评论 | 朱其 "沈忱：1980年代的水墨现代主义"

 “沈忱1980年代抽象水墨” 今格空间 展览现场

Shen Chen Abstract Ink Paintings In The 1980s

Ginkgo Space secne

 “沈忱1980年代抽象水墨” 今格空间 展览现场

Shen Chen Abstract Ink Paintings In The 1980s

Ginkgo Space secne

沈忱是1980年代早期实验水墨的一位开拓者，但他的贡献在之后20年一直被忽视。水墨的现代主义开始于1970年代末，沈忱在1980年代初进入了一种更彻底的抽象主义探索，在那个资讯匮乏的年代，反而具有一种创造性的天分的活力，这是重新看待八十年代现代主义实验的意义所在。

毕业于上海戏剧学院的沈忱，无疑在1970年代末进入了一个当时绝无仅有的艺术环境。上海戏剧学院是上海在六、七十年代的现代主义重镇，吴大羽弟子闵希文、当时的青年教师李山以及同学张健君、陈箴等都聚集于此。在1978年就学期间，沈忱与张健君等人就举办了现代画展“野蔷薇”，这个展览甚至比之后的“12人画展”更早地展示从野兽派到表现主义的探索。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.241-83》水墨，宣纸 

Shen Chen Untitied No.241-83 Ink on Xuan Paper

103 × 101 cm 1983

八、九十年代的实验水墨，可以看作上一世纪三十年代以后国画的现代改造与西画的现代主义两脉交织的结果。在1930年代至1970年代末，绘画的现代主义基本上集中于上海。国画的现代改造如林风眠、关良等人，西画的现代主义则是刘海粟、庞薰琹、吴大羽等人。这两条线构成了从印象派、表现主义到立体主义的民国现代主义。

吴大羽是唯一从民国现代主义继续向前的先辈。他的方向是两个，一是走向抽象主义，二是寻求一种不同于纯粹抽象的东方主义，这实际上是一种现代主义的东方主义。抽象主义的酝酿在上海六、七十年代的“地下抽象”即有零星的探索，像张公悫、缪鹏飞、陈巨源以及李山等人，以油画、水粉、水彩及纸本的方式探索抽象主义，他们构成了民国之后第二代的现代主义。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.71-84》水墨，宣纸 

Shen Chen Untitied No.71-84 Ink on Xuan Paper

101 x 102 cm 1984

水墨现代主义的抽象探索，直到1980年代初的沈忱等人才真正开始。在表现主义的视野下，使水墨的晕染及墨法转向现代主义，成为实验水墨最初的探索途径。更具有创造性的探索是对书法性与汉字元素的吸收。比如，沈忱将书法笔触作为极简风格的画面元素，谷文达将书法的达达主义与汉字的观念化与抽象晕染的山水意象的结合。这一做法可追溯至缪鹏飞在1960年代中期将汉字书法与抽象表现主义结合的水粉画。

1982年，沈忱开始了水墨抽象主义的探索，在宣纸上尝试以晕染的墨法创作一种抽象主义的机理，并在水墨中混合了水粉材料。次年，他的实验水墨风格初显，形成一种比较确定的极简抽象主义。这类似一种书写的极简主义，画面上大片的留白，只有一些水平和纵向的或者旋转的半圆的书法性笔触，零星分布在画面上，将中国画的留白和书写性的笔墨转向一种现代主义风格。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.77-84》宣纸，水墨 

Shen Chen Untitied No.77-84 Ink on Xuan Paper

96 x 96 cm 1984

1970年代末80年代初，开始恢复中断的现代主义进程，始自二、三十年代的绘画现代主义，至1970年代中期的吴大羽，越来越将这一探索定义为现代主义的东方主义。身处上戏的现代主义启蒙重镇，1970年代末重启现代主义进程的气氛中，沈忱等新一代试图将这一进程推向更彻底的抽象主义，以西画为媒介的抽象主义逐渐在上戏形成一个群体，但水墨的抽象主义则只有沈忱孤身独行。

上戏及其上海的现代主义圈子，在1970年代后期可以接触到比国内其他地区更多的关于抽象艺术的资讯，但仍然十分稀少。沈忱却在中国书法和水墨的美学中看到了一种吴大羽等上一代未竟的可能性，即抽象主义与书法性、极简主义与空白的关系。现代主义的美学诉求在于在作品要素、画面的组织方式和结构的纯粹性，二战后，则进一步强调书法性的形式诗性布局的极简性以及禅宗式将空白看作一种实有。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.202-85》宣纸，水墨 

