liu weijian | 劉唯艱

8

A fleeting human shadow black against a paved road; an

anonymous hotel corridor furnished with cigarette bin and

fire extinguisher; a dirty cloth left to dry on top of a water

dispenser; crows resting on a rock amongst trees; ballooning

rubbish bags dumped on the side of the road.

These paintings are vignettes of quotidian occurrences:

everyday materials and commonplace moments bathed in

harsh pools of artificial light or under the squinting stare

of an unseen sun. The scenes captured in the paintings of

Liu Weijian have a queasy familiarity to them. In a series of

eleven new paintings, each individual work is offered to us as

a single quotation, a single frozen moment. Here are the kind

of objects we don’t notice; the chance encounters we choose

not to notice; the daily characters in our lives we have walked

past a thousand times without acknowledging. As viewers we

encounter a collection of fragments and broken pieces that

depict the familiar rendered still, strange and silent.

Through the series we encounter the detritus of urban life

as still life studies. Materials, domestic and service objects,

throwaway and plastic commodities are presented alongside

the remnants of the natural world - both real and simulated

- are snapshots of a convenient yet wasteful way of life. In

Hotel is a composition of cigarette bin, fire extinguisher and

fire extinguisher box, three ubiquitous objects, pushed up

against a wall. Each had an original function, yet discarded

against its backdrop appears adrift in space. Without anchor,

each object floats. Liu has rendered them as props, emptied

of their weight and purpose. Likewise, Trash Bag depicts the

most everyday of urban objects - two black bin bags, fat with

rubbish, left by the road-side. Here, the green of the grass is

abruptly cut into by the matt grey of the concrete curb, the

slick ebony shine of the bags insinuates itself between the

two, blackening the grass with its shadow. Subtly, Liu portrays

these materials as violent interruptions in the landscape.

Elsewhere, in Artificial Water a glimpse of grass can be seen

through the window of a room otherwise dominated by a

large plastic water container. The work’s title, Artificial Water,

emphasises the point: we have reached a moment when even

that most basic of resources, water, can be manipulated,

packaged and commodified.

Observing the effects of consumerism, Liu’s eye roves back

and forth between the past and the future - the old world and

Ar tificial Water

By Rose Lejeune

Artificial Water (detail)2011 (p. 17)

In Hotel (detail)2011 (p. 20-21)

9

the new. Three more works Hometown - Chair and Mineral

Water, Footbath Water and There are red flags here, too, hone

in again on water as a powerful symbol. In, There are red flags

here, too, a brown rusting jetty juts out into a mountain lake,

its weight bearing in on the image, obscuring and interrupting

the view. An unmanned fishing boat forlornly sits in dock.

Depicted as useless and seemingly tethered to the obstructing

jetty, its back is turned away from the open water. Footbath

Water is an elegant image of a water-filled ceramic bowl,

captured apparently, moments after a washing ritual, small

puddles of water around its edge.

Together the works develop into a demarcation of the

inexorable circumscription of nature, the lightening

fast erosion of tradition and its replacement by its own

simulacrum. The mechanistic march towards an automated

form of life, divorced from human hand or organic process,

seems complete. This old world is cut through with roads, with

jetties, with steel and concrete. It is replicated, faked and fed

back as novelty.

Worse, through the series we see Liu’s world as one in which

the human figure plays little or no part. In Pregnant Woman

(the only work to directly depict a person) a young woman

lies sleeping on a couch. She is impassive, enveloped by the

red of the couch that surrounds her. If she is pregnant, the

rug which covers her stomach hides this fact from the viewer.

Asleep, and angular, dwarfed by her surroundings, she has no

agency, no sense of expectation; she is in the scene but not

There are red flags here, too (detail)2012 (p. 26-27)

Pregnant Woman (detail)2011 (p. 22-23)

vital within it. Metaphorically, she appears to have no sense

of expectation of a productive or meaningful future - she is

pregnant but at the same time not.

In The Two of Us Liu has removed the protagonists even further

from the ability to influence their world; they appear as

shadows; hazy, wavy, mutable impressions against the sharp,

regular lines of cool paving stones. Whereas, in Trash Bag,

the inanimate plastic of the bin bag holds the pictorial frame,

poised and full, the human figures appear reduced, alienated

and redundant.

The works have a deliberate flatness that again serves to blur

any differentiation between the natural and manmade, raw

materials and their product. In Trash Bag, for example, the

grass, the plastic bags, the concrete roadside are rendered in

the same manner - only shape and colour serve to distinguish

between forms. Likewise The weather has gotten chilly,

depicts a solitary tent in a mountain scene. The bright orange

dome of the tent hovers, alien, bulbous and intrusive, over

flat green surface of grass and yet neither appears more

or less natural, more or less real, more or less artificial.

An ambiguous, jagged line cuts through the scene on the

canvas - it could be a small river but it looks more likely to

be a concrete path - nothing is pure nature. Camping, that

leisure activity that lets us get back to nature, is, for Liu, a

10

contradiction in terms; only necessary precisely because of our

alienation from the natural world.

Materials and colour move across canvases so that the

carmine red of the flag in There are red flags here, too is

echoed by that of the fire extinguisher in In Hotel, and the

bright softness of the sofa on which Pregnant Woman sleeps

and the aluminum blue of Steel Plate matches the water

container of Artificial Water. This limited palette serves to

create a resonance across the series - a visual continuity and

uniformity that further accentuates a mutability or lack of

distinction between the natural and artificial worlds; water

and steel; fabric and metal rendered similar - Liu’s world is one

in which the eye can no longer discriminate between the two.

