從動(dòng)物樂(lè)園到“苦澀”童年
——曾建勇童話世界中的現(xiàn)實(shí)玩味
文／王靜
每個(gè)大人都曾經(jīng)是個(gè)孩子，都曾沉浸童話夢(mèng)想連篇，當(dāng)每個(gè)孩子在似夢(mèng)似醒中個(gè)子長(zhǎng)高，在跌跌撞撞中開(kāi)始扮演大人應(yīng)該有的成熟穩(wěn)重，孩子便長(zhǎng)成了大人。小時(shí)候的幻想好似吹大的泡泡般越變?cè)奖?，越漂越遠(yuǎn)，忽得一下在眼前消失了。但好在泡泡總歸存在過(guò)，誰(shuí)都不會(huì)真的忘記它曾帶給孩時(shí)的美好記憶，只是長(zhǎng)大世故的我們不再輕易去回憶。好在有人在變成大人若干年后，仍堅(jiān)守著孩童時(shí)“胡思亂想”的那份勤奮，用心勾畫(huà)著埋葬在大人們心中羞于表露的天真和隨意，其實(shí)，表達(dá)本身就是一種能力。
看曾建勇的畫(huà)，就能給人這樣一種純凈。而在純凈的背后，曾建勇其實(shí)一直借助他創(chuàng)造的主角向現(xiàn)實(shí)表達(dá)和窺視，并用一種矯捷和戲虐搭建起感染觀眾的情境。
隨著時(shí)間的推移和技術(shù)可能的無(wú)限豐富，藝術(shù)的當(dāng)代進(jìn)程已令藝術(shù)家擺脫了形式和媒材的囹囿，傳統(tǒng)的繪畫(huà)語(yǔ)言正在被消解，那些語(yǔ)言無(wú)法言說(shuō)的東西正在被新的語(yǔ)言方式說(shuō)出來(lái)。曾建勇在創(chuàng)作中，亦沒(méi)有選擇頑固地恪守在傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)的樣式中，而是選擇用傳統(tǒng)的材料語(yǔ)言激發(fā)新鮮的可能性，利用皮紙的天然紋理，以及近似水墨的材料特性來(lái)完成對(duì)畫(huà)面的自然駕馭，甚至刻意為之的色斑與污漬都更好的激發(fā)了藝術(shù)家對(duì)水墨這一材料的玩味。從內(nèi)容上而言，曾建勇的作品中總能滲透出一種疏離和冷靜，不論是動(dòng)物還是人，總在靜態(tài)的冷漠氣氛下冷眼旁觀，而曾建勇創(chuàng)造的形象又總是天真爛漫童趣十足。如果要探究曾建勇這份疏離于現(xiàn)實(shí)的天真和對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的真切關(guān)照從何而來(lái)，天性和內(nèi)心應(yīng)該是最終的指向，天性使他以獨(dú)立的姿態(tài)站在真實(shí)和喧囂的邊緣，時(shí)時(shí)對(duì)社會(huì)變遷、文化生態(tài)以及個(gè)人的境遇發(fā)出質(zhì)疑與批判性的思考，在一正一反的比照下勾動(dòng)人心中敏感的神經(jīng)。
在曾建勇?tīng)I(yíng)造的童話世界里，沒(méi)有對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的出走和壁壘，反而常常透出對(duì)人的世界的映照和自審，強(qiáng)調(diào)想象力對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的滲透，深邃得耐人尋味，動(dòng)物樂(lè)園中的主角們仿若具有了人的神態(tài)和思緒，這在曾建勇稍早一些名為“閑著”的系列作品中最早顯露出了端倪。這部分作品的主要形象都是沾染著人類性格的寵物狗，藝術(shù)家刻意營(yíng)造了許多這樣的鏡頭：表情嚴(yán)肅的寵物狗們端坐于畫(huà)面中，貌似認(rèn)真而富于耐心的充當(dāng)他作品的模特，游離的眼神中，些許能端詳出各自懷有的心事，無(wú)所事事、神情凝滯，抑或百無(wú)聊賴、心不在焉，再或者神色肅然、若有所思…… 看著動(dòng)物們佯裝的嚴(yán)肅表情，總讓人忍不住思考他們的自信堅(jiān)定從何而來(lái)？而我更愿意相信，畫(huà)面是曾建勇洞察世界的一雙眼睛，淡然注視著這個(gè)豐富多變的世界。
在《大風(fēng)天》和《大晴天》兩幅作品中，曾建勇更加將童話的神奇曼妙展現(xiàn)無(wú)遺。零亂和無(wú)序雖則絕少會(huì)出現(xiàn)在成人的世界中，卻毫無(wú)爭(zhēng)議的被視為世界的初始，初始才是原態(tài)和本真。貓兒上房，狗兒撒尿，東倒西歪的家什物件，還有長(zhǎng)了翅膀的鳥(niǎo)籠和綁著降落傘飛來(lái)飛去的貓咪，亂哄哄的一起出現(xiàn)卻又似乎順理成章。在這里，虛擬的童話世界源源不斷流經(jīng)藝術(shù)家精神世界中那些奇幻的感受微波，以及生活中體驗(yàn)的況味，恍惚的抒寫(xiě)，自由聯(lián)想，奇異的效果都一并發(fā)揮了作用。至此，我們不妨將曾建勇的童話世界理解為一種“空觀”，一種超驗(yàn)的觀看，一種對(duì)于混沌的歸返，一種精神的浪漫。
