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孙良 Sun Liang
在这条道路上，他凭着天性、爱好、敏感和探索精神，任意采撷西方、
东方的文化资源，任意介入城市、乡村的人文语境，从来没有西化或守成的心理障碍。但他的作品一望便知乃是中国人所为，是中国上海艺术家所为。
On this path, he willfully gathers cultural resources from the East and the West,
engaging in the humanistic
discourse of urban environment and the countryside,
without any westernized or clichés inspired by his character, hobbies, sensibilities
and exploring spirit.
At the first glance of his artwork, one would determine that
this artist is Chinese, from Shanghai.
节选至《独行者艺术史——孙良作品散记》
Adapted of 『Art History of a Non-conformist——Notes on Sun Liang’s Artworks』
漫幻 2007
情慵 2010
失血月亮 2010
滑凝 2011
幽思 2012
沉坠 2012
幽灵星辰 2013
心愿之外 2012
几乎在天上 2012
文/王林
“只要有卡夫卡/ 再加上一位梦游的女郎/ 你就能征服世界/ 哪怕是天下着雨/ 哪怕是雨遮住了历史的苦难与辉煌”——这是我在捷克布拉格写下的诗句。当我看见孙良在捷克做的玻璃作品时，真的感到很惊讶，他能够如此准确而又特殊地把握艺术创作的在地感，又能够那么坦然而娴熟地将他者性融入自我之中。可以说，正是如此禀性造就了孙良的艺术，其独特性在中国艺术家中是很少见的。
孙良是上海艺术家。从念大学开始，他在上海生活了三十多年。
上海这座城市之于中国非常特别，这里的市民从来不对殖民时代表示深恶痛绝。而在中国的教科书中，殖民者永远是敌人、是野蛮的入侵者而非文明的传播者。上海能够成为中国最大的现代化都市，以至于上海市之所以有丰富的现代文化，和开埠殖民有密切关系，甚至就是开埠殖民的结果。其实，中国社会的现代化进程，始终伴随着西方文明作为他者的共在关系，并非只有他者侵略，我等反抗的二元对立。这个道理就像西方步入现代化受到东方文明和其他文明的影响一样，现代化始终是一个世界性过程。从这个角度来看中国近现代史，尽管需要强调自身文化的独特性，但决不可将阶级斗争国际化，非要在历史和现实中树西方、欧美为假想敌不可。
说这些话，是因为孙良的作品与众不同，是因为他走了一条独辟蹊径的创作道路。在这条道路上，他凭着天性、爱好、敏感和探索精神，任意采撷西方、东方的文化资源，任意介入城市、乡村的人文语境，从来没有西化或守成的心理障碍。但他的作品一望便知乃是中国人所为，是中国上海艺术家所为。搜遍中国当代艺术史，没有一个像他这样画、这样做、这样玩的——孙良很喜欢“玩”这个词儿。在我的理解中，“玩”就是兴趣，就是爱好，就是儿时游戏的身心投入，就是今生今世不离不弃非做不可也非做好不可的事儿。有一句话是这样说的：“主要是玩，顺便做点事，要做就把它做好。”
这句话对孙良一定很合适。
一、八十年代的探索者
上个世纪八十年代，是中国艺术走向变革的时期。先是乡土绘画，于官方现实主义集体传统中，置入反思历史的真实要求和艺术语言的个人特点。尽管突破有限，但确实激发了青年一代的创作活力。个人性表达一旦打开缺口，就像潘多拉的盒子一样难以收回。85新潮美术对新旧集体传统的否定，其核心即是强调自我表现及个性解放的重要性。青年艺术家们所借重的正是以个人自由为前提的西方现代艺术。但新潮美术的参予者与推动者，为了争夺文化权利，又往往借助群体并强调权重性，这无异于农民革命梁山聚义抢占山头。在这样一场运动式的视觉革命中，上海艺术家游离在外，进出自由，并未投身其中。他们这种与生俱来的个体性，和上海现代文化历史有关。上海人不爱抱团结伙，也不喜趋附中心，上海艺术家对北京城中央叙事的反感，就可以看出这两座城市的区别。
