发表于2008-09-19 23:19:33 阅读 586 次 评论 0 条 所属文章分类: 我的作品评论王劲松是中国20世纪90年代以来最杰出的艺术家之一。
20世纪80年代末至90年代初，王劲松创作的“大”系列（《大合唱》《大气功》等）以一种幽默的风格，开启并且成为“后八九”艺术潮流——玩世写实主义的代表艺术家。所谓“后八九”，是我企图把握王劲松的艺术及其玩世写实主义发生的时代背景的概念。一方面，是指引西方民主主义以拯救中国政治的理想主义思潮，在20世纪80年代末的天安门事件中达到高峰，而随即遭到挫折后，所产生的普遍失落、反省，以及导引出的人文层面的无可奈何和无聊感。另一方面，整个20世纪80年代以来的中国艺术潮流，试图以西方现代艺术和现代思潮来重建中国新文化的理想主义受到普遍的怀疑。王劲松代表的这代艺术家抛弃了此前艺术家的理想主义与英雄色彩，把前几代艺术家对人的居高临下的关注，转换成平视的角度，放回到自身周围的平庸的现实中，用幽默的方式去描绘自己及自己周围熟视、无聊、偶然乃至荒唐的生活片断。因此，这也导致了他们抛弃20世纪80年代中期对西方各种现代语言模式的模仿，而重新从写实主义—这个近代从西方引进，至今统治中国艺坛的写实主义中寻找新的可能性。 随着“后八九艺术”在香港（后八九中国新艺术展）、澳大利亚（MAO GOES POP.）和威尼斯双年展上亮相，玩世写实主义的艺术家迅速成功。金钱和名声也使其中的一些艺术家开始不断重复自己的艺术。最可贵的是王劲松在玩世写实主义最盛行的时候，放下了画笔，放弃了可能赚取更多金钱的机会，迅速把自己的视野放在新媒体艺术的创造上，其后他拍摄的《标准家庭》《双亲》《百拆图》，持续地成为20世纪90年代至今艺术界最有影响的作品。 王劲松的《标准家庭》，是他于1994－1995年拍摄的200个中国当前的“标准家庭”—三口之家，作品提示了作为这个时代最具大众化的样板家庭模式，实质是国家意识形态的结果。甚至我们可以在这些照片中读到当代中国人的精神面貌、审美趣味、遗传等信息，乃至可以感觉到“小皇帝”以及晚婚晚育背后的故事。1998年，王劲松又拍摄了老年夫妇的《双亲》系列。老年人是一个国际的热门题材，如年轻的英国艺术家Richart Billingham的作品。他拍出了西方老年人的孤独、无助和无聊的生活感觉。而王劲松则拍出了中国平民特有的一种详和、平静的气氛。他的语言方式依然是取自中国普通百姓的“留影”方式—“稍加修饰”的着装和环境，“正经端庄”的姿势，以及典型的今天中国普通家庭的布置—温馨、喜气但艳俗。作品的整个气氛，都把握住了中国平民百姓传统的生存感觉—不管经历什么样的艰难困苦，都要保持一种平和、自足或者知足长乐的态度。尤其值得关注的是王劲松在1999年拍摄的作品，他以北京乃至全国的城市建设中随处可见的圈写在要拆除的旧建筑上的“拆”字为对象，拍摄了百幅“拆”字，命名为《百拆图》，并把这百幅作品顺序编号为1900至1999，意味深长。拆，其实不是近20年的事，无论就建筑这种物质的角度，还是就思想领域而言，它都是中国百年以来的主旋律。1911年的辛亥革命，推翻了封建王朝；五四新文化运动，高举起反传统大旗；1949年红色政权，把白色政权赶到台湾；1949年以来，镇反，三反五反，反右，四清，文革……，乃至开放以来的清除精神污染，反对资产阶级自由化等等，我们从来没有停息过“破”字当头的革命，破就是拆。毛**说“不破不立，破字当头，立也就在其中了”，这是毛**一生的革命理想，也是至今仍然主宰着我们国家的意识形态。王劲松在《有关〈百拆图〉百幅摄影作品简述》中说：“‘拆’似乎是一条临界线，左边是毁灭，右边是重建。‘拆’的意义藉此显现，那么何谓新，何谓旧呢？我感到既悲凉，又激动。”王劲松多年对“破”的疑虑，使他为找到能宣泄内心情感的语言而“激动”，同时，也为“拆”的现实及其文化背景而“悲凉”。《百拆图》体现出的是一个艺术家的良知和反省的能力。 我在写这段文字期间，王劲松又有新作品问世，他总是不断地创造，因为他特有的敏感、杰出的才能，以及他对人类生存境况时刻关心的良知。 栗宪庭 2002，10，12 艺术批评家、独立策划人

