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www.hiart.cn， January 11 2019
"Hi Topic" Zhu Wei: The Theoretical System of Ink and Wash Is Quite Clear, But We Have Lost Our Confidence In The Past 100 Years.
Edited by Zhang Zhaobei
Photo Courtesy of the Artist. and Hi Art’s Data and File Room
IArtist Zhu Wei’s works could be seen in many domestic ink and wash exhibitions in 2018. As a key person in the field of contemporary Chinese ink and wash, Zhu Wei began to explore contemporary expressions of the traditional ink techniques as early as in the 1990s. He said without reservation that for today’s contemporary ink painting, the creation was stagnating, the exploration was inexplicable, and the various names attached to it bewildered practitioners.
In this interview we talked about the evolution in his more than a dozen series artworks, which were created during the past 30 years. We also talked about the status quo of China's contemporary ink and wash, as well as its way out for the future. In Zhu Wei’s opinion, there is a clear track of ink painting’s development in the past two thousand and seven hundred years, but in the latest one hundred years or so, we have lost our confidence. To break the predicament of ink and wash, we only need to solve one problem, that is our own innovation.
The contemporary exploration of ink painting become inexplicable
Hi Art (hereafter referred to as Hi): What do you think about the rising of the ink painting market a few years ago, and its cooling in recent years?
Zhu Wei (hereafter referred to as Zhu): After the “85 New Wave” and the New Literati Painting Movement, the creation of ink painting is actually stagnating. The stagnance is caused by the extrusion of contemporary oil painting and other contemporary art forms from the West. The contemporary exploration of ink and wash become inexplicable. Some artists base their art on the market and simply draw decorative paintings. Driven by the market, these artworks are lack of context, so they cannot satisfy the academic requirements or stand up under close scrutiny. Although they look beautiful, and fulfil the primary level of aesthetic needs, but as the audiences change their aesthetic tastes, they will be worthless soon.
Hi: As an artist, has your creation direction been influenced by the situation in the ink and wash market?
Zhu: No, it hasn’t. The artists who are dragged by the market must have forgotten their identity before they rushed to the front line of social trends. Artist is a harmless occupation, who has his own values and philosophy. If an artist uses commercial viewpoint to evaluate his creation, and feels nothing wrong, and people around him also take it for granted, this society must have already been very absurd, realistic, and cruel.
Only one problem needs to be solved in ink and wash: innovation
Hi: What do you think about the definition of the concept “contemporary ink painting” and “new ink painting”?
Zhu: These various names attached to ink painting make practitioners confused too. It indicates that our cultural values are highly disordered. Being lack of confidence make it no way for us to judge our own properties.
Hi: Is the ambiguity of the theoretical system the leading cause of the market situations? Or is the language of ink painting?
Zhu: The market is not affected by this. The market has its own theoretical system, which belongs to another major. The ups and downs of the price of an artwork does not mean that its artistic value is also fluctuating. Although today when people talk about first-tier artists, they usually mean the market results, not art standards.
The theoretical system of ink and wash is quite clear. In the past when people spoke of Zhao Mengfu, Ni Zan, "Seven Sages", "Four Wangs", Bada Shanren, Huang Binhong, Zhang Daqian, and Qi Baishi, they knew everything about them, such as which painting is good, which painting has what artistic conception, which style a painting is, and how the artist use brush in a painting. It is only in today that the traditional painting is denied and the Western contemporary art is adopted. Denying yourself must have a process. Just like the Boxer soldiers fought against the Eight-Nation Alliance, who were different in every way, and in their vigorous effort the Boxer soldiers did not necessarily lose so quickly, before they were called to stopped and their enemy kept attacking fiercely. Chinese have the tradition of self-destruction, which is rare in other countries. Imagine if, in a hundred years ago when the oil painting came into China, it was introduced as "oil painting" for a while, as "Netherland painting" for a while, and then as "Italian painting" for a while, if it hadn’t straightened itself out before it came to China, would we still look up to it?
Hi: What is the academic dilemma the contemporary ink painting faces with?
Zhu: These days I have seen quite a few retrospective exhibitions of artists who paint oil paintings. I found that the most exciting part is the part imitated from the contemporary Western masters, while before and after that, it returns to its true level, like a parabolic line. However, there are models to imitate in the field of contemporary oil painting, but none in ink painting, so it can be imagined that the difficulty will be doubled. The academic dilemma we face is actually the dilemma the entire society are facing. We realize and worship the value of material and money, just like people did in the West 100 to 150 years prior to the birth of Western contemporary art. It is impossible to ignore or hide the time difference. Although it looks like we are living in the same era and space, there is a gap of over 100 years. It seems that we have the same focus, but in fact one is real and the other is virtual.
Hi: Is this dilemma unsolvable?
Zhu: In this respect, ink painting has its advantages. We just need to solve one problem, that is innovation.
Ink and wash will not become an international language at present
Hi: Could you tell us the exploration you are doing in your creation?
