北京大学哲学系 彭 锋
每次看雷子人的画，都有一种想写点什么的冲动，但一直没能动笔。这不完全是因为自己的疏懒，也是因为子人的画实在不容易把捉得住。子人的作品不易把捉，这不仅因为他的每幅作品都在传达某种难以言表的寓意，而且因为他的作品在不断地变化，好不容易就他某个时期的某类作品整理出一点思路，却总是在动笔之前就为他的新的作品所推翻。要将看子人的作品时的那股子冲动诉诸文字，就这样一再延宕，直到有一天脑海地突然跳出一个“水”字，那些按捺不住的冲动终于有了一个喷涌而出的窗口。
水能够将我对子人的画的各种感觉要素凝结成一个整体。不管子人的画风前后有多大的变化，不管每幅作品的寓意有多么的不同，它们都能给我一种水的感觉。也许正因为是一种水一样的感觉，而水又是看无定形、察无定色、听无定声、闻无定嗅、品无定味的东西，所以这种感觉总是在躲避语言的捕捉，跟我做着若即若离的游戏。但一俟找到了水这个字来做统摄，那些混沌而庞杂的感觉就好像突然间得到了澄清。其实，这种水的感觉就是对子人的画的风格、调质、用中国美学的术语来说就是境界或意境的感受。境界或意境不是画面上一种确定的要素，也不是画面上各种要素的总和，而是统摄画面上诸要素的一种形而上的特质，它就像统摄有机体各部分的灵魂一样。离开有机体的各部分就没有灵魂，但灵魂又并不是居于有机体的某个部分或所有部分之中。绘画的境界就像有机体的灵魂一样，只能给人一种总体感受，不能诉诸条分缕析。
分析画面上的各个部分不可能得到画面的总体感受，但画面的总体感受却可以照亮画面的各个部分。老实说，在从子人的画中看出水的境界之前，我并没有发现他的绘画跟水有多大的关系。当然，我知道画面上出现了一些水的符号或意象，但并没有觉得它们有什么特别的意义，甚至并不觉得它们有什么特别突出的地方。一旦找到水这个字来概括我对子人的画的总体感受之后，他的作品中的水便似乎一下子多了起来。江河湖泊中荡漾的是水，水管喷头中流的是水，还有许多不知来源的圣水神水，即使是那些没有直接画水的画面，也给人一种到处都弥漫着水气的感觉。尽管从画面上的这些水的符号或意象中不能推导或分析出水的境界来，但对水的境界的把握无疑有助于我们重新认识这些水的符号或意象。正是这些水的符号或意象，将子人的画面整个给带动了起来，给人一种氤氲滋润的美感。那些没有直接画水的作品之所以也给人一种到处都弥漫着水气的感觉，这除了受到那些画水的作品的连带影响之外，恐怕与子人高超的水墨技法有关。事实上，许多以水为题材的作品并不给人以水的感觉。比如，在一些画水的油画作品中，我们可以看到像镜子和冰面一样的凝固的水，像蜡花和潮流一样的流动的水，但它们都很难给人以氤氲滋润的美感，更谈不上中国文化中那种特有的水的德性。但这也并不是说只要是水墨画法就能给人以水的感觉，甚至并不是给人以水的感觉的水墨就一定高明。这跟绘画的题材有关。根据不同的题材，水墨既可以像水一样滋润，也可以像火一样焦灼；既可以像水一样流动，也可以像山一样沉稳。尽管水墨的表现范围远非仅止于水，但画水的水墨总以滋润流动为上，而流动滋润也最能体现水墨的特性，因此与水有关的水墨最终总是略胜一筹。
但即使是氤氲滋润的画水的水墨也并不都能给人以水的感觉。这与绘画的主题有关。如果用氤氲滋润的画水的水墨来表达一种友情，它可能会给人一种“清”的感觉；如果用它来表达一种乡情，它可能会给人一种“醇”的感觉；如果用它来表达一种恩情，它可能会给人一种“深”的感觉，如此等等。只有用它来表达一种特别的男女之情的时候，它才能给人一种“水”的感觉。感觉不仅是对物的感触，更重要的是对情的感受，只有当物与情给人的感觉一致时，才能给人一种统一的情感基调，给人一种明确的感受。画家当然可以用氤氲滋润的画水的水墨来表达友情或乡情或恩情等等，但只有用它来表达一种如水一般的男女之情的时候，才能给人一种最明确的“水”的感受，因为在后一种情况中，绘画的对象、绘画的方式和绘画的主题达到了最完美的结合，它们从不同的层次共同服务一种明确的感觉的塑造。尽管这种明确的感觉不一定都能找到适当的文字来表达，但它比文字表达要更为深刻、甚至更为精确。
现在的问题是，如何理解如水一般的男女之情呢？人们不是通常说如火一般的男女之情吗？让我们通过简要的分析来回答这个问题。子人的绘画中，女人是一贯的主角，男人的角色则变化不定。有时候男人是跟女人匹配的、共同演绎爱情故事的角色；但更多的时候男人只是各种各样的配角，他们以非常不相称地小的形象出现，表达对那个水一般的情色世界的各种心理反应，这样的男人形象并不是情色世界的构造者，而是情色世界的见证者；还有一些绘画只有女人形象，男人被完全赶出画面，成为画面之外的观看者。因此，我们可以说，子人的绘画展示的是男人眼中的女人的情色世界，这跟女人的眼光看男人或男人的眼光看男人或女人的眼光看女人都很不相同。在男人的眼光中，女人是或被希望是水做的骨肉，具有温润、柔软、任意塑造等特性。