Wang Jinsong – one of the China’s most outstanding artists since the 1990s

From the late 1980’s to early 90’s, Wang Jingsong’s “Grand” series (“Grand Choir” and “Grand Qigong”), with its humorous style, initiated, or even formed, the trend of “Post-89” art – in the process, he became a representative of cynical realism. “Post-89”, is a concept I have come up with in an attempt to grasp Wang Jinsong’s art and the historical background against which cynical realism emerged. On the one hand, it refers to the idealistic appropriation of western democracy for the salvation of Chinese politics, a movement which reached its pinnacle in the Tiananmen incident of the late eighties. After the movement ran into some obstacles, there was a universal sense of loss and reflection that led to helplessness and boredom vis-à-vis culture. On the other hand, since the eighties, the idealistic attempt to reconstruct China’s new culture on the basis of western contemporary art and contemporary ideas has been widely questioned. Artists like Wang Jinsong have now abandoned the ideals and heroic demeanor taken on by previous artists. They have exchanged the artist’s elevated position of observation for a common perspective, restoring them to the reality of their own surroundings. Furthermore, they have made use of humor to describe themselves and the familiar, boring, accidental or even absurd things that surround them. This has also allowed them to reject the imitation of various contemporary western languages that dominated most of the mid-eighties, and return to realism – a form from the west in the early modern period, but which still monopolizes the Chinese art field. This is where they are searching for new possibilities.


After “Post-89” was unveiled in Hong Kong (Post-89 – China’s New Art Exhibition), Australia (Mao Goes Pop) and the Venice Biennale, cynical realist artists quickly became successful. Money and fame made some artists among them to begin replicating their own art. But fortunately, Wang Jinsong put down his brush when cynical realism was at its peak, setting aside opportunities to earn more money, and quickly turned his vision to creating in the new medias. His series of photographs Standard Family, Parents, Chai, has been one of the most influential works in the art world from the 90’s to the present.

Wang Jinsong’s Standard Family, photographed between 1994 and 1995, consisted of 200 contemporary Chinese “standard families” – composed of three family members. The work highlights the almost universal family model of this time, which in essence is a result of national ideology. We can even read from these photographs the spiritual state, aesthetic taste, and heredity of contemporary Chinese; we can even gain a sense of the “little emperors” and stories behind postponed marriages and delayed births. In 1998, Wang Jinsong photographed his Parents series, consisting of images of elderly couples. The elderly were an international hot topic at the time. The young British artist Richard Billingham photographed the loneliness, helplessness and boredom in the lives of elderly people in the west. Wang Jinsong, on the other hand, captured the unique harmony and calm composure of Chinese commoners. His artistic language was adapted from the common Chinese “portrait” style – “slightly decorated” appearance and background, “serious and elegant” composure; images were set in typical Chinese family settings – warm, auspicious yet kitschy. The entire outlook of this work shows a good command of the sense of common Chinese lives – no matter what difficulties and tribulations they have experienced, they still maintain an attitude of calmness, independence and satisfaction. Especially worth our attention are Wan Jinsong’s photographs taken in 1999. He took as his subject the character chai (demolish) that can be found on buildings about to be demolished in Beijing or other cities across China. He photographed one hundred examples of Chai, and entitled the work One Hundred Chai. He added another layer of signification by numbering the images from 1900 to 1999. Chai, in fact, isn’t a phenomenon only of the last 20 years - either from an architectural perspective or in terms of thinking – it has been the mainstream in China over the last century. The 1911 Revolution toppled dynastic imperialism; the May Fourth New Culture movement upheld the anti-tradition flag; in 1949, red political power chased the white political power to Taiwan; and since 1949, there has been the suppressing of counterrevolutionaries, the three-anti and five-anti campaigns, anti-rightist movements, the four-cleanings, the Cultural Revolution . . ., and even the movements to get rid of spiritual pollution and oppose capitalist freedoms during the reform period. We have never taken a break from the revolution of “destruction”, to destroy is to demolish. Mao Zedong once said, “Without breaking, nothing will stand, at the end of destruction there is founding.” This was Mao’s lifelong revolutionary ideal, and is also the country’s main ideology. Wang Jinsong in “An Explanation of One Hundred Chai” noted that “Chai seems to be a boundary line, on its left is destruction, on its right is reconstruction. Chai reveals its meaning in this way, then what is called new and what is called old? I feel sad yet excited.” Wang Jinsong’s quandary over “brokenness” over the years made him ‘excited’ to find a language through which to express his inner feelings. At the same time, he feels ‘sad’ about Chai’s reality and cultural background. One Hundred Images of Chai demonstrates an artist’s sensibility and power of reflection.


While I’m writing, Wang Jinsong has already made new works, he is always creating because of his unusual sensitivity, outstanding talent, and constant concern for human existence.

Li Xianting
2002 – 10 – 12
Art critic, independent curator