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Art and Design Supplement, March 2012, P92-95
Zhu Wei : I Will Always Be A Punk
P94, up left, Utopia No.48, ink painting, 2005
P94, up right, New Pictures of the Strikingly Bizarre，woodprint,2004
P95, up left, Zhu Wei directs the MV Blossom of the Miserable Faith Band
P95, up right, the segment of the MV Blossom of the Miserable Faith Band
Artist Zhu Wei spent his youth drawing ink painting while listening to rock music, so it's not hard for us to understand why he still would rather be called "old punk" than "ink painter" after so many years. In fact, in his mind there is always a music dream. "When I was little, I didn't have money to buy a guitar, and now I’m too old to play. I think I was born at the wrong time, maybe I can realize my dream in the next life," he said.
Text/ Kang Bazi
Photograph/ Xuan Peng
Punk Life
The story of Zhu Wei and rock music can be traced back to the time when he first signed contract with the art gallery. In 1995, he was already a very successful ink painter. While quite a few artists of his age were still struggling in the old Summer Palace, he already didn't have to worry about his living. Nevertheless, he likes to be called as "rock painter" or "little punk". Though he paints for a living, he deliberately avoids the association with painters. In contrast, he likes to hang out with the "little punks" who play rock music, organize bands and sell Saw-Gash.
His life is like what he recalled, "at that time, China was still poor. The house I rent was only provided with water and electricity. I took a shower once or twice a year. Almost every night, I went to the then popular discos in Beijing, for example, Nasa in Xitucheng with Wang Shuo and Feng Xiaogang's shares, JJ in Xinjiekou, and Nightman alongside the China International Exhibition Center. There, we would jump and dance to the deep night with the body wet from head to toe. Then, when the body dries up, we go back to sleep. It's like taking a shower." That is a life similar to most rock youths'. What's different for him is that he met the father of Chinese rock music--Cui Jian in that year.
From Punk to Stage Art
"There's music in your painting." Cui Jian said that to Zhu Wei when they met. From then on, Zhu Wei turned his passion for rock music into actual involvement. At the very beginning, he accepted Cui Jian's invitation to do stage design--the 1 Fen coin picture people saw at the back of Cui Jian's show. That huge picture took him two months. First, he amplified the coin and made it into model, then colored it like rubbing. He paid some art college students to help him, and you can see their working scene in the large stage workshop of General Political Department Song and Dance Ensemble in the video he recorded.
That curtain accompanied Cui JIan for over a dozen of years and witnessed the growth of Chinese rock music. Zhu Wei's works were also influenced by rock music and he completed several new ink painting series such as Comrade Soldier, New Pictures of the Strikingly Bizarre. In those works, both the figure image and color application were quite "punky", which is his most representative creative style in that period. Later, he used the titles of Cui Jian's songs to name his works, for example, The Story of Beijing and the Egg Left over by Red Flag. When his passion bursts, he even put rock music lyrics into the painting, though later he thought that's a little bit too wild".
New Rock, New Identity
After 2000, a large number of rock music fans turned to "Mi Di". Dependent on the M iDi School reputed as "Huangpu Military Academy in the field of rock music", the Mi Di music festival has remained its position as "the largest rock music festival in China" over these years. Surely, the rock music-involved Zhu Wei also participated in it. In 2006, Zhang Fan, the initiator of Mi Di music festival specifically invited Zhu Wei to Shanghai to help design its logo.
Then, people saw the impressive pictures on the lawn and stage of the 2006 Mi Di music festival. The logo depicted such a picture: a fist with thumb, forefinger and little finger sticking out and curled up middle finger and ring finger, representing “I, L（Love）, Y(You)”, which you can see everywhere at the Mi DI Music Festival, from rock youths’ T-shirts and big posters on the scene. That is not only a piece of work, but also his tribute to rock music as well as a remembrance of the rock spirits of that time.
The Rock Music under New Media
In fact, the stage art design he did originated from another hobby of him - -his "movie dream". In 1989, he accepted a task from leaders after the graduation from the Art College of the Chinese People's liberation army. Quickly he discovered that was not the life he wanted, and then he turned to another kind of art--movie. A year later, he entered the Beijing Film Academy, and started to study film art. At the end of 1992 when he finished the courses, he found himself facing the choice of three years ago: to continue painting or turn to movie?
