| 偶然途經中環，看見某畫廊有壽真的個人畫展。 走進之。 眼前所見的都是調子灰黑略帶褐色的畫作。 心想，為何作畫人如此悲涼？！ 再看有關簡介，明白了！ 原來這是他作此批畫作的原意。他以極接近傳統水墨國畫的理念和色彩，去營造所謂《懷舊浪漫之主義》之「義」和「感」，令觀賞者能重溫過去回憶與尊重逝去的歲月。 暫不說意境，先說技巧。壽真的畫面明顯簡約，說差一點，是「單調」。 無疑「單調」也不失為一種個人藝術風格，這也許是壽氏的個人繪畫特色 --- 那深沉的調子，令我感到有點無奈。也許是我對「回憶」的期望過高。我想回憶不應只是薄薄的一層油彩，合該由多層畫面組成的。 現在看來，真的如壽真所言，他是想用近似中國水墨般的油畫彩去表達對逝去年華的尊重。但以此方法去繪西洋油畫，以乎流於平板，少了一份透視感。 若只談「寫意」、「寫感」，也算得上是合格；若寫圖像的話，就是距離標準還差截 。 記得於６月３日，本人曾寫過一篇有關回憶的另一畫作。題名為「幸福，Please Enjoy」。看鄧兆恆 Tang Siu Hang 的作品，令人會心微笑，感到幸福 ; 看到壽真的，令人神傷。 純以技巧來定斷和批評畫作，已不是目前的大趨勢。 「當代」一詞彷彿代表前衛和今期流行等原素。這種「寫意」、「寫情」的繪作，就是所謂「後現代主意」裡所想釋放和表達的「意象」。 我對壽真是有點摸不著頭腦。  翻查壽真的個人資料，只知他是生於一九八○年，好一個８０後 ! 二○○三年畢業於上海大學美術學院油畫專業，翌年就飛到澳洲墨爾本大學進修，並取得二○○六年的藝術碩士「油畫」學位。在履歷上，看不出他曾經歷過那些刻骨銘心的事情。但他那些畫作的調子，卻灰褐得令人感到有一種「脫離感」。 但為何如此悲惻呢？ 認真的說，那裡頭有過份的煽情和令人摸不著腦根的「老煉」，彷彿他是「曾經滄海」的一個「過來人」，那是否有點突兀和嬌作呢？ 點題作品「明天還下雨嗎？」 如果壽真繼續創作此類悲涼作品的話，那下次可能是「那裡才有曙光？」 後記： 畢竟作畫者也只不過是個二十歲的年青人，期望他能繼續創作，多點新意的。 而我就很欣賞畫廊主人對新一代本地年青畫家的支持，令人感動，絕對是誠意之作 ! |
Friday, June 10, 2011
明天還下雨嗎 ?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Chinese Contemporary Art - continue the LEGEND
One index outperformed every single stock market over the past five years: the contemporary Chinese art market.
As of January, it had rocketed up 583 percent from five years earlier, according to an index by the auction tracking site Artprice. But, like so many other markets, it was driven by speculation and greed. And now, that bubble has burst.
In September, the doors of the SH contemporary art fair in Shanghai had been open just five minutes when a Chinese businesswoman bought an oil painting from Yan Qing's Aye gallery for $40,000.
An abstract work by artist Wang Guangle, it was a blocky, black square with thin white lines straggling across a canvas, bisected with a thick white stripe.
Gallery owner Yan Qing was confident it was a good buy.
"It's not cheap, but the buyer liked it a lot and is very decisive," she said at the time. "For good artworks, I don't think it's a bubble; they won't devalue. Each one is an original, so they can only rise in value."
Factors Contributed
"And this figure could easily be double if you take account pieces sold through galleries and art fairs," said ArtTactic managing director Anders Petterson.
The Christies evening sale of Asian 20th Century and contemporary art raked in 484 million Hong Kong dollars, an increase of 74% from a similar sale in Autumn 2010.
In April, a three-panel oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang sold in Hong Kong for 79 million Hong Kong dollars - a record auction price for Chinese contemporary art.
And knock-offs of pictures by artists such as Yue Minjun in tourist markets in China and Hong Kong are also testament to the market's rising popularity.
Blistering Pace
It is not just the big hitters such as Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fengzhi and Ai Weiwei that are seeing the value of their art soar.
Even relatively little known Chinese artists are seeing the prices of their work rise sharply.
"The speed of everything is quite frightening," said Alistair Hicks, an art adviser and curator for Deutsche Bank.
"As a collector, you can blink and miss the moment."
Mr Hicks said Deutsche Bank had planned to buy a photographic collage by Shanghai-based artist Yang Yongliang, on display at the Hong Kong International Art Fair, but at $40,000 the price sought by the gallery was now too high.
He said the bank had bought a similar, albeit smaller, piece by the same artist a year ago for a fraction of that price.
This blistering pace of growth has prompted talk a bubble might be forming similar to that seen in the market for Western contemporary art in 2008, before the financial crisis.
"People are not turning into passionate collectors overnight," said Mr Petterson
"It is a result of new, investment-orientated money flowing into the art market."
For China's freshly minted millionaires and billionaires looking to spend their wealth, art is a natural choice.
Lacklustre returns on the country's stock markets and limits on the property market, make more traditional investments less appealing.
At least three Chinese financial institutions have set up funds investing in Chinese art, evidence of the newfound interest in art as an asset class in China.
Richard Chang, a New York-based hedge fund manager and collector, said he regarded his contemporary art collection as a hobby, but added: "No collector wants to lose money.
"When a nation is very wealthy and there's a lot of growth, oftentimes the art market goes along for the ride," he says.
Others say talk of a bubble is premature.
"There is a difference between speculation and investment," says Magnus Renfrew, ART HK's fair director.
"The prices we are seeing at the moment are underpinned by curatorial and critical acclaim."
