【艺·凯旋】文章 | 徐弘：其中有象
徐弘：其中有象
艾墨思 Thomas Eller / 文
李佳 / 翻译
……
惚兮恍兮，其中有象
恍兮惚兮，其中有物
窈兮冥兮，其中有精
其精甚真，其中有信
……
《道德经》
这世上有两类艺术家。其中一类总是在准备远航，奔向下一个全新的、充满挑战的，甚至是突破极限的目标；另一类却是离开了家乡就无法生活，更不要说从事艺术创作了。徐弘属于后者。他的灵感似乎来自他所居住的地方——南京，曾经的六朝古都，也是中华文化继承和发扬的地方。 正是在这里，顾恺之开创中国绘画的传统形式，并于公元364年创作了第一幅带有艺术家落款的画作。毋庸置疑，自六朝以来这些深邃的艺术文化影响着徐弘，在某种程度上，他是这一艺术传统在今天的继承者。
There are two kinds of artists in the world. The first type cannot run far enough from their origins and try to engage with whatever new, challenging and extreme might present itself to her/him. The other can barely function outside her/his home turf, let alone do creative or artistic work. Xu Hong is one of those. He needs to be rooted. His inspiration seems to spring from the place he lives – Nanjing, the once the capital of China and a well of its culture. It is here that Gu Kaizhi initiated the style of Chinese painting, but also created the first painting authorized by his signature in the year 364 AD. Many see Gu Kaizhi as the beginning of a long and strong tradition of Chinese artistry. Certainly this has been an inspiration for Xu Hong and in a way, he sees himself as a successor to artistic and cultural heritage.
▲ 徐弘，《存在之山》，2019年，布面油画，110×130厘米.Xu Hong, Mountain of Existence, 2019, oil on canvas, 110×130cm.
我们可以在他的作品中感受到这种影响。在他之前的一组创作中，人物散布于山水之间，多数的人物形象流露出一种寥落之感。即便他们在有些画面中也会成群结组，但仍以一种内省的姿态出现。人物之间的互动或交流似乎并无任何逻辑性的意义，以《假说》为例，西装革履的男性聚在一起，戳刺着一块虎皮。徐弘画中的主角栖居于非现实的空间中，彼此间好像完全没有注意到对方的存在：还是同一件作品，在人群的旁边，是一个从大腿以下被埋进地里的男人，虽然他同身边其他的人似乎挨得很近，共处一个物理空间，但这些人的神态却如此冷漠和疏离。他们并不做什么，除了追寻，从内心中追寻答案——至少看似如此。
▲ 徐弘，《假说》，2019年，布面油画，110×130厘米.Xu Hong, Hypothesis, 2019, Oil on canvas, 110×130cm.
One can sense this groundedness in one of his earlier work groups, which features landscapes occupied by people, most of them in a sort of solitary mode. Even if they appear in a group, as is the case in a few of those paintings, they seem to mostly look inward. Any kind of mutual activity, like in the work, in which men in suits attempt to kill the skin of a tiger, comes across as nonsensical. The protagonists, seemingly unaware of each other´s existence inhabit improbable spaces. One person is stuck in the ground up to his thighs, the others are sometimes so close to one another, that they seem to be in the same space physically, yet mentally coldly detached from each other. They are seekers, not doers. They are looking inside for answers, or so it seems.
如果忽略这些人物，《假说》中作为背景的山川是极为巍然壮观的，然而一旦把人物的远近和比例考虑在内，画中山水就会相应缩减为街心公园的大小。这种尺度上的暧昧感是大多数传统中国山水画的共性，那些体量巨大的风景最终将观众的视线引向其间微末但可辨的人的踪迹。
The surrounding landscape in that particular painting consequently seems super-large when disregarding the personage, but shrinks to the scale of an urban park the next moment. This ambiguity might be found in many Chinese traditional landscape paintings, in which huge landscapes offer the eventual glimpse on tiny traces of human activity.
▲ 徐弘，《停云》，2019年，布面综合材料，145×170厘米.Xu Hong, Gathering Cloud, 2019, mixed materials on canvas, 145×170cm.
