Q：刘淳 A：郭燕
时间：2014年2月11日
刘淳：故乡，在文学作品中是一个经久不衰的主题，也是一个游子生命中永久的惆怅。2013年夏天，你在北京的元典美术馆做了一个取名为《乡逝》的个展，展出的作品全部都是描绘你的家乡，还有你家中使用过的如沙发、桌子、缝纫机等实物。浓浓的乡愁在画布上洋溢，在展厅中蔓延……那一刻我在想，这种乡愁，究竟是对故乡和亲人的怀念，还是时光与岁月在心中的突然涌动？
郭燕：这两种情感都有，很复杂的交织在一起，2012年初我回了趟陕西老家，之后心里久久不能平静，内心深处的那个诗意般的小城不复存在了，变成了一个完全标准化的新城。我不愿面对，它对我的记忆是一种伤害。你曾经最熟悉而且魂牵梦绕的地方不复存在了，河堤上的大树被砍掉了，初春柳树上的新绿和深秋白杨树上的金黄全部消失了，变成了光秃秃的大马路。城市无限的蔓延和扩张让我感到一种恐惧，我父母的墓地也在城边的山坡上，确切的说为了扩张山体都被改变了。从老家回到成都后内心很久不能平静，好像一定要做《乡逝》这样的展览才能给自己一个交待一般。
展览期间，在展厅中有一堆我从拆迁的建筑垃圾上捡来的瓷片，一张生我养我血脉相连的丰阳城地图，我想用非常微观的个人视觉来叙述我眼中的城市，我的眷恋，忧伤和无可奈何的疏离感，还有那日渐模糊的回家之路，无论我身在哪里，故乡的一切早已渗进我的血液。这批作品除了乡愁还有批判！
刘淳：在我看来，“乡愁”这个范围更多的意味着一种天然的关系，意味着那些“所是”而不是“变成为”的东西。比如你每次回到陕西，回到家乡究竟要干什么？仅仅是看看曾经居住过的老房子，看看邻居，看看记忆中的痕迹吗？
郭燕：回老家的第一件事，就是和哥哥姐姐一起到父母的墓地看看，老房子老邻居也一定会去看的，尽管早已物是人非，但许多珍贵的记忆都凝固在那里，小时候画过的石膏像还挂在墙上，父母的温情和爱还弥漫在老房子里，所以我画了那幅《家》的作品，那是我父母的房间，十多年前就是那个样子，每次回去都感觉她在静谧温柔的等着我。而我多年来始终只顾往前走，不敢回头，总怕触动自己最脆弱敏感的那根神经。家，成了魂牵梦绕无法释怀的感伤和回忆。
刘淳:近10年来，你的创作经历了几个系列的变化，在我的印象中，从最初飘浮在城市上空的男男女女，到围绕着菩提树上升并飞行的小精灵，倾诉着人类内心相同的经验。重要的是，画面以及形象具有明显而强烈的女性意识，但作品的语言和内涵却远远超越了性别的局限。所以我觉得你的“菩提”系列作品是一个人的修炼，同时又获得领悟的重要过程。她不但是一种隐喻，也是个人经验和认识世界的阶段性清晰表白。
郭燕：没错。每个阶段的关注点不同，都会直接反应在作品上。2008年我在北京壹空间做了个名为《紫托邦》的个展。展出的是浮系列，主要想表现人与人，人与城市那种既疏离又相互依附的矛盾关系，很现实又无奈。那个年龄阶段人会迷恋爱情，关注男女情感以及现实和梦境。
2010年在上海张江美术馆做了个名为《菩提》的个展,菩提是佛教里的圣树，它有很多喻意，佛家常讲众生的身体就像一棵觉悟的智慧之树，领悟的终极道理便是真正的一种自由，这个系列相对以前的作品更加虚无和乌托邦，刻画的是一个更理想的精神世界,菩提也成了我个人修为的一种隐喻。这个阶段的作品足以证明我骨子里就是个不折不扣的浪漫主义者，树梢上的女孩似乎是那个爱做白日梦孩童时代的自己。
