高 岭
（美术学博士、批评家、策展人）
2007年2月20日
从个人的经验出发来寻求艺术创作的对象及表现方式，是艺术创作活动的基本原则之一。提出这个看似老生常谈的话题，是因为目前的中国当代艺术界存在着如何理解和运用这个原则的几个维度，有必要做些学术上的清理和廓清。
个人的经验有直接的个人经验和间接的个人经验之分，前者的获得来自于个人的亲身经历和耳濡目染，后者来源于个人的知识传承和道听途说。有个人经验，就一定有其对应的群体或集体经验。同样的，集体经验也有直接的集体经验和间接的集体经验之分。无论是直接的还是间接的，集体经验的最大特点在于它的公共性、通约性和普遍性；而个人经验的最大特点在于它的个人性、私密性和特殊性。
在艺术创作中，究竟是从个人的经验出发还是从集体的经验出发，其实在不少艺术家那里是十分模糊的。艺术不是集体经验的复写，因为后者代表的是一种约定俗成。艺术应该是个人经验的写照，因为后者代表的是一种特立独行。约定俗成的东西是我们日常的生活和工作，特立独行的东西超越于日常生活和工作，给人以想象力和创造力。当然，个人的经验并不是空穴来风、空中楼阁，而是以集体经验为背景并从个人的角度对其加以提炼后的重新融造。所以，艺术创造的根本在于立足于个人的经验，才能够对不同时代背景下的不同集体经验加以甑别、选择和提炼，而不成为人云亦云的跟风者。
真正的艺术家与其说是从集体经验出发来寻求创作的题材和语言方式，毋宁说是将集体经验作为背景服务于个人的心理体验和感受。特定时代的集体经验在其当下是直接经验，随着这个时代的结束而成为间接经验被人们传诵；特定时代的个人经验无论其来源是直接的还是间接的，都只属于这个特定时代本身。这也正是我们所说的艺术作品的独特价值在于以个人经验的方式折射出集体经验。
21世纪第一个十年的集体经验，显然不同于二十年前或十几年前的20世纪八、九十年代，有些在当年人们亲身经历的集体经验，对于今天的年轻人来说只能是间接经验，因为他们有属于他们自己的新的集体经验。因此，每当我看到那些属于过去二三十年的集体经验符号大量出现在七、八十年代出生的年轻艺术家的作品中的时候，总是有一种不知今昔是何年的感觉。
然而，令人兴奋的是，我注意到一股注重个人经验的气息开始在当代艺术界出现了，这其中，罗杰及其作品是十分突出的。罗杰出生于1968年，他的这个年龄影响了他在创作中对集体经验和个人经验的取舍关系。显然，在他的作品中没有五十年代生人对直接的集体经验的使用，因为他毕业时正是九十年代初期。后来，由于生存的压力，他曾经南下广东谋生，中断过艺术的创作。但当他重新拿起画笔的时候，他也没有跟随七、八十年代生人的所谓卡通化创作风格（这也是一种新的集体经验，尽管它还没有像以往的集体经验那样成为全中国社会的生活方式）。也就是说，对于五十年代生人来说感同身受的毛时代的集体经验，只能是作为间接经验来影响他；而身临其境的最近年来弥漫在文化领域里的卡通化倾向，也没有对他形成什么直接的影响。那么，在罗杰的作品里究竟是什么经验在发挥着作用呢？
毫无疑问，是他命运多舛的个人经历成就了他的艺术创作。父亲的伤病早逝，生活的重担，在这样一个越来越商业化的社会里，他经历和承受了他这个年龄的人少见的艰难困苦。而城市的巨变，又使他失去了得以栖居的家乡。他唯有拿起画笔，才能够在这个剪不断理还乱的现实世界中营造出自己的精神世界。这是一个怎样的精神世界呢？黑灰色调的建筑空间里，白皙刺眼的灯光下，徒空四壁，由绳索缠绕而成的幽灵，在撕打、怒吼、恫吓和蜷缩。我们无法想象在一张张画面中描绘出这些左缠右绕、上下翻卷却又首尾相连的绳索，要花费艺术家多么大的精力和多么漫长的时间，我们更无法把这种类似使徒式的带有自残性质的创作过程，看成是罗杰的一种理性化的逻辑预设。我们倒更愿意把这种自残性质的创作过程，视为对生活和周围世界的一种反抗和呐喊，尽管这种反抗和呐喊并不是一蹴而就的。而正是这种时间和精力的巨大付出甚至于说透支，才更让我们感受到来自罗杰内心的那种深刻的痛苦体验。
如果说，罗杰在创作中只是一味地渲染自己独特的个人经验，甚至不惜采取这种令人眼花缭乱的绳索描绘的苦肉计方法，显然是完全对他艺术创作的误解。在他画面中非常有限的背景和物像那里，我们能够深深地体味到他对当下社会变化对人各方面挤压的文化关怀——远处黑压压的城市楼宇、建筑用的脚手架、代表着知识和文化的书本、寓意着交流与沟通的手机，还有那监狱里的囚服．．．准确地说，罗杰从个人独特的经验出发，为我们刻画出当代社会发展的另一面，在那里生活的异化和文化的异化，正在侵蚀着我们的快乐的肌体，它们仿佛一个个看不见的禁锢，囚禁着我们向着更好的可能延伸和拓展，至少预示着我们快速发展的负面结果。而这也正是他与他那可怜的父亲对待生活的不同之处——他的父亲因为长期的孤独和苦闷而编织了大量的鱼网，似乎在这种编织过程中自己的心情能够变得平和起来，可他“没有意识到自己伤在哪里”；而罗杰却幸运得多了，他能够清醒地意识到“时代的局限和他个人的局限”，试图“找到一种两全其美的方法”，即从个人的经验出发，用结绳造像的视觉语言方式，来传达当代社会生活中人的困境。
罗杰的艺术创作，源自于个人的生活经验，却能够升华出一种全新的视觉语言形式，并且折射出当代社会的文化困境，其鲜明的视觉形象和语言特征，改变了当代艺术界弥漫的盲从和跟风意识，实在是难能可贵，其艺术创作的价值和意义，有待于进一步地挖掘。
When individual experience becoming art
Gao Ling
（Doctor of fine arts, critic, exhibition planner）
Feb. 20 2007
Seeking art creation object and expression fashion from individual experience is one of the basic principles of art creation activities. Raising the wheezy-like topic is because that there are several dimensions on how to apprehend and apply the principle in Chinese contemporary art community. It is necessary to make some clearance and clarity academically.
