當(dāng)今我國的繪畫創(chuàng)作，不論題材內(nèi)容還是形式語言，均愈來愈顯示出多元和多樣的面貌。題材內(nèi)容的不斷擴(kuò)大和形式語言的不斷拓展，都基于藝術(shù)家對自己獨(dú)立人格的自覺和對自我藝術(shù)個性的自信，表明他們藝術(shù)視野的開闊和修養(yǎng)的提高。從另一個角度看，也反映社會的開放和進(jìn)步，人們的審美需求的寬度與深度在增長，藝術(shù)家們的視覺經(jīng)驗(yàn)和表現(xiàn)手段也相應(yīng)地日益豐富。例如，在近十多年的中國畫山水畫和油畫風(fēng)景畫的創(chuàng)作中，除了表現(xiàn)祖國美好山河和田園風(fēng)光外，出現(xiàn)了不少新的題材內(nèi)容，突出的有中國畫領(lǐng)域的“城市山水”和油畫創(chuàng)作中的“城市風(fēng)景”、“工業(yè)風(fēng)景”等。我們這里討論的張新權(quán)君，便是在“城市風(fēng)景”和“工業(yè)風(fēng)景”的創(chuàng)作中有杰出成就的油畫家。
張新權(quán)1983年畢業(yè)于曲阜師范大學(xué)美術(shù)系，后深造于中國美術(shù)學(xué)院油畫研究班。他最初以表現(xiàn)自然風(fēng)景、追求田園詩意的作品步入畫壇，但在這些農(nóng)村的寫生作品中，卻不時(shí)出現(xiàn)一些工業(yè)產(chǎn)品如摩托車、油桶和汽車瓶等，傳達(dá)出畫家內(nèi)心對現(xiàn)代工業(yè)文明關(guān)注的信息。稍后，他這方面的視野又有所擴(kuò)大，漁船碼頭、工廠的一角、拖拉機(jī)等圖像，陸續(xù)出現(xiàn)在他的風(fēng)景畫中。假如，這一切還是出于他潛意識偏好的話，那么，2002年他的一幅上海外灘風(fēng)景油畫《十里洋場》，于翌年參加在中國美術(shù)館舉辦的“第三屆中國油畫展精選作品展”獲得成功后，他對表現(xiàn)與工業(yè)發(fā)展有關(guān)的城市景觀題材的興趣，便日益濃厚了。頗有意思的是，早在二十年前，即上世紀(jì)80年代初，張新權(quán)便創(chuàng)作了一批描寫上海萬國建筑群的鋼筆速寫?！妒镅髨觥返膭?chuàng)作，算是一種偶然的機(jī)會，但是卻成了他藝術(shù)歷程的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)。他曾說：“對我而言，《十里洋場》的出現(xiàn)或許是一個里程碑，它分割了我的過去和未來，修正了我的探尋和格局；對城市景觀，尤其是工業(yè)化對人的生活和情感帶來的變化，我更感興趣?！?
張新權(quán)的另一幅以舊上海城市風(fēng)景為題材的《信號臺》2004年獲得“第十屆全國美術(shù)作品展”銅獎并被中國美術(shù)館收藏之后，他再一次受到鼓舞，也鞏固了他對未來藝術(shù)走向的自覺性。描寫舊上海景觀的《河道》、《海灘》、《風(fēng)云十六鋪》、《碼頭》、《有軌電車》、《十字街頭》和《黃浦江畔》等作品在2005至2006年的出現(xiàn)，便充分說明這一點(diǎn)。久違了的上海街道上的有軌電車、早己停用的蒸汽輪船……這些中國開始走向工業(yè)化的象征，出現(xiàn)在他的作品中。工業(yè)化伴隨著列強(qiáng)對中國的欺凌和壓迫來到華夏大地，打亂了這里農(nóng)業(yè)文明的“安定”與“平靜”，也催動了國人的覺醒和振奮了國人的精神。這是中國近現(xiàn)代史上兼有悲傷、心酸與興奮、欣喜的一個片斷，也是中國社會前進(jìn)中無法繞開的一段路程。用藝術(shù)形象語言呈現(xiàn)這段歷史，絕不是為了滿足人們對它的好奇心，而是讓人們感受中國開始走向現(xiàn)代的社會圖像，引發(fā)人們對中國歷史的思考和從中獲得應(yīng)有的思想啟迪。
對藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作來說，山水畫或風(fēng)景畫的創(chuàng)作當(dāng)然以表現(xiàn)祖國山河的力與美為主旨，但的題材應(yīng)該不斷拓展，形式語言也應(yīng)該不斷地變化。把那些繫動著人們思想感情的歷史和現(xiàn)實(shí)景觀納入在藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)的范圍之中，并選用與其相適應(yīng)的繪畫語言，從而賦予現(xiàn)代風(fēng)景創(chuàng)作以多樣的面貌，這也是山水、風(fēng)景畫創(chuàng)新的應(yīng)有之義。在藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域，人們的視覺經(jīng)驗(yàn)和欣賞心理既有相對的恒定性，又有不斷求新求異的驅(qū)動力。藝術(shù)家的創(chuàng)造需要在恒定性與求異兩者之間尋找適度的平衡，做出創(chuàng)新的努力。而藝術(shù)家在求異求新中如何找到恰當(dāng)?shù)那腥朦c(diǎn)，則需要藝術(shù)家對自己的個性、氣質(zhì)有清晰的認(rèn)識。正如前文所述，張新權(quán)之所以對工業(yè)風(fēng)景、城市風(fēng)景產(chǎn)生熱情并經(jīng)久不衰，固然與他的作品受到繪畫界與社會大眾的贊賞有關(guān)，同時(shí)也與他從青年時(shí)代起，就對工業(yè)文明圖像有濃厚興趣有密切的聯(lián)系。
