Curator to go  x Xue Ruozhe

August, 2020

池内 | In the Pool

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◯ 复数背影 | Plural Backs ◯

Xue Ruozhe has a perspective and theme that has been explored for six years — the Back. Later it was developed into double figures, the Plural series.

When an individual appears in the picture, we wonder what he/she is doing, what is happening, what he/she is thinking… There is no doubt that when someone’s back is turned to you, even just look at it for five seconds, the image is mesmerizing and captivating.

As soon as two people appear in the frame, the physical environment immediately fades and a psychological atmosphere takes its place in space. What’s happening to them?

 

薛若哲有个延续了六年的视角和主题——“背影”。后来发展成了双人背影，“复数系列”。

当个体出现在画面中时，我们会好奇他/她在做什么、发生了什么事、在想什么……毫无疑问，当一个人背对你时，哪怕只是凝视5秒，画面都诡魅着迷、引人无限遐想。

一旦镜头里同时出现两个人，周围的物理环境立即黯淡，空间里取而代之的是一种心理氛围。他们怎么了？

 

Q1

At first glance, your paintings are naturally reminiscent of paintings by the Belgian painter Michael Borremans. In his back paintings, he has strengthened character relations and story narration, while you have weakened these, showing more a kind of empty or even absurd scene, which is placed in front of us like an objective object. Can you talk about the clue and creative logic of the Plurals?

初看你的画，自然地联想到了比利时绘画艺术家Michaël Borremans的画。他在他的背影画系列中强化了人物关系和故事叙述，你则弱化了这些，更多展示的是一种空无甚至荒诞的场景下，人像客观物一样被摆放在了镜头前。能说说“复数”系列的发展线索和创作逻辑吗？

 

 

I suspended Virtual Life series in early 2014. When I painted Insomnia, I realized that what I was interested in was not the 3D form, but the psychological state conveyed in the painting and the relationship between characters. The 3D image itself is too symbolic, which will limit the expression of this state.

At that time, I knew my direction, but I didn’t know exactly what to do. So I stopped painting for a while and began to make etching, the making process of which was completely different from that of oil painting, but could also depict figures. When I was planning the etching draft, I caught a glimpse of my roommate changing clothes in the lobby facing the wall. I found that scene very interesting. She was a girl with short hair, wearing a very masculine leather dress. Her image is very specific, but at the same time there are some ambiguities. I asked her to change to a place with better lighting, arranged it again, then made the copper. Later, I did some more experiments on the copper sheet. After RCA Secret ( project to raise funds for graduation show), I decided to go back to painting, also use the back as my subject, but did not think of this form of “plural”, and then on my sketchbook I made experiments, inadvertently found that when putting two figures together, an unexpected absurd feeling generated, then we have Two Visitors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think it’s appropriate to call the plurals a series, although I sometimes call them the plurals series for the sake of argument. It is one of the motifs that I come back to quite often. I do not divide the stages of my painting development by project. This division does not apply to most paintings, and may be more suitable for projects done by other media, especially photography. Maybe future generations will see the difference in my works from one stage to another, but the change of stages is not necessarily subjective. or plan as an overall project. It is more likely to be the transition caused by a certain painting or a group of paintings, such as the transition from Virtual Life to the Plurals. In different stages, there is something that I pay special attention to. For example, in the 2017 solo exhibition the Metaphor for Existence, there was a lot of exploration on the spatial relationship of paintings. In the last year or two, I focused more on cultural misunderstanding and opposition, and the sense of being manipulated.