---

We are told that every summer Liu Weijian spends nearly

two months simply walking - though the streets of a random

city, or down a new highway. Transposed through time and

space, he is Baudelaire’s gentleman stroller of the city streets

of Paris, a contemporary flâneur, a detached observer who

understands, participates in and portrays the city. He never

chooses what to see, instead he allows icons and detritus to

make themselves apparent as he walks almost unconsciously

through his chosen terrain. As he opens his eyes to the scenes

around him as they occur, Liu is simply bent on experiencing

something real and capturing and collecting evidence on the

contemporary human condition with his camera, saving it for

later reflection.

Thus, each image is offered as a highlighter of the

unexceptional; evidence of that which is hidden in plain

sight - an objective recording of the fact of the moment. The

now, the object in its relation to its context - at once arbitrary

and fixed - is presented to the viewer for analysis. However,

where Baudelaire’s walker was excited by his contemporary

landscape, in love with the modern, entirely present, Liu’s

images build up to create a picture of melancholy and

nostalgia for a past age and an apprehension towards the future.

Liu Weijian’s photographic eye is incisive, impeccable in

picking out the synecdochical - the specific for the general

- so that together his observations of the unremarkable

and familiar sights of every day build up to an unnerving

composition of contemporary experience. Liu offers us no

specific narrative, but this is not at the price of a story. Rather,

the series reveals what the camouflage of progress hides.

Trash Bag (detail)2011 (p. 34-35)

11

As our guide through the landscape, Liu offers us a quiet

provocation; to recognise the reality of that landscape. Where

each individual image has its own internal muted beauty it is

Liu’s cinematographer’s focus on the relations between the

individual shots and groups of shots that make up his series

that allows tension to develop and which together expose the

viewer to Liu Weijian’s sharp critical eye.

A painterly mosaic of urban life composed of short

brushstrokes, awkward angles and undefined shapes

- Liu Weijan’s works move back and forth between an

impressionistic abstraction and their photographic source.

Shadow, shape, line and colour rather than a photographic

realism define materials against one another and become

qualitative measures both of the original object and the

painting itself. Interrogating an object’s materiality in his

painting, Liu simultaneously interrogates that object’s

position, presence and place in the world. Through this

approach he is able to propose that there is no useful

distinction to be made between the thing and the way it is

represented - the object, the photograph of the object, the

painting of the photograph - the natural, the man-made,

the simulacrum, the concrete and the abstract have become

one and the same. This pragmatic and intuitive approach to

the painting’s relationship to its photographic source and

the relationship of representation itself to the contemporary

world seduces and disarms as it serves to remind us that marks

of the brush can often make a subject more real to us rather

than less.

Liu’s subject matter is steel; rock; fabric; human; grass;

metal; mineral; plastic; animal; shadow; water: together they

merge and build to create a silently screaming necropolis of

contemporary life.

12

磚路上人的黑影，放置著煙灰缸與滅火器的某間酒店走廊，

飲水機上待乾的一塊髒布，停留在林中岩石上的烏鴉，被扔

在路邊的膨脹的垃圾袋。這些畫是日常事件的小插曲：日常

材料與場景沐浴在刺目的人造光下，或沉浸在看不見的太陽

的斜視中。劉唯艱畫作中所捕捉的場景，有著一種令人不安

的相似性。在這個由11幅作品組成的新系列中，每幅作品

都是一個獨特的引證、一個凝結的瞬間。這裡有我們所忽視

的事物，有我們選擇漠視的偶遇場景，也有那些我們經過過

無數次卻沒有注意到的日常人物。作為觀眾的我們，所面對

的是一系列的碎片的集合，這些碎片描繪那些我們熟悉的事

物，卻顯得陌生而靜默。

在這系列中，城市生活的碎屑如靜物般呈現在我們面前。原

材料、家庭用品、一次性的塑膠商品，與自然界的殘留物–既

有真實的也有仿造的–一起被展現，正是便利卻又充滿浪費的

生活方式的寫照。《賓館裡》的畫面由煙灰缸、滅火器及滅

火器箱組成。三個最普通不過的物件靠牆放著，每個都有其

原本的功能，但去除背景後卻顯得似乎漂浮在空間中。失去

了「錨」，每個物體都好像漂浮着。同樣，垃圾袋描繪出城

市生活最為日常的一面：兩個黑色袋子裝滿了垃圾，被棄置

在路旁。在這裡，青綠的草地突然被淺灰色的混凝土路緣阻

斷，袋子光滑的黑亮色閃耀在兩者之間，在草地上投下暗黑

的影子。在劉唯艱的筆下，這些事物被微妙地描繪成為風景

中的暴力干擾。

而在《人工水》中，窗外可以瞥見一抹綠色，房間的大部分

空間則被一台塑料的飲水機所佔據。作品的名字：人工水，

正強調了這樣一個觀點：我們的生活已經到了這樣一個程

度，就連最基本的自然資源：水都可以被操控、被包裝與商

品化。

觀察著消費主義的影響，劉唯艱的目光游移在過去與未來，

對舊世界與新世界同時加以審視。另外三件作品：《家鄉—

椅子與礦泉水》、《洗腳水》與《這裡也有紅旗》同樣把水

作為重要的符號。在《這裡也有紅旗》中，棕色的、鏽跡斑

斑的碼頭伸向山地湖中，它的重量感干擾並切斷了畫面。一

艘無人駕駛的漁船孤零零地停泊在旁，似乎毫無用處地被拴

在碼頭上，背朝水面。《洗腳水》則是對一個裝滿水的陶瓷

盆的優美描繪，顯然，它捕捉到剛剛洗完腳後的瞬間，細小

的水紋仍然留在盆邊。

所有的作品發展成為一種對自然的無情界限、被如閃電般快

速侵襲的傳統，以及作為替代品的傳統自身的擬像之間的劃

分。擺脫人類的雙手和有機過程、向著自動化生活進發的機

械進程似乎已經完成。那個舊世界被道路、碼頭、鋼鐵與混

泥土所割裂，它被複製，被仿造，反而成為新奇的存在。

人工水

羅斯．樂旋

《人工水》(局部)2011 (p. 17)