孙良正是这样一位上海艺术家，一位新潮美术的参予者但同时又是局外人。
他一九八二年从上海轻工业学院美术设计系毕业，即投入到现代艺术的学习、创作与探索之中。从现在留下的作品看，大致可分为四类：
一类是静物画。瓶器花卉兼有，延续学院写生训练，但可以看出孙良受到“印象派之后”的影响。画面浓重而强烈，其光感的自由分布和轮廓线的强调突出，为以后创作做了很好的准备。
二类是风景画。以建筑为主，同样是色彩凝重，肌理强劲。作品不太注重空间纵深，而是强调平面分布，多采用横平竖直的几何构图，形式感突出。部分作品受勃拉克立体主义的影响，将对象画成了交错互置的形体堆积。
三类是人物肖像。有写实的，也有表现的；有的画得很具体，有的画得很简略。孙良似乎不太喜欢画人，也没多少耐心去仔细刻画对象。这大概跟他学设计出身有关，也跟他好玩善变的天性有关。
四类是带有超现实主义倾向的作品。可以看到克利闪烁不定的色彩光感，也可以看到米罗天真浪漫的符号构成，甚至还有夏加尔想象绘画的人物形态。其中鱼类、飞鸟及猫头鹰等形象，似乎是一种预示，露出艺术家四处寻找的兴趣之所在。
这一时期是孙良探索创作方向的时期，除油画作品外，他还做过材料拼贴作品，也尝试过抽象水墨创作。一九八八年他还组织上海艺术家做过装置——行为艺术作品《最后的晚餐》，这些作品特别是绘画作品可以看出其艺术感觉的特别之处，比如对构成性、透光感和变异形态的敏锐，但这些东西并没有集结起来，形成一种创作方式和艺术语言。此时的孙良，就像作品《幽门》、《投影》、《绿房间》、《红房间》中那道介于不同空间的身影，孤独而又彷徨，游离而又犹豫。
他需要一个契机，挑战对象，也挑战自己。
二、八九时段的感受者
一九八九年政治事件对中国所有的青年艺术家，都是一个意想不到的打击。外在压力接踵而至，新潮美术戛然而止。运动的中断让那些善于思考的艺术家，开始重新清理自己的创作思路。对孙良而言，强烈的心理刺激让他夜不能寐。生机化作死亡，人形变成骷髅。他在画面上突然变得精神集中，心无旁骛。如果比较一下一九八八年的画作，就可以知道一九八九年对于孙良创作是一种突变。作为一个真诚的艺术家，他没法回避自己内心的悲恸。
大概有三年左右时间，孙良沉浸在紧张而又凄厉的情绪之中，对周围的一切他感到古怪、荒唐和迷惑。他画怪异的行走，画死亡的联姻，画诱惑的棋局，画蝇眼中的世界，画死而不僵的百足之虫。骷髅是这一时段的主要形象之一，出现在各种画面中。作为死亡的象征，孙良的描绘或者噬血恐怖，或者嬉笑狰狞，往往伴随着落地或腾空的人头，其对历史之死、时代之死的祭奠是深入心扉的。他借助中国神话传说中的精卫鸟，西方文化故事中的伊卡洛斯、奥菲丽娅和基督耶稣，来表达对死难的追悼。在中国美术界对牺牲者沉默、回避和遗忘之时，孙良以一批凝重的作品录制了自己也是所有亲历者的心路历程。
我第一次看到这些作品是在一九九二年车库艺术展上。那是真正的地下艺术展，地点是上海岳阳路某大楼的地下车库。记得展览开幕时，车库金属卷帘门缓缓升起，一排参展艺术家从脚到头出现在人们面前，气氛庄重而肃穆。在这样的展览上展出孙良的作品，自有其特殊的纪念意义。
中国知识分子历年遭受的苦难很少有全面深入的阐说，八十年代的思想解放运动只是短暂的蜜月期。出于对文化大革命的否定，上下之间的确有一个取向不同但相互重合的交点。然而知识分子对于历史纵深的反省与批判，很快就被当权者视为叛逆。一九八九年对思想联姻的中止是如此突兀而又如此酷烈，刚刚集结的人文知识分子并没有做好思想准备，潜逃、流窜、隐逸，几成崩溃之势。孙良作品中出现的《婚床》、《穿越婚戒》等关于婚姻死亡或死亡婚姻的形象，正是历史的象征。充满理想主义和浪漫情怀的八十年代就此终结，对孙良来说是痛苦、绝望和荒诞的。他只能在不断袭来的梦魇中面对画布。从这个时候开始，各种形体从画布四面介入，外部世界对于内心的压迫感，成为孙良绘画创作的构图方式。