Evolving Tastes
Many Chinese collectors favour traditional and classical art forms by artists little heard of in the West, despite the high prices their work commands.
A picture by the artist Qi Baishi painted in the 1940s was sold at an auction in Beijing for more than $65m.The picture depicts an eagle on a pine tree, flanked by calligraphy.
"We are now reaching prices that even Picassos are struggling to get," said Mr Petterson.
Chinese collectors have been more wary of buying pieces by the more avant-garde artists, championed by Western collectors such as Charles Saatchi and Uli Sigg.
Signs are this is beginning to change, although there remain artists such as Ai Weiwei and Cao Fei that still only have a high profile in Western art circles.
Of the top 10 lots at the Christies evening auction in May, nine were bought by Asian companies or individuals.
This trend should make the current boom in Chinese contemporary art more sustainable, said Mr Hicks.
"To a certain extent, you are always going to have a greater affinity with art from your own culture," he says."The most likely person to spot and support a rising star is someone who shares, at least in part, their cultural background."
The Real Reasons
In the last October, as crisis after crisis buffeted Wall Street, Sotheby's sale of contemporary Chinese art bombed. Just 39 of 110 paintings sold at the auction, which is widely seen as an indicator of the health of the Chinese contemporary art market.
Since then, things have gotten even worse, according to Brian Wallace of Red Gate Gallery in Beijing.
"In terms of the overall market, I would say it's probably dropped by at least 50 percent, just in this short period, and we'll see how that pans out over 2009," says Wallace, an 18-year veteran of the China art market.
Wallace blames a combination of factors, including the financial crisis, a falling number of visitors to galleries, and the reality that, because of the bubble, perhaps prices were too high.
"We all knew that was going to end, but we weren't expecting it right now," he says.
When asked how much further the market will fall, Wallace laughs nervously. "We don't know, because we haven't had this experience before," he says.
The Facts
The Chinese Contemporary Art market was a warning sign for the conduct of the entire Chinese investment economy.
In the contemporary art market, China’s "pay-for-play" culture was a perfect match for the self-dealing ethos of the art world. Top Chinese artists were mass-producing paintings in almost assembly-line fashion, selling them directly out of their studios in unknown quantities for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece. Auction houses were working with lesser-known artists, galleries and dealers to bid up their works and set a good public price for private sales.
Artists routinely paid critics for praise and museums for exhibitions to build up their brands. Want to get prime show space at a top national museum? Artistic merit is nice, but money talks. Want the cover of an art magazine, or a lengthy article inside? That is all for sale–and still is, but presumably at a deep discount now.
The game is up, but for those who got in early enough and got out, the money’s been made. “That whole Chinese collector cartel, it was kind of like a big Ponzi scheme,” says Philip Tinari, an art critic and curator in Beijing. People kept recruiting new buyers to pour more money into the market, driving up prices. “It was quite clear what it was.”
The declining trend will continue. First, the bubble that built up in the contemporary Chinese art industry before the global equity crash has passed. Asian contemporary art prices are back to 2006 levels, according to an ArtPrice report, making investment more affordable and hinting at room for a recovery in prices in the future. Longer term, the industry is likely to thrive in China because the country has a fascination with art as a part of its heritage. Today Chinese from all walks of life are seeking to find new meaning from a rich and varied ancient culture that includes paintings and calligraphy. The government, in turn, is promoting the longer-term development of a contemporary art industry.
The number of contemporary Chinese art collectors is also likely to grow because of Asia’s rising economic clout. As wealth expands, the investing population – and hence, the demand side of the market – will increase with it. “It is the explosion of a new era here,” says Jerome Sanz, director of the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art. “What we see is a little start ” Relatively low entry prices for contemporary art allow for great returns; they also have the intellectually satisfying benefit of allowing collectors to discover a realm that is relatively unknown in the art world with little cash down.
Conclusion
Beijing's 798 Art District is one victim of the slowdown. A motley assortment of artists, galleries and cafes sprang up among the warehouses of an old electronics factory in northwestern Beijing, making it the capital's premier art destination.
Local press reports say that 37 art galleries have closed down in the district within the past few months.
"They say the rent's too high," says Duan Changwu, who owns a kiosk selling drinks in the district, pointing to a row of padlocked galleries. "Because of the financial crisis, they can't sell any pictures."
Insiders say there has been an exodus from Beijing by artists from the provinces, who'd been attracted to the capital's vibrant art scene — and its money-making possibilities. Now, with their finances pinched, many are packing up and going home.
Art galleries and museums that remain open are cutting back drastically on their shows to save money. According to a recent survey by the art market research firm ArtTactic, 72.7 percent of respondents have a negative view on the short-term outlook for the Chinese contemporary art market. But despite the gloom, not everybody is pessimistic.
"The financial crisis is a good thing for Chinese contemporary art," says artist Pu Jie as he draws on a cigarette, while admiring his towering, sunflower-yellow canvases.
The 50-year old, whose work has sold at Sotheby's for tens of thousands of dollars, is busy preparing for two solo shows this year: one in Tokyo, one in Beijing. He has been painting a 60-foot-long series of panels of yellow-tinted, apple-cheeked revolutionary women, overlaid with cartoon-like, partly clad, thoroughly modern madams.
"Everybody was busy doing exhibitions, selling pictures, doing deals with galleries. Everybody was playing the market instead of thinking about the essence of art," he says. "Now, the economic crisis should make us think soberly about what sort of art we are making."
Even as the Chinese contemporary art market reached ever more dizzying heights, its fundamentals were shaky. Tales of dirty dealing by artists were legion; some artists bought back their own works at auction to push the prices up; others secretly offered "buy one, get two free" deals at auction; some even signed contracts with middlemen, paid to inflate the price of their art.