張新權(quán)的創(chuàng)作重點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)向工業(yè)化題材后，他原有的明快鮮麗的色彩便發(fā)生了變化。他用較平和、沉著的色調(diào)表現(xiàn)舊上海城市景觀的歷史滄桑感，用鮮亮的色點(diǎn)、色塊調(diào)節(jié)畫面，但保持了早期筆觸的瀟灑與爽利。雖然“為工業(yè)文明造像”可能是張新權(quán)的創(chuàng)作初衷，但實(shí)際上他越來越不拘泥于真實(shí)景觀的再現(xiàn)，而是在原型的基礎(chǔ)上放筆自由發(fā)揮，大膽利用線、形與色組合的虛實(shí)關(guān)系，營造氣氛，表達(dá)某種境界。這種帶有相當(dāng)主觀色彩的圖式，也強(qiáng)化了他作品的陌生感即新鮮感，這也是他的作品受到人們肯定，屢屢入選全國性油畫展并獲獎的原因。
2008年以來，張新權(quán)的油畫創(chuàng)作又轉(zhuǎn)向了反映姑蘇古城和我國早期的戰(zhàn)艦題材，代表性的作品有《蘇州河》、《陸巷碼頭》、《巡洋艦》、《?；晗盗小?、《致遠(yuǎn)艦》和蘇州園林系列等。其作品的語言圖式也隨之變化，畫面早期的滿構(gòu)圖往往被特寫的“鏡頭”所取代，色彩也更趨向單純，多用原色，空白的面積加大，在看似隨意性的動靜、虛實(shí)組合中，摻入了構(gòu)成因素。不用說，這些作品充分表明，張新權(quán)在看似自由、隨性隨興的涂抹中，善于呈現(xiàn)他匠心獨(dú)運(yùn)的構(gòu)思，展示出他對油畫藝術(shù)的當(dāng)代性敏銳而獨(dú)到的理解和認(rèn)知。
用何種名稱來概括了張新權(quán)的油畫風(fēng)格，意象性，還是寫意性？看來，這些都不夠確切。雖然無可置疑，中國傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)的意象性或者寫意性，都有形無形地對他的油畫產(chǎn)生了影響，但他在運(yùn)用這些技巧時(shí)，即使在平面性的描寫中，也始終沒有忘記油畫語言的特性：形的結(jié)構(gòu)、色彩的美感和“調(diào)性”，以及空間形態(tài)等。這是油畫語言的魅力所在。油畫在中國這塊土壤中茁壯成長，不可避免地要承載中國文化的精神和滲入中國畫的表現(xiàn)技巧，可是它不會也不應(yīng)該被中國民族繪畫的形式語言所同化和取代，而要保持和發(fā)揮它自身的基本特色。這樣說來，張新權(quán)油畫創(chuàng)作的價(jià)值，遠(yuǎn)不在“為工業(yè)文明造像”，而是用自己的智慧和才能賦予油畫語言以具有獨(dú)立個性的表達(dá)方式。藝術(shù)之所以為人們所需要，正是因?yàn)樗\(yùn)用具有獨(dú)特品格的形象語言在提供人們審美享受、喚醒人們對真善美追求的同時(shí)，加強(qiáng)對自我個性的自信。
——邵大箴
Unique Perspective and Individual Artistic Language - On Zhang Xinquan’s Art
The contemporary paintings in our country appear to be with diversity and variety both in the sense of subjects and forms. The expansion of artistic territory and the improvement of artistic forms are all based on artists’ independent consciousness and their assuredness of artistic individuality, as well as their broadened horizon and improved personality. Seen from another angle, it also reflects the openness and development of the society, people’s widened and deepened aesthetic desire, as well as artists’ enriched visual experience and expression. For instance, in the traditional Chinese paintings or oil paintings of landscape in the past ten years, new themes emerged apart from those praising the beauty of the land and rurality, such as the outstanding “city landscape” in traditional Chinese painting and “cityscape” and “industrial sight” in oil painting and so on. Zhang Xinquan, the artist we will talk about, is an excellent painter in “cityscape” and “industrial sight”.
