We are honored to announce that the solo exhibition of artist Wang Pengjie‘prior to the final’will open grandly at MOUArt on March 16, 2025.

在世界终将融化之前
PRIOR TO THE FINAL
艺术家| Artists
王鹏杰 Wang Pengjie
2025.3.16-4.14
《景观》布面油画100cm x 150cm,2014
出于对绘画美学单一性和方法惯性的厌恶,我画画往往会涉及很多不同的主题和形象,在叙事和形式方面五花八门,这个展览却汇聚了其中较有图像连续性、叙事整体性的一部分,我仿佛成了一位有“风格”的画家。把图像理解为叙事的载体,一直是看画最方便的路径,但我希望观众能到更多信息,别太依赖形象和符号提供的内容,更何况画中叙事并不明确。
就生活而言,我最大的欲望可能是精神方面的表达,因此我被“创造”和“意义”所累。“创造”未必是渴求崭新的东西,但至少要给作者带来类似新生的体验;“意义”的紧箍咒虽让我头痛,但也保证了思考与表达不会完全趋于无聊或虚无。长期受到“思”的影响,我在过去这些年里无论画什么,基本都可视为叙事型图画——通过图形、形象、场景、空间、符号去诉说一些“内容”和“主题”。我的悲喜既跟日常生活有关,也拜这个世界所赐。当嘴被贴上胶带,就用各种适合绘画的象征和隐喻去抒发感受。我希望自己的表达尽可能是自由的,但总借助叙事来表达,远不够自由。渴望自由和自我定义之间的矛盾与角力,是我画画生涯的一条线索。
《我的天No.3》布面油画 150cmx150cm,2022
从能够记事起,我觉得这世界上的一切都在衰退,有时这种衰退是以华丽的面貌展开的。由于这种衰退总是以人们能接受(甚至颇为享受)的方式进行,所以我用“融化”这个词,在视觉上也很形象,慢慢软化,是种温柔而舒缓的崩塌。世界一定会趋于融化,经过愈加流畅的平滑,最终走向平静的坍塌和寂灭,但只要还有自由支配的时间、自主行动的空间,我仍喜欢描绘那些坚硬、不太规则且无法被今日生活合理解释的东西,这种神秘驱动着我,画中的神话式场景也出于这种动机。真正的神秘是走向绝对的状态,并非神话场景所能承载,但过去的这些画是我寻找绘画神秘性(或者说媒介本体潜能)的一个阶段。未来的计划:从叙事编排、场景营造、形象暗示往前更进一步,因为痕迹本身就能展示一切,叙事、场景、形象可能是多余的。
就绘画来说,我的理想是在画中呈现出“绝对”的东西,它不可言说,但会被观者领会。这种特质尚未在我的创作中诞生,我不想言过其实地渲染自己工作的价值,但不会放弃对这种困难目标的追寻。我不喜欢“文艺”的腔调,但决定用“在世界终将融化之前”作为展览题目,一方面是希望观者更容易理解我的体验,更是为了提醒自己作品还不够“绝对”,需要更紧迫、果断地做些什么。在我的理解中,所有兼有创造性和意义的东西一定非常“坚硬”、“异样”、“决绝”、“顽固”,佛教话语中的“金刚”,我也这样来看待。我喜欢这样的东西,它们抗拒融化,有一些特别的属性——难以被化约、软化、侵蚀、共享、吸纳的品质。相反,悦目的流畅感、刻画的完美感、造作的精致感、色彩的缤纷感、造型的高雅感、观念的严密感,这些美学方式都是世界融化的表征。融化是一种趋势,总体上是抽象的,无声无息。我想在世界融化之前找到抗拒融化的绘画形式,而且兴致越来越高。
Driven by an aversion to aesthetic monotony and methodological inertia, my work traverses disparate themes and forms, resisting narrative or stylistic coherence. Yet this exhibition assembles pieces with unexpected visual continuity and narrative threads, inadvertently casting me as a painter with a recognizable "style." While images often serve as vessels for storytelling—a convenient lens for viewers—I urge audiences to look beyond symbols and explicit narratives, which here remain deliberately elusive.
My deepest longing is spiritual expression, a pursuit shackled by the demands of "creation" and "meaning." "Creation" need not birth the unprecedented but must offer the creator a visceral renewal; "meaning," though a headache-inducing constraint, guards against descent into nihilism. Years of intellectual fixation have rendered my paintings narrative machines—scenes, symbols, and spaces laboring to convey "content." My joys and sorrows emerge from both the mundane and the global. When speech is gagged, painting becomes a lexicon of metaphors. Yet true freedom eludes me: reliance on narrative feels like a cage. The tension between liberation and self-imposed limits defines my practice.
