邵亦杨丨耿雪的“浮生三部曲” - 筑中美术馆

身体、雕塑与影像——耿雪的“浮生三部曲”

邵亦杨

耿雪擅长用雕塑和影像讲故事，她的三部主要的影像作品如当代艺术中的“浮生三部曲”，以历史、传说和神话为隐喻，体现了艺术家对人生的深入思考。

一

《海公子》（2014）

《海公子》取材于《聊斋志异》中的故事，情节格外吸引人：张生探奇寻幽，在一处世外桃源的小岛，艳遇美丽女子。与之亲热时，女子惊呼“海公子来了”，随即消失。张生遭受巨型毒蛇的致命袭击，侥幸跳脱。惊骇之余，张生唯恐海公子和那女子都是妖孽呢。

耿雪以陶瓷为媒介精心演绎了这个充满诱惑的鬼魅故事，在流光幻影间，营造出精灵诡异，亦幻亦真的情境。《海公子》中所有的陶瓷人物都由耿雪亲自精心设计，描绘、上釉和制作，陶瓷的灵动传神与影像、音响、色彩相互呼应，格外具有吸引力。比如影片中，张生的手中掉出一块着火的陶土，陶土落地，迅速生长壮大，仿佛一个阳具不断膨胀，其中突然崩裂出一个红衣女子，与张生缠绵。这时观众可以听到瓷器相互敲打、摩擦的声音，仿佛是人的身体关节转动的声音和发自内心的尖叫，回应出身、心的快感与痛感。当张生受到海公子攻击时，鲜血分别从他的眼睛、和鼻子喷涌而出，与女子的红衣如出一辙。令人联系到这女子也许原本并不存在，而是张生欲望的投射。整个影像在视、听觉上给观众强烈的刺激，不仅仅表现了海公子的血腥残暴，而且还淋漓尽致地表现了了生命中的激情。

《聊斋》这类志怪体文字，有着中国正统文学中少见的浪漫主义精神，对未知领域的探索和个人与命运的挣扎。清末蒲松龄在《聊斋》中谈狐说鬼，戏说人生，实际上是对当时社会现实的影射和隐形的批判。同时期的民间陶瓷也常常涉及到世俗内容和情色题材，表现人性欲望的觉醒。在这类文艺作品中，性、暴力与感官享乐往往用来揭示被压抑的情感，凸显个体存在的价值。如弗洛伊德所说：那些“离奇怪异”的事,通常是长期被理性世界压抑的东西，我们熟悉得察觉不到它们，全然无视它们，而当它们突然冒出来时，却令人如此惊悚。

耿雪用动画影像这种新媒体，使陶瓷这种具有文化积淀的古老材料，和“离奇怪异”的传说获得了新的生命力。《海公子》穿越于传统与当代、现实与幻想、民间和高雅文化之间，不仅令人享受到视觉美感，也揭示出社会问题。“海公子”是谁？它是道德和正义的象征，还是暴力和残忍的化身? 在现实生活中，只要威胁在，恐惧就在，“海公子”无处不在。

二

《米开朗基罗的情诗》（2015）

“那神圣的锤子，由天国所造，以它自己的力量创造美和所有一切的美……如果这神明的力量可以助我，它定能引导我创作, 达到完美的结果。”

——摘自《米开朗基罗的情诗》

2015年，耿雪创作了雕塑影像作品《米开朗基罗的情诗》。作为文艺复兴巅峰时期的艺术大师，米开朗基罗的雕塑充满了人性的力量，尤其是他晚年的许多作品中，都保留着手指触摸和斧头凿石的“印痕”。那些劳作的痕迹，如同他写给同性男友的十四行情诗一样触动人心，呈现艺术家在世俗与神性、情欲与信仰之间的内心挣扎。

年迈的米开朗基罗用斧头凿石，在石头上留下深深的痕迹；年轻的耿雪用双手去推软软的瓷泥，就像在给人体做按摩。这堆泥中仿佛早已包裹了一个男人，而在艺术家揉捏泥土的过程中，这个人活过来了。耿雪说：

“我做眼睛的时候，他会睁开眼睛看我，

我做手的时候，他的手会反过来抓住我的手……

在快完成的时候，我向他嘴里送了一口气，他的胸部开始起伏，开始呼吸、吐气。”

