Yan Xing_Realism

鄢醒 YAN XING 现实主义 REALISM 《现实主义》2011, 局部, 石膏, 雕塑: 346 x 112 x 100 cm

“REALISM” 2011, detail, plaster, sculpture: 346 x 112 x 100 cm

现实主义 —— 评鄢醒 文：卢迎华

2011年1月15日，鄢醒（1986年生于中国重庆，生活和工作在中国北京）在我策划的一个展览中呈现了一个名为《DADDY 项目》（2010）的行为作品。 在这次令人心酸的呈现中，鄢醒面对着白墙站立，花了两个小时的时间讲述了他在单亲妈妈的照顾下成长的经历，向在场的观众坦露了自己曾经承受 的家庭暴力、生活的巨大动荡感、来自家族的认同感及爱的缺失，以及在他整个生命历程中都不曾有过的父爱。开始这场讲述时，鄢醒把叙述的焦 点放在了自己父亲的身上，甚至告诉我们父亲就在观众中；而随着他叙述的进行，我们才知道他所指的并非自己真正的父亲，而是一个他从未真实拥 有、但无时不企盼的父亲形象。无疑，鄢醒是个出色的故事叙述者。也许是因为讲述的这一切都是他亲身的经历，或者是因为他的记忆力如此之强， 表演过程中他没有尴尬的停顿或者词语的磕绊。他描述了与母亲之间不断的争吵和竞争关系，两个人之间的矛盾如此激烈，他甚至曾被母亲刺伤过。 鄢醒与母亲的男朋友也偶有暧昧关系；警察也常常出现在他们的生活中。很难想象一个像鄢醒这样的年轻人已经经历过对于大多数人来说无法想象 的艰难和痛苦，还仍能像他现在这样保持着对生命的期望、追求而努力工作。 《DADDY 项目》这件私人而又带有自传性质的作品是鄢醒创作的最好的作品之一。他的另外一些更有力的作品也以自我指向为特征，把艺术家本人 及其自身的经验和投射放置在对于关注力的审视和探讨的核心；同时，这也满足了他被观看、被倾听，以及被爱的本能欲求。 鄢醒此次在麦勒画廊北京部的首次个展中呈现的主要作品——《现实主义》（2011），可以说是他之前策划的名为《一个计划——教育》（2009）的 项目的延伸讨论。2009年，鄢醒构思并发起了这一项目，邀请身边的朋友和艺术家创作一件反映教育的构成因素的作品，探讨每个人如何消费和内 化从学校、媒体以及其它渠道获得的外部资源信息和教育。 《现实主义》这部行为作品是鄢醒特别为此次展览构思创作的。参与现场的有鄢醒本人和一组被他安插进观众中的演员，由他们和一件大型雕塑 作品进行互动。这件雕塑的原型来源于一件制作于1577年、摆放在意大利佛罗伦萨的古典作品。在鄢醒想象中，他是“最完美、最性感、最优雅、最 美妙的男性形象”的化身。制作这件用于展览的雕像使用的方法及风格沿用了前苏联的社会主义现实主义训练体系，通过自然主义塑造理想造型的 方式，塑造工人阶级和农民坚毅、不朽的形象。在行为表演现场，鄢醒和他邀请的演员将围绕着这座高达3.5米的石膏雕像呈现他自己精心编排过的 动作。他们的表演看起来似乎是彼此随机地交头接耳讨论着什么事情，但演员是完全按照剧本的精确设计进行呈现。剧本以安德烈·布勒东（André Breton）撰写的《超现实主义宣言》（1924）为基础，鄢醒在这部宣言书页上做了阅注，写下自己对于宣言中涉及的问题的阐释、评论和思考。 按照编排，演员们将在现场互相讨论宣言中的内容，也会在表演过程中和观众聊天，向他们提问题。在这样的意见交换中，演员们要提出对于宣言内 容的质疑或者认可，表达对其所宣称的东西的不满或者兴奋。鄢醒将在表演中扮演他自己，一个专业的艺术家，与演员和观众一道分享他对于展览中 的这座雕像的想法和意见，以及他对艺术史的反思。现实主义和超现实主义两个截然不同的世界观和价值系统将在鄢醒的这个作品中直面相遇。两 者的美学传统和世界观并非像我们通常理解的那样风马牛不相及。两种体系都在用它们各自的方式去表达关于人类欲望和野心的某种想象。它们无 非是两种人类不断尝试的手段，以求更加理解世界的组成。这两种对于“艺术可以是什么”的意识形态阐释都在一般的艺术史叙事中获得了稳固的 地位，把自身确立为一套艺术法则，旨在指导我们如何从宏观上理解艺术，并对艺术制作的过程产生影响。而鄢醒的这件作品是艺术家通过自身的 实践试图检验自己与这些艺术权力话语的关系，消解它们的权威及其试图强加给艺术实践的影响。 除了《现实主义》，鄢醒还将展示另一件他最近创作的作品 ——《他们不在这里》（2010）。这是艺术家应某展览邀请在非常规展览空间里完成的一 件作品。每位参展的艺术家都拥有对展览空间的决定权利，用自己的方式完成作品，而不必在展览开幕日时在同一空间一同呈现。在此次展览中，我 们可以看到这个项目的视频和图像记录。鄢醒让七个男子同处于某一酒店房间中共度了一个无聊的下午。按照计划，他们彼此间不得交流，尽管同时 同地的在场，却各自沉浸在自己的世界中，全神地投入到鄢醒分配的角色里。房间外面，一个写着“他们不在这里”的标签挂在门上；房间里面则设有 三个固定机位和一台DV摄像机，记录作为导演这一情境的艺术家拍摄这七个年轻男子的过程。

