从刘永刚接受中国国际广播电台采访的一段谈话中可以看出，在上世纪90年代初期，刘永刚对德国表现主义美术非常关注，在一次观看德国表现主义美术作品展览时，感觉这些作品与他自己所想象的美术作品表现形式十分相近，由此决定了他的德国留学和创作生涯。
每一个人的思维总是体现出一贯的风格和模式，艺术家更是如此。任何一个艺术家最后的思维方式的选择，并不是突兀的创新，而是在一个连续的生长过程中的逐渐将其独一无二的特征予以强化。在每一个自以为新奇的“拐点”，其实都深藏着一条由来已久的线索。刘永刚对德国表现主义的理解以及所产生的认同感，恰恰是他一以贯之的思维方式之延续。在其早期所创作并引起业界关注的油画作品《北萨拉的牧羊女》中，就可以看到有诸多因素暗合德国表现主义绘画精神。
德国表现主义在其初起阶段，继承了北欧各国传统艺术中的表现主义倾向。在早期日耳曼人的所谓“蛮族”艺术、中世纪的哥特艺术和文艺复兴时期以博斯、勃鲁盖尔为代表的艺术家创作的作品中，可以感受到强烈的表现主义倾向。表现主义中能够吸引刘永刚的因素是什么呢？或者说，刘永刚究竟从德国表现主义艺术中受到了什么样的启迪、从而促使他义无反顾地奔向了这个国度？虽然没有直接与刘永刚交换过意见，但是，从他的艺术创作生涯中可以感受到，这是解读刘永刚的艺术理念和作品的一把重要的钥匙。
正如“桥社”（DruckeDie，成立于1905年）的创始人凯尔希纳（Ernst LudwigKirchner，1880—1938）在一份宣言中所倡导的：“每一个人，每一个属于我们的人，直接地、毫不虚伪地表现出驱使他们进行创作的东西。”他们在赞赏凡·高、高更和蒙克的作品的同时，对原始艺术亦怀有虔诚的态度。愁闷、空虚和木偶般的神态几乎成为这类表现主义作品的标志性图像。高更曾经认为：“人类现代智慧在详尽的分析中失去自身的作用，它甚至连最简单或最显而易见的东西也感觉不到。”（爱德华·路西—史密斯：《西方当代美术》，1986）在这样的艺术主张和推崇的艺术作品现象之下，其策略性的重点是对原始主义的理解和运用。从西方当代戏剧理论来说，原始主义（Primitivism）无疑包含着三个方面：表演性、仪式性和狂欢性。（吴飞：《先锋与原始——论先锋派戏剧的三个特征》）表现主义的艺术家将原始主义的视觉直觉性纳入到创作手段之中，在表达非理性、激情、神秘和主观性方面起到了重要作用。曾经何时，这种神秘的激情和带有暗示意味的表现风格启发了中国当代的艺术家，由此产生了一些重要的作品。刘永刚在1987年创作并受到业界好评的油画作品《北萨拉的牧羊女》即是这类风格的代表作品。无论从人物造型，还是色彩的处理，均反映出刘永刚对隐秘的激情和主观意趣表述的兴趣。近乎于笨拙和僵硬的人物姿态，显示出作者对仪式性的原始主义艺术因素的敏感。
10多年的留学和创作生涯，并没有将刘永刚的艺术禁锢在他曾经钟情过的德国表现主义之中，而是将促使刘永刚的艺术创作实践向着超越表现主义精神的方向迈进。刘永刚曾经谈到：“到了国外以后看了很多展览、很多作品，都觉得在大学学的，包括到国外学的，看着看着，学着学着，最后没有了自己，还是属于一种向人学习，不断地向人学习，向人模仿。越是这样，走到一个极端的时候，发现要有自己。那这个自己哪儿来？一定要有根。根在哪儿？在祖国大地传统文化上。传统文化我喜欢文字。我从小就喜欢文字。那我就开始有回归，所谓的回归，就是把（中国）传统的各个历史时期的文字开始进行研究，做比较，最后，其实也就是（把）这种（文字的）形状、构造，变成一种形象的，或者视觉的。”（引自中国国际广播电台访谈节目）这段谈话揭示了刘永刚在艺术创作观念有了新的发展，其内涵就是要将中国传统文化和艺术因素融入到当代艺术形式的表述之中。
在这一时期，刘永刚创作了大量的富有抽象表现主义精神的作品。众所周知，抽象表现主义在反具象化美学观念、自我表征和自我情感的强度表达方面与表现主义一脉相承。刘永刚的这类作品以强有力和狂放不羁的笔触以及强烈而奔放的色彩表达出一种凝重的力量，一些“十”字型构图的画面凸现出一种神圣的宗教意味。这或许是原始主义中的“仪式性”和“狂欢性”交织的结果。颇耐人寻味的是，刘永刚在这类作品中有意强化了中国传统书法的书写意味。中国文化传统所具有的写意性与现代西方文化所秉持的抽象性有着易于沟通之处。在习惯以主、客体二元对立的方法论观察和认识世界的西方人看来，摆脱客观对象的表面形象而以抽象形态亦有其魅力所在。中国人所贯持的“天人合一”理论则显示出主、客体一元论的方法论。正如沃林格尔（WilhelmWorringer，1875-1965）所论：“东方人知道，在他的有限性中，他是不可能看到神的。”（《哥特形式论》，张坚等译）这一认识论特征决定了中国人更关注具有抽象意味的形式，如对书法艺术的领悟与钻研，以及对笔墨趣味的审美观照。刘永刚敏锐地抓住了这种东、西方文化和艺术中的精神及其变化，巧妙地将西方当代艺术的形式与精神融入他对中国传统艺术精神的思考之中，创造出了富有东方精神的当代艺术作品。
