文/ 吕胜中

【壹】

我看滕菲的首饰，静默无声的一枚枚不同质地的“作品”潜入心底，生出层层叠叠的惊奇。

在我的经验中：首饰，细致活脱的手艺，沉厚灰蒙的包浆，精光内敛的质地……它总是女子静而生动的装点、雍容华贵的标志。

滕菲说：中国首饰艺术的发展则一直停顿在历史与传统的影子里，尤其自明清以后，中国的首饰艺术没有得到它应有的发展和关注。在相关史料的记载中，我们获得的往往都是古代首饰的样式、佩带功能及其相关的工艺等内容，却看不到现代人对其承传与拓展的篇幅，至于对未来首饰艺术的研究与思考更是了无踪迹。

于是，滕菲就在这个断裂的荒凉现场艰难上路了。

“飞花摘叶 皆可送人”，这是她首先将首饰作为人类情感物化形式所提出的创作理念。花草无情人有情，醉翁之意不在酒，我相信，这曾经是生命最本原的情感表达方式，而首饰，真像造型艺术中的散文诗，以短章的形式，用轻灵而富于内涵的意象、简炼有韵律并且富于节奏的语言，自由抒发内心世界的文体，叙述表述者情感的意象。

意象是什么？意象就是浸透主观情感的物象，我们要把抽象的情感形象化，即物化的过程，只能用意象创造出意境。当“飞花摘叶”渗透进作者主观情感的意象，就已经不再是原来“顺手可得”的花花草草，因为那上面有了一份真心。

于是，滕菲的两个系列《对话与独白》、《雨季》基于这样的“采集”——那些并不娇娆争俏却倔强着的花瓣、蓓蕾，那些容易被人忽略的枝丫以及上面努出的苞芽，那些快要败落仍固执生机的绿叶以及滴落在上面瞬间即逝的水珠……它们自己在述说，滕菲自己在述说，滕菲和它们在述说——一个抒发情感的诗的意象在述说中酿造成为一个圆满的结果，套在他或她的指上或项间。

他或她听见了吗？

【贰】

首饰，自古以来是人珍爱的物件，或为标记群体意识的图腾，或为避除邪恶侵袭的护符，或为彰显人格层次的象征，或为寄托情感火花的存储……久而久之，它与生命相伴并难以割舍。在这里，物我、天人、情景且然无间，合为一体，了无余痕。

人类对物的积蓄与眷恋总是不可抑制，但达人会说：衣食之外，余为身外之物。乱世间，逃离走窜，一个包裹一只盒子就是一个家当，而在这经过缜密筛选的轻便“家当”中，细软者，精细而易于携带的贵重之物也。我想，这绝不仅仅是出于它们质料的贵重，因为舍弃这份浸染着生命质量的细软就等于舍弃了生命的全部。

滕菲也许早已从首饰的历史中读出了这一点，但她却不是接着历史的“话茬儿”做一个简单的注释，她开始直接从生命的旅途中寻觅值得珍惜的痕迹。她的《身体的寓言》、《心悸》、《日记》、《谜》将吸氧的橡皮管、心电图记录纸、磁共振脑电图以及脱落的头发作为素材，这些曾连接身心、维系生命的旅途遗物让滕菲珍爱并打造成为可佩戴在身的“细软”——让人们爱不释手的可以是金、是银、是玉、是珍珠、是钻石……但它必须与生命息息相关。

佩戴着这些与自己生命息息相关的物件，即使遇到人生旅途中的无常离乱，滕菲自会不动声色，仿佛怀揣着一颗经世不慌的定心丸。

【叁】

精神之中总有一部分是坚强，心灵之中总有一部分是细软。

滕菲是一个生于江南的女子，中国传统女性阴柔为美的准则从小渲染着她的性情，就如首饰那样酿造着心灵的细软。

细软的底线在哪里？在更多的时候，我们承载的内容总要有个限度，悲伤也罢，痛苦也罢，在到达极限之后，心灵开始缺氧，呼吸变艰难起来。这时候我们适合闭上眼睛，在冥冥之间找自己，在底线的层面边缘彳亍，或者叫做徘徊。

生命总要面对极限，人生之中更多的时候在寻找这个极限。

我们往往会将珍贵的东西隐藏完好，比如金银细软；我们往往会将柔软的部分遮蔽严密，比如情感细软。可隐藏并不代表就能万无一失，因为生命的责任与价值绝不仅仅是个体的自我，自我是天地之间生灵万物的一个小点儿，就像米芾笔下的点墨或修拉画布上的色斑。当她爱着生命的时候她也会爱着这个世界，并将自己珍贵的东西奉献出来。

这奉献往往伴随着巨大的痛疼。

滕菲的作品《那个夏天》让我看到她面对痛疼的泰然自若——身穿红衣的滕菲平静的闭上双眼，仰起头来，脖颈上一道虚拟的刀痕中渗出浓重的鲜血——看不到激烈的搏斗和挣扎，生死的较量却让每个观者触目惊心。

滕菲说，这灵感是来自于他剖腹产生下儿子的经历。

我说，她已然从母性奉献的苦痛中超越，她在血痕和痛中体验到真爱的力量如此光辉灿烂！

世界在她的面前，理想在她的面前，美的历程在她的面前——在面前，却遥远，举步艰，行进难，但滕菲有了对于自我生命价值的果敢的判断，就有了追求的信心与勇敢——一个阴柔女子已在血与火雕琢的“细软”中造就了心灵深处的刚强与稳健，从夏天漫步——秋天——冬天，直至春天，从她的心里奉献出一份份真诚的细软。

A Life Shouted Aloud from “细软xìruǎn ”

Text: Lv Shengzhong

I.

