痛点、记忆与遗忘：关于人类与物种的另类思考——傅榆翔的艺术创作

Pains, memories and oblivion: A different view on human and animals-- A perspective on Fu Yuxiang’s artistic creation

Written by Wu Shixin

文/吴士新

傅榆翔是著名国际艺术家。他的艺术创作对地球、物种以及人类命运等问题做出了深刻思考，引起了公众和学术界的广泛关注。他的创作横跨绘画、雕塑、诗歌等，展现了惊人的艺术创造力、想象力。他的作品参加了威尼斯第57届双年展、威尼斯第74届电影节、威尼斯第17届国际建筑双年展等一系列重要的国际学术展览，并在美国、法国、德国、日本等国家展出，在国际上获得了广泛赞誉。

Fu Yuxiang is a world famous artist, whose artistic creations have profound thinking about the globe, the species on the planet, and the human destiny, and have aroused public attention and academic interest. His works cross the fields of painting, sculpture and poetry, showing stunning creativity and imagination. His works have been shown on many important international academic exhibitions, such as the 57th Venice Biennale, the 74th Venice International Film Festival and the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, winning international praises and reputations through exhibitions held in USA, France, Germany, Japan and other countries.

在傅榆翔创作中我们能够明显地感受到一种鲜明的哲思与诗意的外溢。一系列关于对人类自我存在的叩问似乎接踵而来——我们究竟身处怎样的时代？这是一个是什么样的时代？它是糟糕的，还是一个极好的？对这些问题，不少人可能会基于人类自身的立场和局限来回答“是”与“否”。问题在于，如果我们基于这样一种背反理论——人类社会发展越高级，科技越发达，那么，人类对自然的“侵害”是否越加无可挽回？我们虽然无法证实这样的理论逻辑是否正确，但傅榆翔的作品似乎做出了类似相应的假设或寓言。

In his works, we feel an obvious overflow of distinct philosophy and poetry. A string of questions on the existence of human beings seem to come: what an epoch we’re living in? What kind of epoch is this? Is it very bad or very god? To answer these questions, many people may say yes or no simply based on their limited position of human beings. However, starting from this antinomy, can we project that the more developed is human society, the more sophisticated is technology, the more irreversible “damage” will humankind brings to the nature? Although we cannot demonstrate this logicality, Fu Yuxiang’s works seem to have given such assumptions or allegories.

本世纪最伟大的科学家之一霍金预言，未来千年将是人类的大限，到时地球将难以承受人类的消耗。在傅榆翔的油画、雕塑创作中，他以隐晦而又直观的图像语言表达着自己的观点。他将人、动物、植物置于历史与自然发展的河流之中，以思考地球上的人类对其他物种生存的共生意义。在油画《后山海经》系列作品中，在画面的中部和上方，刚脱离襁褓的赤裸的孩子，火烈鸟、长着长牙利齿的豹子、野鸡、猴子、在画面的下方是假山、松树、地平线，这些不着边际的它们被戏剧化地挪移黏贴交织在一起，营构出人与动物、植物、石头、土地之间相互依存的玄妙关系。暗喻的手法在傅榆翔的创作中处处皆是。

Stephen Hawking, one of the most prominent scientists of this century has foretold that the future 1,000 years will be the upper limit of human development, the globe will not be able to withstand the human consumption of resources by then. In Fu Yuxiang’s paintings and sculptures, he implicitly yet directly expresses his opinions in image language. He puts humans, animals and plants in the river flow of historic and natural development, and thinks about the meaning of coexistence between humans and other species on the planet. In his painting “Continuation of the Classics of Mountains and Seas”, in the middle and upper part, there are newborn baby, flamingo, leopard with sharp teeth, pheasant, monkey; and in the lower part there are artificial hills, pines, horizon, these unrelated things are gathered theatrically into one painting, to create the subtle interdependence of humans and animals, plants, rocks and lands. The metaphors are seen everywhere in his works.

傅榆翔通过他的想象力将我们带入一个自然的、原始本自具足的状态之中：在灰色背景下，奔腾的野马、群居的猩猩、迈着轻盈步伐的长颈鹤，还有身着宇航服的宇航员……这是一个离奇的、充满了魔幻现实的场景——天上飞的、地下跑的、树上居住的，不同的物种被并置在同一个二维画面之中。在《后伊甸园》中，对于人类而言，那个奇妙问题不禁重新浮现于我的脑海之中：我从哪里来？我是谁？我要到那里去？然而，在傅榆翔的系列作品之中，人类似乎不是表现的焦点，他们被置于一个被动物、植物裹绕的异在梦幻场境之中。那些动物、植物似乎才使作者想要着力表现的”记忆的痛点”。

Fu Yuxiang’s imagination brings us to a natural primitive state: in the grey background, there are galloping wild horses, gregarious orangutans, wading cranes, and astronauts wearing a space suit... This is a magic realistic scene -- birds, creeps, tree-dwellers and other species are set in the same 2D picture. In his painting “Continuation of Eden”, to humans, that magic questions are coming again: Where am I from? Who am I? Where am I going? However, in Fu Yuxiang’s works, humans are not the focus of expression, they are set in a dreamlike scene wrapped by plants and animals. Those plants and animals are somewhat “pains of memory” that the author wants to express.