 

 

 

 

2014年初我暂停了“模拟人生”系列。在画到《失眠》的时候，我意识到我关注的并不是这种3D的形式，而是人和人之间的关系以及画面中传达出来的心理状态。3D的图像本身的符号性过强，会限制住这种状态的表达。

那个时候，我知道了自己的方向，但是具体也不知道要做什么。于是暂停了一段时间油画，开始做版画，这个跟油画的制作过程完全不同，但又可以描绘形象的媒介。我在设计草稿的时候瞥见我的室友正在门厅面对着墙壁换衣服，我觉得那个场景非常有意思，她是一个短发女生，穿着很男性化的皮衣，这个背影让你不太容易直接分辨出来是男是女，我很喜欢这种模糊了身份的感觉。形象非常具体，同时又有一些含糊的地方。便请她换到一个光线好的地方，重新摆了一下，然后做成了铜板。之后我又在铜板上做了一些背影的实验。在RCA Secret（RCA为毕业展筹款的一个明星项目）之后，我决定重新开始画油画，也是利用“背影”，但当时并没有想到“复数”的这个形式，而后在我在速写上反复的试验，无意间发现把两个形象摆在一起，有意想不到的荒诞感，于是便有了《两位来访者》。

我觉得称“复数”是一个系列并不是很合适，虽然我有时候为了表述方便自己也说复数系列。准确地说复数是我经常回到的母题之一。我并不是以project来划分我绘画上的一个个阶段的。这种划分并不适合于大部分的绘画，可能更适合于其他媒介做的项目，尤其是摄影。也许后人看我的作品会有一个阶段一个阶段的区别，但阶段性的变化并不一定是主观的，整体项目式的规划，更可能是是由某张画或某一组画所造成的转折，像从模拟人生到复数，就是这样一个转折。在不同的阶段会有一些特别关注的东西，比如在17年个展《存在的隐喻》上，有很多绘画空间关系的探索。最近一两年，我会比较关注文化的误解与对立，以及其中的被操控感。

 

 

Q2

Why You and 50p?

为什么是你自己和50便士？

 

 

A feeling, I am the most suitable model for this picture. The 50P is one of the few angular coins in the UK coin system, and it’s large enough to fit in the picture.

一种感觉，我就是最适合这张画面的。50P是硬币里面为数不多带棱角的，它比较大，放在画面中比例合适。

 

Q3

In an earlier painting, The White-painted Forest (2011), three girls who look like the same person (or not) are painting green leaves with white paint. The picture is about a purposeless act imposed on nature by human will, out of playfulness or curiosity. It is just an objective frame, but the attitude towards the event seems to have been hidden in the dense unsaturated tone of the picture.

Was this composition designed in advance? Is there an accident where the work goes beyond even the creator’s choreography and gives its own narrative?

追溯到早前的一幅画《白画林》（2011），三名像是同一个人的女孩（或者不是），在用白颜料给绿叶涂色。画面讲述的是一个人类意志强加于自然的、出于嬉闹或好奇的无目的行为，只是客观的一帧，但对事件的主观态度仿佛已经藏在画面高密度的不饱和色调中。

这样的布局是预先设计的吗？有没有出现意外的、作品脱离了甚至超越了创造者的编排，进行自主叙述的情况？

 

 

 

The composition is, of course, pre-designed. The inspiration for this painting comes from my observation of life. At that time, I was wandering in the courtyard of a residential area near CAFA. Two children were absorbed in painting grass with discarded paint. I thought this scene was particularly interesting, and I didn’t think too much before memorizing the scene on my iPad. The plan was to use three models to unify trees with white paint wearing the same uniform. It seemed absurd to me. But at that time I could not find three models, so I used the same model, painted three times. I hid the faces of the two models on the left, making it hard to tell whether they were the same person or three different people. After a long time when I started painting the Plurals, until quite a while I realized how relevant White-painted Forest was to what I was doing then. Milly, my Tutor at RCA, when she saw White-painted Forest, said, “This is you.” This is my subconscious choice when constructing the picture. The seemingly random choice is inevitable.

I wanted the work to go beyond my script, to have a life of its own. The picture is a starting point of understanding. I can’t say that I fully understand my own work. Looking back at these works at different stages of life, I would feel different feelings when I think about why I made these decisions. Your interpretation of the human imposing on nature is interesting. It is boring that an artist holds the meaning of works in his own hands.