不可否认，子人的绘画中所展示的情色世界有许多性的成分或暗示，但这些性的成分或暗示却并不给人以强烈的生理刺激，原因在于男人更多地被安排在一个旁观者而不是参与者的位置上，画面上展示的情色世界是一个经过了静观的净化的世界，或者说是一个经过了水的洗礼的世界，它已经失去了那种原始的或本能的冲击力，而成为可以自由把玩的对象。子人绘画所展示的那个情色世界十分类似于曹雪芹在《红楼梦》中所塑造的大观园，那里姿态万千的众女子都是宝玉“意淫”的对象。“意淫”不同于“皮肤滥淫”和“好色不淫”。“滥淫”只有性的成分，“不淫”没有性的成分，“意淫”则界于二者之间，它消减了生理上的直接和强迫，增加了想像上的丰富和含蓄，是人们对情色世界进行自由观照的惟一方式。与如火一般烧灼或泥一般浑浊的滥淫不同，意淫总是如水一般澄静。子人的画之所以能给人一种总体上的水的感觉，一个很重要的原因就在于他揭示了一个只可意淫的、水一般的情色世界。
随着时间的流逝，《红楼梦》中的大观园开始颓败，那个水一般的情色世界逐渐毁灭，无限美好的有情之天下终究是一个太虚幻境，人们最终必须面对那个现实世界注定是个无法澄清的染缸。这是《红楼梦》让人警醒、引人深思的地方。子人的画中也体现了这种思考。画家借画面中出现的那些神态各异的小男人表达了这种思考，他们有的惊异，有的木然，他们在观看着，思考着。这是一种复杂的、不确定的思考，也许没有人能够完全了解他们的思考内容。
只要体会到画家的这种沉思，就不难感受到子人的画面隐约传达的一种惆怅。这种惆怅源于美好世界终将何去何从的疑问。那种水一般的情色世界最终会像水一样伤逝无痕吗？对于在中国文化中熏陶起来的人们来说，答案似乎不幸地是肯定的。两千多年前的夫子就有“逝者如斯”的感叹，踞于水的境界的最高点的就是伤逝，这是在这种感叹中成长起来的中国文人的一种独特的情愫。
Water: The Affective Quality of Lei Ziren’s Paintings
Peng Feng
Department of Philosophy, Peking University
Every time when I appreciated Mr. Lei Ziren’s Paintings, I somehow had a desire to write something for them. But I did not really begin to write for a long time. It is not only because I am lazy, but also because the paintings are not easy to be interpreted. Since Ziren always expressed some implied meaning and profound messages in each of his paintings, and especially he often changed his styles, and so it is quite obvious that Ziren’s paintings are too flexible to be grasped. Sometimes I got an idea for his paintings in some period, but it is always confused by his new paintings before I began to write down it. It is the very reason why my desire to write something for the paintings had been delayed for a long time. One day when I thought about the paintings, suddenly I got the word water. Thanks to the word water, which inspired me to unify my diverse ideas about the paintings into this paper.
