中國近二十多年來興起的當代藝術(shù)，經(jīng)歷了從藝術(shù)史角度的帶有革命性的突破和變革，也非常無奈地被全球藝術(shù)市場化的浪潮所裹挾。它一方面要對抗傳統(tǒng)集權(quán)主義藝術(shù)意識形態(tài)的抵制性圍剿，一方面要處理和波濤洶涌的商業(yè)市場大潮的復(fù)雜關(guān)系。所以從一開始，中國的當代藝術(shù)就處于一種攻守兼?zhèn)涞牟呗糟Ｕ撝小Ｔ谖幕庾R形態(tài)上，“革命者”和“顛覆者”的宿命讓藝術(shù)家們不得不以批判和告別的姿態(tài)來進行自己的藝術(shù)實踐，政治性的訴求幾乎統(tǒng)轄了一個時期的藝術(shù)現(xiàn)象，政治波普大行其道，一切代表傳統(tǒng)和集權(quán)歷史的符號成為藝術(shù)家們撿起來進行簡單和快速批判的主要資源。它直接的負面結(jié)果就是作品普遍的格式化，而從藝術(shù)史維度對藝術(shù)本體的當代性的訴求則被忽略。藝術(shù)市場全球化以后，西方買家潛在的西方中心主義意識形態(tài)對中國政治波普傾向作品的偏愛和操作，進一步造成中國藝術(shù)家的逢迎心理，中國當代藝術(shù)的格式單一化日趨嚴重。相當時間以來，中國的當代藝術(shù)越來越不藝術(shù)，其當代性僅只停留在表面政治話語層面上，缺少在方式和方法上的智慧性的表達和哲學(xué)維度的深層思考。
最近，張朝暉FINGERS 藝術(shù)小組的作品“你和我”，則是在一片俗套似的中國當代藝術(shù)中閃亮出場，給了我們一個驚喜。這是一個集裝置、雕塑、攝影、視頻、現(xiàn)場行為藝術(shù)為一體，帶有公共藝術(shù)色彩，和觀眾互動性極強的藝術(shù)。在這個作品中，藝術(shù)家選用了兩個關(guān)鍵性的藝術(shù)媒材，一個是具有鏡面效果的電鍍金屬“外衣”，一個是一組男女人形的不銹鋼人模。這兩件媒介的原型均來自公共空間男女廁所的識別符號。張朝暉認為這組公共意味十足的男女符號，恰好抽象地隱喻了這個世界的主體——人，而且形式極其完美。他巧妙地利用這兩件媒介構(gòu)筑了一個語義極其復(fù)雜和宏大的話語空間，而且自內(nèi)向外、自外向內(nèi)地結(jié)構(gòu)了一個可以運動的，和藝術(shù)家與外界互動并無限生發(fā)意義的藝術(shù)文本。“鏡面”外衣的反射性，無時不刻地造成藝術(shù)家本人和外部世界的奇妙關(guān)系。“外衣”的運動，反射了它對面的社會景觀，而且片狀的外衣將鏡像的景觀肢解，造成不確定的多重影像，隱喻了我們觀看和闡釋的異質(zhì)性。同樣，行走的“外衣”和靜態(tài)的景觀又形成一個人、景互動與觀照的哲學(xué)關(guān)系，一個當代文明和人的關(guān)系以及當代人存在的意義和態(tài)度被智慧地揭示了。“外衣”在不同的場域會有不同的文化闡釋，但始終圍繞一個人的話題和意義。同樣，那組生硬冰冷的不銹鋼男女“人模”，也是一個意義復(fù)雜的道具，它們實際上可以理解為一切與人沖突的觀念文化和物理空間，它可以是“城市”，也可以是“道德”，更是雌雄相伴并列的“陰”與“陽”。它們既沖突又和諧，既冰冷又溫暖，是對立的話題統(tǒng)一。“人模”的尺度也預(yù)設(shè)了“他”的游戲性，它可以包裹和裝載不同身份和體征的肉體，讓人們在與它親密嵌合的時候感到張揚個性的現(xiàn)實存在性，在游戲般的感覺中重溫生命的存在。
張朝暉的藝術(shù)為中國當代藝術(shù)的真正當代性起到了推動的作用，是近年來難得的真正耐看和值得體味的優(yōu)秀藝術(shù)文本。
2009-7-7
鮑昆
中國著名當代攝影和當代藝術(shù)的知名評論家
Zhang Zhaohui’s MIRRORMAN
By Bao Kun, 7 July 2009
China’s contemporary art that emerged twenty years ago has gone through groundbreaking transformations from an art-historical point of view. Nevertheless it has also got swallowed in the relentless gulp of the global art market.
