曾梵志 散步在中國藝術市場

To get a sense of the remarkable growth of the Chinese contemporary Art market, look no further than the artist Zeng Fanzhi.

想對中國當代藝術市場的飛速發展有所瞭解，看看藝術家曾梵志就夠了。

Mr Zeng, 51, has seen his work bring in the second-highest price for a living Chinese artist, according to Artnet.

根據Artnet報道，51歲的曾梵志的作品創下了在世中國藝術家作品的第二高價。

In 2013, his 2001 tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper sold for $23.3 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, setting what was then a record auction price for a work by a contemporary Chinese artist.

2013年，他2001年創作、向萊奧納多•達•芬奇(Leonardo da Vinci)《最後的晚餐》(The Last Supper)致敬的作品在香港蘇富比以2330萬美元成交，創下了中國當代藝術作品在當時的拍賣紀錄。

Last weekend, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing unveiled Zeng Fanzhi: Parcours, a major retrospective that runs through Nov. 19

上週末，曾梵志：散步展在北京的尤倫斯當代藝術中心揭幕，這場大型回顧展將持續到11月19日。

The exhibition covers nearly three decades and features works central to the artist’s oeuvre, including his early Hospital series, which Mr Zeng painted based on memories of a hospital where he used the toilet because he did not have one at home.

展覽涵蓋了曾梵志近30年的作品，其中包括他的核心創作，比如早期的協和醫院系列，在這個系列裏，他憑藉記憶繪製出一個醫院的場景，因爲家裏沒有廁所，他需要到那家醫院解決內急。

It includes his Masks series, which depicts well-dressed urbanites wearing white masks, a commentary on China’s rapid social transformation in the mid-1990s, and his haunting, thicket-filled abstract landscapes.

還有他的面具系列，描繪了若干衣冠楚楚的都市人，臉上戴着白色的面具，影射了20世紀90年代中期中國飛速的社會變革。此外還有他那些令人難忘、灌木叢生的抽象風景畫。

And, for the first time in China, the show displays Mr Zeng’s most recent works — a series of ink on paper — which signal a shift by the artist toward an engagement with ancient Chinese painting.

展覽還在中國首次展出了曾梵志近期的一系列水墨畫，標誌着這位藝術家開始涉足古老的中國繪畫這一轉變。

In an interview, Mr Zeng discussed traditional Chinese culture, China’s art market and mixing politics and art.

在採訪中，曾梵志談了中國傳統文化、中國藝術市場以及藝術和政治的融合。

Your latest works on paper suggest a turn toward traditional Chinese culture.

你最新的紙上作品表明你在轉向中國傳統文化。

Why the shift?

爲什麼？

This shift came about for several reasons. For example, I like designing gardens, and to do that, you have to have a certain appreciation for the natural beauty of things like stones and plants.

這個轉變有好幾個原因，比如說，我喜歡設計花園，做這項工作的時候，你得懂得欣賞石頭和植物這些自然事物的美。

Emperor Huizong’s painting Listening to the Qin is the most beautiful painting from the Song dynasty.

宋徽宗的《聽琴圖》是宋朝最美的畫。

For more than 10 years, I’ve been observing the beauty of the pine tree in that painting.

十幾年來，我一直在觀察這幅畫裏那棵松樹的美。

And when I travel to Japan and elsewhere, I now pay special attention to the pine trees.

現在去日本之類地方旅行時，我會特別注意松樹。

So it’s a combination of studying paintings and observing the real world.

所以這是把繪畫研究和對現實世界的觀察結合起來。

Over time, I began to realize that traditional things have their own beauty.

隨着時間流逝，我開始意識到，傳統事物有它們自身的美。

Perhaps it also has to do with my age.

或許這也和我的年齡有關。

When you reach a certain age, you naturally begin to turn to a spirit of introspection.

到了一定的年齡，你自然而然就會有一種反省精神。

What does the motif of the branches signify in your large-scale abstract landscapes?

你的那些大幅風景畫裏那些樹枝是什麼意思呢？

People in the West initially thought of it as a type of expressionistic brushwork.

西方人一開始覺得這是一種表現主義的手法。

Early on, I, too, thought of it like this.

早年間我也是這麼想的。

But later I began to think of the branches as being related more to traditional Chinese calligraphy.

但到了後來，我開始認爲這些樹枝和中國傳統書法關係更大。

So when painting, I would pay special attention to the rhythm and the spirit of the brush stroke with the belief that each stroke has its own movement and its own internal beauty.

所以畫畫的時候，我會特別注意筆觸的節奏和神韻，相信每一筆都有自己的運動和內在之美。

It’s different from Western expressionism, not because Western expressionism is superficial, but it is characterized more by an external view of the brush, whereas calligraphy has more to do with the internal state of mind.

這和西方的表現主義是不同的，不是因爲西方的表現主義膚淺，而是因爲它更多以筆觸的外觀爲特徵，而書法則與內心境界關係更大。

Looking back at your career through this retrospective, is there a particular period of time that you feel nostalgic about?

通過這次回顧展回望你的藝術生涯，有沒有哪個特定階段是你特別懷念的？

Not really.

並沒有。

Each of the works represents my life and feelings at that particular time, and all of the stages are closely linked.