Indeed, only the word water could unify my diverse feelings upon the paintings. No matter how big the style of Ziren’s paintings changed, and no matter how diverse the meaning of Ziren’s paintings would be, could all of them give me a feeling of water. Perhaps just because of the feeling of water, and especially that water is something could be seen but has not a definite figure, could be lessoned but has not a definite sound, could be smelled but has not a definite smell, and could be taste but has not a definite taste, and so it is always beyond my description. But all of my confused and diversified feelings suddenly changed to be easy to express as soon as I found the word water to put them together. Indeed, the feeling of water is the feeling of the manner, tone, and ideal state (jingjie) or spiritual state (yijing), borrowed the terminologies from Chinese aesthetics, of Ziren’s paintings. The ideal state or the spiritual state is not a definite element which can be pointed out on a painting, and not the summation of all such elements, but a metaphysical quality of a painting which even could be not pointed out on a painting but could unify all of such elements as a painting. Anything could not be a painting without this metaphysical quality, just as anything could not be a creature without the soul. We indeed cannot find the soul totally out of the parts of an organism, but the soul is not something as a part, or some parts, or all of the parts of an organism. The ideal state of a painting is just like the soul of an organism, which can be only felt as a whole, not be analyzed into definite elements.
We cannot get the feeling of a painting as a whole by analysis of the parts of the painting, but the feeling of a painting as a whole can illuminate its parts. Frankly, I did not find that there is some special relation between Ziren’s paintings and water before I understood the ideal state of the paintings. Of cause, I had seen some symbols or images of water on the paintings, but I even did not think that they have special meaning. Nonetheless, I found that there seemed to be much more water on the paintings as soon as I used the word water to describe my feeling of the paintings as a whole. On the paintings, we can see waters in rivers and lakes, we can see waters running from the pipes, we can see so many holy waters without origin, and we can feel waters even on the paintings which did not paint any waters. Although we cannot reach the ideal state of water by analyzing the water-symbols or water-images, it is unquestionable that comprehending the ideal state of water is helpful for me to rethink the water-symbols and water-images. It is very these water-symbols and water-images that make Ziren’s paintings flexible, moist, and fluid, which can give appreciators a special aesthetic experience of water.
Why can the paintings that do not paint any waters be felt misting everywhere? It is not only because that our feeling of these paintings is easily influenced by those paintings painted waters, but also because that Ziren acquires excellent skill of ink and wash painting. In fact, many paintings painted waters cannot give appreciators the feeling of water. For example, among some oil paintings painted waters, we can see the fixed water looks like glass and ice, or we can see the moving water looks like wax-flower and tide, all of them cannot arouse appreciators the aesthetic experience of the moist, the flexible, and the fluid, and, of cause, all of them cannot symbolize the special virtue of water that can be only found in Chinese culture. But it is not to say that the ink and wash painting can inevitably arouse the feeling of water, and it is not to say that only the ink and wash painting that can arouse the feeling of water is the best. According to different subjects, ink and wash painting can arouse the feeling of the moist as water as well as the feeling of the parching as fire, and the feeling of the fluid as water as well as the feeling of the steady as mountain. However, the subject of ink and wash painting is not limited to water, but the ink and wash painting painted water should always favor the moist and the fluid, and the moist and the fluid are the best characters to show the idiosyncrasy of ink and wash painting, and so the ink and wash painting related to water is always better than others.