Since childhood, I’ve perceived the world as a slow-motion collapse, a decline masked by splendor. This erosion, accepted (even celebrated) as progress, I term "melting"—a soft, insidious unraveling. The world flows toward liquefaction, smoothing itself into serene oblivion. Yet while time and agency remain, I cling to depicting the rigid, the irregular, the inexplicable. Mystery, not myth, drives me. True mystery approaches the absolute, a state my work has yet to embody. Moving forward, I aim to strip away narrative scaffolding, trusting that raw traces alone might reveal what scenes and symbols obscure.
My ideal painting would manifest the "absolute"—the unspeakable, apprehended beyond language. This remains unrealized, but I refuse to abandon the quest. Though allergic to "literary" pretenses, I title this exhibition *Prior to the Final Melt* to signal both accessibility and self-rebuke: my work remains too timid, too distant from the "absolute." For me, all meaningful creation must be "hard," "alien," "uncompromising," "indomitable"—qualities akin to Buddhism’s *vajra* (diamond-like resolve). Such things resist melting, rejecting assimilation, erosion, or commodification. In contrast, aesthetic polish, chromatic seduction, and conceptual tidiness are symptoms of the melt. The world dissolves softly, abstractly. My urgency grows: to forge paintings that defy this entropy before the final thaw.
王鹏杰Wang Pengjie
发布会信息
活动时间:2025年3月16日14:00
对谈人:王鹏杰 陈蔚
地点:北京798艺术区妙有艺术空间
《中国早期现代绘画观念史》
书名:中国早期现代绘画观念史
作者:王鹏杰
出版日期:2024.09
开本:16
成品尺寸: 185×260
中图分类:Ⅳ. ①J209.26
印张:25
页码:400
版次:1
印次:1
装帧:精装
字数:320千
内文纸张:100克纯质
内文印刷:双面4色
封面纸张:特种纸裱荷兰版,特种工艺
读者对象:艺术史爱好者、艺术家
作者简介:
王鹏杰:艺术家、学者、艺术评论家、策展人,清华大学艺术学理论专业博士,现为四川美术学院副教授。著有《素描论:一种“活”的绘画理论》《民国绘画思想史论》等专著。
内容简介:
这是一本对中国早期现代绘画观念进行全面研究的专著。作者从中国现代文学史和社会思想史入手,按照时间顺序,对现代绘画观念的兴起到发展、成型、转型进行了全面、详细的论述,分析了发生于晚清至民国历史时空中极为复杂的绘画观念问题。全书图文并茂,附有大量作品及相关的大事年表。
编辑推荐:
本书以中国1900~1945年间完整的中国现代绘画创作与思想论争历程为主要论述内容,主要研究对象是与画家、绘画作品、艺术批评家、艺术媒体密切相关的图像和文字,所有相关的重要人物、事件、作品、展览、文章都有充分涉及,时而宏观俯瞰,时而以点带面,以全景方式呈现自新文化运动至抗战结束这一历史时段的中国现代绘画思潮,集介绍、研究、评述为一体,资料全面、视野开阔、结构分明,学术价值较高,是一本对中国早期现代绘画观念进行全面研究的专著。
-陈蔚 山东美术出版社社长助理、首席编辑,编辑出版专业硕士生导师
王鹏杰,艺术家、学者。从事艺术创作与批评、艺术史及理论研究、艺术教育及策展工作。1987年生于中国辽宁省海城市,2010年本科毕业于四川美术学院油画系,2013年研究生毕业于四川美术学院油画系,获美术学硕士学位;2018年毕业于清华大学美术学院艺术史论系,获艺术学博士学位。现任教于四川美术学院造型艺术学院油画系观念与媒介工作室,艺术创作以架上绘画为主,学术研究方向:现当代艺术理论及批评实践、中国现代艺术史及思想史、绘画史及创作理论。现工作、生活于重庆。
个展
2023年 重的轻——王鹏杰·黄娟绘画双个展,朗信艺术中心,深圳 中国
2016年 异闻别考——王鹏杰个展,1618画廊,巴黎,法国
2013年 肉身剧场——王鹏杰个展,CAEA美术馆(四川美术学院)重庆,中国
群展
2024年
废弃物资讯——扔掉或再界定 四川美术学院虎溪公社常设展厅 重庆 中国
候鸟与隧道——第七届虎溪公社艺术工作室入驻艺术家邀请展 四川美术学院虎溪公社常设展厅 重庆 中国
2023年
复眼与深瞳——四川美术学院“油画系年展”30周年文献展 四川美术学院美术馆 重庆,中国
无垠的边缘悦来美术馆 重庆,中国
2022年
折叠·覆盖 鸿坤美术馆 北京 中国
拾穗者四季酒店安居客艺术中心 北京,中国
2021年
练习曲:安娜卡在您那儿悦·美术馆,北京,中国
成都双年展特别邀请展:平行的城市,麓山美术馆 成都,中国
2020年
文人的画,空间站北京,中国
辟新·更生:四川美术学院青年艺术家驻留计划回顾展(2013-2020)四川美术学院美术馆 重庆,中国
2019年
动情:1949后变局中的情感与艺术观念,中间美术馆 北京,中国
“融合”:当代艺术中的传统,乔治·西格尔画廊蒙特克莱尔州立大学 新泽西州,美国
钝刀剌肉:盛天泓、王鹏杰、于艾君、赵银鸥四人绘画展,悦·美术馆北京,中国
2017年
站在对面的风景,明园美术馆上海,中国
2016年
116㎡+POP UP绘画流动双年展,116㎡美术馆,杭州,中国
没头脑和很高兴 妙有艺术空间 北京,中国
2015年
流变与共在:中国新现实·绘画,达巴索古堡 佛罗伦萨,意大利
2014年
远望地平线——中国青年艺术的新音,亚洲美术馆尼斯,法国目光所及——后金融时代的中国新绘画,保利艺术博物馆 北京,中国
2013年
无界——中国青年艺术家当代艺术作品展,柏林中国艺术中心 柏林 ,德国
自我生成——四川美术学院油画系的实验与实践(1992-2012),苏州美术馆 苏州,中国
城市幻象——第三届重庆青年美术双年展,重庆美术馆 重庆,中国
悦色青黄——快速转变中的人性,Mall画廊 伦敦,英国
2012年
多重世界,梯级艺术心北京,中国
最绘画——中国青年油画展,中国美术馆 北京,中国
2011年
“微观精神”:四川美院青年新绘画展,华氏画廊 上海,中国
成都双年展特别邀请展——看望未来,文轩美术馆 成都,中国
Wang Pengjie
Artist and Scholar. Engaged in artistic creation, criticism, art history and theoretical research, art education, and curation. Born in Haicheng, Liaoning Province, China, in 1987. He earned his BFA (2010) and MFA (2013) in Oil Painting from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and a Ph.D. in Art Theory (2018) from the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University. Currently, he teaches at the Concept and Media Studio of the Oil Painting Department, School of Fine Arts, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. His artistic practice focuses on easel painting, while his academic research centers on modern and contemporary art theory and critical practice, modern Chinese art history and intellectual history, and painting history and creative theory. He lives and works in Chongqing.