翻译：苏伟

REALISM On Yan Xing

by Carol Yinghua Lu

On January 15, 2011, Yan Xing (*1986 in Chongqing, China; lives and works in Beijing, China) performed a piece entitled DADDY Project (2010) in an exhibition that I curated. In this poignant work, Yan Xing stood facing a white wall, recounting over the next two hours his own experience growing up with a single mother, exposed to instances of family violence, great uncertainties, the lack of recognition and love from his extended family, and ultimately the absence of fatherly affection all through his life. Yan Xing started by addressing his account to his own father, whom he disclosed to be in the audience, but as he continued his narration, it became clear that it wasn’t the father he was referring to, but a fatherly figure he has never really had but is always yearning for. There is no doubt that Yan Xing is a great storyteller. Maybe because it was everything he’s been through, or that he simply has a great memory, but there was no awkward lapse into silence or struggle for words during his performance. He described his constant rows and competitive relationship with his mother, which reached a point at which she stabbed him. The police were often called in these situations, occasioned by Yan Xing’s affairs with his mother’s boyfriends. It’s hard to imagine that someone as young as Yan Xing would have already been through hardships and pains unimaginable to most and would still remain as hopeful, aspiring, hardworking and eager as he is.

DADDY Project , which is personal and autobiographical, is a prime example of Yan Xing’s work at its best. Some of his stronger works have always been self-referential, placing the artist, his own experience and reflection at the very center of attention, examination and discussion and, at the same time, satisfying his instinctive compulsion to be seen, heard and loved.

The centerpiece of Yan Xing’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, is REALISM (2011), a discussion that can be seen as a continuation of an earlier curatorial project entitled A Project – Education (2009). In 2009, Yan Xing conceived and initiated Education , inviting a number of his peers and fellow artists to create a work reflecting on issues concerning what education consists of and how each consumes and internalizes the education and information he or she has received from outside sources such as school, the media and other channels.

