中國(guó)專(zhuān)業(yè)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)資訊平臺(tái)
搜索

潘多拉之咒:馬野個(gè)人藝術(shù)文獻(xiàn)展

開(kāi)幕時(shí)間:2018-04-07 15:00:00

開(kāi)展時(shí)間:2018-04-07

結(jié)束時(shí)間:2018-05-07

展覽地址:宋莊當(dāng)代藝術(shù)文獻(xiàn)館二、三層展廳(北京市通州區(qū)宋莊鎮(zhèn)小堡南湖藝術(shù)區(qū))

策展人:吳鴻

參展藝術(shù)家:馬野

主辦單位:宋莊當(dāng)代藝術(shù)文獻(xiàn)館

展覽介紹


  潘多拉之咒
  吳鴻
  在社會(huì)學(xué)的研究中,類(lèi)型學(xué)是一個(gè)最基本的方法性工具。但是,在藝術(shù)史的研究中,類(lèi)型學(xué)既是行之有效的方法;同時(shí),也是極有可能遮蔽了個(gè)體存在價(jià)值的陷阱。之于有關(guān)中國(guó)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的研究中,我們也往往會(huì)依據(jù)地域、時(shí)代、境遇等等最大公約數(shù),而將個(gè)體的、唯一性的藝術(shù)家簡(jiǎn)單劃歸于某些藝術(shù)史的類(lèi)型學(xué)分類(lèi)中,從而忽視并遺漏了存在于個(gè)體藝術(shù)家中的一些最為寶貴的信息。至少在在二十一世紀(jì)頭十年之前,我們關(guān)于中國(guó)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的研究與闡述,仍然是停留在類(lèi)型學(xué)的方法論之中。近幾年來(lái),在關(guān)于中國(guó)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的宏大敘事之外,藝術(shù)家的個(gè)人經(jīng)驗(yàn)和個(gè)體價(jià)值開(kāi)始成為了藝術(shù)史研究中有價(jià)值的對(duì)象。
  正是在這樣的一個(gè)背景下,我們?cè)?quot;圓明園"和"宋莊"這樣一些集體經(jīng)驗(yàn)之外,類(lèi)型學(xué)的粗暴烏托邦開(kāi)始松動(dòng),我們開(kāi)始可以去關(guān)注一些另一種主流之外的個(gè)體的存在經(jīng)驗(yàn)。這實(shí)際是一個(gè)"他者的他者"否定之否定過(guò)程。也就是說(shuō),圓明園也好,宋莊也好,在獨(dú)立于主流體制之外的過(guò)程中,也同時(shí)形成了關(guān)于它自身的一種主流解釋標(biāo)準(zhǔn),而所謂的"他者的他者"正是基于"邊緣的主流化"之后的另一種邊緣身份的研究方法。
  也正是基于上述的理論前提下,我們?cè)陉P(guān)于藝術(shù)家馬野的從藝經(jīng)歷研究過(guò)程中發(fā)現(xiàn),他既是一個(gè)典型的從圓明園到宋莊的這個(gè)群體中的一份子,同時(shí),他也有另一種并不完全等同于這個(gè)群體類(lèi)型學(xué)表述的個(gè)體價(jià)值和個(gè)人經(jīng)驗(yàn)。
  我們先說(shuō)馬野的經(jīng)歷中與這個(gè)群體的集體經(jīng)驗(yàn)中趨同的一方面。馬野和圓明園藝術(shù)家中絕大多數(shù)人的經(jīng)歷中與"圓明園"這個(gè)地理位置發(fā)生關(guān)聯(lián)的背景是一致的,他們都是在上個(gè)世紀(jì)八十年代中國(guó)單一化的社會(huì)體制出現(xiàn)某種松動(dòng)之后,同時(shí)個(gè)體經(jīng)濟(jì)也開(kāi)始萌發(fā)的前提下,一些不滿(mǎn)足于"單位"體制的刻板和乏味,天真地以為憑借個(gè)體的創(chuàng)作可以支撐自己的單純的藝術(shù)理想。于是,他們?cè)诓](méi)有做好"前期調(diào)研"和最起碼的物質(zhì)準(zhǔn)備的情況下,匆忙地使自己成為中國(guó)的藝術(shù)史上沒(méi)有藝術(shù)市場(chǎng)作為支撐的"職業(yè)藝術(shù)家"。當(dāng)然,脫離了刻板而機(jī)械的體制的束縛之后,建立在象牙塔之中的"自由",也給他們帶來(lái)了只存在于個(gè)人主觀意識(shí)中的歡愉與理想釋放。甚至是,這種關(guān)于"自由"的理解方式是與青春期的荷爾蒙高漲是結(jié)合在一起的。他們并沒(méi)有做好如何理解并鞏固這種"自由"的準(zhǔn)備,所以,這種有關(guān)藝術(shù)自由的理想主義實(shí)踐最終只能破滅于青春殘酷之中。"后圓明園"時(shí)代的頭幾年,是這些盲流藝術(shù)家們建立在虛無(wú)縹緲的藝術(shù)理想破滅之后一次重大藝術(shù)生存方式的分野。商業(yè)的歸于商業(yè),投機(jī)的歸于投機(jī),投降的歸于投降,堅(jiān)守的歸于堅(jiān)守。這次的分野,甚至可以延續(xù)至今天"職業(yè)藝術(shù)家"們的各種生存方式。