Wechat official account platan-art, July 2, 2019

[A Decade of Change] A Face-to-face Interview with Zhu Wei: Eight Questions about Contemporary Features, Status Quo, and Dilemmas

An original article: The Big Picture - Qing Tong platan

PLATAN preface

Zhu Wei was one of the first artists that emerged in the burgeoning art market in the early 1990s. His creation of ink painting has attracted great attention from collectors and institutions at home and abroad. With a career of more than thirty years in ink art, Zhu Wei went ahead of his time and the Chinese contemporary art. He is a witness, a pioneer, as well as a stander-by. He is one of the few artists who insist on adhering to high standards. After entering the new millennium, Zhu Wei slowed down the pace of painting, and wrote a large number of essays to reveal the ills of the times. In this issue of "A Decade of Change", we are fortunate to have such a wise and humorous and considerate artist to re-explain the change in the 10 years from another perspective, a more "fun" perspective.

Platan: As one of the important participants in the Chinese contemporary art, when talking about the characteristics of contemporary art in the past ten years, what’s the first thought that goes through your mind?

Zhu Wei: Making art into a business.

Platan: It has been ten years since 2008. If you look back, could you tell us what impress you the most? And what were you thinking at that time? What has changed after ten years?

Zhu Wei: Some critics have pointed out that there is a kind of symbiotic relationship between Chinese contemporary art and Western contemporary art. I agree to it very much. What kind of symbiotic relationship is it? It is that you have a chip and I have a hundred coders. If it’s too heavy to say it’s humiliating, at least we can say it’s disproportionate. When a Western art master come to China, there can be a decent exhibition, while when more than 100 our artists, young and old, go to Western countries, the group exhibition might hardly draw any attention. Nowadays the Western audience has lost their expectations on us. With the blame of plagiarism and low creative ability, it is increasingly difficult to separate us from Western contemporary art.

Platan: About ink and wash you are engaged in, Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum held a large-scale ink painting exhibition last year, in which the new ink paintings are quite outstanding. From your perspective, what is the development in this field in the last decade?

Zhu Wei: The exhibition is the first public appearance of both the "official" and “underground” artists in the same venue, showing both collective perspectives and personal perspectives, which is very Chinese characteristic. I like to watch ink and wash exhibitions more than other exhibitions these years, because each artist has the right to speak here. The right to speak is very important. Imagine that you are only allowed to eat and sleep and paint, but not allowed to express or no one listens, in the long run you will become angry and violent, and even lost your confidence to keep on painting.

In the last ten years, ink and wash seems to have attracted everyone's attention. Ink art is a slow work, like ancient wedding, which started slowly, and once it’s done, the marriage would last for a lifetime. But today’s market can't wait. The new ink has become a section of the auction market so quickly, and the market has found young and healthy contracted supplier so quickly, which made some experienced painters work in vain. It was not very beneficial for the creation of the so-called new ink art as well. Luckily the interference is not overwhelming.

Platan: There are still some differences between the values of ink art and contemporary art. Your own creation is far more enduring than ten years. You have experienced the whole process of contemporary art. What makes you maintain such a long-lasting enthusiasm? How do you think of your own creative state in the past ten years?

Zhu Wei: The values (of ink art and contemporary art) are the same, but materials and techniques are different. It seems that contemporary ink painting will not go too far.

My creation, like 90% of the artists, as persistent as always, has maintained the creative state. I have never been overly troubled or disturbed by factors other than painting. I understand what art is, and what is an artist’s social responsibility.

Every artist hopes that their art is unique, but being too rush will make their works similar to others, or simply a replica of others. In the past ten years, my works are mainly "Ink and Wash Research Lectures series", and “Five Old Men”. My creative attitude is to hold it and not deviate.

Platan: As a younger generation, when I first entered the industry, I especially liked to read your short essays, in which your language is interesting and opinions are sharp. But after 2012, it’s hard to find your new essays. Why have you stopped such practices? Apart from painting, what is your main interest now?

Zhu Wei: I was like Xianglin's Wife (a female character created by author Lu Xun, who is famous for her repeating telling the same thing) at that time, as if I know more than others. Until one afternoon, I went to an underground bookstore in the Huajiadi Central Academy of Fine Arts to buy discount books. There were some young students crowded beside me, who were tall and well-fed and generation y or z. They were criticizing a book of collected essays by an artist who writes a lot. Their language was precise, their attitude was sincere, and their thinking was deep. I suddenly felt that I could not do this again in the future.

Compared with the multi-ethnic countries of immigration in the West, China has a large population, but these people are basically of the same language and the same race. Even if someone risks their lives to receive a plastic surgery, others will recognize them immediately; everyone has similar height, similar weight, and similar appearance, like cloned people. The brain capacity and wisdom are also quite the same. The judgment and explosiveness toward a same thing are almost the same. No one will be much better than anyone else. If there were an Einstein here, there must be six other Einsteins who discovered the theory of relativity at the same time; if there is a traitor, there must be another nine hundred and ninety-nine traitors.

Such a nation is lack of extraordinary creativity, not a few sentences of sneering and smattering.