不过，徐弘的绘画其实同尼奥·劳赫有更多共通之处。他们画面中的人物往往呈现为早期摄影的黑白色调，似乎游离于时间之外，从远方、陌生的十九世纪向当代的观众遥遥致意。和徐弘一样，尼奥·劳赫也很少离开家乡，他的艺术灵感几乎都来源于家乡莱比锡。在他们的作品中，存在着一种本土性和陌生感之间奇异的共生关系。徐弘的部分创作在这个维度上继续推进，他将一个无边的、广大的外界（包括山峦、海滩、森林等）移植到画面上的斗室内部。其中一幅是关于某个家庭的群像，室内墙壁上还绘有巨大的山景，看上去就像是影棚里的布景道具。这些人物站在那儿，迎向观众，而当我们将视线投向他们，作为背景的山水也相应缩小了尺度。以这种方式，徐弘巧妙地避开了现实的条框。当画面中所有参照系统都模糊而不确定的时候，“内”与“外”混同在一起，大小和尺寸只相对于具体环境而成立，同实际的刻度无关。当画中的空间因为人物的重力作用而发生弯曲，我们不禁怀疑：到底什么才是现实？这才是问题的关键。
However Xu Hong´s paintings have more in common with those of the German painter Neo Rauch. With him he shares the timelessness of his protagonists, rendered in an early photographic black and white style, who hail to their contemporary audience from the far and foreign distance of the 19th century. Like Xu Hong, Neo Rauch in Leipzig is an artist, who relies heavily on the inspiration from his home turf. With both artists works one can see a peculiar nexus between rootedness and simultaneous disjunction.
In some of his works Xu Hong ups the ante and situates the great outsides, mountains, sea sides and forests, within the inside of a small room. One of them is a family portrait. The huge mountain scene depicted inside of an interior space, appears like a prop in a photographer´s studio. Xu Hong and his family dwarf the scenery as they stand to be looked at by us. This begs the question of reality. When all parameters are ambiguous, the inside and outside get conflated, size is relative to context and not to good order, when space itself gets bent by the gravitas of human presences, the question of what is real, really matters.
▲ 徐弘，《树》，2014年，布面综合材料，118×166厘米. Xu Hong, Tree, 2014, mixed materials on cnavas, 118×166cm.
徐弘在近期的绘画实践中开始尝试“放大”（zooming in）的方法。如果说他此前的作品多以巨大的山水占据画面的主要位置，那么现在，他越来越多地倾向于在图像的某个局部深耕——诸如一束枝桠，几片叶子，仅在极少的时候，他才会加入人物的形象。而一直没有改变的，是画面和其中人物的内省情绪。通过“放大”的技巧，徐弘将画面从原先的叙述结构中抽离出来，凸显其中绘画性的抽象潜能。溅落在画布表面的颜料痕迹则体现了另一种方法。艺术家现在会把画面反转360 º来进行创作。于是，我们看到如文人画中的怪石一般捉摸不定的笔法形态笼罩了整个画幅。不过，徐弘对之进行了扁平化的处理，让它们更抽象，类似于中国南方雾气弥漫的天色。这种抽象风格得益于艺术家采取的近距聚焦视角，表现出一种在他以前作品中少见的张力。观众看得越久，就越能被带入一种内省的氛围，后者正是徐弘此前画作中的人物的典型情绪。他笔下的松枝、竹叶化为一种能量，充分地体现了风景的创造力。徜徉于这些美妙的细节，观众有时会发现他们自己也成了画中的一员，在风景中凝神内观。对于他们来说，这种近乎催眠的魔力是很容易捕捉到的，但真正读懂却很难。对未经过训练的眼睛来说，这只是一种视觉的效果，然而其中的玄机需要对中国传统文化的遗产进行深入探求才能悟到。通过内观心象，视觉层面的物象渐渐消退了，作品开始呈现出各种抽象的形态，与此同时，它为我们打开了领悟大自然蕴含的无穷创造力的大门。
▲ 徐弘，《早春二月之竹》，2018年，木板综合材料，100×80厘米. Xu Hong, Bamboo - Early Spring in Feburary, 2018, mixed materials on wood, 100×80cm.