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Solo Exhibitions
2023
The Lightness of Weight: Wang Pengjie & Huang Juan Dual Painting Exhibition, Longshine Art Center, Shenzhen, China
2016
Alternative Chronicles: Wang Pengjie Solo Exhibition, 1618 Gallery, Paris, France
2013
Theater of the Flesh: Wang Pengjie Solo Exhibition, CAEA Gallery (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute), Chongqing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Discarded Material Information: Trash or Redefinition, Permanent Exhibition Hall, Tiger Hill Commune, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
Migratory Birds and Tunnels: 7th Tiger Hill Commune Artist Residency Invitational Exhibition, Permanent Exhibition Hall, Tiger Hill Commune, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
2023
Compound Eyes and Deep Pupils: 30th Anniversary Documentary Exhibition of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Oil Painting Department Annual Exhibition*, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing, China
Boundless Edges, Yue Lai Art Museum, Chongqing, China
2022
Folding·Overlaying, Hongkun Art Museum, Beijing, China
The Gleaners, Anjuke Art Center at Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, China
2021
Etude: Is Anna There, Yue Art Museum, Beijing, China
Chengdu Biennale Special Invitation Exhibition: Parallel Cities, Lushan Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2020
Scholars’ Paintings, Space Station, Beijing, China
Renewal·Rebirth: Retrospective of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Young Artist Residency Program (2013–2020), Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing, China
2019
Emotive: Sentiment and Artistic Concepts in Post-1949 China, Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China
Convergence: Tradition in Contemporary Art, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA
Dull Knife Cutting Flesh: Group Painting Exhibition of Sheng Tianhong, Wang Pengjie, Yu Aijun, and Zhao Yin’ou, Yue Art Museum, Beijing, China
2017
Scenery Across the Way, Mingyuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2016
116m² + POP UP Painting Biennale, 116m² Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
No Brains, All Joy, Miaoyou Art Space, Beijing, China
2015
Flux and Coexistence: Chinese New Realism·Painting, Castello di Tabiano, Florence, Italy
2014
Gazing at the Horizon: New Voices of Chinese Young Art, Asian Art Museum, Nice, France
Within Sight: Chinese New Painting in the Post-Financial Crisis Era, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, China
2013
Borderless: Contemporary Art Exhibition of Young Chinese Artists, Berlin Chinese Art Center, Berlin, Germany
Self-Generation: Experimentation and Practice of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Oil Painting Department (1992–2012), Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou, China
Urban Illusions: 3rd Chongqing Youth Art Biennale, Chongqing Art Museum, Chongqing, China
Joyous Hues: Humanity in Rapid Transition, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2012
Multiple Worlds, Ladder Art Space, Beijing, China
The Most Painting: Chinese Youth Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2011
"Micro-Spirit": New Paintings by Young Artists from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Hwas Gallery, Shanghai, China
Chengdu Biennale Special Invitation Exhibition — Gazing at the Future, Wenxuan Art Museum, Chengdu, China