Zhu: There were excellent ink paintings in each historical period. From the Sui Dynasty to the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, in each stage of the two thousand and seven hundred years, there was a clear track in the development of both its technique and theme. But in the latest one hundred years or so, we lost our confidence, thus the steady track became faded. The "Ink and Wash Research Lectures" series I am working on is an exploration of conceptual painting in the socialist period that is lacking today.
Hi: How do you distinguish different phases of your creation? What is the focus of each phase/series?
Zhu: There are more than a dozen series of my works so far, including “The Story of Beijing”, “Comrade Captain”, “Sweet Life”, “New Positions of the Brocade Battle”, “Utopia”, “The Heavenly Maiden”, “Ink and Wash Research Lectures series”, and so on. The "Utopia" is a dividing point. Before this series my paintings were narrative, telling stories, showing off techniques, and showing off smartness. After that, I concentrate on the conveyance of concept. Actually it is a return to my original intention. When I created my first painting “derivative from Bada’s landscape brush style” in 1987, I had read a large number of Western philosophy books. I thought I had understood life, and I wanted to create a work to explain the principle of the nature and universe. However, it turned out that nobody could recognize it. I realized I didn’t have the ability yet, so I turned to narrative.
Hi: You have cooperated with galleries since early stage of your career. Are you still working with galleries? What do you think about the fact that Ink artists seldom have gallery agents?
Zhu: I have been cooperated with an overseas gallery for 15 years since 1993. When I signed the contract, I was 26, and when our cooperation ended, I was over 40. At that time, I was young enough to install the exhibition with the gallery and with jet lag in the middle of the night, to unpack the works before the dawn, and to stand beside my works during the next day. From then on I have a syndrome: as long as I am in an art fair, I am sleepy. The better the art fair is, the sleepier I am, because there will be more social intercourses. That kind of sleepy impressed many people at that time. In the 1990s I had participated in an art fair in New York for 10 consecutive years, and there was a Singapore girl who was working for the gallery. Later, she began to come to be sleepy as soon as she saw me, which became a well-known joke in the gallery. Working with a gallery for a long time is easy to lose interest in painting, no matter what kind of painting it is. Galleries and artists are a creative group, while the sparks produced have nothing to do with the size of the gallery. A good gallery and a creative artist should provide each other with a relaxed environment. They are like soul mates who can understand each other but not disturb each other. There is a very low-key gallery in New York called Marian Goodman. For decades, this is the only gallery to show Richter's new works, even there are many big-name galleries in New York, even these big-name galleries would very much like to cooperate with Richter.