2012年我在杭州天仁合艺术中心做了名为《迷城》的个展，城市是我多年关注的主题，这个个展的作品我个人感觉表现的比较概括，宏观的叙述我眼里迷失的城市，有些水墨化的抽象，为了《迷城》这个展览，我专门做了一部纪录片，记录了许多我生活过的城市片段。
2013年我在北京元典美术馆举办了《乡逝》个展，这个展览我是比较直接的叙述我个人近期的内心感受，那就是在这个转型期复杂的现实社会中，我们每个人都焦虑不安，对家园对城市的疏离感，不安全感，近阶段我还是在创作“乡逝”系列，总感觉想说的话很多。
刘淳：在我看来，你的“乡愁”系列作品，不仅仅是对故乡的怀念与眷恋，可能还有一种在中国经济高速发展和社会发生巨大变革之后造成的文化破碎和精神上无家可归的一种失落。
郭燕：是的，是精神上的流离失所。一切都变化的太快了，甚至让人来不及思考和回味。故乡已变成他乡，那个密集标准化高楼林立的小城，不再是曾经熟悉的家园。说实话，我是一个不爱喜形于色的人，但还是无法掩饰我失落的情绪。
刘淳：你始终是一位有追求并勇于探索和实践的艺术家，那么，在“乡愁”这个系列作品中，一个明显的矛盾摆在我们面前——“乡愁”不但话题传统，作品的表现方式也很传统。简单的说，就是用记忆链接起来的时光碎片。你是如何面对这个问题的？
郭燕：没错，题材和我的表现手法都很传统。在《乡逝》个展中我的几个好友都分两个阵营，有人说我丢掉了个人符号，太可惜了；有人说这种表现方式不够前卫，也有人为我的新作叫好。为此，我也和好友梁克刚探讨过，他比较认同我的改变，真诚是创作之本，艺术家应该尊重自己的内心感受。虽然我的内心感觉还没有完全表现出来，但我想表现的主题也不能太抽象，那样就会失去了最直接的力量。我得有大量的阐释才能把我想说的话说清楚，这批作品的整体创作思路还是清晰和完整的。其中有两条最主要的线索，一个是有着柔软温情的家园的回忆，比如我父母的房间，我们的全家福，和血脉相连的老家地图等；一个是冰冷的城市水泥森林，比如殇城，没有天空的城市，雾霾下的都市等等。这批作品每一张都不一样，在符号化横行艺术界的今天，我不能为了所谓的符号而放弃绘画的原创性以及批判性。从事艺术本来就是奢侈的事情，我会按自己的节奏进行创作，保持灵魂和意志的独立性，只有这样，作品才有意义，艺术家才有尊严，艺术才能产生一种信仰。
刘淳：在我看来，你的“乡愁”系列作品并不仅仅是一种简单的乡愁，在乡愁的背后，蕴藏着一种对社会现实的质疑与批判。当今，无休止的城市扩建和没完没了的拆迁让每一个城市的居民感到疲惫甚至麻木。在你的作品前，我仿佛看到你在嘶声呐喊。
郭燕：每个人都该发出自己的声音，这是一个艺术家最基本的立场。也许这种声音很微弱，甚至什么都改变不了，但是，回避或逃避现实，远离现实，任何人都不可能创造出有分量的艺术作品。也没有人可以以艺术为由超然物外。
刘淳：今天，我们置身于一个冰冷的数字时代，那些高速运转的机器和不停闪烁的数字几乎吞没了我们，正在以最快的速度摧毁我们的一切。在这个可怕的能量面前，贪婪和欲望直线上升，丧失精神家园的我们不知去向何方。而你的作品以及那些似曾相识的图像，将我们带回过去的美好时光，尤其是那些记忆碎片给我们一种抚慰，也能让我们在这个冷漠的世界中感受一种温暖。
郭燕：我一直反对城市化过度膨胀和高度集中。记得2010年上海世博会的主题是“城市，让生活更美好!”,面对雾霾和污染的水源，冷漠而拥挤的人群，这个口号就像是个巨大的讽刺。
刘淳：在你的作品中，我看到了这样一种东西，重要的不是“是”什么，而是去“做”什么；“是”仅仅是一种状态，而只有去“做”，才能提供一种说服力。