ArtTactic has a "speculation barometer" measuring the perceived level of speculation in an art market; the level for the contemporary Chinese market was 73 percent higher than for the Western contemporary art market.
Independent curator Zhu Qi believes up to 80 percent of transactions in China were "fake" or pumped up. For some artists, making money began to take precedence over making art, he told NPR in an interview recorded late last year.
"Artists don't even have time to paint," Zhu Qi said. "They employ others to draw for them, then they just sign the pictures.
"In the late '80s, art criticized social realities, but those critical voices no longer exist. Now, the older artists are all stars and millionaires. And younger artists think it's better to simply turn art into a concrete, tangible commodity. They don't care about history and society, they just care about themselves."
It sets an alarm and is right time for artists to 'Get Back To Basics'
.
As of January, it had rocketed up 583 percent from five years earlier, according to an index by the auction tracking site Artprice. But, like so many other markets, it was driven by speculation and greed. And now, that bubble has burst.
In September, the doors of the SH contemporary art fair in Shanghai had been open just five minutes when a Chinese businesswoman bought an oil painting from Yan Qing's Aye gallery for $40,000.
An abstract work by artist Wang Guangle, it was a blocky, black square with thin white lines straggling across a canvas, bisected with a thick white stripe.
Gallery owner Yan Qing was confident it was a good buy.
"It's not cheap, but the buyer liked it a lot and is very decisive," she said at the time. "For good artworks, I don't think it's a bubble; they won't devalue. Each one is an original, so they can only rise in value."
SUNRISE
Factors Contributed
Soaring Prices
The total value of contemporary Chinese art sold at auctions has grown from less than $1m in 2002 to $167.4m in 2010, according to figures from art-market advisory company ArtTactic.
"And this figure could easily be double if you take account pieces sold through galleries and art fairs," said ArtTactic managing director Anders Petterson.
The Christies evening sale of Asian 20th Century and contemporary art raked in 484 million Hong Kong dollars, an increase of 74% from a similar sale in Autumn 2010.
In April, a three-panel oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang sold in Hong Kong for 79 million Hong Kong dollars - a record auction price for Chinese contemporary art.
And knock-offs of pictures by artists such as Yue Minjun in tourist markets in China and Hong Kong are also testament to the market's rising popularity.
Blistering Pace
It is not just the big hitters such as Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fengzhi and Ai Weiwei that are seeing the value of their art soar.
Even relatively little known Chinese artists are seeing the prices of their work rise sharply.
"The speed of everything is quite frightening," said Alistair Hicks, an art adviser and curator for Deutsche Bank.
"As a collector, you can blink and miss the moment."
Mr Hicks said Deutsche Bank had planned to buy a photographic collage by Shanghai-based artist Yang Yongliang, on display at the Hong Kong International Art Fair, but at $40,000 the price sought by the gallery was now too high.
He said the bank had bought a similar, albeit smaller, piece by the same artist a year ago for a fraction of that price.
This blistering pace of growth has prompted talk a bubble might be forming similar to that seen in the market for Western contemporary art in 2008, before the financial crisis.
"People are not turning into passionate collectors overnight," said Mr Petterson
"It is a result of new, investment-orientated money flowing into the art market."
For China's freshly minted millionaires and billionaires looking to spend their wealth, art is a natural choice.
Lacklustre returns on the country's stock markets and limits on the property market, make more traditional investments less appealing.
At least three Chinese financial institutions have set up funds investing in Chinese art, evidence of the newfound interest in art as an asset class in China.
Richard Chang, a New York-based hedge fund manager and collector, said he regarded his contemporary art collection as a hobby, but added: "No collector wants to lose money.
"When a nation is very wealthy and there's a lot of growth, oftentimes the art market goes along for the ride," he says.
Others say talk of a bubble is premature.
"There is a difference between speculation and investment," says Magnus Renfrew, ART HK's fair director.
"The prices we are seeing at the moment are underpinned by curatorial and critical acclaim."
Many Chinese collectors favour traditional and classical art forms by artists little heard of in the West, despite the high prices their work commands.
A picture by the artist Qi Baishi painted in the 1940s was sold at an auction in Beijing for more than $65m.The picture depicts an eagle on a pine tree, flanked by calligraphy.
"We are now reaching prices that even Picassos are struggling to get," said Mr Petterson.
Chinese collectors have been more wary of buying pieces by the more avant-garde artists, championed by Western collectors such as Charles Saatchi and Uli Sigg.
Signs are this is beginning to change, although there remain artists such as Ai Weiwei and Cao Fei that still only have a high profile in Western art circles.
Of the top 10 lots at the Christies evening auction in May, nine were bought by Asian companies or individuals.
This trend should make the current boom in Chinese contemporary art more sustainable, said Mr Hicks.
"To a certain extent, you are always going to have a greater affinity with art from your own culture," he says."The most likely person to spot and support a rising star is someone who shares, at least in part, their cultural background."
SUNSET?
The Real Reasons
In the last October, as crisis after crisis buffeted Wall Street, Sotheby's sale of contemporary Chinese art bombed. Just 39 of 110 paintings sold at the auction, which is widely seen as an indicator of the health of the Chinese contemporary art market.
Since then, things have gotten even worse, according to Brian Wallace of Red Gate Gallery in Beijing.
"In terms of the overall market, I would say it's probably dropped by at least 50 percent, just in this short period, and we'll see how that pans out over 2009," says Wallace, an 18-year veteran of the China art market.
Wallace blames a combination of factors, including the financial crisis, a falling number of visitors to galleries, and the reality that, because of the bubble, perhaps prices were too high.
"We all knew that was going to end, but we weren't expecting it right now," he says.
When asked how much further the market will fall, Wallace laughs nervously. "We don't know, because we haven't had this experience before," he says.
The Chinese Contemporary Art market was a warning sign for the conduct of the entire Chinese investment economy.