Platan: In many of your interviews, you constantly mentioned the conscience in the art world. Can you tell us more about it? From the viewpoint of visual art, where can this spirit and responsibility be reflected?

Zhu Wei: We often hear a reproach: is your conscience eaten by dog? ! In fact, it has nothing to do with dog. Conscience is often eaten by oneself.

When I was a teenager, the whole country was engaged in political campaigns. People were competing on who was poorer. Every day people came up with new evidence to prove how poor their family was, and their enthusiasm was beyond imagination. Now it’s the other way around. I often see entrepreneurs who get rich first but have few innovative value, sleeves rolled past their elbows, draft of speech in their hands, telling audiences how rich they have become. Is this a kind of reincarnation?

In any era, there were tide players who could catch up with trends quickly. These people are samples of progress or retrogress or a society. The role of artists and intellectuals is to balance the social trends, to appease the majority of those who cannot keep up with the team, and to create a pluralistic social environment.

Platan: Many people are talking about "dilemmas" at present, probably because of the current economic environment. But the fluctuation of prices does not represent the value of art; many phenomena are just a sign. Perhaps the problems (innovation? academic construction?) we need to solve have never fundamentally changed, such as the evaluation of an artist. Should we give enough time to observe the construction of this industry?

Zhu Wei: The dilemma is not in the creation of contemporary art. How could it be more difficult than in the early 1990s, when contemporary art was just outcropping? It’s easier to appreciate art now, since contemporary art is everywhere, and the government doesn’t suppress it. But there are too many things attached to it.

You are right. The problem we need to solve has never happened.

Evaluating an artist's creation depends on whether he puts himself in the safe zone, including creative motives, style, techniques, materials, and the environment. Being a smartass in the safe zone, acting cute, and showing off sentiment by complaining, are almost meaningless.

Platan: The formation of the status quo is certainly not simple. There is tension in the place where there is a collapse. We also see more efforts and changes while the problem exists. What do you think is the development of this decade? Is there anything that needs further improvement?

Zhu Wei: I think this decade has basically been stagnant.

From certain point of view, the creation of contemporary art is idealistic. It focuses on personal feelings. It’s the feelings of the artist, not of other artists, or of the artist who is far far away from us. Expressing such feelings through our own materials and techniques is a huge challenge for Chinese artists.

In the last two or three decades, we borrowed materials, techniques, and thoughts from others, to skillfully complete our misappropriation, collages, and even copying, and then we closed our eyes pretending that we have never seen them; if this situation continues, after several years when we look back to the Chinese contemporary art, it will be nothing.

二零一九年七月二日 微信公众号青桐

【十年之变】朱伟：八个直面答问，当代的特点、现状和困境

原创： 大局观 青桐platan

PLATAN 说

朱伟是90年代初最早一批进入正规商业运作的艺术家，其以水墨为媒材的创作得到了海内外藏家和机构的极大关注。他对水墨艺术30多年的坚持，甚至先行于中国当代艺术，主流内外他既是亲历者、先行者，又是旁观者，是为数不多执拗坚持高标准的艺术家。新世纪以后，朱伟放慢了创作的步调，曾写作了大量的随笔，针砭时弊尖锐见血。本期“十年之变”我们有幸邀请到这样一位睿智幽默以及富有细节性的艺术家，在深入浅出的讨论中重新梳理，从另外一个视角，一个更加有“趣味性”的角度阅读这风云变幻的十年。

艺术家朱伟在旧金山当代艺术博物馆

Platan：作为中国当代艺术发生现场的重要参与者之一，谈及当代艺术近十年的发展特点，您最先下意识想到的是什么？

朱伟：把艺术做成了生意。

Platan：2008年至今已经过去十年了，如果让你回顾那个时候，有什么是你印象比较深刻的？当时你处在一种什么想法？经过十年的时间推移，现在有什么改变？

朱伟：有批评家指出中国当代艺术和西方当代艺术是一种共生关系，这点我非常同意。什么样的共生关系呢？就是你来一个芯片我去一百个程序员，丧权辱国似乎话有点重，总之不成比例。人家来一个大师就可以做个像样的展览，而我们老的少的得去一百多人还显得轻飘飘。如今西方观众对我们的期待没了，而我们顶着剽窃模仿和创作能力低下的责难，越发离不开西方当代艺术了。

Platan：具体到你所从事的水墨领域，去年民生现代美术馆也做了一个大型的水墨展，新水墨板块的呈现成果是相当突出的。从你的视角来看，这一领域的十年发展状态怎样？

朱伟：这个展览是“黑白”两道儿集体视角和个人视角首次公开亮相，非常具有中国特色。最近几年相比其它我更爱看水墨展览，因为我们每个人都有话语权。这个话语权非常重要。试想，只让你吃饭睡觉画画，不给你表达的权利或者说了也没人听，长此以往你会变得非常暴躁，戾气很重，画画的也没信心或者干脆画不下去。

