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Zhu
Wei: Ink paintings, contemporary art in a different tone
Wang
Jing
Zhu Wei,
an artist who has been labeled an “old punk”, paints aspiring works such
as The Story of Beijing and China, China. Without his deep-rooted and
ever-lasting passion, it would be tricky to handle these works with his
degree of precision. These are not works that could be done by any
“well-tempered”, “stand by the rules” artist either.
When I
first met Zhu Wei in the café, I thought to myself, “The artist is just
like his paintings”. Zhu Wei, an artist who has been labeled an “old
punk”, paints aspiring works such as The Story of Beijing and China,
China. Without his deep-rooted and ever-lasting passion, it would be
tricky to handle these works with his degree of precision. These are not
works that could be done by any “well-tempered”, “stand by the rules”
artist either. After our conversation deepens and our topics expand,
Zhu Wei, behind his thick Beijing accent, is refreshing with his unique
wit and humor, making this interview an opportunity for me to elucidate
the mystification.
Back in
the 1990s, Zhu Wei was one of the earliest artists that emerged in the
then burgeoning art market. Since 1993, he has been working with Plum
Blossoms Gallery, a gallery that has branches and network in Europe,
America and Hong Kong. Their tight-knitted cooperation lasted until
2005. In those 12 years, Zhu Wei’s ink paintings attracted a lot of
attention, from overseas collectors to major art institutes,
demonstrating his works have genuine international significance. Art
critic Li Xiaoshan once commented, “ Zhu Wei’s visual documentation
contains many significant footages.” Westerners have a saying “One’s
character determines their destiny”. Frankly, many people do not know
how to handle their destiny. Zhu Wei never shows off his outstanding
achievements. In his own words, he is “merely a hard-working peasant who
lowers his head and works steadfastly.” On the business side, Zhu Wei’s
attributes lie in his close observance to business conduct and his
self-imposed restrictions. In academic terms, Zhu Wei’s works transmit
messages that richen thoughts, in his unique artistic style. His works,
in a way, are reflections of his personal experience and his
low-profile, easy-going personality.
For his
whole life, Zhu Wei has maintained a peculiar connection with Beijing’s
institutionalized culture. Both of his parents were in the military. His
childhood memories begin with the military institution. His parents
spent a lot of time on their work during the revolution period, leaving
Zhu Wei without much of a family life to enjoy. Eventually, he was sent
to his grandparents’ residence at Beijing Shougang Steel Company. When
Zhu Wei recalls this chapter of his life, behind his tone of disinterest
revealed a sense of sorrow. As a “wild” kid growing up, Zhu listens to
rock music and reads book about Existentialism. Thus, what drove him
into picking up and learning conventional Chinese ink painting? This
transformation puzzles a lot of people. From my personal observation,
Zhu Wei seems to be more fitted for the passionate Expressionist style.
However, after having heard him explain his understanding of antiquity
to me, I immediately sense his fascination for visual codes in Chinese
ink painting. He employs his skills to depict the surroundings and would
never inherit directly from his predecessors without given thoughts. He
firmly believes that we can find an early model for everything that
happens in modern world. This has become his philosophical foundation
for citing the antiquity, and this has certainly become his bridge that
connects the present and the past.
For a
very long period of time, Zhu Wei’s works from the 1990s have been
classified under the category of Chinese “Political Pop Art”. Political
implications in his works are easily circulated and duplicable and these
have become a big reason for his notoriety. However, if one takes a
closer look at his personal experience since his twenties, one would
discover the assertion of including his works from the 1990s into the
“Pop” camp is not appropriate. Right from the beginning, Zhu Wei did not
purposefully plant any visual codes in his works. Instead, he was
studying through his peasant’s eyes. The works were his direct reaction
to capturing the reality with traditional Chinese painting techniques,
not from any conceptual angle or with any aim to arouse notions of
absurdity or to have them connect with the current social affairs. Most
of his works arise from his interaction with the environment. He uses a
very “humanistic” approach to inspect a broad context of social
occurrences and the ubiquitous images of the social leaders.
The
social elites carry the responsibility of driving the society forward;
this focus is highly evident in Zhu’s paintings. The artist recognizes
the massive power that lies within Chinese block letters in both
traditional and modern China, but Zhu Wei never rigidly adheres to
traditional ink painting’s formulas and confinements. On the contrary,
he is courageous in exploring a path that nobody has ever attempted.