REALISM is a performative work that Yan Xing has conceptualized specifically for the exhibition. It involves Yan Xing and a group of actors that the artist will place among the audience, who will interact with a large-scale sculpture. The sculpture is an incarnation of Yan Xing’s vision of “the most perfect, the most sexy, the most elegant and the most wonderful male figure”, modeled on a classic male sculpture made in 1577 and sited in Florence, Italy. The making of the sculpture involves methods derived from Soviet Socialist Realist training that uses naturalistic idealization to portray the working class and farmers as purposeful and well-muscled, monumental presences. When finished, the sculpture is a towering, 3.5meter high, white plaster monument around which Yan Xing and his troupe of performers will carry out acts that are carefully choreographed by the artist. Although appearing to be randomly discussing things with each other and whispering into each other’s ears, the actors are given an exact script to follow, which consists of André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto (1924) together with marginal reading notes Yan Xing has written on its pages. These notes are Yan Xing’s interpretations, commentaries and contemplation related to issues addressed in the Manifesto .

The actors will be instructed to converse about the content of the Manifesto among themselves. They will also talk to audience members during the process, asking them questions. In these exchanges, the actors will raise doubts concerning and give confirmation to the content of the Manifesto , expressing their feeling of being repelled or excited by its claims. In this performance, Yan Xing plays himself, a professional artist, who will share his thoughts, his opinions of the sculpture in the exhibition, and his reflections on art history with the actors and the audience. The two very different worldviews and value systems embedded in Socialist Realism and Surrealism will encounter each other head-on within Yan Xing’s work. Both aesthetic traditions and worldviews were never so far apart from each other as they are usually understood anyway. Both articulate and embody, in their own ways, a certain state of mind that’s about desire and ambition. They simply represent two of mankind’s incessant attempts to get closer to an understanding of how the world is organized. Having secured their positions in the general art historical narrative, these two ideological interpretations of what art could be have established themselves as sets of artistic laws, contributing to how we understand art altogether, as well as affecting the process of art making. This work is Yan Xing’s own attempt to examine his relationship to such artistic establishments and unravel the kind of authoritative influence they tend to exert over artistic practice.

Besides REALISM , Yan Xing will exhibit another recent work entitled They Are Not Here (2010). It was born out of an effort to respond to an exhibition invitation to create a work in a venue other than the usual exhibition space and at times determined by each participating artist instead of happening simultaneously according to an exhibition opening date. In this work, whose photo and video documentation is on view here, Yan Xing placed seven men in one hotel room, where they would spend an idle afternoon together. No communication was allowed between them.

Although stuck in one space at the same time, each of them was completely engrossed in his own world and preoccupied by his respective role designated by Yan Xing. Outside, a sign that read “They Are Not Here” was placed on the door, while inside, three fixed video cameras and a DV camera documented the process of the artist as the director of the scene, filming these seven young men.

《现实主义》2011 行为 鄢醒 “现实主义” 展览现场, 麦勒画廊 北京-卢森, 中国北京, 2011

“REALISM” 2011 performance Exhibition view, Yan Xing “REALISM”, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China, 2011

《现实主义》2011 行为, 装置 (雕塑、衣服), 黑白数码微喷 鄢醒 “现实主义” 展览现场, 麦勒画廊 北京-卢森, 中国北京, 2011

“REALISM” 2011 performance, installation (sculpture + clothes), b/w digital print Exhibition view, Yan Xing “REALISM”, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China, 2011

《现实主义》2011, 3版 黑白数码微喷 210 x 140 cm

“REALISM” 2011, edition of 3 b/w digital print 210 x 140 cm

《他们不在这里》2010, 7版 第一部分 黑白数码微喷 2x 80 x 120 cm

“They Are Not Here ” 2010, edition of 7 part 1 b/w digital print 2x 80 x 120 cm

《他们不在这里》2010, 7版 第二部分 黑白数码微喷 120 x 180 cm

“They Are Not Here ” 2010, edition of 7 part 2 b/w digital print 120 x 180 cm

《他们不在这里》2010, 5版 单通道数字录像 (黑白, 有声) 25’44”