耿雪的《米开朗基罗的情诗》是有关雕塑的行为艺术。艺术家的创作过程被拍成影像，并精确地配上米开朗基罗的情诗，为冰冷理性的雕塑制作过程添加了感性的分量。

在镜头里，她为他做了眼睛，为他做了耳朵，为他做了身体，仿佛受到神明的助佑，如米开朗琪罗的诗中说：“那神圣的锤子，由天国所造，以它自己的力量创造美和所有一切的美……如果这神明的力量可以助我，它定能引导我创作, 达到完美的结果……唯有它。”

在镜头里，她给予泥土中的他 “力”和“气”，使他有了生命能量。米开朗琪罗的诗中说：“你的慧眼，令我看到我的盲目所不能看到的光明。你的足，助我担负我那残疾的足所不能支撑的重负。你的精神，令我感到飞升到天堂。我的意志包含在你的意志之中，我的思想在你的心中形成，我的言语在你的喘息中吐露。”

在镜头里，她创造了他。然而，他不过是她激情的投射。艺术与爱都是人自身的想象。米开朗琪罗说：“我曾把艺术当作偶像或君主般热烈的幻想，而今, 我承认它多么错误，我清楚地看到每一个人都因自己的渴望而受伤。”

在镜头里, 她果断地切掉他的头和四肢，为他盖上白布，喷水保湿，他再次变成了一件冰冷的物体。米开朗基罗说：“我可以轻易地忘记支持我肉体生存的食粮，而我怎能忘记你的名字，它如甘露般滋养我的灵魂与肉体，以至我在想你的时候，既不感到痛苦，也不畏惧死亡。”

这部作品展示了雕塑和雕塑创作的过程，嵌入了艺术大师的诗歌，反省了雕塑这种创造形式自身，是关于雕塑的雕塑一种“元雕塑”。艺术家以爱情为主题，隐喻艺术的构思、孕育和创造，以自己身体的能量激活了雕塑这种古老的艺术表达形式。

三

《金色之名》（2019）

耿雪的双屏影像《金色之名》（2019）继续探讨了身体、雕塑与影像之间的关系。影片呈现了一个黑白世界，泥土塑造的人物仿佛在真实与幻象、阴阳两界之间穿梭往来。他们共同侍奉着一件庞然大物。这件巨物内部呈现出金色，发出诱惑的光色与声音，使人们前仆后继、劳作不息，甚至不惜牺牲彼此。他们取出彼此身体的一部分，甚至自己的孩子献祭给这个庞然大物，直至被它完全吞噬，成为它的一部分。这个看不见全貌的庞然大物，是炼丹炉？纪念碑？还是传说中的巴别塔？它仿佛是欲望和权力、集体化乌托邦神话的显现。

时钟倒转，泥土中溢出金色的液体。在新生与幻灭、世俗与神圣、短暂的诱惑与执着的追求之间，图像与生命不断更迭。在这件影像作品中，艺术家特别强调泥土这种最基本的材质，它是雕塑、陶瓷、建筑等多种塑造形式的最基本材料。它粗粝的质感、延展性和可塑性，呈现出人类历史的创伤、磨难与创造力。艺术家将屏幕嵌在雕塑里，安置在地面上，金色世界中翻滚着的人物，仿佛在“脐带”里，而观众低头观看时如同站立在天眼的位置，窥见井底世界、反省艺术与生命的意义。

重塑与新生

耿雪的作品是开放式的、总体性的艺术，她不局限于某种媒介，而是从最基本的材料——泥土和火，生命的原初—性与生死出发，自由地拼贴各种材料、图像，运用视频、音响和图像等多种媒介，跨越了陶瓷、雕塑、影像和身体艺术，浪漫、写实、现代等种种主义之间的界限，使观众在“熟悉”的叙述中看到“陌生”，在“简单”的形式中发现“复杂”，在“一致”的表象中找到“差异”。

“浮生三部曲”看似世俗浪漫，其实严肃如重大历史题材。艺术家用象征性、多视角、多元化的叙述方式，不断编织自己的故事，打破平庸的知识逻辑，反思人类的生存危机。在这三部影像之间，耿雪还创作了一系列独立的雕塑和观念作品如《苏格拉底的广场》、《苍蝇》、《童年寓言》、《土堆》、《天籁》和《自由之绳》等，这些作品贯穿了艺术家对于自由、权力和生命的思考。在艺术形式自身的反省中；在对传统的挖掘和现代科技的利用中；在对全球化时代集体化政治、经济乌托邦之梦的解构中；耿雪不断地重塑着当代艺术的文化和社会意义。

Body, Sculpture and video:"The Trilogy of Life" by Geng Xue

Shao Yiyang

Geng Xue is good at storytelling through sculptures and videos. Three of her major video works are just like a trilogy in contemporary art. Using history, legends and myths as metaphors, these works reflect the artist's thorough thinking upon life.

