——陆蓉之(国际著名策展人、“萌奶奶”、台湾实践大学教授)
1974年出生在河北秦皇岛满洲自治县的张玉瀛，从小在农村长大。他的祖輩原是满洲正黄旗的爱新觉罗氏，汉姓是金氏，曾祖父从老家逃难到辽宁营口时改成了张姓，后来再迁徙到河北的青龙县，张玉瀛就是在那里出生的。小时候，他的爷爷奶奶养了很多牲口，有牛、有羊，还有驴子，在天地山水自然间，是这些动物陪伴着他长大，他每一天和这些动物相视对看过着日子。张玉瀛在农村生活到14岁初三毕业那年，因为考上了石家庄的河北省艺术学校才离开家乡。
四年艺术中专的生涯里，张玉瀛学的是舞台美术，当时他主要是学画一些舞台背景，画一些树、山、河一类的风景画，作为戏曲表演的舞台背景。17岁从中专毕业原本可以到秦皇岛市群艺馆或文化宫工作，但是他想考大学，当时他最想进的是中央工艺美院，他以些微之差的成绩，在1994年进了景德镇陶瓷学院。在景德镇受教育，在他后来的艺术生涯中，其实起到了一定的影响作用，当地陶瓷传统的美学，是注重工艺和细节的，这恰恰养成了张玉瀛在绘画方面对技巧的一丝不苟，和精心处理许多细节部分的完成度。
在河北农村生长的张玉瀛，也的的确确受到了邯郸农民画的影响，一般那些农民画的人物比例都比较夸张，男性的头部显得特别大，女性身体比例还相对正常一点，颜色通常比较艳俗，看起来就是一股浓浓的乡土气息。张玉瀛经历过学院美术教育，不可能不考虑到唯美的因素，他又不想画得非常写实，所以在很了解身体结构的基础上进行变形，对人物的结构比例进行变形，对空间进行压缩，消除西方文艺复兴以降的透视观念，尽量使得画面趋向扁平化，包括对色彩的运用。1997年张玉瀛在回老家的路上拍了许多照片，开始在创作中参考这些相片来作画，后来愈用愈喜欢使用照片来进行各种变化，产生一种现实与虚拟的落差，增加了画面的张力。
几乎在张玉瀛的每一幅画作中都会出现动物，刚开始还只是从他幼年生活回忆中自然涌现的一部分，他描写那些动物和人是同等地位的，有时也会是一种陪衬，但是到后来他越来越喜欢突显和强调动物在画面中的份量，直至发展成一种具有象征意义的图徽符号，人物反而成了点景或陪衬，所以说他是一位动物画家都不为过。喜欢动物和张玉瀛儿时的生活经历是密切相关的，他画的那些动物基本上都是农村中常见的家畜，它们为农家提供了食物，也是帮助农家生产的劳动力，对农村的孩子而言，它们还是小朋友的游戏伙伴。所以在张玉瀛的心目中，家畜从来不是附属于人类的食物供应链上的一环，或是被人类利用的劳动工具或玩物，它们是他的家庭重要成员。在张玉瀛绘画中经常出现驴子的形象，是因为在北方的农村里，驴子是一个家庭最主要的劳动力，离开它，生活是不可想象的。人们常说要靠自己的勤劳创造美好的生活，其实在张玉瀛看来，驴子才是农村美好生活的真正创造者，他把驴子塑造成一个美好生活的象征，而那驴子其实也就是他自己，他就是一头任劳任怨的驴子！
张玉瀛将大自然间默默存在的“动物”，放置于一种综合式的生活语境中，同时又从中国的民间艺术大量地吸收了各种元素，例如从农民画、年画中挪用了许多民俗的吉祥图案、符号，和传统民间艺术惯用的鲜艳浓烈色彩等等。由于他压抑了学院训练追求唯美的绘画观念，尽可能地使他的绘画出自于本真，使得他的绘画风格更接近于像卢梭（Henri Rousseau 1844 –1910）那样的“素人绘画”。
1998年张玉瀛从景德镇陶瓷学院毕业后，进入苏州外国语学校任教而居家移居风景优美、民风淡泊的太湖边上，绘画成为他的生活的重心。2001年开始的《感悟生活－家人》系列作品，特别是序号第一的那张玉米田间的一家人，完全展现了他的绘画功底，看来天真无邪的素人画风，其实每一个细节处理到一丝不苟的极度细腻的程度，又决非任何素人艺术家所能企及的。《感悟生活一家人》系列基本上是描写了农村生活对于幸福的想象，人物是主角，动物是陪衬。然而发展到2004年的《驴-脸-玫瑰花系列1》画面中央是一位套着玫瑰花圈浓妆艳抹的美女，像阳具般的口红牵着一群驴子；《感悟生活－颂狗》里三位涂着鲜红唇膏的时髦美女，她们显然是都会女子，应该是张玉瀛对他久居都市里的生活反思，和他早先农村人物的淳朴刻苦形象截然不同。
