Imagination is also Part of Reality

Ni Jun, Qi Xing and Fan Jiupeng, all starting with painting, seem to be heading for different directions, but all respond to the most profound aspect of reality. “Yuyuantan” is directed at the accumulated history, as well as our present reality, so as an exhibition, it is one of the future possibilities that are worth our sustained efforts to observe, rather than a summary of paintings in contemporary China.

What binds the three artists is a distinct sense of reality in their paintings. What I mean by “sense of reality” refers neither to a realistic style or a technique nor subject or content pertaining to up-to-date issues, but to a kind of attitude toward the world that is based on deep awareness of their own reality. The point here is that their perspectives and positions are all based on their judgment as individuals rather than the so-called mainstream, therefore with no bearing on the East or the West, the sublime or the vulgar, the high or the low, or the objective. Subjectively it examines various aspects of reality in view and penetrates their essence in an aesthetic way. In other words, when ideas arise, things become identical.

Staying clear of the worship and admiration, along with the contempt for consumerism, which, as theme, is common in politically oriented art, Ni Jun, in a way that has nothing to do with reverence or despise, is concerned with those political figures who seem to be both close and remote in our daily life, giving direct and plain expression to the ambiguity between man and the world. Qi Xing’s paintings are distinctive for the sense of fragment, as if taken from a ready plot or story, becoming therefore a profile cut randomly from the continuity of time. He tries to reduce some redundant narrative qualities and turn them into a kind of symbol or metaphor, like the implications or symptoms that are ever-present in the real life. Fan Jiupeng, with the heavily applied paint, transforms the originally two-dimensional surface into overlaid miniature three-dimensional texture, which, differing from a relief in terms of the formal function, gives a new dimension to the pictorial quality of thin surface, blurring the boundary of painting, as well as challenging the definition of traditional oil painting.

The three artists, all based in Beijing now, express by virtue of painting by choice, not only taking an active part in getting their voice heard about the age but also devoting themselves to forming unique styles of their own.

玉淵潭：想像亦為現實之物 Imagination is also Part of Reality
孫曉彤 Hsiaotung Sun

倪军、齐星和范久鹏的共同特徵在於繪畫中皆有鮮明的現實感——我所謂的「現實感」，指的並非寫實的風格或技巧，也不是題材內容上的貼近時事，而是一種對於自身現實有了深刻體認後的處世態度，他們的觀測視點與所在位置皆出自於創作者個人的判斷——起心動念。

對我而言，這三位藝術家作品所觸及之關於中國當代繪畫的本土性與時代性的探索，是促成展覽《玉淵潭》的核心所在。繞開了過去政治主題繪畫中仰視尊崇與俯視消費的切入視角，倪军以「平視」的方式觀看那些距離日常似乎靠近卻又遙不可及的政治人物，而看似只是靜物即景的小型繪畫，乘載的卻又是他生命經驗中情深意重的記憶。齐星的繪畫具有明顯的片段感，他無意在偌大的畫幅中刻畫過多細節或線索，使其成為某種象徵或隱喻。范久鹏以厚塗的顏料層，將原本是二維的繪畫表面，疊加覆蓋成微型的三維質地，在模糊畫面邊界的同時，挑戰過去對於傳統油畫的定義；而從內容上來說，畫面中的日常之物，在被抹去原本的個性後以肌理粗礪的顏料重新演繹，成為重塑記憶或可供再次閱讀的圖像。

倪军、齐星和范久鹏三位藝術家，以繪畫為出發點，看似各自徒步邁向迥異的道路，卻同樣響應了再深刻不過的關於繪畫本身的真實樣貌。展覽《玉淵潭》是一個具有持續觀察價值的未來可能。