In the contemporary art market, China’s "pay-for-play" culture was a perfect match for the self-dealing ethos of the art world. Top Chinese artists were mass-producing paintings in almost assembly-line fashion, selling them directly out of their studios in unknown quantities for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece. Auction houses were working with lesser-known artists, galleries and dealers to bid up their works and set a good public price for private sales.
Artists routinely paid critics for praise and museums for exhibitions to build up their brands. Want to get prime show space at a top national museum? Artistic merit is nice, but money talks. Want the cover of an art magazine, or a lengthy article inside? That is all for sale–and still is, but presumably at a deep discount now.
The game is up, but for those who got in early enough and got out, the money’s been made. “That whole Chinese collector cartel, it was kind of like a big Ponzi scheme,” says Philip Tinari, an art critic and curator in Beijing. People kept recruiting new buyers to pour more money into the market, driving up prices. “It was quite clear what it was.”
The declining trend will continue. First, the bubble that built up in the contemporary Chinese art industry before the global equity crash has passed. Asian contemporary art prices are back to 2006 levels, according to an ArtPrice report, making investment more affordable and hinting at room for a recovery in prices in the future. Longer term, the industry is likely to thrive in China because the country has a fascination with art as a part of its heritage. Today Chinese from all walks of life are seeking to find new meaning from a rich and varied ancient culture that includes paintings and calligraphy. The government, in turn, is promoting the longer-term development of a contemporary art industry.
The number of contemporary Chinese art collectors is also likely to grow because of Asia’s rising economic clout. As wealth expands, the investing population – and hence, the demand side of the market – will increase with it. “It is the explosion of a new era here,” says Jerome Sanz, director of the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art. “What we see is a little start ” Relatively low entry prices for contemporary art allow for great returns; they also have the intellectually satisfying benefit of allowing collectors to discover a realm that is relatively unknown in the art world with little cash down.
Conclusion
Beijing's 798 Art District is one victim of the slowdown. A motley assortment of artists, galleries and cafes sprang up among the warehouses of an old electronics factory in northwestern Beijing, making it the capital's premier art destination.
Local press reports say that 37 art galleries have closed down in the district within the past few months.
"They say the rent's too high," says Duan Changwu, who owns a kiosk selling drinks in the district, pointing to a row of padlocked galleries. "Because of the financial crisis, they can't sell any pictures."
Insiders say there has been an exodus from Beijing by artists from the provinces, who'd been attracted to the capital's vibrant art scene — and its money-making possibilities. Now, with their finances pinched, many are packing up and going home.
Art galleries and museums that remain open are cutting back drastically on their shows to save money. According to a recent survey by the art market research firm ArtTactic, 72.7 percent of respondents have a negative view on the short-term outlook for the Chinese contemporary art market. But despite the gloom, not everybody is pessimistic.
"The financial crisis is a good thing for Chinese contemporary art," says artist Pu Jie as he draws on a cigarette, while admiring his towering, sunflower-yellow canvases.
The 50-year old, whose work has sold at Sotheby's for tens of thousands of dollars, is busy preparing for two solo shows this year: one in Tokyo, one in Beijing. He has been painting a 60-foot-long series of panels of yellow-tinted, apple-cheeked revolutionary women, overlaid with cartoon-like, partly clad, thoroughly modern madams.
"Everybody was busy doing exhibitions, selling pictures, doing deals with galleries. Everybody was playing the market instead of thinking about the essence of art," he says. "Now, the economic crisis should make us think soberly about what sort of art we are making."
Even as the Chinese contemporary art market reached ever more dizzying heights, its fundamentals were shaky. Tales of dirty dealing by artists were legion; some artists bought back their own works at auction to push the prices up; others secretly offered "buy one, get two free" deals at auction; some even signed contracts with middlemen, paid to inflate the price of their art.
ArtTactic has a "speculation barometer" measuring the perceived level of speculation in an art market; the level for the contemporary Chinese market was 73 percent higher than for the Western contemporary art market.
Independent curator Zhu Qi believes up to 80 percent of transactions in China were "fake" or pumped up. For some artists, making money began to take precedence over making art, he told NPR in an interview recorded late last year.
"Artists don't even have time to paint," Zhu Qi said. "They employ others to draw for them, then they just sign the pictures.
"In the late '80s, art criticized social realities, but those critical voices no longer exist. Now, the older artists are all stars and millionaires. And younger artists think it's better to simply turn art into a concrete, tangible commodity. They don't care about history and society, they just care about themselves."
It sets an alarm and is right time for artists to 'Get Back To Basics'
Yan Qing — the gallery owner who sold a painting within five minutes at the Shanghai art fair last year — is actually opening an enormous new space in Beijing named Aye Eastation.
The 10,000-square-foot gallery will be filled with works by artists who had been the brightest stars in the contemporary art firmament, such as Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun.
"We're not giving in," Yan Qing says. "We're running against the tide."
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
無極意象 ----《巴黎的天空》
拍賣時間：2011年5月29日
油彩 畫布 1954年作
尺寸：100 x 90 cm.