《賓館裡》(局部)2011 (p. 20-21)

13

更糟糕的是，從這系列作品可以看出，人類在劉唯艱的世界

中似乎無足輕重。在《孕婦》(唯一直接描繪人的作品)中，

一個年輕女人在沙發上睡覺，不管她有沒有懷孕，蓋在她腹

部上的毯子都遮掩了這個事實。這個在睡夢中的瘦削女人，

在環境的映襯下顯更加得瘦小，她顯得沒有力量，也激不起

你任何的期待，她雖在場景中卻並非至關重要的存在。打個

比方說，她身上似乎沒有任何對生產與充滿意義的未來的期

望–她懷孕了，同時也並非如此。

在《我們倆》中，劉唯艱進一步消解了人，而不僅僅是影響

他們的世界。人以影子的形式出現，朦朧、扭曲、變形，與

冰冷的石頭地板那鋒利而規律的線條形成鮮明對比。再而，

在《垃圾袋》中，無生命的塑料袋保持著立體的形狀，平穩

又飽滿，而人的形象則顯得弱化、疏離又多餘。這些作品中

有種故意的平鋪直敘，再一次模糊了自然與人造、原材料和

產品間的分別。舉例來說，在《垃圾袋》中，草地、塑料袋

與混泥土路邊都用同一種方式呈現，只借助形狀和顏色來加

以區別。同樣的特點也體現在《天漸漸變涼了》中。畫作描

繪了山中孤零零的帳篷，那帳篷的鮮橙色圓頂盤旋在青草地

上，顯得異質、鼓凸、具有侵入感，然而卻又並不顯得十分

自然、十分真實，或是十分人工。一條模棱兩可的鋸齒形線

條切入畫面，可能是一條小河，但看起來更像是一條混凝土

小徑。在這裡，沒有什麼是完全自然的。就連露營，這試圖

讓我們回歸自然的休閒活動，對於劉唯艱來說似乎都有著相

反的意義，正因為我們早已與自然疏離。

材料與色彩跨越了畫布，所以《這裡也有紅旗》中旗幟的鮮

紅色，與《賓館裡》的滅火器遙相呼應，也讓人想起《孕

《這裡也有紅旗》(局部)2012 (p. 26-27)

《孕婦》(局部)2011 (p. 22-23)

