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The Diplomat, May 2, 2011
Zhu Wei, on Art & China
By Ulara Nakagawa
How important is art to the future of Chinese society, and what will the consequences be of it taking a backseat in the name of economic progress and Western influence?
I recently had the opportunity to speak to prominent contemporary Chinese artist Zhu Wei—renowned for his ink painting technique—on this topic and more.
In your opinion, do young artists in China have the desire to pursue and modernize traditional art forms such as ink painting? Is this something you think is important in preserving Chinese culture?
Preserving the culture of a country or a nation is very important, especially now. Nowadays, with science and technology being so widespread, people all over the world are using similar basic modes of communication, so culture is going to be the last trump to differentiate a country or a nation from another. And it’s also integral to keeping human society varied. In China, there’s going to be a gap in the continuity of traditional Chinese ink and wash paintings. Although every year hundreds of thousands of students get admitted to oil-painting and design departments of art schools, few students choose to study ink and wash paintings.
What’s more, their parents discourage them from learning such techniques, because the future career is unpromising. As a result, the ink and wash painting departments of art academies countrywide can only enrol three or four students. And even these students are often unwilling to concentrate fully on this. Normally they’ll select a design course as their second major, opening up a way to better fit into society in future.
Of course, not all students are like this. One of my assistants is from Japan, and she’s very focused on learning ink flower and bird paintings in China. She got a bachelor's degree at first, and now is studying for a doctorate degree.
Ink and wash painting has an interesting recent history in China that might also be applicable to others parts of Asia, such as Japan and Korea. Could you tell us a little bit about this?
It’s been over 150 years since Japan underwent its Meiji Restoration, during which the country saw an all-round reform of its political and economic systems. However, it wasn’t until 1978 that mainland China began to reform its economic system—and the reformation has only lasted a little over 30 years up to now. During these 30 years, China’s society has gone through changes in all aspects, including its culture. Of course, Japan has also experienced similar changes. However, since they are just happening in mainland China now, they stand out.
The ink and wash painting is a symbol of Asian civilization, and what accompanies it is a comprehensive cultural system. However, countries with deep roots in ink-and-wash painting culture, such as China, Japan and South Korea, have all been affected by the impact of the West. The May Fourth Movement in the early 1900s badly threatened the survival of such paintings. During the Cultural Revolution, the slogan ‘Reforming the ink and wash painting’ was stamped out, and the rationality behind traditional Chinese paintings was questioned. Later generations called it ‘a revolution against ink and wash painting.’ What’s more, in the 1980s, art theorists in China proposed that ‘the ink and wash painting has seen its doom,’ sparking an impressive nationwide discussion.
Your work, using the traditional Gongbi painting techniques, often doesn't appear to have the same style as the traditional paintings most people in China and the world are most familiar with. Are you trying to reinvent the genre for a contemporary audience?
At present what I should tell you is that now few so-called contemporary artists are engaging in ink and wash paintings. Some of the ‘contemporary’ large-scale exhibitions even exclude ink and wash altogether, because they worry that such works may spoil the sense of modernity and fashion. Currently, Chinese contemporary art works are highly publicized, with their prices booming, and there are hardly any traces of contemporary ink and wash paintings in them. The phenomenon reflects China’s current national conditions, namely, Western technology and culture being highly praised here. I think this will last for some time.
So, working in such a general environment and social background, contemporary ink and wash painters in China, myself included, have started to explore ways to make our paintings more contemporary. The changes we make aren’t in the technique or colour choices; rather, what we’ve chosen is to bring in more contemporary figures and events. In the past ink and wash paintings were done passively by the artist, particularly for the court painters who received orders to paint things like banquet, hunting and parade scenes as their subjects. It’s the same with the ‘revolution’ theme paintings that were prominent during the Cultural Revolution. In contrast, artists are now more or less working on their own initiative, covering a more extensive range with much braver push.
Your artistic vision has been described as ‘anguished and alienated, personal and political at the same time.’ Is your art personally and politically motivated? If so, from what experiences in particular have they been motivated in the past few years?
Since the implementation of Reform and Open Policy in 1978—over 30 years ago now—China’s economy has undergone a qualitative leap, and the level and quality of people’s lives has significantly increased. However, Chinese society is still power-oriented. Of course, such a social structure is beneficial and effective at the primary stage of the social development, but in the long run, it needs to be improved on a smaller level. Justice, openness, a fair legal system, as well as democracy should be put in place as priorities. They are after all, as we’ve seen from history, essential for the development of human society. What artists can do is only give these aspects a boost, and to do so, what artists should do is to express what’s happened in an accurate way.
