不确定，虚拟，感官幻想的日常生活—杨勇的摄影作品和70年代艺术家

作者：栗宪庭

文章首次刊载于《艺术世界》2002年2月刊，p.64-67

杨勇的作品，给我们提高了一种新的视角和感觉：不确定的文化价值取向；琐碎、重复、无聊的都市日常生活；敏感、脆弱的神经和对伤害的迷恋；模糊了虚拟和真实界限的语言方式，这或多或少成为70年代艺术家所共有的生存感觉。

使用年龄段来说一种艺术现象，虽不是一个科学的概念，但对于中国这个变化太快的社会，人的生存环境的变化，十年或者更短，一代人就带着不同的感觉出现在艺术舞台上。

90年代中、后期，郑国谷和杨勇的出现，使我们看到了新的一代——70年代出生的艺术家的新视点和感觉：首先是没有文化负担，没有传统——无论古代还是革命传统——的阴影，或者说前几代艺术家，我们可以在他们的作品中看到一种文化的针对点，如知青代针对的文革，85新潮代的文化批判，后89艺术家和70年代艺术家的作品都表现无聊，但我们从方力钧的光头，岳敏君自己的笑脸，刘小冬百无聊赖的聚会等作品中，感觉到他们对无聊是一种嘲讽的心态，或许他们不想无聊，所以他们的嘲讽中有一种情绪——泼皮。而70年代艺术家的无聊，仿佛是以身俱来的，如杨勇的摄影作品：以一个青年的一连串的动态——无聊地躺在沙发上打电话⋯⋯，手势比划成手枪，瞄准前方⋯⋯，瞄准自己作自杀状⋯⋯，然后又自得其乐地接电话⋯⋯，无聊，是日常生活本身，所以，既无着无落，又自得其乐，"自己哄着自己玩"。

文化的针对性的消失，使作品中的所有情绪变得没有确定性。去年底，我在成都看过一个展览，是6个70年代中、后期出生的年青艺术家，我和他们聊天，他们谈起这种不确定性，说前几代艺术家无论是愤怒、沉重、无聊，是有对象的，可以说出来，他们内心无论是痛苦、快乐，还是无聊是说不出来的，是没有对象的。或者说这种对象不是前几代艺术家中的文化和政治对象，而是即时性，就是指他们的身体和感觉都生活在琐碎、重复、日常化的消费环境中，他们的语言因此都善于着眼一个无序的过程。如郑国谷以数百张未放大的135原尺寸的照片码放在一起，如同庙会式的那种琐碎、闹哄哄的生活场景。而杨勇的作品，象随意跟拍日常生活中的人物，平铺直叙地罗列生活的细节。他们的语言都是无以计数"无意义的图象"仿佛"没有选择"地进入他们的摄影机，然后又"没有选择"地制作出一连串的画面。就象生活本身一样，似乎没有开始，也没有结束，或者任何地方都可以开始，任何地方又都可以结束。

70年代中、后期出生的艺术家，是第一代独生子女，他们在娇惯中成长起来，他们说自己普遍不会和人打交道，心理承受力差，经常不知道为什么就非常的委屈。或者对于大人是一件非常小的事情，而对于自己，就仿佛是天塌下来了。这使他们的作品中重视感官幻想和气氛，以及敏感、脆弱和对伤害的迷恋。尽管杨勇不是独生子女，但杨勇作品中的人物，肯定有独生子女，或者杨勇的情绪中同样受到这种情绪的感染。杨勇把他的系列作品称为《青春残酷日记》，这"残酷"就是一种"伤害"的感觉。如杨勇在描述他拍摄的对象时说"对枪（当然是假的）的喜爱并且有夸张的想像力其实是她潜在的杀戮欲望。阳台上随便锁定的一个目标，幻想他可能就是某一晚对她实施暴力并且长着愚蠢阳具的男人。然后，砰、砰砰⋯⋯。他们把生活假设为逃亡，逼迫她的可以是她的上司、某一通电话、甚至可以是空气。她神色紧张地出现在办公室里，匆忙地消失在昏暗诡秘的地下通道里。在凌晨三点的路边，烟头为深红色的气氛里带来太多的欲望。的士快逃。浴室里的遐想和冲动，足以能淹没每一个观众。喧嚣的灯火街道里，迷离的光线、模糊的人群和倾斜的路面，足可以让她的快感直线上升，"飞"得特高。逃亡的身影，掠过了最多故事的公园、床垫深陷的大床、酒醉后的街头巷尾、最适合跳楼的天台、舔着洗手间巨大镜子里自己的舌头、沉醉于相识五秒后可以激烈拥吻对方而不论男女的那种酒吧⋯⋯

