2009年10月1日，圣之空间全力推出著名艺术家马堡中的个展《开国大典——马堡中新历史绘画》，展览的主要内容为马堡中最近对董希文油画《开国大典》的主题性研究成果。
在中国现代艺术史上，绘画中的形象被要求修改的事件数不胜数，董希文1953年创作的《开国大典》正是其中最具有代表性的案例。由于政治权力的介入以及历史风云的变幻无常，该画后来经由董希文、靳尚谊、阎振铎、叶武林等人屡次修改，画中人物形象几度变更，成为中国现代艺术史令人倍感荒唐和无奈的事情。
围绕命运多舛的《开国大典》，马堡中按照他自己对《开国大典》以及其中各个历史人物的理解，以他独有的网络结构主义绘画语言绘制出大画若干、小画数组，讨论绘画的修改背后所隐藏的政治与权力，以及人物的命运、历史中的真实、历史学的真实等等学术主题。展览同时还将展出有关油画《开国大典》的研究资料、历史照片，并调取电视台对参与修改《开国大典》的几位画家的采访录像。展览希望为中国现代史以及中国现当代艺术史的修正与重写提供重要和具体的个案研究。
圣之空间已成功举办过一系列的学术性展览，此次展览的策展人段君认为马堡中更是已成名艺术家中仍坚持学术的少数派。马堡中此次个展就是以艺术的方式研究历史，同时也是以历史的方式研究艺术。之所以称之为“新历史绘画”，旨在强调马堡中的研究方法：他的研究并不要求观众相信他在展览中所揭示的就是历史的真实，因为“新历史绘画”最重要的一点是作者不认为自己所画的就是绝对真实的，而是期望揭示出历史的真实为什么要被逐步改写出来。马堡中善意地提醒观众：我们不应该被眼前所谓的事实所约束，而是应当尽可能地避免被历史的叙述或改写加以强迫性的引导——包括马堡中自己的这次展览。
“新历史绘画”更加关注的是正统历史画通常会忽略的背后因素，比如逸闻逸事、阴谋阳谋、蝇营狗苟等等。马堡中发现在油画《开国大典》修改的指令背后运作的是一整套的秩序规范和意识形态，此次个展延续了他对政治人物和历史事件的一贯关注，其突破性在于马堡中的新历史主义方法，以及马堡中具有实践性质的主题式研究，同时在展览的多样性和丰富性方面也有充足的考虑。
Founding Ceremony of PRC: Ma Baozhong’s Neo-Historicism Paintings
On October 1, 2009, renowned artist Ma Baozhong’s solo exhibition “Founding Ceremony of PRC: Ma Baozhong’s Neo-Historicism Paintings” will be held in SZ Art Center, showing Ma Bazhong’s recent achievements of his subject research into Dong Xiwen’s oil painting “Founding Ceremony of PRC”.
Countless cases of modifying images in paintings could be found in Chinese modern art history, and Dong Xiwen’s “Founding Ceremony of PRC” (1953) could be the most representative. The involvement of political power and the changing of times caused several modifications of this painting, by the artist himself, and others like Jin Shangyi, Yan Zhenduo and Ye Wulin. The images changing became something ridiculous and helpless in Chinese modern art history.
Based on the misfortunate fate of “Founding Ceremony of PRC” and his own understanding of this work as well as the historical characters in it, Ma Baozhong created some large paintings and groups of small paintings by adopting his unique network structuralistic painting language, discussing academic subjects like the hidden politics and power behind the painting modification, the fate of characters, the truth in history, and the verity of history. Some research files and historical photos about “Founding Ceremony of PRC” will also be shown in the exhibition, along with the video of TV interview with those artists who are involved in the modification. This exhibition is aimed to provide some important and specific case for the modification and rewriting of Chinese modern history as well as Chinese modern and contemporary art history.
SZ Art Center has successfully held a series of academic exhibitions, and Duan Jun, curator of this exhibition, believes Ma Baozhong belongs to the few famous artists who still persist in academic study. In this solo exhibition, Ma Baozhong studies history in an artistic way, and in turn studies art in a historical way. The title “Neo-Historicism Paintings” is to emphasize his approach to study; he does not request the viewers to take everything in the exhibition as the truth of history, because one of the most important features of “Neo-Historicism Painting” is that, the author himself doesn’t even believe whatever he paints is 100% true, but hopes to reveal why the truth of history has to be modified step by step. Ma Baozhong kindly reminds the viewers that we shouldn’t be bound by the so-called truth in front of our eyes, but should avoid being passively misled by the account and modification of history, including the very exhibition of Ma Baozhong himself.
“Neo-Historicism Painting” focuses more on the hidden elements like anecdotes, tricks, shameless survival, etc., which are usually ignored by the traditional historical painting. Ma Baozhong discovered what hides behind the modification of the painting “Founding Ceremony of PRC” is a whole set of discipline and ideology. This solo exhibition shows his consistent focus on political figures and historical events, with its breakthrough of Ma Bazhong’s neo-historicism approach, of the practical significance in his subject research, and meanwhile, of his consideration about the diversity and richness of exhibition.
【编辑：张瑜】
