艺术家｜对话艺术家张炜(下)
张炜个展“离魂”展览现场 The installation view of Departed Soul
Courtesy of BLANKgallery
张炜 Zhang Wei
“所有艺术我觉得它其实没有特别强的时效性, 那我就把绘画当成一个当成一个锚定内心的，跟我在一起的一个东西。”
张炜个展“离魂”展览现场 The installation view of Departed Soul
Courtesy of BLANKgallery
张炜 Zhang Wei
下降，Falling
2023, 瓦楞纸丙烯、镜子 Acrylic on cardboard,mirror 75cm × 106.5 × 6.5cm
B: 我也会看到画面当中还有很多人，这是不是您当时那一群好朋友大家一起交游的场景? 您为什么想把它记录下来？
Z: 一个是珍惜，另外一个我觉得在那段时间，我整个状态不太好。我现在去画，去重新审视那段经历，我觉得也是为现在和之后，给我的生活提供一个参考的坐标。
张炜个展“离魂”展览现场 The installation view of Departed Soul
Courtesy of BLANKgallery
张炜 Zhang Wei
同一座山巅，Top of the Same Mountain
2023, 布面丙烯 Acrylic on canvas, 180cm ×130cm
Z: 没有, 这很意外。
B：您现在在生活中不管是对妻子或朋友也好, 您是会愿意用文字还是作品来阐述内心感受?
Z：我是不太会说的，所以我才选择画画这种方式，有些东西我没法用言语去描述，所以说绘画才给我提供一个可能的出口。
张炜 Zhang Wei
漂浮的岛IV，Floating Island IV
2022, 布面丙烯 Acrylic on canvas, 100cm ×150cm
B: 前几天有一个观众进展厅之前还挺兴高采烈的，看完之后出去的时候就变得蛮沉重的。她很年轻，看完展览之后感觉很触动，说想珍惜身边的人。这就还蛮有趣的, 她跟您的作品产生了某种连接，我觉得这是一件好事，有人真正的看进去您的作品了并有种共情感。
Z: 开幕那天有个外国人用蹩脚的中文说他看了展览很感动，说很谢谢我，感觉他快哭了。其实有时候觉得自己的作品能有人触动到，还是很开心的。虽然我不希望大家难过。
B: 但其实这种情绪也能治愈到某一部分人，它给出的情感可能是比较悲伤，但其实这种悲伤反倒是能治愈某些人的内心。
张炜个展“离魂”展览现场 The installation view of Departed Soul
Courtesy of BLANKgallery
B: 那我们说点关于作品的事儿，因为这几年被迫终止了很多展览项目，在疫情过程当中可能被选择的过程会偏多一点，您的心态会不会有一些变化？
Z: 这几年确实有展览的计划被打乱了，我甚至想以后是不是要一直通过其他的收入来养创作。因为绘画就在我身上，在我生活里。我想要持续的去做这件事情，它更需要投入。
B:可以感受得到你希望绘画是一件纯粹的，而不是非常商业的事情。
Z: 如果作品能卖掉，我还是挺高兴的。但还是得把作品做好才是最主要的。
B: 您觉得这次展览怎么样, 有达到您的预期吗? 有没有什么建议给到我们哈哈
Z: 我觉得都挺好的，如果纸上异形的作品再多展一些就更好了😊。
B：那未来有什么其他规划吗？
Z：创作这一块有一些点我已经有开始在做一些尝试了，比如刚才说的关于瓦楞纸的，我想把材料的这一块再往前推进一些。因为对我来说，异形的瓦楞纸其实才刚刚有一点。还有就是之后我有时间就会跟朋友出去转转。然后好好生活。
张炜 Zhang Wei Courtesy of BLANKgallery
张炜(b.1983)生于浙江温岭; 2003 年完成德国柏林艺术大学巴度尔教授的夏季学院绘画课程; 2004 年 4 月完成德国艺术家克里斯蒂安(Abraham David Christian)教授的绘画课程; 2005 年毕业于中国美术学院综合艺术系; 现工作及生活于上海。
近年主要展览经历包括:个展:“离魂”，BLANKgallery，上海，中国(2023年); “春潮”，BLANKgallery，上海，中国(2022年); “半开的⻔”，工作室画廊， 上海，中国(2022年); “迎春画展”，站台中国，北京，中国(2021年); “约翰摩尔绘画奖 10 周年巡回展”，四川美术学院美术馆，重庆，中国(2021 年); “约翰莫尔绘画奖作品展”，上海⺠生美术馆，上海，中国(2020年); “⻘年之光”，泰达文化艺术中心，天津，中国(2019年); “新星势力— —全国新⻘年藝術家作品展”，关山漾美术馆，武汉，中国(2019年)。
B:Many visitors to this exhibition said that your works also look like reversal film, which is the color of film negatives. You just mentioned that your work is a sad story, so can you share the origin of the story? Why do you want to record these things?
Z: It was based on a trip I took with a friend when I was in Beijing. We used to lie like this or sit like this at that time. Many of the works in this exhibition are actually related to a poet. The one time I have a deep impression is when he and I went to the outskirts of Beijing to climb the Great Wall. The Great Wall was so collapsed that only the skeleton was left, and if you walked on it, you had to walk in a crawling state. We walked from afternoon to dark, and finally found a beacon. That beacon is collapsed, even the top is not, so it is a platform. We both had long hair at the time, so we lay on top of the beacon. The wind was particularly strong, the stars were particularly bright, the moon was thin and curved, and the city was very far away. That feeling is very strong. The good friend who used to lie down and watch the stars together has already left, and a long time has passed, so this emotion is quite complicated.