婦》中沙發明亮而柔軟的色調。而《鋼地板》中的鋁藍色則

呼應著《人造水》中的飲水機。這種有限的配色試圖在整個

系列中營造一種共鳴，通過製造一種視覺上的連續性和均勻

性，更加強調突變的存在，又或是自然與人工世界內的區隔

模糊。水與鋼，織物與金屬都被相似地呈現，在劉唯艱的世

界中，我們的眼睛再也難以清晰地區分這兩者。

每個夏天，劉唯艱都會花大約兩個月的時間，只是單純地散

步，在任意一個城市的隨便一條街上，或是沿著一個新的高

速公路走。穿越時空，他就像是波德萊爾筆下巴黎街道上的

紳士看客，一個當代的「閒逛者」、一個超然的觀察者，理

解、參與並描繪城市。他從不選擇看的對象，相反，當他無

意識地在所選擇的地方閒逛時，他允許各種標誌和城市碎屑

在他面前顯現自身。當他對發生在周圍的場景張開眼睛，會

傾向於體驗真實的事物，並用照相機捕捉和收集體現當代人

類現狀的種種證據，留下以待之後沉思。

所以，每個圖像都像是勾勒普通事物的亮光筆。因為日常生

活的蛛絲馬跡往往隱藏在普通的場景中，而後者正是對某時

某刻事實的客觀記錄。現在，事物被安置在其語境中，其

意象馬上被專制地固定下來，並被呈現給觀眾自行分析。然

而，波德萊爾筆下的漫遊者為當代景觀感到興奮，並愛上現

代化的整個當下；劉唯艱的作品卻表現出一種對過往時代的

憂鬱和懷舊，以及對未來的憂慮。

劉唯艱眼光是敏銳的，在舉偶法方面，他更是無懈可擊，擅

14

於從常規裡挑出特性。所以，他對於日常生活中那些人們熟

悉卻不起眼的景色的觀察，逐步建立起一幅令人不安的關

於當代經驗的圖景。他並不提供具體的論述，但這並不意味

著故事的缺失，相反，該系列作品揭示出過程中被掩蓋的東

西。作為帶領我們進入景象的嚮導，劉唯艱呈現給我們一種

無聲的挑釁，激勵我們去辨認景色中的真實性。每個圖像都

有自己內在無聲的美麗，但卻是劉唯艱如攝影師般精確的聚

焦，以及對單個圖像與整組圖像間關係的強調，使得他的系

列作品中張力可以不斷延展，最終使觀眾籠罩在他敏銳的批

判性眼光的審視下。

由短促的筆觸所構成的關於城市生活的馬賽克繪畫，令人局

促的角度、不明確的形狀–劉唯艱的作品游移在印象派作品的

抽象感與它們的逼真來源之間。他用陰影、形狀、線條、顏

色，而非一種逼真的現實主義來定義不同的材料，並成為對

原本對象或是畫作本身的定性指標。劉唯艱在畫作中質疑某

一對象的物質性，也同時質問該物件在世界中的存在位置。

用這種方式，他成功地指出，在對象和對該對象的表現方式

之間，難以作出有用的劃分：對象，對象的照片，照片的圖

畫皆如是。自然、人造、擬像，具體的和抽象的都逐漸變成

同一樣東西。這種實用主義的、由直覺出發的方式，揭示畫

作與其真實來源的關係，以及畫像與當代世界的關係，也被

用來提醒我們，畫筆往往把一個對象表現得更真實，而非相反。

劉唯艱的創作主題是鋼、石、織物、人類、草、金屬、礦

物、塑料、動物、影子、水。所有這些合在一起，建構出一

個沉默中隱含厲聲尖叫的當代生活的大墓園。

《垃圾袋》(局部)2011 (p. 34-35)

15

畫家工作室Artist’s studio

作品PLATES

18

《洗脚水》Footbath Water

Acrylic on canvas丙烯畫布201160 x 80 cm

上頁：

《鋼地板》(局部)丙烯畫布2011140 x 180 cm

Previous page:

Steel Plates (detail)Acrylic on canvas2011140 x 180 cm

20

《人工水》Artificial Water


22

《家鄉 - 椅子與礦泉水》Hometown - Chair and Mineral Water


25

《賓館裡》 In Hotel


27

《孕婦》A Pregnant Woman


28

《山村的郵箱》The Mountain Village Mailbox


31

《這裡也有紅旗》There are red flags here, too


32

《天漸漸變涼了》The weather has gotten chilly


35

《烏鴉的標本》Crow Specimen


36

《摩西在中國》Moses in China


38

《垃圾袋》Trash Bag


41

《鋼地板》Steel Plates


42

《我們倆》The Two of Us


44

What prompted you to begin representing these scenes

and objects?

For me, these scenes and objects are part of my life - some

bear witness to it, and hold a special appeal for me. They

are also effective vehicles for me to study individuality and

sociality. Their state of being is a product of social change and

development, as shown in Moses in China and Rocket Sculpture,

for example. They present themselves at the intersection of

individuality and sociality. Take, for instance, a chair at a station.

Such a chair may arouse similar feelings in those who have been

to the station, though they may have quite different stories.

Taking the chair as a starting point, I can feel further sensations

lying beyond it. One can distinctly feel certain ideals and desires

from these things; the paintings Playground and A Couple from

the City are vivid examples of this.

What governs your choice of subject matter for these paintings?

First of all, it is dictated by fate. Individuality without a

connection with the subject is not a part of my view. Secondly,

it depends on whether the subject can inspire more profound

thinking and deeper perception. Thirdly, the subject must be

part of the world of my painting. Lastly, I must be able to depict

it using my artistic language.

“Rapid development” is a phrase constantly repeated in relation

to China. But what does it really mean on an artistic level, as

part of the wider creative ferment?

As a matter of fact, I don’t really understand the true meaning of

the phrase “rapid development” as far as reality is concerned. I

hear it all the time, though. Chinese art has witnessed in such a

short period various movements and rapid changes in the form

of artistic expression. Many things go out of fashion almost as

quickly as they appeared. Rapid change upsets some people,

making them feel anxious, but it also makes others reflect on

their pursuit of art. Such rapidity makes it difficult for us to make

judgments and define things. Everything is in its experimental

phase. You can try virtually anything, and everything is possible.

What happens to the societal ideals associated with

development in the realm of your paintings?

For me, societal ideals and practical development have merged

into one - both have become part of my spiritual world. I can

hardly distinguish subtle changes in its development, but I am

aware of the gradual change in my ideals that has resulted from

practical development – this brings those ideals closer and closer

to authenticity.

How would you describe your relationship with the appearance

of reality, and how is it transposed in your work?

Since my very being constitutes a part of reality, I like to position

myself right inside it. In this way, it generates a collision of

reality and the ideals of individuals, which results in an uncanny

relationship between the two. It is either the ideals of reality or

the reality of ideals. I like envisioning this sort of contradiction

and coexistence in my work, and transposing it in my paintings

thematically and through the language of painting.

These paintings share a sense of calculated artificiality – how

do you go about constructing this through lighting, for example?

I take into consideration the composition of various elements in

the environment - including lines, faces and colors - and then set

up an appropriate light source between illusion and reality. As to

the representational techniques I adopt for my paintings, there

are hardly any rules because it’s quite likely to be influenced by

Interview with Liu WeijianBy Iona Whittaker

Moses in China2010 (p. 33)

A Couple from the City2012

45

the subject matter or even by my mindset as these paintings are

being constructed; it can vary just as it can stay the same.

Can you talk a little bit about form?

There are two main sources of form in my work: one is to record

with a camera what interests me, then make a selection and

think about it in relation to my painting. The other is to go hiking

somewhere every year, and conceive on the way the work that

is to be created and capture those scenes that can help me to

truthfully record my feelings and thoughts at the moment when

these photographs were taken. For those objects I select, I will

consider which elements shall remain and which to remove,

because each element in the painting is able to speak for itself,

and they speak their own languages when they collide with one

another. I represent the quality and lighting of each element in

its own environment in the manner I am most familiar with in

order to depict its presence at a specific time.