2007年，曾建勇似乎在試圖從完全虛擬的夢(mèng)幻世界中向現(xiàn)實(shí)靠近，他的最新作品也更清晰的從內(nèi)心走向了外部具體，但這并非決絕的走向現(xiàn)實(shí)，因?yàn)樵ㄓ伦顬槭鏁澈妥杂傻谋磉_(dá)，仍來(lái)源于他的心絲細(xì)密和想象帶來(lái)的愉悅感受。應(yīng)該說(shuō)，在新的作品中，曾建勇開(kāi)始編織并且向我們講述另一個(gè)讓人感到似曾相識(shí)而又言語(yǔ)不清的故事，而這次的敘事手法帶有了更多“現(xiàn)實(shí)主義”的味道，那便是對(duì)“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”這個(gè)概念化名稱的理想與現(xiàn)實(shí)的沖撞。
“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”想必是中國(guó)特有的，每個(gè)進(jìn)入小學(xué)的懵懂孩童在成為少先隊(duì)員后，便都有了成為大、中、小隊(duì)長(zhǎng)的可能，而最最風(fēng)光無(wú)限的大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)，一定是一票不諳世事的小孩中最“優(yōu)秀”的那個(gè)，大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)要集成績(jī)優(yōu)秀、尊敬師長(zhǎng)、熱愛(ài)同學(xué)等眾多優(yōu)良傳統(tǒng)于一身，成為每個(gè)孩子小學(xué)時(shí)代可能實(shí)現(xiàn)抑或在心中默默奢望的一個(gè)理想。童話往往反觀現(xiàn)實(shí)，或贊美生活的美好，或言指現(xiàn)實(shí)的流弊。在曾建勇最新的《大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)》這部分作品中，每個(gè)大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)都變成了臉上血絲斑斑的小男孩，帶著一副與年齡極不相稱的滄桑表情和因受驚而瞪大的眼睛，徹底顛覆了每個(gè)曾經(jīng)戴過(guò)紅領(lǐng)巾，對(duì)“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”既羨慕又關(guān)注的“小孩”們的記憶，只有每個(gè)睜大眼睛，充滿驚恐表情的少年胳膊上的袖標(biāo)，依稀存留著“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”的影子。孩子脖頸上佩戴的黑黑的領(lǐng)巾尤其悚人，原本令人艷羨的榮耀和被雨露滋潤(rùn)的幸福，因著黑色的領(lǐng)巾還有病態(tài)的表情，霎時(shí)間顯得黯然失色。
曾建勇是一個(gè)有了８、９歲兒子卻仍然熱衷童話的快樂(lè)父親，他自己說(shuō)，正是因?yàn)閮鹤樱抛屗杏X(jué)到如今的小“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”們擁有的多數(shù)是天昏地暗的童年，小小年紀(jì)便扛起了大如山的壓力，天真形象的輪廓下，孩子們的痛楚在現(xiàn)實(shí)中格外牽動(dòng)人心，于是在老師、家長(zhǎng)的期望、無(wú)休無(wú)止的功課和綜合素質(zhì)盛名下失去童年的孩子們，便成為曾建勇著意表達(dá)的主體。
令人高興的是，曾建勇通過(guò)童話世界和現(xiàn)實(shí)的互相映照，找到了自己藝術(shù)上的表達(dá)方式，他筆下的“大隊(duì)長(zhǎng)”們，臉上流露的彷徨與局促，傷痕累累的疲憊深情是對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的巨大震撼，同時(shí)也不禁讓身處觀看角色的讀畫(huà)者，對(duì)這些大頭小孩由憐生愛(ài)。
From “paradise of animals” to “bitter childhood”
——Reality and fairy story in Zeng Jianyong’s art
Wen Jing
Each adult used to be a child, dreaming with fairy tales. When children grow up day by day, they begin to play the role of mature human. However, dreams of childhood fade away. Dreams have once exited anyway, leaving us sweet memory of our childhood. It just seems stupid and childish for us adults to recall them. However we are still lucky to have some artists who stick to their dreams and express them with innocence and diligence. In fact, expressing itself is a kind of ability.