这一代的艺术家成长在电话、电视和电脑普及的年代，玩游戏，上网聊天⋯⋯，他们说自己喜欢和习惯虚拟的交流，而面对面往往有戒备，或者无话可说。杨勇的作品就是一种在虚拟和真实之间的"生活游戏"。他不是跟拍生活中的人物，又不完全是象电影那样去导演他的拍摄对象，而是"以即兴多于导演的方式和主角玩着进入并且制造生活情景的游戏。游戏的规则是：没有规则。主角被塑造成为一个绝对复杂而且多面的新千年版本的虚拟人物，当她以最合理的方式出现在我们司空见惯的生活场境里时，我们仿佛听到她的喃喃自语'我是不是我自己'。"

The Daily Life on Uncertainty, Fiction and Sensory Fantasy

Author: Li Xianting

Source: Art World, February 2002, p.64-67

Yang Yong's works provide us a new angle of view and sense; indefinite preference cultural value; trivial, repeated, boring daily life; sensitive, weak nerves and the addiction to harm; language style, confusing the distinction between fiction and reality. All this becomes more or less the common sense of living shared by the artists who were born in 70s.

Although using "age" to express a topic is not a scientific concept, ten years or even shorter, a generation with different sense will be on the stage, because China is a fast-changing society. In the late 1990s, Zheng Guogu and Yang Yong's emerging makes us see a new generation the new view and sense of artists who were born in the 70s. First of all, they haven't cultural burden, no traditional shadow—no matter it is ancient or revolutionary tradition. In other words, for the former artists, we can see some cultural focuses in their works, for example, the generation of school graduates focus on the Cultural Revolution, 85' new trend on the cultural critic. Both post 89's artists and the 70's artists' works express fastidium, but we can sense the irony from the works of bareheaded Fang Lijun, smile-faced Yue Minjun and fastidium Liu Xiaodong's boring party. Maybe they don't want fastidium. So they have pungent moods in their satirizing works. But the artists of 70s were born with a nature of fastidium, such as Yang Yong's photography; a young girl's series of gestures—lying in sofa boringly, telephoning, making a gesture as pistol, aiming at the front and aiming at herself like killing herself, then deriving pleasure from answering the phone—the life is boring, so they are unsure, and derive pleasure from anything, "They play with themselves."

The disappearing of cultural aim makes the works lack of definite mood. At the end of last year, I went to an exhibition in Chengdu, which was held by 6 young artists born in the mid or late of 70s. I chatted with them and they spoke of uncertainty. They said when the senior artists express their anger, heavy burden, and fastidium, there exist objects, but they haven't held by. In other words, the object is not cultural or political, but temporary, which means they live in trivial, repeated, daily consumption with their bodies and senses. So their languages focus on disordered process. For instance, Zheng Guogu put hundreds of 135 original sized photos all together, just like the trivial noisy scenes in Chinese New Year Market. Yang Yong took photos randomly on figures in daily life and exposed details directly. Uncountable "senseless images" are taken by his camera "without choice" and are made into a series of pictures just like life itself. There seems to be no beginning and no end, or there seems to start and finish anywhere.

The artists who were born in the mid or late 70s are the first generation of "only child". They grew up pamperly. They said they didn't know how to get along with others also they wondered why they had low ability of standing every kind of trial and always felt wronged. Sometimes one thing is perhaps a trifling matter to their parents, but to them, it seems to be a big deal. According to this, in their works they pay great attention to sensory fantasy, atmosphere as well as sensitive, weak nerves and the addition to harm. Although Yang Yong isn't an "only child", some images in his works must be the "only child". Yang Yong's passion is also affected by this mood. Yang Yong named his works as "The Cruel Diary of Youth". The "Cruel" is a sense of "harm". As Yang Yong mentioned when he described the figures in his works, "loving for pistol (certainly dummy) with imagination is her latent lust for killing. In the verandah, the target randomly locked is imagined to be the man who raped her with stupid penis. 'Bang, Bang...'she opens fire". "Life is supposed to be escape, what compels her may be the boss, the telephone, or even the air. She appears in the office nervously, disappears in the sombrous underpass hastily. At the roadside of wee hours, atmosphere of carmine dog-end brings her too much lust. Taxi runs fleetly. Reverie and impulsion in the balneary can inundate every audience completely. In the noisy glim street, blurred beam and blurry people together with acclivitous tipsy pavement can sharply raise her large charge. She flies up, her escaped silhouette fleets above the eventful park, sunk bed, bacchic street and terrace, ideal place for suicide, licking hers own tongue toward the mirror in the toilets, being intoxicated in the bar where who may, at the first glance, clinch each other despite sexuality..."

This generation of artists has grown up in the age of advanced technology. They play games and chat on the Internet...In fact it seems they like to communicate in a virtual world. When they talk face to face, they are guarded and less comfortable and seem to have little to talk about. Yang's work is a kind of "game of life" between the virtual and real worlds. Generally art may be developed either by copying the real spontaneous actions or by directing the actions of the subject. Yang however "play and participate the game in a more extemporaneous way. There are no rules formulated for this game. The protagonist is figured to be a fictitious character with sophisticated faces. When she appears in our quotidian life most reasonably, we may hear her mutter: 'Am I myself?'".