文 : 李旭

一、審美淵源

在以具象形式為主體的當(dāng)代藝術(shù)大行其道的今天，很多人都已忘記了抽象藝術(shù)的歷史意義和現(xiàn)實(shí)價(jià)值。抽象藝術(shù)曾是“為藝術(shù)而藝術(shù)”的極致，是藝術(shù)自身價(jià)值最大化的張揚(yáng)表現(xiàn)。從抽象藝術(shù)誕生之日起，藝術(shù)就可以不必試圖再現(xiàn)和表現(xiàn)客觀物質(zhì)世界，轉(zhuǎn)而營(yíng)造與現(xiàn)實(shí)平行的主觀精神世界，與現(xiàn)實(shí)“纏繞”和“交叉”的關(guān)系，變成了“平行”關(guān)系?；仡櫖F(xiàn)代藝術(shù)發(fā)展史后，我們可以說(shuō)，沒(méi)有抽象藝術(shù)就沒(méi)有觀念藝術(shù)的獨(dú)立性、自足性，抽象藝術(shù)的誕生為當(dāng)代藝術(shù)理論奠定了重要的基礎(chǔ)。

從康定斯基的第一張抽象畫算起，西方抽象藝術(shù)的誕生已經(jīng)超過(guò)一個(gè)世紀(jì)，而中國(guó)抽象藝術(shù)還非常年輕。古代中國(guó)沒(méi)有抽象藝術(shù)，但中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)的許多門類里都有對(duì)抽象美的欣賞傳統(tǒng)。那些欣賞抽象美的行為、心理和文字，在書法、戲曲、園林、家具等文化遺產(chǎn)之中普遍存在。古人所欣賞的書法筆畫、太湖石、大理石等類似“抽象”形式的美感，基本上發(fā)源于道家哲學(xué)。世界上沒(méi)有任何一個(gè)國(guó)家像中國(guó)那樣對(duì)林林總總的奇石情有獨(dú)鐘，這種審美取向也和道家“天人合一”、“道法自然”的理念有著千絲萬(wàn)縷的聯(lián)系。老子《道德經(jīng)》中“大音希聲”、“大象無(wú)形”、“大成若缺”、“大盈若沖”、“唯道集虛”等名言，可以充分證明道家對(duì)“空”、“無(wú)”、“虛”的推崇，這是一種極其特殊的價(jià)值觀，既為后世對(duì)非具象美感的欣賞提供了理論基礎(chǔ)，也造就了漢民族文化傳統(tǒng)中崇尚簡(jiǎn)約、概括、象征、隱喻的審美性格。

在唐代書法巔峰時(shí)代誕生的狂草，更是中華美學(xué)的異數(shù)。漢字的雛形甲骨文本來(lái)是象形文字，在這種以象形原則為基礎(chǔ)而造就的文字體系中，居然能夠演化出幾乎喪失辨識(shí)度的書寫方式，進(jìn)而成為中國(guó)書法史上難以逾越的審美經(jīng)典，這不能不說(shuō)是世界文化史上的特例。

在歷代文人所推崇的藝術(shù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)中，對(duì)“不似”的議論是令人印象深刻的。在南齊謝赫的“六法”之中，“氣韻生動(dòng)”排名第一，而“應(yīng)物象形”排名第三。北宋文豪蘇軾嘗言：“論畫以形似，見與兒童鄰?！痹藿衬攮懺f(shuō)：“逸筆草草，不求形似?！爆F(xiàn)代國(guó)畫大師齊白石更以“似與不似之間”作為風(fēng)格自白。由于歷代文人都貶斥過(guò)度的形似，于是中國(guó)的視覺(jué)藝術(shù)很早就放棄了對(duì)極端化寫實(shí)技巧的刻意追求，轉(zhuǎn)而尋覓表達(dá)方式上的“氣”、“韻”和“意”，進(jìn)而“得意忘象”。