消失的猛犸象、豹子、大象、熊猫、长颈鹤等，仿佛被置于人类后工业文明的环境之中，虬枝上零星长出的叶子仿佛暗指人类对自然摧毁后生命流露出的一份顽强与凭吊。裸露的树根与枯败的树干似乎暗示出生命所面临的种种窘境。对自然的好奇与对天地万物的悲悯之情充斥于他的艺术创作之中。

Disappearing mammoth, leopard, elephant, panda, crane and other animals are put in the post-industrial environment of human civilization. The new sprouting leaves of a dry branch metaphorize the human resistance and nostalgia after the nature is brutally destroyed. The exposed roots and decayed trunk metaphorize some embarrassments of life. His works are full of curiosity to the nature and pity to the world.

如傅榆翔自述那样，“雕塑创作是我的一个转折点，从立体全息的角度见证生存的个体转变为集体本能的再现，每个人都会完整的扮演自己，扮演就是一种多维度的相遇和交流，是充满内在价值的不同显现。思想和情感是持久的积聚，创作者总会有希望和恐惧，正是这种情怀连结了精神依归，形成巨大的储存库，任何生命体的印记都会沾合其他未知的可能一起袒露出来。作为这个时代的旁观者，我们会一起完成所有未曾预约的变化，直到永远。”As he has described himself, “Sculpture creation is one of my turning points, to witness the regeneration of living things from individuals to collective instinct in a holistic 3-dimensional view; everyone will play oneself completely, and playing is a multi-dimensional encounter and communication, in different presentations full of inherent values. Ideas and emotions are long-lasting accumulation, and an author is always hoping and fearing something, this very complex connects to spiritual resort, and forms a huge inventory, where any living body’s trace or impression could be exposed with other unknown possibility. As a witness to this epoch, we will finish all the unbooked changes together, to the eternity.”

所以，他的外星人在2017年度里从欧亚大陆系列的巡游展览中，每一个展览场景都堪称独特而又完美；空间尺度，情绪的多样和发酵，舞台般布景的层次和组合，这些都透射出外星人迷一般的魔力，促使许多不同背景和身份的人与外星人偶然相遇同游异在的幻境，上演时光与影像，柔软与坚硬，现实与梦幻的出离。 他的主要成名之作《移民外星人》提供了系列的社会图景，“社会雕塑”是一个更加延展的艺术概念，是短语式的凝固。约瑟夫·博伊斯曾创造了“社会雕塑”实现艺术家对雕塑的理解潜力——改造和追问社会现实。作为一种艺术在场的证据，“社会雕塑”包括塑造和改造，社会环境对人类心灵的印叩。社会学家、思想家和艺术家在词语不同的使用中、从不同的思想采集、行动和物件中创造出不同结构和言说体系。

Therefore, his aliens toured in Eurasia in 2017, and every exhibition was unique and perfect; the spatial dimensions, the emotional diversity and fermentation, the levels and combination of theatric settings, all reflected the mystic magic of aliens, encouraging different people with different backgrounds and identities to appear in the same illusion of encountering the aliens, the performing light and shadow, the softness and hardness, the reality and dreamland. His masterpiece “Migrant Aliens” provides a series of social pictures, “social sculpture” is a more extensible artistic concept, a condensation of phrases. Joseph Beuys created the concept of “social sculpture”, enabling artists to understand the sculptures -- reshape and question the social reality. As a proof to artistic presence, “social sculpture” includes shaping and reshaping, the echoes of social environment to human soul. Sociologists, thinkers and artists create different structures and languages in different usages, from different ideas gathering, actions and objects.

对《移民外星人》来说，傅榆翔的“艺术概念”在作品的思考、实践中都得到了有效的扩展，我们完全可以意识到“雕塑的最高意义”在于“人本的创造和价值”。“行为主义”雕塑在艺术作品中呈现，“艺术”构成了一种唯一在场的表述，完成一种人道主义的立场和态度，在常态的生活化中诠释生存的当下容忍和未来理解。 国际著名策展人温琴佐·桑弗评价道：“傅榆翔是一个完整的艺术家, 有一个完善的人格，鉴于他对世界的认识和理解，和他在一起可以聊成千上万的事情和话题, 他有着聪明和不凡的思辨。一方面我惊异于他对创作概念得心应手又轻松自如的驾驭，一方面在其艺术创作中我们也发现了，傅榆翔在以自己的方式摸索着他独特的艺术之路，他总是尝试着创新，而且不只是形式上而是内容的创新。”艺术作品的双向性和自动筛选是艺术作品的特殊属性，关于透过视觉心理思考全球化时代人类集体的追问；介入或依存，探究或麻木都会成为当下与未来的无尽可能。

