寓言式的后遗症

沪申画廊 2009.07.31 – 08.30

纵观历史，寓言总是艺术家们通过讲故事的方式让观众进入他们的作品。宗教寓言、传统神话、童话，白日梦等都在艺术品中被描述，可以被那些未受过教育的大众 也了解。这些艺术品时常用隐喻和符号揭露更深层次的有关时代的社会、心理和精神层面上的真理。传统的寓言又一次被不同时期的艺术家赋予了新的时间的意义， 每一刻都生产出了新的意义以反映当下的环境。艺术家们发明并且刻画出他们自己想像出来的故事，来描述内在的痛苦以及他们周遭的世界。 在过 去的一个世纪里， 寓言融合了不同文化和时代，反映了普遍的关注和不断均质化的世界。全球化使得艺术家以新的令人惊奇的方式重新诠释传统的寓言。在本次展览中，艺术家呈现了 寓言式的后遗症，是传统和个人的寓言留给21世纪的。其中很多作品使用了古老的故事来描绘新的现象或面对信息时代传统自身的逐渐苍白，而另一些则提醒我 们，就如一些事在改变那样，另一些事又是如何在保持原样的。 吴俊勇在艺术界第一次给人留下印象的是他的离奇的动画，描绘了反乌托邦的社会规训。这里，艺术家通过绘画展示了他想像 的角色的素材和超现实的故事。这些丰富的象征画面诉说了一个被意识形态和欲望控制了的世界。一个穿着很好的人脖子上喷射出的却是动物；一群戴着批斗的帽子 的人围绕着一头死鹿；一个穿着裙子的妇女底下露出几条断了的腿；另一幅作品参考了基里柯的名作《梅杜萨之筏》。这些谜一般的图像是艺术家的宏大叙事的元 素，其永不停歇的故事，留下了被政治焦虑的压倒性的感觉而麻木了的我们。 — 马修•伯利塞维兹

Allegorical Aftermath

shanghai gallery of art 2009.07.31 – 08.30

Throughout history allegories were ways for artists to draw the audience into their work through storytelling. Religious fables, traditional myths, fairy tales and fantasies were depicted in artworks to inform and educate the often-illiterate masses. These artworks frequently employed metaphors and symbols that revealed deeper social, psychological and spiritual truths of the times. Traditional allegories have been rendered time and again by different artists of different periods, with each instance yielding new meanings that reflected the present environment. Artists have also invented and illustrated their own imaginary tales to describe internal anguish or the world around them. Over the last century allegories have melded across cultures and times to reflect universal concerns and a continually homogenizing world. Globalization has given artists license to reinterpret traditional allegories in new and surprising ways. In this exhibition artists present the metaphorical aftermath that traditional and personal allegories have left for 21st century man. Many of the works use ancient stories to describe new phenomena, or the waning potency of tradition in the face of an incessant information age, while others remind us how, as some things change, others remain the same. Wu Junyong made his first impressions on the art world through his quirky animations, which depicted dystopian social rituals. Here the artist presents the fodder for his imaginary characters and surreal stories through paintings and drawings. These rich symbolic images tell of a world controlled by the powers of ideology and desire. Animals spew out of the neck of a well dressed figure, a group wearing dunce caps ponder a dead deer, a woman wearing a dress reveals not one but several pairs of broken legs, another painting references Gericault’s The Raft of Medusa. These enigmatic illustrations are elements in the artist’s grand narrative whose never ending story leaves us stupefied by an overwhelming sense of psycho-political angst. — Mathieu Borysevicz