Zhu Wei, in his forties, maintains his poise and his keen observation of
society. He is also very interested in an extensive range of cultural
events. These interests allow his works to be sly, cryptic and the
meanings profound. The humor in his works eases his elucidation; his
humanistic approach eases the bluntness. Zhu Wei’s paintings document a
rapidly changing social standard, as well as weaknesses in human nature.
They are humorous and sarcastic at the same time… The viewers will find
it difficult to establish an overall opinion that summarizes his works.
Thus, it demonstrates that he has created images that expand to
boundless possibilities.
In
regarding the current status of Chinese ink painting, the dispute is
endless. The proposition has become such an irresolvable agony that
every member of the Chinese art circle felt the stress but nobody could
do anything to change it. The discussion is set, and Zhu Wei has been
expressing the unspeakable sorrow as a contemporary Chinese ink painter
without reservation. In his first eight years as a painter, he refused
to exhibit his works alongside works created in any other media, such as
oil paintings, and he barely participated in any group exhibition. He
recalls bitterly, “ At the beginning, I felt inferior as an ink painter,
for the reason that, in theory, ink painting lacks the rich expression
and clarity of oil painting. To tell the truth, I feel even more
inferior now, because contemporary ink painting does not have any
influence. Nobody cares about contemporary ink painting.” Truthfully,
this has long been a standing issue in the art circle, after years of
debate, there is still no fruitful conclusion to solve the problem. The
ink painters are still being judged by the time and effort they spent on
academic research and their seniority. Needless to say, Zhu Wei is
puzzled by such verdict. Art critics always doubt a thirty, forty years
old ink painters’ qualification. To be more precise, these painters are
not even under consideration in their discussion. Many people believe
that only the media and subject matters from the West qualifies as
contemporary art, their prejudices for ink painting hinder the
modernization of ink painting and forbid them from attaining the
recognitions they are due.
Discussing the difficult circumstances is inevitably dispiriting. When
putting contemporary ink painting into practice, one destined to face
the awkward dilemma. Zhu Wei is devoted to use ink painting to express
his real feelings. An art critic said this about Zhu Wei: “Zhu Wei is a
serious painter, as well as a thinker full of wit and foresight. He is
