放逐与守望

　　偶然的机会认识了顾雄和杨述，颇为投缘。顾雄和杨述是多年的好友，个性迥异却志趣相投。二人联合办展的念头酝酿已久，于是顺其自然地有了此次牵手。

　　筹展期间正值金融危机席卷全球、艺术市场的狂热进程遭遇戛然寒冬，人们在惊呼错愕的同时更多的却是暗自长吁：终于到了可以静心思忖中国当代艺术未来如何健康发展的时候了！我欣喜地发现混沌的疑问似乎将在此展中找到些许豁然的光亮——尽管答案的终极仍隐含于艰辛的实践。

　　海德格尔曾说，人类在现代社会面临的根本的问题仍然是人格的异化。这种异化表现为人的主体的丧失，即人在大众化、一体化、物化、机器化等方面的沉沦。的确，人生最大的庆典，莫过于内心信仰和理想大厦的落成。艺术家作为一个特殊职业的从业者，对生命本质和终极精神的渴求更甚于常人。如果说，前几年众神狂欢、群魔乱舞的“盛景”是年轻单纯的中国当代艺术不幸的短暂异化的话，那么，从现在开始，重新铸造艺术的“巴别通天之塔”就成了回归本性的正途。于是，我们主动并幸运地重现发现了这样一批艺术家：他们同样经历过中国当代艺术20多年间的跌宕和风雨，同样曾经满怀激情的抱负和敏感的神经，但选择了自我的放逐与精神的守望，选择了与艺术终身为伴、却无意以此为生（计）或流芳百世的存在方式，我们期待着与他们碰撞出新鲜的火花。顾雄、杨述可以说是这种合作的开始。

　　严格来说，作为朋友的顾雄和杨述除了同是重庆人、同求学于四川美术学院、同为“八五”新潮美术运动西南艺术群体中的活跃分子外，艺术经历、志趣和风格十分独立。顾雄，出身书香，但家境清贫，绘画成了其逆境中坚守理想的依托。1978年考入川美，后研究生专习版画，创作了以沈从文《边城》为题的组画，受到广泛的认可，也因此获得了进修加拿大的机会，这对当时的年轻中国艺术家来说是非常难得的机会。在班芙艺术中心获得的世界当代艺术发展的信息和初次接触到的装置艺术形式，打开了顾雄艺术创作的新天地。“八九现代艺术大展”中的《网》是其早年的成功代表作。后来，对新知识和观念的渴望促使他毅然选择了离开故土，远赴温哥华，至今近20年。其间经历了艰辛的生活和创作实践，发展成多媒介、多语言的艺术面貌，现为不列颠哥伦比亚大学大学终身教授。杨述，少年时特立独行。13岁（1978年）考入川美附中，后顺理成章地入学川美油画系，研究生毕业后留校任教至今。八十年代中期，他十分活跃，但并没有追随盛行其时的“伤痕美术”、“乡土美术”或参加其他前卫团体，而是聚焦“城市”命题，大肆宣泄着自己的情感涂鸦——在这一点，我不得不感喟于艺术家的超验。“城市”是现今的流行话题，杨述从上世纪末就注意到这个与当代文化和精神问题息息相关的内容，并研究至今，其20年丰富的个人涂鸦叙述就是中国城市发展的视觉缩影。当然，1995年的荷兰和欧洲之行、1996年的纽约联展（《梦的分享》，同展艺术家有张晓刚、叶永青、毛旭辉、郭晋等），使这位视西方现代精神为父的艺术家受到了巨大的文化震动。他开始思考更加“形而上”的和关注绘画本身的问题。

　　在我看来，顾雄和杨述以各自不同的方式选择了艺术的自我放逐。前者带着深刻的中国文化烙印蛰居西方当代世界，经受着多元文化的剧烈撞击和交融而坚守内心的独立，这本身就是一种艺术的生存状态。只有远离才能更好的认知，只有浸淫其中才有突破的意义。回溯顾雄的作品，就像他个人的视觉日记。从不知所措的移民心态，到深刻理解西方当代体制的本质，再到胸怀世界的国际化视野，他的所谓“中国身份”非常不明显，但多元的艺术面貌中闪现着东方的诗意和智慧。杨述的放逐之旅则颇有“大隐隐于市”的味道。他在西方之行后的自述中说过：“我发现，我内心的根在西方文化，这让我很失落，因为西方文化对我来说事实上是遥远和陌生的，……，我觉自己像个流亡者，身在此处而心在彼地，也许命中注定就此流亡，永远放逐自己”。我佩服他的自我反省，同时认为正是这种虚无末世的世界观给他的艺术带去了鲜活。看似随波逐流地存活于现世（都市）只是表象，追寻个人的艺术信仰才是真相。

　　因此，我更愿意称他们为“艺术精神的守望者”。他们之所以与现今的“当代艺术明星”师出同时并得到了应有的认可和尊重，但却没有成为镁光灯的焦点，只是因为没有形成、或者说不愿选择“符号化”、“图式化”的艺术表达方式。他们有非常明确的个人艺术理念和价值观，用的是朴实的、个人化的、与自身生活和生命有关的不同语言阐述和寻找着艺术的原初意义。这样的艺术家还有很多……

　　作家庞进在《也算散文观》中这样写道：“人生只能干一件事。……时间就那么多，干了这一样，就干不了那一样。能集中精力干一件事，而且是自己最想干的事。——其它的再好事让别人去干吧，——这样的人生就很幸福。”我想，这两位年轻的老艺术家，也是这么想的吧。

　　汤静

　　The Catchers in Exile

　　While Gu Xiong and Yang Shu have different approaches to art, their long-standing friendship has made them kindred spirits. For one reason or another, their desire to hold a joint exhibition has been delayed for years. Until this cold winter when the whole world encountered the notorious financial crisis, I coincidentally got acquaintance with the two artists, and unexpectedly found out that now is time for them to show.

