杨起  三言两语/ 福建美术馆 2016年  Qi Yang - In a few words, 2016 Fujian Art Museum, Fuzhou, China 

                                                                   福建省美术馆  Fujian Art Museum

 写在前面的话

                                                                      --  有感于存在和艺术表现

           楊起

作为艺术家, 绘画不是因为我的职业缘故, 而是因为我必须为绘画而存在. 所以, 我描写生活和人便成了生理和心理上的需求. 换句话说, 我的绘画在这个意义上, 是为了让自己的存在变得更有意义.

哲学地来看, 我即是我的存在. 这个我是独一无二的我. 这个我从何而来, 其本原与属性, 先天与后天, 以及我在整个造化过程中的变化与否, 均不同于其他任何人. 因此, 探索我的存在意义, 也是我在艺术上最希望得到的答案. 不言而喻, 通过我在艺术题材上对人和生活的兴趣, 也加深了我对自身存在的认识.

我的存在是主观的. 这个主观是唯意志的. 而更重要是, 应该感恩给予我明了我何以存在和给予我艺术创作能力的神明. 无论从笛卡特René Descartes („我思故我在“cogito ergo sum“), 尼采Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche  („意志即力量“Will is power), 还是萨特Jean-Paul Sartre („人即存在“ L´homme est l’être ) 都是谈存在的思辩和知识分子理想主义的存在性以及浪漫主义与荒诞现实主义的超验精神.

我所得益的东西方文化背景, 使我从最初的自然感性到开知启蒙的理性, 又从自悟中的理性上升到另一高度反思的感性过程中, 感悟到存在这一哲理对于我个人的重要意义. 诚然也少不了来自我父亲对我的影响. 童年的家庭温暖, 青少年时代的艰难, 直至中国文化大革命间的乡间生活, 然后进入中国改革初期的大学生活, 接受后现代文明的熏陶, 而最终来到德国. 这个历程既归纳了我个人存在的历史, 也勾画了我艺术人生中几个难忘的求生与奋斗的重要阶段. 生命, 生存, 生活也自然成了我绘画的主题. 纵使我的艺术是某种夸张的表现, 只要我的艺术能人性地把来自现实生活的存在描绘得栩栩如生, 那么我画笔下所有的男男女女, 社会关系, 生活气息, 情感动态, 喜怒哀乐, 荒诞诙谐, 等等, 便是我对人与社会的最好陈述. 同时,也满足了我艺术人生的最大乐趣. 由此, 单一的或极少数的人物场景, 东方和西方文化的参半与虚拟, 似曾相识的自然背景, 飘逸的空间和地域, 凝聚的日常生活氛围, 人道的众相生存在, 文学和哲学的隐语与象征, 明快的色彩, 情绪的线条, 冷色与暖色的抗争, 悖反与和谐Contra-Harmonie的新美学实证, 等等一切, 构成了我的绘画艺术内涵和表象.

艺术家素来敏感生活, 其中包括个人的生活情节,欲望, 要求, 幻想, 荒诞, 喜悦, 痛苦, 忧伤和怅惘, 等等. 而艺术家得以保护自身存在的唯一方式, 就是洁身自好. 并且不妥协地和自身异化进行斗争. 所以, 我力求以我的哲学思维方式和德国新表现主义的个人自由绘画格调, 来反映我对人生的感知. 如果说, 贾考梅蒂Alberto Giacometti , 弗罗依德Lucian Freud在西方现代绘画史论中都被圈进了“存在主义艺术家“ 的队伍里的话, 那么今天的当代艺术在遭遇到西方文化和中国文化的碰撞中, 又产生了一个“ 新存在主义艺术家“的另类, 也是十分自然的.

  Preface

     Mediating on being and art expression

  Qi Yang

It is not because of my profession that I as artist paint .But I have to paint because of the necessity of my being. Therefore it is my physiological and psychological demands to describe life and People. In other words my painting is more meaningful for the sake to support my being. Philosophically to say, “I „as a certain word refers to I-being. This “I” is a unique “I”. Where this “I” comes from must be different from any other ones. And this “I „ has something to do with his natural belong, innate and acquired, as well as the whole self changeable development phases. Thus, to explore the meaning of I-being is the key that my art hopes to obtain. It goes without saying that I get to deepen my understanding of I-being through my interest in artist themes for people and their life.

However I-being is subjective. And this is an absolutely willingness. But more importantly it must be thankful to god, who let me to understand why I exist and gives me capacity to create my art. Whatever did René Descartes´ “cogito ergo sum” mean or Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche thought: “Will is power” or Jean-Paul Sartre advocated: “L´homme est l’être”  are all about existential dialectics and idealism of the intellectual as well as the metaphysical spirit of Romanism and absurd realism. 

All I have gained from the background of western and eastern culture made me realize the significance of this philosophical being from the earliest natural perception to prime knowledge of rationalism, then from self-realization of rationalism to the higher recognition. Of course this has something to do with the influence from my father. During my childhood I felt warmth of living in the family. Having suffered the straitened circumstances during my teen-agers time until the countryside life in the Cultural Revolution I could ever luckily finish the university study at the beginning of the reform period of China nurtured by post-modern civilization. At last I came to Germany.

  This sums up the course of personal history of my being and sketches some unforgotten periods about my artist life for survival and straining. Life, existence and living have become main topics of my painting naturally. Even if my art shows a certain express - so long as my art can be humanistic to describe the realities from our life vividly - what I paint about men and women, the social relationships, the living atmosphere, the feelings and gestures, the changeable moods, the absurdity and humors, etc. is the best statement of my attitudes towards people and society. Meanwhile all above satisfy the most enjoyment of my life. Thus, such scenes in my works with a single or a few persons, the nixed and abstract culture of the east and west, the seemingly known natural background, the floating sky and earth, the condensation in the atmosphere of day life, the humane masses, the metaphor and symbol in the literature and philosophy, the bright colors, the lines of moods, the resistance between cold and warm colors, the contra-harmony, the new aesthetic demonstration of contra-harmony. All of those consists my connotation and idea of the art in my painting.

Artists are almost sensitive to their living, very often to private life plots, longing, illusion, happiness, sufferance, sentiment and melancholy. But the only one way to protect artists themselves is preserve their purity in thinking and doing. Moreover they must struggle against their alienation without compromise. Therefore I try my best to express the experiences of my life with my philosophical consideration and the style of German Neo-Expressionism. If Alberto Giacometti, Lucian Freud have been put under the group of the existentialists in the western modern art history, it is comprehensive that today another neo-existentialist was born in the conflict between western and eastern civilizations. 

You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition 'Identity - from me to myself ' on Thursday, November 5th, 2015 at 5 pm. 

The exhibition consists of works by renowned Chinees - German artist Qi Yang (www.qi-yang.de).

Mr. Nando van Ketwich Verschuur, China expert and president of the Asian table of Society De Witte in The Hague, will provide the opening words.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an artist booklet with text by Philip Peters and translations by Marie Louise Schoondergang. 

ARTtrium is the exhibition space of the Ministeries of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Security and Justice. Address: Turfmarkt 147, The Hague. The exhibition space is located in the atrium of the building, on the right hand side of the counter. The exhibition is open from Thursday, November 5th, 2015 until January 13, 2016 on weekdays from 7am to 7pm.

Please spread the word and feel free to share the facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/1629148050685460/

Kind regards,

Nicole Donkers

Art Committee ARTtrium

More information: www.facebook.com/ARTtrium147 and Twitter: @ARTtrium

Comments or questions : ARTtrium@minbzk.nl