估價：150-200萬港元
拍賣價：650 萬港元
拍賣機構：香港佳士得
估價：150-200萬港元
拍賣價：650 萬港元
拍賣機構：香港佳士得
前言
"For me painting is a goal which is never reached. After a resting place, a stride forward, another resting place and another stride forward. My painting is thus without end. It is never begun and never finished. I would like to arrive at a point in painting somewhere between nothing and everything. As Lao Tzu said, 'great music, few notes; great painting, no image.'" -- Zao Wou-Ki
「對我而言，繪畫是一無法到達的目的地。一個休息處，接續著一次大步的前進，再一個休息處，又一次大步的前進。我的畫作所以沒有終點。不曾開始也從未完成。在繪畫的道路上，我想抵達介於無與一切的某處。一如老子所言：『大音希聲，大象無形』。」
近年看趙無極，已經覺得十分「無癮」。
1921年出生於北平的他，如今已是九旬「老外」一名。多得他那原藉「法蘭西」的太太 — 梵恩娃‧馬凱，他的畫不斷重複地出現在各大拍賣會。
於1958年後，趙氏已開始不再為作品命名，轉以數字日期記載之。我想這斷不是因為已到「山窮水盡」的地步，也許他認為要多放些心神於創作，名字為次要。
但我喜歡的，還是他於1935至1957年左右，有題名的畫作。那是他年青的時代，作品「有心有力」；當然以技巧來說，可能會不及後期的作品。
他後期的作品卻偏向於「意象」的表達，個人認為他的「實物」寫生是頗漂亮和繽紛的。
1946年那幅「杭州風景」- 那藍藍的天，綠油油的樹，確實清新; 田園之美，盡表現在畫布上。但畢竟，這次我們要寫的是趙氏最近期的拍賣。那些美麗的青蔥歲月，俱往矣！只能回味！
趙無極在《巴黎的天空》採用了極為純粹的色彩，以其對於油彩質地的掌握，在乾擦與暈塗的技法交錯中，創造出未界定的空間深度。褐色的甲骨文辭符號似乎飄浮於灰白色的背景之中，少量的淺藍色在其中若隱若現，也呼應了題目「巴黎的天空」。值得注意的是，趙無極並非以單色刻畫文字符號，而是加入了漸層深淺的變化，並運用淺色調襯托出甲骨文的邊緣與四周，文字看似隱隱閃現光芒，這些局部細微的色彩變化看似藝術家不經意的舉動，卻在明暗層次中暗示了光線的穿透性，亦共同塑造了整體畫面的統調。趙無極曾說：「我在畫中力求自由的空間關係，我的視點是像國畫中那樣移動的多視點。」《巴黎的天空》以甲骨文辭之間的聚散與符號結構本身的曲直，形塑出畫面的多重視點：底部文字呈水平排列，線條較為清晰、纖細，猶帶有克利時期風景構圖的影子，越向上則間隔越大、筆劃漸粗而模糊，趙無極以此重現了中國傳統山水畫中的近景、中景與遠景，畫面雖未描寫景物，卻在線條符號的組構間納入了虛實、疏密的對比關係，變化有致的空間佈局張弛有度，形成起伏跌宕的節奏與韻律感。
巴黎的天空
**關於趙無極 (Zao Wou-Ki)
法籍華裔畫家趙無極 (1920～) 的創作旅程，不像是有著明確A、B兩點的一條直線，亦非一條上下擺盪的曲線，比較像是一個「圓」。
十五歲進入杭州美院的趙無極，學習明清兩代的傳統中國繪畫、書法理論和西方的透視法。二十七歲，身為銀行家之子的趙無極，帶著價值三萬美元的黃金前往巴黎。在這之前，僅能從雜誌上的影像了解歐洲藝術家作品的他，終於有機會親眼目睹啓發他甚巨的藝術家作品，尤其是 Renoir, Modigliani, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso。
身在時為世界藝術中心的趙無極，眼界大開的同時似乎也因此變得眼花繚亂。眼不自看，忘了我是誰。經歷了一段漫長的學習摹仿和自我追尋的過程，趙無極回頭正視自己到了巴黎之後所拋棄且懷疑的根基 -- 中國。一度在當時被譏為「Paul Klee 的粗俗模仿者」(a tasteless Klee) 的他，總算在三十三歲左右的時候，逐步的找到自己在油畫中獨特的聲音與表現方式，亦即找到「我」的繪畫語言。年近四十的時候，風格已然脫離具象畫 (representational painting) 範疇的他，完全的投身抽象畫 (abstract painting) 的領域。
「......我必須說，我逐漸的在內心深處再次發現中國，某種程度上可說是一種自我肯定......而這根源的復歸得要感謝巴黎。」趙無極說道。(...I have to say that I've gradually rediscovered China in my innermost personality as a kind of self-assertion. ...I owe this return to my deepest origins to Paris.)
想來弔詭，生長在中國的趙無極，在旅居法國時才醒覺中國對他的意義，但這或許也是人性。他鄉的「異」令人神往，而「異」的刺激，同時令人產生對自己身分與故鄉的懷疑。初期試著「全盤西畫」般西化的趙無極，將眼前他鄉的「異」生吞活剝，企圖在短時間內達到形式上「同」。然而，如此「不自然」的結果，換來的是模仿他人的罵名，不中又不西，不僅哪裡都去不了且兩邊不是人...。但話說回來，在創作生涯中有過這樣深刻的「不自然」體驗與挫敗，或許是美好的。
年輕時期的趙無極，搭乘輪船飄洋過海前往巴黎，雙腳雖已踏上異國的土地，但內心自我身分的認同卻始終擱淺在岸邊。然而，當他意識到內心的衝突，開始試著與過去和解，了解到過去在中國的生長經驗不是負擔，亦非財富；不是優越，亦非低劣的時候，此刻逐漸能在心中做到「齊物」的趙無極，某種程度上可以說是「找到」了自己，或許應該說是「返回」(regain) 自己。畢竟，不曾失去，自然無從找起。
與自己和解，漸能「齊物」的趙無極，找到了「我」的中心。或許可以這麼說，當「我」的心目中 (mind's eye) 事物於社會上的階層或價值分野漸次的消融，「我」與周遭事物的心理距離，就像是圓心到圓上任一點的距離，永遠等距。然而，完美的圓的圖形，僅是數學概念，存在於二維的歐基理德空間，現實生活如何「現虛」？完美的圓似乎總是隱匿不現。也許，一個人成為「完美的圓」的旅程，或對「我」的理解深度，可以比喻成計算圓周率 π (pi) 的過程：當你得出 π 的小數點第五位是 9，下一個未知的數字又立刻等著你。就像是一次無盡的旅行，可指向「在那裡」的目的地卻無法預見。想要看見或真正的知道，你只得親自走到那裡。然而，每向前一步，你的生命將更加「圓」滿完美，更接近真實。
或許， 數學家從 π (pi) 所發現的「無理」與「超越」本質，某種程度的反映了生命的真相。生命的「無理」(irrationality)，一如 π 的無限且不循環，所以不可確知難以臆度。生命的「超越」(transcedence)，一如 π 只能以「近似值」再現或以符號象徵，沒有任何具體事物可再現其真實值...。但生命從不停歇的向前，漫遊在生活中的我們，像是騎著一輛的自行車，若想保持平衡，你我只得不斷的踩踏前進。