而馬野在北京的城鄉(xiāng)結(jié)合部"流竄"幾年之后,又重新歸于圓明園之后的另一個(gè)"烏托邦"--宋莊。當(dāng)然,此宋莊并非彼圓明園。宋莊的農(nóng)村小院并不同于圓明園時(shí)期的大雜院。藝術(shù)家混跡在村民之中反而失去了圓明園時(shí)代的集體生活環(huán)境,于是,來(lái)源于全國(guó)不同文化地域的個(gè)體們,他們?cè)谏罘绞缴系牟町愋蚤_(kāi)始顯現(xiàn)出來(lái)。"躲進(jìn)小樓(院)成一統(tǒng)",任爾玩世與艷俗。相比較于圓明園時(shí)期的集體主義經(jīng)驗(yàn),宋莊相對(duì)分散的生活和居住環(huán)境,促使了藝術(shù)家開(kāi)始基于個(gè)體的社會(huì)閱歷和生存經(jīng)驗(yàn),相對(duì)獨(dú)立地審視基于社會(huì)壓力的挑戰(zhàn)與應(yīng)戰(zhàn)。當(dāng)然,在這個(gè)過(guò)程中,開(kāi)始萌動(dòng)的藝術(shù)品市場(chǎng)的主流風(fēng)格的影響,以及長(zhǎng)期的農(nóng)村生活經(jīng)驗(yàn)的現(xiàn)實(shí),不可避免地反映在藝術(shù)家們的創(chuàng)作中。但是,個(gè)體價(jià)值判斷的建立和個(gè)人方法的形成,也開(kāi)始在此前的群體經(jīng)驗(yàn)之外尋找到一些行動(dòng)的軌跡。及至在后來(lái)的藝術(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)化的浪潮中,越來(lái)越多的后續(xù)藝術(shù)家的加入,最終從風(fēng)格學(xué)的意義稀釋并消解了"從圓明園到宋莊"的這樣一個(gè)群體的類(lèi)型化特征。
  從這個(gè)群體的遷徙流轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)程的意義上來(lái)說(shuō),馬野是其中一個(gè)具有典型性的組成因子。但是,馬野在上述的集體經(jīng)驗(yàn)之外,體現(xiàn)在他的創(chuàng)作中的個(gè)人化特征也是非常明顯的。所以,我們也可以把他視為一個(gè)典型的非典型意義上的圓明園藝術(shù)家和宋莊藝術(shù)家。
  馬野在成為圓明園藝術(shù)家群體一份子之前,是在老家陜北的一所農(nóng)村中學(xué)任教。在此之前的于西安美術(shù)學(xué)院美教系的學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)歷中,發(fā)生在全國(guó)各地的所謂八五新潮甚至對(duì)他并沒(méi)有太大的影響。我們可以設(shè)身處地想象,一個(gè)在貧瘠的農(nóng)村環(huán)境中,背負(fù)著"不務(wù)正業(yè)"的誤解與指責(zé)的壓力,好不容易考上專(zhuān)業(yè)藝術(shù)院校,而且在當(dāng)?shù)剡€是第一個(gè)"大學(xué)生",這樣的生存背景下,能在一個(gè)安靜的專(zhuān)業(yè)環(huán)境中,按照專(zhuān)業(yè)院校的規(guī)范教學(xué)大綱去畫(huà)畫(huà),可能已經(jīng)是當(dāng)時(shí)的馬野的最大人生樂(lè)趣。大學(xué)畢業(yè)之后,命運(yùn)和他開(kāi)起了第一個(gè)玩笑,使他又重新回到了閉塞的農(nóng)村環(huán)境中。這段人生經(jīng)歷有點(diǎn)像小說(shuō)《人生》中高加林的命運(yùn)。我注意到在馬野后來(lái)寫(xiě)的一些片段式的回憶文字中,他對(duì)于"畫(huà)家"這個(gè)身份的認(rèn)同是極為敏感的并反復(fù)提及的。這并不同于其他人的"藝術(shù)家"這樣一個(gè)區(qū)別于"畫(huà)"家的身份認(rèn)同。那么我們可以想象,一個(gè)正在做著"畫(huà)家"夢(mèng)的年輕人,被命運(yùn)拋到一個(gè)甚至連體育和音樂(lè)課都要兼起來(lái)的環(huán)境中,其內(nèi)心的受挫感是多么的強(qiáng)烈。我強(qiáng)調(diào)這一點(diǎn),是為了將馬野區(qū)別于同時(shí)期那些已經(jīng)在各個(gè)"地方"環(huán)境中接受過(guò)現(xiàn)代、后現(xiàn)代思潮的熏陶,準(zhǔn)備把圓明園當(dāng)成蒙馬特或紐約的那些人之不同,馬野是把圓明園視為浪漫的巴比松。當(dāng)然,這中間也有同時(shí)間的浪漫的"私奔"愛(ài)情給他帶來(lái)的心理因素。總之,對(duì)于馬野而言,物質(zhì)的貧瘠并沒(méi)有影響到他對(duì)于生活的憧憬:每一天在沒(méi)有油水的青菜湯中都能看到詩(shī)意,圓明園殘?jiān)珨啾诘臉?shù)林中的鳥(niǎo)鳴都代表著自由的歌唱,北方凜冽的空氣中都散發(fā)著自由的清新。正是這樣的一種內(nèi)心經(jīng)歷,所以我們?cè)隈R野的圓明園時(shí)期的創(chuàng)作中并沒(méi)有看到一些"典型"的圓明園藝術(shù)家的風(fēng)格樣式。那些對(duì)于形而上哲學(xué)的苦思冥想,對(duì)于社會(huì)學(xué)意義上的觀念表達(dá),對(duì)于同時(shí)期的歐美正在發(fā)生的后現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)潮流的模仿,這些都似乎與馬野沒(méi)有關(guān)系。這個(gè)時(shí)期馬野的作品中更多地體現(xiàn)出來(lái)的是帶著黃河文化古老的生命原始沖動(dòng)和對(duì)于自由的自然勃發(fā)。