但孙良并不畏惧，其画面总有一种从内向外的张力。他画大声吼叫的嘴，画丝丝吐出的舌头，画圆睁瞳孔的眼睛——骷髅的、人物的、动物的。其参差的线条、粗砺的笔触和厚重的色彩，都会让观者感受到愤怒与抗议的恨意。纵深的阻断和光线的稀微，让平面分布的形象不无迷惘、失落、惆怅与悲哀，其动态与关联在飘浮的空间里无所归依。
如果这批画在很多年以后再次展出，我相信还会产生出不同的意义。历史是不能忘记的。我们对于历史的追述，并非只有事实的记录，对于人的内心，也许更重要的是精神创伤的记忆。
三、都市文化的梦游者
对于一九八九年，当权者迫于外部压力，不得不采取淡化策略，同时出于经济发展的需要，继续实行对外开放政策。由于先进通讯工具在中国城乡逐渐普及，民间一直在争取自由表达的权利和方式。
经过八九时段的创作经历，孙良的心情得以缓解，他也从中找到了自己的题材范围和图式特征。一九九二年以后其画风明显改变，画面变轻变薄变虚，从现实感受中抽离，进入到梦幻情景之中。
这一画画了二十年。
二十年间中国美术界发生了巨大变化。从他者化的国际接轨到资本化的市场操作，从明星化圈子到官方化体制，孙良的同时代人有不少从当年革命者变成既得利益者，游刃于商情、官场、秀台之间。尽管孙良依旧九三年就参加了第四十五届威尼斯双年展“东方之路”中国部分，但他并不属于奥利瓦等人力推的“中国波普”。他不愿追随潮流，始终沉溺在个人梦境中不能自拔也不想自拔，以此抗拒变质乏味的世界和令人反感的历史。
孙良做着各种梦：深梦、淡梦、弱梦、幽梦、醉梦、迷梦、幻梦、寒梦、碎梦和白日梦，生活在一个精灵古怪的世界里。这里是蜘蛛和蟾蜍的天地，是游蛇和海星的巢穴。不乏翅羽、鳞甲，也不乏利爪、长喙，更有鸷禽怪兽和羽人猫女。孙良仿佛在水晶瓶中聚精会神地观察它们：这些灵物有时如烟雾般飘来，幻化出奇妙的身躯；有时又如云霞般散去，留下些美丽的背影——他在画面上捕捉自己的想象，也在绘制中构织自己的想象，在想象中与对象合二为一。
这些想象是都市化的：精致讲究的装饰感，不无享乐者消费；矫揉造作的情色味，总有夜生活隐私。一切是那样美好动人，一切又是那么虚幻迷茫。中国都市的迅速发展和都市化进程的突飞猛进，让所有人熟悉的城市一下变得陌生。孙良并没有去刻画都市，也没有去表现都市中人，但他描绘的太虚幻境，却充满了都市文化情调和都市生活意味，折射出都市心理的迷失与惆怅。这种说不清道不明的情绪，弥漫在今天中国城市的每一个角落，无论是熙熙攘攘的太平洋百货，还是各自为政的星巴克酒吧。我想孙良的画可以放进都市空间的很多地方，商场、饭店、酒肆、茶楼等等，原因是都市生活的热闹恰恰映衬出都市精神的空虚，而孙良作品中的空幻与热烈，既是一种表达，又是一种揭示。
孙良是最早描绘都市艳俗的艺术家。上海生活中所熟知的洛可可艺术与十九世纪新艺术等等，如今病态地置入暴发的城市奢华之中，伪娘假女般矫情的装饰随处可见。孙良对此深有体悟，一方面不惮将其纳入画面，取其艳而剔其俗，另一方面则借助情色对幻想的推动，造成文化之于人欲的反讽。在孙良精致、唯美、充满装饰感的画面上，我们可以感受到因混杂糅合而奇妙诱人的后现代文化氛围。孙良善于将生活与感受、文化与环境、历史与个人等关系熔为画面氛围。其关键之处，就是把装饰大胆地引入当代绘画之中。现代主义绘画曾把装饰视为洪水猛兽，然装饰之于社会之于人文，却很能折射历史的变迁。其非精英化的市井趣味及社群区别，恰恰是当代艺术可以利用的资源。孙良在此方面所发挥的创造力，在中国美术界是首屈一指的。
四、多种媒材的介入者
在中国当代艺术中，上海艺术家最重品质。不单是对创作特点的要求，也不单是对艺术语言的讲究，他们对于质材和感觉的相互关系亦有非常独到的眼光。孙良乃是个中高手与业内玩家。
