從背影說起：再現(xiàn)自我的影像
最初看見徐勤，是在朋友的電腦桌前。
網(wǎng)絡和即插即用的移動硬盤，可能都是這個時代最偉大的發(fā)明，便捷到我們一旦學會使用，就仿佛再也離不開。即便像我這樣的電腦盲人，與他人交流時也總避免不了弄上幾下?？刹《景l(fā)展得一樣迅速且生猛，在我們習慣擁抱網(wǎng)絡和便攜式移動設備的同時，借著這兩個無所不在的通道侵入。和現(xiàn)實生活中的病毒沒有什么兩樣，電腦雖然沒有什么痛楚，卻也在不知不覺中陷入癱瘓。系統(tǒng)的崩潰總讓我們驚惶失措，因為這里面裝著的和可能帶來的東西，好像比我們與生俱來的那個腦子還要多得多。
燈光下背對我的藝術家陷在一片陰影中，嘴里叼著一根煙，吞云吐霧、似笑非笑、赤裸上身、假不正經(jīng)、目不轉睛……十個手指頭飛快地在鍵盤上敲出劈劈啪啪的聲響，看上去比那臺中了病毒的電腦，還要詭異和令人費解。有點痞子的模樣。
這個背影，最后變成了一件作品——就在徐勤自己的Video里。短片很短，剛好一分鐘。前25秒，他就像我最初看見他的那個樣子，背對觀眾坐在電腦前。不過這次他不是幫我的朋友維修中了病毒的電腦，而是聚精會神地投入電子游戲。他面前的電腦屏幕光線慘白，里面的格斗人物不時發(fā)出陣陣怪叫。一秒鐘的黑暗之后，畫面變得安靜無聲。唯一不變的還是那個背影，只是無聲的窒息讓我們更能感受到玩游戲者的投入。他身體僵硬，想必目光凝滯、頭腦空空。一道道電波干擾似的波紋在屏幕上滾動，鏡頭漸漸拉遠，此刻我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，原本坐在電腦前玩游戲的藝術家，變成了電腦屏幕上的畫面，格斗的人物不見了，由藝術家的那個背影取而代之。電腦前面一片狼藉，成為可樂瓶、啤酒瓶、礦泉水瓶、方便飯盒和塑料袋的垃圾場……這件作品就是《超級玩家》，2006年參加了荷蘭阿姆斯特丹的一分鐘影像展。
后來據(jù)我的朋友說，他修電腦一級棒。再后來，我們辦公室的電腦一壞，為了幫公家節(jié)約錢，我就會請他來上演一場“超級玩家”;再再后來，藝術家的時間變得越來越寶貴，我開始思考，是不是應該多結交點另外的“玩家”……不過最初的印象總是很難磨滅，那個痞子式的背影讓我印象深刻。說來很巧，10年前，網(wǎng)絡小說剛剛盛行，一個叫化名“痞子蔡”的臺灣水利專業(yè)研究生，寫了一部《第一次親密接觸》，一度刮起了網(wǎng)絡交友的龍卷風。大家一起在電腦面前淪陷。這讓我覺得，《超級玩家》不單是徐勤的自傳故事，也不僅僅是一代年輕人的生活狀態(tài)，主婦或者白領、學生或者股民……今天，我們的生活或多或少地變得與這個小小的屏幕相關。就像《超級玩家》的結尾，所有的觀眾都變成了那個最初在屏幕前凝視的背影。而下一秒，再現(xiàn)的或許不僅僅是藝術家，還有我們自己。