刘永刚在关注东方、尤其是中国传统因素的同时，对他所感兴趣的一种更加原始的人类情感以及力量进行了独到的考察，其结果就是以《爱拥》为主题的系列雕塑作品的出现。刘永刚在谈到这组作品的立意时说：“用爱，拥抱全世界，拥抱全人类，拥抱全社会，拥抱每一天！有爱，才能相互拥有！让爱，拥有天下！”刘永刚在甲骨文、蒙古文甚至巴斯巴文中找到了灵感。
看到刘永刚的《爱拥》，不禁联想到布朗库西的《吻》。布朗库西以及其简约和写意的手法，将一对拥吻的恋人之爱升华到一个充满具体内容的爱的理念。那种温馨在观者心中引起深厚的暖流，它所产生的感动是任何一件写实作品所不能比拟的。布朗库西注重纯粹而完整的直觉，以极度单纯的造型表达对事物本质的感受。显然，刘永刚也力图以一种简洁的表述方式，将主题“爱”以抽象化和拟人化结合起来，对“爱”的本质作出自己的阐释。但是，刘永刚所阐述的“爱”是超越了一切人为限制的“博爱”，是“仁者爱人”之“爱”。当樊迟请教何为“仁”时，孔子答：“爱人。”（《论语·颜渊》）可以说，个体生命的“爱”与社会性的“仁”是互为内容和互为本质的。有论者指出：“单就生命个体而言，‘仁’实质上是对生命本体的一种张扬和呼唤，是生命个体在持续不断发展中所孜孜以求的目标与化境，同时也是个体生命完善的一种推动力和牵引力。”（张涵、史鸿文：《中华美学史》）刘永刚试图表现的就是这样一种高度抽象化而有丰富内涵的“爱”之理念。
刘永刚的这些雕塑作品以“爱”这一主题为主要线索，让抽象的文字以拟人化的形态做出拥抱的姿态，然后生发出千姿百态的结构。这些雕塑作品给人以厚重而柔软的感觉，在作者表现出对材料的敏感和独特理解的同时，将这些坚硬的石材化作温厚而柔和的生命。无论是高大的露天雕塑，还是中国美术馆展厅内的小型雕塑，当它们以方阵的形式陈列在人们眼前的时候，观众仿佛看到了这些形体富有生命力的生长。或宏伟，或茁壮，均表现出一种力的扩展感。在这里，曾经深深影响过刘永刚的表现主义精神得到了转化与改造，表现主义或者抽象表现主义所具有的神秘感被代之以更加充满阳光感的正面颂扬。在此，可以清晰看到刘永刚将西方当代艺术传统与中国文化传统精神结合在一起的努力。
罗伯特·戈德沃特（RobertGoldwater,1907-1973）在讨论原始主义的界定时曾经说过：“最终，单纯性和根本性的实质便是它们中有价值的、为它们而存在的：换句话说，是假设一个人在历史上、心理上和美学上越是返璞归真，事情就越单纯；由于它们更单纯，它们也就更深刻、更重要、更有价值。”（《现代艺术中的原始主义》，殷泓译）这段话既可以作为理解刘永刚现有作品的注释，也可以看作是对刘永刚的《爱拥》系列一个值得期待的、有待进一步延展的广阔领域的描述。
（郭晓川，美术学博士，艺评人，《今日中国美术》主编，北京中力文化体育公司艺术品投资总顾问）
Appearance andEssence: the Development of Liu Yonggang’s Artistic Outlook
Guo Xiaochuan,PhD, fellow of China Arts Academy, famous critic of fine arts
It is apparentfrom China Radio International’s interview with Liu Yonggang thathe started to be interested in German expressionism in the early1990s. At an exhibition of German expressionist works, he foundthat they were very similar to his idea of the best way ofexpression. Therefore he decided to pursue his studies and careerin Germany.
