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VOGUE Chinese version
November 2013
Zhu Wei—a Loyal Supporter of Ink and Wash Paintings
Photo: Li Xiao |
Article: Yang Jun |
Editor: Charlotte Hong
Contemporary Chinese art has thrived and boomed in the past three decades. There are so many stories to be told and Zhu Wei is definitely one of the most outstanding figurers among them. As the first artist who introduced Gong-bi that was born thousands of years ago into contemporary art, Zhu has been acting as a living fossil of contemporary ink and wash paintings. In all these years, Zhu has devoted himself to ink and wash, though few people were in this field, Zhu sticks to his passion and is becoming more relaxed and splendid.
Zhu Wei’s solo exhibition had its opening at Today Art Museum. Before the exhibition, I saw him at his studio. Just coming back after an overseas vocation, Zhu looked comfortable with tanned skin and a T-shirt. He showed his energy and passion during our talk, just like a man in his prime years. Zhu is a humorous artist. He could always explain complicated painting or living concepts with simple metaphors. As a Beijinger, you can hear all those enlivening Beijing dialects and slangs, from his criticism and sarcasms we know that Zhu has not changed. Maybe, he never did. It’s the times that underwent turbulent transformations.
2013, for Zhu Wei, is a brand new year. After many years of preparation, since the beginning of this year, Zhu started to prepare his serial exhibitions at MOCA, Singapore，Indonesian National Museum and the Today Art Museum. A dozen of his new works that took him seven years were displayed at these exhibitions. We saw his fresh personal experiences and improved techniques. Art Museum of Nanjing Art College, headed by Li Xiaoshan, a well-known figure in ink and wash painting as well as a renowned art critic, will hold Zhu’s solo exhibition at the end of next year after successfully holding Francis Bacon’s first exhibition in China.
In most people’s impressions, Chinese ink and wash painting focuses more on emotions and they are outdated aesthetics, but Zhu Wei is more ambitious than that. He made ink and wash more accessible and culture-intensive. Simply by borrowing traditional Chinese paintings’ graphs and symbols, Zhu’s pictures kept a strong interaction with people’s living states, environment and social changes. Zhu has repeatedly said that “undoubtedly, there are limits and rules about ink and wash painting, but artists can’t be held back by them, they must keep fresh emotions. To view my painting, you need to feel my pulse and heart beat during my creation. Playing with elements and symbols are far from enough. Good works are those convey potential message to viewers and captivate them.”
Art pioneer holing a traditional banner
In 1996, Zhu was born into a soldier family and grew up listening to revolution songs. Later, he spent over ten years as a soldier. For that reason, Zhu frequently used soldier and great man as the main visual symbols, and images like five-pointed star, red flag and military cap also recurred in his works. During Zhu’s study at Art College of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, he couldn’t afford pigments for oil painting and gouache, so he finished his sketch, color painting and figure painting with Xuan paper that costs several Jiao (one tenth of 1 RMB). However, since then, Zhu had been practicing Chinese characters with writing brushes, multiple rendering on felts and thinking about Shi Tao, Zhu Da and Huang Gongwang as his spiritual companies every day.
Whatever Zhu paints, they are related with ink wash paintings. It may sound pathetic, but it also made Zhu focused and started to experiment all kinds of possibilities since graduation, wondering how to go with the times. Back then, the aggressive artists in China were in “political pop” and “cynical realism” cultural movements. In contrast, Zhu displayed China’s social reality with traditional Gong-bi. He was young, courageous, and knowledgeable and had lot to express. “I wanted to talk about everything, though my language was weak, but I had passions.” Now, Zhu is much more mature in aesthetics style, but he still retains radical thoughts in his youth. He even put rock music lyrics on his paintings. Tradition and vanguard constituted a splendid memory for him. The appreciation of the west towards him was not only due to curiosity about alien culture, but also because of his originality—Zhu refuses to duplicate anyone. “As a visual approach, paintings are understandable internationally. Foreigners can also understand ink wash paintings. They do not require translation. Anyone can appreciate them as art. What matters is the already existing stuff. Local concepts can also go global.”
Zhu has always had strong confidence in China’s culture, which gained him attention in as early as the 1990s. In 1993, Zhu met the boss of Hong Kong-based Plum Blossoms gallery at his solo exhibition. His several dozen works were all at once bought up by the boss and took to exhibit abroad. Since they received unexpected popularity, the Plum Blossoms gallery signed contract with Zhu. That’s when Zhu just graduated from college, so he never went to work for one day and became a professional artist right after graduation. From 26 to 41, Zhu led a comfortable life with fixed annual income until he fulfilled contract in 2005. That’s a happy creating period in his life, painting as he wants.
