绘画课Ⅳ：形状-形体-形象

策展人：   鲍栋

艺术家：   邓猗夫、简策、陶大珉、

                向庆华、徐小国、张慧

开幕时间：2014年06月01 下午4时至7时

展览时间：2014年06月01 —07月13

Painting Lesson Ⅳ:

Trinity of Profile-Shape-Image

Curator: Bao Dong

Artists: Deng Yifu, Jian Ce, Tao Damin,

           Xiang Qinghua, Xu Xiaoguo,

           Zhang Hui

Opening:June 1, 2014  4pm - 7pm

Duration: June 1, 2014- July 13, 2014

鲍栋│展览理念

Bao Dong│Ideas of the Exhibition

作为“绘画课”系列的第四回，本次展览以绘画内部的视觉语言维度为出发点，从绘画中的形状-形体-形象这三个维度之间的意识区分和经验联系入手，尝试建立一种绘画语言分析的理论模型。

对于很多画家而言，形状-形体-形象是三位一体的，互相区分，但又同时在场，实际上，画面上的任何一笔都包含着这三个维度：既构成了平面形状（形式），也塑造了形体（造型），还建构了形象（意义）。每一笔都是一个波罗米恩之结（Borromean Knot）。

正如文学对音韵、格律及隐喻的自觉意识最终促成了一种诗学理论，对绘画的形状-形体-形象的讨论将促成某种可能的视觉理论，这种理论可能不仅是研究方法论，也是创作方法论。

绘画课系列展览以画小规模群展的方式，形成了一个个讨论绘画的具体角度，在这第四回之后，绘画课展览系列将不再以年度群展的方式延续，而会以更为灵活的展览方式呈现。

This exhibition is the forth instalment of Painting Lesson series. With visual language of painting as its starting point, it attempts to construct a theoretical model for analysis of painting language,  in light of conceptual differences and practical connections of three dimensions in painting - figure,body, and image.

For many painters, figure, body and image forms a triplicity. They are different from each other and  coexistent at every moment. In fact, any brush stroke embodies these three dimensions: it is at the same time a part of graphic figure (form), body (modeling), and image (meaning). Every brush strokeis a Borromean Knot.

Just as self-consciousness of rhyme, meter and metaphor in literature results in poetic theories,  discussions of figure-body-image in painting could result in a visual theory, which may not only be a methodology of research, but also a methodology of creation.

In the form of small-scale group exhibition, Painting Lesson series constitute a series of concrete perspectives for discussion of painting. After this forth instalment, it will forsake the form of annual group exhibition, and present itself in a more flexible way.

往期回顾│

2013_绘画课Ⅲ：基础与极限之构

EXHIBITION REVIEW ┃

2013_Painting Lesson Ⅲ:

Elementary and Extreme Structure

继2011年的“错觉或幻相”，2012年的“消极与积极的风格”，今年的绘画课系列展将要以“基础与极限之构”作为主题，将呈现艺术家对不同视觉资源的分析、抽离、重组及转换，生成出彼此不同的的理解角度及工作方式。

这一主题还有另一层意蕴：在自觉面对基础问题时，就已经包含着一种基要反思的激进性，艺术的激进是不断地回到基础问题上去，从而保持重新认识的可能。

就当下知识氛围而言，展览还希望通过不同的作品案例把人们对于“抽象”的空泛推崇与讨论转变到更为具体的问题中来，从这个似是而非的概念回到艺术家的观念、方法与经验中。

Following “Illusion or Delusion” in 2011, and "Negative and Positive Style" in 2012, the exhibition from this year's series of painting lessons takes the title, “Elementary and Extreme Structure.” The works demonstrate the manifold ways in which artists analyze,abstract, reconstruct, and convert visual data, and present a range of differing perspectives and ways of working.

The title also refers to one of the most important functions of art. When we consciously engage with a question or problem, we are already in some way reflexive and critical about thought itself. Art is radical precisely because it is able to bring us back to the most basic questions, there by constantly holding the door open for new thought sand ideas to emerge.

This exhibition aims at addressing some of the problems in contemporary thought. The idea of the abstract is too often talked about with vague and empty reverence. We hope with this exhibition to encourage a return to more concrete problems, and move from specious arguments to discussions about the ideas, practice, and experiences of different artists.

