独唱团 

 Silent Spring

郭警

Guo Jing

展览时间： 5月16日 – 6月14日

Duration：May 16 – June 14 

开幕时间：5月16日 下午3：00

Opening：May 16，3pm-5pm

策展人：范娟娟

Curator：fanfan

地点：红门画廊，798艺术区，北京

Venue：Red Gate Gallery，798 Art Zone，Beijing

展览由Artand主办，红门画廊协办

Artand and Red Gate Gallery

 /

艺术家郭警的个展《独唱团》将于 2020年5月16日于北京开幕，以纪念2020年这个特殊的春天。在新冠病毒肆虐下，全球发展停滞，生活秩序被打破， 全人类陷入危机和伤痛。这个春天的到来，显得格外迟缓而静寂。

展览名字源于疫情期艺术家对于艺术能量的反思，一方面切身感受到艺术的无力，另一方面又试图突破这样的拘囿。在回答象外采访时，郭警提到“艺术表达并不能直接对事件本身产生影响。……艺术与现实的链接，只能以潜移默化的形式呈现。它不是一记重拳，而是一种纪念、缅怀、警醒，……，它的作用并不在当下。”

 黑色幽默与荒诞性反讽是近几年郭警作品的一个鲜明符号，尽管如此，郭警的作品基本都与现实主义题材保持一定距离。他通过一定的情节或者场景构架展现反秩序性或者断裂的逻辑，引发遐思或者会心一笑。这种精巧的设计时常借由静物来实现，偶尔出现人物，人物身份大抵也是模糊的、非指向性的，亦或者干脆是西方面孔。

然而，说不定从2020年的这个春天开始，这一切即将发生变化了。

一个超现实主义风格的艺术家，一旦开始认真思考眼前的现实问题，会发生什么呢？

展览将持续至2020年6月14日。这是艺术家郭警的第二个个展，上个个展《泥牛入海》举办于2018年。

本次展览由Artand主办，红门画廊协办。

Silent Spring by Guo Jing opens in Beijing on May 16, 2020 to commemorate the special spring of 2020. Due to the new coronavirus, global development has stagnated, the regular order has broken down, and humanity has fallen into crisis and pain. This spring seems particularly late and quiet.

The title of the exhibition comes from the reflection of artists on artistic energy during the epidemic period. Guo Jing feels the powerlessness of art, and tries to break through such constraints. In an interview with Xiang Wai, Guo Jing said "artistic expression does not directly affect reality. The link between art and reality can only be presented in a subtle way. It is not a heavy punch, but a kind of commemoration, remembrance, an alert. It’s meaning will not be found now but in the future. "

In recent years, black humor and absurd irony are the distinctive symbols of Guo Jing's art. However, Guo Jing's works keep a certain distance from realistic themes. Through a certain plot or construction, he shows an aberration in the logic, creating amusement. This delicate design is often achieved through still life. Occasionally there are characters whose identities are vague, directionless, and sometimes Western faces.

However, from this spring things will change.

What will happen to a surrealist artist once he starts to seriously think about reality?

Silent Spring will run until Sunday June 14, 2020.

郭警自述

写在前面的话
      
本来的二月份个展计划，因为疫情推迟到了五月份。以下的“黑处有什么”是疫情前写的。现在看有一种“故作深沉”之感。就如之前暂定的展览名字——勾股。想了想，我决定留下这些文字只字不改，而这部分其实应该是“写在后面的话”。这两段文字就像两个时代，有点荒诞。这中间跨越了时间和灾难。

写这两段文字时的心境截然不同，此时，我几乎没什么意愿去阐述创作理念。那就妄谈一下我对艺术的理解吧。

在疫情最激烈的那段时间，仿佛谈论艺术，谈论疫情之外的任何事都带着一种罪。一切意义和作用都被怀疑（这也是我作品讨论的一贯主题）。即使现在，办一个展览也显得不合时宜，往年此时可是艺术圈最火热的时候，现在偶尔出现的零星几个展讯，就像大合唱散场后依然杵在台上抹着红脸蛋的孩子。艺术重要吗？除了对艺术家，艺术不那么重要，不仅不重要，杜尚之后艺术连高贵都不高贵了。艺术解决不了问题，治不了大病，顶多算是安慰剂。但安慰剂也是药，人需要安慰剂。而且有时候不止能安慰，还能提神

过去的几个月，人们的悲伤，爱，愤怒，愚蠢，分歧，残暴交替上演。在我相对平静的三十多年，第一次以第一人称真切感受到历史和时代的重量。显然，我们将身处一个更激烈的世界。对于创作，也许会有新的东西自然生长出来。对于展览，我想做那个红脸蛋的独唱团孩子，以纪念2020年的春天。