道家哲學(xué)和書法美學(xué)，是中國(guó)當(dāng)代抽象藝術(shù)得以濫觴的心理基礎(chǔ)和視覺(jué)根源，更是中國(guó)抽象藝術(shù)在當(dāng)代國(guó)際藝壇的立身之本。

二、演進(jìn)歷程

西方抽象藝術(shù)對(duì)中國(guó)早期現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)的影響，始于1930年代的民國(guó)時(shí)期，當(dāng)時(shí)，“決瀾社”中的部分藝術(shù)家已經(jīng)開始了對(duì)純粹視覺(jué)形式的探索和實(shí)驗(yàn)。但是，抗日戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的全面爆發(fā)，迫使文藝界立刻投身于救亡的宣傳洪流，寫實(shí)主義的藝術(shù)形式因其通俗易懂和喜聞樂(lè)見，永遠(yuǎn)都是政治宣傳和群眾動(dòng)員的有力工具，而“玩弄形式”、“脫離時(shí)代”的抽象藝術(shù)顯然是不合時(shí)宜的。從那時(shí)起，中國(guó)歷史上幾乎每10年就會(huì)有一次巨大的變動(dòng)，對(duì)思想、學(xué)術(shù)、文藝的積累和傳承都造成了不少消極影響，抽象藝術(shù)在中國(guó)內(nèi)地的學(xué)術(shù)線索也因此一再中斷，時(shí)間長(zhǎng)達(dá)半個(gè)世紀(jì)之久。

1970年代末及1980年代初期，隨著思想解放運(yùn)動(dòng)的萌生，中國(guó)內(nèi)地的文化藝術(shù)界對(duì)抽象藝術(shù)又開始了重新的認(rèn)識(shí)。但是，由于極“左”思想在意識(shí)形態(tài)方面的頑固遺存，抽象藝術(shù)在相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的一段歷史時(shí)期內(nèi)被批判為“資產(chǎn)階級(jí)的腐朽、反動(dòng)藝術(shù)形式”，而“抽象派”、“自我表現(xiàn)”、“形式主義”這種詞匯則被當(dāng)時(shí)的極“左”勢(shì)力當(dāng)做匕首和投槍拋來(lái)擲去，從事形式主義探索，作品中帶有抽象意味的藝術(shù)家也屢次遭受不公正的責(zé)難與打擊。在“文革”中后期，吳大羽、李青萍等老一代藝術(shù)家曾以地下方式持續(xù)抽象、半抽象探索，他們所作出的貢獻(xiàn)是不應(yīng)被忘記的。

“85新潮”席卷大江南北，抽象藝術(shù)的實(shí)踐也達(dá)到了前所未有的高潮，今天，當(dāng)我們回顧這段歷史時(shí)，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)不少50歲以上的知名前衛(wèi)藝術(shù)家在當(dāng)時(shí)都有過(guò)短暫的、耐人尋味的“抽象時(shí)期”。由此可知，抽象藝術(shù)在當(dāng)時(shí)顯然是被他們當(dāng)做反叛與顛覆僵化藝術(shù)體制的工具了，那時(shí)的抽象創(chuàng)作大多數(shù)是策略性的，只是手段，不是目的。在眾多抽象、半抽象的藝術(shù)探索中，余友涵、李山、王克平、葛鵬仁、周長(zhǎng)江、張健君、仇德樹、孟祿丁、尹齊、于振立、丁乙、王易罡、顧黎明、張方白、劉鳴、管策、王毅、江海等藝術(shù)家在語(yǔ)言方面的探索為后來(lái)者提供了有價(jià)值的坐標(biāo)。1980年代中后期，有三件事從一定程度上說(shuō)明了官方藝術(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)待抽象藝術(shù)的態(tài)度：其一，是旅法華人抽象藝術(shù)家趙無(wú)極被浙江美術(shù)學(xué)院邀請(qǐng)客座執(zhí)教；其二，是西班牙抽象藝術(shù)家塔皮埃斯的個(gè)人畫展在中國(guó)美術(shù)館開幕；其三，是周長(zhǎng)江的抽象作品在全國(guó)美展上獲得銀獎(jiǎng)。