also a hard-worker who likes to put his thoughts into practice. How much
shall ink painting inherit qualities from the antiquity? And how much of
it shall be blazing off new trails? In the question of how ink painting
shall be modernized, I think Zhu Wei is a successful cultivator.” As
Zhu Wei teasingly commented, “Maybe after 30 years, maybe even longer,
the era for ink painting will eventually emerge.” From my point of view,
it is not a self-consolation joke. Until today, there are more and more
people starting to see clearer the true values of Zhu Wei.
《东方艺术·大家》 2007年12月上半月刊 总第147期
朱伟：水墨，当代艺术的另一种腔调
作者：王静
被称为“老朋克”的画家朱伟能画出《北京故事》、《中国，中国》这般灵光乍现的作品，如果没有源自血液并源源不竭的激情，是难以应付得如此到位贴切的，也绝非“老实巴交”“循规蹈矩”的画家所能为。
在咖啡厅见到画家朱伟的时候，我第一个反应是“画如其人”，我猜想，被称为“老朋克”的画家朱伟能画出《北京故事》、《中国，中国》这般灵光乍现的作品，如果没有源自血液并源源不竭的激情，是难以应付得如此到位贴切的，也绝非“老实巴交”“循规蹈矩”的画家所能为。随着我们这次访谈的深入和话题的展开，朱伟京腔十足的言语间，时不时地散发出机智幽默的感染力，对朱伟的采访恰好成为我解惑的过程。
朱伟是90年代初最早一批进入正规商业运作的艺术家，他从1993年，便开始了与分支机构遍布欧洲、美国和香港的万玉堂画廊的合作，并且这一紧密的合作一直持续到2005年。在这十余年的过程中，朱伟以水墨为创作媒材的作品得到了海外藏家和艺术机构的极大关注，显示了他作品的国际化意义。评论家李小山曾坦言“朱伟的资料里有不少足以骄人的记载”，西方人喜欢说性格即命运，其实很多人并不知道该如何对待命运。朱伟从来不炫耀他的业绩，用他自己的话说，只像一个勤劳的农民，踏踏实实地埋头劳作。在商业链条中，朱伟对规则的严守以及对自我的约束是难得的。而在学术环节中，朱伟作品中传递出的丰富思考和独特的艺术风格，也与他的个人经历和低调从容的个性有关。
朱伟的生命脱不开大院文化，父母皆为军人，朱伟的童年记忆是从军队大院开始的，然而革命年代父母的忙碌，使得朱伟并没有过多的享受家庭生活的美好，于是他被送到首钢大院里的祖父母家，朱伟在回忆起这些时，调侃的言语背后流露出些许的伤感。从小“野”惯了的朱伟，听前卫摇滚，看“存在主义”，为何又老老实实捡起了水墨画，这多少有些让人费解，从直观上看来，朱伟似乎更适合富于激情的表现主义。当听到朱伟表述他对传统的理解时，我才真正明白他对水墨语言的热衷，来自身处其境的运用，而非顶礼膜拜式的继承。他坚定地认为今天发生的一切，都可以在传统中找到原型，这成为他援引古典的思想基础，而这也的确是历史与当下的本来联系。
在过去很长一段时间中，朱伟的作品往往被归入1990年代以降，中国大陆艺术界兴起的“政治波普”运动中，朱伟作品中的政治意味，因其可复制和易流传而被打下了“波普”的烙印。如果认真研究朱伟二十岁以来的人生经历会发现，冒然的断言他在20世纪90年代的艺术创作属于“波普”的阵营，是不恰当的。自始至终，朱伟并无意于视觉符号的挪用和置换，而是以一个普通中国人的视角进行观察，以传统中国绘画的技巧对现实做出率直的反应，而非以一种概念的角度或猎奇的态度与现实发生联系，朱伟的作品更多从现实生活中取材，用极具“人性”关怀的视角观察宏大的社会事件，以及一度被“神化”的伟人形象。
社会精英秉承的移情取向在朱伟的作品中表现得非常清晰，艺术家意识到传统中国和现代中国承载的文字和视觉的强大力量，但朱伟从未拘泥于中国传统水墨的程式和囹圄，反而勇敢的探索出了一条前无古人的道路。不惑之年的朱伟仍继续他对自我、对社会的敏锐观察，以及对广泛的文化问题抱有的浓厚兴趣。这让他的艺术隐密晦涩而又寓意深广，幽默缓和了他的阐释，人性软化了他的锐利。朱伟的绘画记录了正在迅速转变的社会规范、人性弱点，是幽默也是讽刺……观众很难将朱伟想表达的观念用一种既定的说辞来诠释，由此他营造的画面也延伸出了无限可能。
关于中国水墨画的生存现状，争论和激辩至今没有休止，这似乎成为中国艺术界萦绕于心却又无力改变的“心头痛”。话题已经打开，朱伟也毫不避讳的倒出了当下作为一个水墨画家的难言之隐。在朱伟刚开始创作的八年间，他曾经拒绝和油画等形式的艺术作品同时展出，并且极少参加与当代艺术有关的群展。“开始我觉得作为水墨画家很自卑，从技法上水墨的表现力不如油画那样丰富、逼真。说实话现在我感觉更自卑了，因为当代水墨势单力薄，没有人愿意关注当代水墨”，朱伟的言语间流露出一丝无奈的情绪。这也的确是艺术界普遍存在的问题，多年的论争仍没有结果，多年来精研学术的功力和资历成为衡量水墨画家价值的重要标准，身处目前国内水墨语境中的朱伟仍对此感到困惑。批评家往往怀疑三四十岁年龄段水墨画家的“造诣”，确切的说，这些人甚至根本没有进入评论的视野范围，而更有许多人认为所谓的当代艺术只包括西方舶来的艺术媒材，对水墨的偏见阻滞了水墨当代化的普遍认同。
谈起困境难免让人有些沮丧，在当代水墨面临空前尴尬的两难处境时，朱伟更愿意用水墨实践表达真实情绪，有评论家曾这样评价朱伟：朱伟是一位严肃但充满睿智与幽默的思考者和勤奋的实践者。水墨应继承几分传统？又应有几分创新？在水墨应当如何当代的问题上，我认为朱伟是一个成功的实践者。“也许三十年，或许更久，水墨画的时运就来了！”朱伟笑着调侃说。在我看来，这不全然是一句自我安慰的笑谈，因为时至今日，已经有越来越多的人看清了朱伟的真正价值。 |