Lately Xu Hong has been “zooming in“ of sorts in his works. When in previous years big landscapes dominate the picture planes of his paintings, more and more he begins to crop his paintings around details – a branch here, a few leaves there and, only occasionally now, a human figure. What hasn´t changed though, is the introspective mood of both the paintings and their personage. That “zooming in” pushes the paintings away from their previous narrative structure and more into painterly abstraction. By the traces of color dripping on the canvas the viewer can also witness a different approach to painting. Xu Hong now turns his canvasses 360º while working on them. Amorphous shapes like those of literati stones dominate vast parts of the canvasses. However the artists flattens them so they read more abstractly like the humid atmosphere on one of the many fog days in the South of China. The abstraction in his painting style as an effect of the focusing strategy creates an intensity unforetold by his past work. The more one looks at those paintings, the more one feels pushed into the introspective mode of the protagonists of his previous work. The pine branch, the bamboo leaves, they all become part of an energy that reveals the creative powers of the landscapes, as depicted by Xu Hong. Looking at the details, one realizes that as a viewer, one is becoming one of the persons inside his previous paintings, looking inside themselves. The mesmeric quality of these paintings is easily grasped but not readily understood. What might look as effect to the untrained eye, is really a journey deep into Chinese cultural heritage. Looking inside and losing the visual reference of things and pushing the work into abstraction at the same time opens the gates to a more profound understanding of the creative forces of nature.
▲ 徐弘，《早春二月之菊》，2018年，木板综合材料，166×138厘米. Xu Hong, Chrysanthemum - Early Spring in Feburary, 2018, mixed materials on wood, 166×138cm.
这一过程，曾在许多禅师的言行中得到确证：在冥想中，当戒律越来越深地融入日常的神秘，事物开始呈现出“陌生”的一面。见山不是山，见水不是水。幻相退散。事物脱出表相而成为“非在”之物。物，在亚洲思想中，其实是“无”。空无一物。
根据禅宗曲折而复杂的描述，从虚无之中才能诞生一个新的世界，而人们可以直见其中的本相和实存。换句话说，人们在自己的内心中走的越远，就越发无所凭执，最终抵达一个纯然内在的空间，它非此不能通达和接近。在这个纯然的内在中，空间已不复存，事物的意义消散。一切只是如其所是。树就是树，山就是山。而画就是画。
▲ 徐弘，《残山之山重山》，2019年，木板综合材料，117×77厘米. Xu Hong, Mountains - Broken Mountain, 2019, mixed materials on wood, 117×77cm.
画就是画，这在徐弘近期的艺术实践中充分地展现出来。此前，他一直在以胶合板支撑的画布表面进行创作，直到最近才开始把绘画材料的物质性现实作为基本的问题提出。现在，徐弘根据内容的需要来决定画面。他将之前用于支撑画布的大块胶合板劈开。木板破裂的边缘也一并进入了绘画的物质性现实。艺术家将颜料洒落于画面，并在局部施以打磨，以此提示绘画的物质基础。观众看到的虽然只是胶合板上的绘画，但无论是胶合板还是画面，都已经过艺术家的苦心经营。绘画由是展现出极为不同的效果：它并不呈现风景，而是以一种接近雕刻的方式，成为了风景本身。
This is the exactly the process many Zen-Buddhist accounts talk about: In the process of meditation and as the disciple looks deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the everyday, things become “un-similar” to themselves. Nothing is what it seems anymore. And this, that seems, has no semblance. Things losing their semblance turn into no-things. So the thing in itself, in Asian thought is no-thing. Nothing. And in a bizarre twist in Zen-Buddhist narrative, from this nothingness arises the world anew. This time however fully connected to their inner substantive presence.
▲ 徐弘，《残山之叠泉》，2019年，木板综合材料，96×70厘米. Xu Hong, Springs - Broken Mountain, 2019, mixed materials on wood, 96×70cm.
To put it in different terms: The deeper one goes into oneself to find oneself, the more one loses all reference (and oneself in the process) until one gets to that space inside within, which is inaccessible and impenetrable. But once inside, there is no space anymore and nothing has any meaning anymore. Things are what they are. A tree is a tree. A mountain is a mountain. And a painting is a painting.This is the latest development in Xu Hong´s work. He has worked on canvas stretched on plywood for years. But just recently he started questioning the physical reality of the painting materials. He now started to shape his paintings according to their content´s necessities. He breaks off chunks of the plywood he uses for his paintings. The splintered structure of the wooden structure enters the material reality of the painting. The artist scrapes colors and sands down parts of it, so as to reveal the material basis for his paintings. What the viewer sees is just that: Paint on plywood, both of which has been deliberately shaped by the artist. The result however now is very different. The painting does not “show” a landscape. In its “sculpted” way, the artwork now “is” the landscape.