90年代以來(lái)的20年間，中國(guó)內(nèi)地的抽象藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作呈現(xiàn)出漸趨繁榮的發(fā)展態(tài)勢(shì)，散落在全國(guó)各地的藝術(shù)家開始介入抽象、半抽象的語(yǔ)言實(shí)踐，許多較為獨(dú)立的個(gè)體風(fēng)格也在多年來(lái)的探索中逐步建立。北方藝術(shù)家中，于振立、閆振鐸、譚平、祁海平、白明、張國(guó)龍、申偉光、伊靈、閻秉會(huì)、張羽、胡又笨、劉旭光、路青、陳光武、徐紅明、周洋明、孫凱、尹戈等人是其中較為突出的代表。南方藝術(shù)家中，丁乙、秦一峰、申凡、施慧、傅中望、仇德樹、陳心懋、陳墻、徐虹、李磊、李華生、楊述、王川、劉子建、梁銓、趙葆康、潘微、黃淵青、曲豐國(guó)、曹小冬、張浩、王遠(yuǎn)、燕飛翔、王燮達(dá)等人則形成了比北方藝術(shù)家們更為龐大的創(chuàng)作群體，顯示出不可忽視的實(shí)力。旅居海外多年的藝術(shù)家如江大海、蘇笑柏、朱金石、孟祿丁、沈忱、馬樹青、李向陽(yáng)、陳若冰等成熟個(gè)體紛紛歸國(guó)發(fā)展，更為這一繁榮景象增添著全新活力。值得一提的是，上海作為一個(gè)有著殖民文化傳統(tǒng)的城市，在抽象藝術(shù)的發(fā)展上異軍突起，在80年代初之后的30年發(fā)展歷程中，專門從事抽象創(chuàng)作以及先后介入抽象風(fēng)格的藝術(shù)家已經(jīng)超過(guò)30位，從而不容置疑地在事實(shí)上確立了上?！俺橄笏囆g(shù)首都”的地位。自1997年“無(wú)形的存在——上海抽象藝術(shù)展”之后，眾多抽象藝術(shù)聯(lián)展在上海遍地開花，其中以曾在上海美術(shù)館連續(xù)舉辦四屆的“形而上”抽象展最為著名。

時(shí)至今日，抽象藝術(shù)已經(jīng)在全國(guó)各地漸趨活躍，各種名目的展示活動(dòng)此起彼伏，從北京到深圳，從畫廊到美術(shù)館，以抽象為主題的展覽、研討和出版活動(dòng)方興未艾。

三、當(dāng)下問(wèn)題

1. 形式主義的現(xiàn)實(shí)困境

抽象藝術(shù)不是一個(gè)已經(jīng)完成其歷史使命的流派，抽象其實(shí)是人類認(rèn)識(shí)世界和表達(dá)思想的一種基礎(chǔ)語(yǔ)言。對(duì)視覺(jué)形式語(yǔ)言的探索，在理論上是沒(méi)有極限的，但我們必須清楚的是，并不是所有的探索和發(fā)現(xiàn)都具備藝術(shù)價(jià)值，獨(dú)特的也并不一定就是杰出的。近10年來(lái)，盡管抽象藝術(shù)家數(shù)量有增無(wú)減，展示活動(dòng)層出不窮，但選擇抽象應(yīng)該是有條件的，堅(jiān)持抽象道路更需要堅(jiān)忍不拔的意志。當(dāng)下的中國(guó)抽象藝術(shù)探索僅僅是起步，對(duì)形式的探索和實(shí)驗(yàn)在深度和廣度方面都還十分有限。其實(shí)，抽象世界遠(yuǎn)比具象世界寬廣，形式語(yǔ)言的自由度和可能性也更大，但寬廣不等于沒(méi)有界限，自由也并不等于沒(méi)有難度。形式如果最后成了專利發(fā)明和絕技炫耀，其內(nèi)在思想和觀念的深度必定大打折扣，進(jìn)而成為在理性和感性層面上都無(wú)法打動(dòng)觀者，無(wú)法令人產(chǎn)生共鳴的，僅僅具有裝飾功能的商品。