每件作品都代表着我在那段特定時期的生活與情感，所有階段都是密切相連的。

For example, I went from doing large-scale abstract landscape paintings to making small works on paper.

比如，我是從繪製大幅抽象風景畫轉向繪製小幅紙上作品的。

All of these stages have a certain element of contrast.

所有這些階段都含有一種對照的成分。

If you look at my earlier works, there are also big differences.

如果你觀察我的早期作品，就會發現很大的不同。

There are three early paintings in the show that I drew when I was in the third year of university.

這次展覽上有我的三幅早期作品，當時我還是大學三年級的學生。

My teacher told me not to paint like this.

老師告訴我不要這樣畫。

Look at your paintings, the teacher said, you didn’t use any color.

那個老師說，看看你的畫，你根本沒用上任何顏色。

According to them, you had to paint according to very strict guidelines.

他們說，你得按照非常嚴格的指導方法來畫。

The colors had to represent what the subject really looked like in real life.

色彩必須表現事物在現實生活中的本來面目。

But I didn’t want to follow these guidelines.

但是我不想按這些指導方法走。

I thought if I did, I would be fenced in by them and there would be no way to explore creativity through my feelings.

我覺得如果這麼的話，就被它們困住了，就不能按照自己的感受去探索創作。

So at that time, color wasn’t that important to me.

所以那時候，色彩對我來說並不重要。

If you look at those early works, they seem a little dark.

如果你注意我的早期作品，就會發現它們有點黯淡。

I used a lot of black paint and the people seem very gray.

我使用了很多黑色顏料，上面的人看上去非常灰暗。

In the beginning, most of the collectors who bought your work were foreign.

一開始，很多購買你作品的收藏家都是外國人。

Then you started to see more interest from Chinese collectors.

然後纔開始有更多中國收藏家對你感興趣。

Can you describe this shift?

你能談一下這種變化嗎？

I first moved to Beijing in 1993.

1993年我搬到北京生活。

The people who bought my works back then were mostly Western, like people who worked in the foreign embassies or taught at universities.

那時候買我作品的大都是西方人，比如在外國使館工作或者在大學裏教書的人。

Then, around 2004 and 2005, we started to see more and more Chinese people buying art.

後來，大約是在2004到2005年，我們看到越來越多的中國人都在購買藝術品。

I remember it very clearly because before no one was buying and for 10 or so years the prices for our works hadn’t changed at all.

我記得非常清楚，因爲之前沒有人買藝術品，大約十年的時間，我們的作品價格都沒變過。

We didn’t really know these new Chinese collectors, and we couldn’t tell if they actually liked the art.

我們不怎麼了解這些新的中國藏家，也不知道他們是不是真的喜歡藝術。

But then, starting around 2007, we started to see a lot of people flipping works.

但在後來，大約是從2007年開始，我們看到很多人都來看作品。

At first I thought the buying was good, but when the market began to overheat, I went on alert.

起先我覺得有人買藝術品是好事，但後來市場變得過熱，我開始警惕起來。

I didn’t sell to a person who wanted to buy 20 of my paintings because I was suspicious.

如果有人說想買我的20幅作品，我是不會賣給他的，因爲我會覺得可疑。

And then what happened?

然後發生了什麼？

Then, in 2008, there was the financial crisis and all of a sudden a lot of galleries in China closed.

後來，2008年發生了金融危機，突然之間，中國的很多畫廊都關門了。

Some people had bought so many paintings.

有些人之前買了太多的畫。

One person even bought 100 paintings from one artist.

有個人甚至買了一個藝術家的100幅畫。

After having gone through 2008, most of the artists here have matured.

熬過2008年之後，大多數中國藝術家變得成熟起來了。

The art market is something you can’t mess with.

藝術市場不是鬧着玩的東西。

Just take it one step at a time, develop slowly, and honestly work together with galleries to sell works to people who actually like art and not to people who are trying to speculate on art.

要一步一步走、慢慢發展，要老老實實地與畫廊合作，把作品賣給真正喜愛藝術的人，而不是那些想靠藝術投機的人。

Now that we’ve worked with a lot of international galleries and museums, artists here pretty much get it.

現在，我們和許多國際畫廊與美術館合作，這裏的藝術家們都很明白這一點了。

It’s not like 2007 anymore.

現在和2007年完全不同了。

We needed this time to mature.

我們需要這段時間變得成熟起來。

Do you ever feel pressure either to avoid or to engage with politics in your work?

你是否曾有在作品中迴避或加入政治題材的壓力？

I think every artist chooses his or her own way of expression.

我認爲每一個藝術家都會選擇自己的表達方式。

I personally choose to create works on subjects that I am interested in.

我個人選擇創作那些自己感興趣的題材。

I won’t make works on subjects that I’m not interested in just to appeal to more people.

我不會爲了迎合更多人而創作自己不感興趣的題材。

But it doesn’t mean that I’m not paying attention to society either.

但是這並不意味着我不關注社會。

For example, in my early Hospital works, I was very interested in basic issues of humanity.

比如，在我早期的協和醫院系列裏，我對人性的基本問題非常感興趣。

I pay attention to society and to the lives of people around me. But I won’t make something just for the sake of being provocative.

我關注社會，也關注身邊人的生活，但我不會爲了引起爭議而刻意創作什麼。