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彭锋
在王彦萍于王府花园的寓所，听她讲她绘画的历史、意图、困惑和欣慰，对她的艺术之路有了更加深入的理解。其实，早在04年我们就认识，而且有过交谈，也关注过她的作品，但一直没有机缘做深入的交流。那时她在美院读博士，跟一帮比她年纪轻、资历浅的同学混在一起，再加上她生性敏感，又不善言辞，因此多少显得有些格格不入。后来在几次展览上都看到她画的屏风，逐渐将屏风视为她的标志。在当代艺术领域，成熟的艺术家都有自己的标志。但是，王彦萍为什么要画屏风呢？按理，具有几何结构的屏风，是不适合作为写意国画的题材的。她为什么不在屏风上做画呢？我希望通过面谈，能够解决这些多年萦绕在心头的问题。 The Hidden & the Showing ---An Analysis of Wang Yanping’s Artwork
In her home, I listened to Wang Yanping talk about the history, intension, perplexity and gratification of her career as a painter. Actually, we met each other in 2004, we had exchanged words and I had been following her works since, we just never had the chance to talk in depth. At the time, she was obtaining a Doctorate Degree from CAFA, she was mingling amongst peers younger and less known than she, she has a sensitive quality and talks very little, and it made her seem somewhat out of place. After that, I had seen in exhibitions some of her paintings of folding-screens, which had lead to it ultimately becoming iconic of her art. In the contemporary art field, matured artists all have their own icons. So, why does Wang Yanping choose folding screens to be hers? Under normal circumstances, folding screens with their geometric structures are not suitable as subject for Freehand Brush painting in traditional Water & Ink paintings. Why doesn’t she paint directly onto folding screens? I hoped to find some answers to these long standing questions of mine as I spoke to her.
王彦萍78年考入中央美院国画系。在读本科期间，她总是感到国画系同学画的作品偏弱，不像油画那么强壮。当然，那时国画系的教育，也免不了从素描色彩入手。王彦萍并不欠缺造型能力。为什么国画不如油画那么强壮？这个问题，一直萦绕在王彦萍心头。本科四年毕业后，她都没有找到问题的答案。
Wang Yanping enrolled in CAFA School of Traditional Painting in 1978. In her Bachelor days, she had felt that the works by her peers to be lacking in power, less powerful than oil paintings, needless to say, the curriculum of Traditional Paintings in those days began also with sketches and colors. Wang Yanping is not lacking in skills of structuring. So, why is it that the art in traditional paintings not as strong and powerful than oil paintings? This question had been on the mind of Wang Yanping over the upcoming years. After her graduation 4 years later, she had still not found the answer.
87年王彦萍再次考入中央美院国画系，师从卢沉先生攻读硕士学位。卢先生引进西方现代绘画中的构成理论，与中国传统绘画中的经营位置对接起来，彻底改变了国画的面貌。从此，国画有了复杂的空间安排和结构关系，因而显得强壮起来。王彦萍终于明白，国画不够强壮，既不是因为它的工具和材料不够厚实，也不是因为它的题材不够宏大，而是因为它的空间关系过于简单和随意，不能承载长时间的沉思。
In 1987, Wang enrolled into CAFA School of Traditional Painting once again, obtaining a Master Degree this time mentored by Lu Chen. Mr Lu Chen incorporated the concepts in Western contemporary art into the “positional arrangement” of Chinese Traditional Painting, and it had completely changed the appearance of Chinese Painting. From then on, there exist complicated spatial arrangement and structural relation in Chinese Paintings, thus making the artworks seem stronger. Wang Yanping realized, the lack of strength in Traditional Paintings is not due to the light-weight of its tools and materials, nor the insignificance of its subjects, but rather it is the over-simplification and the light-heartedness of the spatial relation that causes the artworks unable to withstand the test of lengthy contemplation.
