夏之寧：謎一般的畫(huà)境

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夏之寧

Xia Zhining

1961年生于重慶，1995年獲得哥本哈根大學(xué)博士學(xué)位，重慶大學(xué)教授，博士生導(dǎo)師，校長(zhǎng)助理，第十屆、第十一屆全國(guó)人大代表，中國(guó)色譜學(xué)會(huì)常務(wù)理事，重慶市色譜學(xué)會(huì)理事長(zhǎng)，重慶市分析測(cè)試學(xué)會(huì)副理事長(zhǎng)，中國(guó)藥學(xué)會(huì)高級(jí)會(huì)員。

Born in Chongqing in 1961,he received a doctorate from Copenhagen University in 1995, a professor, a doctoral supervisor, an assistant to the president at Chongqing University, a deputy to the 10th and 11th National People's Congress, an executive director of the China Chromatography Association, council president of Chongqing Chromatography Association, a vice council president of the Chongqing Association for Instrumental Analysis, and a senior member of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

在夏之寧的“頌”美術(shù)中心轉(zhuǎn)悠，在“頌美”那虛幻、斑斕、迷蒙的近100幅畫(huà)陣?yán)锱腔玻蟹N穿行在夢(mèng)境里的恍然。

那些懸浮在畫(huà)框里的穿越時(shí)間的碎片或某個(gè)生活片段里的記憶，讓人有種說(shuō)不清的感覺(jué)，幾分迷離，幾分回味。

現(xiàn)實(shí)中，夏之寧研究的是化學(xué)，無(wú)論官方還是民間若干耀眼的頭銜，似乎都與繪畫(huà)風(fēng)馬牛不相及。

As you saunter around Xia Zhining’s “Ode” Art Center and wander among its nearly 100 illusory, colorful and misty paintings, you might feel, for a moment, strayed in some one's dreamland.

Those fragments of timetraveling or a passage memory in life, floating among the picture frames, present you with an inexplicable feeling,somewhat blurred or some food for thought.

But in fact, Xia Zhining is specialized in chemistry,regardless of his dazzling titles, either official or private,seemingly has nothing to do with painting.

野生涂鴉播下藝術(shù)種子

The Seed of Art Disguised in Amateur Doodles

說(shuō)起自己的繪畫(huà)之路，夏之寧說(shuō)，這并不是突如其來(lái)的心血來(lái)潮，其實(shí)可以追溯到小學(xué)時(shí)期。當(dāng)時(shí)，他先后跟多位畢業(yè)于四川美術(shù)學(xué)院的老師學(xué)畫(huà)畫(huà)。一位曾在電影院畫(huà)海報(bào)的老師，教會(huì)他如何畫(huà)幅面寬闊、場(chǎng)景宏大的畫(huà)；比例、透視、解剖、構(gòu)圖等繪畫(huà)基礎(chǔ)，則受益于一位素描老師；最令他難忘的駱老師，則教他在街道向陽(yáng)院的墻上繪畫(huà)。

正是當(dāng)年在楊公橋、童家橋一帶向陽(yáng)院墻上的“野生涂鴉”作品，為夏之寧的繪畫(huà)藝術(shù)播下了種子。

雖然，大學(xué)以后夏之寧幾乎再?zèng)]碰過(guò)畫(huà)筆。但兒時(shí)的學(xué)畫(huà)經(jīng)歷，早已在他心中播下藝術(shù)的種子，對(duì)繪畫(huà)的愛(ài)好一直保持著。無(wú)論是在岳麓山下的湖南大學(xué)，還是丹麥哥本哈根大學(xué)，當(dāng)?shù)孛佬g(shù)館、博物館、畫(huà)廊都是他最?lèi)?ài)去的地方。