Zhu Wei may not be an ink painter if he didn't happen to sell his works and signed contract with a gallery. Out of his rebellious spirits, he kept doing something beyond painting, which was realized through the rock music and its circle he loved. In 2009, he became a guest actor in Chengdu, I Love You shot by Cui Jian; before long, he performed a quite stylish contemporary artist in Living with Fashion shot by Yin Lichuan. "There was someone who regarded me--an ink painter--as a contemporary artist. I was quite excited," Zhu Wei joked about it.
For Zhu Wei, the only success in this field is the MV he directed for the Miserable Faith Band. The shooting of the MV for the top song Blossom of the new version EP was finished in just a few days, but the post production lasted for a year. To save expense while using the professional equipment, he made the editing in professional movie companies after the staff going off work. "A lot of translation pictures were edited in the post process. We only had scenes moving back and forth in the original material. “It’s not hard for us to perceive his efforts, but it is well worth. The MV was quiet and deep. There were no gaudy contents besides the band members' vague faces, which expressed the life recognition quite properly. "It’s quietness that we wanted. You need to feel quiet after leaving the scene," speaking of which, he was even a little excited. When he was designing the curtain for Cui Jian, he was already holding that conception, which represented his profound understanding of rock music spirits.
Though that shooing sapped his vitality, and he even made a vow not to shoot MV anymore, but seen from his current state, even if he doesn't shoot MV, he will continue to do some other sideline occupations related with rock music, for rock music spirits are already get rooted in his bones. He himself may not be able to control that rebellious spirits. When Zhu Wei paints, he can lock himself away for half a year, and even forget how to speak when he is all alone for such a long time, he has lived in the Pingguo Community for 6 years, but he even never went to the Today Art Museum in his neighborhood. When drawing ink paintings, he mocked this world in a slow manner, but with rock music, he could finally get the chance to yell out.
《艺术与设计》增刊，2012年3月刊，92-95页
朱伟：画水墨的老朋克