Historically it is ambushed on two fronts. On the one hand, it needs to resist the suppression from the tradition of authoritarian art ideology. On the other hand, the complex network of surging commercial art market also requires constant attention. On an ideological level, the prescribed role as a revolution-maker and a subverter leaves the artist with hardly any choice but to approach his/her art with a critical and subversive stance. As a result, the obsession with politics nearly has dominated the entire art scene for some time now. Political Pop is rampantly omnipresent. Anything that represents tradition and the authoritarian past is picked out by artists and stockpiled into a ready supply for quick and easy social critiques. Consequently, China’s artworks tend to follow set formula, and the art-historically significant issue about contemporaneity is completely sidelined. As the art market becomes globalized, western buyers’ orientalist preference for Chinese Political Pop further manipulates and warps the market. Chinese artists are all too eager to meet their demands. Therefore the problem of uniformity in China’s contemporary art becomes further aggravated. It has been going on for some time now. China’s contemporary artworks look increasingly like pictorial slogans. Their only relevance to contemporaneity is restricted to surface political discourses, devoid of any methodological consideration and philosophical sophistication.
In the midst of the stifling cliché, Zhang Zhaohui and his FINGERS artist group presented their work ‘You & Me’. It casts a steak of bright light in the gloom and doom of China’s contemporary art scene. ‘You & Me’ is a composite of installation, sculpture, photography, online video, and site-specific performance art. It is also a piece of public art, with a very strong emphasis on interacting with the audience. Two critical props were chosen for the work. One is a mirror-effect metal outfit, and the other is a set of human-shaped steel moulds - one male, on female. Both of them are derived from the toilet signs in public spaces. Zhang Zhaohui regards these gendered toilet signs as an abstract metaphor for humans.
And on the plus side, these signs are also perfectly formed. He artfully utilises them to construct a broad-reaching and sophisticated discourse. In the interaction between the artist/art and the audience, a bilateral flow of meanings is created to generate a constantly evolving artistic text. The reflection on the mirror outfit means that the relationship between the artist and the outside world is a very peculiar one. The mirror outfit reflects the social phenomena around it, all the while dissecting them into pieces in congruence with the outfit’s physical construct. It therefore creates continuously shifting multiple images – a metaphor for the heterogeneity of human views and interpretations. Moreover, between the walking mirror outfit and the stationary surrounding exists a mutually formulating interaction. This way, the relation between humans and the contemporary civilization is revealed and the raison d'être for the modern man is disclosed. In different contexts, the mirror outfit would have different interpretations. But all of them concern the issue of humanity. Similarly, the two steel moulds are also props invested with sophisticated meanings. They can be interpreted as symbolic of any concepts, culture and physical spaces that are in one way or another at odds with us humans, such as cities or morality. The juxtaposition of the male and the female moulds stands for the coexistence of yin and yang. Being simultaneously oppositional and harmonious, cold and warm, the yin and yang combination represents a perfect synthesis of dialectics. The size of the steel human moulds prescribes their inherent playfulness. The steel moulds can accommodate human bodies of different social identities and physical traits. This fact encourages people to express their distinct personalities while intimately encaged within the boundaries of the moulds. It offers them a chance to relish the state of existence in a light-hearted and playful atmosphere.
Zhang Zhaohui’s art will surely promote the genuine concern for the issue of contemporaneity relevant to China’s contemporary art. Here is an outstanding artwork that is truly worth savouring.
【編輯：霍春?！?/span>
