明日下午2点，艺术家林文的最新个展「捆仙绳 Rope Binding Immortals」将在BFM艺术中心正式开幕。此次展览汇聚了林文老师近年来的精品力作，将为观众带来一场视觉与心灵的双重震撼。
「捆仙绳」这一展览主题灵感源自中国古代的神话故事，象征着神秘而强大的力量。在林文老师的作品中，这一富有想象力的神话符号被赋予了全新的内涵，它不仅暗合了艺术家以往作品中反复出现的「困境」主题，更透过这一古老的神话元素，深刻揭示了当代人精神深处的虚妄暗面。
林文老师表示，他希望通过这次展览，引导观众穿透图像的躯壳，深入绘画的内部，去捕捉那些闪烁的灵光。这是一个既富有挑战性又充满探索乐趣的过程，也是艺术创作的魅力所在。每一幅画作都蕴含着深刻的思想内涵和艺术价值。同时，展览还将通过专业的解读和导览，帮助观众更好地理解作品背后的故事和寓意。
图像背后的时代困境与不安
The Dilemma and Unease of the Times Behind the Images
——林文新作观感
文\李国华
无论是最早的「寒床」系列，还是木板、旧物、门框和皮毛等新材料的使用，再到最近又完全回归布面绘画的「复身」、「捆仙绳」系列，在时代不断改变下，个体遭遇的冲击以及因此引发的精神困境始终是艺术家林文绘画创作中最重要的母题。只是在近期的创作之中，艺术家逐步将关心的主体，从自我转向了大众与群体。这让艺术家的作品拥有了更多的公共性与社会意识，也让他的创作走出了青春的情绪，走向了一个全新的艺术阶段。
<踪迹 1> Trace 1
32X42CM*2|2019
旧地毯上绘画
Painting On Old Carpets
作为一位1989年初出生的青年人，林文成长于互联网和全球化意识的不断加强时期的中国。虚拟世界、数字技术、人工智能，是这个时代年轻人不断遭遇的话题，也是他们观察社会和探究世界真相的重要通道。从一开始，林文就不断从互联网信息中寻找到自己感兴趣的内容：公园里花式锻炼的老年人、使尽浑身解数的搞怪UP主、众多围观事件发生的现场……这些貌似日常而又普通的场景，成为了艺术家笔下描绘的重要对象。因为在艺术家看来，这些被他寻找到的对象，都被笼罩在了一种莫名的情绪之中——因为这些源于真实的社会场景，背后却透露出种种荒诞和魔幻感。特别是这些人群中的个体，在貌似满足、亢奋的表情下，却有孤独与不适感不断传递而出。因为看似自由而散漫的他们，却似乎总是被一种力量所控制，无法抗拒、无法超脱！这种感受源于当下众多普通人特别是年轻人的生活感受。他们一方面充满朝气与活力，但另一方面又无时不刻地遭遇经济困局、舆论控制与精神压抑。虽然他们其中的一批人，可以选择「躺平」的方式进行对抗，但大部分人无法逃避，只能在这样的「修昔底德陷阱」中不断挣扎，并因此造成了种种现代精神病灶的诞生。
<自画像>Self-Portrait
82X128CM|2022
仿制皮草上 综合材料绘画尼龙绳
Comprehensive Mateirals On Fur
而面对科技的发展，特别是人工智能的快速发展，对人类精神主体的侵占与剥夺，以及因此引发的担忧，也在林文近期的绘画中得到了体现。我们会发现，一些科幻剧里具有强烈未来异世感的场景出现在了艺术家的画面之中。在这些画面里，人的面部开始模糊，并总是呈现出一种呆滞的神情，人类的面部也时常也会被一些莫名的器械或者身体的其他器官所取代。同时，四肢与形体动作也开始显得怪异与僵化，人似乎早已被科技控制或者被其异化。正如手机正在成为我们不可或缺「身体器官」，也如无处不在的监控以及算法给观众不断投喂喜好的图像与视频信息（无论真假），人类的生活已经被这些科技手段切割得千疮百孔，精神世界自然也无法逃避，由此人类的自主性不断丢失，并逐步丧失了对现状和未来的判断力。艺术家对此表现出了强烈的隐忧与不安！
<复身 7>Duplicate 7
60X150CM|2023
布面油画Oil On Canvas
