策 展 人：廖雯
curator:Lao Wen
艺 术 家:Artists索予桐Suo Yutong、吴雪Wu Xue、许静宇Xu Jingyu、苏亚碧Su Yabi、靳卫红Jin Weihong、林菁菁Lin Jingjing、黃百箬Huang Bairuo
开幕时间：2010年1月10日下午3点
Opening : January 10, 2010 3-6pm
展览时间：2010年1月10日- 5月10日
VISYTING HOURS：10 January - 10 May 2010
展览地点：龙德轩当代艺术中心一号展厅
Address:LDX Contemporary Art Center Exhibition Hall 1
心纠手结──类手工方式营造心境
廖雯
很多女人包括我自己，都有一种非常熟悉的经验，心里的感觉往往千头万绪，难描难状，难理难解，而手中一旦触摸到类似编织的手工劳作，心就平静下来。我与女艺术家接触的十几年间，每个人的心境虽然各有不同，但体验方式往往是非写实的、无秩序、无规律、无时空、支离破碎、重重叠叠的，“纠结”感是我们共同的心理意象。借用类手工方式的心手相应、持续不断，探索对这种心理状态的表达，为一些女性艺术家偏爱，也是我一直迷恋的。
1995年，我以“女性方式”为概念，提示出这种现象。如林天苗（Lin Tianmiao）的棉线缠绕，潘缨（Pan Ying）的水墨带子，施惠（Shi Hui）的密密麻麻的纸卷，蔡锦（Cai Jin）的蚕食般笔触，感觉上呈现生命的无限性繁衍状，而方法上则类似不间断的手工编织，个人感觉在单一而繁复的手工过程中，即时地释放和凝结到“作品”中，探讨女性心理与手工劳作之间的对应关系，以及持续的手工劳作过程对于情感表达的意义。
这种方式在另一些女艺术家的作品中，得到更为纯粹和个人化的体现。如路青（Lu Qing）细小的方格染色、杜婕（Du Jie）不间断的花样线、马嬿泠（Ma Yan-ling）的网状线，更为彻底抛弃了“形”，直接提出了笔触本身，越简约越重复，心手的对应关系也越直接，每一笔很类似手工的一个动作（我称为“类编织笔触”），手工劳作过程的静心意义显得很突出。对一种艺术方式而言，到此已到了极地。
十年前，在对西方女性艺术的研究中，我发现，她们也曾经把传统女性的缝、绣编织等“女性手工”因素引入艺术表达，但同是借用传统的手工方式，但有本质区别。西方女性艺术家的出发点，基于女性主义“策略”，以此打破西方艺术所谓“高级（精神、男性）”、“低级（手工、女性）”的传统艺术界定，开拓当代艺术语言的可能性和生命力。我同时发现，“女性”、“女性艺术”、“女性主义”、“性别差异”等等，这些我在做女性艺术批评经常使用的词（不止女性艺术），带有不可分割的西方文化血统，在观照中国文化血统的艺术现象时，从根本上是无法深入和贴近的。
中国人认为“世本无相，相由心生”，就是用“心”感知外物，把“对象”当作“活物”，每天陪她、看她、宠她，对她心里说话，所以中国艺术尤其诗画，状物咏景都是写自己的心境。所谓“忧者见之而忧，喜者见之而喜”。这个展览的艺术家大部分或部分使用“类手工方式”，既不是源自女性艺术观念，也不是类似修行的、严格意义上的“一一”对应，而是如同状物咏景一般，通过持续不断地编结一些纠心的“物象”，营造出自我“心境”的感觉。
索予桐的《心象》系列，是红色圆珠笔刻画的细碎的弧线，血丝般鲜活、羊毛般蜷曲、细草般无限，每一道都扬起精微而随意的波澜，整个画面没有具体形象，却有纠结、起伏的、无规则的形状，营造出一种整体的“心境”气氛──性感而愉悦，灿烂而稳定。我使用“营造”这个词有两层意味。一是艺术家选择的方式源自“自我心境”状态的需求和感受。索予桐最开始用铅笔，但铅笔画出来的黑白、模糊的感觉，让她恐怖、别扭，而不易磨擦的圆珠笔，在较硬的素描纸上，一丝一丝很清晰，即使是重叠也能显示出结构，而红色的生命鲜活感也让她感觉动心。一是繁复的制作过程本身对心境的净化作用。索予桐这样画了三年多，很多张，最长的是一张十米的长卷，画面整体的气氛平稳、持久，变化细微。如索予桐自己所说“在这样的劳作中需要坚定、忍耐、诚实，尽心于画面的每个角落。从中我真切体会到的是内心的清明、静定”。
吴雪的《粉色包围》，用钩针和粉色棉线包裹了一百多个玩偶“婴孩”。吴雪选择玩具的被玩弄感，婴孩的脆弱感，粉色似肉色而非真实的肉色，以及“钩”的易于“收紧”和塑形，持续将近一年编结的婴孩，状如穿了肉感的紧身衣，或者刚出生的还没长出保护毛皮的小动物，呈现出虚假的稚嫩感，脆弱、隔膜、尴尬、紧张，有点无形的残酷，但并不血腥，恰是吴雪“隔离生命”和“关爱伤害（吴雪语）”心境感觉。
许静宇的《WW界》是一个从她心里生长出来的“界”，这个界写实而非写实，柱子爬满红蓝的“血管”状的线棱，心打着细碎的结，蛋生着肉感的翅膀，丰满的女人肢体长出软体，三足的兽身下满是乳房……充满纯真的生长欲望和幻像。《西游记》里佛界、仙界、天界、魔界、地界，《哈利波特》也有魔法界，年轻孩子保留着幻想很平常。奇特的是，这个混搭着“故事危机爱幻想秘密奇异所有（许静宇语）”的界 ，完全是用手工一针线“缝”出来的，更奇特的是一片片纠结、缠绕、缝合起来的“棱股”，血管一样密布肢体的某个部位，像“胎记”，给这心界打上生长而纠结的印象。