直到有一天，這顆藝術(shù)的種子突然被喚醒，萌發(fā)。

2011年初春的某一天，已經(jīng)任職于重慶大學(xué)化學(xué)化工學(xué)院的夏之寧，被一幅畫(huà)報(bào)上的攝影作品吸引：那一片從極低角度仰視的天空，一下子激起了夏之寧兒時(shí)的記憶——那也是他曾在樹(shù)叢中、花叢下仰望過(guò)的蒼穹。

激動(dòng)之余，他決定把這種感受畫(huà)下來(lái)，把這種回憶藝術(shù)化地呈現(xiàn)于畫(huà)布上，讓觀者仰視天空，感受一只飛翔的鷹帶來(lái)的自由、豁達(dá)、空曠與無(wú)限。

這幅題為《仰望》的畫(huà)，受到各方好評(píng)。小試牛刀，便讓夏之寧欲罷不能。八年間，他創(chuàng)作了大約300幅作品。作為色譜專(zhuān)家，夏之寧說(shuō)，看著各種溶劑就著顏料在畫(huà)布上流淌、撞色、揮發(fā)，凝聚成各種肌理，繼而形成一種非自然的圖像，那種藝術(shù)快感無(wú)以言表。

Speaking of his drive to painting, Xia Zhining said that it was not suddenly seized by a whim, but could be traced back to his primary school. At that time, he learned painting from several teachers who graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. A teacher who used to draw posters in the cinema taught him how to draw a picture with a wide face and a large scene; the painting basics, such as proportion,perspective, anatomy and composition, were taught by a sketch teacher; while the most unforgettable teacher for him was Luo, who taught him how to paint on the street wall facing the sun.

It is the “amateur doodles” on the street walls along Yanggongqiao and Tongjiaqiao that sowed seeds of painting for Xia Zhining.

Although Xia Zhining hardly touched the brush after college, his childhood painting had already sown the seeds of art in his heart, and his love for painting had never abated. Whether in Hunan University at the foot of Yuelu Mountain or University of Copenhagen in Denmark, local art galleries, museums and galleries were his favorite places to hang out.

Until one day, the seed was suddenly awakened and started to germinate.

One day in the early spring of 2011, Xia Zhining,who had already worked in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Chongqing University,was attracted by a photographic work on a pictorial:the piece of sky from an extremely low perspective suddenly brought out Xia Zhining’s childhood memory-that was also the sky he had been looking up to in the trees and under the flowers.

More than excitement, he decided to paint this feeling and present it artistically on the canvas so that viewers can look up at the sky and feel the freedom, openness,emptiness and infinity brought by a flying eagle.

This painting entitledLooking Upwas well received by all viewers. Inspired by this success, Xia Zhining was hooked. Over the following eight years,he created about 300 works. As a chromatographic expert, Xia Zhining said that the art pleasure of watching all kinds of solvents flow, contrast,volatilize on the canvas, condense into various textures, and then form an unnatural image, was beyond words.

創(chuàng)作來(lái)源于冥想

Meditation Inspires Creation

夏之寧繪畫(huà)幾乎不外出寫(xiě)生。

一來(lái)是因?yàn)樘?，二?lái)也與他的另一個(gè)愛(ài)好——寫(xiě)詩(shī)，不無(wú)聯(lián)系。他說(shuō)，畫(huà)畫(huà)就如同寫(xiě)詩(shī)一樣，幾乎所有的構(gòu)思、構(gòu)圖都來(lái)自于冥想。

“早上醒來(lái)后，晚上睡著前，閉上眼睛，眼前就會(huì)出現(xiàn)許多畫(huà)面，其中的一幅越來(lái)越清晰，而且十分美麗，從構(gòu)圖到色彩，從虛到實(shí)，藝術(shù)性也逐漸顯現(xiàn)?！背塑?chē)時(shí)，或在飛機(jī)上，夏之寧的思維也異?；钴S。