2. 觀念探索的視覺(jué)依據(jù)

在視覺(jué)藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域，任何觀念的存在都需要視覺(jué)形式作為佐證。觀念性的抽象藝術(shù)在中國(guó)的發(fā)展尚處于起步階段，創(chuàng)作的視野還不夠開闊，選擇的手段也還比較有限。在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上，需要被一再?gòu)?qiáng)調(diào)的常識(shí)是：觀念的存在，其目的并不是消解形式。觀念性的抽象應(yīng)當(dāng)是具有獨(dú)特語(yǔ)匯的抽象方式，語(yǔ)匯的絕對(duì)重要性是毋庸諱言的。另外，所謂的觀念性抽象并不只是“極簡(jiǎn)”或“極繁”，風(fēng)格上的“單純”也絕不能與“簡(jiǎn)單”畫等號(hào)，“抽象藝術(shù)”的疆域其實(shí)非常寬廣，但迄今為止的中國(guó)內(nèi)地抽象藝術(shù)所涉及的領(lǐng)域還僅僅局限于繪畫、雕塑和裝置作品的范圍之內(nèi)，抽象風(fēng)格的攝影作品僅有少量的零星個(gè)案，而抽象的錄像、電影與表演等形式的作品則非常罕見。任何藝術(shù)觀念的探索如果失去了充分的視覺(jué)依據(jù)，其觀念只能成為一具干癟的空殼。

3. 學(xué)術(shù)概念的模糊與顛覆

隨著抽象藝術(shù)的逐漸興起，當(dāng)下已有越來(lái)越多的批評(píng)家和策展人開始介入抽象領(lǐng)域，有關(guān)抽象的展覽、研討和出版活動(dòng)此起彼伏，這是毋庸置疑的好事。但不容忽視的是，有兩種聲音使本來(lái)清晰的學(xué)術(shù)觀念日益模糊甚至顛覆，卻是令人擔(dān)憂的。一種聲音源自原本擅長(zhǎng)寫實(shí)和表現(xiàn)，后來(lái)轉(zhuǎn)向抽象創(chuàng)作的藝術(shù)家及其代言人，他們認(rèn)為只要偏離學(xué)院寫實(shí)或傳統(tǒng)具象的風(fēng)格者皆可被定義為廣義上的“抽象”，其實(shí)這種類型的作品更確切的定義應(yīng)該是“表現(xiàn)”、“象征”或者“意象”。另一種聲音則對(duì)中國(guó)抽象藝術(shù)采取完全否定的態(tài)度，其代表性觀點(diǎn)認(rèn)為抽象發(fā)源于西方，中國(guó)的抽象藝術(shù)只是翻版和拷貝而已，其立論點(diǎn)的致命錯(cuò)誤在于混淆了“抽象”、“抽象主義”和“抽象藝術(shù)”三者之間的深層內(nèi)涵。

4. 商業(yè)化與庸俗化的危險(xiǎn)

在抽象藝術(shù)逐步進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)，進(jìn)而成為中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的趣味所在和消費(fèi)重點(diǎn)以后，抽象藝術(shù)將會(huì)漸漸面對(duì)被市場(chǎng)異化的命運(yùn)。因?yàn)槌橄笏囆g(shù)對(duì)現(xiàn)代家居環(huán)境具備理想的裝飾功能，也因?yàn)橘?gòu)藏者對(duì)抽象藝術(shù)的盲目跟風(fēng)和不求甚解，藝術(shù)市場(chǎng)上就不可避免地會(huì)出現(xiàn)魚龍混雜的局面。畫廊、博覽會(huì)上已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)大量粗制濫造的“偽抽象”，不少成名的抽象藝術(shù)家們由于訂單不斷，也產(chǎn)生了不求進(jìn)取、消極守成的趨勢(shì)。抽象藝術(shù)誕生之初，是驚世駭俗的舉動(dòng)，是對(duì)陳腐藝術(shù)觀念的反叛，而杜絕商業(yè)化與庸俗化的消極影響，應(yīng)該是每一位抽象藝術(shù)家執(zhí)著的個(gè)人操守，如果藝術(shù)家們對(duì)這一危險(xiǎn)視而不見，“抽象”概念本身在中國(guó)內(nèi)地的未來(lái)前途是不容樂(lè)觀的。

