Review 评论
Awakening to the Senses
感官觉醒
Sierrah Floyd
西瑞·弗洛伊德
November 28, 2024
2024年11月28日
David A. Brubaker is a humanities professor, curator and art historian based between New Haven, Connecticut, USA and Beijing, China. Brubaker’s more recent research delves into the question, “Can aesthetic language describe how a contemporaneous person returns to an original source outside time in order to enter into historical realities?”. To break down this question, we’ll have to go back to the Xi’An Academy of Fine Art’s (XAFA) Post-Globalization and Re-Localization of Contemporary Art International Symposium.
大卫·亚当·布鲁贝克是一位人文学教授、策展人及艺术史学家，常驻于美国康涅狄格州纽黑文市和中国北京之间。布鲁贝克最近的研究探讨了一个问题：“美学语言是否能描述一个同时代的人如何回到时间之外的原始来源，以进入历史现实？”为了解答这个问题，我们需要回顾一下西安美术学院（XAFA）的当代艺术的后全球化与再（去）地域化国际学术研讨会。
The symposium lasted for about five days on the beautiful campus XAFA where myself and thirteen other art historians and cultural academics were invited to present new research on contemporaneity, what is at stake in the world regarding post-globalization, and how academics are contextualizing it in their research. I was surprised to see David at dinner on the first night, as I hadn’t seen him since 2017 as an undergraduate international student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and was so exited to hear what he had in store for us the next day.
这次研讨会在美丽的西美校园持续了约五天，我本人与其他十三位艺术史学家和文化学者应邀分享关于当代性的新研究，探讨世界关于后全球化时代面临的问题，以及学者们如何在研究中将当代性与后全球化与他们所处的语境结合。第一天的晚餐上，我惊喜地见到了大卫，自2017年之后我就没有再见过他，当时我还是中央美术学院的本科国际学生，我迫不及待地想听听他第二天的演讲。
During his presentation, Brubaker led the audience through his train of thought, explaining Terry Smith’s definition of the contemporary and Georgio Agamben understanding of the contemporary person. Smith understands the contemporary person is in a persistent state of being that basically never ends and is conflicting with an unlimited amount of experiences, while Agamben’s interpretation is outside of time, maintaining that there is a point of entry into history that can redo what has never been done in order to experience that history. Brubaker then goes on to utilize the language of Zong Bing’s aesthetic principles of “savoring an image” to clarify his point. Zong’s speaks at length about this concept in his book On the Creation of Landscape Painting, which means to clear the mind, abandon all worldly interference, and savor the objects in the world presented by the Dao. China’s National Language Resources Platform speaks at length about the concept in their glossary.
在他的报告中，布鲁贝克引导听众沿着他的思路，解释了特里·史密斯对当代的定义以及吉奥乔·阿甘本对当代人的理解。史密斯认为，当代人处于一种持续不断且与无限经历冲突的状态，而阿甘本的解释则超越时间，坚称有一个进入历史的切入点，可以重做从未做过的事情，以体验历史。布鲁贝克随后运用宗炳“澄怀味像”的美学原则来阐明他的观点。宗炳在他的著作《画山水序》中详细探讨了这一概念，意味着要清空心灵，放弃一切世俗干扰，品味“道”所呈现的世间万物。中国国家语言资源服务平台在他们的词汇表中也详细讨论了这一概念。
“Clearing the mind” is the premise of “tasting the image”. Only the aesthetics that are not bound by objective constraints and worldly influences are closest to “Dao”. At this time, the boundary between objects and me disappears, and the aesthetician can communicate with “Dao” by appreciating the mountains and rivers, and experience the true freedom and “transcendence of the spirit”. “Clearing the mind and tasting the image” is an important term in the theory of ancient Chinese landscape painting. It belongs to the theory of artistic intuition. It is the inheritance and development of Laozi’s thought of “purifying the mysterious view”, and inspired the creation theory in other fields such as calligraphy and literature.
It means to empty the mind, abandon all worldly interference and utilitarianism, and appreciate and taste the objects presented by “Dao” in a quiet and clear state of mind.
“澄怀”是“味像”的前提。只有不受客观限制和尘世影响束缚的审美，才最接近“道”。此时，物我之界消失，美学家可以通过欣赏山水、体验真正的自由和“精神超越”以与“道”沟通。“澄怀味像”是古代中国山水画理论中的重要术语，属于艺术直觉的理论，是对老子“涤除玄览”思想的继承和发展，也启发了诸如书法、文学等领域的创作理论。
意味着清心寡欲，摒弃一切世俗的干扰和功利主义，在清净无为的心境中欣赏和品味“道”所呈现的事物。
Brubaker implements these aesthetics and gave examples on how two Chinese artists (Xu Bing and Sui Jianguo) show in what ways we can “return to a timeless origin which results in an entry into the naturalness of a person’s own specific life”. Zong’s aesthetics pulling from Laozi, supports that the senses can be blurred with the presence of the things that are being sensed for one to focus on the whole of something. For instance, when viewing a painting the presence of one color is sacrificed to see the entire image. Bridging this Chinese aesthetic with Agamben’s interpretation of contemporaneity, Brubaker posits Chinese aesthetics as a new avenue from which we can reach the point where we have never been but are in fact experiencing. Without getting into the artists, he mentioned the question after this is how does aesthetics within art help to liven the spirit to a point in which a person can enter into life, history, or as Agamben puts it “a present where we have never been”?