当然，在林文的这批新作中，我们也能够感受到艺术家在绘画本体语言中的一些重要转变。首先，他放弃了一部分肉身的感知，转而寻求观念的力量——我们可以发现，新作中的众多场景，往往是艺术家刻意与精心编织而成，而并非完全出于感性的冲动或者生理性的情绪体验；写实的绘画手法也进行了调整，更多象征主义被运用于画面，整体风格也呈现出了某种抽象化的倾向。正如在「捆仙绳」系列中，我们看到了各种形体状态的人和绳索的结合，它们的形象不再具像化，而是在不断虚化和暧昧空间中，逐渐融为了一体。人似乎被绳索所困，无法脱离，也因此人的真实肉身与精神都处在了存在与非存在的状态之中，人的意识似乎虽然尚在，但肉身已经无法动弹。正如艺术家使用古代神话中可以困住神仙的「捆仙绳」，来暗喻被困住的人类。而这既源于艺术家年龄增长和社会阅历丰富后带来的改变，他逐步走出了青春的迷茫，人生有了具体而现实的目标；又与艺术家长期关注，但又一直无法得到答案的问题有关：人究竟如何才能走出自我与社会共同造就的精神困境！
<捆仙绳 3>
Rope Binding Immortals 3
200X100CM|2024
布面油画Oil On Canvas
对绘画材料以及绘画语言创新的浓厚兴趣也促成了艺术家新作的形成。面对当下这个图像泛滥的时代，绘画正在进入一个尴尬的状态，一方面它要面对其他艺术形式的冲击，另一方面绘画内部图像创造力的枯竭，也成为了现实，不断出现的绘画抄袭事件就是例证。因此，如何在画面中创造一种全新的陌生感，这种陌生感既要有别于自己的过去，又要有别于现实，有别于其他画家，从而找到一条全新的当代绘画之路，是林文一直努力突破的课题。也正因为有这样的追求，他不断在题材和绘画语言上的进行创新，并坚持运用绘画去回应时代造就的深层次的精神困境。虽然，这样的行动，在当下这个复杂时代，并不一定能够带来改变！但我们可以相信的是，与那些只是带来简单视觉愉悦的艺术相比，林文绘画中的不安与改变，才是当下与未来我们所要面对的真实！因为我们相信，不管艺术在社会中被安排或者扮演何种角色，真正的艺术应当为人类提供理想的愿景和对现实的反思。与介入错综复杂的现实利益相比，艺术真正关切的东西应当更多是自身创造性、启示性与批判性，这些隐藏在表象和现实之后的元素才是艺术最为重要的东西！
<捆仙绳 6>
Rope Binding Immortals 6
150X100CM|2024
布面油画Oil On Canvas
Whether it is the earliest "Cold Bed" series, the use of new materials such as wooden boards, old objects, door frames and skins, or the recent return to canvas paintings, "Reincarnation" and "Binding Rope" series, Lin Wen's paintings have always been the most important themes in his works, as the times keep changing. Under the ever-changing times, the impact on the individual and the resulting spiritual dilemma have always been the most important themes in Lin Wen's paintings. It is only in his recent creations that the artist has gradually shifted his concern from the self to the public and the community. This makes the artist's works more public and socially conscious, and allows his creations to get out of the youthful mood and move towards a brand new artistic stage.