构图当然都是预先设计好的。这张画的灵感来自于我对生活的观察。当时我在美院小区里面闲逛，有两个小孩拿着扔掉的颜料盒在专心致志地涂草，我觉得这个场景特别有意思，也没有多想，回去赶紧用ipad记录下来。本来是计划用三个模特，她们穿上同样的类似于校服 (uniform) 的衣服，去做一件统一 (unifying) 树林的事情，我觉很荒诞。但当时没有找到满意的模特，所以就用了同一个模特画了三遍。我有意识地把左边的两个模特的面部隐藏了起来，让人说不清到底是同一个人还是三个不同的人。过了很久我开始画《复数》的时候，我才意识到这张画跟我现在的创作有多么强的关联，我在RCA的导师Milly一看到白画林就说：这就是你。这是我潜意识中对画面的选择，看似偶然的选择是有其必然性的。

我希望作品超越我的编排，作品应该有它自己的生命。画面是理解的一个起点， 我现在也不能说完全理解了自己的作品，不同的人生阶段回看这些作品，想想当时为什么做这些决定，会有不同的感受。你的“人类意志强加于自然”的解读就很有意思。意义被自己死死攥在手里，是一件多么无聊的事啊。

 

Q4

When did the concern and thinking about the figure of the back originate?How to understand the “singular” in your painting, only one person’s back? In addition, comparing people and clothes, you have also painted one or more clothes, can you tell the difference between these two?

对背影的关注和思考起源于什么时候？如何理解画面中的“单数”情节，只有一个人的背影？另外，对比人和衣物，你也有画过一件或多件衣服，能说说两者的区别吗？

 

 

 

 

It was an accidental glimpse of my roommate changing her coat. The motivation can be contingent, but why I chose “back” is inevitable. In the 2D media, oil painting is a powerful material with a strong sense of materiality. The same theme is expressed by oil painting, photography and watercolor. Placed together, oil painting will advance while watercolor and photography will retreat, which is a “disadvantage”. I wanted to retain the painterly nature while eliminating the sense of progress. In the system of Central Academy of Fine Arts, tutors would say “oil painting should be bright and definite”, and encourage vigorous and thick painting. I have been distrusted by this methodology ever since high school. Why does painting have to be like this? I’ll paint it deliberately thin and grayish, with a flowing but careful brush. This is consistent with my character.

 

 

 

 

I am an introverted and quiet person, and the back is a very implicit subject, which can convey many subtle details, such as gesture, color, brush strokes, etc., and carry out a limited narrative, which is consistent with my painting method. I like this kind of limitation, which can activate people’s imagination. The face is too certain, too specific, and contains too much information. People instinctively collect anything that looks like a face in the picture, and when the face does appear in the picture, everything else becomes less important.

 

 

 

 

There is no need to draw two figures when a single person can fully express it. You can imagine those paintings which have only one figure, adding one more will be too much.

I don’t know if you have noticed that all the clothes I painted there were human inside, but the arms were removed, which was in pursuit of a sense of sculpture. It seemed to be static, but there was movement inside. For example, in Triumph V2 there is a forward movement. 1,2 has motion of rotation, and the numbers in the title also moves. Triumph V2 is inspired by the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Multiple clothes in 1,2 emphasize relationships: the relationship between clothes, the relationship between clothes and numbers.

就是来自于那次偶然的一瞥——室友正在换外套。动机可以很偶然，但是我为什么选择“背影”是有必然性的。在平面媒介中，油画是一种有力度的，有强烈物质感的材料，同样的主题用油画、摄影、水彩来表达，摆在一起，油画会前进，而水彩、摄影都会往后退，非常”吃亏”。我想保留绘画性的同时，消解掉这种前进感。中央美院的教学体系中，老师会讲“油画颜色要亮、要肯定”，并且鼓励画得生猛，厚涂。从附中开始我就对这种方法论不信任，为什么油画一定要这样呢？我会故意画得比较薄，颜色压得很灰，用笔流动但是谨慎。这和我的性格是一致的。

总体来讲，我是一个内敛、安静的人，背影又是一个非常含蓄的题材，它可以传达很多微妙的细节，比如姿态，颜色，笔触等，并且进行有限度的叙事，这与我的画法相契合， 我喜欢这种限制，它会激活人的想象力。脸太肯定，太具体了，包含了太多信息。人会本能地在画面里搜集任何像脸的东西，当人脸真的出现在画面里的话，其他的东西都变得不那么重要了。

