文／王将
眼前一片昏黄，但我们仍然能够辨识出白色瓷盘中的葡萄，一串绿，与一串紫。
王玉平《葡萄》，19x23cm，木板油画，1988
葡萄的轮廓并不清晰，它们只是一些虚渺笔触所形成的模糊感觉。颗粒之间似乎既没有形的分界，也没有色的分界。当观者靠近画作去品鉴细节时，葡萄则显得更加抽象了，它们毫无应有的质感。或者说，画家用一种绵密的材料质感替换了物象质感，而这种质感被铺展于整个绘画表面。当视线向着深度空间的后处搜索，一只水壶闪烁着微茫的光泽，它若隐若现，几乎要被背景消弥。它在那里成为了实与虚的临界。而其后的空间，无物存在。那或许只是一面墙，当你凝视它时，能够体认朦胧与虚寂。感觉也许让你更加相信它并非实有，而是作为画面的虚空，就像山水画的虚空一样。的确，它的颜色，它的气息，犹如古老的中国山水画的品相。
它是此次展览需要回溯的画作。1988年，26岁的青年画家王玉平创作这件作品时，似乎流露出一种心理上的过去时间取向（past time orientation），这就像是中国古人的笔墨情怀。当他落笔之时，就预示了当下观众凝视这件作品时所感受到的弥远的时空距离。而艺术家的创作生涯总是充满了奥妙。此后几年，王玉平的绘画风格变得激荡而有力，他创作了一系列极具表现力的叙事性绘画，深沉的黑色开始统御他的画面，画中人物的姿态与神情呈现出一种严峻的感觉。或许因为特殊的社会背景，他的绘画表现出一种命运与时代交织的悲情。90年代初期，王玉平成为了中国画坛“新表现”的关键人物，这逐渐被认为是他身上最显著的标签。但是，因其随心而行的性格，以及日常家庭生活带给他的影响，30多年来，他的绘画风格逐渐向着平和与明朗过渡。在这漫长的时间里，他进行了多样的绘画实验，使他的艺术呈现出多个时期。如果我们不去了解王玉平三十多年来的艺术历程，一定会惊讶于近年这些微妙的物件绘画竟然出自这位 “新表现”画家之手。对于王玉平自己而言，它们更亲近于他的心灵，更能呈现他在生活中的逸乐与情动。这或许回应了中国文人返璞归真的美学理想。而开篇所提的王玉平的早期作品《葡萄》，对他自己而言就像一次本性流露，对其研究者来说就像一个预言，显示出后来的物件绘画是其创作褪去戾气后的自然面貌，也是艺术与生活的自洽成果。
王玉平的夫人申玲在讲述他的生活时曾提到一张小画背后的故事：
我们喜欢去日料店喝一口，通常要一小壶酒，各自挑一个心仪的杯子。盐烤银杏则是标配，聊聊天，剥开烫烫的壳，吃着清香的果肉，惬意。有一次在慢走餐厅，服务员刚要收走吃完的空壳，玉平赶忙用手护着说，这个留着他有用。服务员一头雾水，我也不解，一堆空壳怎么用？他得意的笑着，好像得到了什么宝贝似的……
王玉平《盐烤银杏》，42x56cm，纸本水彩，2021
王玉平画下了这盘银杏果壳，它看上去可爱而温情，流露出欣然自得的心绪。一盘没有用处没有价值的空壳之所以能够引起他的创作兴趣，重点并非物的形象，而在于人和物在平凡时刻里的邂逅。对画家而言，这盘果壳，是美味的遗存，是怡悦的物证，是安然惬意的时光之象征。展题“盐烤银杏”，便是源于这件作品，它作为诗性的复合意象联接了展览主题。其表明了王玉平对宏大主题的拒绝，也强调了平凡事物所蕴含的真意。对于自己的生活，对于生活中遇见的美好事物，画家知足而欣然，其笔下之物便显露着无言的喜悦，内中似乎蕴含了中国古人“缘情体物”的艺术观。正如陆机在《文赋》中所写：“诗缘情而绮靡，赋体物而浏亮”，对于绘画而言也是如此。我们可以在王玉平的画中体会到“情物一体”的境界。另一方面，“盐烤银杏”，与其同类画作，都取消了具有空间深度的背景，大面积的“留白”成了他近年画作中的常见特征。这与其早期的满幅激烈笔触的表现性绘画形成了巨大反差。而那些用油彩或丙烯描绘的物象边缘，常有一种用干笔擦揉而成的虚渺效果，这种效果非常自然地交洽了物与背景。在那里，实有向虚空微微渗出，仿佛中国画的晕染。由此，留白的背景，交洽的图底关系，分别强化了所绘之物的符号性与抒情性，营造出画面的意韵。
王玉平《餐后水果》，29.7x42cm，木板丙烯，2019
展览所选择的作品皆描绘了王玉平生活中的心动之物，不仅显示了他的日常用度，也透露了他的收集趣味。它们往往有着轻松柔软的视觉效果，而这些画中的色彩，明丽而不轻浮，妖冶与朴拙同在，为观者带来了复杂的通感体验，视觉感受似乎能够牵动味觉与触觉的神经。谈到通感，即联觉与象征，在此可以举出一位杰出的美国画家——韦恩·蒂埃博（Wayne Thiebaud），他也画日常生活中的物品，特别是其蛋糕系列，色彩明艳，用笔质朴，且极具绘画的质感。其不仅描绘了甜品的外形，更让人联想起甜品的口感。理论家认为他的绘画呈现了消费世界的诱惑，将他誉为波普艺术的代表，但他却并不接受这个标签，并自视为传统绘画的践行者。比较这个案例，我们可以用一种类似的角度去考量王玉平物件写生的意义。他的笔下之物，是他私人生活中的偏爱之物，而其来自于这个无法隔绝的消费世界。他的物不那么流行，却有一种淡淡的怀旧气息，它们像岁月的追思，同时也表现出当代人所身处的“现在”的流变不息。王玉平的物不作为价值的符号，却携带着文化的信息。他喜爱收集来自世界各地的物件，甚至有的物件（比如外文画册）与其创作本身有着密切关联。当他以颇具中国意味的绘画手法来表现这些题材时，便关联了文化挪用的问题。王玉平作品中的画刊（比如《世界美术》），不仅牵涉了那代画家的文化记忆，同时也是一种过时的纸质商品，其在不远的过去承载了西方艺术的价值观在中国本土广为传播，映射出文化的传播时常依赖于文化商品的流通。虽然王玉平的物件绘画与波普艺术毫不相关，他也应该比韦恩·蒂埃博更加漠视消费主义的解释，但观者却无法视而不见，他的某些作品带着一种消费时代的怀旧趣味和文化情结。所以，展览系列化地呈现一些将老旧画刊与浮世绘图册作为题材的绘画，自然也就牵涉了文化流动的问题。