他尝试过各种画材和其他材料，画底用过布面、纸本、丝绸、皮草、铝箔、赛璐璐片、肌肤（纹身）等。颜料用过油彩、丙烯、水墨、马克笔甚至是指甲油。一九九九年以后，孙良在持续作画的同时，每年都玩一种新东西，他做过雕塑、装置、影像及家俱设计。但不管玩什么、怎么玩，万变不离其宗，他始终保持着自己在画中的感觉。边界的突破与样式的拓展，无非是让自己在更大空间挥洒才情、挖掘潜能并以此保持创作活力。孙良的自信在于，既能放任天性又敢面对挑战。他经常自我设局，以此考验自我也反省自我。就这点而言，他比那些看别人眼色而行、视市场反应而动的艺术家，更本色更本位也更本质。可惜在中国美术界，孙良这样的艺术家太少，而机会主义者又太多太多。
孙良曾做过皮上油画展，题为《失落的天空》。他将作品画在皮革上，不只是画底材料的转变。皮革来自动物，其形其质存有动物性状，是很有身体感觉的材料。孙良笔下那些飞禽走兽出现其上，不仅有物与形的连接，更有离与合的对比。皮革的贵重与画面的精致相互衬托，更增添了都市美学意味。皮革不规则的异形，可以助推画面幻想，亦为作品的装饰与布置带来了新的可能性。同样的效果，也体现在孙良的丝绸作品中。轻质材料的飘逸与灵动，和梦幻般的画面形象天然吻合。薄纱透亮的质地，配以鲜艳富丽的色彩，更能映衬出画面的朦胧光感。孙良往往借此充分利用展览现场，营造具体可感的空间氛围。而且长期以来，孙良一直钟情水墨书画。从早期的抽象水墨到近年的没骨花鸟，孙良喜欢毛笔在宣纸上轻盈流动、自然浸润的感觉。他乐于把春去秋来、花开叶落的体会画成一幅幅小品，配上些颇有感触的书写。画面新鲜而随意，很轻松，也很淡定，由此保持着自己身居边缘、自得其乐的心性。
在孙良的材料作品中，最值得提及的是他的玻璃作品。玻璃质材的晶莹剔透、精致玲珑，十分合乎他那些充满幻觉感的形象与形式追求。而玻璃坚硬与易碎并存的特性，更易沟通孙良对当代都市文化心理的揭示与反讽。他对色彩的把握雅致而又微妙，加上玻璃特别是水晶玻璃的透光与折射，有更加纯粹而又饱满、更加鲜明而又丰厚的效果。而对玻璃作品的造型，孙良既有设计功底，又有绘画积累，无论是器皿型制，还是形象塑造，他都能随机生发，得心应手。大到玻璃椅子装置，小到酒杯瓶器，孙良把波西米亚——一种自由流浪和自我放逐的灵魂，灌注到作品之中。质材的冰冷与色彩的热烈，器具的内敛与形象的外肆，在让人在对比的张力中，仿佛听见海妖的歌声和女巫的咒语。难怪孙良要去波西米亚的故乡捷克做玻璃作品，难怪孙良那么酷爱制作曾盛满鲜血的圣杯——他不能放弃自由向往的艺术精神，也不能忘记自由所经历的血腥与残酷。
在孙良把都市的欲望与情色、精神的梦幻与迷惘、艺术的奇特与异样，通通熔为一炉的时候，我们看到的其实是一位质朴的艺术家：他很单纯，只因热爱艺术而从事艺术；他很执着，不能忘记被人遮蔽的历史；他很认真，对作品制作精益求精；他很浪漫，为争取个人自由而拒绝潮流。他就是这样一个艺术家、这样一个人——如果要写艺术史，孙良肯定不在既成套路里。或者是艺术史迁就他，或者是他改变艺术史。
2012年3月9日
BY Wang Lin
As long as Kafka is there / with a sleepwalking woman / you will overcome the world / even if it rains / even if rain covers the all the pains and glories in history - This is the poem I wrote in Prague, Czech Republic. I was amazed by the glass works Sun Liang made in the Czech Republic, his precision and unique command on the essence of artistic practice, as well as his graceful integration of the otherness into his own. In other words, his characteristics make the art of Sun Liang, and his uniqueness is rare among Chinese artists.