  我之所以強(qiáng)調(diào)這一點(diǎn),并將之視為我理解馬野創(chuàng)作軌跡的一個(gè)起點(diǎn),一方面是想說(shuō)明馬野的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作和社會(huì)思考更多的是基于他的一種親身的直觀體驗(yàn),它是直接而切身有感而發(fā)的,并不是來(lái)自于一種隨大流的群體經(jīng)驗(yàn)或概念推演。另一方面,也正因?yàn)轳R野的創(chuàng)作經(jīng)驗(yàn)的基礎(chǔ),是用自己親身所體驗(yàn)到的對(duì)于社會(huì)環(huán)境變化的感受,并將之直接地表達(dá)在自己的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作中,所以,通過(guò)馬野在不同時(shí)代中所創(chuàng)作的作品,我們甚至可以感受到自上個(gè)世紀(jì)八十年代以來(lái)中國(guó)社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的變化過(guò)程中一段最為真實(shí)的心路歷程。這就是,基于原始的生命原力的沖動(dòng),在經(jīng)受了重大的社會(huì)性挫折之后,隨后的重商主義社會(huì)實(shí)踐又將這種生命原力轉(zhuǎn)化為對(duì)于物質(zhì)化的赤裸裸的追求。與此同時(shí),由于舊有的價(jià)值標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的坍塌,以及新的適合于商品經(jīng)濟(jì)和市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)的社會(huì)倫理關(guān)系因?yàn)橛秀S谥髁饕庾R(shí)形態(tài)要求而無(wú)法進(jìn)入社會(huì)主流文化訴求之中。這樣,片面而跛足的市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)所導(dǎo)致的重商主義和拜金主義的盛行,必然極大地觸發(fā)了人性的欲望。在沒(méi)有相應(yīng)的社會(huì)倫理和文化傳統(tǒng)的制約下,原始欲望的泛濫必然會(huì)導(dǎo)致匯流成為一種強(qiáng)大的普遍性的社會(huì)心理。這種普遍性的社會(huì)心理一旦表現(xiàn)為一種隱性的社會(huì)主流價(jià)值觀之后,雖然它相對(duì)于主流的意識(shí)形態(tài)宣傳而言,仍然是一種隱性的社會(huì)亞文化,但是正因?yàn)樗钠毡樾院腿狈s束性,其相對(duì)于社會(huì)主流文化所造成的毀滅性,以及對(duì)于生活于那個(gè)時(shí)代中的普通個(gè)體內(nèi)心所形成的傷害程度也是前所未有的?;诖耍@也是我將這篇關(guān)于馬野的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作歷程的研究文章的標(biāo)題稱(chēng)之為"潘多拉之咒"的原因。人性原力的勃然爆發(fā),就像潘多拉在不經(jīng)意中打開(kāi)了那個(gè)充滿(mǎn)了諸神詛咒的魔盒,而在盒蓋合上之前,那個(gè)喻示著"解決"的蝴蝶確并沒(méi)有來(lái)得及飛將出來(lái),所以,我們正在面臨著一場(chǎng)前所未有的劇烈的"金濤駭浪"……
  再回過(guò)頭來(lái)看馬野在不同時(shí)期中的創(chuàng)作特征。前述的在圓明園時(shí)期中,馬野的個(gè)人特征是基于一種生命在脫離了束縛之后的一種莫名的欣悅與沖動(dòng)。雖然在他自己的文字表述中,會(huì)把來(lái)自于他故鄉(xiāng)的民間文化傳統(tǒng)中的視覺(jué)圖式因素過(guò)于放大,但是我更傾向于將之視為一種生命原力的自然勃發(fā)。它更多的是對(duì)于那個(gè)時(shí)代精神的一種本能的回應(yīng)。后圓明園時(shí)期的頭幾年,馬野惶惶奔波于北京東郊的城鄉(xiāng)結(jié)合部中,生活的壓力和身份的迷茫在圓明園時(shí)期的理想破滅之后開(kāi)始顯現(xiàn)。這些生活和社會(huì)不同體驗(yàn)也都直觀地反映在他的同時(shí)期的創(chuàng)作中。圓明園時(shí)期本能的生命原力的自然勃發(fā)讓位于社會(huì)和生活的雙重壓力。這個(gè)時(shí)期的創(chuàng)作雖然是以抽象的語(yǔ)言方式表達(dá)出來(lái),但是一個(gè)個(gè)體在都市文化的輾軋下,其內(nèi)心無(wú)助、驚恐、迷茫、憤懣的心理情緒,我們是可以直觀地感受到的。這個(gè)階段在馬野的個(gè)人創(chuàng)作經(jīng)歷中也是一個(gè)過(guò)渡,它代表著馬野在對(duì)于自由的理想在受到現(xiàn)實(shí)的挫折之后,開(kāi)始直面社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí),直接將自身對(duì)于社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的體驗(yàn)和思考轉(zhuǎn)化為自己的創(chuàng)作源泉。