每個人對「我」幾乎都有自己的意見，但願意花時間了解的人並不多見。趙無極的自我理解始於心中對「我」的身分認同危機。「每個人都被一個傳統給綑綁，我則是兩個。」(Everybody is bound by a tradition, I am bound by two.) 趙無極說道。
從六十二年前在巴黎的「另一位中國佬」(just another Chinaman)，到今日國際知名的「趙無極」，他經歷了從「無名」(nobody) 到「有名」(somebody) 的過程。但是不論有名無名，那個「名」始終是「趙無極」，唯一的差異是：「趙無極」三個字的意義，亦即「我」的意義。而他在自我認同過程中所經歷的孤獨、掙扎與持續奮起的創作，終使得「趙無極」三個字與藝術家劃上等號。
1950年代後期，趙無極逐漸的恢復自信，觀者也不難從作品中發覺其風格上的轉變。如：The River (1956)、The night is stirring (1956) 以及 We two (1957)。這個時期的他，開始在部份作品中加入形似甲骨文的字體、自創的符號、或大膽的塗痕。乍見畫作的觀者可感受到一股磅礡氣勢、強烈張力以及色彩的流動性。畫作中所積蓄的能量，或「氣」，像是被囚禁的野獸，蠢動不安，隨時可能穿破畫布而出。但氣本身的渾沌失序顯得有些張狂，威脅了畫面整體的平衡感。或許，36歲的他尚未完全懂得如何駕馭內在的創作能量：放手、放心、自然而然。真正的控制與駕馭，或許並非死命緊抓著不放，而是要懂得如何巧妙的鬆開手。
畫布上錯綜繁複的筆觸、層次和質感，使作品給人一種想方設法的精巧與遲滯感。畫面整體所呈現厚重密集的「工」，直叫人看得疲累，難以喚醒觀者心中沈睡的意識。此時的趙無極，作畫時心中也許仍有懸念，作品因而顯得有些「不自然」。畫作中那種「不自然」的感覺，有點類似以下的情形：你的一位老師想看看你的字跡，於是拿出紙筆請你寫下自己的名字。此刻若你心中浮現想要求好、想讓人印象深刻的念頭，下筆書寫時便愈發的僵硬與猶豫。而無法用「平常心」簽名的你，寫出來的名字因此顯得格外刻意、「不自然」...。
約莫1958年後，趙無極以日期為其作品命名。只有完成日期，不現作者主觀意圖的作品標題，某種程度上可理解成趙無極並不希望將「我」強加在畫作的意義之中，意圖保持作品的主體性，使觀者獲得最大程度的自由觀看。因此，作品的意義自然變得更加神祕，具衍生性 (generative)。當然，這並不適用在所有的情況。然而，有些時候，作者定義作品或下標題最好的方式之一，就是思考如何閉上自己的嘴巴，令作品自己說話。
從接下來的三幅作品，可以感受到趙無極作畫時的手似乎變得更加輕巧、快速、隨性。並從厚重黏稠的油畫顏料中，看見他如何巧妙的以「實」現「虛」，以及程度不一的輕盈與流動氣勢。
「藝術的目的並非事物外在形貌的再現，而是其內在意義」(The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance) Aristotle 如是說。趙無極的抽象畫風反映了他對(大象)無形之形的興趣。可以這麼說，從表面上看來，他大半輩子都在「務虛」，一點都不「務實」。但是，他在生命中務實的務虛，或許才是真正的在過「務實」的生活...。
「當我活到110歲時，我將畫一條線，而它將會是生命。」(When I am 110 years old, I will trace a line and it will be Life) 葛飾北齋如是說。高齡89歲的趙無極，已然創造了一個屬於他的世界。如今，他的手可能變得慢些，畫作變得更簡單。但是如果你我仔細的觀看，也許能從一處筆法中發現一個小世界 (microcosm)，撞見生命的能量。
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Romance of Cupid & Psyche 愛神也有苦惱...他可知道??
There was once a king who had three daughters, all lovely maidens, but the youngest Psyche, excelled her sisters so great that beside them she seemed like a goddess consorting with mere mortals. The fame of her surpassing beauty spread far and wide and soon many people came to worship her as though she were a goddess. Venus' temples lay in filth and her favorite city lay in ruins, for now, all that cared for Venus cared for Psyche.
Venus grew jealous of Psyche and as always turned to her son Cupid for help. She told Cupid to go to earth and shoot Psyche with an arrow as to make her fall in love with the most despicable creature on the earth. He would have done so if he was not first shown Psyche. It was as though Cupid pierced his own heart with one of his arrows. Venus left Cupid confident that he would carry out her orders.
What happened next Venus did not count on. Psyche did not fall in love with a horrible creature and still more strange she did not fall in love at all. All the men were content in worshiping and admiring her but no one ever truly loved her. Both her sisters inexpressibly inferior to her had gotten married to kings and yet she sat sad and solitary, only to be admired, not loved.
Her father in discourse turned to an oracle of Apollo for advice. The oracle said that Cupid himself told him to say that Psyche be dressed in deepest mourning and placed on the summit of a mountain to be taken away by a winged serpent, stronger than the gods themselves, to make his wife.