徐勤后來還與其他藝術家合作了許多短小的影像作品，例如《Fly》，講述如何用一只蒼蠅的眼睛來看世界;《39 seconds》，一個男子墜樓的飛翔故事;《知會我》，一個雜糅了獨白、訪談、資料片剪輯和拼接的視聽報告……風格不甚統(tǒng)一，但都不如這一個短片讓我有共鳴。倒不是說《超級玩家》拍得有多好，而在于它就是我視覺經(jīng)驗的再現(xiàn)，像我最初看到藝術家的場景回放一樣。我相信這種真實，哪怕它往往過于普通，但仍然有觸動的力量。
Up Up Down: 玩出來的裝置
雞頭人與黃桷星球：連環(huán)相扣的繪畫
我的童年時代，日本漫畫還沒有來得及飄洋過海。于是，在兒時記憶里稱王稱霸的，除了電視而外，應該要算“小人書”，學名叫做“連環(huán)畫”。那些看似獨立的畫面，其實環(huán)環(huán)相扣，密切相連，有著自己的編碼和節(jié)奏，不需要過多的銜接或旁白。
徐勤的繪畫仿佛就是這種記憶的放大。
于是，對肌理、筆觸、光暈、結構或者空間……這些繪畫技藝的追求，讓渡給了故事和情節(jié)。畫面中講述的，很多是藝術家科幻式的臆想，但同時糾結著我們熟悉的現(xiàn)實。
《黃桷星球》是故事的發(fā)生地，也是藝術家最近一系列創(chuàng)作的開端。接下來的很多劇情，都在這里一幕幕上演。之所以選擇這個場景，或許并沒有什么特別的意義，不過就是因為它是徐勤和他的大多數(shù)朋友，每天吃喝玩樂拉撒睡都要面對的地方?！饵S桷星球》的主人翁頂著一頂雞頭模樣的帽子，他手里端著一碗湯面，大拇指不客氣地摳到碗里去——這是在黃桷坪街頭吃飯最常見的情景：大多數(shù)路邊攤上菜的時候，都常把手指挖進去，我從來不敢看他們黑色的指甲——所幸藝術家并沒有刻意強調這個細節(jié)。所以，散落在這顆星球上的，是現(xiàn)實生活中黃桷坪街道上隨處可見的風景。例如，這里的地標性建筑——電廠，那兩個紅白相間的大煙囪總是高高矗立;坦克，它們會在偶爾晴朗的日子轟隆隆的碾過黃桷坪，而原來停放坦克的地方，現(xiàn)在被四川美術學院改建成了坦克庫·重慶當代藝術中心，即將成為當代藝術的新地標;巴士，從黃桷坪開往沃爾瑪，那是距離這里最近的大型超市，五樓設有電影院，每逢周二票價減半;還有藝術家的朋友，他坐在他自己曾經(jīng)畫過的“三輪摩托車”里——藝術家朋友為自己的這張畫取名叫《法拉利》;機器人，它是重慶又一道活動風景——俗稱“棒棒”的變體。這本是以勞力換取報酬的一個人群。不過現(xiàn)在，黃桷坪的“棒棒”有很多也變成了兼職的藝術家……
和著名電影《星球大戰(zhàn)》以及任何一個關于星際空間探索的故事一樣，這顆星球總會因主人翁的到來，而發(fā)生驚天動地的變化。于是，《失落的行星》向我們呈現(xiàn)了變化發(fā)生的第一幕：畫面上的主人翁依然帶著雞頭面具，不過這一次我們看不到他的表情，冷硬的頭盔讓眼角那一滴眼淚看來略顯詭秘。頭頂是霹靂閃電，身后是翻滾浪花，地標煙囪半傾在水中;到沃爾瑪?shù)陌褪孔兂闪藙潣⊥?藝術家朋友開著水上三輪摩托;而棒棒機器人正揮臂呼救……可主人翁的手里握著的花灑還在滴水，我們猜不透，這場浩劫他是始作俑者，還是前來力挽狂瀾的英雄?