As a young man born in early 1989, Lin Wen grew up in China during a period of increasing awareness of the Internet and globalization. The virtual world, digital technology, and artificial intelligence are topics that young people in this era are constantly encountering, and they are also an important channel for them to observe society and explore the truth of the world. From the very beginning, Lin Wen has been searching for what he is interested in from the information on the Internet: elderly people exercising in parks, weird UP masters doing their best, and many onlookers watching the events on the scene ...... These seemingly daily and ordinary scenes have become important objects depicted by the artist. Because in the artist's view, these objects he searched for are shrouded in a kind of inexplicable emotion - because these social scenes originated from the real, but behind the scenes reveal all kinds of absurdity and a sense of magic. Especially the individuals in these crowds, under the seemingly contented and exuberant expressions, there is a sense of loneliness and discomfort constantly passing out. Because they seem to be free and loose, but they always seem to be controlled by a force that they cannot resist or transcend! This feeling stems from the life feelings of many ordinary people, especially young people, at the moment. On the one hand, they are full of vigor and vitality, but on the other hand, they are always encountering economic hardship, public opinion control and spiritual depression. Although a group of them can choose to "lie flat" to fight against it, most of them can't escape from it, and can only struggle in such "Thucydides' trap", which has resulted in the birth of all kinds of modern mental foci.
And the encroachment and deprivation of human spiritual subjects in the face of technological development, especially the rapid development of artificial intelligence, and the concerns arising therefrom, are also reflected in Lin Wen's recent paintings. We will find that some scenes from sci-fi dramas with a strong sense of futuristic otherworldliness appear in the artist's images. In these images, human faces are blurred and always show a dull look, and human faces are often replaced by some inexplicable instruments or other organs of the body. At the same time, the limbs and body movements also begin to look strange and rigid, people seem to have been controlled by technology or alienated by it. Just as cell phones are becoming an indispensable "body organ", and as ubiquitous surveillance and algorithms feed viewers preferred images and video information (whether real or fake), human life has been cut to pieces by these technological means, and naturally, the spiritual world is inescapable, resulting in the loss of autonomy and the gradual loss of awareness of the present and the future. As a result, human beings are losing their autonomy and gradually losing their ability to judge the present and the future. The artist expresses a strong sense of worry and uneasiness about this!
Of course, we can also sense some important changes in the artist's ontological language in these new works. First of all, he gives up part of his physical perception and seeks the power of conception instead - we can find that many scenes in his new works are often deliberately and carefully woven by the artist, not entirely out of sensual impulses or physiological emotional experiences; the realistic painting technique has also been adjusted, with more symbolism applied to the paintings, and the overall style is also presented in a more realistic way. The realistic painting techniques have also been adjusted and more symbolism has been applied to the paintings, and the overall style shows a certain tendency of abstraction. As in the "Rope to Bind the Immortal" series, we can see the combination of various forms of people and ropes, their images are no longer figurative, but are gradually merged into one in the ambiguous space of continuous vaporization and ambiguity. The human being seems to be trapped by the rope, unable to get out of it, and therefore the real body and spirit of the human being are in the state of existence and non-existence, and the human being's consciousness seems to be still there, but the body is no longer able to move. Just as the artist uses the ancient mythological "Immortal Binding Rope", which can trap the immortals, as a metaphor for the trapped human beings. This is not only due to the changes brought about by the artist's age and rich social experience, as he has gradually come out of his youthful confusion, and has a concrete and realistic goal in life; it is also related to the question that the artist has long been concerned about but has not been able to get an answer to: how can human beings get out of the spiritual dilemma created by the ego and the society together!
The keen interest in painting materials and the innovation of painting language also contributes to the formation of the artist's new works. In the face of the present era of image flooding, painting is entering an awkward state, on the one hand it has to face the impact of other art forms, on the other hand the depletion of image creativity within painting has become a reality, as exemplified by the constant emergence of plagiarism in painting. Therefore, how to create a brand-new sense of strangeness in the picture, which is different from one's own past, as well as from reality and other painters, so as to find a brand-new path of contemporary painting, is the subject that Lin Wen has been striving to break through. Precisely because of this pursuit, he continues to innovate in subject matter and painting language, and insists on utilizing painting to respond to the deep spiritual dilemmas created by the times. Although such actions may not necessarily bring changes in this complex era! But what we can believe is that, compared to art that only brings simple visual pleasure, the restlessness and change in Lin Wen's paintings are the realities that we have to face now and in the future! Because we believe that no matter what role art is assigned or plays in society, true art should provide mankind with ideal visions and reflections on reality. Instead of intervening in the intricate interests of reality, the real concerns of art should be more about its own creativity, revelation and criticality, and these elements hidden behind appearances and reality are the most important things in art!
——Li Guohua
