vanessa german｜悲伤的说唱人

凡妮莎·甄曼（vanessa german）在卡斯明画廊的最新展览「悲伤的说唱人（Sad Rapper）」是艺术家在画廊备受期待的首次个人项目。艺术家以其全新的立式雕塑以及大型墙面装置回应了种族与社群等在美国最为迫切的社会与政治议题。展览开幕的前三天，甄曼将会在展厅中与观众展开一系列口述传统的仪式性疗愈互动。

展览构想了一群来自一个幻想社区的人们的群像。这与甄曼年轻时生活在1980年代的洛杉矶的经历密切相联，呈现出美国梦语境下当代黑人文化的身份呈现及成型的复杂性。

展览现场. Photo: Diego Flores

vanessa german

THE THREE-HEADED MAN

2022

will smith crying at the Oscar’s and saying that he didn’t know why he was crying the way that he was crying but it was clear to me that he was crying because of all of the everything rising up inside of his physical body and no one was really there to help him through the emotional and spiritual tsunami that was calling his name into his own self— that was like watching a miracle unfurl itself in the midst of rush hour traffic on the 405– it’s a thick thing this being alive, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, prayer beads, 100% cotton, love, lust, cruelty, dancing in the streets, not really knowing what love is or believing in it, love, heat, power in the hands and power in the throat, wanting to do better, glass jars, cloth, twine, cowrie shells, shoes, vintage spinning toys, wood, plaster, cowrie shells, how it feels to not ever have anyone really ask you how you feel in a way that you know is an open door to feeling and being seen and being felt, and how sorrow is fertile ground, how i have seen black men make cruelty out of the ruthless pain of their broken hearts, a broken heart, a broken heart healing, and more love, ________,_________,__________,___________,__________, yes.

241.9 x 184.2 x 52.1 cm

甄曼自学成才的艺术经历与其作为社会活动家的身份密不可分。她延承了原住民艺术、西非民俗艺术，以及60年代至今的黑人艺术运动传统，并以组合艺术为核心，用大量的物料来装点她亲手雕刻的木雕或石膏人像。

作品局部，上：THE THREE-HEADED MAN；中：THE BEAST, or Self Portrait；下：THE INNOCENCE AND THE ORIGINAL SIN

念珠、娃娃部件、手工毯子、滑板、绳索、丝绸鲜花、贝壳、可乐瓶、古董瓷铃、人造皮草——这些玲琅满目的材料或是来自于她所生活的社区，或是她从全国各地搜罗而来。

vanessa german

Blue Bird

2022

street bird: like fast-talking street corner creatures with leather jackets, grief bird, sorrow bird, heartbreak bird tryin just to figure out how it all goes, love bird, angel bird, wood, tar, oil pastels, ceramic bits, for how we love to talk about the flying Africans, love, earthling love songs, gold chains inspired by fast-talking street corner men, carved wood ashtray feet, blue Nikes for the boy who they killed on the corner of Kelly and Homewood and how he sold water and had a whole life ahead of him— which is a cliche that i am certain not everyone even believed on his behalf, old wooden chair with chippy paint, old boom box, Astro turf, how it feels to outlive children, a love song for the open sky, liberty, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

179.1 x 61 x 121.9 cm

这些甄曼称之为「原料（ingredient）」的组成部分只是作品媒介的一部分。与此同时，每一件作品长篇累牍的媒介中还掺入了艺术家的感性描述。通过将这些隐藏在作品之下的非理性成分与其物理成分并置，甄曼营造出错综复杂的隐喻，让语言、质感与图像交织而成的混响在情绪与感官、精神与物质之间产生共鸣。

vanessa german

TV Man

2022

wood, cloth, cutter quit, glitter, sequined fabric, Yoruba hat found stuck to a shelf at a Tjmax in western North Carolina, black pigment, the meanness of houselessness in a world of abundance, a took-apart-tv, 50 feet of rope, white and red pigment, wire, foam, a vision of a man walking up a hill, plaster, plaster gauze, wood glue, heat, hurt, loneliness, magic.

224.2 x 90.2 x 71.1 cm

vanessa german

BLACK SWAN, or, THE ENVY

2022

green, green with, green with envy, sick, sick to, sick to my, sick to my stomach, heart ache, green pigment, white, pigment, pink pigment, blue pigment, black pigment, a clutch of 7 knock-off tribal masks found in nyc before my Madison square park talk, love of the big body, the constant ache of being under the eye of white supremacist delusion, a wholeness calling up the night, a random punch drunk miracle, a hope song, a body bag filled with lies, a shoe horn aching to be a unicorn, a critical neighbor with a big mean mouth, grief, letting go, a saw horse, hand carved black swan. 

