心维之境——姜淼个展

艺术家自述

ARTIST’S INSIGHTS

对我而言，作品一直是伴随着认知与境遇不断成长的。

17岁以前，在我的东北老家，风景很特别，山、树、水全是近乎原始的状态。最吸引我的，是漫天繁星和它们无穷无尽的闪烁，这一场景不但让我对时空的深邃生出了无尽的好奇，更让我着迷的，是它们展现的那种点线面关系。那时我觉得，我被打散了，就是那漫天繁星，繁星聚起来，又是我。这种奇特的感知，在未画之先，似乎就决定了我会怎样去画、去思考。

之后来北京学画，就住在袁运生先生家里，那时他和太太刚从美国回来。他总是拿着带回来的大画册，从创世纪开始给我讲美术史，当时完全听不懂，但现在回想起来，这种从宇宙洪荒开始的美术史教育，和先生的气度裹挟在一起，既给了我某种基础的艺术标准和味道，又暗合与回应了我最初的感知关切。

先生总是讲艺术是民族的，世界的，贡献的。但在我，艺术是热血澎湃的悸动，是呈现宇宙的大美。

宇宙是真善美的，艺术的终极目标亦如是。

真善美是光明，是文明前行的方向，不管处在什么时代，人都是要奔向这个方向的。

当下，我们有些迷失，被利益蒙蔽了眼和心，把利益作为方向是非常不稳定和危险的。

艺术今天最紧迫的任务即是，回归真善美，回归宇宙的本质。

这个工作，科学在做，宗教也在，我们的社会的其他部分其实也都在做，只不过每个人的方式不一样。对我来说，艺术即是我回归宇宙的方式，艺术有无限的宽容度，只要我接受、感受并真诚的呈现，宇宙就在那儿了。
黑白木刻时期，我比较年轻、尖锐，觉得宇宙极致的色彩只有黑和白，其他颜色都是中间的、过渡的、冗余的，甚至啰嗦的。

人在年轻时，未知的东西特别多，且总想弄清楚这一切的是非对错，遇到任何人事，都希望有一个结论。所以那时候，只能接受黑白。每天不停追问，常常处于自我的辩论之中。

做了大量黑白阴阳的作品，我才逐渐从穷究对立走向了理解关系，这个关系不仅是视觉的，也是宇宙的，而宇宙的关系就是秩序，是处处展现的壮观之美。

无关一般的美丑对错，它就是奇迹和壮观，何况生命之于时空，如此偶然和珍贵，针尖麦芒，何以安放？
十年的黑白研究之后，我开始把一层黑变两层色，二层变三层，三层变五层，后来觉得饱满度不够，就十几、二十层，到现在的三四十层。

每一层的颜色，都需要我按照自己的感觉去调整。比如我今天看到你，觉得你一个幽蓝色，但这是一个抽象的色彩感觉，它不是现成的，我需要尽力去调和、接近、发现，最终呈现这个感觉上的幽蓝。下一层（可能另一天），我又看到下雨了/冰雹，然后我觉得它是白灰色，那这个白灰应该是一个什么样的白灰？倾向于黄的还是更蓝一些？到这里，我可能又觉得自己还可以再画一层，随着每天的感受、境遇，你要不停的加蓝、加白，再加点绿，再加点别的什么，颜色是直接刷上去的，因为不经过毛笔稀释，它的每一道都浓郁且强烈。这一层层的颜色，相互覆盖、叠加，互为表里，它所有的颜色都想出来，都在往外顶：它没有被稀释，也没有被那么多的氧化，当我再擎刀下刻，语言碰撞，色彩迸发，所有曾经的感觉，挤压的时间，都仿佛获得了释放，宇宙洪荒，猛地往外冲。

这一层一层的色彩堆积，以及最后那一刀，所有这些行为，构成和决定了作品和我的最终关系，我觉得，这就像一个潜意识的能量包被最终解压缩。但这绝不是说，最后一层，最后的动作（刀刻），决定的这个作品，而是过去可能失败了的、未完成的、被否定的三四十层，决定的这件作品。这和人是一样的，人也是一件作品，过去的几十年决定了今天，然后未来还有几十年等着最后的效果，每天都在挣扎，每天都在试错，每天都在不满意或者是满意之间度过。最后形成的效果，也正是你之前的人生，在潜意识里迸发出来的能量。

