心靈的濾鏡 Filter of soul

我喜歡付斌的版畫，特別是他最近幾年創作的《平行線》系列和《彼時此地》系列。面對付斌的作品，我那顆被紛擾的事物攪得異常躁動的心一下子平靜下來，彷彿周圍的嘈雜也隨之消失了，帶我進入一個既熟悉又陌生的世界。說它熟悉，是因為我可以從中辨認出很多親歷過的景物，比如中央美院的校舍、國家博物館的正門、商場的入口、798的畫廊等等。說它陌生，是因為那些原本熙攘的空間現在突然變得空蕩而靜謐，不見一個人的蹤影。更特別的是畫面中的色彩，純淨而美麗，濾去了現實中骯臟的斑駁。付斌的畫確實就有這般迷人的力量。

其實，付斌的作品並不能算是傳統意義上的版畫。過去的版畫需要藝術家繪制草圖，然後圖稿分版，然後製版，最後是印刷。複數性是版畫最重要的特點，而正是這個特點滿足了它曾經肩負的傳播圖像的功能。付斌的每幅版畫作品都是唯一的，他有意剝離了版畫固有的功能和特性，讓版畫從其狹窄的傳統定義里掙脫出來。這種對畫種邊界的打破讓付斌的作品回到了一種更為純粹的狀態，那就是一幅畫，一幅採用了版畫的大部分語言和手法創作的畫。

付斌的畫是刻出來的。他用木刻刀在木板上進行鐫刻，這讓畫面中的線條具有了畫筆難以達到的刻削的力度。但是，畫面中的色彩不再是套色印刷，而是用手直接繪制的，又具有印制所無法達到的層次的豐富性。這種對版畫語言的探索與拓展，讓付斌的作品具有了一種非常明顯的跨界的面貌。

付斌是一位勤于思考的青年藝術家。對很多年輕人而言，嚴格的學院派訓練往往會成為束縛他們施展創造力的羈絆。然而，中央美術學院版畫系的教育背景不僅為付斌提供了扎實的藝術功底，更成就了他嘗試新的藝術語言的高起點。我很同意徐冰曾經說過的一句話：「好的藝術家、設計家既是思想型的人，又是善於將思想轉化為藝術語言的人。」付斌對藝術語言的探索是成功的。他利用木刻線條的硬度來表現建築物結構的節奏與構成感，去掉畫面中的人物以造成景物的疏離與陌生感，從而表達出在城市中生活的人的那種孤獨與淡淡的哀愁。當你面對這樣的畫面時，它是專屬於你的，彷彿同時可以聽到自己的呼吸和踏在路面上的腳步聲。但是畫面的色彩又時刻提醒你所在的並非真實的空間和世界，它們很像透過一片片濾鏡看到的。事實上，這種吊詭的感覺在我們每天的生活中都會不經意地浮現，只是大多被忽略了。

付斌給人的印象淳樸而單純，笑起來讓人感到的是暖人的誠懇，似乎讓我們忽略了他內心的細膩與敏感。事實上，付斌在每一件作品中都精心地挑選了一片濾鏡，這是來自他心靈感悟的濾鏡，讓觀眾透過它看到那曾經熟視無睹的景物和世界——原來它們那麼美！

I enjoy Fu Bin’s prints, especially his recent series Parallel Lines and Once Upon. Fu’s works soothe my restless mind by ushering me into a peaceful world, strange yet familiar. I call it strange because these spaces which are supposed to be the hustle and bustle suddenly turn to be in the middle of nowhere, empty and silent; I call it familiar because I could recognize these scenes by my personal experience, like the campus of CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts), the gate of the National Museum of China, entrances of malls and galleries in the 798 Art Zone. More specifically, these beautiful colors are pure and innocent, filtering out the filthy mottle in the real world. Fu’s works, indeed, have such glamorous power.

In fact, his works are not prints in the conventional sense. Prints in the past require an artist to sketch, followed by color separation, plate-making and printing. Multiplicity is the most critical characteristic of printmaking, which used to endow prints with the function of spreading images. Each of Fu’s works is unique. He intends to deprive printmaking of its inherent functions and features, freeing the print from its narrow conventional definition. Breaking the boundary of traditional classification of painting brings his works back to a purer state, which is the painting itself, a painting that employed most printmaking language and techniques.

Fu creates his prints by carving. With a gouge he engraved on the surface of woodblocks, which endows the lines in the picture with a carving dynamics that a paintbrush could hardly achieve. Yet the colors are hand painted instead of color registration. Neither could such complexity of multiple layers be achieved by traditional printing process. Fu’s exploration and development of printmaking language endow his works with a clear boundary crossing outlook.

Fu Bin is an artist always applied to thinking. For many young people, strict academic training often restrains them from creativity. However, Fu’s graduation in printmaking from CAFA not only provides him with a solid artistic foundation, but also a high starting point for him to explore new art language. I strongly agree with what Xu Bing once said: “a good artist or designer is a thinker as well as a doer who is good at transforming thoughts into art language.” Fu’s exploration of art language is successful. He uses the rigidity of woodcut lines to show the rhythm and sense of architectural structure and takes out any human figures in the painting to create a sense of isolation and strangeness so as to demonstrate the solitude and a hint of sorrow of those who live in the cities. When you are in front of such a painting, it belongs to you, as if you could hear your own breath and footsteps along the road at the same time. Yet, the colors always remind you that the space and the world are not real, as if seen through pieces of filters. In fact, such weird feelings appear spontaneously in our everyday life, most of which are simply neglected.

Fu makes a simple and honest impression on people and his heart-warming smile conveys his sincerity. As a matter of fact, Fu carefully selects a filter for each of his work, a filter of his inner world that helps audience find beauty in the familiar sceneries and world to which they used to pay no attention.