  這之后,馬野最終也結(jié)束了自己在城鄉(xiāng)結(jié)合部的動(dòng)蕩生活,落戶(hù)于宋莊小院中。較之于此前的壓力和緊張,相對(duì)輕松的生活節(jié)奏,使他能夠開(kāi)始思考一些生活表象之后深層次的社會(huì)原因。這個(gè)時(shí)期的創(chuàng)作中,體現(xiàn)在他的作品中的那些色情的隱喻,實(shí)際上是他開(kāi)始思考人性的潘多拉魔盒打開(kāi)之后的亂象的肇始。這個(gè)時(shí)候的作品畫(huà)面中,那些賣(mài)弄風(fēng)騷的女性形象,撩撥著人的欲望,并堂而皇之地并置于一些主流的社會(huì)化場(chǎng)景之中,所以,它是一種觀念的隱喻,喻示著那個(gè)時(shí)代中,普遍存在于人的內(nèi)心的一種欲望的悸動(dòng),以及唯恐這種欲望得不到實(shí)現(xiàn)的恐懼與慌亂。
  由著這條將普遍性的社會(huì)心理作為自己的創(chuàng)作主線的線索,馬野最終將這種關(guān)于人性欲望的象征符號(hào)定位于最為徹底的表達(dá)--金錢(qián)。將錢(qián)幣符號(hào)納入到自己的作品符號(hào)系統(tǒng),既是一個(gè)正確的決定,也是一次冒險(xiǎn)的選擇。因?yàn)樵谑澜绶秶乃囆g(shù)家創(chuàng)作中,關(guān)于錢(qián)幣符號(hào)的作品多不勝數(shù),必然也很難出新意!這個(gè)時(shí)候,馬野身上的西北人的那種拙勁和韌性成為了他成功的一個(gè)決定因素。首先,這樣的畫(huà)面一定要大,大到在視覺(jué)體驗(yàn)上一定要足以對(duì)觀眾形成一種排山倒海的壓迫之勢(shì)。同時(shí),細(xì)節(jié)又要面面俱到,不能有所虛化的概括性處理,唯如此,才能對(duì)觀眾形成一種密不透風(fēng)、無(wú)處逃遁的心理暗示。從這點(diǎn)而言,作為一種形式語(yǔ)言的選擇與觀念傳達(dá)的準(zhǔn)確性的統(tǒng)一,馬野的創(chuàng)作嘗試是成功的。
  最后,作為這次馬野個(gè)人藝術(shù)文獻(xiàn)展的整體設(shè)計(jì),我們把作為展覽作品主體的"金濤駭浪"系列,與作為一種文獻(xiàn)化方式而出現(xiàn)的圓明園時(shí)期、大山子時(shí)期馬野的工作室環(huán)境的概念式呈現(xiàn),兩者相并置之后所呈現(xiàn)出來(lái)的策展理念設(shè)計(jì),也正是為了強(qiáng)化出從理想到現(xiàn)實(shí)的轉(zhuǎn)換之后,那個(gè)高懸在每個(gè)人頭頂上猶如達(dá)摩克利斯之劍的"潘多拉之咒",其之于我們每個(gè)人內(nèi)心理性的幻滅與現(xiàn)實(shí)的殘酷。
  備注:文中所提及的關(guān)于"后圓明園"概念,是筆者所提出的一個(gè)時(shí)間性表述,具體所指的是在圓明園畫(huà)家村被取締之后,后續(xù)的幾個(gè)仍然保持了圓明園時(shí)期的某些群體特征的小規(guī)模藝術(shù)家集群。它們包括清華北門(mén)集群、大山子-東壩河集群、通州濱河集群、在基層政府藝術(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)化介入之前的宋莊小堡集群等。因?yàn)楦髯缘木唧w情況不一,它們所存續(xù)的起止時(shí)間也稍有不同。
  2018年1月30日
  (吳鴻:批評(píng)家、策展人,藝術(shù)國(guó)際總編,宋莊當(dāng)代藝術(shù)文獻(xiàn)館執(zhí)行館長(zhǎng))
  Pandora's Curse
  Wu Hong
