当代艺术中作为文化身份的水墨——从现代中国的山水画谈起

INK AS CULTURAL IDENTITY—WITH A DISCUSSION ON LANDSCAPE PAINTING IN MODERN CHINA

中国传统绘画中"山水"是最为常见的一种视觉图像,是主动参与创造历史的一种文化和经济的载体。我们试图将其作为一种表现的媒介置入更为宽疏的当代语境中,通过它来体现地域、国家、民族和文化的身份。无论是在概念的表达,题材的选择,媒材的运用,技法的拓展,都表现出惊人的包客性与可塑性。这些艺术实践然已超越了笔墨的零和之争,眺出了简单二元对立的框架,和当代艺术中其他门类一样,直面当下社会,同时也都保持着与传统文化的某种内在联系。这些作品显示它们本身已成为当代文化建构的一个重要组成部分,既是中国文化身份的一种表征,又不是传统文化的简单延续,无论观念形态还是图示语境都在当代社会中得到拓展,体现了社会文化的当代性。

Shan Shui （literally mountain and waters, the landscapepainting） is one of the most ordinary visual images in traditional Chinese painting. It functions as the cultural and economic carrierin the active creation of history. We try to place it in a broader modern context as a medium of expression and let it representidentities of region, state, nation and culture. It demonstrates surprising degree of tolerance and plasticity no matter in theexpression of concepts, choice of subjects, or in the use of medium and the extension of techniques. These practices have gonebeyond the zero-sum rival of brush and ink and broken off the framework of a simple binary opposition. Just like other genres ofcontemporary art, it faces the current society and retains certain inner pertinence to traditional culture. These works show thatthey have become essential components of the construction of contemporary culture. They are characterization of the identity ofChinese culture, rather than the simple extension of traditional culture. Both the conceptual form and the graphic context havebeen widened in contemporary society and the contemporariness of social culture is thereby reflected.