Art Requires Independence
Contemporary ink and wash artists who are nearly of the same age with Zhu almost all took positions in colleges, painting academies or institutions. Zhu is an exception. He never attached to anyone nor followed anyone blindly. For him, independent living states are necessary to guarantee independent creations. “I completely bet my survival on my works. Art creation is not like hunting wolves in the mountain. Teamwork is not that crucial.”
Because Zhu is so independent and has his unique style, for a dozen years, critics, artists, curators, art galleries and museums have no clue of how to judge and define him, since it’s so hard to put a label on him or classify him into one category. Zhu still enjoyed himself for all these years in the art community. He studied for a few years at Beijing Film Academy, though he did not do film arts for one day, he shot MV for his favorite rock music band “Miserable Faith” and designed a giant backdrop for his friend Cui Jian, which was enjoyable for him. Zhu does not only like rock music, but also plays Guitar pretty well. He carved wood prints, made sculptures in factory, wrote column for art magazines and designed official posts for music festivals. These changes are all evolved from ink wash paintings. They may seem mixed but actually simple.
After 2005, oil painting started to dominate the center of discourse power in contemporary Chinese art, and enjoyed a booming period in both collection and market capital operation. But ink and wash paintings started to go through a dark period. There is one thing against which Zhu still holds a grudge: someone invited him to exhibit in 798 Art Zone. Zhu was so happy that he especially created several new paintings, but shortly before the opening, the host told Zhu his works were not suitable to be exhibited. “They were just afraid of looking not contemporary enough, not fashionable enough.” Zhu was upset about it and felt hurt. Thanks to the special environment of contemporary Chinese art, Zhu’s original ink and wash paintings were regarded hard to sell and gained little recognition. Some years later, Zhu honestly confessed to the media that he thought of turning to oil painting during a hard time, but he quitted that idea at the last moment. “It’s hard for me to do that. Everyone can see me as an undetermined person and do whatever is popular. I’m ashamed of being someone like that. Art despises fickleness and speculation. I’m nothing like that.” This episode taught Zhu a lesson. Since then, he devoted all his heart and soul into ink and wash paintings with Rice paper, writing brush and Chinese painting pigments and created with Mogu (boneless) Gong-bi techniques. “Art creation is not cooking when oil is hot you put all the ingredients in. art requires sediments. It’s meaningless to ignore the value of art but only pay attention to auction deals.”
Zhu’s large ink and wash painting adopted from The Picture of Five Cattle by Han Huang in Tang Dynasty hangs at the New York Stock Exchange. Maybe due to the good meanings of this picture, the devastated Americans survived the recent financial crisis and contemporary Chinese art is also booming. In recent years, major auction houses are doing ink and wash business. Though things have improved a lot in ink and wash markets, Zhu is not so thrilled. He has kept vigilance about capital speculation. He even believes that we should wait longer. Because in his view, ink and wash paintings stress technique accumulation, which require long term practice. “artists should behave like scientists—improve existing things, explore new things, develop after inheritance and make further steps on the basis of comprehensive inheritance.” Zhu said in his age, his creations are more quite, understandings are more mature. Though his concepts may not undergo revolutionary changes, but it’s the time to make improvements or breakthroughs in techniques. After changes in personal aesthetics, Zhu’s paintings are more simple and conceptual. Time really flies. Thirty years have passed. You are welcome to view Zhu’s three-decade transformations at Today Art Museum.