郭燕：我强调梳理自己内心真正关注的东西。因为一个人的精力实在有限，虽然做了这批作品，我自己还有很多地方不满意。所以近期主要的创作还是围绕着“乡逝”这个主题继续深入下去，包括表现手法。关于广州闹市区燃烧的烂尾楼，关于南水北调带来的环境保护问题等等。另一方面在画我老邻居阿姨的头像，我父母的墓地，我的发小和启蒙老师。这些主题必须有个清晰的思路和线索。
刘淳：“乡愁”系列作品为我们展示了一种人性的光辉，所以我觉得当今人性并非一潭死水，而是伴随周围世界的风景以及我们的行动，发生相应的变化和变动。甚至，一切会有所改变。
郭燕：我是个有精神洁癖的人，内心世界的细节特别多。我们这个时代的诱惑太多，人心越来越浮躁不安，而这些不安的情感也必须得有个可以发泄的载体。每件作品都赋予了许多情感在里面，收藏作品的人可以说收藏了我某一阶段的思想垃圾，或一段光阴，无论怎么说，它都是真实的。
刘淳：“乡愁”之后，你的作品是否还会发生变化？关注问题的视角是否也发生转变？
郭燕：近期还延续这个系列在画，因为我并没把这个主题做够，以后作品肯定还会发生变化。
刘淳：当代艺术发展到今天，思想、态度和立场显得极其重要，也是判断一个艺术家的重要标准。如果缺少了态度和立场，当代艺术就会黯然失色。对此你如何看？
郭燕：是的。不管是艺术家还是科学家，首先是独立的个体，人不可能在无菌的环境中长大，必然要和他所处的社会环境发生关系，我个人比较欣赏有态度立场的艺术家。
刘淳：你曾经说过这样一句话：“艺术是一种病，当你开始喜欢它的时候，你就已经无法治愈！”这句话非常经典，那么你现在是否正处在一种无法治愈的阶段？
郭燕：差不多吧！我的朋友说是该吃药的阶段，有些执迷不悟，所以艺术有时挺害人。这么多年画了不少画，满意的不多，而且经常会毁掉一些作品，但又不能停下创作的冲动，就像患了强迫症一样。有时候绘画像支镇静剂，让我可以平静下来进入一个自我虚拟的世界，总之它早已成为我的一种生活方式了。
刘淳：近期在创作哪些作品？有什么样的展览计划？
郭燕：计划在2016年四月初在广东当代艺术中心做个名为《别处》的个展。六月份巡展到成都蓝顶美术馆。在温哥华的工作节奏和国内没太大变化，日出而作，日落而息，整天往返于工作室和家之间。在温哥华画了一张二米乘十六米的大画，名为《安放灵魂的原乡·没有天空的城市·炼狱般的景观》，朋友们看到我发的图片，说我在世界上最适合人居住的城市画着人世炼狱般的景观，反差太强烈。回想温哥华的生活也恍然如梦般的美好，这是一段非常美好难忘的岁月。我在温哥华的工作室是朋友们聚会的地方，一群质朴真实志同道合的朋友让我非常挂念，风景如画的温哥华像个世外桃源，一切都非常美好，但又缺少一种归属感，两边的生活都让人难以取舍。这种生活在别处的移民生活感触很多。所以这次个展，会以我的亲身经历来表现两个城市的反差，作品会以灰色和绿色为基调。其中有我从温哥华的森林中捡了上万片经过一年风化的玉兰树叶做为装置呈现在展览中。还有一件装置作品由六百多个男女人体组成一个生命的长河，从婴儿到老的状态，时光象生命的河流一样静静的流逝，《时光静静的流逝》这件作品和那张大画形成对应，在钢筋水泥的从林中，人们重复着简单匆忙的生活，混沌，麻木，冷漠，无暇欣赏路边的风景，是精神上的流离失所，是我从《迷城》《乡逝》个展后继续关注人与环境的关系，植物的四季枯荣和人的生长与衰亡，生命的轮回，寻找安放灵魂的原乡，总之都是强烈而真实的一些感受。
刘淳：那近期你会非常忙碌了?
