Credit Suisse Today Art Award 2010

ZHU WEI

The complicated technical features of the water and ink materials adopted by Zhu Wei in his works have digested the fast and cheap nature of the conceptual art brought by the intervention of modern industry from the angle of production, while constructing a different artistic language from easel paintings by means of a unique structuring method and the texture of materials. Zhu Wei’s early paintings were obviously influenced by Badashanren. The holistic academic education and the increasingly complex social and cultural environment have led Zhu Wei to a cynical attitude with self-parody and irony, which could be perceived from his way of expression. The traditional social values, such as heroism, idealism, awareness of hardship and historical consciousness, have blended together with social transformation, the change of artistic forms and the disintegration of spiritual beliefs to play a role of catalyst towards his art which reflects the past and the present. Zhu Wei has a broad interest in fine art, literature and film, but he has been always sticking to the style of Chinese water and ink painting as an approach of expression. He often depicts social issues through relevant themes from traditional Chinese painting. He mixes image of the ancient people and of the modern people to reflect the society and life of grassroots from the very beginning of China’s reform and opening up in the early 1980s with highly personalized perspective. Being innovative and revolutionary, though adopting the traditional media, his works mirror the society and culture in radical changes. Recent characters in his works were stripped of the obvious politicized appearances, and conveyed the empathy adhered to by the social elites and a clear message of social criticism. The power of texts and images carried by both traditional China and Modern China has made his artistic creation with a good pretext, yet secret and obscure: the message is deeply hidden in many hints and subtle details, where the artist continues his keen observation on himself and the society. He is interested in a wide range of cultural issues, with humor to ease his interpretation and human nature to soften his sharpness. Zhu Wei records the rapid changes of social norms, the weakness of human and the absurdness of politics by the means of painting.

瑞信.2010今日艺术奖

朱伟

朱伟的作品所选择的水墨材质本身复杂的技术特性，从制作的角度消解了观念艺术因现代工业的介入带来的快速与低廉的基本属性，并用其独特的造型方式和材料质感构建起一种不同于其他架上绘画的语言特征。在朱伟的早期绘画中很明显可以看出八大山人的影响，经历过全面的学院式教育，面临日益复杂的社会文化环境，这些因素把朱伟的艺术引向一种玩世不恭的自嘲、讽刺、愤世嫉俗的态度，这从他的表现方式上可以找到线索。传统的社会观念，比如英雄主义、理想主义、忧患意识和历史意识交糅并发挥作用，社会的转型、艺术形态的变更以及精神信仰的分崩离析，对他们反映过去和现在的艺术创造起了催化剂的作用。朱伟的兴趣涉猎美术、文学、电影 领域，但他始终坚定地用中国水墨画的造型方式作为表达的手段。他经常使用源自中国传统绘画的题材来表现有关社会的主题，把古代人物和毫无疑义的现代人物的形象进行融合，用极具个人化的视角反映自改革开放伊始的80年代初至今的草根社会与生活。虽使用传统的媒介却独辟蹊径、自成一体，反映了翻天覆地的变化中的文化与社会。近来他的作品中人物的形象褪去了明显的政治化表皮，所透露的社会精英秉承的移情与社会批判的信息也非常清晰。传统中国和现代中国承载的文字和图像的力量，让他的艺术既师出有名又隐密晦涩：讯息被深深地隐藏在多层暗示和微妙的细节里，继续他对自我、对社会的敏锐观察。他对广泛的文化问题怀有兴趣，幽默缓和了他的阐释，人性软化了他的锐利，朱伟用绘画记录了正在迅速转变的社会规范、人性的弱点、政治的荒谬。