▲ 徐弘，《山渐青》，2019年，木板综合材料，100×70厘米. Xu Hong, Turning Blue, 2019, mixed materials on wood, 100×70cm.
徐弘在他最近的系列创作中迈出了重要的一步，进一步远离那些保守的绘画传统。如果说他此前的绘画还是在关注于如何“呈现”风景，以及营造一个不确定的空间， 那么，他的新作品则完全转向了一个绝对的、确定性的空间。换句话说，他的近期绘画就是风景本身。
可以说，徐弘在他的近期实践中，超越了单纯的幻想，达成了一种艺术上的统一性。他曾经年复一年地专注描绘每一个人心灵中隐藏的、幻想的空间， 然而现在，他已经进入了一种终极的寂静之所，这也是东西方传统中那些最迷人的神秘部分的栖居之所。这个空间是所有创造的源头。
徐弘的创作就在东西方的交汇之处展开，他将中国传统与西方的现代抽象绘画相连。这并不算是罕见的个案。曾经有不少西方艺术家到亚洲去寻求灵感，禅宗思想在现代画家中也非常盛行。我们可以举理查德·塔特尔，或是德国的莱默尔·约阿希姆为例。不过，在徐弘的创作中重要的一点是，他的艺术源自个人的经验，而不是直接借鉴别人的艺术形式。正是真诚，给了他作品打动人心的力量。
▲ 徐弘，《此山中》，2017年，木板综合材料，180×210厘米. Xu Hong, Inside This Mountain, 2017, mixed materials on wood, 180×210cm.
So what happens when a painting becomes identical with its expression? When the dichotomy between material base and its meaning melts away, the dualism inherent in all symbolical communication dissolves. The painting has become itself. This is the moment, when Xu Hong connects to the deep spiritual knowledge of China.
There is a oneness, so to speak, that Xu Hong achieves with his recent paintings that goes beyond imagination. After year focusing on getting inside the hidden space of imagination inside every human being, he has entered the ultimately quiet space, that great mystics in Eastern and Western tradition are witness of. It is the space inside within from where comes all creation.
▲ 徐弘，《执大象》，2018年，木板综合材料，130×110厘米. Xu Hong, Holding the Dao, 2018, mixed materials on wood, 130×110cm.
It is also at this juncture, that the work by Xu Hong connects to a modernist abstract painting tradition in the West. This might not be so surprising as it seems. A lot of Western artists in the past have looked towards Asia for inspiration and Zen Buddhism has been widely popular amongst modernist artists. Richard Tuttle comes to mind, or Raimer Jochims from Germany. What is important to understand, however is that Xu Hong´s work comes from experience not from looking at other art. It is the sincerity of his work that makes it so convincing.
正在展出
Current Exhibition
徐弘 : 其中有象
Xu Hong : The Space Inside Within
艺术家：徐弘 | Artist：Xu Hong
策展人：艾墨思 | Curator：Thomas Eller
展览时间：2019年5月24日—6月24日
Duration: 24 May - 24 Jun, 2019
开幕时间：2019年5月24日（周五）下午4点
Opening: 4pm on 24 May, 2019
展览地址：艺·凯旋画廊 | Venue：Triumph Gallery
艺·凯旋画廊
Triumph Gallery
艺·凯旋画廊于2007年在北京798艺术区创立至今。近十年来艺·凯旋画廊与泛亚洲地区的众多藏家和艺术机构建立了良好的关系。画廊依据二十世纪以来中国艺术发展的内在脉络以及美术史的传承和发展方向经纪代理了众多知名中青年艺术家。艺·凯旋画廊通过与策展人、美术馆及其他机构合作策划不同形式的展览和艺术项目从而帮助艺术家构建其艺术职业生涯。
Triumph Gallery was founded in 2007 in the heart of 798 Art Zone, Beijing and forms strong relations with Asian collectors since over 10 years. Triumph Gallery represents many established and emerging Chinese contemporary artists, according to the lineage of the development of Chinese art since the twentieth century. The mission of Triumph Gallery is to work on the careers of artists, by enabling collaborations with museums and institutions and by supporting projects outside of the gallery walls. Various exhibitions have been organized and curated by influential curators.
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