訪談

今年9月，在北京昌平水長城腳下的一個私人會所里，本刊見到了從倫敦回來探親的曲磊磊。謙遜、親和，但一開口說話卻能讓你在短時間內獲得最豐富的藝術知識和最容易接受的藝術熏陶，這是他給我留下的第一印象。第二次見面是在中秋節之前，地點選在了北京后海的一個私家菜館里，我們在這里完成一次采訪。坐在室內，透過三面的落地窗，后海的風情一覽無余。盡管已經客居英國二十多年，但后海對曲磊磊來說卻是一處深藏心底的難忘之地。他指著眼前的一灣水面說：“我以前就在這兒訓練劃舢板”。

那天，不知什么時候，外面開始細雨綿綿。室內的談話因為藝術也變得風雅起來，與古風、古韻的陳設一起，營造出了不一樣的心情和氣場。

《私人飛機》：我很好奇，作為一位藝術家，怎樣才能做到跟所有庸俗的、膚淺的、偽裝的、陳腐的藝術劃清界限？

曲磊磊：近二十年，我的創作是按系列和分主題進行的，大約每5年和10年完成一個。從1989年年底到1995年，做了《夢中的太陽——我的半生》系列，為的是溫故知新，弄清楚自己到底是怎么回事兒；從1996年到1999年，做了《此時此地——面對新世紀》系列，探討在同一個時空點上，人類對歷史、現實和未來的心理共性；從新世紀開始到2005年，做了《每個人的一生都是一部史詩》系列，通過普通人真實的生存狀態和他們對生活的認識，去探求人性的普世價值；從2005年到現在，做了《筆墨光影》系列，這是一個以人體為主題的唯美主義系列，試圖以中國的筆墨語言，去實現歐洲文藝復興大師們的追求。筆墨如何解決光影的問題，是基于怎樣達到作品的深度和力度的要求上必然提出的。讀一遍《中國美術史》，你就會發現，對光和影的理解，以及對人體解剖的認識，這正是我們長于古人之處。同時，什么是東方的，什么是西方的，什么是現代的，什么是古典的，我想以自己的作品去回答那些人們爭論不休的話題。我還同時開始做3個新的主題系列：《礦工》、《母親》以及《千年帝國》，其實都是以前幾個主題的延續和深化，也就是對歷史、文化和人性的進一步探討。

要強調的一點是作品本身在純粹技法層面上，必須經得起專業眼光和時間的檢驗。能夠做到這些，就可以跟所有庸俗的、膚淺的、偽裝的、陳腐的藝術劃清界限。

《私人飛機》：說實話，有些藝術我看不懂，很多人可能也會有這樣的困擾，那么什么是真正的藝術欣賞呢？

曲磊磊：藝術欣賞首先涉及藝術的判斷標準，而藝術判斷標準是非常模糊的。美術鑒賞其實是一件很個體的事。什么是藝術，什么不是藝術，什么是好的藝術，什么是不好的藝術，每個人的看法都不一樣。但是我可以說這個我喜歡，這個我不喜歡。這是人判斷藝術的一個最通常的標準。好多人說看不懂某些藝術，其實沒什么懂或不懂的問題，就是你喜歡還是不喜歡。喜歡，你就有自己的標準。對我個人來說，我的標準底線就是人性，我以這個為本。你喜歡，那畫里有些東西引起你的共鳴。你不喜歡，就是有些東西引起你的不適。你不用去深究它。

《私人飛機》：這幾年，國內很多人對藝術品投資比較感興趣，您怎樣看待藝術品投資和收藏？

曲磊磊：關于國內的藝術品投資和收藏，有專家說，90%的人用90%的錢買了90%的贗品。官窯瓷器怎么可能有那么多？大師的畫怎么可能有那么多？有一個統計，流傳有序有紀錄的，齊白石的畫是2萬幅左右，跟畢加索差不多。張大千的畫大概也是2萬幅左右。但是這兩個人目前在市場上流通的畫都是在20萬幅，也就是90%都是贗品。

目前，中國市場要把兩個概念分清楚，藝術收藏和藝術投資是兩回事。藝術投資沒有錯，但是你不能把投資說成收藏。大部分人現在是做藝術投資，而且更多的人是短線的。我今天買了明天就能漲多少，下個月就能增值多少，明年就能翻倍多少。