Sun Liang is a Shanghai artist. Since his college years, he’s been living in Shanghai over three decades.
Shanghai is very unique among Chinese cities, its citizens have never expressed despise toward the colonial era. In the Chinese text books, the colonizers have always been portrayed as the enemies, savage invaders rather than messengers of civilizations. Shanghai’s becoming of the China’s largest modernized city, and its diverse modern cultures are related to itsfounding colonization, in other words, even as the outcome of colonialism. In fact, the modernization process of Chinese society has always been pegged to the mutual existence of Western civilization with the other, but the invasions of the others or the dichotomy we resist. The principle is the same, as western civilization stepping into modernization was equally influenced by the oriental and other civilizations, as modernization has always been a global process. In this perspective, as much as modern Chinese history needs to emphasize its cultural identity, we shouldn’t address class struggle on an international level, or to imagine the West, Euro-America as the enemy in the historical and real context.
Having said that, Sun Liang’s artworks are unique, because he took on a new creative path. On this path, he willfully gathers cultural resources from the East and the West, engaging in the humanistic discourse of urban environment and the countryside, without any westernized or clichés inspired by his character, hobbies, sensibilities and exploring spirit. At the first glance of his artwork, one would determine that this artist is Chinese, from Shanghai. If one were to look into contemporary Chinese art, no one paints, makes or plays like him – Sun Liang likes the word Play. In my understanding, playing suggests interest, hobbies, and being fully engaged as children play, something that is indispensible in his life. One phrase sums it up, It is primarily about playing, some things are done in passing, while you are doing it, give your best.
This phrase best describes Sun Liang.
I. An Explorer of the 1980s
In the 1980s, Chinese art underwent a period of transitions. First, there was the emergence of countryside paintings, as a part of the official realist collective tradition, inseminating the urgency to reflect on the history and individual artistic language. Although its breakthrough was limited, it truly stimulated the creative impulse of the young generation. Once the individual expression opened up, like a Pandora box, it’d be difficult to shut down again. The rejection made by the 85’ New Waves Movement to the collective tradition, its core both emphasized self-expression and the importance of self-emancipation. The young artists count on western art in the premise of Western modern art. While the participants and promoters of the New Waves Art Movement often emphasized on the power of the collective in order to occupy cultural power, which was not much different from the occupation of hills in the labor revolutions. In this movement of visual revolution, the Shanghai artists wondered on the peripheries, wondered about and did not engage. Their inherent individualities were influenced to the history of modern Shanghainese culture. The Shanghainese neither enjoys to form into cliques, nor do they like to ingratiate to the center, the artists loathe the narrative of Beijing-centrism, where the difference of these two cities are made obvious.
Sun Liang is a Shanghai artist of such type, a participant of the New Waves Art Movement, while remaining as an outsider.
He graduated from the Shanghai Light Industry Institute, Art and Design Department in 1982, where he endeavored in the study, creative practice and exploration of modern art. With the works he has left behind, they can be generally divided into four genres.
The first is still objects. Vases and flowers, as a continuation of drawing from his studies at the institute, while it is also apparent that Sun Liang was influence by the Post-impressionism. His images are intense and fierce, the sense of light is liberally distributed as he emphasized on the contours, in preparation for his later works.