Hi: Is it possible that ink and wash becomes an international art language? And why?
Zhu: The values behind ink and wash comes from a feudal society with a history of thousands of years. It is in conflict with today’s society. Therefore, ink and wash won’t be an international language. The best ink artworks at present are those which mix a decaying language and the modern civilization. They can win sympathy, as well as compassion, and even mocking. When these artworks come back to China, the saying of “ink fever” arose, as if they have been preliminarily in line with the international standards.
《Hi艺术》二零一九年一月十一日专访
「Hi话题」朱伟 水墨学术体系很清晰，只是近一百年丢了自信
编辑：张朝贝
图片提供：朱伟、《Hi艺术》资料室
2018年，国内多场水墨大展均可看到艺术家朱伟作品的身影。作为中国当代水墨领域重要个案，早在1990年代，朱伟便开始寻求水墨传统技法的当代表达。他直言如今的水墨画创作已经停滞了，水墨的当代探索变得莫名其妙，各种称呼让从业者都感到摸不清头脑。
我们和他聊起30年来他在十几个系列上的创作演变，也谈到中国当代水墨发展的现状及未来的出路。在他看来，两千七百年来水墨画脉络清晰的发展轨迹，却在近一百年丢失了自信。打破水墨的困境，只需解决一个问题，即对自身问题的创新。
水墨的当代探索变得莫名其妙
Hi艺术（以下简写为Hi）：如何看待水墨市场几年前的潮起与近几年的潮落？
朱伟（以下简写为朱）：“85新潮”和新文人画运动之后水墨画的创作实际上是停滞了，这种停滞是因为受到当代油画和其他西方传来的当代艺术形式的挤压。水墨的当代探索变得莫名其妙，有些艺术家用市场眼光来创作，干脆画起装饰画来。这些作品由于缺乏依据，本身动机就是奔市场去的，所以无法支撑接下来学术的要求，经不起推敲，只是好看，变成初级审美对象，随着观众审美趣味的转移，随即毫无价值。
Hi：作为艺术家，你的创作方向是否会被水墨市场的情况影响？
朱：不会，被这个市场那个市场所牵绊的艺术家一定是忘记了自己的身份，冲向了社会潮流的一线。艺术家是一个人畜无害的职业，有自己的价值观、生活理念，如果艺术家也用市场的眼光来打量自己的创作还丝毫没觉得有什么不对，周围的人也觉得合情合理，那这个社会已经是一个荒唐畸形且相当现实和残酷的社会了。
水墨只需解决一个问题：创新
Hi：如何看待“当代水墨”“新水墨”概念的界定？
朱：让从业者也感到莫名其妙的水墨的各种称呼，说明我们的文化价值观的高度紊乱，对自家的东西无从下嘴，没了自信。
Hi：学术体系的含混不清是影响其市场状况的主要因素吗？还是说这是水墨这种语言本身的特殊性？
朱：市场不受这个影响，市场有自身的学术体系，属另外一个专业，同样一件作品价格一会儿高一会儿低，并不代表其艺术价值也是如此，人们所说的一线艺术家是指市场营销成绩，不是指艺术水准。
水墨的学术体系很清楚，人们一聊起赵孟頫、倪瓒、“七贤”、“四王”、“八大”、黄宾虹、张大千、齐白石都跟说自己家儿子似的，哪张画画得好，哪张画是啥意境、什么风格，怎么用的笔墨都叭叭的门儿清。只是到了当下，举国上下否定传统绘画，贯彻落实西方当代艺术。否定自己总得有个过程，如同义和团和八国联军打仗，彼此吃的穿的用的都不一样，上来就打不一定谁输，所以必须有一方叫停另一方猛攻才能分出高低。中国人糟践自己是有传统的，未必其他国家都有这毛病。试想如果一百年前油画来到中国，一会儿叫“油画”，一会儿叫“尼德兰画”，一会儿又叫“意大利画”，自己都没理顺就鼻涕眼泪登陆中国，我们会正眼看它吗？
Hi：那当代水墨所面临的学术困境究竟在哪里？
朱：前一段时间看了不少画油画的艺术家的回顾展，发现作品中最精彩的部分都是对西方当代大师模仿的那部分作品，之前和之后又回到自身的真实水平，呈抛物线状。油画尚且有可模仿的，而水墨没这个先天的优势，当代的难度系数可想而知会是几何倍数的增加。它所面临的学术困境其实是当下整个社会所面临的困境，我们对物质和金钱的发现与崇拜正好是西方当代艺术诞生前100年至150年人们的状态，这个时间差是不可能忽略不见和隐藏掉的，看着都是人在相同的时间地点，但有100多年的时空差距，看似是同一个焦点，其实一个是真实的，一个是虚拟的。
Hi：所以说这种困境是无法解决的吗？
朱：水墨其实在这方面是有优势的，只需解决一个问题那就是创新，这种创新应该是解决自身问题的创新。
水墨一时半会不可能成为国际语言
Hi：从创作上讲，你在做怎样的探索？
朱：水墨画的每个历史时期都有优秀的作品出现，从隋代开始到唐宋元明清，两千七百年来每个阶段技法和题材都有清晰的发展轨迹和脉络，只是近一百年来不那么自信，没有一个稳定的线索。我目前正在画的《水墨研究课徒》就是为了弥补如今缺少的社会主义时期的观念绘画。
Hi：如何区分自己的创作阶段？每一阶段/系列的关注点有何不同？
朱：目前为止我的作品有十几个系列，比如大家熟悉的“北京故事”“上尉同志”“甜蜜的生活”“新编花营锦阵”“乌托邦”“天女散花”“水墨研究课徒”等。“乌托邦”是个分界点，之前是叙事，讲故事、玩技巧、抖小机灵什么的，之后认认真真关注观念的传达。其实是回到了最初的创作，1987年第一张作品《仿八大山水》，当时看了大量的西方哲学书籍，要死要活似乎活明白了，想画一张解释人生自然宇宙原理的作品，结果大家都没看出来，后来意识到自己还没这功力，随即转向叙事。
Hi：你早期曾跟画廊合作，如今还有合作画廊吗？水墨艺术家很少是画廊代理，你怎么看？
朱：我从1993年开始和国外的画廊合作，一口气合作了15年。26岁签约，合作完40多岁了，当时年轻，经常带着时差和画廊一起半夜布展，天不亮就装箱，白天站台，现在落下一综合征：只要一看博览会就困，越好的博览会应酬越多越得装，反而越困。那种困意给不少人留下深刻印象，1990年代连续10年参加纽约的一个博览会，一位从新加坡来的画廊小姑娘只要一见着我，立马就困得睁不开眼，成为当时画廊上下的一个笑话。和画廊合作久了容易对画画失去兴趣，无论你是画什么画的。画廊和艺术家是一个创作群体，产生的火花和画廊的规模大小没什么关系，好的画廊和一个有创造力的艺术家彼此应该给对方提供一个宽松的环境，互不打扰又心有灵犀。纽约有个很低调的画廊叫玛丽安·古德曼，几十年来里希特只和她合作展出自己的最新作品，按理说“老里头”张张嘴，纽约那么多大牌画廊恐怕没有一个不愿意的吧。
Hi：水墨有可能成为国际语言吗？为什么？
朱：水墨的背后附着着几千年的封建社会的价值观，它和当今人类社会的价值观是冲突的，一时半会儿不可能成为国际语言。目前最优秀的水墨作品是拿腐朽的语言思维当众和现代文明对撞，赢得些许的同情和怜悯甚至是嘲讽，传回国内变成了初步与国际接轨出现“水墨热”之说。
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