  Typology is the most basic methodological tool in sociological research. However, in the study of art history, typology is an effective practical method, but it also very likely blots out individual existential value. In the study of Chinese contemporary art, we often rely on largest common divisors such as region, time, and circumstances, and simply incorporate unique individual artists into the typological classifications of art history, thereby ignoring and omitting the most precious information about those individual artists. At least prior to the first decade of the twenty-first century, our studies and explanations of Chinese contemporary art were mired in the typological methodology., In addition to the grand narratives of Chinese contemporary art, artists' personal experiences and individual values have become worthwhile subjects in the study of art history in recent years.
  With this as background, outside of the collective experiences of Yuanmingyuan and Songzhuang, our rough utopia of typology began to relax. We began to focus on individual experiences apart from the mainstream. We were actually negating the negation of "the Other's Other." For both Yuanmingyuan and Songzhuang, this process was independent of the mainstream system, but it also constituted its own mainstream interpretive standard. "The Other's Other" is another research method for marginal identities after "the marginal was made mainstream."
  Based on this theoretical premise, we discover that, in studying Ma Ye's artistic experience, he was a typical member of the group that moved from Yuanmingyuan to Songzhuang, but he has an individual value and personal experience that is not entirely identical to the typological formulation of the group.
  We should first talk about the ways in which Ma Ye's experience and the collective experience of the group are similar. Ma Ye and the vast majority of the Yuanmingyuan artists formed a relationship with the geographic location of Yuanmingyuan under the same circumstances. In the 1980s, after China's monolithic social system relaxed somewhat and the individual-level economy began to grow, people who were dissatisfied with the inflexible and dull work unit system innocently believed that they could rely on their own artwork to support their pure artistic ideals. Without any prior research or basic material preparation, they hastily turned themselves into a generation of "professional artists" without the support of an art market. Of course, after shaking off the restrictions of an unbending and mechanical system, they found "freedom" in the ivory tower, and they achieved a