南溪 时尚都市系列 2008 纸本水墨设色 245×122cm
我注意到,南溪的笔墨套路与传统规范很不相同,大致可分为两类,一类是由晕化的墨点组成,另一种是由富于墨色变化且不规则的块面组成。当然,他有时还会用两种完全不同的笔路来描绘同一幅作品。在前一类作品中,大小不一、深浅不一的圆点就像传真照片似的组成了画面上的图像。不过,由于画面上的墨点分别是由破墨法、积墨法、渍墨法与冲墨法等等组成,结果不仅与传真照片本身具有完全不同的审美效果,也与波谱艺术家李奇特斯登（ROY LICHTENSTEIN）运用网点在油画布上创作的作品不同；而在后一类作品中,南溪主要是由类似版画的深浅墨块不断叠加才组成的图像——这些墨块是由处理后的电脑图像移植过来的,其构成了人物的暗部、灰部,并空出了亮部,从而显现出人与物的形状来。
但无论是前者,还是后者,都彻底抛弃了摄影的外观,以致创造了一个既能接近历史与现实,又具有很强隐喻特点的绘画之谜。毫无疑问,这种做法在很大程度上破坏了原始图像本身的目的性与意义,进而挑起了人们全新的思考与悬疑感。因此,他的近作往往让人各有所思,这是极其不容易的。南溪给我们的巨大启示性是,在数码时代的大背景下,当一些人认为水墨媒介已经没有意义,无法再与丰富多变的新生活相匹配,而只能往抽象水墨方面发展时,他不但坚持探索这种传统媒介全新的可能性,而且通过对影像元素的巧妙引入,创造性地赋予了水墨以新的文化属性与表达方式。而且,这也在很大程度上表明,构成水墨图像与笔墨的表现方式在传统之外还另有新径。因此,倘要说南溪结合新文化观念与视觉经验所进行的探索具有艺术史意义,似乎并不为过。
Recommendation
By Lu Hong
I’ve noticed that Nan Xi is on the way that differs from the tradition, and most of his works are composed with fade ink dots which are similar to a faxed photo with many round dots, or changeable irregular color lumps. Sometimes he uses the two ways in one piece. In the former type of works, the round dots of various sizes and shades that look like those in telephoto form the image of the painting. But these ink dots are painted through techniques of broken-ink, accumulate-ink, stained-ink and washed-ink, and present an entirely distinct aesthetic effect from telephoto pictures and urban landscape paintings, much similar to those of the POP artist Roy Lichtenstein who uses black dots painted on canvas; In the other type of works, Nan Xi mainly adopts the repeated superposition of ink shapes in various shades for the formation of image—these ink shapes are transplanted from the images after computer process as the shadow and grey parts and left the light part blank to give shape to the figure and objects. But both the former and latter types all thoroughly abandoned the appearance of the photos and created a metaphor-featured painting mystery close to history and reality. The intension and value of the original images has been doubtlessly disrupted to a large extent and provoked brand new reflection and questions. Therefore, his recent works always give people various thoughts-- it is certainly not easy to achieve.
Nan Xi brought us great inspirations. Under the circumstances of digital age, when somebody consider the wash and ink media insignificant and no longer coordinated with the colorful and volatile new life, and have to develop towards abstract ink and wash, he has not only persisted in seeking the new possibilities for this traditional media, but also creatively endowed it with new cultural attributes and mode of expression. Furthermore, this shows that, in a large extent, there are new approaches in wash and ink image and brush works presentations except the traditional ways. Therefore, it is not an overstatement that Nan Xi’s exploration combining new cultural concepts and visual experiences is of historical significance in art.
【编辑：姚丹】