我只想把畫畫好，當然也希望人們喜歡，真心收藏，不是為了去倒賣的。你真喜歡它，就把它留在家里，留給你的后代或者進博物館。好的收藏是你生活的一部分，朝夕與共。

我希望自己的作品是終端收藏，是博物館的東西，是美術史上的東西。我用一段時間畫唯美，就要解決水墨和光影的問題。中國美術史上沒有這個東西，單腿的東方或西方藝術家都做不了這個。我做的這個，將來有一天放在盧浮宮，跟文藝復興大師的作品放一塊兒，我心里還能踏實，才算把事做好了，這是我定的標準。

《私人飛機》：和浮躁的藝術家們相比，你如何看待自己的？

曲磊磊：畫畫是一種純粹的個人行為，我知道除了像別人一樣要生存之外，如果還有一點兒個人的追求，就得為實現那個追求付出更多的努力。對畫家來說，時間、眼力、精力、體力以及對生活的體驗和洞悉，加上必經幾十年錘煉的技法和功力，這些因素同時具備的時光是非常短暫的，我深知此理，所以能夠甘于寂寞，安于清貧，日復一日，年復一年地在畫室內外，辛勤而愉快地工作。 我不愿意跟別人比，缺乏自信的人才要跟別人比，唯一重要的是，把自己想做的事盡善盡美地做好。

和曲磊磊告別的時候，雨過天晴，后海水面金波跳躍，天際一片云蒸霞蔚。他說已經答應女兒10月1日她生日時一定趕回倫敦陪伴，所以要陪著老媽提前過中秋了?！芭畠菏俏易顫M意的人生作品”，說這話的時候，曲磊磊的臉上流露出深深的幸福感與滿足感。

In September， in a private club in Yanqing， Beijing， U-Jet met Qu Leilei， who travelled from London to visit his family in Beijing. I was impressed with his modesty and gentleness， and the way he immediately enriched your understanding of art with accessible language. We met again before the Mid-Autumn Festival， in a private restaurant at Houhai of Beijing. We were sitting there appreciating the beautiful scene through three sides of glass walls. Mr. Qu Leilei has been living in England for more than twenty years， but Houhai is always dearest to his heart. “I was here training for sampan，” he pointed to the lake in front of us.

A drizzle came down without us knowing when it started. It couldn’t be more befitting to talk about art in a room decorated in elegant， traditional style.

U-Jet： I’m curious about how do you resist all those that are vulgar， shallow， pretentious and stale as an artist？

Qu Leilei： For nearly twenty years， I having been painting different series and themes， and I completed a series for every 5 or 10 years. Between 1989 and 1995， I worked on the “Sun in Dream – My Half Life” series to reflect and explore who I am. From 1996 to 1999， I did the “Now and Here – Facing the New Millennium” series， exploring history， present and the future at a particular junction of time and space. The next series lasted till 2005， and I called it “Every Lifetime as an Epic”， in search of universal values by capturing how ordinary people live and perceive life. From 2005 to today， I focused on “Brush Ink Light Shadow” series， an aestheticism series. This is about human bodies， and I am trying to use Chinese language of brush and ink， to recreate what masters of the Renaissance were searching for. How to deal with light and shadow with brush and ink？ This is almost inevitable when one looks for the depth and strength in one’s works. If you read Chinese history of fine arts， you will see that we are doing much better today than our forefathers on the understanding of light and shadow， as well as human anatomy. But what is east， west， modern and classic？ I want to offer my answer to those questions forever debated. I am doing three new series at the same time， Miners， Mother and One Thousand Year Kingdom， which are actually the continuation and a deeper review of the pervious themes， and a further exploration of history， culture and humanity.

What needs to be emphasized is that one’s works must withstand the test of professional eyes and time， with regards to pure techniques. If I can do that， I can break away with all those that are vulgar， shallow， pretentious and stale.

U-Jet： To be honest， I don’t understand some art. Others might be bothered similarly. What is true art appreciation？

Qu： It starts with criteria for art， which can be very ambiguous. Appreciating art is very personal. In terms of what is art， what is not， what is good art， and what is， people have different views. I can definitely say I like this， and I don’t like that. This is the commonest criteria to judge art. Many people say they don’t get it. Actually it doesn’t matter， what matters is whether you like it or not. If you like it， you have your own criteria. Personally， my bottom line is humanity， that’s most fundamental. You like it when what you see strike a chord. You don’t like it when things make you uncomfortable. There is no point departing from this basic point.