黑处有什么
 
好像只有这个时候，我才会格外认真地回看自己的创作，去找出一些线索，梳理出创作脉络。

这个过程像重走一遍过往的路，路上蒙了厚厚的灰土，需要我耐心的清理擦拭直至见到路基的本色光亮，才慢慢看清自己经过的一路；也才能在这其中更进一步的了解自己，例如求变、例如对新东西的渴求，这些在思考落笔之前，是不怎么自知的，我想这是个展对于我的意义。我不是一个有着明确创作方向的人，但之于画面我知道什么是对的，什么是我要的。上一个阶段，我更像一名舞台剧导演，给各种元素换上超现实的外衣，放入某个虚构场景中，他们遵循我制定的秩序，整齐而重复。而这次展览的二十多张作品，主观构建外在秩序的意愿减弱了，更像是对某种内在规则的挑战，我试图去消解，比如门、泡泡糖、气球、快餐、海、合唱团等这些被大众熟知事物的日常属性，赋予他们新的意义。这个转变在我看来是更现实主义也更有趣的，有一些达达艺术的影子，但离我自己更近。

再进一步讨论，其实这中间是对于“意义”的消解，一方面我通过带有符号化、信号化的物象来抓住观者的眼睛、突出画面的焦点，另一方面在场景或者关系的呈现中我又把这个最形象化的物拿掉或者弱化，以此制造“反问”。讨论意义本身是否有意义。拿《名作》举例，一个正式隆重的拍卖场景，端画的俩个人物被描绘的越细致，越能突显手中艺术品的昂贵价值，当所有人都聚焦后，我把艺术品本身拿掉，替换成了一块纯黑。绘画上越写实可信，被消解的力度越大，观感冲突性也更强。

黑处有什么？

黑处其实什么都没有。

Foreword

My exhibition has been postponed from February to May due to COVID-19. Before the outbreak of pandemic, I wrote a statement about the exhibition called “What is in the Dark Space?”. The words seem to be wilfully deliberate when I review them now, after this worldwide catastrophe (not to mention a previous title –Pythagorean). The foreword and the statement seem to contradict to each other, yet both represent myself from pre and post epidemic periods respectively.

My state of mind has shifted drastically. Rather than directly delivering a creative explanation of my art today, I would firstly offer a brief understanding of ART…..

It seems to be sinful to talk about arts or anything other than the pandemic in the heat of epidemic. Every subject and every object are denied, not questioned and not challenged. Even for now, orchestrating an art exhibition is still considered as inappropriate. Compared to previous years when Spring should be bustling and chaotic for artists, there are few promotional notices for exhibitions.  This lone stance makes me feel like the little performers with red cheeks who wait for the very last curtain call of the cantata.

Is art essential? Maybe only for the artists. Art is not an elixir curing physical illness, but it provides relief for pain, as we may need it now.

The epidemic and the changes it brought, is triggering a series of emotional responses in people — sorrow, love, indignation, silliness, annoyance and inhumanity all coexist, disrupting the world order. In the first three decades of my life, I have never been a witness to a major event of history. We are about to live in a world with more chaos and confusion. Should there be any spontaneity in my future creation? Or would I be that little performer with the red cheeks—standing stubbornly on stage, because of the silence of Spring in 2020.

What is in the Dark Space?

Only by writing, do I carefully reflect on my work, searching for clues and to organise the train of thoughts during the creative process. It is like walking down a deserted lane from the past, covered with dust and dirt. Only with patience do I see clearly through the shade and cover to see that light ahead, appreciating the journey that I have weathered.

This is also a process of self-discovery. Without putting down these notions into words, my inner desire for change and for novelty would otherwise lie unnoticed and unenlightened. This is the essence of this exhibition for me personally. I am not someone who creates with a clear direction in mind, but who only knows what is right at the time, knowing what I want.

In my previous phase, my artistic role was more analogous to a stage director, dressing the elements with fashions of surrealism and placing them in my constructed scene. They play out according the rules I stipulate, repetitive and orchestrated.

However, in this exhibition, there is less of my eagerness to stipulate an intrinsic order, but rather more of a challenge to internal order. I attempt to dissolve and deconstruct the mundane attributes of commonly known objects - like doors, bubble gum, balloons, fast-food, oceans and choirs, assigning new meanings to their existence. To me, such transformation is more surrealistic and more interesting, adding a tinge of Dadaism with a personal touch!

Further, beneath this transformation lies the deconstruction of so-called "meaning". On one hand, I use symbols and signal-like imagery to capture the viewers' eyes; on the other hand, in presenting a scene or a relationship, I would diminish or remove the subject of this imagery, in order to pose a "rhetorical question", and to explore whether the discussion itself carries meaning.

As an example, in the grand auction of The Masterpiece, the two figures who carry the artwork are illustrated in greater detail, bringing more credibility and prestige to the value of the artwork in their hands. Yet, when everyone focuses their eyes on the artwork, it is displaced by a block of sheer blackness. In this process, greater realism and sincerity confirm the extent of deconstruction, which in turn creates more conflict in viewers' perception.