90年毕业之后，王彦萍参加了许多重要的展览，成了当代水墨的代表人物。不断应邀出国展览，也给王彦萍提供了拉开距离审视中国绘画的机会。“不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中。”苏轼诗歌所揭示的这种道理，人们在很多场合都有切身的体会。尤其在对于自身文化的特征的认识上，如果不拉开距离，真不容易看得明白。斯瓦尼茨（Dietrich Schwanitz）也有一句名言：“我所看见在背后主宰你思维结构的，正是你自己看不见的。”要对自己的文化有清醒的认识，需要借助另一种文化作为跳板，需要借用他者的眼光来进行回望。20世纪初期去欧洲留学的宗白华，曾经有这样的感叹：“中国的画，在世界中独辟蹊径，比较西洋画，其价值不易论定，到欧后才觉得。”宗白华游学欧洲之后，才发现中国画的独特魅力。王彦萍在欧美的游历，让她对中国画有了更加清楚的认识。她讲到她参观大都会博物馆的经历：当进入中国馆时，那里的作品和情景给她的明确感受，就是空灵。这种空灵感，在其他文化传统中的艺术的映衬下，显得无比清晰。王彦萍说，尽管她在国内的学习和教学中，经常碰到空灵这个概念，但对它的内涵一直没有特别清楚的把握。直到她参观大都会中国艺术馆，这个概念的所指才算落到了实处。
Upon graduation in 1990, the artist took part in many important exhibitions, and had become a key representative of contemporary Water & Ink art. Frequently, she was invited to exhibit her works abroad; this had given her the opportunity to observe Chinese Painting from a distance. The message Su Shi tried to convey in his poems is probably something often experienced by people in various ways, especially when faced with the understanding of one’s own cultural features, if we don’t distance ourselves, it is difficult to see clearly. Dietrich Schwanitz once said: “I can see what dictates your thoughts from behind you; it is ironically what you cannot see yourself.” To have a clear vision of one’s own culture, there need to be another culture to act as a springboard; people needs the vision of another to see them own selves in retrospective. Only after studying in Europe, Zong Baihua began to see the unique charms of Chinese Painting, he once said: “On a global-scale, Chinese Painting is in a class of its own, compared with Western art, its values are difficult to define, I had realized this only after visiting Europe.” Zong Baihua had realized the unique charms of Chinese Painting after visiting Europe. Wang Yanping’s time in Europe also gave her a better understanding of Chinese Painting. She talks about her experience of touring Metropolitan Museum of Art “when I walked into the China exhibition hall, the clear feeling it gave me when looking at the artworks, was one of airiness.” This airiness, became so apparent in comparison with traditional artwork from other cultures. The artist said, though her education and curriculums had talked about the concept of this airiness, but for a long time, she was unable to grasp its contents. It wasn’t until she visited the China Hall of Metropolitan Museum of Art, had this concept been fully understood.
现在，王彦萍对于中国绘画有了两种截然不同的感受：一种是要有结构安排，另一种是要有空灵境界。在一般情况下，这两种感受是难以兼容的。有结构安排的绘画，很难表达空灵；有空灵境界的绘画，往往疏于结构。空灵和结构，甚至互为矛盾。王彦萍并没有避免矛盾，而是迎难而上，她找到了自己要攻克的难题。
Currently, the artist has 2 completely different perceptions of Chinese Painting: one which emphasizes on positional arrangement, the other on the state of airiness. Under normal circumstances, the two hardly work well together. Paintings with strong positional arrangement incorporates airiness with difficulty, paintings which are airy often lack structure. It could even be said that the two ideas contradicts one another. Wang Yanping did not avoid this contradiction, instead, she faces this problem directly, for her, she had found the opportunity to solve the problem she had been contemplating.
王彦萍引入屏风，来解决这个难题。表面上来看，王彦萍以屏风作为绘画题材，原因是她酷爱传统家具。屏风是中国传统家具中的独特样式。但是，中国传统家具种类繁多，比屏风重要的家具也不少见。比如，同样以明式家具为题材，王怀庆就没有选择屏风，而是选择了更加厚实的桌椅。王彦萍之所以选择屏风，与她一直想解决的那个矛盾不无关系。
The incorporation of folding-screens was used to solve this problem. On the surface, Wang Yanping uses them as the subject of her art; she has an ardent fondness for traditional furniture. Folding screens are something special in the world of Traditional Chinese Furniture. There are an abundance of important furniture pieces in Chinese Furniture. The artist Wang Huaiqing, who also uses Ming-styled furniture as his subject, did not choose folding-screens, instead, he chose something more solid, tables and chairs. The reason why Wang Yanping had chosen folding screens is because of the problem she had always wanted to solve.
屏风可以打开，也可以合拢，可以做各种不同形式的摆放，从而对空间有不同形式的分割。由于屏风的出现，画面上的空间顿时显得复杂起来。王彦萍每次创作时，都要认真地经营位置，将家具、人物和场景巧妙地安排在由屏风隔开的空间之中。但是，另一方面，屏风的目的是遮挡。由于画面上采用了起遮挡作用屏风，王彦萍有理由说其实许多内容都隐藏在屏风背后，进而她就有理由在画面上做简化工作。简化工作的结果，是空灵的感觉。由此，王彦萍将结构安排与空灵追求巧妙地结合起来了，其中的焦点就是起分隔和遮挡作用的屏风。
Folding screens can be opened or closed, it can be arranged into many different compositions to give the space different segmentation. The appearance of folding screens made the spatial relation of the painting seem instantly more sophisticated. In each of her work, she had carefully undergone the arrangement of position; she places the furniture, characters and the scene in a surrounding which is segmented by the folding screen. Another purpose of the folding screens is that it is able to hide things. The incorporation of the folding screen in her painting, gives Wang Yanping logic to say that there hides much content behind the folding screen, therefore it is reasonable to simplify things on the canvas. The result of this simplification, is the airiness. Thus, the artist is able to combine positional arrangement together with the pursuit of airiness; the focus is the folding screen which acts as a way of segmentation and hiding.