布鲁贝克将这些美学理念付诸实践，并以徐冰和隋建国两位中国艺术家为例，展示了如何“回归到一个永恒的起源，从而进入一个人自身特定生命的自然状态”。宗炳的美学受到老子的影响，支持模糊感官与被感知事物的存在，以便使人专注于事物的整体。例如，在观看一幅画时，牺牲某种颜色的存在，以便看到整个图像。将这种中国美学与阿甘本对当代性的解释联系起来，布鲁贝克将中国美学视为一条新的途径，通过它我们可以达到我们从未到达过但实际上正在经历的地方。在不涉及他提到的艺术家的情况下，接下来的问题是，艺术中的美学如何帮助唤醒精神，使人能够进入生活、历史，或者正如阿甘本所说的“一个我们从未到达过的现在”？
Enough about dense philosophy, this is an exhibition review! Through his new exhibition, Awakening to Origins at the 798 District’s Red Gate Gallery, Brubaker delves deeper into my last question, showcasing a range of artists from the personal collection of Red Gate’s owner Brian Wallace. The show not only answers the question but places the viewer inside of the curators brain in a way, flowing through plenty of sculptures and painting which center texture, sacrificing one sense of sight to immerse yourself into the entire piece, and be present in a moment you have never experienced before, will never have back, and will remain in history. The group show has 24 artists on view with a plethora of paintings, sculpture, and mixed media art works on display.
深奥的哲学就到此为止吧，这是一篇展览评论！通过他在798艺术区的红门画廊举办的新展览《觉醒溯源》，布鲁贝克以红门画廊主人布朗·华莱士个人收藏中的一系列艺术家作品更深入地探讨了我的上一个问题。这个展览不仅回答了这一问题，还将观众置身于策展人的思维中，在大量以质感为中心的雕塑和绘画作品中流连忘返，牺牲了视觉感受，让你沉浸在整件作品中，体验一个你从未经历过、永远无法重现并将留存于历史的时刻。这个群展共有24位艺术家的作品，展示了丰富多样的绘画、雕塑和混合媒体艺术作品。
Lv Zhe, Where is the Plane, 2014
One piece which caught my eye for quite some time, was Lv Zhe’s Where is the Plane. The painting is a simple vivid collection of lush clouds with the faintest letters and numbers almost disappearing into the background: MH370. I immediately, began researching if there were any Chinese planes that had vanished within the last few years but came up short. After visiting Lv’s studio this week, I had a chance to ask him about if it was indeed about a Chinese aircraft that had gone missing and if that was what he was referring to in his earlier work. He explained that the painting was about a Malaysian Airlines flight which had disappeared nearly a decade ago. The flight took off in the early hours of March 8, 2014, and was carrying 227 passengers and has gained notoriety from the Chinese public because majority of the flight (153 passengers) were Chinese. Outside of its peculiar missing person’s mention, Lv, gets at exactly what Brubaker writes on. To see the clouds we mustn’t only see the deep blue, white, sky blue or shades in-between, we must relinquish that effort to give way for the horizon and the sky Lv has presented. In order to see the plane number, we must focus not on the landscape but on the faintness of the letters presented to us. Within these moments where we unconsciously give away certain senses, the viewer also enters into a new history, every moment it seems.
