Introduction to avant-garde art

Two important exhibitions in the late period of 1986 pushed the discussion of avant-garde art in Shanghai to the climax of carnival feast in the 1980s. In June165438+1October, Yu Sen, Li Shan, Yu, Jin Ang, Qin Yifeng, Yi Ding, Zhang, Xiao Haichun, Wu,,, Hu Kangjia, Jiang Quan and Sun Jingbo held the exhibition Bump in Xuhui District Cultural Center. The whole exhibition has no overall style direction, and expresses the confusion, ridicule and challenge to the modern environment in a very personalized way. "M Concept Art Exhibition" was held in February 12 at the Second Workers' Cultural Palace in Hongkou District, creating the most radical behavior scene in Shanghai's avant-garde art practice in the 1980s. Artists include Yang Hui, Gong Jianqing, Tang Guangming, Yang Xu, Zhou Tiehai, Wang, Fu, Qin Yifeng, Yang Dongbai, Hu Yuelong and Zhao Chuan. More than 200 people were present. More than a dozen artists present their works in the form of behavior or pantomime. The one-hour activity, with Yang Xu's masochistic naked body, was wildly whipped by the seven-star needle until the performance of Blood Back reached its climax. And the "Optional Works Exhibition" of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts represented by Zhang Xiaogang and Zhu.

These exhibitions can be regarded as the beginning of avant-garde art from modernist painting exploration to conceptual contemporary art. After the origin of western modern art in Shanghai art circle, these artists want to further explore the edge and seek more thorough modernity. At this time, the society is quite relaxed about artistic experiments full of personality and vitality, and many exhibitions have received unprecedented positive media coverage. In addition, artists have begun to learn to use the radical and extreme in form or concept to improve their influence. In the face of society and other artists, the tendency to desperately want to make a blockbuster is also obvious. This situation ended in the subsequent anti-bourgeois liberalization movement.

In 1980s, China intellectuals had national ideals and a strong sense of social responsibility. At that time, the reference to the Enlightenment itself implied a top-down meaning. These are also directly projected on the arts. Coupled with the lack of folk resources and channels, it is difficult for many artists to create exhibitions, which also makes many people of insight hope to enter the mainstream and use the discourse power of mainstream institutions to promote the Art Nouveau movement developed in the Eighth Five-Year Plan on a larger level. Fang Zengxian took charge of the Shanghai Art Museum, artists keen on modernism entered the museum, and the new museum was completed, all of which promoted the realization of these wishes. In the new art troupe, many people didn't think of it before. They are far from orthodox creation and can be exhibited in the National Gallery so soon. In the late 1980s, "folk" was compressed, but suddenly it became "official". At the same time, eroded by the ideas of "new authority" and "new official", the radical fringe and grassroots ideas in the original creation have been greatly reduced. Since 1986, Shanghai Art Museum has held the first Shanghai Youth Art Exhibition, the completion exhibition of the new Shanghai Art Museum and today's Art Exhibition.

198865438+In February, Li Shan, Wang, Sun Liang, Xiao Xiaolan, Wu Liang, Li Xianting, Yu Sen, Yang and Pei Jing held the "Last Supper-the Second Concave-Convex Exhibition" in Shanghai Art Museum, which is also a pre-heating exhibition of the China Modern Art Exhibition planned to be held in Beijing. On the ground floor of the Art Museum, artists built a 33-meter-long tunnel made of bamboo and linen, leading to a long table with cola and food scattered on it. 1 1 An artist wearing a hood and a special robe filed in and sat at a long table. Due to fire safety reasons, the performance exhibition was stopped 20 minutes after the opening night. This is the beginning and the end.

The Last Supper is not the most creative work in the 1980s, but it contains the basic elements of avant-garde art in the 1980s, such as enthusiasm for major philosophical propositions, worship of religious spirit, seeking the source of modernity from the West, social critical spirit and trust in collective action. It also reflects the increasingly mature manipulation ability of these artists in the face of society, and their desire to replace them and dominate the right to speak. The Last Supper ended the beginning and rise of contemporary art in Shanghai in 1980s with its name. For a long time before, I only understood pioneer as a gesture, which was obviously shallow and arbitrary, even frivolous and irresponsible. Pioneer should be the deep touch of the present, the thorough discovery, deep imitation and abstract (accurate and alternative) expression of human spiritual consciousness, daily customs and inner feelings. In Tang's book Temptation and Resistance: Ten Years of Contemporary Avant-garde Art (the first edition of Henan Literature and Art Publishing House in August 2007), I experienced the charm of contemporary avant-garde art for the first time in my life. This charm is completely different from orthodox speech and arrogant prophetic expression in subjective consciousness, but an outstanding discovery and artistic creation that cuts into the heart, hits the soul and penetrates life. Temptation and Resistance: Ten Years of Contemporary Avant-garde Art 1 15 The most representative and typical avant-garde works at home and abroad (photo edited by Mr. Gu Zhenqing). It can be said that it is an overall review of contemporary avant-garde art, although some paintings and performance art works with extremist nature are missing. In this book, as a poet, an observer of the times, an insight and interpreter of art, Tang made a profound spiritual discovery and ideological interpretation of these avant-garde arts with rich, smart, simple and free language.