屏风在中国文化中源远流长，它的物理形态和文化内涵非常丰富。王彦萍是这方面的专家，她的博士论文就与屏风有关。屏风的采用，很好地解决了王彦萍经营位置和崇尚空灵两方面的追求。不过，人们更感兴趣的问题是，屏风后面遮挡的究竟是什么？有朝一日，当王彦萍将被屏风遮蔽的东西描绘出来，该是一种怎样的情景？王彦萍的绘画，会诱导读者产生如此疑问。或许我们可以来猜想一下，隐藏在屏风背后的东西究竟是什么。 Folding screens have an important position in the long history of Chinese culture, it is abundant in both physical appearances as well as cultural references. The artist is a specialist in this aspect of the culture; in fact, her Doctorate thesis was related to folding screens. The incorporation of folding-screens solved her dilemma between arrangements and airiness. What’s hidden behind it, is far more interesting. One day, when Wang Yanping reveals the hidden, what will we see? The works of Wang Yanping lures the audience to pose these questions. Perhaps we can only guess what some of the things hidden behind it are.
中国美学很早就注意到显与隐的关系。刘勰《文心雕龙》就有这种说法：“情在辞外曰隐，状溢目前曰秀。”这里的隐秀关系，发展成为诗词中的情景关系，书画中的虚实关系。文学艺术作品中，外显的背后隐含的是艺术家的情感和感受。王彦萍的作品也是如此，她把自己私人的感受隐藏在画面背后，如果不深入了解她的内心世界，就很难完全读懂她的作品。在这种意义上，王彦萍的作品并没有背离中国古典美学的传统。
Since early ages, aesthetics of Chinese art had paid close attention to the concepts of the showing and the hidden. Liu Xie said in his writing : “ feelings hidden beyond words can be called as what’s hidden, forms in obvious display can be called as what’s showing.” The showing - hidden relations in her works have been transcended into the emotional relation of poetry and the relationship between reality and unreality. In literature, the emotions and feelings of the writer hide behind the showing words. The same goes for Wang Yanping’s works, she hides her personal emotions behind the picture, if one doesn’t look into her inner spheres, it could be difficult for him or her to understand the works completely. In this regard, Wang Yanping did not deviate away from the traditions of classical Chinese aesthetics.
但是，在经过欧美的广泛游历之后，王彦萍开始有点不太满足个人情感的表达。她更希望她的艺术能够进入公共领域，进入历史和社会生活。由此，她开始了家具系列的创作。在这里，家具代表的是中国传统文化。她希望观众通过她的作品，能够看到背后所隐含的传统文化的辉煌和尊严。王彦萍把自己从个人小我中解放出来，融入文化大我之中。这时屏风背后隐藏的，就不是个人的心理和感受，而是中国人的集体无意识。
However, it too was after her extensive traveling in Europe, the artist became unsatisfied with the mere expression of her personal emotion in her work. She wished for her art to find its place in public circles, into historic and social contexts. From then on, she began her creation of the furniture series. Here, furniture is a symbolism of Traditional Chinese Culture. She hoped that the audience can see the glory and solemnity of traditional culture hidden behind. The artist liberated herself from the individualistic smaller-self and became at one with the cultural greater-self. Hence, what’s hidden behind the folding-screen is no longer a reflection of the personal psyche and emotions, but rather a collective unconsciousness of the Chinese.
毫无疑问，王彦萍的家具系列作品是非常成功的。具有共同性的历史的介入，让观众更容易进入作品，在作品中获得共鸣。但是，王彦萍并没有就此打住。在她心目中，对于文化的怀乡主义感叹过于精英主义，那种轻飘的风花雪月与当代中国人沉重的生存实际相距甚远。她希望她的作品能够引起观众关于现实的思考，让自己的作品与当代中国人的社会生活发生关系，这样她才会感觉到更加踏实。换句话说，在王彦萍看来，只有与自己的真实生活发生关系，作品才会接上地气。由此，王彦萍开始了她的“聚”系列作品的创作。
Wang Yanping’s furniture series were beyond doubt, a success. Through a common understanding of history, her audience is able to have a strong grasp on the works, and resonate with it. However, the artist didn’t stop there. The nostalgic moaning for traditional culture seemed so elitist, those aloft and romantic themes are too far-fetched from the current difficulties Chinese people face in everyday life. The artist hope to arouse thoughts among the audience about the reality, to enable her work to interact with life in contemporary China, only then can she feel at ease, in other words, Wang Yanping believes that, only when there is a relationship with her own life, can the artwork be of wholesomeness and be at one with the surrounding environment. Since then, Wang Yanping started on her works, “Socializing” series.
