弥金 GENE | 艺术家介绍：赵刚
无题 Untitled, 赵刚, 150x120cm, 布面油画, 2004
我认为中国画没能走很远
赵刚：
我认为中国画没能走很远，更多的是关于实用性，而不是真正的思考。它愉悦人的眼睛，但不启发观众。虽然中国有12亿人口，中国美学还是一片混乱。美学被简化为愉悦感官的风格和形式主义。
所以我重画经典古画，想找回中国艺术曾经激进的部分，想知道当时的艺术家在画下这些具有高度颠覆性的山水画时，心里到底在想什么。我的画就是在重新强调每个人的成长环境强调中国人如何寻找自己的身份。我不知道绘画算不算人类文明的重要组成部分。它可能更像一个副产品。但我还是觉得它有价值。艺术本身可以解决身份和政治立场的问题。艺术家的工作基本上就是跟既定社会政治结构吵架。
问题的关键在于，西方艺术，比如文艺复兴时期的艺术，有明确的使命，就是挑战单一的神，把人类的力量和科学放到教会之前。中国从来没有国教，这一点挺悲哀的，甚至是悲剧。没有需要你挑战的核心结构，也没有正儿八经的信仰，只有实用。大伙儿去庙里是为了求发财。做一个中国艺术家很难，因为你没什么明确的挑战对象或是使命。在我艺术生涯刚开始的那一段儿，我属于所谓的“前卫艺术”群体，挑战文化大革命代表的国家体制。但很快改革开放就来了，你又挑战什么去呢？这就是悲剧，是做一名中国艺术家最难的地方——很容易变成反动分子。
回头想想，中国文明里其实没什么文明成分。我不知道我有没有能力捡起中国艺术，把它变成一种启发，试试看呗。在这里面，正经处理绘画问题的艺术家实在是为数不多。但无论如何，我的创作会跟这些人站在一起。
善于伪装, 赵刚, 120x100cm, 布面油画, 2011-2012
I think Chinese painting hasn't developed very far
Zhao Gang：
I think Chinese painting hasn't developed very far. It's still romantic and fundamental, more about functionality rather than true thinking. It's about pleasing the eye, rather than inspiring viewers. Despite the fact that there are 1.2 billion Chinese people, Chinese aesthetics are in complete disarrary. Aesthetics are reduced to style and formalism to provide pleasure.
That's why I repaint old classic paintings; to return to what was radical in Chineses art, to try to get into the minds of the artists at the time, when they painted these landscapes that could also be highly subversive. My painting is really about reeamphasizing the circumstances of each human, of the Chinese goging through the search for their own identities. I'm not sure if painting really is a crucial part of civilization. It may be more like a by-product. But I still think it is valuable. Art itself can solve issues of identity and political positions. Basically the artist's job is trying to argue with established sociopolitical structures.
无题Untitled, 赵刚, 121x152cm, 布面油画
The problem is that in Western art, for instance with the Renaissance, there was a clear mission to challenge a singular God, bringing in human power and science instead of the Church. It's sad, tragic even, that China never really had a centralized religion. There's no central structure to challenge and no true belief of anything, only functionality. People go to the temple...to make more money. Being a Chinese artist is very hard because you don't have a clear mission to challenge. At the beginning of my life as an artist, I was part of the so-called avant-garde challenging the end of the Cultural Revolution. But after there's an opening up what do you challenge? That's the tradedy, the hardest part of being a Chinese artist — you could easily become a reactionary.
When you go back and think through it, there's not much civilization going on in Chinese civilization. I don't know if I am the one to take Chinese art and make it something that can inspire, but I try. I want to be in line with the handful of artists dealing with the issue of painting.