苏亚碧的《记忆日常》，“一直想用视觉日记的方式记录我的生活片段、我所经历的场景，在画布上用极为节制的颜色来还原它们的松弛与朴素（苏亚碧语）”。近年来，苏亚碧新的记忆日常方式，是将她反复画了多年的日常的小物件，如女人衣裙、围巾、梳子、雨伞等，用一种精细柔韧的金属线，编织成镂空立体状，日常物象的“实在”仿佛被抽空了，而这一根一根看得见、摸得着的金属丝，那物件依稀的形象，分明又与日常相连，这亦虚亦实的意象，更贴近“记忆”。苏亚碧说，编结的过程“还原我的许多记忆”，也结进了她日常的心境。
靳卫红的《独自》系列，最传统的水墨绘画，是这个展览唯一没有使用“类手工方式”的作品。靳卫红说她“创作的立脚点和兴趣点在于对应自己与传统的关系”，这种“对应关系“当然不仅是水墨绘画方式，我理解是一种更深入、细微、持久的心境上的。古代贵族女性尤其是有才情的女性，在极度幽闭而清闲的生活中，内心闲寂、私密、细腻、羸弱的情感体验，即所谓“闲愁”。 靳卫红的《独自》，画了很多年，持续、反复地表达着一种心境──闲散而孤寂，自如而无奈，一种现代才女的“闲愁”。
林菁菁《我要和你在一起》，将婚照“亲密无间”的两个爱人的“一个”，残酷地挖出来，移位并“缝”到婚床的另一个空间，造成“空缺”、咫尺天涯，婚床的优雅温情依然，婚照的甜蜜微笑依旧，而“拥抱和依偎导向了冷漠、病态、紊乱、伪造、毫无归属（林菁菁语）”，这是一种“人为的无情”，林菁菁做了几百了，也几百次重复这种体验，一种源自她现实生活经验的体验，但我想，这个重复体验的过程，化解了现实创伤给内心造就的纠结。
黃百箬《随缘相缝》的触点，源自汶川地震突发的、“体现人与人情感连结（黃百箬语）”的设想，真正实施是在2009年1月1日在北京开始的。这是个持续的行为作品，艺术家“随意、随机地在合适的场合，选择合适的对象”，让“他”或“她”在红布上画出自己心中的“心”，剪下来，然后“缝”在他们自己选择的位置上，带着“祝福”交换给他们。令人惊奇的是，每个人心中“心”有很多不同，像树叶、像水滴、像辣椒、像花，最特别竟是个十字。缝的位置也很不同，上衣、裤子、袜子、鞋、书包、宠物玩具、用品种种。每一个“心”都带有“这个人”的气息、理由、故事、性情，都因为这个“行为”随意结缘，都把爱和祝福带来带去，带给更多的人。中国人说“相逢是缘”，黃百箬的缘是相“缝”出来的，这使她的心态“一路面临起伏和转折（黃百箬语）”，她“缝”的是她的缘分，也是她的心境。此刻，黃百箬打电话说她刚刚缝完了第三百个，是一个宋庄的出租司机，他把“心”缝在了他座位的头靠垫上，多么重要的位置！
我感动了。愿每个人都能以自己的方式营造自己的心境，不仅是艺术家。
2009-12-27于宋庄小堡
Mind In Turmoil, Hand Better Busy -
Creating a frame of mind with art work
similar to handwork
Liao Wen Xiaopu,Songzhuang
December 27, 2009
Many women including myself have had the following very familiar experience: so many thoughts welling up in our minds difficult to describe and understand… however, as soon as we set ourselves to handwork like knitting, we inevitably calm down. For more than a decade, I have had a close contact with woman artists. Although they are different in terms of frame of mind, the way they experience it is often the same- unrealistic, disorderly, no regular patterns, no times and space, disorganized and fragmented, piling up and overlapping each other, The feeling of “turmoil and entanglement” is our shared psychological image. Resorting to a kind of handwork makes it possible to link the hand to heart to explore continuously the expression of this psychological image has been a favorite way of woman artists with which I have been infatuated as well.