Individual experience can be divided into direct individual experience and indirect individual. The former comes from one’s own experience and the hears and sees he experienced by himself, and the later comes from individual’s knowledge heritage and hearsay. There exists individual experience, there must exist its corresponding group or collective experience. Likely, collective experience also can be divided into direct collective experience and indirect collective experience. No matter direct or indirect, the largest characteristic of collective experience is its nature of commonality, commensuration and universality; but the largest characteristic of individual experience is its nature of individuality, secrecy and particularity.
In art creation, it is very obscure for many artists to decide whether starting from individual experience or collective experience. Art is not the copy of collective experience for the later represents a kind of convention. Art should be the portrayal of individual experience, because the later represents a type of distinct personality. The matter established by usage is our daily life and work, and personalized things exceed daily life and work, leaving people imagination and creativity. Of course, individual experience is not baseless, and it is the re-creation backing collective experience and refined from individual angle. Therefore, the root of art creation is footed on individual experience, and only by individual experience, one can discriminate, select and refine collective experience from various backgrounds, not become the follower to echo what other says.
Rather than seeking creation theme and language style from collective experience, true artist takes collective experience as background serving individual’s mental experience and reception. Collective experience of specific age is attributed to direct experience at its moment, and with the end of the time, it has become indirect experience to be widely read by people; individual experience in specific age, whether direct or indirect, only belongs to the specific time itself. That is what we say that the unique value of individual work lies in the refraction of collective experience by individual experience.
The collective experience of the first ten years of 21st century is apparently different from that of 1980s or 1990s, which is 10 or 20 years from now. Some collective experience that people themselves experienced at the moment only can be attributed to indirect experience for today’s youth, because they have their own new collective experience. Therefore, when I see those collective experience signals appear in works of young artists who was born in 1970s or 1980s, I always forget what an age I am living in.
However, what excites me is that I notice that a wind of stressing on individual experience emerges in current artist community, and among them, Roger and his works are very distinctive. Roger was born in 1968. The age has affected his acceptation and rejection to collective and individual experience in creation. Obviously, in his works, there is not usage of direct individual experience as ones born in 1950s did for he was graduated at the beginning of 1990s. Afterward, by the pressure of living, he has ever gone southward to Guangdong to make a living, and his creation was intermitted for a while. When he took up paintbrush again, he did not follow the so-called cartoon style (which also is a new collective experience, although has not become the living style throughout Chinese society like previous collective experience) as ones born in 1970s or 1980s. It means that collective experience of Mao’s era for ones born in 1950s only influences him as indirect experience, and cartoon trend which permeates in cultural area and he personally is on the scene has also not left direct influence to him. Then, on earth what experience in Roger’s works plays its role?
Undoubtedly, it is his rough personal experience made his art creation. The early decease of his father for injury and disease, burden of life….in the more and more commercialized society, he has experienced bitterness and difficulty which is hard to find from others of his age. The huge change in urban area had him lose the home he dwells. Only by picking up paintbrush, can he build his own mental world in this involute reality world. What is the mental world? In dark colored building space and under white and glare lamp light, the room is empty, only spirits of enlaced ropes are scuffling, bellowing, swaggering and crouching. We cannot imagine how much effort and time the artist spent in drawing the ropes which entangle and coil each other, and we also cannot consider the apostle-like self-harm creation process as Roger’s rationalized logic pre-set. We’d like to consider the self-harm creation process as the protest and whoop to life and world around, although the protest and whoop can not accomplished in an action. But it is the great payment in time and energy even can say overdraft made us experience the deep painful experience from Roger’s inside.
If you think that in his creation, Roger only simply romances his unique individual experience, even adopts the hard approach of dazzling rope description, it is complete misunderstanding to his art creation. From very limited background and articles in his picture, we may deeply experience his cultural concern to the depression to people from current social changes – a dense mass of urban building in the far, scaffold for construction, books which represent knowledge and culture, mobile which implies communication as well as prison uniform…. Precisely speaking, from his own unique experience, Roger depicts another side of social development of the present age, in which life and cultural catabolizations are eroding our pleasant body. They are like one and another invisible durance which refrains us to extend to better possibility and at least foretells the negative effect of our rapid development. This is his difference from his pitiful father in treating life – for long time loneliness and pang, his father weaved a lot of fishnet as if the process may soothe his mind and mood, but he did not recognize where his wound is; Roger is more fortunate; he can clearly recognize “the limit of times and limit of himself”, and tries to “find a way to satisfy the both sides”, i.e., starting from his individual experience, convey the individual morass in the current society through image of entangling rope.
Although Roger’s art creation is sourced from his individual living experience, it can sublime to a complete new visual language form and refract the difficulty of current social culture. Its fresh visual image and language feature have changed consciousness of blindly following which permeates throughout the current art community. That is commendable. The value and significance of his art works remain to be further excavated.
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