But, even if the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, cannot necessarily arouse the feeling of water. It is depended on the motif of painting. If the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, is used for the expression of friendship, it would arouse the feeling of the pure; if the painting is used for the expression of nostalgia, it would arouse the feeling of the mellow; if the painting is used for the expression of thanksgiving, it would arouse the feeling of the deep; only if the painting is used for the expression of a special love between man and woman, can it arouse the feeling of the water-like. The feeling is not only come from the information of the object, but also come from the emotion of the subject, and only both come together, can a painting have a uniform affective tone, and give appreciators a definite perception. Surely, the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, can be used for the expression of friendship, nostalgia, thanksgiving, and so on, but only it is used for the expression of the special water-like-love between man and woman, can it arouse a definitive feeling of water, because in the latter case, the object, method, and motif of the painting perfectly come together, all of them serve for the creation of a definitive feeling. Although this definitive feeling cannot be articulated in words, it is more profound, and even more definitive than any language.
Now, how should we understand the special water-like-love between man and woman? Don’t we usually say the love between man and woman as fire? Let me answer this question through a little bit analysis of Ziren’s paintings. In Ziren’s paintings, woman is usually the leading role, and the role of man is uncertain. Sometimes, man’s role matches the woman’s, and both speak the same love story. But in many cases, man is only the various supporting roles, and their figures are usually painted very small, which express the various psychological responses to the lovers. This kind of man is not the co-creator of the love-world, but it’s witness. In some cases, we can say only woman, and man is totally driven out of the paintings and become a spectator in the real world. So, we can say, what Ziren’s paintings express is the woman’s-love-world from man’s perspective, and it is very different from what woman see man or what man see man or what woman see woman. According to man’s perspective, woman is, or is wished to be, the body made from water, which should have the characters of gentle, soft, flexible, and so on.
Undeniably, we can find some erotic elements in the love-world created by Ziren’s paintings. But these erotic elements or hints do not arouse the strong physiological stimulation, because man is usually painted as a spectator not a participator. The love-world shown on the paintings is a love-world purified by the contemplation or washed by the water, and so it loses the primitive or instinctive power and is transformed into a world that can be appreciated freely. The love-world manifested by Ziren’s paintings is somewhat like the Grand View Garden (Da Guanyuan) in Cao Xueqin’s Dream of the Red Chamber (Hongloumeng), where various young women are the lovers of Baiyu’s “lust of the mind” (yiyin). However, “Lust of the mind” is quite different from “lust of the flesh” (pifu lanyin ) and “love of beauty without carnal desire” (haose buyin). “Lust of the flesh” is just the sexual desire, “love of the beauty without carnal desire” is totally free from the sexual desire, and “lust of the mind” is something between them, which decreases immediacy and compulsion in psychology but increases the rich and the implicit in imagination. “Lust of the mind” is the only way for man and woman to contemplate the love-world. Especially, “Lust of the mind” is always clear as water, which is very different from the “lust of the flesh” that is burning as fire or slimy as mud. The most important reason for why Ziren’s paintings can arose the feeling of water as a whole is that he successfully create a water-like-love-world that can be the only object of “lust of the mind” .
As the story progressed, the Grand View Garden in Dream of the Red Chamber began to decline, and the water-like-love-world gradually died out. Eventually, the beautiful and enjoyable love-world showed its true figure as a dreamland, and real world where the man and woman have to live is predestinately a dye-vat that cannot be clarified in any way. The tragic end of Dream of the Red Chamber is what makes the man and woman be cautious and fall in thinking. We can find such thinking in Ziren’s paintings. Ziren expresses this thinking through the small men he created in the paintings, who have various expressions, some surprised, some woodenheaded, and all of the men are watching and thinking. It is a quite complex and uncertain thinking, and perhaps nobody knows what are thought in this thinking.
When one sympathizes with the painter on this thinking, it is not difficult for he or she to understand the deep melancholy expressed by these paintings. This melancholy originates from the doubt: where is the destination of the beautiful and enjoyable love-world? Would the water-like-love-world die away without any traces just like waters? For the intellects nurtured in Chinese culture, the answer is unfortunately yes. More than two thousand years ago, Confucius could not help saying “it passes this way.” What is on the top of the ideal state of water is lamenting over the passing, and it is the special inner feelings of Chinese intellects grown up in the Confucian plaint.