植物藝趣 顧盼神飛

申菡

他有著扎實的科班背景，以歷史畫和肖像畫創(chuàng)作見長，用油畫、中國畫、素描以及綜合材料等形式多次參加過全國美術展覽?？烧沁@樣一位“傳統(tǒng)”畫家，近年來卻又把目光投向了“不傳統(tǒng)”的藝術形式—漢字立體化，希望以此作為突破口，拓展現(xiàn)代植物化融繪審美理念。

為了了解這“植化”旨趣，我拜訪了他—在藝術天地中神飛的顧盼。

孜孜不倦的求索者

落座，顧盼饒有興味地請我品茶，然后不緊不慢地拿出一只碩大的盒子讓我觀看。盒子里是他最新創(chuàng)作的兩幅作品—孟浩然《春曉》“春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。夜來風雨聲，花落知多少”和蘇軾《飲湖上初晴后雨》“水光瀲滟晴方好，山色空蒙雨亦奇。欲把西湖比西子，淡妝濃抹總相宜”兩首詩的漢字立體造型。他介紹說，每句詩都用一根鐵絲一氣扭曲而成，從正面看，頗有狂草的意味；從側面或后面看去，卻是多個抽象的立體影像，生發(fā)出植物獨特的盤根錯節(jié)之美。我覺得確乎如他所說：順筆意立體架構，穩(wěn)重心擬人擬樹；含漢字之韻味，添多視角之藝趣。

28年前，顧盼在《美術》《文藝報》等報刊上發(fā)表文章，提出美術的發(fā)展應充分重視科技對美術的推動（簡稱“借力說”）。經(jīng)多年研究，他認為，在21世紀以科技帶動人類發(fā)展的總理念下，要重視植物對人類生存的影響。中國的傳統(tǒng)藝術譬如繪畫，不管是花鳥還是山水，大都寄托著人對植物的情思，其內核是對“植物精神”的崇拜。不僅繪畫如此，而且在中醫(yī)學、詩歌、音樂、武術甚至哲學中都能見到其影響，這是數(shù)千年中國農(nóng)業(yè)文明對人類的重要貢獻。而他現(xiàn)在創(chuàng)作的這批漢字立體雕塑，從本質上來說正是追求植物精神的產(chǎn)物。

“我翻看了您的畫冊，發(fā)現(xiàn)在傳統(tǒng)油畫創(chuàng)作之余，您很早就開始把植物精神融于畫中，創(chuàng)作一些可稱是‘新銳的作品。但是，您又是怎樣想到把漢字作為這類創(chuàng)作對象的呢？”我問。

“這還要從1986年說起?！鳖櫯伍_始了他的回憶，“當時，我隨一藝術團體赴美考察，在華盛頓遇見一位華人老者，帶著一個六七歲的孩子。交談過程中，這孩子很激動，想和我們大人說上幾句。孩子的英語說得很溜，但講中國話的時候，就疙里疙瘩不知怎么表達，碰到說不下去的地方，干脆哭了起來。”

顧盼覺得，孩子這樣的表現(xiàn)很明顯是受到了語言的限制，而哭，則是對母語的依賴。顧盼繼而想到，即使是在國外長期生活，華人的子孫輩仍然對母語有著濃厚的興趣。那位老人后來告訴顧盼，每個星期天，一家人就會帶著孩子去私立漢語學校補習，“不這樣，他以后就不會講中國話了”。

這件事情至今讓顧盼記憶猶新。從那時，他開始萌生發(fā)掘漢字本身藝術價值的想法。“中國有書畫同源之說，傳統(tǒng)繪畫的核心元素乃是書法和文字的架構樣式，以漢字立體化作為突破口，使文字的含義與形式在特定的時空中變異、綿延、拓展，即在特定的角度看是被立體化了的漢字，而從側面、背面等其他角度看是種種抽象的雕塑?！痹俸髞恚麖男屡d的電腦、網(wǎng)絡文化中獲得啟發(fā)，把自己多年研究的植物化融繪理念和漢字結構結合起來進行創(chuàng)作。拿他的話說，就是“用植物化的心態(tài)，把在繪畫、雕塑中的經(jīng)驗用于書法、漢字的立體構建，還原植物的姿態(tài)”。

心懷詩書的傳播者

“傳播”是訪談過程中，顧盼話里出現(xiàn)頻率最高的一個詞。

2011年，浙江人民美術出版社出版了顧盼的《植化融繪論》一書，書中闡述了以植物化的心態(tài)觀看萬物的新的繪畫理念與樣式，并展示了一條從繪畫逐步拓展到雕塑、現(xiàn)代設計藝術與建筑等方面的藝術實用之路。顧盼希望他的藝術發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠被多數(shù)人接受。他說：“漢字立體化構建的傳播，是有利于中華文化在全世界的傳播的，有利于國家軟實力的增強。”

對于漢字立體構建應用于實際，顧盼已經(jīng)思索出很多可能的概念，比如燈具、過山車、玩具的創(chuàng)意；景觀中的詩句雕塑、書法雕塑、指示方式設計等等，可以根據(jù)場地要求，采用不同內容，運用楷書、草書和篆書的不同字體，靈活多變，實用又好看。