delightful, idealistic release that only existed in their own subjective consciousnesses. One might even say that this way of understanding "freedom" was bound up in the surging hormones of youth. They were not prepared to understand and consolidate this "freedom," so this idealistic practice of artistic freedom could only be destroyed in the brutality of youth. In the first few years of the post-Yuanmingyuan era, after those illusory artistic ideals were destroyed, the artistic existences of these wandering artists diverged. The commercial artists became commercial, the speculative artists became speculative, the surrendering artists surrendered, and the steadfast artists became more steadfast. These dividing lines could even be extended into the various lifestyles of professional artists today. After moving from one place to another on the outskirts of Beijing, Ma Ye came to another post-Yuanmingyuan utopia: Songzhuang. Of course, Songzhuang was not Yuanmingyuan. The small rural courtyards of Songzhuang were different from the large shared courtyards of the Yuanmingyuan era. Artists tried to blend in with the villagers, leaving behind the collective living environment of the Yuanmingyuan period; as a result, the differences in the lifestyles of these individuals from regions and cultures all over China became obvious. Whether working in the cynical or vulgar style, they were "unified by hiding in small homes." Compared to the collective experience of the Yuanmingyuan period, Songzhuang's relatively scattered life and living environments compelled artists to embark upon experiences with society and life as individuals, meaning that they had to independently examine the challenges of and responses to social pressures. Of course, the influence of mainstream styles in the newly-rising art market and the experiences and realities of long-term rural living were naturally reflected in the artists' works. However, the establishment of individual value judgments and the formation of personal methods also began to find a few sources of action within this previous collective experience. The later tide of art industrialization and the arrival of more artists stylistically diluted and eventually eliminated the collective typological traits of the group that moved from Yuanmingyuan to Songzhuang.