One has a sense less of exterior appearance than the interior

life of objects and scenes – can you expand on this?

The exterior appearance of objects and scenes is what we can

see; the essence of these things can only be felt in our minds.

But we have to feel and understand their essence through their

appearance. Appearance provides an approach for study, and

essence is our ultimate goal, so it is hard to say which is

more important.

How do these works insert themselves into the flow of time

surrounding them – do you aim to create a moment of pause?

As for a single piece of work, I tend to freeze it to a point where

it can release its inner energy as much as possible. But the

coordinates are constantly moving, and you can eventually

sense through my paintings the timing of such movements and

the changes that happen within diverse social groups. Thus, my

work reflects invariance as well as the variability of objects

and scenes.

Would you say your works enact a reflexive relationship with

the landscape, or are they simply responses to it?

Since my works are rooted stylistically in the natural world, a

reflexive relationship does exist - but this is not a major issue.

What appears more important to me is that I can construct my

own world in paint by way of this landscape representation; it

also acts upon itself as a bridge to that ideal world. The natural

landscape presents itself as an element in my paintings, and as a

non-verbal carrier as well.

These paintings have been described as “laden with

anonymity” – yet they are instantly synonymous with

accelerated development in China. Would you say you are

sensitive to this paradox of identity in the contemporary

environment?

There are a lot of things that are not laden with anonymity;

it is just that they appear out of nowhere under certain social

circumstances, and vanish as suddenly as they had come.

But as we look back, things have already taken on a different

state. There are also many elements that enjoy quite different

humanistic definitions at different times. It is difficult for us to

make a judgment as to which one shall be its real definition,

since it is undergoing constant change. We are made aware

of these societal groups and this community by their

contemporary situations.

These scenes often feature verdant nature alongside industrial

or man-made bodies; is this an engaging relationship for you?

I don’t know if there is any relationship there. When I was

a child, the province of my hometown, Hunan, boasted

picturesque natural scenery. I am quite impressed by scenery.

Later I went to a bigger city to continue my education,

and have been living in Shanghai since I graduated. I have

witnessed the changes modern cities are undergoing, from

a state of natural economy to industrialization, and I myself

am also undergoing constant change. On one hand, I have to

suffer a sense of loss caused by the vanishing of picturesque

46

scenery. On the other, I have to face new unfamiliarity.

Actually, men are quite adaptable creatures…

You seem to share with other painters of your generation a

tendency towards the uncanny in your depictions of objects.

Is this intentional?

I don’t think these objects look uncanny or mysterious. It is just

that we rarely stop to read the other side of these objects. When

you do, it is just the other side, and that is all. I never bother

to think about which side to represent, however. I like to make

observations from my own point of view.

Many contemporary artists leave their works untitled so as

to avoid the imposition of meaning. Your paintings, however,

often have compelling titles; how do you envisage their effect

on the impact of the work?

When I decide to create a new piece of work, it has its own realm

which is difficult to describe using language. Therefore, naming

a work is a tough job. Sometimes I use a combination of words

and paintings for my final works. I have names for them even at

the time of conception, but it never goes so far as to affect my

painting – rather, it only serves to make my conception clearer

to my own mind. Sometimes, I use the name of the object

itself. Although it sounds rather neutral, it never hinders my

representation of the object, and can even play an emphatic role.

Do you always consider your audience and how they will

encounter your work?

Certainly. I often put myself in my audience’s shoes, and

examine and reflect on my work from their perspective. When

confronting my work, more often than not I will try to clear the

thoughts that I had at the time of its creation so as to determine

whether my painting conveys exactly what I am going out of my

way to depict with it. I repeatedly change my role between that

of painter and audience. I think that as a spectator, I am just a

part of the audience - but as a creator, I am unique.

How do you approach art as a cultural undertaking?

I have not thought about it. It is a social undertaking that

requires close collaboration between artists and professionals

from other industries. I’ll just do my part.

How do you feel your practice has developed since your last

exhibition?

Exhibitions help me to make a summary of the past and reflect

on my work, a means by which I can uncover more blind realms,

broaden my vision and enhance my thinking capacity. In

addition, creating art demands exploration and great patience;

we can only move forward step by step. Painting is a slow

process, after all.

What would you say you are most loyal to in your work?

I am most loyal to the true feelings of my heart that are shared

only by me and through my paintings.

What are your hopes for the future of your creative practice?

I wish to have the energy to visit different places so as to have

more to think about for my paintings, to have a more acute

sense of objects and scenes, and to master more accurate

painting skills with which to convey my ideas.