Shen Chen Untitied No.202-85 Ink on Xuan Paper

99 x 104 cm x 3 1985

1983-84年的水墨实验，集中于抽象的单幅作品，几组主要的水墨笔触的组合，竖与横线的组合，井字的交叉线与圆弧型笔触的组合，横线、T字线与箭型线的组合，等等。相比于韩国单色画的笔触观念主义，沈忱的笔触更强调毛笔的机理形式，像扫尾痕、中断线、不均匀的中空线。笔触构成了两类结构形式，一类是笔触组自身的线性形式，另一类是笔触隔着空白的呼应关系。

书法性与抽象主义的结合，美国的抽象表现主义、日本的现代书法以及韩国的单色画，在五、六十年代先后进行的前卫探索。但总体上，主要在于书法的线性结构作为画面的组织方式、笔线与空白的虚实结构，笔线的走势节奏或者笔触的重复序列的形式主义，核心仍在于形式主义在结构、节奏和虚实上吸收书法的特性，但关于笔性的部分却并不擅长。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.203-85》水墨，宣纸

Shen Chen Untitied No.203-85 Ink on Xuan Paper 

99 × 104 cm× 3 1985年

对沈忱而言，实验水墨的抽象主义，其重点在于先将笔触从文字的书法结构中截取出来，变为一种反示意的形式要素，笔触要素再构成线型组合，从而作为一种要素的抽象主义。其次是在画面组织方式上，使中国画传统的留白成为一种形式主义的结构美学。与其说，作为“留白”意义上的空白，并非类型画题的与自然意象在平面上构成的虚实关系，而是线性结构定义或分割了画面空间，从而形成空白结构。笔触性的笔线，成为空白结构板块的交界线。在形式主义的意义上，沈忱重新定义了空白与平面的关系。

除了线性结构对空白的平面分割的作用，线性笔触的另一个重点在于笔性自身。西方直到20世纪初的表现主义，才将笔性的自性表现作为重要的语言形式。但笔性在中国的书法和绘画中始终是语言的核心部分。它不仅在于形式主义意义上的形式，且是一项诗性指标。不仅线或笔触构成线群组的结构，以及笔触线的走势节奏，线条自身中更为重要的是笔性，即行笔的意念及其快慢、浓淡、干湿等笔性六项指标的心性主义特质。

沈忱《作品 无题 No.126-86》水墨，宣纸 
Shen Chen Untitied No.126-86 Ink on Xuan Paper

101 × 99 cm 1985

1985-1987年，沈忱从单幅作品过渡到三联画或者传统的挂轴式的形式。三联画实质上为单幅作品的横向组合，笔性在单幅作品凸显出醒目的优势，但三联画侧重于结构场的总体美学，后者使得笔线结构不再是对平面的一种结构切割，或空白板块的结构组织。三联的空白区域像一个总体主义的场域，笔触组只是在这个空白场横向或竖向流动的气韵。这接近于一种对中国美学范畴“气韵”的现代主义表现。

挂轴式的抽象水墨，沈忱脱离了极简主义风格，画面上的层次更为丰富，将1982年早期晕染的抽象墨法与之后的线性结构以及笔性等方式综合在一起，构成一种结构主义的抽象的笔墨场。这一探索的诉求，同样试图探讨关于“气韵”的水墨现代主义。

1980年代初，沈忱几乎一开始就站在实验水墨的高起点上，试图以现代主义重新定义中国画的美学范畴，以及将中国书法和绘画中的形式要素独立出来，按照现代主义的诉求，走向一种以抽象主义和极简主义为主的形式主义。这一探索导致的独具一格的创造性的风格，由于在1980年代末赴美，之后的水墨新潮运动并未注意到其先行一步的前驱性探索。

2018年10月23日写于宏源公寓

（文字来源于评论家、策展人朱其为今格空间 “沈忱1980年代抽象水墨” 展览撰文）

沈忱 1980年代抽象水墨

策展人：朱其

展期：2018年11月3日-12月22日

艺术家与作品 “沈忱1980年代抽象水墨” 今格空间 

artist and his work 

Shen Chen Abstract Ink Paintings In The 1980s

Shen Chen: Ink Modernism of the 1980s

Text: Zhu Qi  Translations: Fiona He

Shen Chen was a pioneer in experimental ink painting in the early 1980s. However, his contribution has been overlooked inthe next two decades. Ink modernism began at the end of the 1970s, and by theearly 1980s, Shen Chen had already dived into a thorough exploration on abstraction. Over the years when information was sparse, unexpectedly nurturedthe energy for his creative talents, and it is significant in looking at the modernist experiments from the 1980s.