王玉平《世界美术（三）》，42x56cm，纸本水彩，2016
王玉平的绘画向内而生，以一种私人化的方式映射了现代世界的文化景观。它们就像一层轻柔的纱网，过滤掉媚俗的缁尘，随心所欲地接收着多元的文化资源。面包、香烟、浮世绘、点石斋画报、美式小台灯、印第安铁皮玩具，伊斯坦布尔针织帽……王玉平以私人趣味创作了现代生活的 “博物志”。展览中的大尺幅油画则汇聚了丰富的文化符号并强化出这一层面的意义。这与其说是观念所致，不如说是兴趣所生。在作品《白马、浮世绘》（2021）中，王玉平直呈了复杂多元的信息。其描绘了一个被粉色花布覆盖的桌面，当我们站在画前，目光会被桌上的纷繁物品吸引。于是，观看便带着“发现”的乐趣，品察着每一处细节。眼前这些来自不同文化背景的物件透露了画家的美学生活，也让人思考它们与其创作的内在联系。颇有意味的是，桌边的两张空椅，表面上展示了人的缺席。但本质上，“人”并没有消失，他隐匿在物件之中。透过画中之物，我们可以体验到一个生动而具体的“人”。他被趣味与教养所建构，被生活与信仰所建构，被世间融洽的与矛盾的事物所建构——而画家正是以这种多重的被建构，才为自己做出了选择，并建构了个人精神的自由领地。
王玉平《白马、浮世绘》，206x240cm，布面丙烯、油画棒，2021
细品这些近作，再回看那件1988年的《葡萄》，对于明丽和昏黄，我们似乎能够在视觉效果的差别中辨识出某种共性——它们皆呈现了心与物的合一，并展示出交织而增益的魅力。
2021.8.27 北京
【Wang Yuping · Salt Roasted Ginkgo】There is a faint yellow in front of us, but we could still recognize the grapes in the white porcelain plate, a bunch of green and a bunch of purple.The outline of grapes is not clear, they are just a vague feeling formed by some vague strokes. There seems to be neither shape boundary nor color boundary between particles. When the viewer approaches the painting to appreciate the details, the grapes are more abstract. They have no due texture. In other words, the painter replaced the image texture with a dense material texture, which was spread on the whole painting surface. When the line of sight searches towards the back of the deep space, a kettle flickers with a faint luster. It shimmers and is almost eliminated by the background. There it becomes the critical point between reality and emptiness. And then there is nothing in the space. Maybe it's just a wall. When you stare at it, you can recognize dimness and emptiness. The feeling may make you more believe that it is not real but is the emptiness as a picture, just like the emptiness of landscape painting. Indeed, its color and breath are like the appearance of ancient Chinese landscape painting.