48

甚麼驅使你繪畫這些場景和事物？

從我個體上來說這些場景和事物是我生活中的一部分，這其

中有我個人的生活印證。這些場景和事物也是我研究個體與

社會性的有效載體，這些場景與事物的存在狀態就是社會變

化和發展的產物，如作品《摩西在中國》、《火箭雕塑》等。

這些場景和事物也是個體與群體性的交彙點，如車站的一把

椅子，每個去過車站的人在這類椅子上有類似的感受，有不

同故事等等，從這把椅子作為起點，我可以體會更多椅子之

外的事物。從這些場景和事物上可以清晰感受到人本身的某

種理想和某種欲望，如《遊樂場》、《城裡來的一對夫婦》等

等。還有這些場景和事物對我有某種吸引力。

你如何選擇作品題材？有一定的準則嗎？

對於題材的選擇：一是靠緣分，個人與它沒有相交的可能性

也沒法進入我的視點。二、有沒有激發我更深的思考，從中

能否看到更多的東西。三、是否是我要構造繪畫世界的組成

部分。四、是否能用我的繪畫語言表達出來。

“高速發展”一詞與中國關係密切；但從藝術角度而言，它真

正意義是甚麼呢？它又如何成為藝術創作中的養份？

其實“高速發展”結合現實我也不知真正意義，一直聽到這

種說法。但在中國藝術上確實讓我們在很短的時間經歷了各

種藝術思潮，各種藝術表達形式快速更替。

與劉唯艱對談很多東西流行起來很快，消失地也很快。這種快速地變化讓

有的人很焦慮，讓有的人安靜下來重新思考，審視自己的藝

術之路。當然這種快速讓我們對事物不會輕易地做出判斷和定

義。一切都走在實驗的路上，可以大膽地嘗試，什麼都有可能。

在你的畫中，社會理想與現實發展之間存在某種關聯，你認

為這種關聯現在產生了甚麼變化？

社會理想與現實發展轉換到我身上時它合而為一了，兩者都

是我精神上的一部分，我自己很難區分它在一個發展過程中

的微妙變化，但我能體會到那種現實發展在一步步改變我原

有的社會理想構造，讓社會理想越來越接近事物的真實性。

你會怎樣形容自己與現實的關係？這種關係如何在畫作中

呈現？

我本來就是生活在現實中的一員，我也喜歡把自己置身於現

實之中，這樣現實與個人理想會發生碰撞，這種碰撞讓兩種

東西產生異樣的關係。要麼是現實中的理想，要麼是理想中

的現實。我喜歡在作品中去體現這種矛盾和這種同時存在

感，在畫面中還是得通過題材和自身的繪畫語言來完成。

這些畫作均予人一種經過精密計算的感覺。可舉例說明一下

你是憑藉甚麼技法(如光暗運用)營造出這種感覺？

對於一張作品，我會考慮所要表達的元素在環境中的構成關

係(包括點，線，面，色彩構成關係)，再給它設定一種特定

的光源(介於個人想像與現實之間)。表現技法就很難說了，

受選擇的題材影響也受繪畫時的狀態影響，有變化的一面也

有常態的一面。

可分享你的創作及表現形式嗎？

主要來源於兩方面，一種是用相機去記錄生活中有意思的事

物，再進行選擇重新構思創造。另一種是每年會選擇一個

地方去徒步，在徒步的路上進行思考構思將要創作的作品方

向，用相機有選擇性的拍下一些素材，主要還是個人與被拍

事物在當時的體念和思考，照片可以幫助我真實地去還原。

對於所選擇的事物，我會考慮每個元素地去和留，因為每個

《摩西在中國》2010 (p. 33)