I

Mr. Sea (2014)

Based on the story from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Mr. Sea has a particularly fascinating story. Once there was a gentleman called Mr. Zhang who set out on his own adventure and found a lotus land. On this little island, he met a femme fatale. While they were making out, this lady yelled, "Mr. Sea is here!". In a flash, she disappeared, leaving Mr. Zhang alone attacked by a giant viper. Fortunately, he survived this fight, left with fears and worries that Mr. Sea and the lady were both monsters.

Using ceramics, Geng Xue interprets this tempting ghost story. In the flow of light and illusions, she creates an odd but sophisticated, fancy but real scenario. All the ceramic characters in Mr. Sea are elaborately designed, painted, glazed and produced by the artist. Her ceramics are vivid and particularly appealing, corresponding to the video, sound, and colors. For example, in the film, a piece of burning clay falls out of Mr. Zhang's hands. It then falls to the ground and grows rapidly, as if a penis were constantly expanding. Suddenly, a woman in red jumps out and makes love with Mr. Zhang. Meanwhile, the audience can hear the sound of ceramics clashing and rubbing against each other, as if it were the sound of joint movements of the human body and a heartfelt scream, implying the pleasure and pain sensations of body and mind. When Mr. Zhang is attacked by Mr. Sea, the blood gushes from his eyes and nose, and the bloody red looks exactly like the color of the woman's clothes. It reminds the audience that this woman might be the projection of his own desire as she perhaps never exists. The whole image gives the audience a strong visual and auditory stimulation, not only fully picturing a brutal Mr. Sea, but also the passion of life.

With a spirit of romanticism rarely seen in Chinese orthodox literature, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is a tale of mystery and the supernatural. It represents the exploration of the unknown and the struggle between men and fate. It seems that the author Pu Songling who was active at the end of the Qing dynasty makes fun of life by telling stories of ghosts in this fiction. In fact, it’s the implicit criticism of the social reality at that time. The folk ceramics of the same period also refer to the secular content and erotic themes, showing the awakening of human desire. In such literary works, sex, violence and sensual pleasure are often used to reveal repressed emotions and highlight the value of individual existence. As Freud says, the "uncanny" is often what suppressed by the rational world for long. We are so familiar with them that we can't even notice them. We ignore them. But when they pop up, they would be so frightening.

In the form of motion pictures, Geng Xue has brought ceramics, the ancient materials with cultural heritage, and bizarre legends back to life. Between tradition and the contemporary era, reality and fantasy, folk and high culture, Mr. Sea not only lets the audience enjoy the visual aesthetics, but also reveals the problems of the society. Who is Mr. Sea? Is it a symbol of morality and justice, or the embodiment of violence and cruelty? In real life, as long as there is a threat, there will be fear. "Mr. Sea" is actually everywhere.

II

The Poetry of Michelangelo (2015)

The holy hammer, made in heaven, creates all beauty by its own power... If this divine power can help me, it can certainly lead me to the creation and perfect achievement.

—An excerpt from the Poetry of Michelangelo

In 2015, Geng Xue created the Poetry of Michelangelo, a work mixing sculpture with video. As a master during the peak of the Renaissance, Michelangelo created the sculptures of powerful human nature. Especially, many of his later works retained the "marks" of the fingers and chisel. Those traces of handwork, as touching as the sonnets he wrote to his gay boyfriend, represent the artist's inner struggle between the mundane world and the divinity, the lust and the faith.

The aged Michelangelo chiseled the stone with an ax, leaving deep marks on it; The young artist Geng Xue shaped the soft clay with her hands, just like doing a massage to a human body. It seemed that a man had already been wrapped by the clay. When the young artist started to work on it, this man came to life. Geng Xue said,

"When I was making the eyes, he would open his eyes staring at me.

When I was making the hands, he would grab me with his own hands.

When it was nearly finished, I blew the air into his mouth. Hence, his chest started to rise and fall and he began to breathe."