There is aconsistent style and pattern to everyone’s thinking, and that isall the more true of artists. The selection of the way of thinkingis not sudden innovation, but the intensification of some uniquefeature in a continuous process. In every seemingly new ‘turn’ ishidden a clue of long standing. Liu’s understanding and acceptanceof German expressionism are exactly the continuation of his way ofthinking. In one of his earlier works that aroused interest in hispeers, Shepherdess of Northern Sala, one could see many factorsthat coincide with the spirit of German expressionism.
At itsbeginning, German expressionism carried on the expressionisttendency in the traditional arts of Northern European countries.That tendency could be strongly felt in the ‘barbaric’ arts ofearly Germanic people, the medieval Gothic art, and works by suchRenaissance artists as Bosch and Bruegel. What was it aboutexpressionism that fascinated Liu? Or, what was it aboutexpressionism that inspired him to go to Germany? Though I haven’tdiscussed that with Liu, I can tell from his artistic career thatit is an important key to understanding his artistic outlook andworks.
As advocated byErnst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), who founded Drucke Die in 1905,in a manifesto, ‘Everyone, every one of us, will express whatdrives them to create directly and without any insincerity.’Praising Van Gogh, Gauguin and Manch, they held primitive arts inpious esteem. Melancholy, emptiness and puppet-like expressionswere almost characteristic of such expressionist works. Gauguinwent so far as to believe that ‘modern human intelligence has lostits function in elaborate analyses; it fails to feel the simplestand the most obvious.’ (Edward Lucie-Smith, Contemporary WesternFine Arts, 1986) Under such a principle, their strategic focus wasthe understanding and use of primitivism. In terms of the theory ofcontemporary western theatre, primitivism has three orientations:performance, ritual and carnival (Wu Fei, The Avant-garde and thePrimitive: Three Characteristics of the Avant-garde Theatre).Expressionist artists incorporate the visual intuition ofprimitivism into their means of creation, which went a long way toexpressing irrationality, passion, mysteriousness and subjectivity.The mysterious passion and suggestive expressionism inspiredcontemporary Chinese arts to create important works. One of themasterpieces is the world-acclaimed oil painting Shepherdess ofNorthern Sala painted by Liu in 1987. The rendering of the humanfigure and colors reflect his interest in latent passion andsubjective meanings. The posture of the human figure, almost clumsyand stiff, indicates his sensitivity to ritualistic primitivismart.
Instead ofconfining his art to German expressionism, the ten-odd years ofstudy and creation will take his creative practice beyond theexpressionist spirit. As he said, ‘After I saw a lot of exhibitionsand works abroad, I found that for all that I learned in collegeand saw abroad, I had lost myself. I was still learning andimitating. But I finally came upon the point where I found itnecessary to be myself. How do I find myself? I got to find myroot. Where is the root? It’s the traditional Chinese culture. I’vebeen fond of Chinese characters since I was young. So I started toreturn. That is, I began to study and compare characters ofdifferent periods of the tradition. And finally, I turned theirshapes and compositions into visual images.’ (quoted from CRI’sinterview with Liu). That indicates that his artistic outlookexperienced some new development, that is, the incorporation oftraditional Chinese culture and art into the formal expression ofcontemporary art.