2002年一幅《爱情之合影》是张玉瀛和他夫人王洁春恋爱的见证，洁春穿着满族的装束。由于张玉瀛老家村里多数是满族人，即使现在大家已经不时兴穿民族服饰了，可是张玉瀛仍然清晰记得他小时候总看到村里扭秧歌的时候，大伙儿穿上民族服饰，打扮得光鲜亮丽一起过节，那种欢天喜地、吉祥如意的美好光景，深深烙印在他的脑海里，就算现在他是生活在都市里，那种幸福欢乐的场景还是不时浮现在眼前，经常成为他笔下的生动画面。
2002年的《吻系列》之一和之二，画面中央的马和牛成了主角，人物反而是配角。在2004年的《驴-青花瓶》和《马-青花瓶》里，张玉瀛把动物都拟人化了，清澈无辜的眼神，充满了对爱情的向往。2005年《花丛中的驴》向观众迎面直视的驴子，那诚恳专注的眼神像透了张玉瀛本人的凝视，俨然是他的自画像。2006年《驴飞过城市上空》系列采用了夸张的失实比例，驴子不可能的飞行任务，驮负着虚拟的古代神话人物，只有呆滞的城市景象是接近于写实的，这时张玉瀛将自己模拟成驴子的角色，倾诉他对都市生活的焦虑与无奈。
2005至2009年是张玉瀛创作的成熟期，动物作为叙事的主题，极端的尺寸大小的对比，将人物渺小化，像蝼蚁般，成为失去个人面目的群众，二方连续图案化的构图，在这一时期都形成他个人的独特风格。张玉瀛的艺术从他个人生活中体悟人生，在非现实的世界里，将社会性降到最低点，赋予艺术无尽想象的功能，是他描述的传奇，是他不食人间烟火的理想天地，2009年所绘的《红驴圣子》就是他独创秘笈登峰造极的案例之一，而2011年的《神鹿五美图》、2013年的《神话-NO.2》都干脆以神话为命名。
张玉瀛在2009年所创的《丹顶鹤游在水中》、《2009—牛》和《广场-Donkey》、2010年的《百马之玫瑰驴》、2011年的《动物王国-2011A》、2012年的《红腹锦鸡》和《飞鹰-20121212》、2013年的《九-鹦鹉百鹤图》、《鱼-MYY2013》和《世界-2013》、2014年的《猎豹-97-2014》、2015年的《猫头鹰2015》等等，都是以动物的眼光在看世界，曾经德国蓝骑士画派的法兰兹·马克 (Franz Marc)就试图透过动物眼睛来观看和记录世界。
创造一个和动物平等的乌托邦，甚至设身处地从动物到立场来面对生命、生活和生态，张玉瀛与众不同的人生观，主导了他的艺术创作方向。他一直沉溺于儿时单纯日子里的欢乐，他不想真正长大成人，既不愿世俗化也不想学会世故，“一派天真”才是张玉瀛的动物世界如此迷人的原因吧！
Zhang Yuying’s Exquisite Animal City
Zhang Yuying was Born in 1974 and raised in rural area Manchuria Autonomous County of Qinhuangdao in Hebei. His grandparents are Manchu yellow Aisin gioro and their surname was Kim. When his grand grandfather fled from home to Yingkou in Liaoning, he changed his surname to Zhang. And later he moved to Qinglong County of Hebei, where Zhang Yuying was born. When he was a child, his grandfather and grandmother raised cattle, such as cows, sheep and donkeys. In the world of the natural landscape, it was the animals that accompanied him while he grew up. Every day of his youth he spent the entire day smiling to see these animals. Zhang Yuying lived in the countryside until he was 14-year-old, in the third year of middle school. He left his hometown because he was admitted to the Shijiazhuang art school in Hebei province.