In 1995, I put forward the concept of “woman’s way”, pointing out this phenomenon. The twining cotton threads of Lin Tianmiao, the water and ink ribbons of Pan Yin, thickly dotted paper rolls of Shi Hui, the nibbling touch of Cai Jin, feeling like a reflection the unrestricted multiplying of life itself. The method ressembles that of sustained hand knitting or weaving. In this pure and complicated repeated activity, the feeling is immediately released or condensed into the « work of art ». This is a reflection of the relationship between a woman’s psychology and handwork and of the significance of sustained hand work process to the expression of feelings and emotions.
In the works of art of certain other woman artists, this way of expression is illustrated in a more pure and personalised way. The coloured tiny squares of Lu Qing,
the uninterrupted varied threads of Du Jie, the netted threads of Ma Yan-lnng more categorically abandonned the « shape », more concerned with the touches which correspond more directly with the heart. The significance of « calming down the heart » of the handwork process is becoming more prominent. As far as a form of artistic expresssion is concerned, this has reached its extreme.
Ten years ago, in my research on Western Woman’s Art, I discovered that they too had introduced sewing and stitching, embroidering, knitting and weaving and other feminine handwork elements into the the expression of art . However, although both borrowing from the traditional way of handwork, the nature is entirely different. The point of departure of western famale artists is more related to « strategy » of feminisme aiming at breaking down traditionally defined barriers between the so called ‘‘superior art’’ (spiritual, masculine) and ‘‘ inferior art’’ (handwork, feminine) in order to explore the possibilities and dynamisme of contemporary art language. I also discovered that words like“female”、“female art”、“feminisme”、“sex difference”frequently used when I do art critic for female art(not limited to female art) are inseparably related to western cultural blood, therefore, when observing the art phenomena deriving from Chinese cultural blood, basically I cannot go deeper or closer.