248.3 x 72.4 x 111.1 cm

展览的标题取自其中一件作品《悲伤的说唱人（Sad Rapper）》。这尊雕像似乎被笼罩在阴晴不定的紧张情绪之中，凝重的悲伤在重负之下一促即发，在社会成规对男性气概的期待面前，促使我们直面这个被父权制结构所裹挟的世界。 

vanessa german

Sad Rapper

2022

wood, tar, 75 pounds of old blue jeans, the blues, sorrow, cuz in 1983 rappers could be bad but could not be sad— or gay, holiness, salt, a groan, tears, African blue and white cloth, love, meanness, the way that it feels to need to cry but not be able to cry— for an exceptionally long time, convinced of muscle instead of tenderness, grief, yarn, twine, loneliness, old blue bed sheets, heartbreak and lying about it, canvas, prayer beads, shame, black pigment, delusion, love, love, love, you gonna be ok ni$$a, you ain’t alone homie, it’s ok, just go’on ahead and be broken for a little while, shit~ life is hard sometimes, red and white paint, foam, ptsd, glue, plaster, heat.

198.1 x 118.1 x 99.1 cm

通过挪用、观念重构以及灵活运用材料及图像的象征意义，甄曼的艺术实现了疗愈的另一种形式。展览「悲伤的说唱人」所提供的可替代性认识论挑战了权力和知识的主流结构，超越非洲未来主义（Afrofuturism）进入了一个超验领域的神秘想象空间。 

vanessa german

THE BEAST, or Self Portrait

2022

love, wood, fire, plaster, wood glue, glass beaded, bead trims, hand blown glass nipples, old coke bottles, hand blown glass egg/tear shapes, hope, hair grease, rage, sorrow, bitterness, obsessive thoughts, two wooden Children’s chairs, rage, ptsd, tears, black so-flat paint, tar, white and pink so-flat, wire, cloth, Astro turf, anxiety, two miracles, everyday there is grace, love.

200 x 106.7 x 77.5 cm

关于艺术家🔗

凡妮莎·甄曼（vanessa german, b. 1976）是一名自学成才的人民艺术家（citizen artist）。通过创作雕塑、表演、公共仪式、沉浸式装置及摄影等不同媒介的艺术作品，甄曼试图修复被扰乱的系统和空间，进而重建事物之间的联系。她的艺术实践为社会疗愈提供了全新的模式，以创造力和柔软的力量来对抗历史和当下的种种不公。

甄曼以视觉讲述故事，她运用拼接和混合媒介为创作语言，使用本地的拾得物为材料建构作品。这些被赋予了护佑性和仪式性的雕塑被她称为「力量雕像」或「焦油宝贝」，以刚果传统中注入了灵魂的雕塑Nkisi为原型，兼容了民间艺术以珠子、玻璃、织物、木雕等点缀其间的手法，将黑人、灵性、神秘主义和女性主义的力量合而为一体。

甄曼的作品现藏于诸多私人和公共收藏中，包括纳尔逊艺术博物馆（Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art），西弗吉尼亚大学博物馆（West Virginia University Museum），艾佛森艺术博物馆（Everson Museum of Art），费吉艺术博物馆（Figge Art Museum, Flint Institute of Arts），斯佩尔曼学院美术馆（Spelman College Museum of Fine Art），水晶桥美国艺术博物馆，大卫·C·德里斯克尔中心（David C. Driskell Center），斯奈特艺术博物馆（Snite Museum of Art），沃兹沃斯艺术学院博物馆（Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art），汉密尔顿学院韦林艺术博物馆（Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College）。甄曼的艺术作品在全球各地广泛展出，近期的展览包括在费吉艺术博物馆、床垫工厂（Mattress Factory）、艾佛森艺术博物馆、斯佩尔曼学院美术馆、当代艺术联盟（The Union for Contemporary Art）、沃兹沃斯艺术学院博物馆、工作室博物馆（Studio Museum）、瑞格林艺术博物馆（Ringling Museum of Art）及水晶桥美国艺术博物馆。

展览现场

Photo: Diego Flores