看到武明中的作品，會被其炫目而刺激的色彩所震驚，時尚而簡約的造化所沖擊。武明中慣用紅色，紅色作為其作品中主人公的內(nèi)核而存在，在這里，一種顏色被賦予特殊的使命，物化成承載延展武明中藝術(shù)意圖的具體存在，以液體的形式被澆注在武明中一切感興趣的物質(zhì)內(nèi)部，使得這些本來透明、空洞的物體變得有分量感，化身成藝術(shù)家手中的容器，至于它要被裝點什么，一切只能聽從藝術(shù)家的安排；武明中畫面中大面積的紅色運用，也表達著藝術(shù)家內(nèi)心世界的擴張，但這種擴張巧妙的被安排在生活中常見的物象之中，這是藝術(shù)家面對紛繁無序的現(xiàn)實社會無奈感、矛盾心理以及自我調(diào)侃的表達。時尚而真實的現(xiàn)實物象在武明中的畫筆下變得不真實和虛擬化，我們可以感受到武明中與社會現(xiàn)實的明確聯(lián)系，但是這些聯(lián)系和邏輯卻在他的畫面中被藝術(shù)家有意的打亂了，他將它們塑造成一個個樹脂的器皿，或者干脆是一些沒有實際功能的樹脂擺設(shè)，加上紅色的“血液”，真實世界中存在的物體被武明中幻化成虛擬圖像，在這一系列的虛擬物象和視覺結(jié)構(gòu)中，我們可以觀察到武明中對現(xiàn)實的獨特關(guān)注和理解以及超現(xiàn)實的藝術(shù)表達，感受到一種不真實但很有壓迫感的氣場，盡管它們都是透明和易碎的，但正是這種虛擬化、人工化的材質(zhì)可以給人們更豐富多元而又曖昧的感官聯(lián)想。
說武明中的作品，必須談?wù)勊娜?。我之前并不熟悉他本人，只是在別處見到過作品。他是一位教授，從武明中的作品中能感受到他的學(xué)理修為，這是和許多藝術(shù)家不一樣的地方。武明中的作品承擔(dān)著象“老一輩”藝術(shù)家作品“教科書”似的使命，盡管他的作品畫面總是蕩漾一些青春萌動的氣氛，從形式語言上也很容易被年輕一代所認(rèn)同和識別，但是我想，武明中還是更希望他的作品能有所指，因此他盡量營造了讓其作品能指的可能性。可以說武明中走的是一條觀念繪畫的道路，這與他的生活經(jīng)歷和學(xué)識背景有著密不可分的關(guān)聯(lián)。
武明中繪畫的突出特征是它的語言形式。紅色的樹脂物象已經(jīng)無可厚非的成為了武明中的藝術(shù)標(biāo)簽。一方面，武明中有意識的挑選了現(xiàn)實生活中那些無意義的物體，比如說小便器、紅酒杯等等，這些人們生活中司空見慣的物品在武明中手中精心的被營造成無意義的透明器皿，從這一點上看，武明中似乎希望將自己抽離于真實的現(xiàn)實之外，想要冷眼旁觀，但又逃離不了真實現(xiàn)實的窠臼，因此他只能選擇日常生活中熟悉的東西來借以發(fā)揮，并干脆將這些看似無聊的東西嬉笑化，娛樂化?？梢哉f這是新一代知識分子表達面對社會現(xiàn)實急速劇變從而內(nèi)心世界產(chǎn)生空前變化的新型方式。它是一種積極的喜笑怒罵和超女式的點評，而不是一味消極的批判和自我沉淪。另一方面，武明中還有喜歡調(diào)侃歷史人物，將他們塑造成樹脂的里程碑，本身這種方式就帶有了武明中式的幽默。人物形象自身就蘊含了話語能力，有點穿越時空來到當(dāng)下現(xiàn)實的錯覺感，它們都是由樹脂澆注而成，他的教育和歷史意義在這里被Q化的解構(gòu)了，變成一個擺設(shè)，可以看出武明中有意將經(jīng)典變得娛樂，將歷史變成當(dāng)下的企圖心。
我認(rèn)為，樹脂是武明中繪畫永遠的內(nèi)核。似乎所有畫面中都有樹脂物體的存在。我更愿意稱它們?yōu)?ldquo;樹脂體”而不是“玻璃體”，因為樹脂比玻璃有更多的可闡釋性，它同樣“易碎”，但它比玻璃似乎更為模糊和虛擬，更具有凝結(jié)時代意義的特性。其材質(zhì)本身就已經(jīng)賦予了它自身更多的意義，就像武明中的作品一樣。“樹脂”是一種狀態(tài)不確定，但很有質(zhì)感的物質(zhì)，它透明卻又實在，能捧在手心，卻又感覺虛無縹緲，因為它是如此透明；它遇熱即改變狀態(tài)，可以重塑成任何形狀，當(dāng)然也能保持原狀，蓄發(fā)各種能量和生命，可以說樹脂是一種“變態(tài)”的物質(zhì)，這和許多藝術(shù)家的創(chuàng)作和生存狀態(tài)很相似。我們常說某些藝術(shù)家很另類變態(tài)，可能是莫名的壓抑和對未知因素的探求心理以及種種復(fù)雜騷動的生理心理情緒，驅(qū)使著藝術(shù)家創(chuàng)作出可能很沉默但具有內(nèi)在爆發(fā)力的作品，這些作品的形態(tài)可能是多變的，看似靜如止如固體的樹脂，其中蘊藏的力量卻很可能是凝結(jié)了這個時代的亞文化精神。而可流動般感的質(zhì)感就像藝術(shù)家的思緒一樣成為創(chuàng)作的源泉。種種這些樹脂的特征都為武明中所用，他用樹脂來塑造他感興趣的一切事物，給很多無意義的場景和事物看似淺薄，易碎，但又富含無限張力的生命力。
皮力先生是這樣評論武明中的藝術(shù)的：“當(dāng)歷史與政治人物的物化成為藝術(shù)家的觀念之后，畫面的視覺樣式就開始發(fā)生變化了。如果洞悉藝術(shù)家潛在的觀念，我們就很難將這些繪畫歸結(jié)為我們熟悉的表現(xiàn)或者寫實形態(tài)的繪畫。武明中繪畫的語言是在在于放棄固有的語言趣味，而絕對追求絕對虛擬出來的物象的質(zhì)感。在這些畫面中，我們看不到表現(xiàn)或者寫實形態(tài)藝術(shù)所強調(diào)的畫面本身的筆觸，而是被對象本身的質(zhì)感所刺激。”皮力先生的分析充分而精確的說明了武明中繪畫在語言和觀念上的突破，武明中正是用物化的觀念形象來揭示歷史和現(xiàn)實的本質(zhì)，其作品中解構(gòu)和復(fù)制的特性為武明中的想象世界和現(xiàn)實世界搭起了橋梁。
