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L'OFFICIEL Art April 2013 Exclusive Artist Interview
Zhu Wei: A Nongovernmental New Ink Painting Painter
Article by Wang Xiaomeng
Photograph by Shang Shang
Introduction: He is one of the pioneers in exploring contemporary ink painting as well as one of the artists who first signed with international art galleries. Out of love for movies, he attended three different kinds of art academies during his youth. Fond of traditional ink painting, he also holds a passion for rock music. He is the only “out-of-office” artist focused on ink painting creation. Though these seem conflicting, Zhu Wei has been seeking independence all his way.
Grown in the 1980s
Born in Beijing in 1966, Zhu Wei is one typical member of the generation grown up in Beijing’s courtyards or Hutong with both of his parents being soldiers. His background makes people easily think of Wang Shuo or Cui Jian who went through “the Cultural Revolution”, faced up to the radical changes brought about by the reform and opening up, and made the “voice” of the people in the 1980s heard amid a turbulent society, thus creating a unique “legend” of their age. Zhu Wei mentioned little about his experience, but he is quite reminiscent of the “passion-burning” 1980s. For him, that’s a period full of masters. A great number of talents sprung up in all walks of life such as poetry, movie, music, fine arts and even real estate both in China and the West. Take rock music, Zhu Wei’s favorite hobby, for example, many brands came to their fame in the 1980s. It’s them who constituted the staunch force for various industries.
In that era of free thoughts, people concentrated on “people” itself. Back then, every people claimed to be educated talks about Nietzsche, Sartre or Beauvoir even at dinner, Zhu Wei said. “It’s just like today’s enthusiasm on money. People are all into it.” This environment provided people with opportunities to express themselves. Starting from self-formation, people gradually came to independence. If we say the 1980s left people a huge fortune, then people’s wakening is definitely the most precious one.
From Ink Painting to Movie
Zhu Wei’s family didn’t support him learning painting at the very beginning, thinking he was not born to do that. However, Zhu Wei persisted. He finally chose to learn ink painting, since oil painting costs more. “I would go to a normal university if they receive applicants, because they charge students no fees.” He added.
Zhu Wei went to Beijing Film Academy to learn Film Arts after his graduation from Art College of the Chinese People s Liberation Army. “I painted ink painting all those years and it had nothing to do with Film Arts.” he said. Nevertheless, he went to learn filmology at Chinese National Academy of Arts out of his increasing passion for movies. “I felt unrecognized whatever I do. I didn’t get the sense of satisfaction when I studied painting, so I turned to movies and studied another three years.” Zhu Wei said sarcastically. Later, he realized that he can’t master the art of movie after shooting some small scale ones, so he devoted himself all to paintings again. We could see the idealism and boldness of that generation through reviewing this period.
That experience, however, enabled Zhu Wei to view painting from a different angle and even deduce the principles of painting from movies, which is his greatest gains. Meanwhile, he never quit painting during his study of movies and gradually found the advantage of ink painting—the quality can be judged all by himself. Unlike oil painting or installation, whose qualities require the judgement from foreign critics and curators. Ink painting is completely Chinese stuff. “Who needs foreigners to teach Chinese to play Ping-pong?”
Not a Single Day at Office
In critics’ words, Zhu Wei is the first artist who introduced fine brush techniques into contemporary Chinese art category. Also, he is one of the first group of artists who won recognition of the international art circles and represented by commercial art galleries.
Upon graduation from Beijing Film Academy in 1993, he signed contracts with an art gallery, becoming a professional artist without a single day going to an office. Zhu Wei told us that he met the boss of Plum Blossom, a Hong-Kong based art gallery at his solo exhibition, and the boss bought all his works and brought them to exhibit abroad. Unexpectedly, his works were sold out all together and two collectors even almost went into a fight since they both favored the same piece of work. Their quarrel finally settled after the art gallery promised them that Zhu Wei will create more works and the art gallery will continue to cooperate with him. So Zhu Wei was immediately found in Beijing and asked to sign contracts with the gallery.
Since then, Zhu Wei lived a stable life. “My salary was assured since that very year”, he said. He recalled that the art gallery paid him dollars and he got them exchanged every three months. The exchange rate used to be 1:14 and later 1:12. “It felt different when I earned dollars”. His cooperation with Plum Blossom lasted a long time until 2005, for him, “It’s similar to state-run companies. You state your annual plans, finish your paintings and earn salary. You can freely paint whatever you like.” Back then, however, the communication technology was backward, they can only communicate with the art gallery through fax without a computer. That’s what their real situations were though it seems troublesome now.