日本《外交学者》2011年5月2日刊
朱伟谈艺术及中国
撰文Ulara Nakagawa
对中国社会的未来而言艺术有多重要？如果艺术在经济发展和西方影响的名义下退居次席，将会产生怎样的后果？
最近我有幸和杰出的中国艺术家朱伟——他因水墨画而闻名——谈论了这个话题及其它。
在您看来，中国的年轻艺术家是否有欲望去推动传统艺术形态的现代化？保存中国文化在您看来是否是一件很重要的事？
保存一个国家或一个民族的文化是很重要的，特别是在当今科学技术、网络信息现代化的今天，大家的衣、食、住、行基本都一样，那么文化就会是一个国家区别于另外一个国家，一个民族有别于另外一个民族的最后一张王牌，这也是人类社会丰富多彩所必须具备的。在中国水墨画的传承方面目前快出现一个断层，中国的美术院校现在招生，投考油画、设计专业的考生数以十万计，录取的学生每年也是成千上万人，但水墨专业的考生寥寥无几。
父母家长们也不让自己的孩子学习水墨画，因为没什么前途，以至于一个水墨画专业每年只能招到三到四个学生，即使这样还是三心二意，再学一门设计类的第二专业，以备今后走向社会。
当然也有不一样的，我来自日本的助理，就坚持在中国学习水墨花鸟，并且一直从本科学到了现在的博士。
水墨画在中国近现代的历史十分有意思，可以说同亚洲其它国家，比如日本和韩国，有着诸多近似之处。您可以谈谈这个吗？
1860年日本明治维新，从政治经济体制各方面进行了全面的改革，至今一百五十多年了。中国大陆一直到1978年才开始进行经济体制方面的改革，至今三十余年。改革开放三十年中国社会方方面面都有了相应的变化，文化方面也有了一定的改变，当然这些变化过程在日本都曾经出现过，只不过在中国大陆这些变化是正在进行时，所以会显得被放大一些。
水墨画是东方文明的一个标志，伴随着它的是一整套完整的文化系统，但随着西风东渐，有着深厚水墨画文化传统的国家，比如中国、日本、韩国都或多或少地受到了影响。上世纪初中国的五四运动曾经严重地冲击了水墨画的生存；文化大革命前后曾提出“水墨画革命”的口号，质疑水墨画存在的合理性，也就是后人所说的“革水墨画的命”；上世纪八十年代，中国大陆美术理论界曾经提出过“水墨画已经穷途末路”的说法，并引起了一场浩大的全国范围内的讨论。
您的作品使用传统工笔画的技法，可是却经常不表现出工笔画为世人所知的传统风格。请问您是有意识地为当代观众重新创造了一种风格吗？
时至今日，我应该告诉你的是，目前中国的所谓当代艺术家里面很少有人涉猎水墨画，有些以当代名义进行的大型展览甚至不邀请水墨画家参加，他们担心因为有水墨画的介入，会使展览显得不够当代、时髦。中国的当代艺术现今被炒作得很火爆，价钱也很高，但是这里面几乎没有当代水墨画的痕迹。当然这符合现今中国的国情，即西方的先进技术和文化正在被推崇，这一过程我想还会持续一段时间。
包括我在内的中国当代水墨画家在这样的大环境和社会背景下，已经开始了水墨当代化的探索。正如你所问的，不是主题的不同，技法的不同，色彩色调的不同，而是选择了当代人物、事物的介入。以往每一次水墨画的变革都是被动的，特别是宫廷画家们，基本都是奉命进行一些礼仪、晚宴、狩猎、阅兵的主题绘画，另外还包括文化大革命时期的革命主题绘画。但这次中国当代水墨画的探索多多少少是艺术家们自觉进行的，所以它的范围相对来说宽泛很多，尝试的步子也迈得大了很多。
您的艺术视角曾被同时形容为“痛苦和疏离的”，“个人和政治的”。您是怎么做到这一点的？您同意这个形容吗？您的艺术是否具有个人的和政治的动机？它们是否是由感情激发的创作？假如是，这些艺术作品是从您经历中哪一具体部分激发的？
中国虽然从1978年改革开放至今已三十余年，经济有了质的飞跃，人们的生活水平和生活品质也变得丰富多彩，但中国还是一个以权力为主的社会。这样的社会结构，对社会发展的初级阶段来说无疑是有利和高效的，但往长远来讲还是要不断充实社会各方面的功能，公正、透明、法制、民主要放在首位。这是历史的经验教训，也是人类社会发展的必须。艺术家在里面只是起推波助澜的作用，准确的表现也是艺术家应当做的事。 |