往期回顾│

2012_绘画课Ⅱ：消极与积极的风格

EXHIBITION REVIEW ┃

2012_Painting Lesson II:

Negative and Positive Style

对于艺术史研究来说，风格是一个传统的范畴，也是一个基本的概念，但绘画的风格一直都是依附于绘画的再现功能的。而当绘画从再现功能中摆脱出来之后，随着形式主义的出现，风格就不再是某种次生因素而获得了自足性，并与艺术家的主体性紧密相连，风格因此成为了一种个人符号。再进一步，在观念艺术的影响下，绘画风格与画家之间传统的对应关系被打破，风格转变成了一种需要艺术家自觉把握的内容，换句话说，风格已经成为了观念的一部分。

在当代的绘画实践中，对不同风格的挪用，对“个人性”概念的怀疑与拒绝，对物性存在的尊重与发掘，形成了一条重要的“去风格”的，即消极风格的线索。与此主动构成对比的则是，在绘画观念化的背景下再次强调个人风格与绘画语言，这又形成了一条积极风格的实践路线。这次展览邀请了陈彧凡、董大为、段建宇、龚剑、关音夫、李姝睿、欧阳春、申亮等八位呈现了对“风格“的不同态度与用法的艺术家，而他们展出的作品会形成一条风格观念的系谱，并构成某种策展论述。

在对风格的讨论中使用“消极”、“积极”的概念，是受到陈望道的修辞学研究的启发，但这里要强调的是，我们不能在消极的风格与积极的风格这两者之间划上一条明确的界限——正如这次展览中的作品所呈现的那样——它们常常处于辩证的而不是非此即彼的关系中，正因为这种复杂性，我们才不能从单一的角度去理解当代的绘画实践，而需更为开放的意识与态度。

“Painting Class” is an annual serial exhibition. Following the discussion over reappearance on the “Painting Lesson I—Illusion or Vision” in 2011, the “Painting Lesson II” in 2012 focuses on the subject under observation and the theme of discussion, with the aim to further extend the margin and dimension of painting.

In the study on traditional artisti chistory, style is an important sector and a fundamental concept. Style is always adhered to the reappearance function of painting, i.e. it is a relatively secondary issue. Even the studies focusing on style, a self-evident precondition should have been set on the theory of artistic reappearance. When painting broke away from the reappearance function, style would become self-contained as the formalism occurred, and closely related to the artist’s  subjectivity. Thus style would become a kind of individualized symbol and thecore of artworks.

Further, influenced by the emerge dconceptual art, the corresponding relationship between style and artist was broken, and style is no longer considered as something intrinsically included in or born with the subject. “Style” became something requiring an artist’sconscious handling and thus something outside. It has become a part of concept, in other words, so artist must have an attitude towards style, no matter being opposing, emphasizing, indifferent or imitative one.

The different attitudes are usually interwoven together in reality, but they can be basically categorized into 2 types: positive or negative. The use of “positive and negative” concept wasin spired by Mr. Chen Wangdao’s research on rhetoric. In his An Introduction to Rhetoric, he classified lingual rhetoric into 2 types: positive and negative.The former is an abstract concept, which is used to describe object facts, e.g.scientific and technological exposition; while the latter is specificexperience, which is used to express subjective emotion, e.g. poetry andliterature. The 2 concepts were introduced into visual art not to establish 2types of functions and styles, but to provide a possible coordinate to measurethe relationship between an artist and his/her artwork.

In specific painting practice, the use of different styles, the suspect and rejection against the concept of “individualization” , as well as the respect and exploration of material existence jointly contributed to an important “destyled” clue, i.e. negativestyle. Guan Yinfu’s paint pile almost like a big sculpture and the heavy woodencase as the “base” of painting displayed the sense of spatial and materialinvasion.  Dong Dawei’s pattern and color created by the occasionally droppedchalk dusts, however, brought a pure material sense, while the rustling of chalks when rubbing the wooden board is another inorganic physical state.Trying one’s best to demonstrate the actual state instead of generating anymeaning, including implication, feeling and taste, is a typical negative state.On the opposite, is the positive state particularly emphasizing implication,feeling and taste, e.g. Ouyang Chun’s painting with extremely individualized style and symbolic implications.