附作品图：
94页，上左，《乌托邦48号》，水墨，2005年
同页，上右，《新二刻拍案惊奇》，木版画，2004年
95页，上左，朱伟执导痛仰乐队MV《盛开》
同页，上右，痛仰乐队MV《盛开》片段
艺术家朱伟的青春，是在一边画水墨，一边听摇滚的峥嵘岁月中逐渐挥霍掉的。所以我们不难理解，为什么这么多年过去了，他还是宁愿别人称呼他“老朋克”，而非“水墨画家”。其实在他内心里，一直都有一个玩音乐的梦想。他说：“小时候没钱买吉他，所以没玩成。现在呢，太老了，也太晚了。我觉得自己是生错了时候。也许，下辈子吧。”
文 | 康巴梓 摄影 | 宣彭
朋克人生
朱伟和摇滚乐的渊源还得从他刚签约画廊的时候说起。1995年，朱伟已经是个相当成功的水墨画家。当同龄的不少艺术家还在圆明园漂泊挣扎时，他已经至少不再为生计而犯愁了。尽管如此，他还是愿意别人称呼他“摇滚画家”，或者干脆叫他“小朋克”。因为尽管干的是画画的营生，他却始终刻意回避与同行的交往。相形之下，他倒更愿意同那些搞摇滚的、办乐队的、卖打口带的“小朋克们”在一起。
他的生活就像他自己回忆的那样：“那时候，神州大地的穷劲儿还没完全过去，我租的房子里边只有水电，半年或者一年洗一回澡。几乎每个晚上都会去当时北京流行的那几个迪厅，比如王朔、冯小刚入股的位于西土城的Nasa，还有新街口的JJ，国展边上的Nightman，狂蹦至深夜，从头到脚浸透，晾干回家睡觉，算是洗了回澡”这和许多摇滚青年的生活类似，不同的是，也就在这一年，朱伟遇到了与他志趣相投的中国摇滚之父——崔健。
朋克变身舞美
“你的画里有音乐。”崔健遇到朱伟时说了这样一句话，从此朱伟对摇滚乐的热爱变成了实际的参与。首先是应崔健之邀做的舞台设计，也就是人们看到的崔健演出时后面那张巨大的一分钱硬币图。那幅巨作画了朱伟整整两个月的时间，先是将硬币放大做成模型，再像拓印一样一点点上色。朱伟自己花钱请了一帮美院的学生帮忙，在总政歌舞团的舞美车间里忙上忙下。在朱伟自己拍的记录短片里可以看到，他们工人一般的劳动场景。
正是这块幕布伴随了崔健十多年的征程，也见证了中国摇滚乐的成长之路。而朱伟自己的作品也受到了影响，他相继完成了《上尉同志》、《新二刻拍案惊奇》等数个新水墨系列。这些作品不论从人物造型，还是色彩运用上，都“朋克味”十足，成为他这一阶段最具代表性的创作风格。再到后来，他干脆用崔健的歌曲，比如《北京故事》、《红旗下的蛋》等为自己的作品命名。而当激情迸发时，他甚至将摇滚乐的歌词直接题到画里面，虽然后来他觉得“这有点胡闹”。
新摇滚新身份
2000年后，大批摇滚乐迷转战“迷笛”。依靠着被誉为“摇滚界黄埔军校”的迷笛学院，迷笛音乐节在这些年也一直保持了“中国最大摇滚音乐节”的王者地位。和摇滚圈保持着密切联系的朱伟自然也参与其中。2006年迷笛音乐节创办人张帆专门将朱伟邀请到上海，希望他帮忙设计音乐节的logo。
于是，人们在2006年迷笛音乐节的草地上、舞台上看到了至今让人印象深刻的图画。这个logo描绘了这样一幅图画：将手掌握拳后，伸出拇指、食指和小指，同时蜷起中指和无名指组成的“I（我）、L（Love爱）、Y（You你）”。从摇滚青年的T恤到现场大海报，迷笛音乐节上处处可以见到“ILY”的身影，这不仅仅是朱伟的一幅作品，也是他对摇滚的深深致敬，当然，也是对于那个时代摇滚精神的一种怀念。
新媒体下的摇滚
其实，朱伟能做舞台美术设计还源于他的另一大爱好，他的“电影梦”。1989年，朱伟从解放军艺术学院毕业后接到了上面的一件委托。但他很快发现这并非自己喜好的生活，于是转向了另一个艺术门类，也就是电影。一年后，他进入北京电影学院，开始电影美术的学习。1992年末，当他结束了在北影的课程后，他发现自己又面临着三年前的那个抉择了：继续画，还是搞电影？
若不是早年间碰巧卖掉了作品签约画廊，朱伟兴许真的不会成为一个水墨画家。但他这股不安分的造反劲儿始终督促着他干一些画画之外的事情。没想到，这一切还是通过他挚爱的摇滚，常年接触的摇滚圈来实现。2009年，他客串了崔健拍摄的《成都，我爱你》；不久后，尹丽川的《与时尚同居》中，他又扮演了一个相当时髦的当代艺术家。对此，朱伟还打趣说：“居然有人把我一搞水墨的看成是当代艺术家，俺真的挺激动的。”
当然了，在朱伟看来这一事业上的唯一成就是为痛仰乐队执导的MV，这首新版的EP主打歌《盛开》朱伟拍了没几天，后期却做了一年的时间。为了节省费用，又能用到专业设备，朱伟都是晚上借别人下班时间到专门的电影制作公司进行剪辑。“MV中有大量平移的画面都是后期剪出来的，素材里只有前后推进的镜头。”从朱伟的话中我们不难体会其良苦用心。不过这也值得。整个MV安静而深沉，画面中除了乐队成员模糊的面孔没有更多花哨的内容，这反倒把《盛开》中那种对生命的领悟表达得极为贴切。“就是要安静！摇滚乐离开现场后一定要有这种安静的感觉！”说到这里，朱伟甚至有些激动。从给崔健做布景时，他就有了这种观念，这也是朱伟对于摇滚乐精神更加深入的理解。
虽说这次拍摄让朱伟元气大伤，并誓言不再拍什么MV，但就他的状态来看，即使不做MV，这跟摇滚乐相关的副业他也还是会继续进行下去，因为那种摇滚精神是他骨子里面带着的。这种造反精神恐怕他自己也控制不住。朱伟画画，半年都不见人，一个人待久了连话都不会说。在苹果社区住了6年的他居然连自家旁边的今日美术馆也没进过。画水墨的时候，他攒着劲儿，慢条斯理地讥讽这个世界，搞摇滚的时候他终于有机会高呼出来。
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