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Oriental Art · Masters, Second Semimonthly Issue of February, 2009, Volume 175
Zhu Wei: Originality Comes the First
by Zou Xiaoqing
Since1990s, Zhu Wei has been exploring for the improvement and transformation of traditional Chinese ink-and-wash paintings in contemporary social context. He has made a new attempt to make ink-and-wash paintings contemporary. With his creations, he has also answered the question that whether ink-and-wash paintings can be ‘contemporary’. It is worth noticing that his works are always full of a strength criticizing the social reality, which can arouse people’s reflection even in this era when marketization spreads far and wide.
Question (hereinafter Q):Since the beginning of your artistic creation, you have insisted on the artistic concept of your own and seldom influenced by external factors. Where does your motivation of persistence come from?
Zhu Wei (hereinafter Z): I have no special concepts. What I have is the will that I will never give up till my complete failure. I think one should focus on his own task, and the half-made work should not be displayed. Nobody knows what you are thinking, and others will never make correct comment on your thoughts. Therefore it is unnecessary for you to listen to others, and thus you may not be influenced. Some people love announcing exaggerating news, with their purpose of confusing those who are weak-minded or conforming their own will. Hence we must not be tempted by them.
For anything, we should find its root by asking some questions: Why did he say like this and not like that? Does he keep saying so or will change his way tomorrow? Who paid him? Who ordered him? You have spent dozens of years in studying something, getting no clear result, and how can those unprofessional people guide you? Moreover, the world is full of truth and lies, and only by engaging in something can you understand its nature. However, after engaging in it, you will usually do something involuntarily, and then the only thing you can do is to face everything with smile.
Having understood that, you may not need any motivation. Just like there is a cesspit, which is covered with flowers, ahead, and you will choose to skirt around it without any painstaking judgment and hard ideological struggle.
Q:The combination of ink-and-wash paintings and contemporary subject matters is fairly essential to contemporary ink-and-wash painting reformation, which needs the support of a kind of experimental spirit. Then what is the status of experimental spirit in art creation in your mind?
Z: I think it comes first and is the most important. Bluntly speaking, experimental spirit itself is just the spirit of originality. Facing numerous various artistic works, even professionals will feel confused sometimes, not to say inexperienced people. In my opinion, a classical work must be, first of all, original; otherwise it is valueless no matter how much praise it has received.
Then how to judge whether a work is original or not? Generally speaking, an original one is something that you have never seen or even heard of; theoretically, during artistic creation, the artists must focus on creativity, technique and material, and breakthrough in any of these three aspects can be seen as an innovation. In terms of creativity, original works should reflect ideas that have never been adopted, obviously bear the sign of the times, and show strong critical consciousness. As to technique, original works are created with the methods that have not been used before, such as those painted by Richter, Shi Tao and Zhu Da. When it comes to materials, if a painter, such as Duchamp and Rauschenberg, can adopt something that others do not dare to use, then we can say his work is original. Of course, all innovation should be reasonable and able to bear squeezing. Those ridiculous ones, such as drawing lotus leaves with one’s bottom, eating shit, acting sorcerer’s dance or making exaggerated expressions, should not be taken as innovations.
Q: Then in terms of the innovation of ink-and-wash paintings, what kind of innovation do you think is more important, the one in techniques or that in concept?
Z: I think innovation in concept is the most important, and that in techniques follows. It may be rather difficult to achieve both of them.
The history of ink-and-wash paintings is over 2000 years longer than that of oil paintings with a history for 700 years. Anyway, the techniques that are formed during so long a period are much richer, more detailed and more mature than oil painting techniques. In my opinion, the existing techniques can fully meet my needs.
What we lack is the enrichment and updating of concepts, but I do not mean to negate them totally. Chinese people have lived a miserable life over recent hundreds of years, and sometimes they even fail to find the sense of safety. Therefore, they begin to suspect everything around them, including culture; this phenomenon is rather common and prevalent in China: this is our current concept and we should update it at first.
《东方艺术·大家》 2009年2月下半月刊 总第175期
朱伟：原创性第一
文：邹晓庆
自20世纪90年代至今，朱伟一直在为中国传统水墨画在当代社会情境下的改良与变革进行着探索。他对水墨画的当代化进程做出了全新的尝试，水墨是否能够“当代化”，朱伟的创作给这个问题提供了一种答案。而且难能可贵的是，他的作品中自始至终彰显着一种对于社会现实批判的力量，即使在市场化泛滥的今天，仍旧警醒人们去反思。
您从艺术创作开始，就一直坚持自己的艺术理念，很少受到一些外界因素的影响，这种坚持的动力是来自哪里？
朱伟：我没啥理念，就是不见棺材不落泪。你埋头做你的事，别老拿弄到一半的东西出来现眼，谁知道你在想啥。别人不知道你在琢磨什么，如果说你肯定说不准，根本不用听。不听就不会受啥影响，至于有人说得呜嚷呜嚷的，那是在忽悠意志薄弱的人，或者他同时也在坚定自己的信念，千万别上当。
啥事也多少问个为什么：他为什么这么说，怎么不那么说，是一直这么说，还是今儿这么说明儿又掉过头来那么说，谁给的钱，谁让他说的，等等等等。有些事你弄了几十年都没弄明白，一一知半解的半吊子怎么能给你指路呢？再说，外界的东西有真有假，只有你参合进去才知道是怎么回事，可往往裹进去就身不由己，是好是坏是福是祸你只能面带微笑了。
这事弄明白了，就不需要动力了，就像前面有一漂满鲜花的粪坑，你不需要判断，更不用作激烈的思想斗争，肯定会选择绕着走。
将水墨画与当代题材结合是水墨画在当下变革的重要方面，这需要一种实验精神的支撑。你觉得实验精神在艺术创作中占有怎样的一种地位？
朱伟：是第一位的，也是最重要的。 实验精神说白了就是原创精神，面对铺天盖地眼花缭乱的艺术作品，别说是外行，就是干这行的有时也犯晕。我觉得一个谈得上是经典的艺术作品首先必须是原创，不然说破天也没用，最后还得扔。
那么，怎么判断一件作品是否是原创呢？往通俗了说，就是你从来没见过甚至听都没听说过的。往理论上说，就是艺术家在创作时必须围绕构思、技法和材料这三个方面。这三个方面哪一个有所突破都算是创新。构思立意上，如果能做到前人没想到后人又没来得及想、时代特征强、又具有很强的批判意识，就算是原创。再者就是在技法上，以前从来没人这么做过就算是原创。比如李希特、石涛、八大，等等。再或者，就是在材料的使用上，以前从来没人敢这么使用也算是原创，比如杜尚、劳森伯格，等等等等。当然这些创新必须合情合理，经得起推敲，拿屁股画荷叶，吃屎，跳大神，呲牙咧嘴之类，不算。
针对水墨画的创新来说，您觉得技法还是观念的变革更为重要？
朱伟：观念第一，技法第二。同时更好，恐怕难点儿。
水墨画的历史比有七百年历史的油画多出两千多年，这两千多年形成的技法怎么也要比油画丰富得多、详细得多、成熟得多。对我来说，现在的技法够用。
我们所差的是在观念上的丰富和更新，但决不是否定。中国人最近几百年来真的没过过几年好日子，甚至有时连安全感都找不到，所以人们开始怀疑身边的一切，包括文化。这种现象非常普遍而且争先恐后，这就是当下我们的观念，这种观念首先要更新。
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