当我们去看作品的时候，不能只看到它呈现的顷刻，同时也要看到了下边那些被掩埋的感受，那些不确定和不协调。一个完整的作品，是包含了所有的错误和不协调的，这就是宇宙之大美，是真诚，是存在。

《水·界》系列，我不用刀，全是平涂，用最经典古老的油画技法。

相比天眼等丙烯刀刻的系列，水界更内在，也更本初，它的渊源相对于精神、文化，更多的来自心灵与身体。水界也孕育了我艺术中最为重要的情态符号，那个无限放射或敛聚的同心结构，实际上就是水界里无处不在涟漪。

许多年，我常会在梦里去到这样一个地方，那里的风景，感觉，水的温度、空气，附着在身上，包裹我，让我感觉安全又温暖。我想，那是我生命的家园和补给，也是，天、地、人下，得以融合的一个大关系。大概一开始我呈现它们的形式是山、植物，动物，有种伊甸园的感觉，然后慢慢的演化，儿时记忆（另一个能量包）里的山水宇宙也渐渐翻涌上来，但不是那种激烈动荡的方式，是安静，包容：水面泛起各种涟漪，月亮和云彩倒映在水面，有时有风，有时万籁俱寂，那所有可能与不可能的物质、感受、都在其中载浮载沉，孕育、变化、生长从，彼此关联……

我画画从来不是画稿子，而是遵循自己的感觉，找到那个温度、那种感受、那个归属感。

我常常觉得不是我在创作作品，而是作品一张张地在创作和塑造我。

也许，艺术，和艺术家就是一个线索，这个线索也许草蛇灰线，但通向宇宙这个真正的作者。

艺术有一点特殊性，不可名状，不能被定义，所以它也比其它人类知识更具有容受力，它可以把一些定义模糊的、感觉层面的，稍纵即逝的，获得某种物质拟态，可被追溯，并产生与人的共鸣。

艺术的本质是爱，你看着当今的这个世界存在那么多的问题和危险，而这么多璀璨的文明走到今天，却到了一个这么无解的状态。因为你爱它，你会着急，会焦虑。要怎么样去改变一点点？作为艺术家，我想的是，我们还有没有机会，有没有能力从焦灼与肉搏的黏连里走向一个更大的关系，这，也就是我对艺术的叩问。

（以上自述节选自与朋友的长篇对谈）

ARTIST’S INSIGHTS

Jiang Miao

For me, artworks have always evolved alongside my understanding and experiences.

Before the age of 17, in my hometown in Northeast China, the landscape was unique, with mountains, trees, and water in a nearly pristine state. What fascinated me the most was the vast expanse of stars and their endless twinkling. This scene not only sparked my profound curiosity about space but also captivated me with the relationships portrayed through dots, lines, and surfaces. At that time, I felt like I was dispersed, just like those countless stars that, when gathered, formed me. This peculiar perception seemed to pre-determine how I would approach painting and contemplation.

Later, when I went to Beijing to study art, I lived in the home of Mr. Yuan Yunsheng, who had just returned from the United States with his wife. He would often share large art books he brought back, starting from the creation of the universe, narrating art history to me. I couldn’t fully comprehend it then, but looking back, this art history education from the beginning of the universe, combined with Mr. Yuan’s demeanor, not only provided me with a certain foundation in artistic standards and taste but also resonated with and responded to my initial concerns about perception.

Mr. Yuan always emphasized that art is for the nation, for the world, and for contribution. However, for me, art is a passionate and pulsating expression of the grandeur of the universe.

The universe embodies truth, goodness, and beauty, and that is also the ultimate goal of art.

Truth, goodness, and beauty are the light, the direction of civilization’s progress. Regardless of the era, humanity is meant to move towards this direction.

Currently, we seem a bit lost, blinded by interests, using them as a guide is unstable and dangerous.

The most urgent task for art today is to return to truth, goodness, and beauty, to the essence of the universe.

This work is being done by science, by religion, and various other parts of our society, each in its own way. For me, art is the way I return to the universe. Art has infinite tolerance; as long as I accept, feel, and sincerely present, the universe is there.

During the black and white woodcut period, when I was younger and more sharp, I believed that the ultimate colors of the universe were only black and white. Other colors were considered intermediate, transitional, redundant, or even verbose.

In youth, there’s a lot of unknown, and there’s a constant desire to understand right from wrong in everything. So, during that time, I could only accept black and white. I kept questioning every day, often caught in self-debate.