有一件作品吸引了我很长时间，那就是吕喆的《飞机去哪儿》。画面中是一组简单生动、团团簇拥的云彩，以及笔触微弱的几乎消失在背景中的字母和数字：MH370。我立即开始研究是否有任何中国的飞机在过去几年内消失了，但最终没有成功。本周参观了吕喆的工作室后，我有机会问他这幅作品是否真的是关于一架失踪的中国飞机，以及这是否就是他在早期作品中所提到的。他解释说，这幅画是关于十年前失踪的一架马来西亚航空公司的航班。这架航班于2014年3月8日凌晨起飞，载有227名乘客，因为其中大部分乘客（153人）是中国人，所以在中国公众中声名狼藉。除了它特别提到的失踪人员之外，吕喆正好触及了布鲁贝克所写的内容。为了看到云，我们不仅要看到深蓝、白色、天蓝或介于其中的色调，还必须放弃那种努力，为吕喆呈现的地平线和天空让路。为了看清飞机的编号，我们必须关注的不是风景，而是呈现在我们面前的字母模糊性。在这些我们无意中放弃某些感官的时刻里，观众也似乎进入了一个新的历史，似乎每时每刻。
Again, this moment can be realized with He Sen’s painting, Untitled. The monochromatic oil on canvas portrait is almost see-through with a matching hued background. The subject’s head tilts down with her eyes closed. She dawns a pixie cut, and small hoop earrings, a crew neck shirt, and simple what seems to be gold necklace from its shimmer and style. Her face projects a neutral emotion. Because He depicts the artist using similar hues as the backgrounds and almost even smudges her hair into the canvas as to erase, enmesh or collide the subject with her surroundings, she seems to stand still along with time, the background, and space itself. The texture of the portrait seems to be that of air and the highlight of her cheekbone which matches the shade directly behind her head supplies the viewer with reason enough that she is transparent like space, air, and time. Entering into this moment with her, to never be felt again, and to never happen in the future.
同样这一刻呈现在何森的画作《无题》中，我们几乎可以透过这幅单色油画肖像看到背后同色调的背景。主人公的头微微低垂，双眼紧闭。她剪着短发，小耳环，圆领衬衫，戴着一个简单的、从光泽和款式来看似乎是金质的项链。她的脸上展现出中性的情绪。因为何森用与背景相似的色调描绘了这位人物，几乎将她的头发涂抹到画布上，使主体与周围环境融为一体，仿佛与时间、背景和空间一起静止。肖像的质感似乎像空气一样，她颧骨上的高光与她头部正后方的阴影相匹配，为观众提供了充分的理由相信她是透明的，就像空间、空气和时间。与她一同进入这一刻，永远不再被感受，在未来也永远不再发生。
Some multimedia and sculpture is on view as well. Jiang Long’s Skin, is a bronze cast life size sculpture which stands alone in the corner, wearing jeans, closed toed shoes with a hoodie zipped entire over the subjects face and both fists pushing forward inside of the hoodie’s pockets. During a chat with Brubaker to get some supplemental information for this article he revealed to me that Jiang’s intention with the sculpture is that the space within it is “filled by the person” and that “Each person needs to place or create a heart on the inside.” Jiang here awakens the viewer by David’s logic to the sense of touch, as he would want the armor of Skinto be embodied and worn by others.
一些多媒体和雕塑作品也展陈其中。蒋龙的《皮囊》（2020年）是一个真人大小的青铜雕塑，独自站在角落里，穿着牛仔裤，脚穿平底鞋，连帽衫拉链全部拉上遮住脸部，双拳在连帽衫口袋内用力向前推。为了给本文增补更多信息，在笔者与布鲁贝克的交谈中，他向我透露，蒋龙的雕塑意图是 雕塑中的空间“由人来填补”，“每个人都需要在其中放置或创造一颗心”。在这里，蒋龙以大卫的逻辑唤醒了观众的触觉，因为他希望《皮囊》的盔甲能被他人所具象化并穿戴。
My review is only three pieces out of twenty-nine because I can't give it all away. Such a brilliant show by an even more brilliant scholar. So what are you waiting for? Head down to Red Gate to see, enter, depart, undo, and redo this moment. Experience your senses through a new lens which David has catapulted the gallery into, so that you too may be aware of your own self, senses, and moments.
我的评论只呈现了本次29件展品中的3件，因为我不能全部剧透。这是一场由非常出色的学者呈现的精彩展览。你还在等什么呢？去红门画廊看看、进入、离开，然后撤销、重现此情此景。通过大卫将画廊推向的新视角来体验你的感官，让你也能意识到自己的自我、感觉和当下。
Awakening to Origins is on view now until January 19, 2025.
《觉醒溯源》现在展出，持续到2025年1月19日。
Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China
On View: November 16, 2024 - January 19, 2025
展期：2024年11月16日 - 2025年1月19日
BBC 网站，“失踪的马来西亚航班乘客MH780”，https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26503469
Brubaker, David A. Post-Globalization and Re-Localization of Contemporary Art International Symposium Vol. 1, Aesthetics of Contemporaneity: History, Dust and Savoring and Image in Xu Bing and Sui Jianguo (New Haven, 2024), 8-26.
大卫·亚当·布鲁贝克，《当代艺术的后全球化与再（去）地域化国际学术研讨会》第1卷，当代性美学：徐冰与隋建国作品中的历史、尘埃与品味图像（纽黑文，2024年），8-26页。
Lv Zhe, studio visit conversation, November 18, 2024
吕喆，工作室访谈，2024年11月18日
National Language Resources Platform, "澄怀味像"
https://nlrp.chinesethought.cn/shuyu_show.aspx?shuyu_id=4307
Translation edits by Li Shuyu 李书宇