U-Jet： Many people in China are interested in investing in art. How do you see art investment and collection？

Qu： Some experts say 90% of people spend 90% of money buying 90% of fake. How on earth could there be so much porcelain from official kiln？ How can there be so many paintings by masters？ Here are some numbers. Qi Baishi painted about 20，000 paintings， roughly the same of Picasso， and so did Zhang Daqing. But there are 200，000 paintings of each circulating the market. Indeed， 90% are fakes.

Art collection and investment are two completely different concepts. It is not wrong to invest in art， but you cannot claim you are collecting. Most people are in investment and more are doing it for short term. I buy something， and it appreciates tomorrow， and more next month. Prices increase by several fold next year.

I just want to paint well. Certainly I hope people like my paintings and collect them out of love. I don’t want people to trade my works. If you truly love it， keep it at home， leave it to your offspring or give it to the museum. Collections are part of your life and you live with them.

I hope my paintings are for ultimate collections – for museums， for art history. I spent some time on aestheticism painting to resolve the issue of using ink to express light and shadow. We don’t have that in art history. Single-legged eastern or western artists cannot do that. I’ve done it. If my works go to the Louvre one day and be placed with the great works of the Renaissance painters， I will be fulfilled. This is my criteria of having done something meaningful.

U-Jet： How do you see yourself in comparison with impetuous artists？

Qu Leilei： Painting is purely personal. One has to survive in this world. But if you try to achieve something， you need to put in additional efforts. For a painter， you have an extremely short window in your life， when you are completely there – having the time， good eyesight， energy， physical strength， understanding of life， techniques and skilled tuned over decades. I know this deeply， and that’s why I can put up with solitude and limited means to work day and night， year after year in my studio， diligently and happily. I don’t compare with others； only those lacking confidence do so. The most and only important thing is to do what one wants to do as well as possible.

When I said goodbye to Qu Leilei， the drizzle had stopped and it was fine. The waves on Houhai Lake danced in gold and there were lovely rays in the sky. Qu said he had promised to go back to London for his daughter’s birthday on Oct 1st. And he needs to be with his mother for an early Mid-Autumn Festival. “My daughter is my most satisfying work of life，” he was radiant and full of happiness and content.

無論是在百度還是谷歌上搜索“星星畫會”，都能找到如下描述：

1979年9月27日，中國美術館出現了奇怪一幕。館內正在展出《建國三十周年全國美展》，館外公園的鐵柵欄上，卻起起伏伏地掛滿了奇怪的油畫、水墨畫、木刻和木雕。這些怪東西吸引了不少路過或打算進館看展覽的觀眾。 這就是“星星”美展的第一次展覽。這些個性大膽的作品，讓看慣了“文革”繪畫的觀眾大吃一驚。“那些作品的表現手段是自由的，是我們從未看到過的。展覽像原子彈炸到中國藝術界一樣?！?/p>

“星星”美展的動議和想法，最初來自在一家皮件廠當工人的黃銳和在一家機械所當描圖員的拄拐杖的馬德升。1978年年底，成立了以這兩人為首的籌備組，加入者有在《世界圖書》當臨時編輯的鐘阿城，有化名為薄云的當時剛考入中央美術學院美術史系做研究生的李永存，還有在中央電視臺照明部工作的曲磊磊和在廣播文工團工作的王克平。

This is what you will find on baidu and google when you search for “Star Painting Society”.

On September 27， 1979， something strange happened in the National Museum of Art. The museum was exhibiting “Paintings of the Country for the Thirtieth Anniversary of the New China”. On the iron fence of the park outside the museum however， weird-looking oil paintings， water and ink paintings， wood carvings and wood sculptures were being displayed. They attracted a lot of visitors meant for the museum and also passers-by. This was the very first exhibition by the Star Painting Society， shocking viewers not long after the Cultural Revolution era. “The expressions are so free， so unprecedented， like an atomic bomb in Chinese art community.”

The idea for the exhibition came from Huang Rui， a worker in a leather factory and Ma Desheng， a tracer in a machinery institute who walked on a stick. At the end of 1978， the two formed a team to prepare for the exhibition. Later joiners were Zhong Acheng， a temporary editor from “World Books”， Li Yongcun， also named Bo Yun， who was just admitted by the Department of Art History， Central Academy of Fine Arts as a postgraduate， Qu Leilei， with the lighting department of CCTV and Wang Keping， with Broadcasting Performance Troupe.