The second is landscape paintings. Primarily of architectures, the artist uses rich colors and apparent textures in his works. The works did not focus on spatial depth in the image, but compositional distribution, mostly using straightforward geometric forms, highlighting forms. Some of the works were influenced by black cubism, painting the object into overlapping forms.
The third genre is portraits. There are the realistic and the expressive, some pare painted figuratively, and some with simple lines. It is as if Sun Liang does not enjoy painting figures, who does not seem to have to patience to depict his object. It might be related to his background in design, as well as his playful and ever-changing nature
The fourth genre is his surrealist works. His flickering sense of color, Miro’s romantic constructs of symbols, and Chagall’s imagination of figures are apparent in Sun Liang’s paintings. Among them, fish, birds and owls are the types of premonitions, revealing the artist’s interests in exploring.
This is a period when Sun Liang explored his creative directions. Other than his oil paintings, he has also made works of collage and experimented with abstract ink painting. In 1988, he has initiated some Shanghai artists to make installations – performance The Last Supper. These works, especially his works on canvas convey the uniqueness of his artistic sensibilities. For instance, his composition, translucent and sharp transformations, however, these aspects are not integrated into a creative mode and artistic language. At that time Sun Liang wondered through various spaces, lonely and hesitant, aloof and indecisive, as seen in his work such as,Wonderous Door, Projection, The Green Room,
The Red Room.
He needed an opportunity, a challenging objective while challenging himself.
II. An Observer of the 89’ Movement
The 1989 political incident has had unimaginable impact on all young artists in China. External pressure was felt immediately, The New Waves Movement in artistic practices came to a sudden halt. The intermission of the movement allowed those thoughtful artists to re-examine their creative impulses. For Sun Liang, the intense psychological impact gave him insomnia. Vital forces transformed into death, the figures became skeletons. His images suddenly became focused and articulated. If we were to compare his paintings from 1988, we would realize that 1989 marked a breakpoint in Sun Liang’s artistic practice. As a genuine artist, he could not avoid the sorrow in his heart.
For about three years, Sun Liang was immersed in stressful and desperate mood, he felt bewildered, absurd and confused with everything around him. His paintings became more bizarre, there were marriage of death, compelling chess games, the world in the eye of a fly, the dead yet moving centipede. The skeleton was a primary icon of this period, seen in many paintings. As a symbol of death, Sun Liang’s paintings depict either the blood of terror, or ferocious laugh, often with the fallen or falling skull, whose commemoration of the death of an era and of history is deeply ingrained. He appropriated the jingweibird found in Chinese legends, the Icarus, Ophelia, and Jesus Christ in Western cultural stories to express his mourning of death and disasters. While the Chinese art world was silent, evasive and forgotten those who were compromised, Sun Liang documented his psychological journey and others who shared his experience, with a number of grim artworks.
I first saw these works in the Garage exhibition in 1992. That was a true underground art exhibition, located in the underground parking of a building on Yueyang road in Shanghai. I remember at the opening of the exhibition, the metallic rolling gate of the garage slowly lifted, a line of participating artists unveiled to the audience from their feet to their heads, the atmosphere was solemn and respectful. To have exhibited Sun Liang’s works in this exhibition, it has its unique commemorative meaning.
The hardships Chinese intellectuals have endured were rarely iterated comprehensively or in depth, the intellectual emancipation of the 1980s was only a short-lived honeymoon. The rejection of the Cultural Revolution is marked by a point of contact between the top and bottom regardless of their interests. Yet, the intellectuals’ reflection and criticism on historical depth were quickly considered as rebellion against those in power. The halt of intellectual engagement in 1989 came suddenly and vehemently, those intellectuals who have just gathered have yet prepared themselves mentally, absconding, fleeing, isolation, and mostly collapsed. The Bed of Marriage, Through the Wedding Ring and other works concerning the death of marriage or the dead marriage are symbolic of history. The 1980s that was full of ideology and romance concluded, for Sun Liang, it was painful, desperate and absurd. He could only confront the canvas as he lived through incessant insomnia. From this time onwards, various figures invaded his canvas, the imposition of the external world on his mind became a mode of composition in Sun Liang’s paintings.