?Zhang graduated from the Department of Fine Arts in Qufu Normal University, and then attended the post-graduates class in China Academy of Art. He sets out painting natural landscapes and pastoral prospect, but in his stretches to display rural life, industrial products like motorbikes and jerricans often appear, passing on the message that the artist is concerned about modern industrial civilization. Later on, his horizon is broadened to the images of fishing wharf, a corner of a factory and tractors and so on. If those are just out of his subconciousness, his work “The Metropolis Old Shanghai” about the Bund painted in 2002, which won him a great success after its appearance in the 3rd “Selected Artworks Chinese Paintings” Exhibition held in the National Art Museum of China in 2003, showed his great interest in the themes concerning cityscapes of industrial development. It’s quite interesting that 20 years ago, that is in the 1980s, Zhang has already sketched the Worldwide Building Complex in Shanghai with a pen. The painting of “The Metropolis Old Shanghai” seems hazardous, but actually it’s the turning point of his art course. Once he said, “The Metropolis Old Shanghai might be a milestone in my art course, which divided my past and future, to revise my exploration course and pattern. I’m more appealed to cityscape, especially the changes brought to people’s life and emotions by industrialization.”
Zhang was once again inspired after his another painting “The Signal Tower” produced in 2004 won the Bronze Prize of “the 10th National Exhibition of Artworks” and was collected by the National Art Museum of China, which also strengthened his confidence of his art in the future. The paintings that depict the old Shanghai, such as “The Watercourse”, “The Beach”, “The Shiliupu Wharf”, “The Wharf”, “The Tram”, “The Crossroad” and “Beside the Huangpu River”, appeared one after another in 2005 and 2006 in that context. The long deserted tram in the street of Shanghai, and the disused steamship ..., which symbolize the industrialization of China, were seen in his paintings. Industrialization comes together with the repression of western powers to China, harassing the stability and tranquility of the agricultural civilization, and waking up and inspiring the Chinese nation as well. It’s a chapter of interlaced sorrow, grief, inspiration and delight in modern Chinese history, as well as a course that can’t be detoured. His artistic depiction of this period, never aims to satisfy people’s curiosity, but to present the images demonstrating the modernization of china, so as to guide people to ponder Chinese history.
Landscape is definitely the best art form to portray the beauty and strength of our great land, but the themes should be expanded and the language should be updated. It’s the task of landscapes to express the history and reality filled with human emotions in an appropriate way. Therefore contemporary landscape could be endowed with variety. In the realm of art, people’s visual experience and appreciation are relatively immutable while there is still a desire for novelty and difference. How to find the proper breakthrough point in the process of innovation relies on the artist’s knowledge of his own individuality and personality. As it is mentioned above, Zhang’s lingering enthusiasm of industrial sight and cityscape, partly results from the praise he received from the art circles and the audience, and partly from his interest in the images of industrial civilization since his youthhood.
After his conversion to the industrial topics, his use of bright color changes accordingly. He uses mild and placid tone to present the weathered cityscape of Shanghai, and then embellishes it with shining color spots and lumps, together with his earlier free and neat strokes. It’s his original intention to create images for the industrial civilization, but actually he is increasingly less confined to the representation of real sights. Instead, he creates the atmosphere and conveys the artistic conception with the true and false relationship between the lines, shapes and colors, on the basis of prototype. The subjective schemas strengthen the strangeness or the novelty of his works, which might be the season why his works are widely accepted and constantly win national prizes.
Since 2008, Zhang has turned to the topics on the old town of Gusu and the vessels in the earlier times, with “The Suzhou River”, “The Luxiang Wharf”, “The Patrol Vessel”, “Sea Soul” series, “Zhiyuan Vessel” and “The Traditional Gardens in Suzhou” series as the representatives. His artistic language changes accordingly – the full layout is replaced by featured “scenes”, the colors become purer or even primitive, more blankness appears and structure is added to the dilemma of true and false. These works fully prove, without any doubt, that between his seemingly free and random strokes, Zhang has his own original conceptive to demonstrate his keen and unique knowledge and cognition of the contemporaneity of oil painting.
Which name should we use to describe Zhang’s painting style? Expressionism? Or impressionism? None of these seem to be precise enough. But obviously, both impressionism and expressionism in traditional Chinese painting have an influence on his works. When he uses these techniques, he never ignores the characteristics, spell as well, of oil painting – the structure, the aesthetics and tones of colors, and dimensional relationship -- even in planar portrayal. When oil painting thrives in the soil of Chinese culture, it inevitably bears the spirit of Chinese culture and influenced by the Chinese painting techniques, but it should keep its own characteristics instead of being assimilated and replaced by Chinese painting. In this sense, the value of Zhang’s works is anything but “creating images for industrial civilization”. It lies in the unique expression with his wisdom and talent for oil painting. Art is strongly desired because it has the unique visual language to satisfy people’s aesthetic needs, to provoke people’s pursuit of the goodness, and to gain more self confidence in personality as well.
By Shao Dazhen
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