紫色如烟

郭燕的《飘》系列以紫色作为基调，呈现当代都市生存经验中人与人、人与城之间疏离而又依附的难以理清的纠缠联系。这些画面令人感伤。当代都市空间与文化研究最重要的思想家亨利·列斐伏尔（Heri Lefevbvre）提出“什么才是社会关系的真正存在方式？”这个必须回答的理论问题。在《空间的生产》一书中，列斐伏尔用“空间本体论”回答了这个问题。在他看来，社会关系存在的根本地基是都市空间的存在与生产，现代都市的人造环境是“社会关系的粗暴浓缩”。在近二十年来中国城市前所未有的高速发展过程中，我们看到了这一点。忙忙碌碌的都市人穿梭在钢筋水泥的丛林中，在对物欲的疯狂追逐中越来越物质化和机械化，楼建得越来越高，大地越来越远。飘零的身世、思乡的浓愁逐渐被功名利禄层层遮盖，田野、家园和世界的诗意只能在梦中偶尔灵光一现。在大幅尺寸的画布上，郭燕挥洒着梦幻、奢靡而又神秘的紫色来诉说自己对幸福人生的梦想和淡淡的乡愁。紫色，这个最属于女人的颜色，被她令人心惊的用尽。在每个画面上，层层叠叠的紫色勾勒出一个又一个都市男女的温柔梦乡。在这些明显虚拟的场景中，偎依在床上的青年情侣漂浮在都市的楼群上空，它寓意深长的张力让人想起夏加尔那些时空穿插中温暖而又忧伤的画面。如果如列斐伏尔所言，现实社会不断通过对城市空间的生产来强化自己的物质基础与社会结构，那么，艺术家唯一能做的就是通过对艺术作品与艺术空间的生产来安顿流浪的心与无根基的生存。在自己画面的处理上郭燕颇费心思。她把象征城市的大片楼群安排在画面的远处，用紫得近黑的颜色信笔涂抹，随意地勾勒出一些轮廓，虽不清晰，仍然传达着当代人对都市生活的感受：繁杂、混沌、喧嚣，但又如一张巨大的网无处不在。在庞大的城市上空，是温馨的粉紫色来表现床垫、床单和枕头，再用白色提出如纱般飘逸透明的调子。年轻的情侣在甜美的梦中相拥而卧，相偎相依，他们在静谧的夜里飞离现实，用爱情与家庭的温馨逃避凉薄烦乱的都市生活。郭燕是否有意无意告诉我们，在城市的冰冷和逝者如斯的惶恐里爱是我们无望人生中唯一的救赎和慰籍？ 以如此丰富的紫色，郭燕构建出一个爱情乌托邦来试图对抗我们越陷越深的都市之网，但这张颇具象征意味的席梦思是否会如神话里的魔垫带人们回归梦中的家园，我们不得而知。虚幻的“飘”和“梦”这两个主题显示出了画家对此思考的游移和不确定，也许画面上深深浅浅的紫色正是她轻轻的叹息。 ——彭肜 By Rong Peng Yan Guo’s series of artwork ‘Gone with the Wind’ adopts the colour purple as its foundation. This work of art captures the contemporary urban experience of human survival – the entanglement and alienation between humankind and the city. These pictures effect sorrow in their viewers. Henri Lefebvre, a prominent philosopher in the study of contemporary urban space and culture, raised the critical theoretical question: ‘what are the social relationships embedded in space?’. In his book The Production of Space, Lefebvre answered this question by using ‘space’. In his view, social relations are based on the very existence of urban space and production. Space, according to him, is anything but the ‘passive locus of social relations’. We see this point in the unprecedented development of China’s cities in the last 20 years. Daily, China’s urbanites hustle and bustle through concrete jungle. In pace with the growing pursuit of materialistic wealth, the jungle has become increasingly lofty and domineering, creating a distance between its inhabitants. The realities of homelessness and depression have been gradually masked by position, power and wealth. The beauty of the natural environment external to the urban space can only be experienced in the illusions of our dream world. Dramatically, on the vast expanse of her canvas, Yan spreads the most extravagant and mysterious shade of purple – conveying her dreams of a happy life yet endless homesickness. Purple, the color of femininity, is wielded expertly in Yan’s hands. In each of her paintings, shades of purple express the dreams of the urbanites. In these implicit scenes, young lovers lean against a bed whilst floating high above the city buildings. Its allegoric tension reminds us Marc Chagall’s warm pictures of a space-time paradise. If, as Lefebvre said, the real world is trying to strengthen its material base and social structure by creating more urban space, then the only thing artists can do is use their artworks to settle down their wandering hearts. Yan exposes her intimate thoughts and feelings in her paintings. The letter T and arbitrary contours are smeared across the canvas in a deep, dark purple, achieving the likeness of large urban complexes. The image conveys a contemporary urban life – a sense of complexity, chaos, and noise, is cast like a net over the surroundings. Above the city, a warm hue of pink-purple transforms into mattress, bed sheet and pillow – white enhances the elegant yarn of the material. Young lovers hug, in their sweet dreams they fly in the quiet night away from reality. By escaping from the cold world they capture love and warmth. Whether Yan Guo is expressing her notion that ‘love’ is the one true path of salvation from the city’s coldness? Purple, Yan Guo has constructed a Utopian love in which the urbanites can escape the confines and entrapments of urban life. Like the magic carpet of Arabic mythology, can Yan’s mattress transport the lovers to their longed for utopia? These two symbolic themes, ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Dream’, reveal the artist’s hesitation and brooding over the question. The dark and light shades of purple reflect her contemplative mood.