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杨涛、于航及其他“古典主义者”对中国经典的戏仿
龙艺榜画廊当代艺术联展
策展人：世武
2007年8月1日至10月31日
www.LongYiBang.com
+86 010 65307048
反观历史，任何人也无法回避其对现实的态度；对古典题材的创新与颠覆成为艺术家解脱当代精神困局的有效方式。龙艺榜画廊通过此展览反映了新锐艺术家对古典传统的现实思考。他们借用文化传统的符号与图式，无意于焚琴煮鹤，而是采取内敛的太极拳式的精神搏击对抗现实问题，作品显示出毫不妥协的观念力量。参展艺术家包括杨涛、于航、姜川等。
宋代也许是中国古典辉煌迈向世俗化的转折点，令当代艺术家迷恋的花鸟画与宋江式的草莽英雄、七侠五义泥沙俱下，其社会精神的变迁与当代中国形成有趣的参照，为我们的精神冲突与救赎提供了一个支点。有别于洪磊宋代题材作品惊悚的悲剧现场，杨涛颠覆宋代经典图式的方式是无厘头的智慧。他的蒙面剑客跳上汴梁宣德门鸱吻之上，惊飞瑞鹤；占据莲台、登上宋代花鸟画的枝头。杨涛的剑侠不是白玉堂，更不是韦小宝，作为无奈的被日益边缘化的当代文人之一，他的剑侠是禅者，剑指空无，于坐禅中半睁睡眼，在无法逃遁的喧嚣中企图恪守片刻的宁静，在风暴来袭之前抱紧宋代伸过来的一片凋零的树枝。
于航初期的戏曲题材摄影源于经典女性形象如穆桂英、虞姬等，她们坚贞而端庄，柔情千尺或傲骨冲天；在其新作中却让位于明清话本式小女子低眉浅唱的世俗情怀，从浓墨重彩转向了对古代市井女伶精神与欲念的窥视，同时具有含蓄的现实意义。唐代仕女与明清木版插图中的女人媚影交叠，或许时空错乱间我们偶然闯入某个正在玩Cosplay的女生宿舍；女人们仿佛面对一面背后有男性窥视的镜子，顾影自怜，沉浸于市俗情趣的玩味与想象。当代人对时尚、整容、塑身、美体的热衷反映着对身体的物化崇拜，身体作为道具，是谋求社会认同的有效工具。艺术家关注对此文化意义上的追问。纵观于航一系列以女人身体作为摆设物的摄影作品，艺术家也许构造着中国男性关照女人的精神图谱，探询先天的文化烙印如何主宰着我们对女性身体的幻想与趣味，如美国女诗人普拉斯所说的：“而在深潭之底，众多的星星，支配着你的一生。”
参展作品同时显示了唯美的回归，对纯粹的中国古典美图式的昄依。媒介包括油彩、丙稀、影像和版画等。
Girls Dormitory in the New City of BianLiang,
Chinese Classical at Play.
Contemporary Art Exhibition
August 1st-Ocober 31st, 2007
Curator: Shi Wu
Amelie Gallery, Beijing
www.LongYiBang.com
+86 010 65307048
Subversive disruption of classical Chinese motives is an effective tactics for contemporary avant-gardes addressing their social concerns. Amelie Gallery’s new exhibition features works by artists who borrow classical Chinese culture icons. With sharp playfulness, they practice sensitive and subtle Tai Ji Quan (slow-motion Chinese boxing) to challenge reality, demonstrating an uncompromised conceptual edge. Participating artists include Yang Tao, Yu Hang, Jiang Chuan etc..
The Song Dynasty is perhaps a historical milestone before the magnificence of Chinese classical spirit faded into secularism. Its dramatic social and mental transformation provides an intriguing frame of reference for contemporary Chinese artists. Different from well-known conceptual photography artist Hong Lei’s intensely tragic scenes are Yang Tao’s Song Dynasty classical paintings which intrude in a frolicsome way with black humor. Inspired by Song Dynasty emperor/artist Zhao Ji’s famous painting (which depicts cranes soaring above the splendid palace in BianLiang, then the capital city), Yang’s swordsmen jump onto the palace roof, flushing cranes out of the sky. In other pieces, Yang rests in the heart of a lotus holding a blood-splattered sword, or plants himself on a branch; with half-opened eyes, he can hardly fall asleep. Yang Tao’s swordsman is a pursuer of Zen and at the heart of inescapable hurricanes, he tries to hold a piece of foliage from Song Dynasty.
Female artist Yu Hang concentrates on photography featuring the female body in traditional settings. Her earlier works Beauty with Sword took inspiration from Chinese heroines Mu GuiYing and Yu Ji etc. In the new works, these solemn and dignified figures give way to mundane girls in Ming and Qing Dynasties’ fiction; classicism is replaced by secularity. Whild indulging themselves naked in a private, liberating moment in front of mirror, the girls also willingly present themselves to a male’s gaze from behind the mirror.
Today’s fashion and cosmetology indicate a mentality of treating body as an object, as an effective tool pursuing social status. Yu Hang’s message is very much relevant today, her works not only captures fantasized imagination from traditional literature, but also illusions of cosplay game in a modern girls’ dormitory. By these works, artist Yu Hang explores how female perceive their bodies in a male-dominated social mentality. She also tries to construct a cultural and mental map, examining the fact that our traditionary culture imprints our obsession and fantasy on the female body.
The works visually comply with classical Chinese aesthetics, allowing the conceptual subtlety beneath unleashes itself. Media include acrylic, photography and silkscreen prints.
龙艺榜画廊 中国北京
11:00-19:00, 周二至周日
中国北京朝阳区建国路89号
华贸中心5号楼H座505
乘车路线：地铁大望路东北角
Amelie Gallery, Beijing
11am-19pm, Tuesday-Sunday
505, No. 5 Building, China Central Place(HuaMao),
No. 89, Jian Guo Rd., Chao Yang Dist., Beijing
How to get there: Subway DaWangLu station.
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