个体记忆：当代艺术的历史表达

查常平博士（《人文艺术》主编）

   
在当代艺术的历史表达中，社会记忆的图像学呈现，仅仅是以精神生命的交流传达为主题关怀的艺术家的工作基础。徐唯辛的《2005中国煤矿纪实》（2006）、《历史中国众生相1966－76》系列（2008）就是一例，他在前者中继承了汉语思想中致力于底层关怀的文化传统，他在后者中企图将部分历史人物的个人经验史融入到画面中，以便发展出独特的艺术语言图式。不过，从至今展出的作品看，这个过程还在实验探索中。既然是个别历史人物在文革中的肖像，那么，为什么在文字说明中要介绍他们整体的一生呢？事实上，作品中的文字，如果仅仅摘取该人物关于文革个人性的言语如日记之类或其间的遭遇经历，其效果就更贴切。何况，由于部分作品上并没有书写文字，因而，徐唯辛在画中写入文字的过程，其实还不是他作品的内在语言图式。至于孙建平的《文心傲骨》系列（2008），在粗犷的笔触、橙黄色的背景中将近代以来中国文人以血气抗争黑暗的瞬间表情表达出来。作者试图说明他们才是华夏文化得以星火相传的感性动力，是汉语族群的文化精神生命的承担者。但是，历史人物本身的用色和背景色彩的同构，大大削弱了这些人物内在的生命价值理想的光芒。孙建平所遭遇的历史表达难题，向当代艺术中任何以历史记忆为书写主题的艺术家提出了如下的挑战：艺术家需要在画面上将宏大的社会记忆转化为个人记忆，并在这种转化中创作出个人性的艺术语言图式。我们发现不少艺术家属于前者——以李路明的《领药》（2008）等为代表；而后者也不多见——如张晓刚今年创作完成的《史记》系列、张念的《移动的记忆》（2006）、毛旭辉20世纪90年代至今的《剪刀》系列。
明确的造型、几何的对比、光影的色彩，这是毛旭辉本人总结他的《剪刀》系列得到的特征。1994年，一次因为生病使用剪刀打开药瓶的经历，使其萌生了以剪刀为艺术题材的创作动机，画出第一幅与剪刀相关的作品。其实，早在他之前的《家长》系列的人体造型中，就隐含着剪刀似的结构，如《两个家长》（1990）中其张开的双腿就仿佛剪刀被打开的部分；《家长•红色拱门》（1993），如同一把关闭的红色剪刀。他同期的《日常诗史•静物》（1994），植根于他个人的生活史经验。这何尝不是那个时代艺术家们普遍具有的一种社会经验的表达？一把破旧败色的木椅上，堆满钥匙、书籍、药罐、茶杯、烟灰缸、啤酒瓶等，椅子下面是一只时髦的运动鞋，旁边放着一个温水瓶。那把悬在椅子边的中式剪刀，似乎注定了日后要被单独抽离出来、孤独地成为艺术家书写对象的命运。在这样的日常化书写中，他将剪刀置于不同的生活场景，创作了《剪刀和沙发》（1995）、《剪刀和小区楼房》、《剪刀和一本红色书》（1996）。他最后索性去掉这些生活场景，将自己对生活世界的全部理解、对艺术的观念思考浓缩在一把中式剪刀本身多变的图式造型中，纯化与升华画面色彩，留下不同色彩的《蓝色剪刀》（1997）、不同姿态的《倒立的灰黑色剪刀》（1998）以及不同物象中的《红色镜子里的剪刀》（1999）。他的红色系列“剪刀”，源于对汉人沉迷的春节乐感文化的观感；黄色系列，源于在泰国旅行时满街黄花的记忆；黑白系列，是对离世的父亲的追忆；迷彩系列，是对文明时代战争的无情控诉。他的《十字形的白色西式剪刀》（2005），为我们打开了另一个充满理性的世界。显然，这区别于中式剪刀因造型上的弧形而更多带有人文关怀的感性特征。
“人性的内心中的纠缠，是一种潜在推动艺术的力量。无论艺术家有意还是无意它都会流露出来，这是赋有人性的创作特征和意向。艺术家首先是作为一个普通人才走到艺术的角色之中，人性的感觉总是以意想不到的方式出现在创作里。”（毛旭辉语）正因为这种复杂的纠缠，所以毛旭辉要用剪刀去剪出一个明确的轮廓；正因为艺术创作的感性特征，所以他在自己的病痛经历中意外地发现了切身的艺术书写对象。他以这种个体记忆为媒介，把艺术爱者带入日常的社会记忆片断，进而在对汉语思想的强权历史记忆的抽象中告诉我们每个人都难逃被剪刀伤害、刺破的可能性。于是，剪刀图式，成为毛旭辉理解世界的媒介，是他在艺术世界游牧的向导，更构成当代艺术中历史表达最为成功的典范（2009-10-17于蓉城）。