《輻射星球》是災難的延續(xù)：地標電廠又一次倒塌，引發(fā)了地裂，巖漿和怪物從地底一冒而起;棒棒機器人開始造反;沃爾瑪巴士被迫改變了行駛方向;藝術家朋友不得不放棄他的坐騎，喬裝潛逃……主人翁愁眉不展，雞頭帽在逆光的處理下變得凝重……
悲劇不會反復上演，于是《黃桷方舟》出現(xiàn)了，和傳說中的諾亞一樣，肩負起帶領星球生物逃生的使命。不同的是，這次方舟不是在大海中航行，而是一場星際旅行;雞頭飛行器上主人翁，手里握著遙控板，這令逃亡看上去不過像是履行某個已經(jīng)預設好的程序而已。
仿佛經(jīng)歷劫難之后，我們總需要找尋精神的皈依，于是，取西經(jīng)的經(jīng)典腳本也派上了用場——《流沙河》描繪了現(xiàn)代版的唐僧、悟空、八戒和沙僧，它們在方舟著陸后來到黃沙遍地的黃桷星球，地標煙囪和棒棒機器人就是最好的坐標。值得一提的是，當畫面上的整個地球化為沙漠，世界上唯一有液體的地方，竟然是著名藝術家達敏·赫斯特(Damien Hirst)的裝置《泡在甲醛中的鯊魚》。這個待遇，足以讓所有的藝術家都沾沾自喜。
宏大敘事和史詩篇章，最終讓位給了微妙的感情。創(chuàng)作《鐵達泥巴號》的時候，徐勤正陷在莫名的悸動中。于是，畫面的主人翁站在黃澄澄的飛船上，望著燦爛又空洞的滿天星斗，不知道是在告別還是在迎接他面前那位懸浮在半空中的粉衣朋友。如果《鐵達尼號》講述的是浪漫愛情，那么和黃金同屬一個色系的鐵達“泥巴號”，咀嚼起來有一點傷感的味道。
……故事可以一直說下去，主人翁在黃桷坪無止盡的游蕩：喝奶茶、吃火鍋……畫面就是這樣荒誕而真實。我始終可以在徐勤的繪畫中，看到周圍每天每時每刻正在發(fā)生的一幕幕，而那些熟悉的人、事、物，變換著角色，不斷出現(xiàn)在藝術家的一作品里。仿佛有一根看不見的線索，隱匿在那些迥異的情節(jié)背后——這個時候，我總遺憾自己不太會說故事，不然這些畫面會和英國作家柯南道爾筆下的《福爾摩斯》一樣，連成一道正在破解中的謎題。而我時常有這樣的錯覺：畫面中的主人翁——那個總是隱匿在雞頭面具下的神秘人，就是藝術家筆下的另一個自己。在故事里，在他陷在這個現(xiàn)實和虛構相重疊的藝術時空中，他狂躁、憂郁、興奮、健忘、敏感;他不知所措、難以自己、患得患失、異想天開、無拘無束;他帶著青春的沖動，懷有成長的煩惱，夾雜情感的憧憬，具有破壞的欲望，充滿英群的幻想……
也許，“連環(huán)畫”早在電視和網(wǎng)絡的沖擊下，淡出我們的視野;同時也很難和當代藝術的前衛(wèi)、先鋒扯上半點關系。從這一點上看，徐勤的繪畫似乎缺少優(yōu)勢。但是，視覺是一個有記憶的東西，當這部放大了的“連環(huán)畫”呈現(xiàn)在我們眼前，兒時的視覺經(jīng)驗和本能的讀圖習慣就會被自然而然的勾引起來。這令觀看和解讀的過程變得輕松愉悅。
THE BACK: Reveal the Image of yourself<0}
<}0{>The very first time when I saw Xu Qin, he’s sitting right in front of a friend’s computer.<0}
<}0{>Internet and plug-in mobile Hard Drive, probably the most amazing and convenient inventions of this century, are simply impossible for us to live without them once we learn how to use. Even for a computer idiot like me, it's still inevitable to give a few clicks to chat with others. On the other hand, virus has been spreading everywhere with it's incredibly fast pace and entry, invading in our lives through the above two most common used channels-Internet and portable mobile device. Not much different from the virus in our real life, computer never feels pain but still breaks down without any sign. The break-down of the computer system always cause panic as what the system contains and might bring are way more than what our brain could contains. <0}.
Sitting in the shadow of the light with his back against me, this topless artist with a cigarette as well as a weird smile on this face is puffing out loads of smoke while staring at the monitor, making lots of noises with each and every fingers clicking on the keyboard as quick as he can. His behavior is way odder and more riddle than this infected computer itself, just like a riffraff with plenty of time to do nothing and also has nothing to lose.