Starting from Cold Weapons (Shi Jinsong's Synthetic Steel of Cold Weapons) is my favorite group of works. The swallowtail-like weapon blade is danced by the operator, and the cold light and sharp blade point directly at all soft and hard things, giving people a strong visual impact, as well as the impression of iron and blood quality and bone cutting. Tang's interpretation seems to be more elegant, implicit and full. He was talking, but he didn't say anything. He just used very short words to express his inner thoughts and cognitive attitude towards art as a reminder.

This is pleasant. Art is more than just telling. The angle and expression expressed are the first element of appreciation, and also one of the constituent means by which art can be drawn, associated and consciously thought. In Tomorrow Will Be Fine (Shen's Unknown Creature), Tang's discovery and thinking are also leading and guessing. He pointed out some possibilities in one way or another and told us in the form of prophecy where we and even "unknown creatures" exist, where they are displayed and where they are hidden. The destruction of numbers (Chen Man and Zhang Dan's photography "Favorite") is a sexual or physical tease at first glance, but in essence, it seems more like a humanized metaphor. Simple human body, expressions and actions hide deeper expectation and confusion. It is obvious that Tang's interpretation of this photographic work by digital destruction has its profound meaning.

As he said, "this is a war of numbers, which comes from their hands and brains in the name of desire." From this, I thought of Negroponte's book "Digital Survival". When numbers dominate the whole human life at present, a series of numbers have become synonymous with individuals and identity signs. Isn't the person who lives in it in an anti-monopoly but has to devote himself to a bitter battle? All art is wise, and the interpreter is even more wise. Don did it. In these abstract and even profound avant-garde arts, everyone has his own snooping methods and interests, but not everyone can see through them.

On the basis of Yang Fudong's black-and-white film Seven Sages in the Bamboo Forest, Tang wrote seven celebrities with different aspirations in the Wei and Jin Dynasties of the Three Kingdoms, but "there is no such bamboo forest today. There are several imitation mountains in the city park, with trees as the background. We are thinking about our own problems. Give yourself a name, give yourself a title, and stick historical symbols on your forehead. " This kind of insight and discovery is the most suitable for the original work, and also reflects the original intention. However, it is thought-provoking: as the seven sages of bamboo forest in black-and-white film and as the text of the past, it exudes sad meaning-deep regret and realistic depression, high mood and helpless decline, which make Tang and Yang Fudong sigh in different ways respectively.

Avant-garde art rejects superficiality, obsolescence and affectation. Even if the creator poses, especially in performance art, onlookers may feel bored or even funny, but once the work is formed, it has profound intentions and distinctive artistic characteristics. Wang Shugang's multimedia work Applause is simple in composition, but profound in meaning, which can arouse various associations and judgments. When reading the text of Identity, Don Zhao Hui said, "You totally hate that sound. The collision between spirit and flesh shows your existence ... cleaning yourself is the only way to save your inner spirit. " This "statement" is implicit and clear. He refused to state directly and adopted a circuitous expression strategy.

This seems to be where Tang's wit lies, hiding the blade and reaching the end, which makes his short interpretation of the text full of tension, hopelessness, ubiquity and freedom. In the series When Desire Put on a Mask, Tang's interpretation of the text seems to be much richer and more hidden. In the face of avant-garde works of art that can be called scenic spots, Tang no longer "stops at once" and "detours", but shows his passion for writing, guessing and expressing. Yang Fuyin's ink painting Mother and Child is extremely abstract, full of lines and twists and turns, and surrounds a rich mother and a child in a "suggestive" way. Tang's interpretation of the text "Love and life? Mark once again showed me his "deep respect" for natural life, especially his love for human beings and his "symbol of the primary colors of life".

Excellent and classic works of art all point to repetition, rich in core and rich in connotation. Every reader and audience has their own cultural stand and spiritual requirements, and their cognitive degree and angle of works will be different. Tang wandered in the contemporary avant-garde art in the form of words, and completed his own understanding and crossing of avant-garde art with elegant and rich language and witty and diverse explanations. In these works, he also discovered broader material reality, humanistic spirit and the essence of the times, especially the snooping, interpretation and discovery of people's emotions, hearts and spirits at present, which has sufficient depth and breadth.