《VOGUE服饰与美容》二零一三年十一月刊
朱伟——永恒水墨心
摄影：李潇 ｜ 撰文：杨君 ｜ 编辑：红伶 Charlotte Hong
近三十年的中国当代艺术发展轰轰烈烈、盛况空前，其中有太多的故事要讲，在诸多群像里，缺了朱伟，是欠缺说服力的。朱伟是第一个把具有几千年历史的工笔画引进到当代艺术领域的艺术家，他作为当代水墨画的活化石，默默扛着本土艺术大旗，已然是见惯了风浪的老战士，始终坚守着自己的阵地，多年来画着掌声寥寥的水墨，却越发潇洒放松，越发精彩。
朱伟的北京个展在今日美术馆开幕，展出前，在他的工作室见到他的时候，他正是刚从海外度假归来的状态，晒成麦色的他穿着简单的T恤，格外舒服。谈笑间热情洋溢，精力无限，一副大好青春，又卷土重来的气势，和他当年的意气风发何其相似。朱伟是一位风趣、真性情的艺术家，他随时都能用最通俗的比喻来解释艰深的绘画或者生活观念，他的表达也是招牌式的京腔京韵，那些在胡同里飘扬的俚语俗词，在他的见解里恣肆迸发，并且一针见血，精准无误，顿时就能让现场生动起来，但他骨子里的那副批判、嘲讽的态度却依然未变，或许，朱伟就从未变过，剧烈变迁的只是这个时代。
2013年对朱伟而言，是全新的一年，在数年的蛰伏后，他从年初就开始忙乎自己的一系列展览：从新加坡当代美术馆、印尼国家博物馆到近期的北京今日美术馆个展，他琢磨了七年的十几张作品，在这些舞台上跃然而出，更新着我们的审美，依然是他最鲜活的个人体验，但朱伟在水墨技法上却有了更明显的精进。当代水墨风云人物、著名艺术批评家李小山执掌的南京艺术学院美术馆在成功引入弗朗西斯?培根的首次中国大展之后，也将在明年年底为朱伟举办他的大型个展。
在多数人的印象里，中国水墨画重在写意和情调，是逝去的美学，但朱伟的艺术野心从不止于此，他让水墨接了更多地气，在文化承载上更具信息量，他只是借用了中国传统绘画的图示和符号，却和人们的生存状态、环境还有社会变化保持着强烈的互动，有着明显的现实反映和折射。朱伟多次向外界表达，“水墨固然有许多条条框框、标准程式化的东西，但绝不能被束缚住手脚，观念创作上必须要有鲜活的情感，你看我的画，就得真切感受我在创作时候的脉搏和心跳，只是卖弄元素符号，那远远不够，你还要把潜在信息传达给观者，触动他，这才是好作品的特质。”
扛着传统大旗的艺术先锋
1966年，朱伟出生在北京的一个军人家庭，从小听着革命歌曲长大，成年后也度过了十余年的军旅生涯，以至于他日后的创作上，军人、伟人的形象成为他主要的视觉符号，五角星、红旗、军帽图像也反复出现。他上解放军艺术学院的时候，因为经济条件差，以至于他素描、色彩、人体都是用几毛钱的宣纸来完成，压根儿就买不起油画和水粉的颜料，不过也就从那时起，朱伟都是天天攥着毛笔练字，趴在毡子上三矾九染，脑子里转着石涛、八大山人、黄公望，和他们隔代相望，做精神上的兄弟。
一辈子甭管画什么，都离不开水墨，听起来颇有些被逼无奈的窘迫，但也让朱伟少了诸多杂念，打毕业起就在这片天地里实验起了各种可能，研究着如何和时代融合。那时候的中国新锐艺术家，正在用油画进行着“政治波普”和“玩世现实主义”的文化运动，借用西方的时髦概念，甚嚣尘上。而朱伟却在用传统的工笔水墨来表现当代中国社会现状，那时候的他，年轻气盛，有胆有识，笔下凭直觉，有满腔千言万语需要表达。“那会儿什么都想说，虽然语言弱了点儿，但很有激情”，即使现在的朱伟，在美学风格上已成熟太多，但青春时代的激进思想、风云际会，在他早期作品里是绝不缺席的，甚至，他还在某些画作的落款上干脆题起了摇滚乐歌词，传统和先锋，把那段集体记忆画得惊心动魄。其后论述西方对于朱伟的欣赏态度，绝不仅仅是异域文化和好奇心的驱使，也是因为朱伟从不以照搬的材料和观念去争取艺术界的认可，也拒绝做任何人的影子和复制者的缘故。“因为绘画作为视觉方式是通用的，水墨也并不是只有中国人才看得懂，它不需要任何翻译，任何人都可以欣赏它的艺术性，已有的才重要，本土观念也能成为国际化的可能。”