B: Can I understand that the two long-haired figures in your picture are actually you and your poet friend?
Z: Not exactly. Because if I wanted to paint me and my friend, I would think of something more realistic. Like how he looked, how I looked, what we were wearing at the time. I just use it as an "emotional sculpture" in another space, but the source of the imagery is based on my own experience.
B: I can also see that there are many people in the picture, is this the scene when you were a group of good friends and we were hanging out together? Why did you want to record it?
Z: Yes. One is to cherish it, and the other is that I think I was not in a good state during that time. Now I am going to paint and re-examine that experience, I think it is also a reference coordinate for my life now and afterwards.
B: Do you feel relieved about that incident at that time?
Z: For me, it doesn't matter whether I let go or not. Because that is an experience, you have experienced it yourself and it becomes a part of your self, no matter how much you have experienced afterwards, it is there.
B: Can I ask you again, some of the works have the imagery of bones, what are the bones trying to express?
Z: Actually, when we climb the wild mountains, we often see different bones. I have a friend who disappeared from a mountain, and his whereabouts are still unknown. We went to the mountain where he disappeared many times to look for him. When the search and rescue team went to search, they found many other skeletons of different ages in the mountain. We also climbed Tietuo Mountain in Mentougou many times. I saw the skeletons that time with my poet friend.
B: Were you touched by seeing these skeletons? Because I think it's probably the same as the memory of catching snakes, it's one of the things that face life and death directly.
Z: Yes, it definitely has that aspect to it.
B: Do you get scared to keep going? Would you also be afraid that you would lose your way, or even stay somewhere if you couldn't be saved by someone else?
Z: At that time, we were both too young, too fond of partying, and didn't take life particularly seriously, both were mainly experiential. We also said to each other, whoever commits suicide is a fool, we are both well. But then he chose to go on his own.
B: Were you worried that he might commit suicide?
Z: No, I never thought about it.
B: In your life now, whether it's your wife or your friends, would you like to express your feelings in words or in your works?
Z: I am not very good at talking and writing, that's why I choose to paint, there are some things I can't describe with words, so painting gives me an outlet to express my heart.
B:Yesterday, there was an audience member who was very happy before coming to the exhibition, but was quite heavy when she left after seeing it. She was very young and felt very moved after seeing the exhibition, saying that she wanted to cherish the people around her. I think it's a good thing that someone really saw your work and felt a sense of empathy.
Z: On the opening day, a foreigner said in broken Chinese that he was very moved by the exhibition and thanked me, and he felt like crying. In fact, sometimes I feel very happy that my works can be touched by someone. Although I don't want people to be sad.
B: But actually this kind of emotion can also heal to a certain part of people who give emotions that may be sadder, but in fact this sadness in turn can heal the heart of certain people.
Z: When the emotion is organized and wants to be organized and expressed properly, it is no longer in the same form as the earliest one. It is all transformed, it becomes softer and becomes a more acceptable symbol.
B: Then let's talk about the works, because we have been forced to terminate many exhibition projects in these years, and the process of being selected during the epidemic may be a little bit more, will there be some changes in your mentality?
Z: It's true that my exhibition plans have been disrupted in the past few years, and I even wondered if I should always support my creation through other income in the future. Because painting is in me, in my life. I want to keep doing this thing, it needs more commitment.
B: I can feel that you want painting to be a pure thing, not a very commercial thing.
Z: If the work can be sold, I am still quite happy. But still, the main thing is to make the work good.
B: How do you feel about the exhibition, did it meet your expectation? Do you have any suggestions for us?
Z:I think it was good, but it would be better if there were more alien works on paper 😊.
B: Do you have any other plans for the future?
Z: I've already started to experiment with some points of creation, such as the corrugated paper I mentioned earlier, and I want to push the material further. For example, I want to push the material a little bit further, because for me, the shaped corrugated paper is just a little bit. And after that, I will go out with my friends when I have time. And then live well.
Zhang Wei (b.1983) was born in Wenling, Zhejiang Province, China; he completed the Summer Academy Painting Course taught by Professor Badol at the University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany in 2003; he completed the Painting Course taught by German artist Abraham David Christian in April 2004; he graduated from the Department of Integrated Arts of the China Academy of Art in 2005; he now lives and works in Shanghai.
"Departed Soul", BLANKgallery, Shanghai, China (2023); "Spring Blooming", BLANKgallery, Shanghai, China (2022); "Half Open Door", Studio Gallery, Shanghai, China (2022); "Welcome Spring Painting Exhibition", Platform China, Beijing, China (2021); "John Moore Painting Award 10th Anniversary Touring Exhibition ", Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Art Museum, Chongqing, China (2021); "John Moore Painting Prize Exhibition", Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2020); "Light of Youth", TEDA Culture Center, Tianjin, China (2019); "New Star Power - National New Young Artists Exhibition", Guanshanyang Art Museum, Wuhan, China (2019).
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