第一次看到單凡的作品，是多年前在杭州世貿(mào)中心一個曲折逼仄的空間里，如今雖然已經(jīng)無法準(zhǔn)確用語言追記畫面的構(gòu)成，但仍然記得作品透過昏暗直抵心靈的那種力量；第二次看到單凡的作品，是印在畫冊里的那“記憶的回望”——一頁頁空靈的水墨竹葉，讓人感到畫家似乎不是在畫自然中的修篁清風(fēng)而是記錄一種心路歷程；第三次看到單凡的作品則是一種沉重，他選擇的題材是德國魯爾區(qū)中那些上世紀(jì)工業(yè)革命后被現(xiàn)代化社會廢棄的“物”所構(gòu)筑的工業(yè)風(fēng)景，使得看慣了“自然”風(fēng)景的眼睛一下子難以承受這種異化之重。

飄逸與沉重如此充滿張力地集于一身，使我對單凡，對這位德籍華人藝術(shù)家充滿了探究的欲望。于是，在他獲得了德國政府授予的“藝術(shù)與學(xué)術(shù)勛章”之后不久，在杭州西湖一個詩意墨韻的空間里，我們作了一次對話。

他的根在杭州

單凡，漢堡國立美術(shù)學(xué)院文科碩士、德國漢堡國際傳媒藝術(shù)及新媒體設(shè)計學(xué)院院長、德國柏林設(shè)計學(xué)院副院長，在德國乃至歐洲都受到普遍承認(rèn)和重視的國際藝術(shù)家。盡管罩著光環(huán)，但單凡的根卻在杭州，坐在西湖邊的單凡，更容易回到童年的記憶中。

他出生在杭州，從小跟隨祖母在浙江安吉一個叫塔山嶺的小村里長大，安吉滿目的修竹早已經(jīng)化作他童年的背景，至今他仍然對在浙江美術(shù)學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)的5年感恩在心，在這兒他開始了自己的藝術(shù)生涯。上世紀(jì)80年代涉重洋赴德之前，他所學(xué)的都是中國傳統(tǒng)的山水畫法，對西方繪畫和傳統(tǒng)知之甚少，以至于初抵德國后，發(fā)覺自己完全處在一種最典型的身份消失的迷惘之中。

此后五年，單凡身處“德國文化的后花園”靜心品嘗德國文化的精髓，終于在一個新的人文環(huán)境中重新找到自己的身份。他稱自己的這一新身份是一種處在東西兩大文化板塊之間的非常不確定的身份，既有很典型的中國傳統(tǒng)文化的基因，又具有明顯的德國元素。然而正是這種東西方不同的教育背景，賦予了單凡重要的藝術(shù)觀念，使他在精神高度把握兩種文化的相同之處的同時，又能在兩者之間躑躅求索。因此他得以超越藩籬，獲得內(nèi)心的自由，他以簡約、虛靜的抽象藝術(shù)獲得了成功。

安吉竹的延伸

單凡在德國接觸到了塔皮埃斯的作品，這位在西方藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域最具影響力的藝術(shù)家作品中所散發(fā)的濃厚的宗教神秘主義氣氛和他作為藝術(shù)家所具有的氣質(zhì)吸引了他。在他的身上，單凡似乎又重新找回了童年時代對神秘主義的向往和對自身人格、氣質(zhì)修煉的追求。于是，單凡像在修行一樣，在業(yè)余時間一遍遍畫著童年的記憶：毛竹。竹是安吉的，但也不僅僅是安吉的，它是中國傳統(tǒng)文化中一個具有標(biāo)志意義的圖騰，是中國文人精神世界里的支柱。在單凡看來，在如今一個技法創(chuàng)新和流派現(xiàn)象枯絕的時代，藝術(shù)家只有具有獨立的人格才能創(chuàng)造出獨立的藝術(shù)。因此他筆下的毛竹，在刻意流露的東方禪意背后隱藏著作者在西方文化后園里尋求自身文化身份和精神歸宿的企圖。單凡的毛竹不是雨打芭蕉時的點綴，也不是風(fēng)過窗欞時的背景，而是精神探尋的軌跡。2006年11月11日，單凡攜他的竹畫和意趣相投的塔皮埃斯在北京798藝術(shù)區(qū)“空間畫廊”舉行聯(lián)合畫展，這場對“畫”，中西方藝術(shù)的高點在這里有一次精彩的碰撞和交融。

現(xiàn)代文明廢墟的藍(lán)本

單凡在進(jìn)行了近15年的抽象繪畫的實驗以后，他出人意料地把畫筆和觀念轉(zhuǎn)向工業(yè)風(fēng)景。他生活在德國漢堡附近一個世外桃源似的自然保護(hù)區(qū)之內(nèi)，天天親身體驗的是一些“一塵不染”的自然風(fēng)景。有一次他偶然在電視上看到了倒塌的鐵塔，畫面的構(gòu)成非常美，這給他一個啟發(fā)：任何工業(yè)的元素在它功能尚存時，讓人有一種畏懼感，而一旦喪失，卻成為了審美對象。他繼而在空中俯視魯爾工業(yè)區(qū)，居然仿佛看到了計算機(jī)主板上的芯片、電路布局圖，這又讓他聯(lián)想到，自然保護(hù)區(qū)外的環(huán)境正在不斷地被人工合成，而“人們卻生活在對新技術(shù)、新材料與異化的惶惶然中”。于是，單凡以工業(yè)區(qū)的那些經(jīng)典的現(xiàn)代文明的廢墟為藍(lán)本，創(chuàng)作了一幅讓人震撼的畫面。畫面沒有透視，沒有具體的景物情境，甚至沒有人，所謂“工業(yè)風(fēng)景”是一些簡化成直而長的線狀幾何結(jié)構(gòu)，寬窄不同，走向不同，反復(fù)重疊、交錯一起。那些線狀幾何結(jié)構(gòu)，正是單凡以一種審美心態(tài)，把簡約、冷靜、機(jī)械等典型的工業(yè)化審美元素直接抽離、簡化的結(jié)果。單凡“真”的把這些廢墟當(dāng)作風(fēng)景，而這些風(fēng)景的謎底就是畫家想要對人本身提出的質(zhì)問：人為什么活著？工業(yè)的精化為了什么？正是人充滿希望的工作，才使得社會朝著智能和精簡發(fā)展。但隨著人工智能進(jìn)步，人本身卻越來越淪落惶然之中。單凡的工業(yè)風(fēng)景，不是懷舊，而是時空，是畫家面對自然和諧與社會異化的對比張力所選擇的繪畫態(tài)度。

