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Singapore Lianhe Zaobao January 29 2013
Chinese painter Zhu Wei: Thoughts Behind Red Curtains
Reporter: Wu Qiji
Cover designer: Li Liqun
Photographer: Li Baijuan
Painting pictures are provided by MOCA Contemporary Art Museum
Zhu Wei, born in the 1960s, is viewed as a contemporary Chinese painter who first introduced Gong-bi (meticulous) ink painting techniques into contemporary art field. His works demonstrated oriental concepts and skills to the world. He explored to exhibit Chinese political life with ink painting while many new prominent artists are making “Political Pop” and “Sarcastic Realism” with oil painting. Zhu Wei’s works have special attractions for the huge difference between traditional language and contemporary political life.
It’s hard to be an artist in China. First and foremost, he needs to think on his own. In this atmosphere, Zhu Wei came to our notice. He represents middle-aged painters who explored new ways both in practice and theory.
More and more people introduce Zhu Wei as the first contemporary Chinese painter who first introduced Gong-bi ink painting techniques into contemporary art field. Amid the integration of both Chinese and western arts as well as ancient and contemporary arts, Zhu Wei attempted to showcase Chinese subjects with traditional Gong-bi ink painting while a large number of people are making “Political Pop” and “Sarcastic Realism” with oil painting.
Zhu achieved impressive results in demonstrating contemporary Chinese political, social and cultural life with ancient ink painting. Upon his arrival in Singapore to have his solo exhibition, the journalist had an interview with him, meanwhile read his new book Following Time, covering his ideas on art, life, society and politics.
“Artists must have independent characters, and they ought to have their own perspective and view about certain people and things, which is rare in Chinese writers. What is worse, writers and artists nowadays are busy making a fortune, while the ancient literati didn’t purse such an affluent state, so they relatively had independent thoughts. In the contemporary era, Yu Hua is one of the good writers. Recently I have been asking myself: why paint? Why choose it as my life-long pursuit and goal? What problems can paintings solve? What truth is art to reveal? What happened to the paintings in the recent decade?” Zhu Wei said.
In his opinion, our ancestors left little space for us to develop. Zhu Wei basically appraised the art achievement made in ancient Chinese art, but he somehow complained about modern Chinese art and further pointed out the existing problems in Chinese contemporary literature and the Nobel Prize for Literature.
“I employed Chinese material and painting techniques, but different composition. I didn’t think there is something worth worshiping in Chinese art 20 years ago, while now I’ve come to it. Actually, I don’t have to develop any new technique, since the old ones can fully suffice my needs. The technique employed in Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival was the most advanced. Or it can be said that our ancestors left little space for us to develop. I used the ancient approach described as ‘clothes described by Cao Buxing looks like coming out from water’ and ‘belt under Wu Taotzu’s brush strokes looks like being in the wind’ when I drew the curtain for modern stages.” Zhu Wei, enthusiastic about imperial Gong-bi ink painting, said when talking about ancient era.
“From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, China has been learning from the west. That’s why we have few local arts. China can be said to be a test ground of western culture. Take the social system for example: China didn’t create socialism or capitalism. Our five-thousand year history only went through feudalism and slavery system. What’s more, Chinese literature also lacks general value, while western values can be popularized widely. We have been acting as docile students, waiting for the westerners to say: ‘your imitation is good’. That’s all. “He criticized the ill of Chinese culture.
Design Act-drop for Cui Jian
According to critics, Zhu Wei’s works have their distance from traditional Gong-bi ink painting, but remained their basic features in color, outline, dyeing and technique. The contrast between traditional language and contemporary political life added more attraction to his works.
It may be hard to understand that Zhu Wei is also crazy about rock music. He not only designed performance stage for Cui Jian, a rock music singer, when he made his tour show in America and Japan, but also the band logo.
It was back in the autumn of 1995, “Cui Jian is looking for you! He heard of your story, and your rock-music-related paintings.” some told Zhu Wei one day. “Could you design an act-drop for us to also use as a band logo.” Cui Jian requested after their meeting. Zhu Wei readily agreed. Leading a group of college students, he made a huge act-drop with a length of 19 meters in over half a month. Later, Cui Jian brought it wherever he had shows across the globe.