最近十年水墨似乎引起了大家的注意。水墨是一慢活儿，如同大姑娘上轿子，启动的比较慢，而一旦成行那是要往一辈子过的；结果市场等不了，新水墨过快地成为拍卖市场的一个板块，市场很快就找到了年轻体力好的签约供货，这让画了几十年水墨有一定功力，且寄希望于市场提升创作水准的白忙乎了一场；对所谓新水墨的创作来说也不十分有利，好在对整体来说干扰不大。

Platan：水墨和当代艺术的价值观还是有一些差别的，你自身的创作远远比十年来得更加持久，您是经历了当代艺术的全过程的，是什么使你维持了如此之久的热情？你对自己近十年的创作状态有怎样的梳理看法？

朱伟：价值观应该是一样的，不一样的是材料和技法，貌似当代的水墨不会走得太远。

我的创作一如既往，属于死不改悔，我和百分之九十的艺术家一样保持住了创作状态，没被画画之外的因素过分困扰，更没因为参与其中难以心平气和地创作，大家明白艺术是什么，以及作为艺术家所应尽的那份儿社会责任。

任何一位艺术家的创作都希望是独一无二的，但结果弄急了反而很像别人，有的则干脆就是别人。这十年我的创作基本还是《水墨研究课徒》，另外多了一个《五老图》，创作态度就是尽量拢住别跑偏了。

Platan：作为后辈，刚踏进这个行业的时候，特别喜欢看你的一些小短文，文字有趣，观点犀利，但2012年以后这些表达慢慢变少了，为什么停止了这样的一些实践？现在除了绘画，你感兴趣的地方主要是？

朱伟：那一阵子跟祥林嫂差不多，天天叭叭，似乎比别人知道的更多。直到有一天下午，闲逛花家地美术学院地下书店买打折书，挤在边上的几个营养充足高高大大，看上去像是九零后的男学生，对着一本经常写随笔的艺术家文集嘟囔，语言之准确态度之诚恳思维之深刻，我瞬间觉得以后不能再干这事了。

与西方多人种多族裔的移民国家相比，我们人口虽多，但基本上是同文同种 ，即使冒着生命危险整了容，别人也会立马认出你来；大家的身高体量五官样貌基本类似克隆，脑容量和智慧也相当，对同一件事儿判断力和爆发力几乎一样，谁也不会比谁强多少。如果有一个爱因斯坦出现，那一定会有第六个也同时整出相对论；出一个汉奸就有可能再出九百九十九个。

这样的民族考验的是非凡的创造力，而非几句冷嘲热讽一知半解的屁话。

Platan：跟您的多次沟通里，总会谈到艺术界的良知这个话题，能不能具体的为读者展开谈一下？从视觉的角度，这种精神和责任可以体现在哪些地方？

朱伟：我们经常会听到一个人责问另一个人：你的良心被狗吃了？！其实跟狗没关系，良心往往是被自己吃了。

我十几岁的时候当时搞政治运动，比的是看谁穷，看谁更穷，每天都有人拿出证明自己家穷到一定份儿上的证据，那份儿攀比的劲头超乎想象。眼下又反过来了，经常看到率先致富但又没什么创新价值的企业家，挽着袖子攥着讲稿在台上口吐白沫，诉说自己已经富裕成什么样了，这是一种轮回吗？

任何时候都有手急眼快顺应潮流的弄潮儿，他们是为一个社会前进或者倒退打样的，艺术家和知识分子的职责是平衡社会潮流，安抚那些跟不上队伍的大多数，创造一个多元化的社会环境。

Platan：目前很多在谈“困境”的，或许也有经济环境的因素影响，但价格的起伏并不能代表艺术的价值，很多现象仅仅是一个征兆，可能我们需要解决的问题从来就没有发生过根本的改变（创新？学术建设？），就像对一个艺术家的考察，对这个行业的建设我们是否也应该给出足够的时间来进行观察？

朱伟：这个困境更多不是从当代艺术创作上谈的，再难还能比上世纪九十年代初，当代艺术刚露头时更困难吗？如果只是欣赏现在比以前容易多了，到处都是，政府也没有打压，只不过是如今附加在当代艺术以外的东西太多了。

你说的对，我们需要解决的问题从来就没有发生过。

判断一个艺术家的创作要看他是否把自己放在一个安全的区域里，包括创作动机、风格技法、材料和环境，在安全的区域里抖些小机灵，发发嗲抱怨个把情操的作品几乎无意义。

Platan：现状的生成肯定不是简单地，有断裂的地方就有张力，问题存在的同时我们也看到了更多的努力和改变，你觉得有什么是这十年来推进比较大的？有什么是需要进一步改善的？

朱伟：我觉得这十年来基本上是停滞了。

当代艺术的创作从某个角度来说是唯心的，它注重个人感受，对于艺术家来说是自身的感受，而不是别的艺术家的感受，更不是离你十万八千里以外艺术家的感受；这种感受是通过自己的材料技法思考来完成，这种完成对中国艺术家来说具有巨大的挑战性！

前二三十年我们借他人之材料、借他人之技法、借他人对它事儿之思考巧妙地完成了挪用拼贴，甚至照搬，这些闭着眼都过来了；如果再接茬下去，若干年后回顾中国当代艺术会是一片空白。