郭燕：是的。我是属于闲不住爱瞎折腾的那种人，想把这段生活的亲身感受和想说的话用艺术的 手段表现出来，供人反思我们的生存现状。至于所谓商业上学术上的事我思考的不太多，在物欲横流的现实社会里，我不想用任何形式上的成功来束缚自己，我想按我自己的计划一步步踏实的走下去，想想这一切也很美好，很乌托邦！这大概也是艺术的魅力吧，让人欲罢不能却有种死磕到底的勇气。艺术之路很漫长，任重而道远，不忘初心其实很难。
刘淳：对于任何一位艺术家来说，都是路上的行者。你现在正值大好年华，希望有更多的好作品奉献给我们这个时代。
郭燕：谢谢刘老师，这也是我的理想。
The Encounter of Homesickness with Art
Q: Liu Chun
A: Guo Yan
Time: February 11, 2014
Liu Chun: As an eternal subject of literature, hometown always triggers the sadness in wanderers’ heart. You had a solo exhibition entitled The Disappearing Hometown in the Yuan Art Museum in the summer of 2013. The works exhibited were all about your hometown and objects used in your home such as the sofa, the table and the sewing machine. The homesickness flooded the canvas and the whole showroom… When I watched the work, I wanted to ask you whether this homesickness meant your nostalgia about your hometown and family or the surge of the sense of time and space in your heart.
Guo Yan: Both. The two complex feelings were entangled. When I returned to my hometown in the West Shaanxi Province at the beginning of 2012, I couldn’t help lamenting the poetic town in my memory. It became a standardized new town. I didn’t want to believe it. It hurt my memory. The familiar and beloved place was no longer there: trees along the river bank were cut, the verdant buds of willows in the spring and the golden leaves of the aspen in the autumn disappeared, and replacing them was the bold street. The over-expansion of the city terrified me. As the mountain slope where the tombs of my parents located on was near the city, it was transformed for the expansion. I couldn’t calm down when I left my hometown for Chengdu. So the exhibition of The Disappearing Hometown seemed a necessary response.
At the exhibition, there were ceramic fragments I picked up from the debris of a demolished building and the map of the Fengyang City, the place where I grew up and was attached to. I wanted to describe the city in my eyes, my love for it, my nostalgia, my disappointing estrangementand the blurred way to home with my personal visuals from a micro perspective. No matter where I am, my hometown is part of my soul. Besides the homesickness, the works exhibited also expressed criticism!
Liu Chun: I think “homesickness” is more about a natural relationship, i.e. “what there are”, instead of “what they are going to be”. Each time when you return to Shaanxi, what do you do? Only visiting your old house and neighbors and reliving your memory?
Guo Yan: The first thing I do is visiting the graveyard of my parents with my brothers and sisters. Visiting the neighbors is also a must. Although things are no longer what they used to be, cherished memory is still there: the plaster statue I made as a child still hangs on the wall, and the love of my parents still pervades our old house. That’s why I painted The Home on the room of my parents. The room is just as it was, waiting for me silently every time I return. Over the years, I have been striding forward and dare not look behind, because I am afraid that the most fragile and sensitive nerve of mine would be shaken. Home brings me sadness and nostalgia I can never let go of.
Liu Chun: Over the past ten years, you have changed your style several times. As I remember, from the men and women floating over the city sky in the beginning to the elves spiraling up the bodhi, you have revealed man’s shared experience. More importantly, despite that the image has a strong feminist touch, the language and implication of your creation transcend the limitation of gender. So I believe that your “Bodhi” series involves both meditation and epiphany. It is not only a metaphor but also the demonstration of personal experience and reflection on the world.
Guo Yan: You are right. The focus of each stage is different. This is directly reflected on the creation. At the Purple Utopia, my solo exhibition held in The One Club in Beijing, I showed the Floating series. It represented the dialectic relationship of estrangement and dependence between men and between man and city, which was realistic as well as disappointing. I was obsessed with love, relationships, reality and dreams during that stage.