Misery came as her father told the family the lamentable news. They dressed Psyche up as though she was to attend her on funeral and walked with her to the top of the hill. Though her parents wept grievously, she kept her courage and said she was glad the time had come. They went in despairing grief leaving her helpless on the top of the mountain and returned to the palace and mourned all their days for her.
As she sat atop the mountain she wept and trembled not knowing what was to come. Suddenly a warm breath of wind caressed her neck and she felt herself being lifted up and away until she came down upon a soft meadow with flowers so fragrant. She had forgotten all her fears here and fell asleep. As she woke beside a bright river; and on its bank was a stately mansion that was fit for the gods themselves. So awe-struck as she hesitated at the threshold, she heard voices telling her the house was for her and that she should bath and refresh and a banquet table will be set for her and than it told her they were her servants.
The food and so delicious and the bath so refreshing. While she dined, she heard sweet melodious music, but could not see who was playing. As the day passed she began to feel reassured that she would soon meet her husband. As night came she heard the sweet whispers of her husbands voice in her ears and realized that her husband was no monster or shape of terror, but the husband she had so desperately longed for.
Psyche had not spoken with her sisters in some time and requested from her husband that she bade them welcome to the palace. He said that this would bring bad fortune upon her but she wept and wept and soon he gave in and granted her request. Her sisters greeted her with tears and embraces. Both sisters became overcome with jealousy as they realized their wealth was nothing in comparison with hers, they began plotting a way to ruin her.
That very night Psyche's husband warned her once more. Already Psyche's sisters realized Psyche's contradictory remarks on the appearance of her husband and realized she had not seen him before. They began to invoke feelings of suspicion and fear that her husband was really the serpent that the oracle had said would come and that one night he would devour her.
Psyche's heart began to fill with terror and not love. She plotted that night that she would sleep with a sharp knife and lamp near her bed, and that once her husband fell fast asleep that she go to his bed and plunge the dagger into his body for it was forsaken that she would see a hideously misshapen body of a monster.
She was confused she thought it was her loving husband, not a serpent monster, but it also was her loving husband. She must have certainty, she finally decided one thing for sure she would see him tonight.
That night she mustered up the courage and lit the lamp and tiptoed to her husband's bedside. As the light came upon him, she realized it was not a monster but the most beautiful man she had ever seen, overcome with shame at her mistrust she would have plunged the dagger into her breast if it had not fallen from her hands. But the same hands that saved her betrayed her, as she trembled a drop of hot oil from the lamp fell on her husband's shoulder and he began to wake. At the sight of this infidelity, he fled without a word.
Psyche fled into the night in search of her husband she traveled far and wide in search for him. Meanwhile her husband had gone to Venus' chamber to have his wound cared for, but as soon as she heard the story she left her him in his pain as she became even more overcome with jealousy. She vowed to show Psyche what it felt like to bring down the wrath of a goddess.
Psyche's search was to no avail, she had not found her husband so she went to Venus herself. Venus would grant her her wish if she completed the task of separating a great quantity of the smallest seeds by night fall. As she sat there alone she realized that this was an impossible task to complete. No one had heard Psyche's prayers for they did not want to become an enemy of Venus. But the the tiniest of creatures felt sympathy for her. The ants began to sort the seeds for Psyche. All the seeds lay in ordered neat piles. This is what Venus saw when she came. "Your work is by no means done" said Venus. She gave Psyche a piece of crust and bade her sleep on the ground as she left to her soft fragrant couch.
The next morning, she devised another task for Psyche, this time a dangerous one. There were sheep down near the riverbank with golden fleece. She was to fetch some fleece and bring it back to Venus. As she reached the river, she had the urge to hurl herself into it ending all her pains, but a voice bade her not to. The voice instructed her to wait till the sheeps came out of the bushes toward the evening for the sheep were indeed very fierce. She did as she was told and once the sheep left she gathered the fleece from the sharp briars and she carried it back to her cruel mistress. Venus received it with an evil smile. Venus knew that Psyche could not have accomplished this alone said that she must prove herself by obtaining a flask filled with water from the river Styx. As she approached the waterfall, she realized that only a winged creature could reach it. This time her savior was an eagle, who poised with great wings beside her, seized the flask from her with his beak and brought it back to her full of the black water.
But Venus kept on. She sent Psyche with a box which she was to carry to the underworld and ask Persephone to fill with some of her beauty. Psyche found her guide in a tower on her path. It gave her careful directions on how to get toPersephone's palace. All had happened as the her guide had told her and Persephone was willing to do Venus a favor, and Psyche, greatly encouraged, bore back the box.
The last trial was brought upon herself out of curiosity. She wished to see the beauty-charm in the box and perhaps use some herself for she must look beautiful if she was to see the God of Love again. She opened the box but nothing was to be found inside suddenly a deadly languor took possession of her as she fell into a heavy sleep.
At this point, Cupid stepped forward, Cupid was healed from his wound and had fled the palace by flying through the windows for Venus lock him in his chamber. Cupid picked Psyche up and wiped the sleep from her eyes and placed it into the box. Cupid told her to take the box to his mother and all would be fine. To make sure Cupid flew up to Mount Olympus and spoke with Jupiter himself. Although Cupid had done Jupiter harm previously by making him turn into a bull and a swan, he agreed to help him. Jupiter summoned all the gods, including Venus, and announced the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. Mercury brought Psyche to the palace of the gods, and Jupiter himself gave her the ambrosia to make her immortal. Venus was in turn satisfied for with Psyche up in Heaven, she would not command attention from the men on earth.
So all came to a most happy end. Love and Soul (for that is what Psyche means) had sought and, after sore trials, found each other; that union could never be broken.