多棱的藝術(shù)角色

單凡的藝術(shù)角色是多棱的，它不僅僅是一個藝術(shù)家，而且還是藝術(shù)策展人、藝術(shù)教育家。1995年，由單凡策展的“從國家形態(tài)走出去”已經(jīng)成為中國當(dāng)代藝術(shù)史上一次重要的事件，參展的12位中國藝術(shù)家目前已經(jīng)成為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)中國當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的翹楚。近幾年來，單凡積極推動中德文化交流。如今，單凡已是北師大珠海分校國際傳媒設(shè)計學(xué)院德方理事長、清華大學(xué)-DFI國際傳媒設(shè)計高級研修項目德方主席，他大力推行啟發(fā)式教育、精英教育、個性化教育，強(qiáng)調(diào)在全球一體化的文化語境中，藝術(shù)設(shè)計者應(yīng)該是國際大都市的游牧者，必須具有在全球范圍工作的能力。單凡還是今年德國“中國時代”文化年活動的藝術(shù)總監(jiān)。為了表彰單凡先生作為藝術(shù)家在自由藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域里所取得的成就和在中德兩國文化交流中所作出的杰出貢獻(xiàn)，2006年8月29日，德國漢堡市授予單凡“藝術(shù)與學(xué)術(shù)”勛章。這一勛章由德國政府在1956年設(shè)立，用以表彰在藝術(shù)研究和科學(xué)領(lǐng)域里具有杰出成就和貢獻(xiàn)的人物。勛章正面鑄有兩頭守護(hù)著漢堡市市徽的雄獅，反面鑄有銘文：“我們從無中來，卻要探尋所有（Wir sind nichts，was wir suchen ist alles.）”這句話正是單凡藝術(shù)之旅的寫照。

Shan Fan's Art Career

By Bei Chen

I remember the three times I saw Shan Fan’s artworks. The first time， they were displayed in a narrow space at the Zhejiang World Trade Center Hotel. I can’t accurately describe what I saw there， but I still can feel the penetrating power of the images he created. The second time， it was an art album. His paintings in it were about nature. The third time I saw his works， they were industrial scenes， created by the industrial revolution and dumped by the modern society. The ethereal part and the desolate part in Shan’s art motivated me to know about the Chinese artist who resides in Germany. Shortly after he was awarded a German Government Art and Science Medal， Shan Fan and I met in a poetic place on the West Lake in Hangzhou. We chatted and the following is an excerption of our conversation.

His Roots in Hangzhou

Shan was born in Hangzhou and grew up with his grandmother in a small mountainous village in Anji， Zhejiang Province. The bamboo forests in the rural county have long since melted into the memories of his childhood years. The five years he spent at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (today’s China Academy of Fine Arts) mark an important period in his life， for his art career started there. Before he traveled to Germany in the 1980s， he had been fully and exclusively exposed to an art world of Chinese landscape. He had so little knowledge of Western art that he felt totally lost upon his arrival in Germany.

Reproductions of Bamboos in Anji

It was in Germany that Shan Fan first came into contact with the works of Antonio Tapies. The Spanish abstract expressionist’s religious mysticism and artistic temperament deeply influenced Shan Fan. His works seemed to enable Shan to retrieve his own fascination with mysticism in his childhood years and his pursuit for personality and temperament. So Shan Fan began to devote his spare time to drawing bamboos from his memories. For Shan， bamboo is more than a symbol of Anji where he grew up. It is a landmark totem in traditional Chinese culture and a pillar in the spiritual world of the Chinese intelligentsia. In an era， according to Shan， when styles and trends have been exhausted， an artist can stand out only by his outstanding personality. The bamboo images he creates are neither lyrical about raindrops pattering on banana leaves nor invisible about a breeze swishing past a window. His bamboos constitute a trajectory of his spiritual probe. On November 11， 2006， Shan and Tapies held a joint show at the Space Gallery in Beijing 798 art zone.

Records of the Ruins of Modern Civilization

After about 15 years experimenting with abstract expressionism， Shan turned his attention unexpectedly to industrial scenes. He lives in a suburb of Hamburg. It is a paradise-like nature reserve where he can experience pure nature. One day he was touched by a fallen iron tower he saw in a television program and the scene was a cinematic masterpiece. It suddenly occurred to him that industrial elements were awesome when they were in use and that they looked beautiful when they lost their functions. So he began to depict industrial scenes in an abstract way. The ruined landscape under Shan’s brush pen evokes questions: why we live and why industry keeps improving itself.

Multiple Roles

Shan Fan is more than an artist. He is a producer and educator. In 1995 he masterminded an exhibition entitled Out of State Patterns， which has become a landmark event in the history of China’s modern art. The 12 participating Chinese artists have now all become the leading artists in China’s modern art. Shan Fan is director of Hamburg-based International College of Communication Arts and New Media， among other positions he holds. He was the art director of three-week “China Time” in Hamburg.

(Translated by David)