单个人能够充分表达的时候就没有必要画两个，你可以想象一下那些单数的画面，再画一个人就多了。

不知你有没有注意到，我画的衣服里面都是有人的，只是去掉了胳膊，是在追求一种雕塑的感觉，看似静态，是有运动在里面，像《凯旋v2》是向前的运动；《1，2》有旋转的运动，数字也是有运动的。我画单件衣服追求雕塑的质感，《凯旋v2》受到了《色雷斯的胜利女神》的启发。多件衣服更强调关系：衣服之间的关系，衣服和数字的的关系。衣服的运动感，和数字的运动感的关系。

 

 

◯ 当代虚拟 | Contemporary Virtuality ◯

At the end of the last century, people sat down in front of a desktop computer, plugged in an Internet connection, dialed a number and “connected” to the Internet. Surf the internet behind the strings of code.

A few years later, the virtual world will sometimes return to the real world like AI robots fighting humans in science fiction movies, making people confused about where the boundary between the two worlds is. Is this “contemporary virtuality”?

上世纪末，人们面对着台式电脑坐下，接上网线，一通拨号后即可“连接”进入网络世界，在一串串代码背后冲着各式各样的浪。

若干年后的虚拟世界，有时也会像科幻片里AI机器人大战人类似的“反哺”回现实世界里，让人分不清究竟两个世界的边界在哪里。这是不是“当代虚拟”？

 

 

 

 

 

Q5

Talk about Virtual Life, a two-dimensional painting that feels like a 3D game. I saw two interesting points in your video, the environment and scene in the painting generated by “the implantation and abduction of the ideology of the middle class”, and the interaction and even the expression of the characters under the “collective unconscious reflection”. A few years ago we were playing a game imitating life, and a few years later we were playing life like games — a big step forward for reality, with technologies like VR and interaction. Can you talk about your understanding of the phenomenon of dimensional ambiguity and the conceptual refinement of creation in combination with your series of paintings? And this year’s OVR, VR and virtual exhibitions?

说说《模拟人生》吧，一款3D游戏感的二维画作。先前看你视频解说到两个很有意思的点，“中产阶级意识形态的植入和绑架”下催生的画中环境和场景，以及“集体无意识的反映”下的人物互动甚至神情。几年前我们玩游戏里的人生，几年后我们好像就在玩着“人生游戏”——现实向游戏进发了一大步，有其有了VR和交互等科技技术。能否结合你的画作系列，谈谈你对维度模糊这一现象的理解和创作概念上的提炼？以及今年各种OVR、VR和虚拟展览等？

After the HTC VIVE came out, I bought a set and reconfigured a console to run smoothly. Actually, I feel a little disappointed when I use it. I don’t have that kind of immersive and fresh feeling, instead, I will have a kind of… The helplessness of being in a dark forest. Because helmets and headphones cut you off from everything around you, it’s impossible to know if someone is standing in the room. On the one hand, the eyes can see very detailed pictures and feel space, on the other hand on the body is connected to real space, VR technology declared total immersion experience but it is difficult to let people immerse inside, After losing sight and hearing and the sense of space, there is a huge uncontrollable feelings, User will mobilize all the other senses to cope with the physical space of possible obstacles and stumble. Using VR in the exhibition, you will also feel like your body is being watched. Compared with VR, I prefer using AR. Real space gives people a sense of security, and virtual and real interactions are more interesting. VR can’t surpass space, at the time of using VR, the first step is to set the size of the working area, the size must not exceed the room, the experience of using VR is not very good, you have to deal with a lot of cables, the industry may also have not seen too much of VR application scenarios, so VIVE, experienced the explosive growth of the first year, after the market enthusiasm, hardware and software progressed slowly in recent years. On the contrary, AR technology on the phone is more interesting.