An “Out-of-Office” Artist
For today’s contemporary Chinese art—be it oil painting, installation, sculptor or behavior, including “F4”, 90% of the great artists are “out-of-office”—neither at school nor art academy. But surprisingly to Zhu Wei, these renowned contemporary ink painting artists of his age almost all work at school or art academy. He is an exception, never joining any association or group.
In Zhu Wei’s perspective, contemporary ink painting needs to survive in the first place since China didn’t prove to be a good market. He stressed more about independence though his contracts with art gallery guaranteed him a cozy life. “Art needs to be independent so as to in turn lead to free will and creation.” He never admired those government subsidized artists and all he’s been trying to keep is his independence. Artists used to survive with government support, but now with market economy booming since the reform and opening up, they can totally survive with their works. Fortunately, Zhu Wei was born in this age. Every thing or every encounter in his every day life was to prove the independence of artists—be yourself no matter what others may say in both life and creation, which is also one of the most precious gifts given by the age of the1980s.
This Ink Painter is also a Rock Music Fan
Traditional ink painting and modern rock music mixed well in Zhu Wei’s life. Speaking of the 1980s and rock music, we can’t miss Cui Jian. In fact, in his early works, there were pentagram, red flag, army hat and even lyrics from Cui Jian’s songs. It’s rather a common memory and cry out of social transformation and thought liberalization than a coincidence. This later led to their cooperation.
In 1995, the painting album of his exhibition held abroad spread home and Zhu Wei’s girlfriend happened to see it. And then Cui Jian began to look for Mr. Zhu to design his band logo. However, without phones back then, Cui Jian didn’t find him after half a year’s searching and even doubted whether he is in Beijing or not until one day they met at a famous rock music spot at Sanlitun. During their conversation, Cui Jian told Zhu Wei that his paintings have a taste of rock music which makes him relieved and unexpectedly happy because he’s always worried about his ink painting not being “contemporary”. They became friends since then and later Zhu Wei designed a huge act-drop for Cui Jian and it accompanied his many tour shows.
Now, Zhu Wei has plenty of opportunities to go abroad and thus has more opportunities to watch shows of famous foreign bands besides collecting records. He watched shows by Coldplay and the “Eagle” band not long ago and we could still sense his excitement. The “creasiest” thing for him was to fly to Shanghai to attend Rolling Stone’s show, deserting the opening ceremony of his solo exhibition in 2006. It’s this kind of craziness and obsession that made ink painting and rock music blend so well in him.
Ink Painting’s New Era
There’s almost no room left to develop ink painting’s techniques, Zhu Wei once said. It’s about 2,700 or 2,800 years old and just like an adult, for whom whatever should be done was done. It may put ink and wash painters in a passive position, but Zhu Wei considers that ink painting will weigh greater than oil painting over another decades or 100 years if you get focused on it. Because it enjoys thousands of years of history, while oil painting has only gone through 700 years and it wasn’t introduced to China until the recent over 100 years. Today, oil painting receives wider attention since westerners’ art theories are about opera, movie, drama, classic ballad and oil painting, but totally left Chinese oil painting neglected, meanwhile we don’t have theory researchers specifically on contemporary ink painting, so Chinese ink painting has no room for development in both technique and theory. As an old saying goes—rescued from desperation, it will outperform contemporary art with little novelty, since it is born domestically.
The development of ink painting, however, must root in a strong culture. Zhu Wei still vividly remembers his first exhibition held abroad during which he was asked to write an article about his creations, from classical music to rock music, Zhu Wei wrote a lot and summarized his essay saying to spread Chinese culture while that was the only sentence deleted. He came to his senses later: why would they help you promote Chinese ink painting? They came to earn money. They will cherish your culture only when you get strong enough. When Mac Donald first came to China, some young couple went there to get married. That’s the same thing about culture, Zhu Wei recalled. Ink painting will strengthen its position when general public do not admire western culture that much and our country gets more stable because we are the ones to set standards.