In 2010, the Bodhi, another solo exhibition of mine, was opened in Z-Art Center in Shanghai. As the sacred tree of Buddhism,the bodhi embodies multiple implications. For example, Buddhism believes that man’s body is like a tree of wisdom striving for epiphany, which is the true freedom. That series featured more sense of emptiness and utopia than my previous works. It envisioned an ideal world. And the Bodhi also symbolizes my personal state of mind. My works during that stage revealed my romantic nature. The girl on the branch seemed to be the child version of me who loved daydreaming.
In 2012, The Lost City, a third solo exhibition, was launched in the TianRen He Art Center in Hangzhou. It was about the city, my focus for the past few years. That show was conclusive for me: it narrated the lost city in my eyes from a macro stand. It was somewhat abstract like an ink painting. For that exhibition, I specially made a documentary to record the cities I have lived in.
In 2013, I exhibited The Disappearing Hometown in the Yuan Art Museum. This solo exhibition was a straight-forward reflection of my recent feelings, i.e. the anxiety, estrangement, insecurity in the transforming and complex society of today. I am still working on this series. I feel I have a lot to express.
Liu Chun: I think your “Homesickness” series not only expresses your nostalgia about your hometown, but also the disappointment over the broken culture and the wandering spirit caused by fast economic growth and tremendous social change.
Guo Yan: Yes, it is the spiritual loss. Everything changes so fast, leaving us no time to think or recollect. The hometown estranges us: the compact, standardized town with high-rises is no longer the hometown we are familiar with. Honestly, I am not used to exhibiting my feelings; but I simply can’t disguise my disappointment over this.
Liu Chun: You are an artist always aspiring to explore and experiment. But there is a obvious contradiction in the series of “Homesickness”, as both your subject and your way of expression are traditional. To be more specific, it is made of temporal fragments linked with memory. How do you respond to this?
Guo Yan: Yeah, both my topic and my way to express it are traditional. There are two disparate views about The Disappearing Hometown among my good friends. Some of them lament that I have lost my personal signs or dismiss it as not avant-garde enough, while others appreciate it. I have discussed this with Liang Kegang, one of my best friends. He approves of my change, as he believes that sincerity is the root of creation and artists should follow their hearts. I haven’t represented all my inner feelings, for I believe that what I want to express shouldn’t be too abstract to lose the most straight-forward power. Only with much explanation can I fully express what I want to get across. So the creational idea of the series is clear and complete. Two clues are most important: one is the warm and soft memory of my hometown, for example in My Parents’ Room, Our Family Photo, The Map of My Beloved Hometown; the other is the cold city of brick and mortar, such as in The City Dying Young, The Skyless City, and The Metropolitan in the Smog. Each piece of the series is different. Despite that symbols are rife, I can’t give up the originality and critical nature of my paintings. As practicing art is a luxury, I will create to my own rhythm and retain independence of my soul and will. Only in this way will my works be significant and I be respected, and my art engender faith.
Liu Chun: In my view, your Homesickness series represents not only a simple homesickness, but also the challenge and criticism of social reality behind it. Unceasing urban expansion and demolition exhaust every resident and even make them numb. Standing in front of your works, I seem tohear your roar.
Guo Yan: Everyone should voice what they think. This is the most basic stance of an artist. His voice may be weak. But escaping from reality never makes a significant artwork. Neither can anyone stay aloof in the name of art.
Liu Chun: We live in a cold digital age. The high-speed machine and the dazzling numbers almost swallow us. They destroy everything of us inin the fastest speed. In front of this horrible energy, greed and desire climb up. Losing our spiritual homeland, we don’t know where to go. But your works and their familiar images take us back to the beautiful times. Especially the fragments of memory console and warm us in the detached world.
Guo Yan: I'm always against the over expansion of cities and their high concentration. I still remember the slogan of the Shanghai Expo 2010 — “Better city,Better life”. However the smog, the polluted water and the cold and crowded communities in the face of the slogan make it a huge irony.
Liu Chun: From your work I have found that what's important is not what it is but what you are going to do, for being something is a state, while doing something will actually be persuasive.