四、未來(lái)之路

盡管抽象藝術(shù)并非肇始于中國(guó)，盡管中國(guó)并沒(méi)有抽象藝術(shù)的傳統(tǒng)，但由于傳統(tǒng)審美意識(shí)中積淀著對(duì)抽象美感的欣賞經(jīng)驗(yàn)，中國(guó)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)家們認(rèn)識(shí)和領(lǐng)悟抽象藝術(shù)精髓的能力是非常優(yōu)秀的。由于書法、園林和戲曲等傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)形式中普遍存在著“準(zhǔn)抽象”的視覺(jué)遺產(chǎn)，中國(guó)藝術(shù)家們?cè)谙笳鞣?hào)、意象轉(zhuǎn)換方面也有著廣泛的選擇余地，在尋找原創(chuàng)性母題方面，中國(guó)博大精深的歷史資源更為當(dāng)代藝術(shù)提供了許多天然的優(yōu)越感。

在內(nèi)外環(huán)境已趨成熟的今天，建立成熟的“中國(guó)抽象”藝術(shù)體系已經(jīng)有必要成為當(dāng)代藝術(shù)家們的話題。“中國(guó)抽象”不是符號(hào)與口號(hào)的機(jī)械堆砌，更不是“唐人街文化”的異國(guó)賣弄，“中國(guó)抽象” 應(yīng)當(dāng)滲透著本土文明的內(nèi)在思辨，表達(dá)出華夏民族的審美情懷。以宏大的人文背景為依托，以豐富的視覺(jué)樣式為依據(jù)，“中國(guó)抽象”的發(fā)展空間不可限量。以道家哲學(xué)為靈魂，以書法美學(xué)為法度，以觀念性與形式感并重的方式不斷探尋東方的形而上精神，也應(yīng)當(dāng)是“中國(guó)抽象”的必由之路。

2012年10月23日

I. Asethetic Origin

In a world where prevails the contemporary art with the representational form as its subject, a lot of people have forgotten the historical meaning and realistic value of the abstract art, which used to the ultimate of “art for art’s sake” and the maximized high-profile manifestation of the self value of art. Since the birth of the Abstract Art, art has been set free from attempting to represent and present and objective material world. In turn it tries to create a subjective spiritual world parallel to the reality, resulting in a “parallel” instead of the “intertwining” and “intersecting” relationship with the reality. We can safely say after retrospecting the development of modern art that there is no independence and self-sufficiency of the conceptual art without the abstract art, the birth of which has laid a significant foundation of the theory of contemporary art.

Since the first painting of Kandinsky, the western abstract art has enjoyed a history of more than a century while the Chinese counterpart is still learning baby steps. The traditional Chinese art has long enjoyed the appreciation of the abstract beauty in many disciplines despite the lack of “abstract art” in ancient China. The behavior, psychology and words of appreciating the abstract beauty can be easily found in the cultural legacies like calligraphy, traditional Chinese operas, gardens and parks, furnitures, etc. Generally speaking, such appreciation of beauty in “abstract” forms can be traced back to Taoism. There’s not another country in the world that can match China in its obsession with the variety of rare stones, an aesthetic orientation that cannot be separated from the Taoist theories of “unity of heaven and men” and “nature as the ultimate way”. What’s more, the Taoist inclination towards the “void”, the “empty” and “nihility” can be adequately verified by the famous sayings like “the great sounds border on silence”, “the huge forms tend to be intangible”, “the most perfect presents itself as flawed” and “the greatest appears to be the most humble”. This extremely particular value not only provided a theoretical foundation of appreciating the non-representational beauty for the later generations, but also built up the aesthetic characters of simplicity, epitomization, symbol and metaphor in the cultural tradition of the Han Nationality.

