoms万玉堂画廊长达12年的全球独家代理，开始和几个多年想合作又没机会的彼此都看着顺眼的画廊有了沟通。去年一年画了4张画，加上今年的一共8张，秋天会在798最火爆的程昕东国际艺术空间弄一个展览，全是水墨。在靠画吃饭以画画为生的这一堆老老少少的画家里只有我、陈逸飞和画廊签过这种约，他是以油画和伦敦的马勃罗画廊签了九年，到他去世约还没满。这样的机会对一个画画的人来说真的不多。当年早早出去的那几个在国内油画画的号称呆不住的，在国外混了小20年愣没画廊找他。陈逸飞是90年代末开始回国做生意，我是一天没离开过北京郊区。

和一家画廊死磕和脚踩八只船的感觉是不一样的，死磕的能有时间安心画画，有点像现在国家养的画家，慢条斯理，待遇照国家干部走；脚踩八只船的机会多，主动一些，但静下心来画画的时候少；死磕的像当年有钱人家的正房大奶奶，手里攥着库房的钥匙，从容不迫；脚踩八只船的像五六个姨奶奶其中的一个，总觉得后面有狼撵着，踏实不下来，但有时也能得到意想不到的好处。总之各有千秋，活法大不一样。

活法变了，作品肯定得跟着走。作品和生活是互动关系，就像大冬天你光着屁股在街上转悠，即使没人管一会也得冻回来，因为天气和你的身体是互为感应的，就算你再牛逼再有意念，你也坚持不了多久。作品必须得反映你的生活，千万别编。好的作品一看就知道是哪个国家人画的，画的是哪年的事，是不是原创。那些看完不知道是中国人画的外国人，还是外国人画的中国人，时间模糊貌似永恒，在观众面前装孙子，这样的画画的再花哨，也只能蒙一阵子，最后还得归为垃圾。

另一个是偶尔和同行见面，吃饭喝酒三句话之后你要不谈谈拍卖，聊聊价格，这顿饭准吃不长。一开始是画家画完一幅画就有感觉，知道自己画了张好画；后来是批评家策展人决定，尽管丫一辈子没画过画；这两年是炒家决定，而且每年价格都有很大变化。艺术品的价格和炒家的周转资金有关系，和艺术没有关系，而且从07年年底开始，西方炒家基本全数退出，全部是由中国的炒家奔赴伦敦、纽约、香港举牌。让西方老牌拍卖行惊喜的是，中国大陆来的炒家，初生牛犊，花钱冲，出手愣，中国画家作品的价格直线上升，就像郭德纲说的相声：房子高七丈，炉子里的火苗九丈多，必须在房顶凿一窟窿走火苗子。中国有一百多个模仿里希特画焦点不实的，但去年年底他的画价格反而还没中国艺术家的一半高，而且还没中国艺术家的作品抢手。你说这事弄的，还没地方说理。郎世宁在绢上画的带点意大利口音的中国水墨画愣没这么好的待遇。命啊。

再一个是如今本土绘画样式也就是水墨画敢在798做展览的不多，那里展示的是经过几代人努力，几乎全盘西化了的中国当代艺术。中国打上世纪四十年代，也就是二战后，就没干别的，专门学外国。林风眠、徐悲鸿等欧洲回来的这帮人掀起的西学热潮之后很快就进入了社会主义时期，由国家倡导的学苏俄运动，光明正大的把欧洲，主要是俄国当年的各种流派、理论带入中国，国家大量向那里派驻留学生，直到今天从苏俄留学回来的人才还有没安排好的。我看过当年留苏回来的理论家写的文章，不比现在差多少，不管写谁，最后都能拉到意识形态上去，比现在西方人玩的溜多了。78年改革开放又掉回头来鼻涕眼泪的猛学了几回西方当代艺术，如八五新潮和后八九，这就是中国当代艺术的现状，看看欧洲，翻翻苏俄，再瞅两眼美国，就齐了。由于当代艺术这趟火车不是从自家开出来的，艺术家、批评家、艺术二道贩子等等等等，大家摸不着头绪，只能玩当年打日本鬼子时铁道游击队那手，人人手里都拿着耙子，只要火车开过来，不管三七二十一抡圆了就是几耙子，划拉多少算多少。

和画廊签约不是什么新鲜事，旧社会就有，当时家境稍宽裕的谁家不挂两张水墨画还都是真迹，刚解放的时候琉璃厂就有卖齐白石水墨画的，四尺对开十五块人民币就能拿走；拍卖行如同当铺，总能跟卖儿卖女联系起来，心平气和过日子的谁愿意往那里送东西。国外的拍卖行有三百二十一年的历史，中国的当铺也有几百年的历史了，你能说它新鲜吗？中国当代艺术就如同西方当代艺术的一面镜子，那边有的这边一定有，那边没有的这边一定找不到。当下人们知道、看过的那几件中国当代艺术作品没有一个是原创。直到如今都学习模仿了半个多世纪了，还在接茬模仿，你说这一年一年的过去，值得怀念吗？！改革开放三十年了我们的文化信仰在哪？