Certainly, problems are not always so simple and easily recognizable. In fact, almost all the artistic practices remain in the grey state between the 2 types, since we cannot draw a clear and definite line between positive and negative, and consequently they are usually dialectically related, but cannot absolutely be classified into this type or that one, e.g. Du Jianyu introduced others’ typical styles and subject matters(such as Wu Guanzhong and Fu Baoshi) and integrated them into his own “rustic”flavor, which generated the irony and humor in taste and made him representative artist characterized by turning style into concept. In contrast,Gong Jian, started from a de-styled and de-subjectified concept, i.e. then egative style, but he eventually formed a vivid and vigorous painting style. Is this a result of being positive? Meanwhile, Shen Liang combined his respectto materiality with the academic concept of aesthetics—rather being stupid than being opportunistic, perfectly integrating negative into positive. Li Shurui and Chen Yufan concealed positive secretly behind negative in their works, as well as determined personal style through abstract symbols and cold design. In other words, the self-conscious concept in their works is the determinant of style.

Maybe these works on exhibition will form a pedigree of style and concept and become some narration on curation. But hope the relationship between them is open. Today’s painting practice can hardly be described from 1 or 2 perspectives or along 1 or 2 clues (so, what isimportant is no longer to judge whether an artist’s work is positive ornegative). But I persistently believe that maintaining the self-consciousconcept is the precondition of any contemporary artistic practice, including painting. “Why did I paint in this way?” The question can never be stop ped asking, but the answer can only be explored by ourselves forever.

What should be done is to open the solidified previous concept so as to liberate the practices again. This is also the standing point of the “painting class” serial exhibition. As long as the audiences, readers and peers realized that we need opener cognition and attitude at any time, the serial exhibition would meet its objective.

往期回顾│2011_绘画课Ⅰ：错觉与幻象

EXHIBITION REVIEW ┃

2011_Painting LessonⅠ:

Illusion or Delusion

自不待言，绘画是中国当代艺术实践中最成熟、最受关注的领域，但也最缺乏应有深度的研究。人们对绘画的讨论几乎都是在避实就虚而人云亦云，在“表现”、“抽象”这些业已失效的美学概念下，人们似乎只能去空洞地评价画得好或不好，甚至（更糟糕的）煞有其事地去讨论绘画所谓的表达内容。

因此，需要把我们的讨论搁置到绘画自身的具体问题上去。在这次展览中，我们关注的重点是艺术家在如何调动着们的视觉经验，并把我们引向某些特定的主题，比如知觉错觉与“真实”幻相之间的关系。另一方面也需要把这些问题抽离出绘画的情境，放到其他媒介、类型的艺术实践中去考察，从而让我们更清晰地把握绘画如其所是的意义与价值。

总之，借助“绘画课”这个展览主题，我们要做的是针对而开放地面对绘画所涉及的细枝末节。

Apparently, Painting is the most developed area of Chinese contemporary art and enjoys the most attention. However, painting also lacks deep researches. Everybody that talks about painting is speaking far from the point, and can just emptily discuss artworks good or not under the disabled esthetic concepts such as Represent or Abstract, even talk about what are on the pictures.

So it is necessary to focus on the issues of painting itself. In this exhibition, we will pay attention to how artists arouse our visual experiences, and guide us to some specific themeslike knowing the relationship between real and illusions. On the other hand, we should take these questions apart from painting and put them into other media and kinds to examine the meaning and value of painting itself.  

In a word, with the topic Painting Lesson, we’ll discuss everything about painting openly and intensively.

杨画廊│Gallery Yang

www.galleryyang.com

新浪微博：@杨画廊 微信：Galleryyang

Tel：86 10 5978 9688

Fax：86 10 5978 9491  

Email：contact@galleryyang.com        

开放时间：

周二至周日 10:30am-6:30pm（节假日除外）

Opening Hours:

Tuesday -Sunday 10:30am-6:30pm

a.  北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路2号798艺术区创意广场东侧20库

a. No.20,Originality Square, 798 ArtDistrict, No.2 Jiu Xianqiao Road, Chaoyang, Beijing