During the four years in art school, Zhang Yuying learned stage art. At that time he mainly painted trees, mountains, river landscapes as stage backgrounds for opera performances. At the age of 17, after graduation from the technical secondary school, he could have worked at Qinhuangdao City Art Museum or the palace of culture. However, he wished to be admitted to the University. He wanted to enter the Central Academy of Fine Arts the most. But he was admitted to the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in 1994. The education in Jingdezhen, in fact had a certain influence on him in his later career of art. The aesthetics of local traditional ceramic is focussed on process and details. Zhang Yuying art is fueled with meticulous skills and details that is carefully integrate as if he were working on ceramics.
Growing up in rural areas in Hebei, Zhang Yuying was indeed influenced by Handan peasant paintings. Generally those peasant painting figures were exaggerated. The male’s head is particularly large. The proportion of women’s figure is relatively normal with usually gaudy colors. It looked of thick local flavor. Being an Experienced student of education of Academy of fine arts, Zhang Yuying cannot but consider the esthetic factors. He didn’t want to draw realistically, so in the very understanding of body structure based on deformation, the characters of the structure proportion deformation, compression of space, and eliminate Renaissance in perspective concept; he makes the picture tend to be flattening, including the use of color. In 1997, Zhang Yuying took many photos on the way back home. He began to take reference of the photos in the creation of paintings. And later he was increasingly fond of a variety of changes while using photos, which produced a gap between real and virtual, increased the screen tension.
Animals appeared almost in every picture of Zhang Yuying. At first, these were only part of the natural appearance of life in his childhood memories. He described those animals, which were of the same position as people, and sometimes they were only a foil. But later he liked prominence more and more and stressed on animals in the picture, until the development of a symbolic significance. The character has become a point of view or foil. Therefore became an animal painter. Being fond of animals is closely related to Zhang Yuying’s childhood life experience. The animals he painted were basically common in the countryside. They provide farmers with food, but also help farmers as the labor force, for rural children they are also children’s game partners. In the eyes of Zhang Yuying, livestock are never affiliated with a part of the human food supply chain or used by human beings as labor tools or toys. They are important members of his family. The donkey’s images often appeared in the paintings of Zhang Yuying because in the village in Northern China, donkeys are the main labor force of a family. Without them life is unthinkable. It is often said that hard work is to create a better life. In fact, it seems that the donkeys are the true creator of a good life in rural areas of the countryside. He shapes donkeys as a symbol of a better life. And the donkey is actually his own. He is a donkey and bears the burden of responsibility and hard work!
Zhang Yuying’s “animal”, which is of living environment, is placed in a kind of comprehensive living environment. He also absorbed various elements from the Chinese folk art, such as taking many folk auspicious patterns, symbols, and bright and strong colors in traditional folk art from the peasant paintings and New Year paintings. Depressing painting concept of pursue the aesthetic which was trained in the college, as far as possible to make his paintings genuine, he formed his painting style more closely to Rousseau, (Henri Rousseau 1844 - 1910) as “naive painting”.