Zeng Jianyong is one among them. With his characteristic images, Zeng’s paintings show us pureness and humor with which he tries to infect the audience.
With the continuous development of technology, contemporary artists are given new methods and abilities to break down traditional artistic bondages and to create new styles. Instead of being passively restricted to traditional styles, Zeng chose to create new possibilities by fully exploiting the natural grain of brown paper and by applying ink painting and even stain on paper. Animals and human beings on his paintings all look at the world with cold indifference, producing an atmosphere of distance and coolness. However meanwhile, the images are always cute and childlike. Such contradictive images implying the artist’s close attention to reality and his innocence are attributed to his nature that makes the artist by instinct independently think and question about society, culture and personal environment.
Zeng Jianyong didn’t hide himself in his fairy world from the reality but to reflect on the reak and to emphasize the influence of imagination towards real world. Animals on paintings always have human manner, the characteristic already shown up in his early works <free> series. The artist produced pet dogs with human appearance: the serious dogs in paintings sit as models; they look from eyes either bored, absent-minded or thoughtful. Why do these human-like dogs look so confident and steady? I believe that’s the artist’s eyes on paintings watching this changeable world.
In the paintings <strong wind> and <sunny day>, Zeng presented us more miraculous scenes of fairy tales. In the world of adults seldom exist chaos and mess that is out-of- doubt considered as original state of the world. Cats on the roof, pissing dogs, objects in mess, bird cage with wings and flying cats with parachute, all appear together in disorder but also in logic. Combining imaginary tales and inspiration from real life, I interpret the art of Zeng Jianyong as observation beyond experience, return back to original and romantic mental journeys.
In 2007, Zeng Jianyong seems to further approach realities from absolute fairyland and his new works lean towards more concrete images. But they are still far from absolute realities, because for the artist the joy of artistic creation still derives from inner feelings and imagination. In his new works, Zeng made up new stories meanwhile déjà vu by means of narrative to some extent. <the header> series combined the characteristics of imagination and realities.
The title “header”is peculiar to China. After becoming Young Pioneer, every schoolchild dreams to be a “header”and “the header” is only accorded to the most outstanding child who is praiseworthy of good with study, respecting teachers and parents, getting on well with others, etc. As fairy tales usually reflect realities from other angles either to sing a song of life or to expose social problems, the new <header>series is a mirror of realities as well. The headers in paintings are portrayed as little boys with bloodstain on face, adult-like expression and frightened eyes. Except for armband of “the header”, the artist produced totally opposite image to the one stays in people’s memory of those talented envied headers. The black scarves worn by the headers shock us most. Their scarves and abnormal state reveal the reverse side of honor and happiness.
Zeng Jianyong, father of an 8-year-old son is still attracted by fairy tales. As he said, from son he realizes those little kids who are bore with much pressure don’t really enjoy their childhood. They should have had much happiness, however under the great expectations from adults and endless homework, lovely kids are actually unhappy. Having sympathy for kids, Zeng chose them as main images of his painting. He also created a unique style of combining fairy tales and realities. Showing the feelings of lost and tired, the situation of headers on paintings shock the audience and also arouse our sympathy for these kids.