It is a painting that needs to be traced back in this exhibition. When Wang Yuping, a 26-year-old young painter, created this work in 1988, he seemed to show a psychological past time orientation, which was similar to the feelings and spirits that ancient Chinese painters had held. When he started to paint with the first brush stroke, it began to indicate the great distance of time and space that the audience would feel when staring at this work. And yet, the artist's creative career is always full of mysteries. In the following years, Wang Yuping's painting style became feverish and powerful. He created a series of highly expressivenarrative paintings. The deep black began to dominate his pictures, which made the postures and facial expressions of the characters in the paintings show a severe feeling. Perhaps because of the special social background, his paintings have showed a kind of grief closely intertwined with fates and the times. In the early 1990s, Wang Yuping became a key figure in the New Performance of Chinese painting field, which was gradually regarded as the most prominentlabel on him. However, due to his personal character of following the heart and the influence of daily family life, his painting style has gradually formed the transition to peace and brightness over the past 30 years. During this long time, he carried out a variety of painting experiments, which made his art present multiple periods. If we don't understand Wang Yuping's artistic process over the past 30 years, we will definitely be surprised that these delicate object paintings in recent years are actually from this New Performance painter. For Wang Yuping himself, theyare much closer to his heart and can show more ofhis pleasure, enjoyment and emotions in life. This may respond to the aestheticideal of Chineseliterati to return to the basis and simplicity. And Wang Yuping’s early work, Grapes, which we’ve mentioned at the beginning, is in character with his natural temperament. For people who study him, Grapes is like a prediction, showing that the later object paintings are not only the natural appearance after the hostility of his creation, but also the self-consistent outcome of art and life.
王玉平《咖啡杯》，23x31cm，纸本水彩，2013When Shen Ling, Wang Yuping's wife, told us about his life, she mentioned an anecdote behind a small painting:We go for a drink in Japanese restaurants quite regularly. As usual, we wouldorder a small pot of wine and then pick our favorite cups. Salt Roasted Ginkgo is the one we would definitely order. While chatting with each other, we often peel off the scalding hot shells of the ginkgoes and eat theflesh pleasurably. It tastes so fresh and delicious. Once in a restaurant called Manzou, a waiter was just about to take away those empty shells. Yuping quickly barred him with his hands and said to him, “Leave them with me, please. They have their uses.” The waiter walked away with a bewildered look on his face and I was also confused. Can a pile of empty shells be of any use? He smiled proudly, as if he had got some treasure…王玉平《奶罐》，23x31cm，纸本水彩，2013王玉平《烟蒂》，29.7x42cm，木板丙烯，2020
Wang Yuping painted this plate of ginkgo shells. It looks lovely and warm, showing a feeling of contentment. The reason why the useless and worthless shells can arouse his creative interest is not the image of things, but the chance encounter between people and things in ordinary moments. For the painter, this plate of fruit shell is a delicious relic, a physical evidence of joy and a symbol of pleasurable time. The exhibition title "Salt Roasted Ginkgo" is derived from this work of art. As a poetic composite image, it connects with the exhibition theme. It shows that Wang Yuping rejects any idea of painting grand themes and that he emphasizes the true meanings in ordinary things. For his own life and the beautiful things he meets in life, the painter is so satisfied and so contented that the things he chooses to paint show us indescribable joy, which seems to contain the artistic view of ancient Chinese literati, “expressing emotions through describing objects”. As Lu Ji, an ancient Chinese literati and calligrapher from Western Jin Dynasty wrote in his well-known work of literature, Wen Fu, "Poetry is beautiful because of expressing emotions, while Fu is magnificent because of narrating stories anddescribing things", which is also true for fine art. We can appreciate the realm of " the combination of emotions and objects " in Wang Yuping's paintings. On the other hand, "Salt Roasted Ginkgo" and the paintings of its kind have cancelled the background with spatial depth, and the extensive area of "blank" has become a common feature in his paintings in recent years. These stand in total contrast to his early expressive paintings which were full of fierce strokes. The edges of objects painted with oil paint or propylene often have a virtual effect rubbed with a dry brush. This effect naturally combines the object and the background. There, reality seeps slightly into the void, like the halo of Chinese painting. Thus, the blank background and the harmonious relation between the picture and the background strengthen the symbolism and lyricism of the painted objects respectively, and create the meaning of the picture.