Therefore, to the question: What is in the Dark Space? The answer is: Only the Void.

【My thanks would go to my beloved friend Chloe (Niu Xinyue), an independent curator of Chinese art in the Asia-Pacific region, for providing excellent translation of this statement】

名作油画，布面油画，110×160cm，2019

 

评论：三人成局

 雷焉霓（文）

今年2月份，一位藏家在朋友圈发了一张颇具现实意义的摄影作品，备注“郭警作”，这张摄影作品曾被郭警在微博上用于观点的配图，藏家误当成了他的作品。我们之前谈论郭警作品的超现实性和次序感，再之前，大家也熟悉他早期自画像式的绘画。可直到这个时候，看到藏家误发了这张摄影作品时，我意识到郭警的创作已然迈向了一个新阶段。

郭警在Artand上被大家熟知，他也很乐于在社交网络上发表作品，表达自己的审美与观点，内容整体都是“郭警式”的，所以误将配图当做他的创作并不奇怪，在大多数艺术家观望、抵触互联网带来的影响时，他以与自己艺术创作高度一致的审美输出，自如地融入了进去，我姑且称之为“人设”。高度一致输出的是什么呢？是黑色的、反常理的图像与观念，反映到他的绘画中，是每张作品制造的内在逻辑矛盾，与外在秩序化形态对抗的角力，这成为他创作上一个个爆开的记忆点，我姑且称之为“梗”。

之所以用”人设“和”梗“这样的网络词汇来描述郭警，是因为在他看来，这不是取巧或者讨好观众的手段，更像是一串给大众进入游戏的CDKey序列码，

“我很乐于看到某件作品，大家对语焉不详的部分会心一笑，借用大众传播视角的惯性，看破不说破，就像是个有趣的游戏，每个人都是参与者。而我认为这个时代下的当代艺术，这部分的参与是不可缺少的。”

这种创作思维类似于互联网信息的产生与传播，事件、爆点、参与者，一个不少，他的思考回荡于当下事件与具体的人之间，慢慢探出了社会关联性和公众探讨空间，这才最终形成创作的闭环。因此，也让郭警的作品脱离了原本的油画属性，更具大众传播力，符合现代人对视觉语言的习惯，更即时、更扁平化、具有公开性。

毫无疑问，郭警的创作是与我们所处时代的文化特征深深关联的，意识到这一点，对他作品格局的理解就变得格外开阔。我们透过这次展览看到的，不止是现在，还有更多未来的可能性，对他报以最美好的期盼与祝愿。

评论：不浪漫

编剧大赵（文）

郭警提及频次较多的前辈大师名字是杜尚和佛洛依德，抛开一些不重要的小分歧不谈——毕竟我不是美术专业出身的，了解美术史不是藏家的责任，你完全可以凭直觉和喜好去选择。但是这个回答有惊喜——不少人看郭警的第一感觉是个靳尚谊、冷军的青涩但进化版呀。即使大家都为他能抓到众多属于时代和生活的“奇点”所感喟——他还是惦念着更多的可能性，“触感”、“重量”、“消解”；君子豹变，其文蔚也，大家还可以期待瞧好，更好。

我不太能认同没经过长期专业训练的人做职业画家，无论是从其他文艺线路上转轨还是大芬村的画工们。作品可以消解某些意义，可作者不能消解这门艺术本身，你不能拿弗里达那样的天纵奇才来谈整件事。跨界危险，比如安迪沃霍尔也拍过电影，挺糟糕的。钱不容易挣啊，所以我在收藏郭警的画之前仔细看过平台上他的所有作品，包括早期的素描和那个忧伤的少年。他的每一步变化都让你踏实，你看见的是一颗树的成长，是檀、榆还是桑、槐不重要，你知道他在精心爱护自己的生活和思考。这么说可能有点呆板，其实大多数时候你能看到，他作品里那种精致的妙处就是自然而然、如此而来。

诗人西川先生大概表达过这么个意思：是否在“处理时代”是判断好艺术家的一个重要标准。我猜从这个角度上来看，对于郭警的歧见会比较多。因为他“画梗”那么多，扯东打西，似有又无。一般来说这就叫绥靖，可我看到的是一种挺真诚甚至带点沉郁的绥靖。比如那幅《吻》，我看到了让我着迷的暧昧，这种恰到好处的暧昧可能只有活在这个暧昧的时代才能获得最大的共振。然后他用拉长红衣女人的背部线条和不带挑逗的灰色裙子告诉我：这不浪漫。

吻 油画，布面油画，80×85cm，2018

更多相关链接：

郭警主页

[访谈]郭警：障眼法一般的秘密

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