《艺术财经》杂志二零一三年四月刊人物专访
朱伟：民间新水墨画家
撰文/王晓孟 摄影/上上
导语：他是中国最早一批探索当代水墨的艺术家，也是新中国第一批签约国际画廊的艺术家；年轻时他曾辗转于三所不同类型的艺术学院，只为他所热爱的电影；他的水墨脱胎于中国传统，但这并不能阻止他对摇滚乐的情有独钟；如今，他几乎是从事水墨创作的唯一一个“在野”艺术家。凡此种种虽然看似矛盾，但朱伟自始至终都在选择做一个独立的人。
成长于八十年代
1966年，朱伟出生于北京，父母都是军人，因此他也是典型的在北京大院和胡同中长大的一代人。这样的背景很容易让人联想到王朔或者崔健，他们在“文革”中成长，直面改革开放的激变，并且在社会变革和思潮涌动的1980年代集体“发声”，创造了属于他们那个年代的独有的“传奇”。对于过往的经历，朱伟并没有多谈，但是对于“激情燃烧” 的1980年代，他却感慨良多。在朱伟看来，1980年代是一个大师辈出的年代，无论是诗歌、电影、音乐还是美术，乃至是地产，各个行业都涌现出一批特有的人才。而且这不仅限于中国，西方也是如此，就拿朱伟最大的爱好之一摇滚乐来说，1980年代也是国外大牌乐队集体涌现的年代。正是这一批人，他们构成了此后各个行业的中坚力量。
在那个思想解放的年代，对“人”本身的思辨是大家关注的核心问题。朱伟举例说，那时候一桌吃饭，但凡一个称自己跟文化沾边的人，只要不聊尼采，不聊萨特和波伏娃，那一晚上连饭都吃不好，“就跟现在聊钱似的，一聊就滔滔不绝地全进去了。”这样的环境给了人们出头或者说自我表达的机会，他们从形塑自我开始，一步步实现自我，最终完成了自我的独立。如果说1980年代给中国留下了众多财富，或许最大的一笔便是人的觉醒。
从水墨到电影
对于自己选择学习水墨，朱伟最初还有几分被逼无奈。最主要的是家人不支持，觉得他没有那个细胞，而朱伟非得要干这个，可是油画又太贵，所以只能捡便宜的水墨画来学，他补充说，“其实那时候师范要是招生我就上师范了，他们全免费。”
从解放军艺术学院毕业之后，朱伟转投北京电影学院学习电影美术。不过，用他的话说，“我一天电影美术也没干，那时候还是画我的水墨。”但即便如此，朱伟对电影的热爱却越发不可阻挡，于是再次进入中国艺术研究院学习电影学。朱伟有些自嘲地说，“我就是属于干什么都觉得怀才不遇，那时候觉得画画不解气，想要拍电影，就学了三年。”虽然后来他也拍了一两部小规模的电影，但还是觉得自己难以驾驭，最后还是全身心地回到绘画上来。而我们回顾这段历史，也能看出1980年成长的那批人所独有的理想主义和敢作敢为。
不过，电影虽然没拍成，但是这段经历却给了朱伟一个看待绘画的不同角度，乃至从电影中推论出绘画的原理，这是他最大的收获。与此同时，朱伟在学习电影的同时也从未间断过绘画的创作，并且逐渐发现水墨画的优势，即它的好坏能由自己判断。这不像油画或者装置，好与坏需要国外的批评家和策展人来评判，而水墨画就不一样了，外国人说了不算，“谁能来教中国人打乒乓球呢？”
没上过一天班
用评论家的话说，朱伟是第一位将工笔画手法引进中国当代艺术领域的艺术家，他以水墨表现当代中国政治生活的可能，这种传统语言与当代政治生活图景之间的反差，使他成为了最早一批得到国际艺术界认可的中国当代艺术家，同时也是最早签约商业画廊的中国艺术家之一。
与画廊签约是1993年，朱伟刚从电影学院毕业，等于一天班也没上过，直接就成了职业艺术家。朱伟说，那时候他做个展，正好遇见香港画廊万玉堂的老板，一口气把他的几十件作品全买了下来，并且带到国外去做展览。本来国外的展览只是想试试朱伟作品的接受程度，没想到全卖了出去，而且在展览中有两位藏家对其中一件作品不互相让，险些动起手来，最终画廊出面，说艺术家还会继续创作，画廊还会与他继续合作，才平息了纷争。而展览结束之后，画廊马上到北京找到朱伟，与他签署了合同。
签约之后，朱伟的生活也有了保障，用他的话说，“当年就旱涝保收了”。他记得那时候画廊给的都是美元，每两三个月都去换一回外汇，开始的时候是1：14，后来是1：12，“那时候手里有外汇的，天天换钱花，那感觉不一样。”而朱伟与万玉堂的合作一直持续到2005年，在他看来，“感觉跟国营单位差不多，到点发工资，每年交画，今年说明年的计划，题材他们不管，我爱画什么画什么，无忧无虑。”不过，那时候最大的问题是通讯不发达，也没有电脑，与画廊交流作品只能通过邮局传真，虽然今天看起来麻烦，但也能反映出当时艺术家的真实处境。