從武明中的一系列新作中，我們看到他對當(dāng)下現(xiàn)實生活更為宏觀和直接的表達。如《吃吧》系列中，武明中運用大量排比和并置的方法將畫面中武明中式的觀念形象充斥到極限，完全用樹脂、紅色的物象作為他手中的棋子來布局畫面，巨幅的作品加之幾乎無限的物象，使觀眾幾乎要窒息，畫面達到了從微觀到宏觀，再從宏觀到微觀的通達效果。這一切都反映了中國社會特別是都市化進程，政治、經(jīng)濟飛速發(fā)展?fàn)顩r下，人們生活產(chǎn)生急劇變化的現(xiàn)實寫照。當(dāng)然，武明中的方法是非寫實的，是觀念和抽象的，但從這些新作來看，武明中對現(xiàn)實的關(guān)注遠遠超過了以往?？梢哉f，我們可以看到武明中的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作從語言上和觀念上達到一個統(tǒng)一的高峰。語言已經(jīng)成為觀念的一部分。也許，樹脂正是武明中的獨特語言，也是他的藝術(shù)觀念所在，是聯(lián)系現(xiàn)實和武明中自我世界的結(jié)點。
Resinic Reality
Liu Chunfeng
Looking at Wu Mingzhong’s painting, viewers are stimulated and shocked by its dazzling colors, a concise and fashionable display that impacts the eye. The red that Wu Mingzhong uses exists as the core in the main characters depicted in his works. Color is given a special mission, extending the specifics of color into the existence of the artist's work. He pours the liquid into every object that he is interested in, so that these transparent and empty objects feel as if they have weight, becoming embodied vessels in the artist’s hands. The artist alone can determine what these vessels are to be filled with. These glasses, bottles and other bizarrely shaped glassware – visual celebrations teetering on vertigo – insistently require that you avoid “clumsy movements” and that you“handle with care”. There is such a latent power in Wu Mingzhong’s recent work that you feel a miraculous and captivating sense of fragility. Amazingly, the colours transcend the canvas and emit a vital visual flame. At once stimulating and stunning, it speaks to the spirit and, set against the background of the canvas, one is able to catch a glimpse of the artist's passionate reflections on contemporary society. He changed his style and began to use glass as an expressive tool in the series. Perhaps his methods are better suited to Platonic reflections on social reality, but once he began the series, there was no going back. Mingzhong became fascinated with glass - its transparency, luminosity and magnificence. His reflections, however, are more immediately concerned with the ingenious ways in which these characteristics can be translated onto canvas.