The extremely wild scribble style that was born at the peak of calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty was indeed a bizarrerie case in the Chinese aesthetics. Oracle as the origin of the Chinese characters belongs to the category of hieroglyphics - a system of characters and words based on pictographs. Therefore it’s a truly remarkable exception in the world cultural history that somehow an almost unrecognizable calligraphic style evolved from this system and in turn became the insurmountable classic in the history of Chinese calligraphy.

Among the most esteemed artistic standards of generations of scholars, the most impressive falls in the discussion of “not alike”. According to the “Six Criteria” by Xie He of the South Qi Dynasty, the most important criterion should be the “artistic conception and vividness” while the “l(fā)ikeness to the objects” ranked the third. The great writer Su Shi (of the North Song Dynasty) once remarked: “it’s only in the levels of children that drawings are judged by their likeness to the objects”. The great artist Ni Zan from the Yuan Dynasty advocated a departure from the pursuit of similarity in form or appearance. And the modern master in painting Qi Baishi even made a confession of his style as between “the similarity and dissimilarity”. Since the excessive similarity in forms and appearances was condemned by generations of scholars and artists, the Chinese visual art had long given up on the deliberate pursuit of extreme realistic techniques, instead they turned to find the “qi”, “charm” and “spirit” of the way of expression, resulting in the precedence of the spirit over the image.

The Taoist philosophy and the calligraphic aesthetics are the psychological foundation and visual origin for the growth of Chinese contemporary abstract art as well as the root for Chinese abstract art to establish itself on the international stage.

II. Evolution Process

The influence of the western abstract art on the early Chinese modern art started in the 1930s when some artists from The Storm Society (Jue Lan She) had already began their exploration and experiments of the pure visual forms. But with the outburst of the Anti-Japanese War necessitating artists participating in the propaganda of the salvation of China, the realistic art forms were considered to be the more powerful tool of political propaganda and mass mobilization due to its simplicity and popularity while the abstract art inappropriate, for its dallying with forms and out of sync with the time. Since then, China has gone through several a social quake every 10 years, imposing quite some negative effect on the build-up and inheritance of ideology, academics and art, breaking off repeatedly the academic clues of abstract art in mainland China for over half a century.

With the budding of Ideological Emancipation starting from the end of 1970s and the beginning of 1980s, the culture and art circle of mainland China began anew their cognition of the abstract art. But with the ultra-leftism’s influence on ideology still going strong, the abstract art for rather a long time was condemned to be “the decadence of the bourgeoisie” and “the reactionary art form” while words like “abstractionist”, “self-expression” and “formalism” were used by the leftists for smearing and artists who engaged in the exploration of formalism and whose works came with abstract implication were unfairly accused and attacked time and again. During the latter period of the Cultural Revolution, some artists like Wu Dayu and Li Qingping kept on their abstract and semi-abstract exploration in an underground way, and such contribution shouldn’t be forgotten.