“在野”艺术家
对于中国当代艺术来说，无论是油画、装置、雕塑还是行为，包括“F4”在内，这些有所成就的艺术家90%都是“在野”的——既不在学校，也不在画院。但是让朱伟感到的奇怪的是，如今这些名声在外的当代水墨艺术家，年龄都跟他差不多，但是除了他之外，几乎都在学院或者画院任职，只有他从来没参加过任何协会和团体。
在朱伟看来，首要的问题是画当代水墨无法生存，因为中国没有给它市场。或许早年签约画廊给了朱伟生活的保障，但他更为看重自我的独立。对于那些体制内的艺术家，朱伟自己到现在也没有羡慕过人家，“我觉得艺术首先要生存独立，然后意志才能独立，最终创作也会独立”，而他多年来一直在努力的，就是保持个人的独立。以前艺术家没体制活不了，现在改革开放有了市场经济，艺术家靠作品能生存了，因此朱伟很幸运能赶上这个时代，而他每一天、每件事或者说每一个遭遇，其实都是为了证明艺术家的独立性。无论是生活还是创作，保持自我、不看别人脸色，这也是1980年代给予朱伟的最宝贵的礼物之一。
水墨艺术家也摇滚
水墨画和摇滚乐，一个传统，一个现代，但就是这两种看似毫不相干的艺术却在朱伟身上找到了共鸣。而提起1980年代和摇滚乐，就不能不提崔健，事实上，在朱伟的早期作品当中，就曾反复出现过五角星、红旗、军帽等图像，甚至某些作品上还题有崔健的歌词。与其说这是一种不谋而合，不如说这是那个年代赋予他们的一种集体记忆，并借由社会变革和思想解放发出的相似的呐喊。也正是这种不谋而合，后来还促成了朱伟与崔健的合作。
那是1995年，朱伟已经在国外做过展览，出的画册流传到国内，正好被崔健的女朋友看到，就告诉了崔健。于是他就开始找朱伟，想让他给乐队设计队标，但是那时候没有电话，崔健找了半年也没找到他，甚至怀疑他是否在北京。直到有一天，二人在三里屯一个著名的摇滚据点相遇，一来二去便聊了起来。崔健告诉朱伟，说他的作品有摇滚乐的味道，这让朱伟感到有些意外。因为他画的是水墨画，就担心不“当代”，结果受到搞摇滚乐的人的肯定，这让他非常高兴。二人就此成为朋友，后来朱伟如约为崔健设计了一个巨大的天幕，这件作品也陪伴崔健进行了多次的巡演。
如今，朱伟出国的机会多了，除了收藏唱片，他也有了更多的机会观看外国大牌乐队的演出。就在前不久，他刚刚在波士顿看过Coldplay和“老鹰”乐队的表演，言谈中仍难掩兴奋。不过，要说朱伟为摇滚干过最“疯狂”的事，当属2006年“滚石”乐队来上海演出那一次。那天正赶上朱伟的个展开幕，但是他不惜弃展览于不顾，直飞上海，只为观看这支传奇乐队的表演。或许正是这种疯狂与执着，在朱伟身上打通了水墨艺术与摇滚乐之间的隔阂。
水墨新时代
朱伟曾经说过，中国水墨画的表现技法，基本没有为后人预留发展的空间。水墨画有两千七八百年的历史，这就像一个成年人，该做的事基本都做绝了。这种情况对于从事水墨创作的人虽然有些被动，但是朱伟认为，只要自己闷住气，画你该画的，再过几十年或者100年之后，这些水墨画会远比油画要有分量，因为它会跟中国几千年水墨画的历史结合到一起。与之相比，油画有700年的历史，进入中国大概100多年，还属于新生事物。之所以今天油画和当代水墨二者之间的境遇大不相同，只是油画有西方人的肯定，他们的艺术理论针对歌剧、电影、话剧、古典芭蕾、舞蹈、油画等等，但根本没有考虑中国水墨画的概念，而中国也没有专门研究当代水墨画的理论家，因而从技法到理论，中国水墨画基本没给后人留后路。但正所谓绝处逢生，因为没有后路，只要有一点点新鲜劲儿，它的力量就会超过当代艺术，因为它是从本土萌发的。
不过，水墨画的发展还得得益于文化的强大，朱伟仍然清晰记得第一次在国外举办展览时的情景。当时要求艺术家写一篇创作感言，从古典音乐到摇滚乐，朱伟写了很多，最后一句是说要弘扬中国文化，但唯独这一句被砍掉了。后来他想明白了，人家外国人凭什么帮你弘扬中国水墨画啊，人家是来挣钱的，只有自己的文化提升了，别人才会真正买账。朱伟回忆说，当年麦当劳刚进中国的时候，有些年轻人觉得时髦，跑去那里结婚，这跟文化一个道理，什么时候老百姓对西方不那么崇拜了，国家再稳定一点，那就真是水墨画说了算的时候了，因为标准是咱们自己制定的。 |