Geng Xue's the Poetry of Michelangelo is a performance art about sculpture. The artist's creation process was filmed and precisely illustrated with the love poem of Michelangelo, adding emotional weight to the cold and rational production process of sculptures.

In the film, she made the eyes, ears, and the body for him, as if it were blessed by God. As Michelangelo wrote in the poem, "the holy hammer, made in heaven, creates all beauty by its own power... If this divine power can help me, it can certainly lead me to the creation and perfect achievement…solely it."

In the film, she brought him power, strength, and vitality. As Michelangelo wrote in the poem, “your eyes of wisdom enlighten my blindness. Your feet help me to bear the burden that my disabled feet can't bear. Your spirit brings me to heaven. My will is contained in your will, my thoughts are formed in your heart, my words are revealed in your breath."

In the film, she created him. However, he is just the projection of her passion. Art and love are the imagination of the man himself. As Michelangelo said, "I used to think of art as an idol or a king, as well as my fervent fantasy. But now I admit I was very wrong. I see clearly that everyone is hurt by his own longing."

In the film, she decisively cut off his head and limbs, covered him with a white cloth and sprayed water to moisturize him, turning him into an icy object again. As Michelangelo said, "I can easily forget the food that sustains my body, but I can’t forget your name. It’s as nourishing as the nectar to my soul and body so that when I think of you, I have neither pain nor fear of death."

This work shows the sculpture itself and the creation process. Inserting the master's poem is a way to reflect on the creation form of sculpture itself. It's the "meta-sculpture", a sculpture about sculpture. The love is her theme, as well as a metaphor for the conception, development, and creation of art. She activates the ancient artistic expression form, sculpture, with the energy of her own body.

III

The Name of Gold (2019)

The Name of Gold (2019) is a dual-display video created by Geng Xue. The relationship between body, sculpture and video is further discussed. The film presents a black and white world where the characters created by clay are shuttling back and forth between reality and illusion, the world of Yin and Yang. They all serve a monolith. The interior of it is golden, giving off seductive light and sound. It makes one step into the breach as another fell, and let people work ceaselessly at the expense of each other. They take out one part of each other's bodies and even sacrifice their own children to the monolith. The giant monster swallows them up, making them a part of itself. Is this huge and invisible thing an alchemy furnace? The monument? Or the fabled tower of Babel? However, it seems to be the manifestation of desire, power, and the collective Utopian myth.

While the clock goes back, the golden liquid spills from the clay. Between the renascence and the disillusion, the mundane life and the sacred world, the ephemeral temptation and the persistent pursuit, images and lives are constantly changing. In this video work, the artist emphasizes the most basic material, clay, which is the most essential material for sculpture, ceramics, architecture and other forms. Its rough texture, malleability, and plasticity represent the trauma, tribulation, and creativity of human history. The artist embeds the screen in the sculpture and places it on the ground. The rolling figures in the golden world seem to be in the "umbilical cord", while the audience looks down as if they were watching through the Inner Eye, peering into the world at the bottom of the well and reflecting on the meaning of art and life.

Reinvention and Renascence

In Geng Xue's works, we can see a form of art that is openminded and general. She has never restrained herself with a certain media. Starting from the most basic material, clay and fire, as well as the origin of life, sex and death, she freely collages all kinds of materials and images, employs multiple media including video, audio and image, and crosses the boundaries between ceramics, sculpture, video and body art, as well as numerous doctrines such as romanticism, realism and modernism. She allows the audience to find "strangeness" in the "familiar" narration, the "complexity" in the "simple" form, and the "difference" in the "consistency".

The Trilogy of Life by Geng Xue seems to be worldly and romantic. In fact, it's as serious as a major historical theme. Through symbolic, multi-perspective and diversified narration, the artist continuously weaves her own stories, breaking the mediocre logic of knowledge, and reflecting on the survival crisis of human beings. Apart from the three video works, she has also created a series of independent sculptures and conceptual works such as Socrates' Square, the Fly, A Childhood Fable, Two Mounds, the Piping of Heaven, and the Tape of Freedom. These works run through the artist's thoughts on freedom, power, and life. In the reflection of the art form itself; In the researches of tradition and the employment of modern technology; in the deconstruction of collectivized politics and economic utopia in the era of globalization; Geng Xue is constantly reinventing the cultural and social significance of contemporary art.