These figures and wine filled glasses, his vessels and bottles, either deep red or fluorescent pink, have become the visual – and extremely effective – mark of Wu’s questionings into social reality. Beyond polished beauty, a deeply entrenched and worrying message lies in plain sight: a warning or“caution”. Beneath the calm surface, anxiety is present, an underlying current constantly threatening to erupt. Wu Mingzhong’s voice resonates from within this work – one that emanates from the soul. The artist states that “The more beautiful a material is, the more fragile it is." It is the fragility of splendor. Materials these days are all about beauty, flash and power. People are in search of consumption, luxury and pleasure. They might as well be, but that search and an excessive dependence on material things robs humanity of their independence and their capacity for originality.
Material things will never solve the problem of man’s vulnerability. On the contrary, it will only serve to aggravate it. Man, originally a creature of flesh and blood, no longer exists. He is nothing more than a being made of glass and he does not belong: he is left with only the material contents of glassware and that which is refracted toward the exterior world. Glass and alcohol are two characteristics of our age. "I paint men made of glass to express the fragility inherent in contemporary reality," says the artist, "the fragility of the relationship between man and himself as well as with others and the environment.” After an extended period of research and observation, Wu Mingzhong finally found the material best adapted to the expression of his vision – glass. He tirelessly rendered its texture, integrated within the rest of his artistic ventures, explored it and sought out its multiple capabilities. He does so to a point where his cultural language and intellectual orientation seem to say: social reality is paradoxical in every respect. Overflowing with splendor, it is also fragile and dangerous, and nothing in the universe is beyond the reach of its entrapment. We are reminded of a dream and then we awake to realize that the reality in which we live is fragile, that the environment is fragile, that feelings, daily life, sincerity between individuals are all fragile.
We have made a transition from a society of political fragility to one that is mercantile and even more fragile still. The ultra-consumerism promoted by multinational capitalism is vertiginous and agonizing even as it disrupts and destroys. Confronted by reality, in politics as in life, artists can no longer allow themselves to remain dilletantes. Lyricism, likewise, is out of the question. The artist's only recourse is to attempt to escape the trap of paradox. But to flee (that is to say to distance oneself from) our monstrous and chaotic reality, that is easier said than done. Who can forget the “dead silence” that followed, twenty years ago, with the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger? Or the endless reflections on the nature of “vulnerability” that were triggered by the thick smoke of September 11th? Presently, the global rise in temperatures shows us once again, as if it were still necessary, to what degree the existence of the human species is fragile and the extent to which our environment is in a constant state of deterioration. The friend that sits at the negotiating table today may be the enemy who takes up arms against us tomorrow. In order to reap rewards, interest groups from powerful nations manage to perpetuate insurrection in Palestine, Israel and the Gulf: how often have the hopes of those whose goal is peace been torn to shreds as a result? Of course, Wu Mingzhong does not address these issues directly, but his visual iconography is a glaring confirmation of the vulnerability of individuals and of reality.
Whether or not the spectacle sets off a spark of desire or of yearning within the brain is of little importance. On the contrary: the point is to demonstrate how our lives gradually disappear beneath an accumulation of “pretty things”. They also cause us to recognise the fragility and ambiguity of such relationships - the slightest rupture. An incredible amount of prudence must be taken in our treatment of others, of their gender. Relationships must be contemplated with circumspection. Without a doubt, they are fragile and dangerous, the epitome of the universal constraints and vulnerabilities of the human species. An open challenge to the moral standards present in our daily lives. while it is curiously redundant and literary, still does not cause us to recoil. On the contrary, in contemporary art, imitation and the corruption of the classics constitute a means of re-addressing linguistic elements.
From the works of Wu Mingzhong, we see a direct and grand contemporary narrative forming. In series like Eat It, the character has become so well known that he no longer requires explanation. It highlights the complexity of society, the heterogeneous nature of our existence within that society and, as such, questions anew the ethical norms of an age that has become ever more vulgar and superficial. As for determinism in art history, the psychological and cultural suggestiveness present in his work situates him at the heart of the matter. Behind his dizzying images, it seems to hint at something more dangerous and poignant. Humanity would live in a state of perdition. The constant latent possibility of the destruction of the world is evoked, once again allowing Wu Mingzhong to charm us with his incessant search for perfection and his masterful sensitivity toward contemporary artistic form. In this world of glass, politics are combined in evermore ingenious ways. Wu Mingzhong faintly blurs the line between the interior and exterior universe. Perhaps, resin forms a unique language in the work of Wu Mingzhong, serving as a concept in his art, a node that links the inner world of Wu Mingzhong to the real world.
【編輯：霍春?！?/p>