At a visual art exhibition “50 Year Review of World Rock Music” held by Museo di Roma (Museum of Rome), some saw that act-drop and wanted to collect it. Zhu Wei immediately called Cui Jian, but unfortunately, it was lost. It’s said the offer could buy each of them a Japanese sport utility vehicle.
“Many are confused about how could a painter of ancient Chinese painting get involved with popular rock music? I guess it’s because rock music is intense, even various contemporary western arts have been influenced by it, and only rock music can beat such an ancient art like Chinese art.” Zhu Wei said.
Exhibiting 12 Huge Works
Some people say that Zhu Wei had been used to drawing behind red curtains for fearing light. Suffering Presbyopia, his annual works have decreased from 20 to 30 pieces to four or five pieces. The 12 huge works demonstrated at Singapore took him almost seven years, covering “Class Texts of Ink Painting Study”, “Landscape across the River” and “Figure Study” series.
Born in Beijing in 1966, Zhu Wei studied at Art College of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing Film Academy and Chinese National Academy of Arts successively. Since 1993, he began to participate in international exhibitions and has held over 20 solo exhibitions; what’s more, he also published individual painting albums and retro respecting albums of seven versions. His works are widely collected by over 20 art museums and museums at home and abroad.
What are the features of Zhu Wei’s works when Chinese art has come to his era without so many constrains on politics and social ideology and taboo of expression?
“A while ago, art was mainly on criticizing problems. A majority of the painters born in the 1950s are still followers of the American Pop Art. Our generation has come back to seeking tradition. What I’m doing now is to express modern subjects with western composition, which is difficult. We used to paint pavilions, now we have none, there are only high buildings which the lines and techniques of Chinese painting are hard to portray. I feel helpless and inferior sometimes when confronting oil paintings.” Zhu Wei said.
新加坡《联合早报》二零一三年一月二十九日刊
中国画家朱伟 躲在红色窗子后思考
吴启基／报道 李利群／封面设计 李白娟／摄影 画作图片由新加坡MOCA当代艺术馆提供