The image of his back ended up appearing in Xu Qin's own work, a one-minute short video clip. In the first 25 seconds, he's still sitting in front of the computer with his back against the audiences as I saw first saw him. Instead of trying to fix my friend's computer which has been infected by virus, this time he's just concentrating on playing computer games. The monitor reflects pale light in front of him and from time to time some weird sounds can be heard from the fighting game he’s playing. After a second blackout, those images disappeared all of a sudden. The only thing remains is the image of a back, which leaves all of us a breath holding silence and a feeling how devoted this player is. He sits still, presumably looking at the monitor with glazy stare and nothing in mind. Electronic waves start to roll down on the screen as they are disturbing the signal, while the camera zooms out, we suddenly find the artist who was playing games turned into the image on the screen. Those characters in that fighting game vanishes, instead, the back of the artist turns in. There’s such a mess in front of the computer with coke bottles, plastic bottles, paper boxes and plastic bags scattered everywhere…... This work is called “Super Player”, which has attended the One-minute Video Exhibition in Amsterdam, Holland in 2006.
Later, I heard from my friend that Xu Qin is a genius in fixing problems with computer. Since then, I always ask him to play once again the "Super Player” whenever any of our computers in the office break down, in a good manner of being cost-efficient for us. After a while, the artist seemed to be really busy and I started to come across meeting some other "players"........ however, the first impression is always unforgettable and this typical back of a riffraff still impress me till now. 10 years ago when online writing just started to be popular, a book named “The first close relationship” written by a postgraduate student named “Riffraff Cai" majored in water resource in Taiwan has swept through the net and turned on a huge wave of online dating. Everyone started to fall in internet. This made me realized that "Super Player" is not just telling Xu Qin's own story or representing the life style of this young generation, including housewives, white collars, students, stockholders, etc. Today, our life become more or less relevant to and has been connected with this little screen. As the ending of "Super Player" turns each and every audience the back image which appear in the beginning of this video, but what will appear in the next second, probably even ourselves other than the artist himself.
Xu Qin also has worked with some other artists on many short films, “Fly”, for instance, which portrays a world from a fly's perspective; or “39 Seconds”, a story about a guy who jumped off the building and flying; or even “Perceive Me”, a special report mixing script, interview and video clips. The style varies, yet none of them has brought me to this emotional moment as this one did. The point is not how well "Super Player" is done, it is a reimage of my visual perception, resembles replay of the scene when I first saw the artist. I believe in this authentic and real feeling it brings out as they are usually too plain and close to the real life but still very touching.
UP UP Down: A device to play
Man with rooster head and Huang Jue Planet: Serial Painting
My childhood was too early to experience the massive stream of Japanese Comic, instead, besides TV, the most popular in my time was supposed to be “Strip cartoon”, also named as “strip cartoon series”. These scattered images are always connected with one and another with their own codes and rhythm, no intentional content or script needed.
Xu Qin's drawing seems to be the zoom-in of this memory.
To this effect, pursue of all the skillful techniques including texture, strokes, Brightness, structure or space has compromised to the story itself. The images mostly narrate artistic fictions and imaginations blended in the real world we are familiar with in the meanwhile.
《Huang Jue Planet》 is where the story taken place, as well as the very first stage of the artist's latest series. Most of the scenes followed were performed here one by one. The reason why this scene has been chosen might not be anything special as it’s at where Xu Qin and most of his friends spend everyday. The Main character of 《Huang Jue Planet》wears a hat resembles rooster head, holding a bowl of noodles with his thumb abruptly sticking into the soup. This is a common scene while dining out on Huang Jue Street where most of the venders serve their food together with their fingers showing you black nails containing all the possible dirt which is always too frightening for me to see. Fortunately the artist didn't really pay much attention to this trivial. Everything scattered in this planet are views and scenes we can see on this street in real. The landmark construction-the power plant, for instance, with two giant chimneys with strips in red and white standing above the clouds; the tanks, marching through the square in some of those sunny days, while where they used to be parked has been rebuilt by Sichuan Fine Art Institute into Tank Loft · Chongqing Contemporary Arts Center, which will soon become the new landmark of contemporary arts; the buses, heading from Huang Jue Square to Wal-Mart, the closet large supermarket with cinema on the 5th floor, 50% discount every Tuesday; and the artist's friend sitting in his old work named "The Three Wheeler" - renamed later 《Ferrari》by himself; Also the robot, the transformation of another mobilizing scene in Chongqing called “Bang Bang" (hammal who serve as public transport for all types of cargo) who used to be a large group of people who survive by providing physical work and nowadays many of who has turned to be part-time artists at Huang Jue Square.