In 1998, after graduation from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Zhang Yuying began to teach in Suzhou Foreign Language School and moved to live beside the Taihu Lake, surrounded by beautiful scenery and honest folk customs, his painting reflected his life. Series of works “understanding life, family” began in 2001, especially in the first serial number of the corn field of a family, fully demonstrated his painting skills. The seemly innocent and naive art style was in fact meticulous and extremely delicate every detail defined. Definitely not any naive artist can match. Series works of “understanding life, family” is basically the description of rural life for the well-being of imagination. The character is the protagonist and animals are a foil. In 2004, “the donkey face rose - Series I” in the middle of the picture is a makeup beauty set with roses around, whose lipstick like a wand leads a flock of donkey. The three fashionable beauties painted with bright red lipstick in “The perception of life – Ode to dog”, are obviously city women. This should be Zhang Yuying’s reflection of life after his long residence in the city, which is of much distinct to his earlier rural characters of simple hard image.
In 2003 “The couple photo of love” is a photo of Zhang Yuying and his wife Wang Jiechun’s is a witness of his love. In the painting Jiechun was wearing costumes of Manchu. Because most people of Zhang Yuying’s home village are Manchu, even now it is not fashion for them to wear national dress, Yuying still clearly remembers his childhood when he always saw village Yangko, everybody wearing national costumes, dressed glamorous feast together, that rapture and auspicious beautiful scene imprinted in his mind, even now he lives in the city, the kind of happy scene sometimes emerges from time to time in his eyes, and often become a vivid picture under his pen.
In 2002, in the first and second works of “kiss series”, the picture of the central horse and cattle became the protagonist, and the character is a supporting role. In 2004, in the works of “the donkey - green vase” and “the horse - blue vase”, Zhang Yuying put the animals personified, pure and innocent eyes, full of longing for love. In 2005, “donkey in the flowers” shows to the audience the donkey looking straight into the eyes. The sincere focus of the eyes is like Zhang Yuying’s gaze, just like his self portrait. In 2006, “the donkey flew over the city” series took the exaggerated false ratio. The donkey completes the impossible mission laden with negative virtual ancient mythology. Only dull visions of the city are close to the realistic. Zhang Yuying put himself into the role of the donkey, talked to him about his anxiety and helplessness in the city life.
From 2005 to 2009, Zhang Yuying’s creation came to the mature period. During this period, animals are as the theme of the narrative, comparison of characters extreme size, making characters small like ants, becoming the masses that lost the personal appearance, the composition of two sides continual patterned, all of which formed his unique style. Zhang Yuying’s art is from his personal life in understanding life. In the unreal society, his painting is dropping the social characteristic to the lowest, giving the art of endless imagination function. It is the description of his legend. It is his ideal world of non - man - eating. In 2009, his painting “red donkey holy son” is one of his original secrets cases reaching the peak of perfection. And in 2011 “the five beauties deer” the 2013 “myth -NO.2” are simply to name from the myth. Zhang Yuying in 2009 created “the red crowned cranes swim in the water” “2009-cattle” and “square –Donkey”, the 2010 years of “A hundred horses of rose donkey”, in 2011 “the animal kingdom-2011A”, in 2012 years “the Chrysolophus pictus” and “Eagle -20121212”, in 2013 “nine-Parrot hundred cranes map” “fish -MYY2013” and “world 2013” and in 2014 “the cheetah-97-2014”, in 2015 “the owl 2015” and so on, are in the eyes of animals to see the world. Once the German blue knight school Franz Mark (Franz Marc) was trying to watch and record the world through animal eyes. Creating a Utopia living with animals equally, even putting you from animals’ eyes to face living, life and ecology, Zhang Yuying forms a different outlook on life, leading his artistic direction. He has been addicted to pure childhood days of joy. He did not want to really grow up or to secularization or to learn sophisticated, “a group of naïve” is Zhang Yuying’s animal world which is so fascinating!
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