“They Are Not Here” 2010, edition of 5 single channel digital video (b/w, sound) 25’44”

鄢醒 1986

生于中国重庆 生活和工作在中国北京

2008

建立并加入公司 /COMPANY

2009

毕业于四川美术学院油画系，获学士学位，中国重庆

个展 2011

“现实主义”，麦勒画廊 北京-卢森，中国北京

主要联展 2011

“事实研习中心”，扬子江论坛，中国武汉 “小运动——当代艺术中的自我实践”，OCT当代艺术中心（OCAT)，中国深圳 “完美世界”，Meulensteen画廊，美国纽约 “你不是个小玩意儿”，艺门画廊，中国北京

2010

“哑剧”，艺术通道，中国北京 “亚洲新锐艺术家——艺术光州2010”，金大中会展中心，韩国光州 “一个计划——无可告知”，站台中国当代艺术机构，中国北京 “解放——及其相对的意义”，华人艺术中心，英国曼彻斯特 “天涯”，介入项目，中国北京

2009

“伪证”，全国美术院校油画专业应届毕业生优秀作品展，何香凝美术馆，中国深圳

2007

“移梦场”当代艺术展，四川美术学院，中国重庆

Yan Xing 1986

born in Chongqing, China lives and works in Beijing, China

2008

founder and member of COMPANY

2009

BFA, Oil Painting, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China

Solo Exhibition 2011

“REALISM”, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China

Selected Group Exhibitions 2011

“Fact Study Institute”, Yangtze River Space, Wuhan, China

“Little Movements: Self-practice in Contemporary Art”, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), Shenzhen, China

“In a Perfect World…”, Meulensteen Gallery, New York, USA

“You Are Not a Gadget”, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China

2010

“Mummery”, Art Channel, Beijing, China

“Emerging Asian Artists – Art Gwangju 2010”, KDJ Convention Center, Gwangju, South Korea

“A Project – Incommunicable”, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing, China

“Liberation – And its Relative Meaning”, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK

“Anywhere” intrude project, Beijing, China

2009

“Falsification – 6th Annual Exhibition of Dissertation Works in Painting from National Art Academies Across China”, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2007

“Dream Plant”, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China

鄢醒 “现实主义” 展览现场, 麦勒画廊 北京-卢森, 中国北京, 2011

Exhibition view, Yan Xing “REALISM”, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China, 2011

出版：麦勒画廊 北京-卢森为鄢醒个展 “现实主义” 而出版, 展出于中国北京麦勒画廊 北京-卢森 2011年 9月3日至 10月 23日 编辑：麦勒画廊 北京-卢森; 文章：卢迎华; 翻译：苏伟（中文）; 设计：李建辉; 摄影：李然, Eric Gregory Powell © 2011 麦勒画廊 北京-卢森, 鄢醒 未经出版人的书面许可, 本书所有内容不可用于任何形式及目的, 包括但不限于图片复印、抄录或其他信息存储及文字转换的复制及传播。 印刷：中国北京 Publisher: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne on the occasion of Yan Xing’s solo exhibition “REALISM” at Galerie Urs Meile in Beijing, China, from September 3 to October 23, 2011 Editor: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne; Text: Carol Yinghua Lu; Translator: Su Wei (C); Designer: Li Jianhui; Photography: Li Ran, Eric Gregory Powell © 2011 Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Yan Xing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including but not limited to photocopying, transcribing or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Printed in China 麦勒画廊, 北京市朝阳区草场地104号, 邮编 100015, 电话 + 86 10 643 333 93 Galerie Urs Meile, No. 104, Caochangdi, Chaoyang District, PRC -100015 Beijing, China, T + 86 10 643 333 93 Galerie Urs Meile, Rosenberghöhe 4, 6004 Lucerne, Switzerland, T + 41 41 420 33 18 galerie@galerieursmeile.com, www.galerieursmeile.com