沈忱《作品 无题 No.73-88》水墨，宣纸 

Shen Chen Untitied No.73-88 Ink on Xuan Paper

134 × 66 cm 1986

A graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy,Shen Chen inarguably has had the rare artistic environment at the end of the1970s. The Shanghai Theatre Academy was at the heart of the modernist movementin the 1960 and 1970s, and Min Xiwen, a student of Wu Dayu, Li Shan, a young teacher at the time, and his classmates Zhang Jianjun, Chen Zhen had all gathered there. In 1978, Shen Chen, Zhang Jianjun and a few others held a modern art exhibition, "Wild Roses”, an exhibition proceeded the “12 Persons Art Exhibition” in showing their explorations from Fauvism to Expressionism. 

Experimental ink painting from the 1980s to the 1990s can be considered as the outcome of integrating traditional Chinese painting reforms that took place in the 1930s and the influx of Western modernism. From the 1930s to the end of the 1970s, modernism represented through the medium of painting was primarily taking place in Shanghai. Where,the modern reforms of Chinese paintings were led by figures such as Lin Fengmian and Guan Liang, while modernist painting practices in Western styles were spearheaded by Liu Haisu, Pang Xuqin, Wu Dayu, and others. These two camps constituted the shift from impressionism, expressionism to cubism of modernity in the Republican era.

沈忱《作品 无题 No.233-87》水墨，宣纸 

Shen Chen Untitied No.233-87 Ink on Xuan Paper

134 × 66 cm 1987

Among them, Wu Dayu was the only pioneering artist who continued his practice from searching for modernism in the Republican era. He had two directions, one was steering his practice towards abstraction, and the other was to search for an orientalism unlike the conventional abstraction that can be in fact conceived as a kind of modern orientalism. The brewing for abstraction was germinating sparsely among the "underground abstract" artists in the 1960 and 1970 in Shanghai. Artists such as Zhang Gongque, Liao Pengfei, Chen Juyuan and Li Shan, were exploring abstraction with oil painting, gouache and water color mediums. These artists became part of the second wave searching for modernism since the Republican era.

Abstract ink painting practices only began in the early 1980s with artist like Shen Chen. Under the vision of expressionism,Shen’s practice aimed at shifting the permeation of ink and water on paper towards a modernist manifestation, paving the path for the earliestexperimentation with ink. In addition, Shen has adopted the calligraphic andhieroglyphic components of the Chinese characters into his practice. For example, Shen Chen took calligraphic brush stroke as a minimalist painting element, where as Gu Wenda integrated calligraphic Dadaism with the conceptualand abstract forms of the Chinese character, which he then infused into the impressions of landscape painting. This approach can be traced back to Liao Pengfei's practice of gouache painting that appropriated Chinese calligraphy and abstract expressionism in the 1960s.

In 1982, Shen Chen began to explore abstraction in the medium of ink painting, where he ink washed the rice paperas it’s done in conventional Chinese paintings to create the texture of abstraction. In addition, he mixed gouache material into the ink and water. In the following year, he gradually established an experimental ink painting stylethat could be construed as minimal and abstract art. It was synonymous to acalligraphic minimalism, where only leveled and vertical, or spiraling semi-circles brush strokes were painted on, otherwise largely left blank, paper. These marks were scattered sparsely on the image, shifted the void and calligraphic component of Chinese painting towards a modernist style.

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, the process of modernization that was temporarily paused was restored. Since the early Republican era to the mid-1970s, Wu Dayu has gradually defined this practice as the oriental modernism. Being at the center of the modernist enlightenment at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and invigorated by the atmosphere of restoring the progress of modernization, Shen Chen and otherartists of the new generation attempted to push this progress towards a more authentic abstraction. On the one hand, abstraction done in the medium of oil painting was gradually shapinginto a group, while Shen Chen remained the only artist heading down the path of abstract ink painting.

At the Shanghai Theatre Academy and other modernist camps in Shanghai had the advantage of having access to more information on abstract art compare to other parts of the country in the late1970s, never the less, the amount of information available was still limited.Shen Chen foresaw an unexplored possibility beyond Wu Dayu and other artistsfrom the previous generation in Chinese calligraphy and ink painting aesthetics, which was the relationship between abstraction and the calligraphic qualities, minimalism and the blank space on paper in traditional Chinese painting. The modernist aesthetics were primarily represented through the components of the work, the composition of the image and its structural authenticity. After WWII, further emphasis was given to the lyricalcompositions, calligraphic forms and the minimal, Zen style blank space, thatgradually were considered as the mainstream.

