表现性绘画的力量，来自艺术家运笔的力度。西方表现主义与中国文人笔墨在此遥相呼应，二者既注重用色用笔的视觉形式，又注重内在情绪通过笔触而自然流淌。在今天，表现性绘画以运笔来传达个人的心态和情绪，通过形式传达心理信息，笔触的力量遂成表现性绘画的撼人之处。

二十世纪早期的欧洲表现主义绘画，起自艺术家们对法国印象派和后印象派之自然主义方法的反叛。1911年，巴黎画派的早期现代主义者们在德国举办画展，唤起了德国一批年轻画家的觉悟和焦虑。这些德国画家在法国野兽派作品中，看到了个人内心激情的强悍，于是，他们从客观的外在世界，转向主观的内心世界，专注于用画笔表现个人的情绪和心态。

然而，表现主义不仅仅是美术史上的一个具体流派，而且更是一种艺术倾向和人文精神，不仅存在于20世纪初的欧洲，也存在于中国绘画的昨天和今天。八百年前的宋末元初，当南宋遗民画家隐入禅林后，他们将个人的焦虑，化作狂放不羁的笔墨，以无言的禅来表达无尽的意。玉涧在《潇湘八景》中用大泼墨来消散山水之形，又以无形的禅意来凝聚内心的精神力量，其艺术成就，让我们后人高山仰止。同时代的禅僧画家牧溪，明代徐渭和清初朱耷，也莫不如此，他们都让个人的心理焦虑，在笔下激情奔涌，他们以自己的笔墨力量，为中国美术史奉献了无与伦比的杰作。

20世纪初，西潮东渐，欧洲的表现主义与中国文人笔墨相碰撞，造就了一代人的表现绘画。到20世纪后期，西潮再次东渐，欧洲的新表现主义与中国当代精神相碰撞，造就了中国当代艺术中的表现绘画。

不过，欧洲的新表现主义，是西方后现代时期的一道文化景观，而中国当代艺术中的表现性绘画，则超越了后现代的大众合欢与犬儒癔语，而在色彩的流淌和笔触的运动中，多少带有观念的焦虑，这是今日中国表现性绘画的魅力所在。在《笔触的力量——中外当代表现绘画七人展》的作品中，我们可以看到艺术家们对历史的反思和批判，也可以看到他们对内省深度的开掘，还可以看到他们对笔触之表现力的探讨。这一切都展示了中国当代艺术的一种现世心态。无论是否着意而为，参展的一位法国和一位美国艺术家，更向我们提示了西方影响与中国当代表现性绘画的关系，同时，他们的参展，又何尝不是艺术全球化的产物？

当我们整体地观照这七位艺术家的作品时，我们没有看到西方与中国之间刻意的文化界线，也没有看到古人与今人之间刻意的时代界线。在这些作品中，我们看到的是一种共同的人格精神，这就是借助笔触的力量来表现文化人格的内在精神。

 

 

                                    二ＯＯ八年一月，蒙特利尔

              （本文作者为美术学博士，加拿大康科迪亚大学教授）

 

 The Power of Brushstroke

 

 

       Today the study of visual culture focuses on the power of image. To scholars and those who work for mass media, the power of image comes from the messages that an image carries and the capability of image in carrying messages. However, to artists, such a power comes from the passionate expressive brushstroke, which makes the capability possible and makes a painting appealing.

       In the history of Western art, the 20^th-century Expressionist painting started from some young German artists’ rebellion against the naturalism of the impressionists and postimpressionists. In 1911, those artists were awakened by Fauve and other artists of the Paris School, who had an exhibition in Germany. The young German artists of the Bruke and the Blaue Reiter groups thus turned away from the description of the material world and turned to the exploration of the spiritual world.

       Nevertheless, the inward-turn is not foreign to Chinese art and artists. About 800 years ago when the Mongols conquered China, some artists who were loyal to the fallen dynasty retreated to Buddhist temples for sanctuary and turned to practice the art of Zen with expressive brushwork in semi-abstract painting.

       In the early 20^th century, Western art went to China, encountered Chinese spirituality, and influenced modern Chinese art. The influence echoed the first wave of westernization and modernization in China. More than a half century later, when the second wave rose, Western art went to China again in the 1980s and shaped contemporary Chinese art.

       One of the important Western art schools that influenced contemporary Chinese art is Neo-expressionism, such as the German artists Jorg Immendorff, Gerhard Richter and the American artist Eric Fischl. However, expressionist art in China is different from that in the West. While the Western Neo-Expressionists are more postmodern inclined, Chinese artists are more engaged in some immediate political, social, and cultural issues of today’s China, and in the meantime Chinese artists pay more attention to the power of brushwork which is psychologically more expressive and, paradoxically, more self-centered.

       In the paintings shown in the Exhibition “The Power of Brushstroke: Seven Artists from China and the West” we can see the Chinese artists’ critical intention, their exploration of human psyche, and their experiment of the painterly power of brushwork. Two Western artists are from Germany and American, their paintings on exhibition, accidentally or not, remind us of the Western influence on modern and contemporary Chinese art.

       In my opinion, Western influence and the Chinese response are the key point of the visual communication in today’s visual culture and cultural study, which demonstrate the power of brushstroke.

 

 

                                                                                    January 2008, Montreal