Individual Memory: the Historical Expressions of Contemporary Arts

Dr. Zha Changping   Chief-editor of Journal for Humanities and Art

In the historical expressions of contemporary arts, the iconological representations of social memory are mere basis of the artists’ works which regard the communication of spiritual life as their topical concern. Xu Weixin’s “2005: A Record of Chinese Coal Mine” (2006) and the series of “The Pictures of All Living Creatures in Chinese History1966-76” (2008) are the examples. In the former, he carries forward the cultural traditions in Chinese thought which give more concern for the lower class of society; while in the later, he tries to put the individual experience of some historical figures into the frame in order to develop a special artistic language pattern. However, according to these works that have been displayed, this progress is still on the way. Now that they are portrays of very few historical figures in the Great Cultural Revolution, why are their whole careers to be introduced in the caption? In fact, if the verbal descriptions in the works are abstracted from these people’s diaries or their private suffering experiences during the Revolution, some better results will be achieved. Since there are no verbal descriptions in part of his works, Xu Weixin’s writing some words into the paintings is not yet the inner language pattern of them. As for Sun Jianping’s series of “Wen Xin Ao Gu” (2008), the paintings reflect, in a rough brushwork and orange background, the instantaneous expressions of modern Chinese scholars who have been struggling against the dark reality with their blood and will of man. The painter wants to tell us that they are the living dynamics which make Chinese culture handed down from generation to generation, and that they are the undertakers of the cultural spiritual life of the Chinese community. However, the color for the historical figures and the color for the background are isomorphic, which weaken the ideal glory of these figures’ lives. The problem of historical expressions that Sun Jianping encounters in his creation of art will challenge those artists who take the historical memory as the subject matter of their works: those artists should transform the grand social memory into their own individual memory in their paintings, and in doing so, create their personal artistic language pattern. We find that lots of artists, such as Li Luming’s “Get Medicine” (2008), have done better in the former aspect, but few artists can meet the later requirement, and in this respect, we have examples of Zhang Xiaogang’s series of “Shih Chi” which are finished this year, Zhang Nian’s “Moving Memory” (2006), and Mao Xuhui’s series of “Scissors” which have been created since 1990s.  

Explicit modeling, geometric contrast and color of visional light are the features of Mao Xuhui’s series of “Scissors”, which are summarized by the artist himself. In 1994, Mao Xuhui was sick and one day he opened the medicine bottle with a scissor. It was this experience that made him have the motivation for creating the series of “Scissors”, and he finished the first painting related to the scissor at that time. In fact, in his early works like the series of “Parents”, the model of body is of some structure like a pair of scissors. For example, in “Two Parents” (1990), the opened legs look like an opened one, and also in “Parents, Red Arched Door” (1993), the door is like a closed scissors. His “Daily Epic, Still Life” (1994) of the same period is based on his own historical experience of daily life. Isn’t it the expression of a social experience that almost every artist has during those years? Keys, books, medicine pots, cups, ashtrays and wine bottles are piled up in an old, disreputable and color-off wooden chair, and under the chair there is a fashionable sports shoe, with a thermos beside it. The Chinese-style scissors hanging over the margin of the chair seems to be doomed to be an object itself as his only subject matter. In this daily expression, Mao Xuhui places the scissors in different scenes of life, and creates the works like “Scissors and Sofa” (1995), “Scissors and Lodging House”, and “Scissors and A Red Book” (1996). At last, he just takes away these scenes of life and puts all his understandings about the world of life and his ideas about art into the modeling of varied Chinese-style scissors. He purifies and sublimates the color of the frame and creates series of scissors with different colors such as “Blue Scissors” (1997), with different postures such as “Inverted Scissors in Charcoal Grey” (1998) and in different images such as “Scissors in a Red Mirror” (1999). His series of red scissors is based on his observation of the pleasure culture of Spring Festival which Chinese people are intoxicated with. The series of yellow scissors is based on his memory of the yellow flowers alongside the street when he traveled in Thailand. The series of black and white scissors is the recollection of his deceased father. The series of camouflaged scissors is the merciless accusation against the wars in our time of civilization. His “the Cross-like White Scissors in Western Style” (2005) suggests another rational world. This scissors is different from Chinese one with its curved modeling which shows some humane features.

Mao Xuhui once said: “the struggles in men’s hearts are dynamics of art creation. No matter whether the artist is conscious or unconscious, the struggles will be revealed in his work, and this is the feature and intention of creation that is endowed with human nature. An artist enters the role of art first as an ordinary person, so the sense of human nature always appears in his work in an unexpected way.” It is this complicated struggles that make Mao Xuhui cut out a clear outline of the world through his scissors, and it is the sensible features of artistic creation that make him accidentally find out his authentic object of art in his own experience of illness. Taking this individual memory as a medium, he brings lovers for art into an episode of social memory and tells all of us the impossibilities of escaping from being hurt and stabbed by the scissors that symbolizes the powerful historical memory of Chinese ideology. Hence, the pattern of scissors, which becomes Mao Xuhui’s means for understanding the world, is the guide for him in the world of art and is also the most successful example of historical representation in contemporary arts in China (In Chengdu, 17/10/09; Translated by Cheng Li).