Yet, Sun Liang was not fearful, his imageries always presented an outward tension. He painted the screaming mouth, the sticking of the tongue, the dilated pupil － in skulls, figures and animals. His mix of lines, thick brushworks and dense colors allow the viewer to sense of anguish and contentious hatred. The compartments in depth and sparse lighting, the figures dispersed on his images are perplexed, at loss, melancholic and sad, the dynamics and relationships flow in space independently.
If these paintings would be shown years later, I believe they would generate different meanings. History cannot be forgotten. Our reiteration of history does not necessarily consist of factual documentations, for the psychology of the mind, perhaps the memories of spiritual wound is more important.
III. Sleepwalker of Urban Culture
For 1989, due to external pressure, those in power had no choice but to weaken their strategy, at the same time, with the demand of economic development, the government continued its open policy to the West. Advanced communication was becoming popularized in the cities and the countryside. The populous has been striving for the rights and modes of free expression.
Having experienced the creative phase of the 1989, Sun Liang released his sentiments, in which he has also found a parameter of subjects and iconic characteristics. After 1992, his painting style changed drastically, his imageries became light, thin and illusive, extracted from real senses, and entering into dreamlike scenarios.
This type of paintings continued for two decades.
The Chinese art world underwent drastic changes in the last two decades. From stepping onto the international arena as the other to the capitalist market operations, from art stars to official systems, Sun Liang’s contemporaries transformed from the revolutionaries of yesteryear to the successful artists, who swim in business, official functions and fashion shows. Although Sun Liang has participated in the exhibition Road to the East of the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993, while he was not one of the Chinese Pop artists that Olivo Bonito promoted. He did not want to follow any trend, immersing himself in his dreamscapes unwilling to exit, by which to resist changing and boring world and the distasteful history.
Sun Liang had all sorts of dreams, they were deep, light, soft, wonders, drunken, lost, illusive, frigid, shattered and day dreams, living in a wicked world. It is a world of spiders and toads, the caves of swimming snakes and starfish, where there is no shortage of fins and feathers, scale and shell, sharp paws, long beaks, preys and monsters, as well as feather man and cat woman. Sun Liang observed them as if they happened in a glass bottle: where these spirituals were afloat as smokes, transforming into mysterious bodies; sometimes they dispersed as clouds, leaving their beautiful shadows behind – he captured his imaginations on his images, while painting his imaginations by which to become one with his imagination.
All of these imaginations are urban: sophisticated decorative characteristics, suitable for the hedonist consumption; artificial seductions suggest privacy in the night lives. They are wonderful and appealing, while they are illusive and at loss. The rapid development of Chinese urban areas as well as the surging course of urbanization has made all familiar cities bewildering. Sun Liang did not depict the cities perse, or to represent the urban dwellers, while his illusive realms are filled with urban cultural atmosphere and flavors of life, projecting the sense of loss and wander in urban psyche. Such unspeakable mood enshrouds every corner in cities throughout China, whether it is the crowded Pacific Plaza, or the freelancer populated Starbucks Coffee. I think Sun Liang’s paintings can be place in various spaces in the city, malls, hotels, bars, teahouses and etc., as the hustling urban life contrasts with its spiritual void, while in Sun Liang’s works, the void and passion is both an expression and a revelation.
Sun Liang was the first artist to depict the urban kitsch. The Rococo art and new art of the 19th century familiar to Shanghai life, are not mal used into erupting urban luxury, bastardizeddecoration is ubiquitous. Sun Liang is deeply affected by it, on the one hand he adopts this aspect into his paintings extracting the audacious and discard the kitsch, on the other hand using imagination on eroticism to satirize people desires beyond culture. On Sun Liang’s sophisticated, aesthetically pleasing and decorative images, we experience a diverse and appealing post-modern cultural atmosphere. Sun Liang is keen on integrating life with emotions, culture and context, history and individual relationships into his imageries. The key is to incorporate the decorative to the contemporary painting. Modern art has once categorized the decorative as the monster, while the decorative comes from society that comes from humanism, may project the historical transformations. It is not the differentiation between the elitist urban taste or the populus, but resources that contemporary art may adapt. The creativity Sun Liang has exemplified in this regard is the most outstanding in the Chinese art world.