  Ma Ye was typical of this group's movements, but beyond the collective experience I have just described, the personal traits of Ma's work are obvious. We could see him as a typical yet atypical Yuanmingyuan artist and Songzhuang artist.
  Before he became a member of the Yuanmingyuan group, Ma Ye was teaching in a rural middle school in his home province of Shaanxi. Prior to this, he studied in the art education department at the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, but the national '85 New Wave movement did not have much of an impact on him. We can imagine how it must have been for him; living in a poor rural place, he worked hard to get into a specialized art academy despite the pressure of misunderstanding and criticism for not "engaging in honest work." He was the village's first university student. With this as his background, painting in a quiet, professional environment based on a standardized educational model at a specialized institution may have been the greatest pleasure in Ma's life at that time. After he graduated from university, fate played its first trick on him, and returned him to a closed rural environment. His life during this period was a bit like Gao Jialin's in the novel Life. I noticed that, in Ma Ye's later fragmented recollections, he was extremely sensitive to and repeatedly mentioned his connection with the identity of the "painter," in a way that was different from the distinction other people make between artists and painters. We can imagine how frustrated a young person with a dream of being a painter must have felt, thrown by fate into an environment where even physical education and music classes had to be combined. I want to emphasize this point in order to show that Ma Ye was different from others who were influenced by modern and post-modern thought in various rural environments and who were prepared to see Yuanmingyuan as Montmartre or New York. Instead, Ma saw Yuanmingyuan as the romantic Barbizon. Of course, this may have been an idea sparked by his elopement at the time. For Ma Ye, material poverty did not influence his longing for a specific kind of life. He saw poetry in the thin vegetable soup he ate every day; the songs of the birds in the trees around Yuanmingyuan's broken walls were songs of freedom, and the piercing northern cold carried the freshness of freedom. It is precisely because of this emotional experience that work from Ma's Yuanmingyuan period does not have some of the stylistic traits of the "typical" Yuanmingyuan artist. Ma Ye had nothing to do with deep thoughts about metaphysical philosophy, conceptual expressions of sociological significance, or imitations of postmodern art trends that were happening in Europe and America at that time. His work from this period often presented the primeval, lived impulse of ancient Yellow River culture and the natural vitality of freedom.
  I emphasize this point because I see it as a starting point for my understanding of Ma Ye's creative career. His artwork and social thinking are based more on direct, personal experience or emotion, and not on larger trends of collective experience or conceptual implications. However, Ma Ye's creative experiences were founded on his feelings about changes in the social environment that he personally experienced and directly expressed in his artwork, so the works that Ma created in different periods present a very authentic, continuous contemplation of the changes in Chinese social reality from the 1980s onward. This impulse of primitive living force, after being largely thwarted by society, was transformed by later mercantilist social practice into the naked pursuit of materialism. At the same time, due to the collapse of existing values and standards, new social and ethical relationships suited to the commodity and market economy could not engage with mainstream culture because they ran counter to mainstream ideological demands. In this way, the mercantilism and mammonism, which rose due to a one-sided, crippled market economy, stoked human desires. When the restrictions of social ethics and cultural traditions no longer exist, overflowing primitive desires inevitably converge into a society's grand, universal psychology. Once this universal psychology of a society is expressed as a hidden mainstream value, even if it is still a hidden social sub-culture compared to the rest of mainstream ideology, it creates unprecedented devastation in opposition to mainstream culture, and unprecedented injury to the ordinary individual living at that time, precisely because of its universality and lack of restriction. This is why I have chosen to call this essay on Ma Ye's artistic career "Pandora's Curse." This vigorous eruption of human force is similar to Pandora carelessly opening the box filled with the scourges of the earth. Before the box was closed, the butterfly representing hope or resolution did not have the chance to flutter out, so we are confronted with the intensity of Billowing Golden Waves…