《城裡來的一對夫婦》2012

愛安阿著

49

元素在繪畫裡它都有自身的說話能力，元素和元素之間相碰

撞都有自己的語言。主要表現方式還是用自己最習慣的方式

刻畫元素在它生存環境下的質量和光影性來反映它在特定時

間的存在感。

相對於事物的外貌，有些人似乎更著重其內在本質。你如何

進一步詮釋這個概念？

事物的外貌是我們能看的到的，事物的本質只能去感受在我

的大腦意念之中。我們還是通過眼睛看到的外貌去體會事物

的本質，外貌是途徑，本質是目的吧，很難說哪個更重要。

這些作品如何將自身植入於流動的時間之中？你是否以繪畫

靜止的瞬間為創作目的？

作為單件作品而言，我習慣把它凝固起來，把它凝固到一個

點去傳達盡可能更大的能量，但點與點之間是流動的，最終

從我的大量作品裡來體現這種流動的時間性和變化的社會群

體性，所以它既有事物的恆定性也有事物的變動性。

你的作品與自然景觀所存在的是一種反射關係，抑或是一種

純粹的自然反應？

我作品的體裁來源於自然生活之中，應該存在這種反射關

係，但這又不是主要的，更重要的我是通過對這種表像景觀

的表達來構造我自己的繪畫世界，這也是我通往那種理想世

界的橋梁。自然景觀是我繪畫裡的一種元素，也是某種不可

言語的載體。

人們認為你的畫作中“滿載了現實中的無名狀況”，但亦有人

將它們視為中國急速發展的像徵。你對存在於當今社會的這

種矛盾是否格外敏感？

有很多東西它本來並不是無名狀況，只是在一種特定的社會

背景下它誕生的比較突然，消失的也比較快，等我們回頭審

視它時它已經處於另一種狀況了，還有很多事物在不同時期

它有不同的人文定義，我們很難去評判哪種才是它的真實定

義，而且這種變化還在繼續，從這些事物所處的這種境況裡

我們可以體會到一些群體性和社會性。

在你的畫作中，工業化或人造物經常與大自然一併出現。這

種取材方式與你自身之間有甚麼關係？

我不知是否有關係，我小時候生活的環境是一種自然經濟為

主體的社會，湖南山青水秀，對這種自然經濟景觀還是很有

感覺，後來讀書從小城市到大城市，畢業後在上海一直生活

到現在，感覺自己能感受到從自然經濟發展到以工業化為主

體的現代化都市的變化，而且自身也處於這種變化之中，一方

面要承受那種消失帶來的失落感，另一方面要面對那種新的

陌生感，最終人的適應能力還是很強的。

和其他同輩的畫家一樣，你似乎較傾向於描述事物神秘而另

類的一面。你是有意這樣做的嗎？

我自己覺得這些事物並不另類神秘，只是我們很少靜下心來

去體會事物的另一面，當你真實地去面對它時，它僅是事物

存在地另一面而已，我沒有刻意去表達事物地哪個方面。我

習慣用自己的角度觀察事物。

很多當代畫家喜將作品定為“無題”，以免為觀者設下一個

框框，限制他們對作品的聯想。但你的作品則多有特定的畫

題，你認為這些題目對作品有甚麼影響？

當決定創作一件作品開始，它就有它表達地疆域，這個疆域

又是很難用語言概括。因此對作品命名是件很難的事。我有

時的方式是運用文字與作品組合來完成最終創作。這類作品

在構思的時候名字就想好了，但它不影響我對繪畫的創作，

只會讓我思路更清晰。有時就用事物的本身來命名，它很中

性，不影響作品的表達，還起了強調的作用。

你是否經常考慮到觀賞者，以及他們接觸作品時的感受？

會考慮的，經常讓自己處於觀眾的角度對自己作品進行審視

和反思。更多的是自己面對作品時，放空自己在繪畫時的所

思所想，再去體會作品有沒有把那種要表達的東西用繪畫表

達出來。自己反復在觀眾與作者之間轉換，我想作為觀眾我

是群體中的一分子，作為創作身份我是唯一。

50

如何將藝術發展成一種文化產業？

這問題我還沒想過，這是藝術家與其他行業的人合作完成的

社會性的事務，我就做好我自己的事吧。

自上次展覽後，你對自己的創作事業有甚麼體會？

確實展覽可以讓自己對一段時間的工作進行總結和反思，這

樣可以打開更多的盲區，讓視野更開闊，思考問題更廣泛

些，還有就是創作需要一點一點地探索，一點一點地成長起

來，繪畫畢竟是件慢活。

在你的作品中你最忠於、最堅持的是甚麼？

內心深處的真實感受，個人與畫面之間感同深受的體驗。

你對未來的創作實踐有甚麼期望？

有足夠的精力去不一樣的地方，在創作上讓思考的東西更廣

闊，在內心裡能感受到事物更高的精微度，在作品技法上能

更准確地傳達。

51

畫家在工作室Artist in studio

52

1981 Born in Hunan Province, China

2005 Graduated from Shanghai Normal University College of Art

2001 Graduated from the middle school affiliated to the China Academy of Art

Solo Exhibitions

2012 Liu Weijian, Solo Exhibition, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, China

The Idea Before Sunrise, Galería Yusto, Giner, Malaga, Spain

2010 Liu Weijian: Farewell My Country, LV Gallery, Louis Vuitton Maison, Hong Kong, China

Antenna, Solo exhibition of Liu Weijian, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

2009 Liu Weijian, Solo Exhibition, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

2007 The Call of the Crows, Liu Weijian’s Solo Exhibition, BizArt Art Center, Shanghai, China

2006 Specimen and Secret, Creative Garden, Shanghai, China

Group Exhibitions

2012 CURATED BY WANG XINGWEI: SPECIFICITY, UCCA, Beijing, China

ShanghART Group Exhibition in Summer, ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai, China

ShanghART Beijing Group Exhibition, ShanghART, Beijing, China

LIU Weijian, SUN Xun, ZHOU Zixi-ShanghART Group Exhibition, ShanghART Main Space,

Shanghai, China

ART HK 12 (Hong Kong International Art Fair), Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre,

Hong Kong, China

New Force, Shanghai Young Artists Show, Leo Gallery, Shanghai, China

Re-Novation & Collateral Effects, Galerie Dix9, Paris, France

ShanghART Group Exhibition, ShanghART Beijing, China

ShanghART Group Exhibition, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

2011 Growing Up, Exhibition celebrating SWFC 3rd & ShanghART Gallery 15th Anniversary,

Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China

ShanghART Gallery Summer Group Show, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

ShanghART Group Show, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

19 Solo Shows About Painting, Platform, Beijing, China

2010 One by One, ShanghART Group Show, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

INERTIA, Taikang Terrace, Shanghai, China

In the Garden, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Hangzhou, China

LIU WEIJIAN

Biography

53

China Power Station - Part 4, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Torino, Italy

Portrait, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China

All about the Bed, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

Jungle: A Close-Up Focus on Chinese Contemporary Art Trends, Platform China, Beijing, China

2009 Shanghai History in Making from 1979 till 2009, Shanghai, China

MUTE, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

Blackboard, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

Another Scene - artists’ projects, concepts and ideas, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

2008 Hybrid, ShanghART at Huaihai Rd 796, Shanghai, China

Selected, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

2007 Aired, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

Amateur World, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing, China

The First Today’s Documents 2007, Energy: Spirit · Body · Material, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

China Power Station: Part II, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway

Individual Position 2, Video, Photo, and Installation, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

Individual Positions 1, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China

Shouting Truth, A Contemporary Art Exhibition, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute,

Beijing, China

2006 Gifts 2: A Case of Contemporary Art, Fanren Villa, Hangzhou, China

Satellite 2006, Contemporary Art Pavilion, Shanghai, China

Second Shanghai Duolun Exhibition of Young Artists, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art,

Shanghai, China

Thirty-Eight Solo Exhibitions, 2577 Creative Garden, Shanghai, China

China’s Cutting Edge: New Video Art from Shanghai and Beijing, Anthology Film Archives,

