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【评论】绘画就像一封信

2012-04-05 10:54:01 来源:艺术家提供作者:高岭
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  何红蓓早在十六年前便以“夜莺”一画入选“中国广州•首届艺术双年展(油画部分)”,并且获得了优秀奖,成为获奖者中仅有的两位女性艺术家之一。事隔多年,许多当年的艺术家还清楚地记得那张宛如月光下吹萧的双少女形象。如今,翻开当年的展览图录,评委会的评语这样写道:“富于诗意的情调、优美的人物造型以及梦幻般的色彩处理构成了这幅画的魅力。将‘优秀奖’授予这位画家,在于我们认可不做作的古典趣味中的静穆、和谐与安详的特点在当代社会中仍然不可缺少的立场。”  1992年刚好是何红蓓从四川美术学院毕业的那年。一个二十三岁的年轻女性,能够在一个今天都具有重要影响力的展览上,和许多八五时期的老哥萨克同台展览并且获奖,其作品在绘画语言上显然具有了明显的个人特征。
  几年之后,她去了美国,直到去年才将工作室安在了自己的祖国首都北京。这十几年来,在海外她从未中断过自己忠爱的绘画创作,当年的风格延续了相当长的时间,并且日臻成熟。如今,展现在我们面前的这批被命名为“书信系列”的作品,在绘画语言风格上却出现了新的变化:原先人物轮廓的造型线条和圆润光洁的肢体形态,伴随着人物形象在画面的隐匿或边缘化而消失,取而代之的是类似照相摄影的影像复写方式,追求物象细节的真实性,画面被玻璃器皿、卫生洁具和空旷辽阔的自然景观所代替。原先月夜下或幽暗背景中,卡拉瓦乔和契里柯式的人物肌肤和服饰衣褶表面令人难忘的光泽,被户外自然环境中的逆光和室内环境中的底光或反射光所取代。原先画面里包括树木、建筑、室内陈设和人物形象等等所有视觉对象之间超现实的组合魔力,如今在画面中只是靠那些书信的摆放位置才体现出来的。
  造成何红蓓这批新作视觉特征上明显变化的原因,是她对女性自身认识深化的产物。她自认“一直是一个很喜欢做白日梦的人,但又很怕面对现实。” 在十几年前,她通过画作,将各种不同时空背景下的景与物组合起来,包裹着恬静、自顾的少女,画面中的一切都充满了想象性和虚构性,艺术主题并没有明显现实的对应性。这是一个年轻的女性艺术家对现实生活的理想化和梦幻化的构想世界。时光的流逝,经历的累积,使她逐渐获得了对现实生活观察和体悟的丰富素材和途径。身边女友所传递或者所发生的各种信息和变故,使她对女性在当代社会生活中“被伤害、孤寂、忧伤、自怜” 的现象格外敏感,促使她试图用手中之笔来反映这种现实生活中普遍存在的问题。然而,何红蓓毕竟是一个艺术家,该如何表现这样的现实问题呢?对与现实问题的描述显然不是绘画艺术之所长,也不应是绘画艺术之所为,而将这种女性“受伤的美、神经质的美用绘画表现出来” ,才是艺术之所为。
  于是,我们看到何红蓓这批新作总是出现书信的形象,因为在她看来书信最能代表女人的心境,而书信的形象最能作为女性精神世界的象征。书信是用来交流的,但画面中的书信却从未寄出过,它们与其说是写给男人的,毋宁说是写给女人自己的。信件里究竟写了什么相思或者受伤的体验和感受其实对于视觉艺术的绘画来说,并不重要,重要的是这些信件被艺术家拟人化了——我们总是能够看到信件纸张和墨迹里幻化出一张张迷茫苦楚的女人面庞,它(她)们卷缩在玻璃瓶里、抽屉里,浸泡在盥洗盆里,或者干脆漂浮在户外的天空里。它们原本是写给男人的,痛述现实男性社会对女性的种种无形压力和不解,但它们是否寄出其实对于女人来说并不重要,重要的是在写信的过程中,女人再次获得了一种宣泄受伤体验的感觉。这种感觉是否安全或者危险,女人其实并不关心结果,但她们一定要把它表达出来,而且是在表达的过程中亲身体会到,这才是最为重要的。玻璃瓶当然既透明又易碎,抽屉当然不透明很牢固,但只要能够表达出女性的这种宣泄受伤的感觉,就应该在画面中使用它们。
  如果仅仅认为玻璃瓶或者抽屉什么的能够暗示女性的不安全和危险以及逃避,并以此作为评价何红蓓绘画的依据,显然是不够的。因为若此,我们如何分析和评价她的那些漂浮在户外天空中的书信呢?事实上,无论是女性私密空间里的玻璃器皿和抽屉,还是自然环境景象;无论是室内陈设的底光和反射光,还是户外环境的大面积逆光;无论是这些书信的内容多么忧伤,还是它们的形象如何拟人化,何红蓓无非是借助于这些有形、可视的视觉形象,来传达出她作为一位女性艺术家面对当代中国现实生活中社会问题的一种切身的感受和感觉。
  正因为要表达这种敏感、无助和复杂的感觉,她在画面中格外重视不同光源对景物和人物的投射,这一点正好延续了她以前绘画的精彩之处。信纸的白皙光泽传递出苍白无助的感觉,玻璃器皿和洁具上的复合光眩动出孤寂冷漠的青涩,而午后的逆光,则透露出一种灼伤的感觉。的确,正如艺术家本人所说的:“生活总是充满了阳光,但有时也有被太阳灼伤的时候。” 而这灼伤时候的感觉,正是艺术家试图通过自己的绘画要表达的。
  由此可见,具体景物和空间的选择,具体光源的位置与表现,其实都是为了营造出一种关注女性自我感受这样的目的,而何红蓓用她娴熟和精湛的绘画技巧,将这种女性特有的忧伤和凄美之感准确地表达了出来。或许,随着她对女性问题理解和感悟的进一步深化,她的画作在进入画面的题材对象上会有变化和发展,但她对女性自身的感觉的把握这个主题应该是一如既往的。
  “书信系列”的问世,预示着何红蓓在过去十几年那种曼妙和自顾的梦幻意境的基础上,真正进入到直面女性的生存处境的阶段,这是她多年直接和间接的人生经历和女性艺术家特有的敏感的必然结果,这预示着她将艺术与人生现实,特别是女性自身的现实处境联系起来,从而使她笔下的艺术世界获得了一种具有当代文化意义的形态,这在她过去的创作中是没有的。然而,这种当代形态的获得并没有牺牲她的绘画以往对画面情绪感觉的捕捉这个最大的优势,反倒是一如既往地延续、发展和提升了这种对感觉的捕捉。这一点,恰恰是当我们环顾今天中国艺术家的创作时,许多人在其作品里所缺少的,因为过多的社会或政治寓意的符号和图像的直接对应,遮蔽和淹没了他们的作品作为视觉艺术作品特有的视觉感觉。