國際上，比如在孔子學院里，可以出現(xiàn)“師”字；在華人居住區(qū)，可以出現(xiàn)“荷”字；在華人商貿區(qū)，可以出現(xiàn)“?！弊?。而國內，公園景觀里可以用山水詩句，城市景觀可以用宣傳語；還有許多日用品、家具也可以加入漢字的立體雕塑創(chuàng)意元素。

顧盼具體舉例：“像‘師字，各種材料都可以制作，如用墨竹種植的話則可被認為是‘生態(tài)雕塑，更能突顯出21世紀重歸自然的發(fā)展理念?！彼f，“植化融繪論除開拓立體思維外，還可以開拓人的多方位認識事物的能力?！?/p>

“像在杭州，孤山靠著里西湖那片大草坪上，就可以出現(xiàn)漢字的‘杭或者‘西湖等字樣，配合LED的燈光效果，讓外地游客在北山路、寶石山上就能看到美輪美奐的作品。”

對于這些應用，顧盼已經(jīng)有了很多實用性成果的展示。他拿出了自己在杭州市科協(xié)、上海楊浦區(qū)教師進修學院講學用的相關課件、其他模型、多座植物與人形體態(tài)合一的石膏像讓我欣賞?？粗@些資料，一個為自己的藝術理念而四處推廣的形象浮現(xiàn)眼前。顧盼說，美國當今提出要重新開展對植物的研究，這不僅是植物學家的事，而且要多學科綜合研究植物對人類的影響，預測其對人類美術的發(fā)展必成一重要因素?！岸嗄陙?，傳統(tǒng)藝術都處于被保護、被收藏的地位，為什么？因為這些藝術形式和生活脫鉤，不實用。要真正保護傳統(tǒng)藝術，就必須找出路讓它們實用起來?！?/p>

顧盼總結說，今天的中國對外交流更加頻繁，我們要在漢字書法與國際抽象藝術間，推出世界通用的對話語言。

（本文圖片由顧頁提供）

The Art of Making 3D Chinese Characters

By Shen Han

A college-bred artist， Gu Pan is by no means an artist who follows orthodox ideas. His career has covered some unique fields. His favorite themes are history and portraits and his art output includes oil paintings， traditional paintings， sketches and sculptures. In recent years， he has tried to make a breakthrough in making 3-dimentional Chinese characters. His newest enthusiasm may define him as a sculptor.

The other day， Gu Pan and I had a chat over a cup of tea. He showed me a large box. Inside were two 3D Chinese-character pieces. One piece was a 20-character poem entitled Spring Dawn by Meng Haoran （a poet of the Tang Dynasty 618-907） and the other a 28-character poem entitled Sipping Wine on the Lake Shortly After Rain by Su Shi （a poet of the Song， 960-1279）. Though each had different word count， the two has something in common： each is a piece of four lines. What makes a piece wonderful is that each line is made of a long piece of iron wire. Examined from the surface， the characters are in the wildest cursive script. Examined from behind or sideways， the abstract images are like intertwined roots of a tree.

Gu Pans new art dates back to 28 years ago when he published essays in national art publications calling for artists to get inspirations from science and technology for breakthroughs. Now he believes plants should play a big part in art. With a history of an agricultural society for millennia， Chinese people identify with plants.

His focus on Chinese characters came from a personal experience during his visit to America. He met with an old man in Washington. With the old man was a child probably six years old. During Gus chat with the old man， the boy was eager to join the conversation but he was clumsy with Chinese words even though he was fluent in speaking English. The boy wept， totally frustrated by his failure to speak Chinese. Gu later learned from the old man that the boy attended a private Chinese course on Sundays in the hope that he would grow up to speak Chinese. Gu Pan later thought a lot about the experience and tried to figure what it meant.

One conclusion he reached was that he as an artist needed to explore the artistic value in Chinese characters. Chinese artists and calligraphers agree that painting and writing are from the same root. Traditional painting regards calligraphy and character structures as the core elements of painting. A three-dimensional character can be a sculpted work of art and can present a form that expands the original meaning and beauty of a character.

His latest endeavor now incorporates his ideas about characters and his love for plants.

For him， three-dimensional structures of Chinese characters can take various forms. Lamps and toys can be made to display Chinese characters. He even imagines that a standing rail structure for a roller coaster in a theme park can take the form of one or a few Chinese characters. Sculpture can easily handle Chinese characters in various scripts. For example， Confucius Institutes across the world can present a sculpture image of 師 （teacher）. A residential community where Chinese people live， a sculpture of 荷 （lotus） can add beauty. 福 （fortune） will be most appropriate in a shopping street where shops operated by Chinese businesspeople gravitate. Gu Pan even suggested some designs of his 3D Chinese characters for scenic spots of the West Lake in Hangzhou.

Gu Pan is a theorist eager to apply his ideas to the real world. He showed me a few of his practical designs， including some models he had used in his lectures at Hangzhou Science Society and Shanghai Yangpu District Teachers College.

Gu Pan explains why he thinks traditional art needs preserving. He points out that it is like an endangered species simply because it is totally divorced from life and impractical. The best way to preserve traditional art is to find ways to use it in everyday life.