夏之寧繪畫(huà)的主題也多半來(lái)源于“3Y”，即“閱讀”“閱覽”和“音樂(lè)”，“讀《弘一法師》之后，我腦海里反復(fù)出現(xiàn)一個(gè)畫(huà)面，于是就有了《向往》《出家之前》這種臆想出來(lái)的畫(huà)。”

回顧這些年的作畫(huà)經(jīng)歷，夏之寧將自己的學(xué)習(xí)探索分成三個(gè)階段：“臨摹改造”“追師求道”及“主觀表現(xiàn)”。

“臨摹改造”并非簡(jiǎn)單的臨摹，類(lèi)似于基于前人的科學(xué)原理、研究方法和技術(shù)，應(yīng)用于一個(gè)新的方向或?qū)ο蟆?/p>

經(jīng)過(guò)三年的“臨摹改造”，夏之寧的繪畫(huà)深化為“追師求道”。夏之寧喜歡朱德群、趙無(wú)極、曹俊的表現(xiàn)形式，也喜歡梵高、莫奈繪畫(huà)的那種視覺(jué)沖擊，還喜歡蒙德里安、波洛克以點(diǎn)線(xiàn)面來(lái)表現(xiàn)的手法。

而“主觀表現(xiàn)”則是經(jīng)過(guò)“臨摹改造”的學(xué)習(xí)、“追師問(wèn)道”的練習(xí)后的純意識(shí)階段，把自己的經(jīng)歷、回憶、認(rèn)識(shí)、向往、夢(mèng)想通過(guò)繪畫(huà)展現(xiàn)出來(lái)。

Xia Zhining rarely went out to sketch.

On the one hand, he was too busy, on the other hand, it related to his another hobby, writing poetry.He said that painting was like writing poetry, and almost all the ideas and compositions came from meditation.

“When I close my eyes after waking up in the morning or before falling asleep at night, many pictures would appear in front of me, and one of them would become more and more clear and beautiful,from composition to color, from virtual to real world, artistry would also gradually manifest.” Xia Zhining’s thinking was also very active when he was riding or on the plane.

The themes of Xia Zhining's painting also mostly came from “RBM”, i.e. “reading”, “browsing”and “music”. “After I readMaster Hong Yi, a picture kept popping up in my mind, so I got ideas for such imaginary paintings asYearningandLife Before Becoming A Monk. ”

Looking back on these paintings in past years,Xia Zhining divided his study and exploration into three stages: “Copying and Reformation”, “Pursuing the Realm of Teachers to Seek Tao (Truth)” and“Subjective Expression”.

“Copying and Reformation” was not simply copying, and it was more of applying to a new orientation or objects based on scientific principles,research methods and techniques of predecessors.

After three years of “Copying and Reformation”,Xia Zhining’s painting was improved further into“Pursuing the Realm of Teachers to Seek Dao (Truth)”.Xia Zhining like the expressions of Zhu Dequn, Zhao Wuji and Caojun, the visual impact of Vincent van Gogh and Monet’s paintings, and the drip painting of Mondrian and Pollock.

While the “Subjective Expression” was the pure consciousness stage after he studied “Copying and Reformation” and practiced “Pursuing the Realm of Teachers to Seek Dao (Truth)”, the painter managed to show his own experiences, memories,understandings, aspirations and dreams through painting.

詩(shī)意作畫(huà)天馬行空

Poetic Painting Is A Powerful and Unconstrained Style

在夏之寧的作品里，經(jīng)常會(huì)出現(xiàn)一個(gè)孤立的背影，或站或坐，與天地融為一體，講述著一個(gè)“孤獨(dú)者”或悲或喜的內(nèi)心。

其實(shí)，倘若仔細(xì)審視夏之寧的作品，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)生命中歷歷在目的情感，比如執(zhí)著、矛盾、冷靜、悲憫、甜蜜等，各種糾結(jié)的情緒蟄伏在潛意識(shí)與顯意識(shí)之間。夏之寧意圖將這些情感找到一個(gè)平衡的出口，率真誠(chéng)摯地呈現(xiàn)靈魂深處與自我生命的對(duì)話(huà)。