Guo Yan: I focus on clarifying what really matters to me, as everyone has a limited amount of energy. Although this series is completed, there are still things not satisfactory to me. So I continue to probe into the topic and the way of expression of “The Disappearing Hometown” in my recent creation. The issues I’m concerned with include the burning of finished buildings in the downtown area of Guangzhou and the environmental problems brought about by the South-to-North Water Diversion project. I also paint the portrait of my old neighbor, my parents’ cemetery,my best friends during childhood and my mentor. These subjects should feature a clear clue.
Liu Chun: The Homesickness series presents us the value of humanity. So I think today's humanity isn't stagnant water but changes along with the scenery around us and with our action. Things may change after all.
Guo Yan: I am obsessed with mental cleanness: there are a large amount of details in my inner world. In the era full of temptations, we become more and more restless. We need an outlet for this anxiety. Every piece of my work is filled with emotions. It is fair to say that collectors of my works collect the mental rubbish of a certain stage or period of mine. But still they are authetic.
Liu Chun: Will you change your work after the Homesickness? Will you shift your perspective?
Guo Yan: I will continue with the series recently. I believe that I haven't done enough with this subject. But my later works are bound to change.
Liu Chun: For today’s contemporary art, ideas, attitudes and stance become extremely important criteria to evaluate an artist. Without them, contemporary art will lose its glory. What do you think of this?
Guo Yan: Indeed. An independent individual, be him an artist or a scientist, can never live in a bacteria-free environment. He is bound to connect with the social environment he is in. Personally I admire those artists with clear attitude and stance.
Liu Chun: As you said, “Art is an illness: once you begin to like it, you can never be cured!” It's a classical comment. Are you in this incurable stage then?
Guo Yan: More or less! My friends say that I should really take some “medicine” and that I was somewhat stubborn. So sometimes art is harmful indeed. Not many of my works are satisfactory to me. But I can never resist my urge to create. I seem to be addicted. Painting is like atranquilizer which calms me down in the virtual world of my own. In a nutshell, it has become part of my way of life.
Liu Chun:What are the works you have been creating? Do you have any exhibition plan?
Guo Yan: I am planning an exhibition called “Elsewhere”, which will be staged at the Guangdong Contemporary Art Center in early April, 2016, and then tour to the Blue Roof Museum of Chengdu in June. I spent some time in Vancouver before I came back, where I also worked as I do in China. I went to my studio when the sun rose and went back home as the sun set. I finished a 20×16m painting there, called “The Homeland for Soul · The City Without Sky · The Scene of Hell”. My friends saw the picture that I shared on the Internet and commented that I painted a view of hell in the most livable city in the world. What a stark contrast! As a matter of fact, I enjoyed my life in Vancouver. It’s like anunforgettable dream. My studio was always crowded with many of my good friends. I miss them so much. They are very sincere and honest friends, sharing the same aspiration with me. The city waslike a transcendental fairy land, so beautiful, but also morally distant. I am deeply attached to the life in both places, Vancouver and China. Living in Vancouver as an immigrant – a life in elsewhere – kept me thinking and feeling. That is why I will try to showcase the differences of the two places through my own experience. The exhibition will be mainly in blue and green. There will be an installation which is made of tens of thousands of magnolia leaves I picked up in a forest in Vancouver. The leaves had been dried naturally for one year before I applied them to my work. Generally speaking, after the two solos, The Lost City and The Disappearing HometownI will continue to show the audience my own strong and true feelings from my own experience in the places we live.
Liu Chun: So I believe that you will be busy.
Guo Yan: Yes. I am not a quiet person. I love working, providing people with more food for thought on the current living condition through my art and my personal experience. I don’t care much about business or academic achievements. In today’s society where money manipulates almost everything, I’d rather to keep my heart clear from those “successes”. I want to walk my own way step by step as I planned. This is very romantic, very Utopia! I think it’s the very charm of art. It gives you the courage to go your own way and never give up. It is irresistible. Art is a life-long pursuit. You have to be very dedicated to it. The most difficult part is to remember why you started the journey and keep moving on.
Liu Chun: Every artist is a walker on the road. As you are at the prime age, I hope that you can create more nice works for our times.
Guo Yan: Thank you, Mr. Liu. This is also what I aspire to do.
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