When I look at Teng Fei’s jewelry, the meticulously textured pieces steal silently into the bottom of my heart and inspire wonder.

Jewelry--the delicate craftwork, the exquisite textures--has always been a quiet but vibrant feminine adornment, a symbol of elegance and luxury.

Teng Fei says that the development of China’s jewelry craft has halted under the shadow of history and tradition. In the years especially since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese jewelry has not gotten the attention or promotion it deserves. Historical records give us jewelry in the classical style, with its function of adornment as well as artistry, but in China today there is no step forward for the future of Chinese jewelry.

It is upon this fractured and desolate path that Teng Fei started her creative journey.

“Flowers and leaves bear one’s emotions as gifts to others”— this concept of how jewelry can become an objectification of people’s emotions is what she bases her creation upon. Flowers in themselves are devoid of emotion, but human emotion is conferred through the offering of flowers, as jewelry confers meaning through its beauty. Jewelry is a poem of figurative art, its agile and expressive imagery, cadence and rhythmic language an essay that exposes the inner world of the narrator’s emotional imagery.

What is “imagery”? It is an object totally soaked in our subjective impression; to give form to this abstract impression, we use imagery to create artistry. As the “gifts of emotions” are permeated by the artist’s emotional imagery, they will no longer be simple, emotionless flowers and leaves, because they have been imbued with true emotion.

We can see this imagery in two of Teng Fei’s series, Dialogue and Monologue ( 2004) and Rainy Season.(2005) Those plain yet challenging petals and buds; those easily overlooked twigs with those sprouts pushing upwards; those quickly dying green leaves that still long for life; those droplets of water that drip down and pass away…they are whispering, Teng Fei is explaining, they are all narrating together… a poem made of emotional images becomes a tangible piece of finery, worn upon a finger or around a neck.

Can you hear it?

II.

Jewelry has always been a cherished object or a totem to unite a community, a talisman to protect from evil or a symbol to distinguish layers of society, or a remembrance of the sparks of emotion… throughout time, jewelry has accompanied life, never to be wrought apart. Here, objects and self, celestial beings, come together as one.

A longing for objects has always insuppressible, but wise men would say: aside from clothing and food, all else is just worldly possessions. Fleeing from a world torn apart by chaos, the objects one is most likely to carry on their person are valuables. This is not only because the materials are precious--it is because giving up this reminder of the preciousness of life is like giving up life itself.

Perhaps Teng Fei has already noted these characteristics of jewelry, but she is not simply following a historical account. She delves directly into life’s journey looking for things worth cherishing. Her Allegory of the Body, Palpitation, Diaries of 40, and A Riddle turn artifical tubes, electrocardiograms, X-rays and hair into raw materials; these remnants of life that were once attached to the body, holding us together, are turned into “valuables” that can be worn as accessories. Cherished items might be gold, silver, jade, pearls, diamonds… but they must be closely bound with our lives.

Wearing these pieces of life, Teng Fei remains calm and collected, even while encountering obstacles along the road that will change her journey.

III.

In the spirit there resides a pocket of perseverance, and in the mind there resides a sense of life value.

Teng Fei was born in southern China, and a traditional Chinese feminine aesthetic has always influenced her nature, just like jewelry brews a spiritual fineness.

Where is the bottom line of life value? Whether it is sadness or pain, our emotions bear limited endurance, and once we’ve reached the line, our soult begins to gasp for air. In this moment we can only shut our eyes, locate ourselves in the blackness, and pace back and forth on the fringe of the line.

Life will always come face to face with limits, and we spend most of our lives looking for this place.

Silver and gold finery are hidden away to keep them intact; our delicate emotions are bundled up to protect their values. But these valuable things seep out despite our best efforts, because a mere individual cannot contain the immensity of life. The self is a tiny point in all the life between heaven and earth, like a drop of ink of Mi Fu, the ancient Chinese calligrapher, or a colored stain of Georges Seurat. When she embraces the fullness of life, she can offer up her valuables to the world.

This offering is tied to a deep hurt.

Teng Fei’s work That Summer (2007)shows her calm in the face of pain—eyes closed, head raised, on her neck a made-up thick line of fresh blood within trace of a knife—an intense hidden struggle, the fight between life and death.

Teng Fei says the inspiration for this piece is her memory of delivering her son by c-section.

I think that she has already moved past the suffering of a mother’s dedication, and in the blood and pain she has experienced the power of true love!

With the world in front of her, ideals in front of her, beauty in front of her—in front of her but also far, the steps difficult, progress hard--Teng Fei has faith in the value of self, seeks confidence and courage. An introverted woman who has created a steady and unyielding spirit in the “fineness” sculpted from blood and fire, she marches from summer—fall—winter--all the way to spring, offering us from her depths her special “细软xìruǎn” --- valuables in jewelry and soul. .