The Chinese are convinced that « the world does not have shapes originally, all shapes are formed by heart » which means that we feel everything outside by « heart », treating everything as « life », accompanying her, showing solicitude for her, taking care of her, doting on her, telling her secrets... That is why the Chinese art, especially poem and painting is above all an illustration of the artist’s s frame of mind through the description of objects and singing of praises of the scenery. The sad people look at the objects and scenes, they feel very sad. The happy people look at the same objects and scenes, they feel very happy. It is all subjective. In this current exhibition, the artists use or partly use methods « similar to handwork », it is neither from the art notions of feminisme nor from practices of Buddhisme or Taoisme requiring strict obedience. It is more like expressing one’s « heart felt emotions and frame of mind » through describing objects and singing praises to scenery,and here it is through continulusly knitting and weaving things.
The « heart phenomena » series of Suo Yutong is composed of minuscule arc lines done by red ball pen, lively as blood silk, curly as sheep wool and infinite as fine and tender grass, every touch is like a delicate and natural wave. No specific image on the painting, but full of entangled, undulating and irregular shapes, the overall « heartfelt » atmosphere is created – sexy and pleasant, bright and stable. I used the word « created » for two reasons. First of all, the way to express the artist has chosen was out of the need and desire of her « proper frame of mind ». At first Suo Yutong used a pencil to draw, but the black and white, blurred effect made her feel fearful and uncomfortable. The not easily rubbed ballpen painting on the quite hard sketch paper, every stroke is distinct，even if overlapping the strokes the structure is still tracable. And the lively nature of red colour touched her. The seond reason I used the word « created » is because the heavy and complicated process of art work itself was purifying for the frame of mind. Suo Yutong spent three years painting this series, many pieces, the longest piece being 10 meter. The overall atmosphere is stable, perpetual with exquisite changes. As was said by herself « In this hard labour, firmness, patience and sincerity are required. You have to put your heart to every detail to every corner of the painting. I have genuinely felt inner clearness ,calm and tranquil stability in this process ».
“Pink Encirclement” by Wu Xue is wrapping up more than a hundred doll “babies” with crochet and pink cotton threads. She has chosen to express the sentiment of being played with, being fragile . Pink is ambiguous between the real and the false yellowish pink. Because of the “tightening up” of the crochet and the body shaping, the doll babies knitted and woven for almost a year look as if they were wearing the sexy close fitting undergarment, or look like newly born tiny animals not yet with the protective hair. What is presented before our eyes is the falsely childish and tender, fragile, estranged, embarrassed and nervous, somewhat invisibly cruel but not bloody. This is exactly the frame of mind of Wu Xue. In her own words: “the estrangement of life” and “ the concern for hurt”.
Xu Jingyu’s « WW World » is a « world » stemming from her heart. This world is at the same time realistic and unrealistic. The columns are entwined with red and blue threads like « blood veins », the heart is knotted in broken bits, eggs have
sexy wings, from plump woman body coming out of mollusc, under the three leg beast there are endless breasts... full of pure desire for growth ,fantasy and phantasm.
In «Journey to the West», there is the World of Buddha, the World of Immortal, the World of Heaven, the World of Devil and the World of Earth. In “Harry Potter” there is the Magic World. That young people keep fantasy is quite usual. What is particular about this WW World is that this all mixed up world of “stories dangers love of fantasy secrets queerness strangeness” (Xu Jingyu’s words) is entirely ‘‘ seamed ’’ by hand needle work. Especially the all entangling, twining and seamed “edges” are all over a certain part of the body as dense as blood veins look like “mark of foetus”, reinforcing the growing and twining impression of this world of Heart.
Su Yabi’s « Memory of Daily Life » ‘‘have always been trying to memorize episodes of my life through visual diary. On the canvas, I try to restore the relaxation and simplicity to the scenes I have experienced with very controlled colours. ’’ (Su Yabi’s words) In recent years, Su Yabi’s way of memorizing her routine is to use metal filaments to weave the small objects like clothes and skirts, scarves, combs and umbrellas etc which she had painted for many years into vertical hollowed out works of art. The « reality » seems to have been taken out from the objects, yet the visible and touchable metal filament, the vague but recognisable form of the object is evidently still linked to daily life. This false and true image is closer to « memory ». Su Yabi said that the weaving process ‘‘returned many memories to me’’ and wove tnto her daily frame of mind as well.