  何红蓓用书信的形式表达出当代女性的心理世界,而她的绘画本身也犹如一封封书信,用视觉的形式来与观众交流。有趣的是,她表达的是女性与社会其他群类交流的障碍,但对这种障碍的表达本身却又是能够与社会观众交流的,这就是艺术的魅力所在,而这种魅力是否能够产生作用,首先取决于艺术家是否有足够的手段和技巧能够释放出这种魅力。正是从这个意义上说,何红蓓的绘画本身又犹如一封尚未阅读的信,等待着观者的参与和互动。

Painting Is Like A Letter
---The Art World under He Hongpei's Brush
By Gao Ling

As early as 16 years ago, He Hongpei's work, "Nightingale", was chosen for the oil painting section of the First Guangzhou Biennale held in Canton, China, winning an award of excellence and establishing her as one of the only two award-winning women artists. A number of years have passed since then but many artists still remember with clarity the image resembling twin girls playing Xiao (a traditional Chinese musical instrument) in the moonlight. Now, if you open the catalogue of that exhibition, you will read the comments on her art as follows: rich poetic melody, beautiful figures and dreamlike hues constitute the glamour of this painting. To bestow the Award of Excellence to this painter seems to be an inevitable stance even today, when we acknowledge the calmness, harmony and serenity that is associated with the unpretentious classical taste. He Hongpei happened to graduate from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in the same year the Biennale was held(1992). A young lady, 23 years of age, had her work exhibited alongside the old Cossacks the 85 New Wave Movement in an exhibition whose influence vibrates robustly even today, winning a prize – that shows that her painting skills were obviously imbued with distinctive individual characteristics.
Years later, she went to the States, and it was not until last year that she established her studio the capital of her homeland, Beijing. In the past few years, when overseas, she never ceased painting, which she loves fervently. Her former style, having gone through the test of time, matures with every passing day. Now, the series of works entitled "Letters" have seen new changes in the painting style: the original contours of the characters and their smooth round body features have disappeared with the concealment or marginalization of human characters on the canvas; instead, they have been replaced by photograph – like autotyped images, which seek to replicate the authenticity of the minute details of objects, the canvas dominated by glassware, sanitary utensils and the vast natural landscapes. Her original Caravaggio – or Greco – like characters whose skin and pleat were treated with unforgettable luster have been replaced by backlighting in the natural environment outdoors and by reflexive light or inner glowing indoors. The original charm of the super realism mix of the likes of woods, Buildings, indoor furnishings and human characters, are relected through the relative position of the letters on the canvas only now.
The reason for the obvious visual changes in the new series of works stems from He Hongpei's deepening understanding of women per se. She"has always seen herself as a daydreamer and at the same time is afraid of confronting reality". About a dozen years ago, through her painting, she mixed a variety of scenes and objects from different times and spaces, including composed self – centered girls, making the canvas rife with imagination and illusion. At that time, the theme of her art had no obvious parallel with reality. It was an idealized and fantasized world a young woman artist dreamed of : what life should be in reality. As time passed, the accumulation of experience has enabled her to acquire rich material from her observation and perception of realistic life. The various messages from lady friends around her and the changes that befell them make her especially sensitive to such phenomena that women are subject to in contemporary life as "being hurt, solitude, moroseness, self – pity", which has propelled her to reflect the universal problems in contemporary life through brushes. After all, He Hongpei is an artist. But how should the problems be presented? It is obvious that it is not the strong point of painting to depict current issues nor should it be its responsibility. But it is the role of art to "reflect the wounded and jumpy beauty of women through painting".