IV. Interventionist of Various Media
In Chinese contemporary art, the Shanghai artists pride on quality. It is not only an exigence on creativity, but also on artistic language, their perspective on the relationship between material and sensibility is unique. Sun Liang is most certainly a pro and a professional player.
He experimented with various painting materials and other materials, on canvas, paper, silk, fur, copper plate, celluloid, skin (tattoo) and etc. His painting materials varied from oil paint, acrylic, ink, marker and even nail polish. After 1999, while Sun Liang continues to paint, he experimented with a new medium every year. He’s made sculptures, installations, video and furniture design. No matter what and how he played, he hasn’t parted from his central practice. He has maintained his command in his paintings. The breakthrough and expansion of his boundaries undoubtedly allowed him to express his emotions, explore his potentials while maintaining creative vitality in a greater parameter. Sun Liang’s confidence is shown in his release of innate nature and confronting challenges. He sets obstacles for himself to text his ability of introspection. To which, compare to those artists who tailors to others needs and observes the art market, Sun is more genuine, poised and true. Unfortunately, in the Chinese art world, artists like Sun Liang are few, where opportunists are bountiful.
Sun Liang has had an exhibition of oil painting on skin, entitled, The Lost Sky. His painting on leather did not only replace the material on which the works were painted. Leather comes from animals, both its form and quality implies animal nature, providing a sense of the body in the material. All of the birds and monsters under Sun Liang’s brush are not only integrated into reality, but also contrasting in gathering and departure. The value of the leather and the sophistication of the image compliment each other, while contributes to urban aesthetics. The irregular shape of the leather encourages for imagination on the image, bringing new possibilities for the decorative and installation of the artwork. Equally, this effect is also found in Sun Liang’s works on silk. The natural marriage between the lightness and the movement of the material came into a dreamlike image. The translucent property of the silk coupled with rich colors, best projects the obscure light of the image. Sun Liang often fully incorporates the exhibition scene, to render a particular spatial experience. Over time, Sun Liang has always been infatuated with ink painting. From his earlier period of abstract ink painting to the deformed birds and flowers in recent years, Sun Liang enjoys fluidity and natural dispersion of ink on paper. He enjoys painting vignettes of the changing seasons, blossoms and fallen leaves, with sentimental words. His images are refreshing and willful, light yet poised, by which to maintain his position of self-fulfillment and enjoyment.
Among Sun Liang’s artworks, his glass works are the most worth mentioning. The transparency and exquisiteness of glass is the most suitable to his pursuit of imagination on of figures and forms. While its qualities of rigidity and the fragility best translates Sun Liang’s revelation and irony on contemporary urban culture. His command on color is refined and delicate, paired with glass or, particularly, crystal’s reflections, enriches and refreshes the artwork. In the composition of the artworks, Sun Liang’s skills in design and his experience with painting, whether making works on containers, or figurative compositions, he can be willful and at ease with his practice. As large as glass chair installation, as small as wine glasses, Sun Liang has infused the Bohemian – the spirit of the free wanderer and self-exile into his artworks. The frigidity of the material and the vibrancy of the colors, the inclusivity of the containers and the outwardness of the figures, allow one to hear the singing of the sea monsters and the curse of the witch through their contrasting tension. No wonder Sun Liang travels to the Czech Republic, homeland of the Bohemians, no wonder he loves the sacred cup that was once filled with blood – he cannot give up the freedom in his artistic spirit, neither could he forget the bloodshed and cruelty in attaining freedom.
When Sun Liang has integrated the desires and seduction of the city, the dreams and loss of the spirit, the uniqueness and wonders of art together, we are able to recognize a humble artist, he is nave, who makes art because of his passion; he is hardworking, who strives for perfection in his artworks; he is romantic, who refuse to be trendy in order to maintain individual freedom. This is the kind of artist and person he is – if one were to write the history of art, Sun Liang is definitely not part of the mainstream: or the history of art compromises with him, or he has changed the course of art history.
March 9th, 2012
—End—
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