夏之寧創(chuàng)作時(shí)，并不在意繪畫(huà)的技法，而是讓色彩在畫(huà)布上任意流淌，各種顏色、線(xiàn)條在變化運(yùn)動(dòng)中產(chǎn)生奇妙的化學(xué)反應(yīng)，他自稱(chēng)為“無(wú)束畫(huà)法”。

所以，在他的繪畫(huà)中，可以看到各種“撞色”，各種線(xiàn)條在變化與交錯(cuò)。如2014年創(chuàng)作的油畫(huà)《梵音》，畫(huà)面以深褐色調(diào)營(yíng)造出一種略顯荒涼的虛無(wú)感。

夏之寧將藝術(shù)視為感情的放任，心靈的幻象，一種在精神世界中超越現(xiàn)實(shí)的理想。正如他的油畫(huà)《云開(kāi)遠(yuǎn)方》，以充滿(mǎn)活力的畫(huà)面向我們展示那個(gè)豐富多彩的心靈世界。

夏之寧坦言，當(dāng)他拿起畫(huà)筆時(shí)，“畫(huà)是隨著心走的”?！伴_(kāi)始的時(shí)候與動(dòng)筆前構(gòu)思無(wú)二，可是繪畫(huà)過(guò)程中，當(dāng)進(jìn)入一種忘我境地時(shí)，思維就發(fā)散開(kāi)來(lái)，直至很遠(yuǎn)、很開(kāi)……”

夏之寧說(shuō)，繪畫(huà)是很浪漫的事。“就像平日里，交流用的是白話(huà)，但文字之美還在于詩(shī)詞與歌。把繪畫(huà)提升至充滿(mǎn)詩(shī)意的表達(dá)，讓觀眾的心情也跟隨我的心情浪漫起來(lái)，愉悅起來(lái)?！?/p>

這也是近幾年來(lái)，夏之寧以“無(wú)求”的心態(tài)，“無(wú)束”的手法，展現(xiàn)因?yàn)槔寺錆M(mǎn)詩(shī)意的“無(wú)形”的愉悅。

In Xia Zhining’s works, there often appears a lone figure, standing or sitting, blending with sky and earth and telling the sad or joyful inner story of a“l(fā)onely person”.

In fact, if we examine Xia Zhining’s works carefully, we will find vivid sentiments in life,such as persistence, contradiction, calmness,compassion, sweetness and so on, as well as all the tangled sentiments lurking somewhere between the subconscious and the consciousness. Xia Zhining intended to find a balanced outlet for these sentiments, and to present a sincere dialog between the innermost of soul and self.

Xia Zhining didn’t care much about techniques when he was painting, but let colors flow freely on the canvas. Various colors, shapes and lines had wonderful chemical reactions in the changing movement, which he claimed as “No-boundary painting”.

So in his paintings, you can see various“contrasting colors” and changing and intertwining of various lines. For example, the paintingBuddhist Soundcreated in 2014 manifests a slightly desolate nihilistic feeling in a dark brown tone.

Xia Zhining regarded the art as outlet of his sentiments, the illusion of his mind, an ideal that transcends reality in a spiritual world, just as his oil paintingClouds Parting Afarshows us the colorful spiritual world with a vibrant picture.

Xia Zhining said frankly that “the painting followed his heart” when he picked up the brush. “In the beginning, I drew as my prior conception, but as I was painting and entering a state of ecstasy, my thinking spread out until it went far and wide...”

Xia Zhining said painting is very romantic. “Just like in daily life, we speak in plain words, but the beauty of words lies in poetry and songs. (I want to)sublimate painting to a poetic expression, and let the audience also feel the romantic mood of myself and enjoy it.”

This is also Xia Zhining’s mental state of no pursuit and techniques of “no boundaries” in recent years, showing his romantic, poetic and “intangible”delights.