It was duringthat period that Liu created a large number of works of abstractexpressionism. As we know, abstract expressionism is in line withexpressionism in terms of the anti-figurative aesthetic view,self-indication and the forceful expression of the artist’s ownfeelings. Liu’s works convey a dignified power with powerful,uninhibited strokes and rich, bold colors. Some compositions thatfeature the cross convey religious sacredness. That may be theresult of the interweaving of the ritual-orientation andcarnival-orientation in primitivism. Interestingly enough, Liudeliberately accentuated the importance of ‘writing’ in traditionalChinese calligraphy. The stress on the spirit or impression in theChinese cultural tradition is similar to the importance attached toabstractness in modern western culture. In the eye of westerners,who are used to perceive the world in terms of the binaryopposition between the subject and the object, the abstraction ofthe object is also fascinating. The Chinese belief in tianrenheyi,or man being an integral part of nature, suggests unity of thesubject and the object. As Wilhelm Worringer (1875-1965) observed,‘Easterners known that they cannot see god in his limitedness.’(Form in Gothic, tr. Zhang Jian et al) That epistemologicalcharacteristic determines that the Chinese care more about formsthat suggest abstractness, as embodied in their perception andstudy of calligraphy, and their aesthetic appreciation of theinterest of ‘brush and ink’. Liu was keen enough to grasp thespirits and changes of Chinese and western arts and cultures, andwas ingenious enough to incorporate the form and spirit of modernwestern art into his thinking about the spirit of the traditionalChinese art. The result was contemporary works rich in the orientalspirit.
As he paidattention to the oriental, especially the Chinese tradition, hemade an original examination of a more primitive type of humanfeeling and power that interested him. The outcome was the seriesof sculptures entitled Embrace of Love. Talking about the theme,Liu said, ‘Let’s embrace the world, mankind, society and every daywith love! Love is the only way to mutual possession. Let lovereign!’ He got his inspiration from oracle bone inscriptions, theMongolian script, and even the Basiba script.
Liu’s Embrace ofLove is reminiscent of Brancusi’s Kiss. With simple, impressionisttechniques, Brancusi elevated the love of a couple embracing andkissing each other to a pregnant idea of love, the tenderness ofwhich induces great warmth in the heart of the viewer. The movingeffect could not been achieved by any realistic work. Valuing pureand complete intuition, Brancusi expressed his perception of theessence of things with extremely simple shapes. Apparently, Liualso tried to use a simple way of expression to abstract andpersonify the theme of love and to make his own interpretation ofthe essence of love. However, the love he tries to expoundtranscends all human limitations; it was the love as in ‘the Goodlove people’ (Confucius). When Fan Chi asked Confucius what wasGoodness, the latter answered, ‘It means loving people’ (Analects:Yan Yuan). We may say that the love of the individual and theGoodness of society are the objects and essences of each other.‘For an individual, Goodness is, in essence, the call for theessence of life. It is the ideal objective diligently pursued bythe individual, and also the driving force of the individual’sperfection.’ (Zhang Han &Shi Hongwen, History of ChineseAesthetics). What Liu tries to express is such a highly abstractand meaningful idea of ‘love’.
Centering roundthe theme of love, abstract characters are arranged in personifiedpostures of embrace and varied structures. They produce an effectof heaviness and softness. While expressing his sensitivity to andoriginal understanding of the material, Liu turned hard stones intowarm, gentle lives. When his sculptures, both the tall, open-airones and the small ones in the art museum, are displayed in aformation, viewers seem to see them grow with full vitality. Theirgrandness or sturdiness conveys a sense of expansion. Here, theexpressionist spirit, which had deep influence on Liu, wasconverted or transformed. The mysteriousness of expressionism orabstract expressionism is replaced by positive eulogizing. Here weclearly see Liu’s efforts to blend the tradition of contemporarywestern art and the spirit of traditional Chinese culture.
(Guo Xiaochuan,PhD in fine arts studies, art critic, editor in chief ofContemporary Chinese Arts, Chief Advisor for Investment in Works ofArt at Beijing Zhongli Culture and Sports Co. Ltd.)