Consequently, we see images of letters in the new series of works by He Hongpei as, in her opinion, letters are best at representing the sentiments of women and images of letters are most symbolic of women's inner world. Letters are used to exchange information but the letters on the canvas have never been posted. It is more appropriate to view them as addressed to the women themselves, rather than to men. For the visual art of painting, it is not significant what lovesickness or how one feels is described in the letters; what is significant is that these letters have been personified by the artist. We can always see lost and bitter faces of women stemming from the letter sheets and from traces of ink, curling up in glass bottles, in drawers, or immersed in bathroom sinks . or simply staying afloat in the sky outdoors. The letters were originally written to men , deploring the varied intangible pressure upon, and lack of understanding for women in the male society. But, actually, whether the letters are posted or not is not important for women. What is important is that in the process of writing, women have re-acquired the feeling of expressing their injuries. Whether the feeling is safe or dangerous, in fact, women do not really care. But they have to express it and in so doing relive the experience. That is important! Glass bottles are of course both translucent and fragile, while drawers are opaque and very sturdy. Yet so long as they are able to express women's feelings, to pour out their wounded sentiments, they should be employed in the canvas.
It is obviously inadequate to be of the view that the likes of glass bottles or drawers could imply women's insecurity. Peril and escape, and to use these as measures to judge He Hongpei's paintings. Because, if it is appropriate to hold such views, then how would we analyze and evaluate her works in which letters stay afloat in the sky outdoors? In fact, regardless of the glassware and drawers in women's private space, regardless of the scenes of the natural environment, the reflective lights indoors and the wide backlighting outdoors, no matter how melancholy or personified these letters are, these tangible visible visual images are only used by the artist to express her keen feelings in the face of a myriad of problems in contemporary Chinese life.
Just because she wants to express the sensitive, helpless and complicated feeling, she pays particular attention in her works to the projection of different lights on objects and people, which happens to continue the former splendor of her paintings. The pale light of the letter sheets gives a sense of helplessness, while the compound light on the glassware and on the sanitary utensils gives a sense of solitude and indifference; the backlight in the afternoon however reveals a touch of burning. Indeed, just like the artist says herself, "life is filled with light but sometimes you feel burned by the sun". It is the sense of being burned that the artist is trying to convey in her paintings.
It can thus be conduced that the choice of concrete scenery and of space, and the location and representation of the light, are in fact intended to create a sense of caring for women's private feelings. With her dexterity and consummate painting techniques, He Hongpei accurately expresses a sense of sorrow and desolation that is women's alone. Perhaps, With her deepening understanding and perception of women issues, her works will change and develop in their motifs. But the grasp over women's problems would not see any alterations.
The birth of the "Letters" series signifies that He Hongpei has, on the basis of the graceful, self – care and dreamlike conceptions of the past decade or so, truly entered the phase in which she confronts the living conditions of the women head – on. That is the inevitable result of her years of direct or indirect life experience and of her peculiar sensitivity as a woman artist. It implies that she has combined art, life, reality and the condition of women together, and has given her art world some features characteristic of contemporary culture, which had never existed in her pervious works. However, the acquisition of contemporary features has not been made at the expense of sacrificing her bigger edge in capturing the emotions and expressions on the canvas; instead , it has continued her tradition in capturing the perceptions, and has in fact boosted and improved the capturing process. That is something many artists lack in their works, if we take a holistic look at the artworks by Chinese artists today, as too many social or political symbols and images correspond to one another. shielding and overwhelming the visual perceptions they have as visual art works.
In the form of letters, He Hongpei expresses the inner world of contemporary women, and her paintings resemble the letters, interacting with the audience through the visual means. Interestingly, what she expresses is the hindrance between women and other social groups, the descriptions of which could be communicated to the social audience. That is where the charm of art lies. But whether the charm will result in any impact will depend on if the artist has adequate means and techniques to unleash the charm. In that sense, He Hongpei's paintiongs are like an unread letter awaiting the participation and interaction of the viewers.

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