Jin Weihong’s « Solitude » series is the most traditional water and ink painting. In this exhibition, it is the only work of art which does not resort to method similar to handwork. Jin Weihong said that ‘‘the foothold and point of interest in my creation is the corresponding relationship between myself and the tradition. ’’，My understanding of this ‘‘corresponding relationship’’ is certainly not only in terms of water and ink painting methods, it is at a deeper level, more relevant to profound, delicate and perpetual frame of mind. In ancient times, the aristocratic women, especially those with outstanding talent and sentiment, feel so terribly lonly, secret, exquisite and fragile in an extremely confined and secluded idle life. This is the so called‘‘ melancholy of leisure’’. Qin Weihong has been painting « solitude » for many years sustainably and repeatedly expressing one’s particular frame of mind- idle but lonly, free but helpless. It is the modern version of ‘‘ melancholy of leisure’’ true for a lot of gifted women.
« I want to be with you » by Lin Qingqing. She cruelly took away one of the two ‘‘ intimate’’ lovers on the marriage photo, moved it away and ‘‘ seamed ’’ it to another space of the marital bed, creating a ‘‘vacancy ’’ A short distance away but poles apart. The marital bed remains elegant and tender, the sweet smile of the lovers on the marrige photo is the same, but ‘‘the embracing and the snuggling up has been orientated to coldness, morbidity, disorder, forgery and absolute sense of non belonging’’(Lin Qingqing’s words). This was ‘‘ruthlessness created by man’’. Lin Qingqing did hundreds of this kind of work of art therefore she underwent hundreds of times this same experience which came from a real life experience. But I think the process of repeated experience has set her free of the heartfelt knot created by hurt.
The Wenchuan Earthquake all of a sudden triggered Huang Bairuo ‘s thoughts about ‘‘how to represent the joining up of people’s emotions ’’. She began to put into practice her project of « Meeting One Another with Seaming Destiny » on 1st of January 2009. ‘‘Meeting’’ and ‘‘seaming’’ in Chinese language are pronounced in the same way but written differently . This was a continuous performance art work. The artist ‘‘chose at random and casually an appropriate person on an appropriate occasion’’ letting ‘‘him’’ or ‘‘her ’’ trace the form of his or her ‘‘heart’’ as it appeared in his or her heart on a piece of red cloth, then cut the form out from the cloth and ‘‘seamed’’ it where he or she had wanted, gave it back to him or her with ‘‘blessing’’. What is surprising is that at everybody’s heart the form of ‘‘heart’’ is considerably different, it could look like a tree leaf, a water drop, a hot pepper, a flower, and even a cross. The place chosen for seaming it is quite different too. It could be the jacket, the trousers, the shoes, the socks, the bags, the toy pets and various kinds of objects. Every ‘‘heart’’ is permeated with the particular smell, reasons, stories , characters and sentiments of ‘‘this particular person’’. People are brought together randomly thanks to this ‘‘act of performance’’, love and blessing spread and taken to more people. In China we often say that ‘‘If we meet each other it is the destiny which wants us to meet’’ . As was said earlier, ‘‘meeting’’ and ‘‘seaming’’ in Chinese language are pronounced in the same way but written differently. The destiny according to Huang Bairuo is ‘‘seaming ’’, her frame of mind has‘‘ gone through ups and downs and many turns’’ (Huang Bairuo’s words) . What she ‘‘seamed’’ was her destiny and her frame of mind. A moment ago, she called and said that she had just seamed the three hundred one, this time it was a driver from Songzhuang and he had chosen to seam his ‘‘heart’’ on his head cushion in the driver’s seat, what an important place !
I was moved. I wish that everybody, not only artist, found one’s own way of creating his or her frame of mind.