沈忱《作品 无题 No.485》水墨，宣纸 
Shen Chen Untitied No.485 Ink on Xuan Paper

134 × 66 cm 1987

Shen Chen’s experimentations in ink painting from 1983-1984 centered on singular works. His series of painting explored the brushwork, the combination of vertical and horizontal lines, the combination of the # sign and circular brushwork, leveled lines, T shape characters, andbow-shape lines and etc. In comparison to the conceptual practice of Tansaekhwa that equally emphasized on the brushwork, Shen Chen's practice gave emphasis on the texture from the brushwork, like the trailing marks and discontinuous lines, uneven and randomlines. His brushwork can be divided into two structural forms, one was the linear relationship among them, and the other was their resonance with the blank space left on paper.

With the integration of calligraphy and abstraction, American abstract expressionism, Japanese modernist calligraphy,and the Korean Tanseaekhwa have stepped into the exploration of theavant-garde. Overall, the linear structures created through calligraphic approach were the ways of organizing the image, the spatial relationship of lines and empty space, the rhythm and brushwork created by repetitive order, while the core practice remained on the structures of formalism, drawing elements from the rhythm and compositional features from calligraphy, at the same time, they are not proficient in exploring the nature of the brush.

For Shen Chen, the key in practicing abstraction through experimental ink painting was to first extract the brushwork from the calligraphic gestures of writing characters and transforms them into formal elements that do not embody any significance, while thebrushworks constitute a combination of lines, which then becomes a kind of elemental abstraction. Further more, Shen Chen allowed the empty space intraditional Chinese painting to become a formal aesthetics on the structure in terms of composition. Rather than claiming, the empty space that is left“blank”, his works did not necessarily represent the natural phenomenon in two-dimensional space, but the structural or divided space visualized through the linear structures where empty space was generated. The cursive lines are the connections that bring the empty spaces together. Formally speaking, Shen Chen redefined the empty spaces on the two-dimensional surface.

Other than the divisive function of the linear structure in two-dimensional spce, its other significance is highlighted by the nature of the brush. It was not until the early twentieth century with the emergence of expressionism, did the subjective agency of the brush becomean important visual form. However, the gestural brush has always been at thecore of Chinese calligraphy and painting. It does not only satisfy the compositional aspects of formalism but also sets the standards for lyricism.Not only the lines or brushwork constellate into visual structures, in addition, the rhythm of the painted lines. More importantly, the gestural nature of the brushwork, also conceived as the intention of the gesture, the speed, density, dryness and all six other standards of moving the brush to meetthe intention of the mind.

沈忱《作品 无题 No.6081-88》水粉，水墨，宣纸 

Shen Chen Untitied No.6081-88 Ink and Goache on Xuan Paper

102 × 407 cm 1988

From 1985 to 1987, Shen Chen shifted his format from single breadth to triptych or mounting the works in hanging scrolls. The triptych is in fact a horizontal combination of his single paintings. The characteristics of his brushwork tend to be more visible on thesingle works, while the triptych permits an overall aesthetics for compositional structure, the latter allows the structure of the lines to bemore than instrumental to spatial division, or the agent that brings the blank spaces together. All the blank spaces constitute an atmosphere, where the combination of brushwork could become the fluid energy that flows across thefield vertically or horizontally. This is similar to the modern expression of“energy” from the realm of Chinese aesthetics.

By mounting abstract ink paintings on hanging scrolls, Shen Chen departed from the minimalist style, the layers on his imagery became richer, integrating the abstract permeation he had adopted in1982 with the later linear structures and characteristics of the gestural brushwork to construct a site for abstract ink painting on a structural sense.The pursuit of such exploration attempts to address the “energy” in ink modernism.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Shen Chen's starting point with experimental ink painting had already been advanced, who attempted to redefine the Chinese aesthetic field with modernism, as well as trying to isolate the formal elements from Chinese calligraphy and painting,and steering towards a formalism of abstraction and minimalism based on the modernist pursuit. This exploration leads to a unique creative style. Since Shen Chen immigrated to the U.S. at the end of the 1980s, the new movements in ink painting that took place thereafter left his prescient exploration unnoticed.

Shen Chen Abstract Ink Paintings

Curator：Zhu Qi

Exhibition Period: 

November 3rd - December 22, 2018

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