无题 Untitled, 赵刚, 90x89.5cm, 布面油画, 1980-1990
关于赵刚
1961 生于北京
毕业于荷兰Maastricht 国家艺术学院
1984 毕业于美国纽约VASSAR学院
1998 毕业于纽约BARD学院，并获硕士学位
现工作、生活于北京，纽约
部分个展：
2019 《朝代之旅》, Greene Naftali, 纽约, 美国
2018 《赵刚：购买的身份》，长征空间，北京，中国
2016 《赵刚》，Tilton Gallery，纽约，美国
《赵刚：当代中国油画》，Galerie Nagel Draxler，科隆，德国
《杂种布鲁斯》，BANK，上海，中国
《偶园：赵刚个人作品展》，苏州博物馆，苏州，中国
《通往奴役之路》，尤伦斯当代艺术中心，北京，中国
2014 《皇帝和他的...—赵刚个展》，AYE画廊，北京，中国
2013 《契丹人：赵刚个展》，站台中国，北京，中国
《另一个现实》，大未来林舍画廊，台北，台湾
2012 《赵刚个展》，Wada画廊，东京，日本
《赵刚个展》，Wada画廊，艺术香港，香港，中国
《病夫》，今日美术馆，北京，中国
《Burning the Wood: 杜月笙的收藏—赵刚个展》,aye 画廊,北京,中国
2010 《赵刚》,Galerie Christian Nagel，柏林，德国
部分群展：
2019 《对角线》，弥金画廊，上海，中国
2017 《1989后的艺术与中国：世界剧场》,所罗门·R·古根海姆美术馆,纽约,美国
《赵刚：若愚—金杜收藏展》,金杜艺术中心,北京,中国
《原地前进》，长征空间，北京，中国
2016 《我们的绘画》，央美术馆，北京，中国
《Self》， Massimo De Carlo，伦敦，英国
2015 《中国精神: 第四届中国油画展: 心像—当代中国油画的表现情学术研究展》,中国油画院等
《民间的力量—北京民生现代美术馆开馆展》,北京民生现代美术馆,北京
《大画展》,站台中国,北京,中国
2014 《癫闲》，鸿坤美术馆，北京，中国
《与绘画有关》，OCAT西安馆，西安，中国
《85前的非官方艺术》，博而励画廊，北京，中国
《早期》，站台中国当代艺术机构，北京，中国
2013 《绘画性》，BANK空间，上海，中国
《丛林II--弥漫的形态：契丹人》，站台中国当代艺术机构，北京，中国
《丛林II--弥漫的形态：相对论》，站台中国当代艺术机构，北京，中国
2012 《半夏》，亦安画廊，北京，中国
2010 《Demolition Milk II》，Kunst Im Tunnel画廊，杜塞尔多夫，德国
2009 《相嵌苏州——中国当代艺术展》，苏州博物馆，苏州，中国
About Zhao Gang
1961 Born in Beijing, China
State Academy of Fine Art, Maastricht, Holland
1984 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, USA
1998 MFA, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA
Currently works and lives in Beijing and New York
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019 Passage to Dynasty, Greene Naftali, New York, USA
2018 Zhao Gang: Acquiring Identity, Long March Space, Beijing, China
2016 Gang Zhao, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USA
The Road to Serfdom II, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile
Contemporary Chinese Painting, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne, Germany
Zhao Gang, Dingyun Art Salon, Wuhan, China
2015 The Collection of Lust Empire, Aura Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Cocksucker Blues, BANK, Shanghai, China
Paramour’s Garden, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
Zhao Gang: The Road to Serfdom, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art,Beijing,China
2014 Emperor and His…, AYE Gallery, Beijing, China
2013 The Khitans: Zhao Gang, Platform China, Beijing, China
Another Reality, Lin & Lin Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 Zhao Gang, Wada Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Sisyphus: Zhao Gang, Aura Gallery, Beijing, China
Sick Man: Zhao Gang, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Burning the Wood: The Collection of Du Yuesheng, AYE Gallery, Beijing, China
2010 Gang Zhao, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin, Germany
2010 Gang Zhao, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin, Germany
2009 Dance in Dream: Zhao Gang Solo Exhibition, Triumph Art Space,Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Diagonal, Gene Gallery, Shanghai, China
2017 Zhao Gang: Comfortably Dumb—Works from the KWM Collection, KWM Artcenter, Beijing, China
Marching in Circles, Long March Space, Beijing, China
2016 Our Painting, Yang Museum, Beijing, China
Self, Massimo De Carlo, London, UK
2015 The Civil Power: Beijing Minsheng Art Museum Opening Exhibition,Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
Big Painting Exhibition, Platform China,Beijing,China
2014 Frenetic Quietism, Hongkun Museum of Fine Art, BBeijing,China
About Painting, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Xi’an, China
The Un-officials: Art before 85, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China
2013 Paint(erly), BANK, Shanghai, China
Jungle II – A Thriving Morphology: The Khitans, Platform China, Beijing, China
Jungle II–A Thriving Morphology: Theory of Relativity, Platform China, Beijing, China
2012 Pinellia, Aura Gallery, Beijing, China
2010 Demolition Milk II, Kunst Im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany
2009 Embrace Suzhou–Exhibition of the Chinese Contemporary Arts,Suzhou Museum,Suzhou, China
往期回顾