Just like the famous block-buster movie 《Star War》 and any other stories about outer space discovery, this planet always encounters unprecedented changes upon the main character's arrival. 《The Lost Planet》, reveals the first one for us: the main character still wears a rooster head mask veiling his facial expressions and, the cold and hard helmet turns the tiny drop of tear hanging on the corner of his eye even more weird and mysterious. Thunders and lightening up above, rolling waves behind, the chimneys stands inclined towards the water; the buses to Wal-Mart turns into little boats; the artist’s friend rides on a water motorcycle; the robots waves their hands and asks for help…….yet the rooster head man holds a showerhead which is still dropping, which leaves us wonder if he's the reason that all this sad episode should be blamed for or the hero who comes to save the world with his magnificence.
《FALLOUT Planet》is the following episode of this disaster: the power plant collapse causes earth cracking and lava and monsters come out from the ground; robots start to stir up some uprisings; bus to Wal-mart is forced to change its itinerary; the artist’s friend has to give up his ride and escape in disguise…… a frown comes up on the rooster head man and against the light this hat looks grave.......
Tragedy never happens again. Then 《Huang Jue Ark》arises with the same mission of leading all the lives escaping from this planet, resemble Noah in the Bible. Instead of sailing in the ocean, this time the ark has experienced a travel spree in the outer space; the main character driving a rooster-head spaceship with remote control holding in his hands, which turned out to be one of the steps in a program been completed other than an escape.
It seems that we always need some spiritual comfort after disaster like this, classic script from “A Journey to the West” has been adopted into the next episode - 《Liusha River》 portrays a modern version of the master Tang and his three apprentices taking the ark and landing on the Huang Jue planet where yellow sands are everywhere, notably the best directional signs as the landmark chimneys and the group of robots. When the entire earth turns into a desert, the only place with liquid surprisingly points to famous artist Damien Hirst's work –《 A shark soaked in Formaldehyde》. This idea must be creative flattering enough to make each and every artist proud of themselves.
Splendid narrating and epic chapters compromised to the subtle emotions by the end. When Xu Qin's working on 《Titan-earth》, he was in an indescribable emotional moment, so the final episode ends with the main character standing on the yellow spaceship while staring at the stars twinkling in the empty sky. The end leaves us wonder if he was trying to say goodbye to or rather welcoming his pink-dressed friend floating in the air right in front of him. If “Titanic" is a story about sweet romance and love, 《Titan-earth》, with a gold-like color, has brought out more blue and gray feeling.
……The story still goes on and on, as the main character wonders around at Huang Jue Square, drinking milk tea, eating hotpot…… all the images seem to be so absurd and real. In Xu Qin’s paintings, I can always find what are happening around me every and each moment of the day and, watching those people, things and objects that we are familiar with changing their roles in different works of this artist. There seems to be an invisible string hiding behind all these differed stories and this is absolutely the awkward moment that I feel my imperfect narrating skills is not able to connect all the clues to one pending puzzle, just like the “Sherlock Holmes” by English author A. Conan Doyle. At times I also feel confused that the main character on those images, this mysterious man who always hide behind the rooster head mask, is just another me under the artist’s portray. In the story, when he was stuck in the art world which combines reality with fictions, he became maniac, upset, thrilled, forgetful and sensitive; he was confused, fussy, fanciful and unstrained; obsessed by the fact of growing up with anticipation for emotions, desires, and imaginations, he was active and impulsive, like any other youth of this century.
Perhaps, “strip cartoon" has already faded out from our sight with the heavy strike of TV and Internet, and also turned to be less relevant to the most updated and edgy contemporary arts. Xu Qin's paintings seem to be less advantageous, however, visual perception is memorable. When the bigger version of this “ strip cartoon” is represented in front of all of us, our visual emotional memories and image-reading nature will be automatically activated, which turns either watching or reading to be a very relaxing and pleasant experience.
【編輯：小紅】