New York, USA

Future Landscapes, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China

2005 Gifts 1, A Case of Contemporary Art, Modern Art Museum of Hangzhou Normal University,

Hangzhou, China

2004 Warm Spring, Ionly.com.cn Digital Image Exhibition, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao,

Chengdu, Changzhou, Shuzhou, China

2003 White Tower Mountain, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Baitaling, Hangzhou, China

2002 Shadow-XXX Art Exhibition, Qin Zhou Nan Road, Shanghai, China

54

1981 出生於中國湖南

2005 畢業於上海師範大學美術學院油系

2001 畢業於中國美術學院附中

個展

2012 「劉唯艱個展, 馬凌畫廊, 香港, 中國

「日出之前的想法, Galeria Yusto Giner, 馬拉加, 西班牙

2010 「劉唯艱: 再見故鄉, 路易威登旗艦店藝廊, 香港, 中國

「觸角, 劉唯艱個展, 香格納H空間, 上海, 中國

2009 「劉唯艱個展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

2007 「烏鴉的召喚, 劉唯艱個展, 比翼藝術中心, 上海, 中國

2006 「標本與秘密, 創意大院, 上海, 中國

群展

2012 「由王興偉策劃: 具體, 尤倫斯當代藝術中心, 北京, 中國

「香格納夏季群展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

「香格納北京群展, 香格納北京, 中國

「劉唯艱, 孫遜, 周子曦-香格納群展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

「香港國際藝術展- 展位: 3A09, 藝術博覽會香港國際會展中心, 香港, 中國

「新動力, 上海年輕藝術家展, 獅語畫廊, 上海, 中國

「Re-Novation & Collateral Effects, Galerie Dix9, 巴黎, 法國

「香格納群展, 香格納北京, 中國

「香格納群展 , 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

2011 「在成長, 上海環球金融中心三周年慶典之香格納15周年特展, 上海環球金融中心, 上海, 中

國

「香格納畫廊夏季群展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

「香格納群展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

「關於繪畫的十九個個展, 站台中國, 北京, 中國

2010 「一個接一個, 香格納畫廊群展, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

「惰性, Taikang Terrance, 上海, 中國

「游園, 當代藝術展, 杭州, 中國

「中國發電站 - 第四站, Pinacoteca Agnelli, 都靈, 意大利

「肖像, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

劉唯艱

簡歷

55

「中國當代藝術三十年, 民生現代美術館, 上海, 中國

「與床有關, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

叢林: 中國當代藝術生態管窺, 站台中國, 北京, 中國

2009 上海灘 1979-2009, 上海, 中國

無語, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

黑板, 香格納H空間, 上海, 中國

另一個現場——藝術的計劃、概念與想法, 香格納H空間, 上海, 中國

2008 雜. 混. 合. 物. 種 , 香格納在淮海路796號, 上海, 中國

選, 香格納H空間, 上海, 中國

2007 曬一曬, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

業餘人間, 站台中國, 北京, 中國

2007 首屆今日文獻展, 能量: 精神. 身體. 物質, 今日美術館, 北京, 中國

中國發電站: 第二部分, Astrup Fearnley 現代美術館, 奧斯陸, 挪威

個人的態度2, 錄像、照片與裝置展, 香格納H空間, 上海, 中國

個人的態度1, 香格納畫廊主空間, 上海, 中國

叫真, 當代藝術展, 站台中國, 北京, 中國

2006 禮物2: 當代藝術展, 凡人樂墅, 杭州, 中國

Satellite 2006 當代藝術暨設計年展, 當代藝術展館, 上海, 中國

第二屆上海多倫青年美術大展, 上海多倫美術館, 上海, 中國

38個個展, 2577創意大院, 上海, 中國

中國刀鋒: 來自上海和北京的新興錄像藝術, 電影檔案館, 紐約, 美國

明天的風景, 多倫現代美術館, 上海, 中國

2005 禮物1, 當代藝術展, 杭州師範學院現代美術館, 杭州, 中國

2004 暖春, 東方視覺數字影像展, 上海、南京、青島、成都、常州、蘇州, 中國

2003 白塔嶺, 當代藝術展, 白塔嶺, 杭州, 中國

2002 影子 - XXX 藝術展, 欽州南路, 上海, 中國

56

Acknowledgements

Edouard Malingue wishes to express his warmest thanks to Lorenz Helbling.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition

LIU WEIJIAN23 November, 2012 - 19 January, 2013

Publication © 2012 Edouard Malingue GalleryArtificial Water © Rose LejeuneTranslated in Chinese by Victoria CommunicationsInterview conducted between Liu Weijian and Iona Whittaker © Iona WhittakerDesign by Olivia TsePrinting by CA Design, Hong Kong

ISBN: 978-988-16827-2-7

First Floor 8 Queen’s Road Central Hong Kong T: +852 2810 0317 www.edouardmalingue.com

57

鳴謝

馬凌對何浦林送上由衷的謝意。

展覽刊物

劉唯艱個展輯錄2012年11月23日至2013年1月19日

馬凌畫廊出版，2012年Artificial Water：羅斯．樂旋著

中文翻譯：人工水, Victoria Communications譯與劉唯艱對談：劉唯艱與愛安阿著

設計：謝敏生承印：CA Design (中國香港)

ISBN: 978-988-16827-2-7

馬凌畫廊香港中環皇后大道中8號1樓

T: +852 2810 0317 www.edouardmalingue.com