In his works “Migrant Aliens”, Fu Yuxiang’s thoughts and practice in “artistic concepts” are effectively expanded, so we can fully sense that “the supreme meaning of sculpture” lies in “the creation and value of human self”. The “behaviorist” sculpture is presented in artistic works, while “arts” become the only present expression, to demonstrate a humanitarian position or attitude, interpreting the current tolerance and future perception of living in the normal life process. World famous curator Vincenzo Sanfo commented, “Fu Yuxiang is a complete artist, having a complete personality; with a full understanding and knowledge of the world, he can chat with anybody about any topic; he is clever and thoughtful. On one hand, I’m stunned by his mastership and proficiency in creative concepts, on the other hand I find in his works, Fu Yuxiang is exploring his unique artistic road in his own manner; he is trying to innovate, both in form and in substance.” The bidirectionality and automatic screening are special properties of artistic works, the query into human collectivity in the global epoch from visual mentality, intervention or interdependence, exploration or benumbedness will all become endless possibilities of the present and the future.

“艺术的清新愉悦与历史悲剧的厚重相交融往往会造就伟大的作品，傅榆翔的“移民外星人”就是这种少有的作品之一。该作品通过复杂的结构展现出外星人生动的异在形象，仿佛伴有电影的节奏感，这一切都是艺术家精心构想的。实际上，该装置展并非让参观者，或者说是观众欣赏作品，而是邀请他们参与其中，达到震撼心灵的效果。因此，某些超越传统艺术的元素使得作品更加奇特新颖，这是因为我们可以直面作品，让我们通过另一种心理的观看方式理解作品，引导我们用另一种审美视点欣赏作品。” 利博力奥·特米内，意大利，都灵大学电影史学教授也这样评价他的作品。

Liborio Termine, professor of cinema history at the University of Turin (Università di Torino), commented, “The pleasant innocence of arts and the profoundness of historic tragedy always merge into great works, and Fu Yuxiang’s ‘Migrant Aliens’ is one of the rare works. This painting is exhibiting the vivid images of aliens in complicated structure, in a cinema rhythm, all this is deliberately conceived by the author; in fact, this exhibit is not for visitors or spectators to appreciate the work, but inviting them to take part in and feel the shocking effects. Therefore, some unconventional elements make this work more novel and special, that’s why we can face the work directly, understand it in another psychological point of view, leading us to appreciate the work in another aesthetic perspective.”

傅榆翔是一位跨界而多产的艺术家。他的雕塑作品《青狮白象》《凤凰鹿》《后山海经》《云中漫步》《远方如梦》以隐喻的方式表达着对这个时代的看法。对荣获中国《雕塑》第22届雕塑论坛“最佳公共艺术奖”的作品《青狮白象》，中国美术馆馆长、中国城市雕塑家协会主席吴为山如此评价：“城市公共艺术最首要属性是公共性，‘它要连接城市的历史文脉与未来发展的方向。艺术家傅榆翔的作品《飞过远方的鹰与青狮白象的片段》便是其中代表，其创作灵感源于清代‘青狮白象锁大江’的传说，居民修建‘青狮’‘白象’，以锁住安康，通过数字时代的视觉语言重新建构传统文化图腾，很容易勾连人们对城市历史的记忆。”在傅榆翔看来，对自然、人类、物种相互关系的态度似乎将决定人类社会发展的未来。如果说人类为了自己生存而剥夺其他物种生命的权利只是生物圈食物链的一部分，那么人类的现代工业文明对地球 的破坏将会彻底毁灭食物链的基础——地球。

Fu Yuxiang is a crossover productive artist, whose sculptural works such as “Lion and Elephant”, “Phoenix-Deer”, “Continuation of the Classics of Mountains and Seas”, “Roaming in Clouds” and “Remote Dream” metaphorize his viewpoints on this epoch. His work “Lion and Elephant” has won the “Best Public Art Award” at the 22th Chinese Sculpture Forum, for which, Wu Weishan, president of the National Art Museum of China, and chairman of China Urban Sculpture Artists Association, commented, “The first priority of urban public art is publicity, it should connect the historic vein and future direction of a city. Artist Fu Yuxiang’s work ‘Episode of Eagle, Lion and Elephant’ is one of the typical artworks, which is inspired by the legend of Qing dynasty that the lion and elephant will guard the river, so inhabitants will build lion and elephant statues to guard their health and happiness; the visual language in digital time is restructuring the traditional cultural totems, and very easy to link with human memory toward the urban history.” In the eyes of Fu Yuxiang, the future of human social development may be decided by the interdependence between human, nature and species. If human kind has to deprive other species of living on the earth, then the modern industrial civilization will be destroyed by human self because the base of food chain -- the earth will be ruined completely.

如此一来，霍金预言将成为现实，或许，人类未来最终不得不寻找另一个星球——将变成真正的外星人。

In this way, the prediction of Stephen Hawking will become true, or maybe in the future, humans have to seek for another planet to live on -- at that time, mankind will turn into aliens in a real sense.

一一吴士新，中国艺术研究院研究员，著名公共艺术评论家。

-- Wu Shixin, researcher at Chinese National Academy of Arts, a well-known public art critic.

2020.11.1. 北 京

Beijing, November 1, 2020