朱伟的文化信心是强烈的，这让他早在90年代就受到了关注。1993年朱伟因为一次个展的机会，结识了香港万玉堂画廊的老板，几十件作品都被他一口气买下，并拿到国外展览，没想到受欢迎的程度空前火爆。接下来的事情就顺理成章，画廊和朱伟签了合同，当时的他刚从学校毕业，一天班都没上，身份就直接过渡到了职业艺术家，从此他衣食不愁，每年拿着固定薪酬，从26岁由着性子一直画到了41岁，到2005年圆满了这份契约，度过了他人生中一段快乐的创作时光。
做艺术要独立硬气
和朱伟年龄差不多的当代水墨艺术家，几乎都在学院、画院或者体制内任职，只有他从未参加过任何协会和团体。从青春头角峥嵘起，朱伟就没有任何性质上的依附关系，既不占山头儿，也不随波逐流，对于他而言，要想保持独立创作，不受干扰，就必须要有自我独立的生存状态。“我就是完全靠作品生存的人。艺术创作真不是上山打狼，大家必须要成群结队，互相有个照应。”
就是他这副干什么都不喜欢扎堆儿的独立态度，再加上他的水墨方式又自成一派，批评家、艺术家、策展人、画廊、博物馆，十几年来都不知道该怎么评价和定义朱伟，给他贴什么样标签的讨论和分类也一直没有个结果。他在艺术界倒也乐得逍遥自在了许多年，很有闲情做些更有灵光的事情。他曾在北京电影学院学了几年，虽然一天电影美术也没干过，但能给自己喜欢的摇滚乐队“痛苦的信仰”拍拍MV，为老友崔健设计巡演舞台上的巨大天幕，过把影像的瘾，就能自我陶醉，幸福一番。朱伟不仅喜欢摇滚乐，还能弹一把不错的吉他，他还刻过木版画，到工厂去做雕塑，给艺术杂志写专栏，给音乐节设计官方海报，但无论怎样变化，他都始终坚持生活的一切都是水墨的延伸，虽然驳杂，但也最简单不过。
2005年后，油画开始成为中国当代艺术的话语中心，无论从收藏还是市场的资本运作，都一时风光无限，从那时起，当代水墨进入了比较低谷的时期。朱伟至今还耿耿于怀一件当时很不痛快的事情：798有人邀约他入展，他大为高兴，还为此特意创作了几幅新画，未曾想临到展览开幕了，主办方却告诉朱伟，他的水墨恐与主题不相宜。“他们就是担心因为有水墨画的介入，会使展览显得不够当代、时髦。”这件事儿让朱伟大为光火，艺术情感也受到了伤害。因为中国当代艺术的特殊环境，朱伟的原创水墨始终被市场认为卖相不够，而得不到足够的认可。一些年后，朱伟也坦诚地向媒体吐露，在水墨最不受待见的时候，他也动过改弦更张，转投油画阵营的念头，但在最后一刻，他还是退缩了。“如果这样做就太拧巴了，感觉一辈子都抬不起头，所有人都会骂我立场不坚定，哪儿好奔哪儿去。艺术创作这个事儿，真不能见风使舵。浮躁，投机取巧，四两拨千斤的事儿我干不来。”也正是这段小插曲，让朱伟稳了心思，也耐住了寂寞，任凭城头如何变幻大王旗，他都岿然不动，坚持使用宣纸、毛笔、中国画颜料，以没骨工笔画的方式创作，暗自琢磨着水墨可能达到的新高度，不再做任何无关痛痒的让步和改变。“艺术创作不是炒菜，油一热就得扔进去，是需要沉淀的。如果只在意拍卖行的成交额，而不理会将来是否能受到艺术史的接纳，到底能留下什么样的声望，那终归都是白忙活。”
朱伟改编自唐代画家韩滉《五牛图》的大幅水墨作品至今还挂在纽约股票交易所，也许是强烈的中国寓意，在经济危机中灰头土脸的美国人，如今挺了过来，而中国当代艺术市场也风水轮流转，近年来也轮到了水墨扬眉吐气，各大拍卖行也纷纷做起了当代水墨的专场。虽然有了巨大改变，但朱伟却也未见得为此有多激动，他始终保有清醒，觉得资本投机的味道还是有些浓厚，当代水墨的崛起还未见真章。他甚至觉得，水墨的安静期还应该再长一点，在他看来，水墨的技术提炼和技法浓缩，是非常讲求功力的，还应该多下功夫才行。“艺术家在创作的时候，应该像一个科学家一样，完善现有的，探索新的，先继承，后发展，继承好了再发展，理解透了再往下走。”朱伟说他个年龄阶段，创作越来越安静，理解也越来越成熟，虽然观念上不见得能有多少革命性的丰富和更新，但技法上正是可以得到改进或者突破的好时候，在经历了自身美学的变动后，朱伟的画风也经历了由繁至简的渐变、从写实到观念的转换，时光荏苒，这一切已是三十年，这三十年的沉淀，大家可以在今日美术馆先睹为快。 |