当代中国是一个特别讲人际关系的社会。各种聚会，成了解决问题的最佳场所。西方在法院里解决问题，中国在酒桌上解决问题。王彦萍对此深有体会。她力图将她的切身感受表达出来，于是就有了一系列有关“聚”的作品。在这个系列的作品中，显现的是在“聚”中的各式人物和场景，隐藏的是当代中国社会的现实，当代中国的“聚”文化。
Contemporary China is a society that attaches great importance to social connections. Social occasions become an ideal place to settle quarrels. In the West, people take their problems to court, in China; people settle their scores on the dinner table. Wang Yanping has had profound experiences in such phenomenon. She tries to express her own emotions, which brings us to her new works, “Socializing”series. In this series, we can see many characters and scenes, what’s hidden is the reality of contemporary Chinese society, the “Socializing”culture of contemporary China.
现在，我们来分析一下王彦萍作品中的显隐关系。根据中国传统美学，显隐关系是一种美学关系，通过显能够达到隐。就像克莱夫•贝尔的“有意味的形式”这个概念所要表达的内容那样，艺术作品的色彩和线条构成的形式（显），可以传达某种形而上的意味（隐）。在中国美学中，状溢目前的景（显），可以传达言辞之外的情（隐）。显隐之间，可以通过我们的直觉和感悟通达。
Now, let’s take a look into the artist’s view on the showing and the hidden. According to traditional Chinese aesthetics, the relation between the two is a relation of aesthetics; the hidden is achieved through the showing. Similar to the concepts of Clive Bell “Art As Significant Form” puts through, the form (showing) created by the colors and lines in artworks can also convey messages metaphysically (hidden). In the history of Chinese aesthetics, the bold scenery in front of one’s eyes (showing), can convey emotional messages that are beyond words (hidden). Between the showing and the hidden, we can try to feel them with intuition and insight.
我们可以进一步追问，作品背后隐藏的究竟是什么？王彦萍之前表达个人内心感受的作品，多半属于这种美学类型的作品。当王彦萍把自己从自我世界解放出来，进入文化和社会之后，她的作品中的显与隐的关系，更多的是一种社会学关系，而不仅是美学关系。在屏风背后做支撑的，是广大的社会生活。但是，广大的社会生活并不是王彦萍艺术的表达对象，而是王彦萍艺术的生存空间。这种社会学关系，类似于丹托所说的“理论氛围”。在丹托看来，诸如杜尚、沃霍尔等人之所以能够将寻常物嬗变为艺术品，原因在于他们的寻常物周围有一种“理论氛围”，但是这种“理论氛围”凭借我们的直觉是无法识别出来的，只有艺术界中的专家才能将它识别出来。 Again we ask, just what is hidden behind? Previous works by the artist were an expression of her inert emotions; most of them belong in a aesthetical category. When the artist liberated herself and had become active in a world of culture and society, the showing/hidden relation in her works became one of sociology and no longer one of only aesthetics. What supports the folding screen from behind is the life in society at large. However, life in society is not subjects of her artistic expressions; it is the habitat to her artwork. This social relationship is similar to Arthur Danto’s “atmosphere of theory”. Arthur Danto thinks that, the reason why artists such as Duchamp and Warhol are able to turn ordinary matters into works of art, is due to the fact that there surrounds these ordinary matters an “atmosphere of theory”, however, this “atmosphere of theory” cannot be detected by people such as you and I, only the specialists in the field of art are able to point them out.
王彦萍作品背后的社会生活，也不是我们凭借直觉可以识别出来的，只有置身在中国当代社会之中的人们才能识别出来。从这种意义上来说，屏风背后的世界是不可表达的，它就是我们的日常生活本身。王彦萍用屏风将艺术与日常生活分隔开来了。她没有像现实主义艺术家那样去再现现实生活，而是让我们透过屏风去观照和反思我们的现实生活。从这种意义上来说，王彦萍的作品突破了艺术的边界，真实的社会生活成了她的作品的背景。如果果真是这样的话，王彦萍的作品就突破了现代艺术的形式主义范围，进入了当代艺术领域。
Life in society which are in hiding in Wang Yanping’s art, are also something we can’t decode with our intuition alone, only people who lead a life in contemporary Chinese society are able to do so. Wang Yanping uses a folded-screen to separate life and art. Not following the path of other realist artists who creates the reappearance of realistic life, Wang Yanping asks us to obtain a retrospective view of our realistic life, her works had gone beyond the boundaries in art, and realistic social life become the backdrop of her art. If this were true, Wang Yanping’s artworks have gone beyond the realms of formalism in modern art, onto one of contemporary art.
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