The practice of the abstract art reached an unprecedented peak when the “New Wave 85’” was sweeping all over China. In retrospect, quite a lot of famed avant-garde artists who are over 50 had gone through a brief and intriguing “abstract period” during that time. It was obvious that the abstract art was used by them as a tool of rebellion against the stiffed art system while most of the creative works of the abstract art were kind of strategic, serving as a means instead of an end. Among these abstract and semi-abstract artistic exploration, valuable coordinates in the exploration of languages were provided for descendants by artists like Yu Youhan, Li Shan, Wang Keping, Ge Pengren, Zhou Changjiang, Zhang Jianjun, Qiu Deshu, Meng Luding, Yin Qi, Yu Zhenli, Ding Yi, Wang Yigang, Gu Liming, Zhang Fangbai, Liu Ming, Guan Ce, Wang Yi, Jiang Hai, etc. During the late 1980s, the official art institutions’ attitude towards the abstract art was somehow reflected through three events: first being the invitation of Zhao Wuji, a Chinese abstract artist residing in France, by Zhejiang Art Institute to be the guest lecturer, second the opening of the Solo Exhibition of Spanish abstract painter Tapies at the National Art Museum of China, and lastly the silver medal conferred to the abstract work by Zhou Changjiang at the National Art Exhibition.

Since the 1990s, the creation of abstract art in mainland China has been ever on the rise, with artists scattered all over the country got involved in the abstract and semi-abstract language practice and quite a lot independent individual styles gradually established through years of exploration. From the north, the distinguished representatives are Yu Zhenli, Yan Zhenduo, Tan Ping, Qi Haiping, Bai Ming, Zhang Guolong, Shen Weiguang, Yi Ling, Yan Binghui, Zhang Yu, Hu Youben, Liu Xuguang, Lu Qing, Chen Guangwu, Xu Hongming, Zhou Yangming, Sun Kai and Yin Ge while among artists from the south, Ding Yi, Qin Yifeng, Shen Fan, Shi Hui, Fu Zhongwang, Qiu Deshu, Chen Xinmao, Chen Qiang, Xu Hong, Li Lei, Li Huasheng, Yang Shu, Wang Chuan, Liu Zijian, Liang Quan, Zhao Baokang, Pan Wei, Huang Yuanqing, Qu Fengguo, Cao Xiaodong, Zhang Hao, Wang Yuan, Yan Feixiang and Wang Xieda had together formed an even bigger creative group than their northern counterparts with a force to be reckoned with. Artists who had been residing overseas for many years, such as Jiang Dahai, Su Xiaobai, Zhu Jinshi, Meng Luding, Shen Chen, Ma Shuqing, Li Xiangyang, Chen Ruobing had come back in succession, infusing the prosper with brand-new energy. What’s worth mentioning is shanghai as a city with colonial culture tradition made a sudden rise in the development of the abstract art, turning out more than 30 artists who specially engaged in the creation of abstract art and dabbled in the abstract style in the 30 years of development since the beginning of the 1980s, thus establishing the unquestionable status of Shanghai as “the capital of abstract art”. Since “The Intangible Existence - The Abstract Art Exhibition of Shanghai” in 1997, a great many group exhibitions flourished all over Shanghai, among which the most famous one was “The Metaphysical” Abstract Exhibition that had been held successively for 4 times at the Shanghai Art Museum.

Up till today, the abstract art has become more and more alive all over China, with a variety of exhibitions coming one after another, and the heat still rising over exhibitions, discussions and publications centered on the abstract art from Beijing to Shenzhen and from galleries to museums.

III. Problems of the Moment

1. The reality predicament of the formalism

The abstract art is not a genre that has already finished its historical mission, and abstraction is actually a basic language of human beings to know the world and express ideas. Theoretically speaking, there is no limit in the exploration of languages in visual forms, but what we must make clear is that not all explorations and discoveries considered to be artistically valuable - uniqueness doesn’t necessarily mean excellence. For the past 10 years, with the ever rising numbers of abstract artists and exhibitions, the choice of abstraction still should come with conditions, requiring more perseverance and grittiness in the pursuit of this art. Right now the Chinese abstract art is still a toddler in its exploration, quite limited in the depth and width of the exploration and experiment of forms. Actually the abstract world is much more vast and deep than the representational world, the freedom and possibility of form languages much bigger, but extensiveness doesn’t equal limitlessness, and freedom doesn’t come without difficulties. If forms eventually become a patent and technique for boasting, the depth of its inner thoughts and ideas will be greatly reduced, thus failing to touch the viewers from both the perspectives of reason and sensibility, producing only commodities with a decorative function without actually touching people.