The tale of Cupid and Psyche first appeared in Lucius Apuleius' Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass in the middle of the 2nd century A.D., and is usually considered allegorical. The Greek word for Psyche means butterfly, and also means soul. The transformation of the dull fuzzy caterpillar into the colorful beautiful butterfly is indeed a miracle. Psyche then symbolizes the human soul, which is purified by misfortunes and sufferings in the temporal world, until she summons the courage within to accomplish the impossible tasks. Only then is she rewarded with the true blessedness and joy of eternity.
It has just occurred to me that the tasks which Venus imposed on Psyche may be related to the four elements of the Greeks. The separation of the grains corresponds to the element of earth since seeds need soil to incubate themselves and grow. It is important to establish roots, and planting oneself in mother earth is taking the first step on the spiritual path. Getting the golden fleece from the rams corresponds to the element of fire. The rams are fierce under the noonday sun because fire burns so Psyche had to wait till sunset to gather the fleece of gold (nourishing symbol of fire). The cascading stream on the mountain peak corresponds to the element of water, although the eagle who got it for Psyche is more associated with air. Psyche's descent into the underworld suggests the image of earth, but Proserpina's beauty potion which arose out of the box was a heavy mist corresponding to the element of air. Completing the four tasks of Venus represents the integration of the four elements— earth, fire, water, and air into the soul. Only then was Psyche rewarded by Jupiter with ambrosia corresponding to the fifth element— ether or the elixir of immortality.
About the Painter
Gerard, Pascal Simon Francois (1770-1837) - 1798 Cupid and Psyche, Neoclassical Visons of Love
François Gérard was born in 1770 in Rome into the family of a French clerk/officer of the French Embassy and an Italian mother. He grew up in Rome and love for Italian art later influenced his own paintings. Around 1782 the family came to Paris, where François studied in the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou. At the age of sixteen, Gérard entered the studio of Jacques-Louis David and soon became one of his favorite pupils.
He tried his hand at painting historical scenes, and won the competition to commemorate the meeting of the National Assembly of 10 August 1792. His first real success was at the Salon of 1795 for the work Belisarius Carrying his Guide after he was Bitten by a Snake. The miniature painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855), who repeatedly helped Gérard, organized the sale of the work and in gratitude Gérard painted the portrait of his friend with his small daughter. The portrait launched Gérard’s career as a portraitist, whose works were much sought-after because of their naturalism and brilliant characterizations. For historical and mythological subjects, Gérard based his style on David's Neoclassicism.
Gérard’s reputation remained high through the Restoration period. In 1817 he became court painter to Louis XVIII, and was ennobled in 1819.
This famous painting Psyché et l'Amour (Cupid and Psyche) in French Neoclassism style, Oil on canvas, is exhibited at the the Louvre.
About Neoclassism
(1750 - 1830) The term Neoclassicism refers to the classical revival in European art, architecture, and interior design that lasted from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. This period gave rebirth to the art of ancient Rome and Greece and the Renaissance as an opposition to the ostentatious Baroque and Rococo art that preceded the movement. Although the movement spread throughout Western Europe, France and England were the countries that used the style most frequently in their arts and architecture, using the classical elements to express ideas of nationalism, courage, and sacrifice. The movement was inspired by the discovery of ancient Italian artifacts at the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Neoclassicism emphasized rationality and the resurgence of tradition. Neoclassical artists incorporated classical styles and subjects, including columns, pediments, friezes, and other ornamental schemes in their work. They were inspired by the work of Homer and Plutarch and John Flaxmann’s illustrations for the Illiad and Odyssey. Other classic models included Virgil, Raphael, and Poussin among others. Neoclassical painters took extra care to depict the costumes, settings, and details of classical subject matter with as much accuracy as possible. Much of the subject matter was derived from classical history and mythology. The movement emphasized line quality over color, light, and atmosphere.
What any "neo-classicism" depends on most fundamentally is a consensus about a body of work that has achieved canonic status. These are the "classics." Ideally—and neoclassicism is essentially an art of an ideal—an artist, well schooled and comfortably familiar with the canon, does not repeat it in lifeless reproductions, but synthesizes the tradition anew in each work. This sets a high standard, clearly; but though a neoclassical artist who fails to achieve it may create works that are inane, vacuous or even mediocre, gaffes of taste and failures of craftsmanship are not commonly neoclassical failings. Novelty, improvisation, self-expression, and blinding inspiration are not neoclassical virtues. "Make it new" was the modernist credo of the poet Ezra Pound; contrarily, neoclassicism does not seek to re-create art forms from the ground up with each new project. It instead exhibits perfect control of an idiom.
Speaking and thinking in English, "neoclassicism" in each art implies a particular canon of "classic" models - Virgil, Raphael, Nicolas Poussin, Haydn. Other cultures have other canons of classics, however, and a recurring strain of neoclassicism appears to be a natural expression of a culture at a certain moment in its career, a culture that is highly self-aware, that is also confident of its own high mainstream tradition, but at the same time feels the need to regain something that has slipped away: Apollonius of Rhodes is a neoclassic writer; Ming ceramics pay homage to Song-era celadon Chinese porcelains; Italian 15th century humanists learn to write a "Roman" hand we call italic (based on the Carolingian); Neo-Babylonian culture is a neoclassical revival, and in Persia the "classic" religion of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism, is revived after centuries, to "re-Persianize" a culture that had fallen away from its own classic Achaemenean past. Within the direct Western tradition, the earliest movement motivated by a neoclassical inspiration is a Roman style that was first distinguished by the German art historian Friedrich Hauser (1889), who identified the style-category he called "Neo-Attic" among sculpture produced in later Hellenistic circles during the last century or so BCE and in Imperial Rome; the corpus that Hauser called "Neo-Attic" consists of bas reliefs molded on decorative vessels and plaques, employing a figural and drapery style that looked for its canon of "classic" models to late 5th and early 4th century Athens and Attica.
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