After creating a significant number of black and white Yin-Yang works, I gradually moved from exploring opposites to understanding relationships. These relationships are not only visual but also cosmic, and the relationships in the universe are order, displayed magnificently everywhere.

Regardless of conventional notions of beauty or ugliness, it is a marvel and grandeur, especially when considering the randomness and preciousness of life in time and space. How can we place the needle and the wheat?

After ten years of black and white studies, I started adding layers of color, from one layer of black to two layers of color, two layers to three layers, three layers to five layers, and later on, I felt the need for more saturation, so I went for ten, twenty layers, and now even thirty or forty layers. Each layer’s color requires adjustment based on my feelings. For example, if today I see you and feel a deep blue color, it’s an abstract color sensation that is not readily available. I need to strive to harmonize, approach, and discover, ultimately presenting that deep blue feeling. The next layer (perhaps on another day), if I see rain or hail, and I feel it is a grayish-white, what kind of grayish-white should it be? Inclined towards yellow or more towards blue? At this point, I might feel I can add another layer, and with each day’s experiences, you continuously add blue, add white, add some green, add something else. Colors are directly brushed on because they don’t go through brush dilution, making each stroke rich and intense. The layers of colors overlap, superimpose, mutually represent each other, all colors striving outward. They are not diluted, not oxidized too much. When I use the knife to carve again, with language colliding, colors bursting forth, all the past feelings, compressed time, suddenly seem to find release. The primordial universe rushes outward.

The accumulation of these layers of color, and the final stroke, all these actions shape and determine the relationship between the artwork and me. I feel like it’s releasing a compressed energy packet from the subconscious. However, this doesn’t mean that the last layer, the final action (the knife cut), decides this artwork. Instead, it is the three or four layers that may have failed, remained unfinished, or were denied, that decide this piece. This is similar to humans; a person is also an artwork, with the past several decades determining today, and the future several decades waiting for the final outcome. Every day is a struggle, a trial and error, living between dissatisfaction and satisfaction. The final result is also the energy released from the subconscious that erupted before.

When we look at an artwork, we should not only see the moment it presents but also observe the buried feelings below, the uncertainties and disharmonies. A complete artwork includes all errors and disharmonies; this is the grandeur of the universe, it is sincerity, it is existence.

The “Water·Realm” series, unlike the acrylic knife-cut series such as “Heavenly Eye,” is entirely painted without a knife, using the most classic and ancient oil painting technique.

Compared to other series, “Water·Realm” is more intrinsic and primordial, its origin is more from the spiritual and cultural aspects, and it draws more from the mind and body. “Water·Realm” also gave birth to the most important symbolic motif in my art, the concentric structure that radiates or converges infinitely, which is essentially the ubiquitous ripples in the water realm.

For many years, I would often find myself in such a place in my dreams. The scenery, the feeling, the temperature of the water, the air, clinging to me, enveloping me, making me feel safe and warm. I think that is the homeland and sustenance of my life, a large relationship where heaven, earth, and humanity merge. Initially, I presented it in forms of mountains, plants, animals, giving a sense of Eden. Gradually, the cosmic landscapes from childhood memories (another energy packet) surged up, but not in an intense and tumultuous way, rather quietly, inclusively: ripples on the water surface, the moon and clouds reflecting on the water, sometimes with wind, sometimes in complete silence. All possible and impossible substances and feelings float and sink within it, nurturing, changing, growing, interrelated…

When I paint, it’s not about drawing drafts but following my feelings, finding that temperature, that feeling, that sense of belonging. I often feel it’s not me creating the artwork; instead, the artworks are creating and shaping me one by one.

Perhaps, art and artists are like a clue, a thread that might be faint but leads to the true author of the universe. Art has a unique quality, indefinable and undefinable. It surpasses other human knowledge in terms of receptiveness. It can transform things with vague definitions, feelings on the verge, and fleeting moments into a tangible form that can be traced, generating resonance with people.

The essence of art is love. When you look at the world today with so many problems and dangers, and with such a brilliant civilization arriving at an unsolvable state, you feel anxious and worried because you love it. How can we change a little bit? As an artist, I wonder if we still have a chance and the ability to move from the entanglement of anxiety and struggle towards a larger relationship. This is also my inquiry into art.

(The above excerpts are from a lengthy conversation with a friend)

Exhibition Worls

Exhibition View