谢小凡的画 (一)：中秋的汁

我学过文学，干过行政，画过画，也盖过房子；是儿子，有儿子，也有许许多多东边西边、北边南北、国内国外的亲朋。我想我始终是一个在人生里的人，人生之丰富庞大，似乎只能沉浸而难以言表。

我指挥过美术馆的建造，主持过美术馆建筑设计的国际招标，有幸看过国内外很多经典建筑，主持编写了《公共美术馆建设标准》（国颁），从事过美术馆藏品、民间艺术的管理工作，早年还在四川攀枝花市委宣传部工作过。没有一所大学能教我这么多，我干的每一项工作都是我的老师，在实践中学习。领悟到的东西都切实，变成画与文字，竟有些道成肉身的意思。

老百姓的生活里有无数窗口，是定格，也是事态或缓慢或急速的变化。这些画是我的窗口，里面有我的观念，但其实与其说是表现我的认识的窗口，不如说，我是窗口。

公约数，取每个人作为窗口的一次最大通约。人之能理解与共情，我以为，就在这里边。

画水墨画没有人教过我。我只是亲眼见过、零距离接触过潘公凯先生画大画，这可能是我唯一的“身教”的老师。“言传”的多一些。“文人画”是读书听讲知道的，很长一段时间我都在学“文人画”。但后来仔细一想，今天我们从不读四书五经、不吟诗作赋、不师承衣钵，算哪门子文人呢？唯一能攀附的，还是我的社会身份。古代文人多是官员，我现在也有个一官半职在身，大概也只有这一点的处境与古代文人略能相通，也正是在这一点上，我的确体贴地感觉到水墨是中国人的向往与安慰。有一阵子我成天在想，今天我们全部西化了的建屋之法如何与斗拱、坡屋顶结合。当时我承担着建设国家美术馆的重仼，背负大家期望，加上北京漫天雾霾的气氛，我便经常在几层重叠的手工宣纸上边画边找感觉。恰好这种特殊的纸，能浸润且不难控制，反复在上面画，领悟着宾翁所言的积墨要旨，就画出了《我们这个年代的雾》。今日回头看，这画主旨中的疑惑，大概正是我们年代的雾吧。

我有过很基层的经历，这是我极其珍视的。基层是生活的洪流。我对它的信仰，是我把中秋节收到的月饼和攀枝花乡亲寄来的石榴捣成汁，与水墨相拌，在宣纸上画下的样子。

宣纸  设色  colour on rice paper   2012年  78cm x 55cm

 

收到从云南、四川、广西、深圳寄来的很多月饼，从攀枝花寄来的石榴。中秋节过完很久都吃不完，于是就把过期月饼、干瘪的石榴掏出粒来作画。物质极大丰富有后果，然画出来又宁静安逸，方知意难达也。

I received a lot many mooncakes from Yunnan, Sichuan,Guangxi and Shenzhen, and pomegranate from Panzhihua, and much of them stayed untouched long after the Mid-autumn Festival. So I used the expired mooncakes and the dried pomegranate seeds for painting. That was the consequence of the utmost abundance of materials. But the paint-ing thus made was tranquil and leisurely, and then I realisedthat intention was hard to achieve.

宣纸  设色  colour on rice paper   2012年  110cm x 78cm

 

看到七层宣纸托成的厚纸板，手痒。这种纸也注定比薄纸经得起折腾。茶几上放着一大堆葡萄和中秋节剩下的月饼，意识里突然闪现波洛克作画的行动，就用盆子调好墨汁弄出三张来，废品一大堆扔了。画的名字和意义是后来封的。一周后去巴黎公干手上无礼品，就将其中一张一分为四，装好框送给让·努维尔和于伯尔，剩余的一张送齐欣，一张送朱小地。前三张掛在各家墙上，小地那张不见了，估计他不喜欢。

Looking at the thick cardboard of seven-layer rice paper, I felt the itch for painting. This paper is definitely tougher in use than thin paper. On the tea table were a big bunch of grape and mooncakes from the Mid-autumn Festival. Suddenly it flashed in my mind the actions of Jackson Pollock and I took out a basin, prepared the ink and made three paintings-a lot more were wasted and thrown away. The title and meaning of the paintings were given later. One week later I went to Paris but did not have proper gifts, so I divided one of the paintings into four pieces, mounted and presented to Jean Nouvel and Hubert Tonka, the remaining two I gave to Qi Xin and Zhu Xiaodi. The first three are hang ing on the walls of their houses, but the one given to Xiaodi is gone, probably he does not like it.

宣纸  设色  colour on rice paper   2015年  22cm x 14cm

 

用多层宣纸托成的很厚的卡纸，贵，边角料都舍不得扔，拿来试墨。累积下来的痕迹像古人的水墨画，正好在思考外国建筑与山水城市，于是就添了穹隆与坡顶。清晰度过了，不像雾霾中的城市，就在表面上裱一层薄薄的绢，仿佛是半眠景象。

I use a kind of very thick cardboard of several layers of rice paper, so expensive that I did not want to throw away the bits and pieces and used them for exercise. The traces thus accumulated were like the ink and wash painting of the ancients. I happened to be reflecting on foreign architecture and the Shanshui city, so I added the dome and the sloping roof. With the clearness overdone, it did not look like a city in smog, so I had a thin layer of silk mounted on the surface, making it as if a scene of half sleep.

水印木刻  woodblock print with water-based pigments  2018年   76cm x 56cm

 

试笔试墨于上面说的厚纸壳上，累积成了图案，把它归纳、放大再用水印木刻的方式做成版画，依形取了对着长寿龟低头谒拜的名字。

I exercised writing and painting on the above mentioned thick cardboard. With images accumulated, they were then classified, magnified and rendered into woodblock prints with water-based pigments. The title of the painting is derived from the image of bowing and paying homage to a turtle, symbol of longevity.

宣纸  水墨   Ink and wash on rice paper  2013年   75cm x 72cm

带让·努维尔去山西印县参观辽代木塔，当地朋友送给我一个木制的木塔模型，我放在画室里常常看见，心里也便常常生起关于它的景象，日久生情就画了一张。画的名字和字体歪歪倒倒是暗示岁月沧桑。

I took Jean Nouvel on a trip to the liao dynasty wooden Pagoda at Yinxian County, Shanxi Province. A friend there gave me a wood model of the wooden pagoda, which I put in my studio. I see it very often and its image often emerges in my mind. As time went by I painted this painting. The title of the painting and the slanting calligraphy suggest the vicissi-tudes of changing time.

宣纸  设色  colour on rice paper   2012年  137cm x 69cm

 

五一劳动节放假，大家都在休息，我却在工作。看到朋友送给我的大斗笔，就下手了。正好对着一对吴昌硕“汉书下酒、秦云炅河”之言语的乌木镇纸，这句话我喜欢，于是涂抹上墨反过来盖在画上，添加了文气，消除了单调。

It was a May Day and everyone was on vacation and resting, but I had to work. I looked upon a big dipper brush and started to paint. I happened to be facing an ebony paperweight with engravings of words by Wu Changshuo meaning ” Han Dynasty calligraphy for wine and Qin Dyansty cloud reflected on river”. I like the words very much, and applied ink on it and stamped it reversely on the painting, adding to it a scholarly touch and eliminating dullness.