60年代出生的朱伟，被认为是第一位将工笔画手法引进中国当代艺术领域的画家。他的绘画让世界看到来源于东方绘画的当代趣味、观念和功力。当许多中 国新锐艺术家用油画来做“政治波普”和“讽刺现实主义”，他探索以水墨表现当代中国政治生活的可能，传统语言与当代政治生活图景之间的反差， 使作品获得特殊的吸引力。
在中国当艺术家真的不容易！首先的要求，他必须是个懂得思考、敢于思考的个体，也是在这样的环境中，造就了像朱伟（47岁）这样的中生代画家。他们开拓的新方向、新思维，不但是创作的道路，还是理论上的桥梁。
越来越多人在提到朱伟时，认为他是第一位将工笔画手法引进中国当代艺术领域的艺术家。在中西古今美术的交流大潮中，他异军突起，当大家一窝蜂用西方油画大做“政治波普”和“讽刺现实主义”作品时，他关起门来摸黑思考，探索传统的工笔画表现当代中国题材的可能性。
尤其他从古老的水墨切入，意图表现当代中国的政治社会文化等层面的生活，取得了骄人的成就。在他抵新举行个展之际，记者和他做了一次访谈，同时拜读他新出炉的著作《走在时间的后头》，书中收入画家对艺术、人生、社会和政治的看法。
朱伟说：“艺术家一定要有独立的人格，对人对事，要有自己的见解和看法，这在中国作家中，比较少见。最糟糕的是，作家艺术家忙着找生活，古代的文人就没这个问题，相对有了独立的思考，当代来说，作家余华是好作家之一。最近一段时间，我一直都在问自己：为什么要画画，为什么要选择这么一件事，作为自己一生的追求和目标？画画要解决什么问题？艺术又要揭示什么原理？我们身边的绘画，近十年来又发生了什么变化？”
老祖宗没为我们预留什么发展空间思考之后，他对中国的古代、现代及当代艺术发展和情况，发表了自己的见地。基本上他肯定了中国古代的艺术成就，却对中国的当代作品颇有微词，甚至还谈到诺贝尔文学奖和中国当代文学所存在的问题。
在言及古代时，非常崇拜院体工笔画的朱伟说：“我采用的是中国的材料和画法，只是构图上和古代不同。在20年前，我并不认为中国艺术会有什么值得我信服的东西，如今终于看清楚真相。其实，我根本无须去开发什么新的表现技法，古代的那些不同技法，我一生也用不完，像《清明上河图》的画法，在当时是最现代的。也可以说，老祖宗的成就，没有为我们预留什么发展的空间。我在画现代舞台的布帏时，用的就是中国古代‘曹衣带水’‘吴带当风’的手法。”
他也痛陈中国文化的大病，他说：“至今中国还没产生什么本土的东西，全部是拿别人的。从清末到民国，中国人对西方的学习，也一直没有停止过。中国可说是西方文化的试验场。以社会制度为例，社会主义和资本主义并不是中国创造出来的，我们五千年的历史，只遗留下了封建主义和奴隶制度。中国的文学，也缺乏普世的价值，西方的价值可以广泛普及，我们做不到，我们一直在做听话的学生，在等西方人说：‘你们学得很像’，如此而已。”
为崔健设计舞台幕布
评论说，朱伟的作品，已经与传统的工笔水墨画拉开了距离，但在设色、勾勒、晕染等技术层面上，仍然保持基本的特征。因此，他作品的传统语言，与当代政治生活图景之间的反差，增加了作品的吸引力。
很难理解，朱伟还对中国的摇滚乐有很浓的兴趣，也为摇滚乐手崔健到美国、日本的巡回演唱设计舞台，连崔健乐队的标志，也出自他手。
抚今思昔，那是1995年秋天，有人告诉朱伟：“崔健找你！他听说有这样一个画家，作品和摇滚乐有关。”崔健与朱伟见了面，说“你给我们的舞台美术设计一块幕布，我们一直要用，并作为乐队的标志。”朱伟满口答应，他和一帮美院的学生，以半个多月时间做出了一款19米的巨大天幕。此后，崔健去世界各地演出，都带着这块幕布。
幕布还有后话，罗马美术馆举行视觉艺术展览“世界摇滚乐50年的回顾”，有人要收藏那张幕布。朱伟立刻给崔健打电话。可惜幕布弄丢了。据说这幕布的价格，可给两人各买一辆日本越野车。
朱伟说：“很多人感觉奇怪，一个搞古代中国画的画家，怎么会和流行的摇滚乐捆绑在一起？原因是，摇滚乐非常强烈，连当代西方的许多艺术，都受过它的冲击，中国的艺术那么古老，也只有摇滚乐能够打败它。”
展出12幅大型作品
有人写，由于怕光，一度朱伟习惯躲在密实的红色窗子后面作画，周围乌漆麻黑，与世隔绝，经常一画忘我。他有老花眼毛病，以前每年可完成作品20至30幅，现已减为四五幅。这次他在新加坡展出的12幅大型作品，大多在近七年中完成。分成“水墨研究课徒”“隔江山色”“人物研究” 系列。
朱伟1966年生于北京，先后就学于解放军艺术学院、北京电影学院、中国艺术研究院。他自1993年起开始参加国际大型展览，也在世界各地举行过20多次个展，还出版过七种不同版本的个人绘画专集和回顾专集。他的作品广被国内外20余家美术馆、博物馆收藏。
中国艺术来到朱伟的时代，政治与社会的意识形态的禁忌已经大多解除，没有了表现和表达的禁忌，他的创作又有什么主要特色？
他说：“前些时候，艺术还停留在对很多问题的批判上，50年代出生的一批画家，很多还是美国波普艺术的跟随者。到了我们的一代，开始向传统回归，我在做的，是以西方的构图来表现当代题材，这很难，难在以前的中国画画的是小亭子，现在没有小亭子，只有高楼，中国画的线条和表现手法，无法胜任。在面对油画时，有时我也感到无力和自卑。”
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