2. Visual basis for the exploration of concepts

In the field of visual art, the existence of any concept needs to be verified by visual forms. The development of the conceptual abstract art in China is still in the beginning, with less open horizon for creation and limited means for choice. The common sense that needs to be brought up again and again on this issues is the existence of concepts, the aim of which is not to dissolve forms. The conceptual abstraction should be an abstract approach with unique language, the absolute significance of which cannot be stressed more. What’s more, the so-called conceptual abstraction is not just “extreme simplicity” or “extreme complication”, and “simplicity” in style does not equal “simpleness”. The territory of “the abstract art” is vast indeed, whereas up till today the abstract art in China has only covered painting, sculpture and devices with few individual cases of photographic works of abstract style and extremely rare works of abstract video, films and performances. Once the valid visual proof is lost for the exploration of any artistic concept, that concept will only end up to be a shrivelled corpse

3. The obscurity and subversion of the academic concept

With the rise of the abstract art, more and more critics and curators started to get involved in the field, and the heat still rising over exhibitions, discussions and publications centered on the abstract art, which are undoubtedly good things to see. But what cannot be ignored is that two voices have obscured and even subverted the once-clear academic concept, which is quite alarming. One of the voices came from artists and representatives who used to be good at realism and expression and then turned to the abstract creation. They thought that anything that takes a departure from the academic realism or the traditional representational style could be generally defined as “the abstract”, whereas the more accurate definition for such genre should be “expression”, “symbol” or “image”. The other voice took on the attitude of total denial towards the Chinese abstract art, condemning it to be a mere copycat since the abstraction originated from the west. The fatal error of the argument is that it confuses the deep connotations of “abstraction”, “abstractionism” and “abstract art”.

4. The danger of commercialization and vulgarization

The abstract art will be confronted with the fate of alienation by the market when it makes its entrance into the market and in turn becomes the interest and focus of consumption of the middle class. The ideal decorative function of the abstract art for the modern home environment in addition to collectors’ blind pursuit and superficial understanding of the abstract art, resulted in an inevitable varied jumble in the art market. The shoddy “pseudo-abstraction” is now surging in great quantities in galleries and exhibitions, while the established abstract artists also lost their enterprising spirit and inclined towards conservatism since they’ve got countless orders incoming. The abstract art was a world-astounding event at the beginning of its birth, a rebellion against the stale artistic concepts. The ability to resist the negative effect of commercialization and vulgarization should be the integrity that every single abstract artist sticks to. And if they ignore such threat, the concept of “abstract” won’t be blessed with a bright future here in mainland China.

IV. The Road in the Future

Though the abstract art did not originate from China nor does China have the tradition of the abstract art, the contemporary artists of China possess an outstanding capability to understand the essence of the abstract art, thanks to the centuries-old appreciation of the abstract beauty by the traditional aesthetics. Because of the general existence of the “quasi-abstract” visual legacies in calligraphy, gardens and parks and traditional Chinese operas, Chinese artists are granted with a wide variety of choices in symbols and transformation of images, and the profound historical resources of China also provided for the contemporary art a great deal of natural superiority when it comes to searching for original motifs.

It has become an essential topic for contemporary artists to build a mature artistic system of the “Chinese abstraction” when the interior and exterior environments have reached maturity. Instead of being a mechanical piling of symbols and slogans or the showing off of the “Chinatown culture”, the “Chinese abstraction” should be saturated with the inner speculation of the native culture to express the Chinese aesthetics. With the vast humanistic background and rich visual forms as the basis, the development of the “Chinese abstraction” shall see no boundary. The inevitable course for the “Chinese abstraction” should be the constant exploration of the oriental metaphysical spirit while focusing both on concepts and forms, with Taoist philosophy as its soul, the aesthetics of calligraphy its standards.

Written on Oct. 23, 2012