　　The current global financial crisis has cooled the burgeoning international art market for Chinese contemporary art. While the art world is, naturally, very dismayed by this development, we should bear in mind that there is an upside: it gives us time for a retrospective pause, and to formulate strategies for pushing the future development of Chinese contemporary art in the right direction. This very exhibition illuminates the current shadows over our hearts, while still pointing toward a future for Chinese contemporary art that will rely on the lasting efforts of true artists.

　　According to Heidegger, the fundamental pain that modern man suffers from is alienation, defined as the loss of his essence due to popularization, integration, materialization and the development of modern technology. In contrast, it is the existence of belief and the pursuit of ideas that lends meaning to human life. This is especially true for artists. If the recent frenzy and hysterical “spectacle” of the growing Chinese contemporary art market can be identified as an instance of temporary “alienation,” we are now back on track and rebuilding the Tower of Babel of Chinese contemporary art. Luckily enough, we have found just such a group of artists to cure this tendency toward alienation: while they were as ambitious and artistically sensitive as their peers, and experienced along with them the past two decades of tumultuous ups-and-downs in Chinese contemporary art, they choose to live lives in which art is fully integrated, not merely a means to earn a living or a reputation. We look forward to cooperating with them in the near future; and this exhibition of Gu Xiong and Yang Shu marks the start of this spirit of cooperation.

　　Although both are Chongqing-based artists, having graduated from the Sichuan Fine Art Institute and having been part of the ’85 New Wave Art Movement when it swept through southwest China, the two are otherwise dissimilar in terms of artistic experience, interests and style. Born into a poverty-stricken family of intellectuals, Gu Xiong chose painting as his path towards his dream of artistic excellence. He entered Sichuan Fine Art Institute in 1978, and there pursued a graduate degree in printmaking. His series of printmaking based on the theme of Bian Cheng (literally “the frontier town”) written by Shen Congwen earned him great recognition, and won him the golden opportunity to further his education at the Banff Center for the Arts, Canada, where he was more fully exposed to the world of contemporary art. Becoming interested in installation and performance art, he expanded his repertoire from the limitations of traditional painting. The China / Avant-garde Art Exhibition in 1989 witnessed his earliest success in the field, including his work “Enclosures”. Later, he immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, in pursuit of new artistic perspectives. Twenty productive years later, he is now tenured faculty at the University of British Columbia, and has established himself as a multimedia artist of international reputation.

　　As an adolescent, Yang Shu was known for his independence and unconventional attitude. At the Sichuan Fine Art Institute he majored in oil painting, and after graduation he stayed on as teacher, a position he has remained in to the present day. In the mid-80s, when avant-garde art such as Scar Art and Folk Art held sway, he focused on the motif of “the City” which has only recently garnered wider attention. His passion, energy, and emotion are evident in all his graffiti, as he has charted more than twenty years of Chinese urbanization using his visual language. Yang’s 1995 journey to the Netherlands and other European countries, and his participation in a 1996 joint exhibition in New York (“Shared Dreams,” together with Zhang Xiaogang, Ye Yongqing, Mao Xuhui, Guo Jin, etc.) significantly influenced him, and since his travels he has more closely engaged issues relating to a society as a whole, and to the art of painting itself.

　　It seems to me that both Gu Xiong and Yang Shu are exiles in the art world; however, they have both chosen their own way in a journey into the wilds of art. Setting off west with his roots in Chinese culture, Gu Xiong embraced the interweaving of different cultures—keeping his inner independence in such a situation embodies a certain living statement of art. While increasing distance opens new pathways of perception, its shrinking brings its own breakthroughs. To reevaluate Gu Xiong’s artworks through time is like reading his private visual diary. From an embarrassed immigrant confronting cultural conflicts, to the mature émigré scholar comprehending the essence of western mechanism, to today’s international artist using multimedia for self-expression, it is interesting to trace the increasing complexity of Gu Xiong’s “Chinese identity”; yet through all his multifarious work characteristics of “oriental wisdom” and Chinese poetics shine bright.

　　As for Yang Shu, living in spiritual isolation expresses a genuine ambivalence. After returning from his journey to the west, Yang Shu said: “I found out that the innermost part of me was taking root in the Western culture, which is, both in terms of distance and familiarity, considerably far away from my reality. I felt so depressed that I was doomed to be an exile. In a way my body and mind are parted.” Admiring his frank self-reflection, I attribute the vitality of his artwork to this Weltanschauung of mixed vanity and pessimism. In fact, only through this seeming drifting along, living an urban life in present world, can we perceive his pursuit of a personal artistic credo.

　　This is why I’ve entitled the two artists “The Catcher of the Art Spirit”. Both artists are from a generation where some of their peers have already enjoyed the spotlight, but they have shied from the public attention and the use of highly recognizable signature styles. With extremely clear perceptions, they have applied the various languages of their personal experiences to rediscover the original meaning of art.

　　As the writer Pang Jin has put it: “There aren’t many paths in our lifetime that can be followed by a single person… as time’s limited, when you’re dealing with a certain path, you hardly have time for another. Therefore, stop bothering yourself with all kinds of stuff. However great they are, let them be someone else’s priority. When you concentrate on a truly beloved path, you are sure to gain a life full of happiness.” Well, I wonder if this might be the philosophy of two young, yet experienced artists: Gu Xiong and Yang Shu.