  We should also reflect on the traits of Ma Ye's work from different periods. During his Yuanmingyuan period, Ma's personality was rooted in an indescribable joy and impulsiveness that resulted from shaking off life's restrictions. Although he magnified visual elements from the folk cultural traditions of his village in his textual descriptions, I tend to see this as a natural explosion of lived force; it's more an instinctual response to the spirit of that era. In the first few years of the post-Yuanmingyuan period, Ma Ye wandered anxiously on the eastern outskirts of Beijing; the pressures of life and questions of identity became more obvious after the ideals of the Yuanmingyuan era died. These different experiences of life and society were directly reflected in his works from that period. The natural vigor of the instinctual, living force of his Yuanmingyuan period gave way to the dual pressures of society and life. His work during this time utilized abstract linguistic methods, but we can immediately sense his helplessness, terror, confusion, and depression as an individual tossed around within urban culture. This was a transitional period in Ma Ye's personal creative experience, showing that he began to directly confront social reality after his dreams of freedom were thwarted by reality; he directly transformed his experiences of and thoughts about social reality into a source for his artwork.
  Ma Ye eventually stopped wandering on the outskirts of Beijing and settled in a little courtyard in Songzhuang. After his previous tensions and anxieties, the more relaxed pace of life allowed him to begin considering the deeper social issues underpinning the surface appearances of life. His work from this period contains sexual metaphors, which actually reflect his beginning to consider the chaos that occurred after the Pandora's box of human nature was opened. In his works from this period, female figures paraded coquettishly, stirring human desire. They were strikingly juxtaposed with normal social situations, so they are conceptual metaphors, suggesting the palpitations of desire that existed in people's hearts at that time, and the fear and alarm that this desire may be left unrealized.
  Taking the universal psychology of society as a creative motif, Ma Ye finally distilled these symbols of human desire into their most essential expression-money. Incorporating monetary symbols into the symbolic system of his work was the correct decision and a risky choice; it's very difficult to create something new with this theme because so many artists around the world have made works using monetary symbols. Here, Ma Ye's northwestern strength and resilience was a determining factor in his success. First, these pictures had to be large, so that they constituted an overwhelming, oppressive visual experience. At the same time, the details have to do everything-the works could not be given some empty, general treatment-only then do the works create an airtight, inescapable psychological environment for the audience. This experiment was successful as the unification of his chosen formal language and his certainty of conceptual communication.
  Finally, the overall design of Ma Ye's personal art archive juxtaposes Billowing Golden Waves series, the primary series in this exhibition, with a conceptual, documentary presentation of Ma Ye's studio environment during his Yuanmingyuan and Dashanzi periods. As a curatorial concept, this juxtaposition is intended to highlight his transition from idealism to reality-the "Pandora's Curse" hanging over every individual like the sword of Damocles-conveying his disillusionment and the cruelty of reality.
  Note: The concept of "post-Yuanmingyuan" raised in this article is the author's formulation. After the Yuanmingyuan Painters Village was disbanded, small artist groups that maintained some of the collective traits of the Yuanmingyuan era were formed, including the groups at the Tsinghua North Gate, Dashanzi-Dongbahe, and Binhe in Tongzhou, as well as the Xiaopu group in Songzhuang before the intervention of local government art industries. Due to slight differences in circumstances, these groups began and ended at slightly different times.
  January 30, 2018
  (Wu Hong: Critic, curator, editor-in-chief of Artintern.net, managing director of Songzhuang Contemporary Art Archive)

部分參展藝術(shù)家主頁(yè)


作品預(yù)展