王玉平《浮世绘的小人书-1》，31x41cm，纸本水彩，2015The works selected in the exhibition depict all cherished possessions in Wang Yuping's life, which not only shows his living expenses, but also reveals his collection interest. They often have relaxed and soft visual effects, and the colors in these paintings are not frivolous but bright. They are both voluptuous and simple, bringing complex synaesthesia experience to the viewer. The visual feeling seems to affect the nerves of taste and touch. When it comes to synaesthesia, that is, synaesthesia and symbolism, we can cite an outstanding American painter, Wayne Thiebaud, who also paints objects in daily life, especially his cake series which have bright colors, simple style and great painting texture. It not only depicts the shapes of the dessert, but also makes people associates the tastes of it. Theorists believe that his painting presents the temptation of the consumer society and praise him as a representative of Pop Art, but he does not accept this label and regards himself as a doer of traditional painting. Comparing this case, we can consider the significance of Wang Yuping's object painting from a similar angle. What he paintsare the possessions that he shows favour in his personal life, and they are from this inseparable consumer society. His objects are not that popular, but they have a faint sense of nostalgia. They are like the remembrance of years. At the same time, they also show the constant changes of the "present" in which contemporary people live. Wang Yuping's objects are not a symbol of value, but carries cultural information. He likes to collect objects from all over the world, and even some objects (such as albums of paintings from abroad) are closely related to his creation itself. When he expressed these themes with Chinese painting techniques, it was related to the issue of cultural appropriation. The pictorial album (such as the work, World Art) in Wang Yuping's works not only involves the cultural memory of that generation of painters, but also is an outdated paper commodity. In the recent past, it carried the values of Western art which waswidely spread in China, reflecting that the dissemination of culture often depends on the circulation of cultural commodities. The viewers can't ignore it, although Wang Yuping's object painting has nothing to do with Pop Art, and he should be more indifferent to the interpretation of consumerism than Wayne Thiebaud. Some of his works have a nostalgic taste and cultural complex of the consumption age. Therefore, the exhibition serially presents some paintings with the theme of old pictorial albums and Ukiyo-e pictorial albums, which naturally involves the issue of cultural current.
王玉平《椅子-2》，76x56cm，纸本木炭，2019Wang Yuping's paintings are born and grown inward, reflecting the cultural landscape of the modern world in a private way. These paintings are like a layer of soft gauze, filtering out the vulgar dust and receiving multiple cultural resources freewheelingly. Bread, cigarettes, ukiyo-e painting, Dianshizhai pictorial album, small American lamp, Indian tin toys, Istanbul knitted hat......Wang Yuping created the "Natural History" of modern life with personal interest. The large-scale oil paintings in the exhibition have gathered rich cultural symbols and has strengthened the significance of this level. This is the result of personal interests rather than perception. In his work,White Horse and Ukiyoe Painting (2021), Wang Yuping presents complex and diverse information directly. It depicts a desktop covered with pink cloth. When we stand in front of the painting, our eyes will be attracted by the varied items on the table. Therefore, wewatch it with the pleasure of"discovery" to observe every detail. These objects from different cultural backgrounds not only reveal the artist's aesthetic life, but also make people think about the internal relationship between them and his creation. Interestingly, the two empty chairs beside the table show people's absence on the surface. But in essence, "man" does not disappear. He hides in objects. Through the objects in the painting, we can experience a vivid and specific "person". A person who is constructed by pleasure and upbringing, by life and belief, by harmonious and contradictory things in the world - and it is with this multiple construction that the painter has made choices for himself and constructed the free territory of personal spirit.
王玉平《虚岁60-3》，200x480cm，布面丙烯、油画棒，2019-2021Looking back at Grapes from 1988, we can recognize some commonness in the difference of visual effects between brightness and dim yellow - they both show the unity of mind and objects, and present the additional charm through being intertwined closely.
Salt Roasted Ginkgo - Wang Yuping
王玉平，1962 年生于北京，现任教于中央美术学院油画系第四工作室。1983 年考入中央工艺美术学院陶瓷系，1985 年考入中央美术学院油画系， 1989 年毕业于中央美院油画系。
Wang Yuping, born in Beijing in 1962, graduated from oil painting department, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1989. Currently works in the No.4 Studio of the Oil Painting Department, School of Fine Art, CAFA.
关于策展人
王将，一位活跃的当代艺术策划人、创作者与写作者，毕业于中央美术学院。从2016年至今，他已策划60余场机构展览与独立项目，梳理了众多不同代际和类型的艺术实践，其跨度从无名画会中的个案到新世代的潮流。他的近期研究兴趣集中在艺术社会学与神话学。在常规策划工作之外，他是一位拓展策展语法边界的冒险者，并建立出一种新范型。
Wang Jiang, an active curator and producer of contemporary arts graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts. He has been curated more than 60 exhibition and independent projects since 2016. His main interests are focus on art sociology and mythology. In addition to his regular curatorial work, he is an adventurer who expands the boundaries of curatorial grammar and gradually establishes a new paradigm.
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