At present, most virtual exhibitions are only simulation of physical space, which is an emergency response when activities cannot be carried out in the middle of the entity. Virtual exhibitions should have the presentation logic and narrative mode of virtual exhibitions. I haven’t seen any virtual exhibitions that have impressed me so far. In a way, curating of virtual exhibitions is much more difficult because space is malleable rather than given. VR can make sculptures and installations in a more economical and environmentally friendly way. You’ll also get a better feel when browsing virtual exhibitions.

 

 

 

 

Without games, we can’t do anything. Games have incredible importance. It’s equally profound and serious. In modern society, due to the development of television networks, they have replaced personal experience and become the main source of information, while information becomes trivial and fragmented due to the intervention and transmission of networks and television. All events occur in the “next…” television context has become entertainment. After discussing serious topics, the following advertisement will make the discussion absurd. viewers watch the live broadcast of war, as if watching a video game, the general presses a button in the war room, then there is a missile bombing thousands of miles away, like a large real-time strategy game.

In such a context, our life becomes gaming, everything in life can be imitated by game, the SIMS by EA is one of the typical. This little game with millions of fans around the world, you can control the residents’ lives in the games. Their happiness, success or failure are in your hands; Building decoration, consumption, sense of achievement, voyeurism, motherhood… A variety of personal interests and desires can also be satisfied. Even a tiny Barbie doll can take the world, let alone the ever-changing SIMS.

HTC VIVE出来之后我光速买了一套，为了能流畅运行我还重新配置了一台主机。实际用下来却略感失望，我并没有那种沉浸式的新鲜的感受，反而会有一种…那种置身于黑暗森林般的无助感。因为头盔、耳机将你和周围的一切都切断掉，如果有个人站在房间里，也是浑然不晓的。一方面眼睛能看到很具体的画面和空间感受，另一方面身体上又在盲人摸象，彻底的沉浸式体验反而很难让人沉浸其中，人失去了视力和听力， 也就失去了对空间状态的判断，会有巨大的不可控的感受，然后调动起来所有感官来应对实体空间可能出现的障碍和磕绊。在展览现场用VR，还会有种身体被注视的感觉。相比VR我更愿意使用AR，真实的空间给人安全感，虚拟和真实交互起来才更有意思。VR也不能超越空间，在使用VR的时候，第一个步骤是设定工作区域的大小，这个大小不能超过房间，当下使用VR的体验还不是特别好， 始终要和一大堆线缆打交道，业界可能也还没有看到太多的VR应用场景，所以VIVE出来，经历了第一年的爆发式增长， 市场热情过了之后，这几年软硬件都进展缓慢。反而手机AR更有意思。

目前来看，大多数虚拟展览还只是实体空间的模拟，是实体中间无法开展活动时的一种应急反应。虚拟展览应该有虚拟展览的呈现逻辑和叙事方式，目前还没有看到让我眼前一亮的虚拟展览。某种程度上说，虚拟展览的策展难度大大的加大了，因为空间是可塑而不再是给定的。VR可以用更经济、环保的方式做雕塑和装置。浏览虚拟展览的时候也会有更好的感受。

霍克尼说“如果没有游戏，我们什么也干不成，游戏有令人难以信的重要性，它同样深刻，严肃，把我的工作说成一种游戏我并不觉得是一种批评，恰恰相反，我觉得是一种褒奖和奉承”。现代社会，由于电视机网络的发展，二者取代了亲身经验并成为了信息的主要来源，而信息由于网络与电视的介入传播而变得琐碎，片段化，所有事件在电视的“接下来。。。”的语境下都变得娱乐化，再严肃的主题之后插播的广告都会让探讨的问题变得滑稽，观众观看伊拉克战争的直播，仿佛就是在看一场游戏录像，这方在房间中按按按钮，那边导弹，飞机就轰炸过去了，特别像一个大型即时战略游戏。

这样的语境下，我们的生活变得游戏化，生活中的一切都可以被游戏仿制，EA公司出的《模拟人生》便是其中的典型，这个小小的游戏在全世界拥有数千万的爱好者，在游戏中你可以对模拟居民呼来喝去操纵他们的生活，“别人”的幸福成败掌握在你手中；建筑装修、购物消费、成就感、窥私癖、母性……种种因人而异的爱好和欲望也都能从中满足。小小的芭比娃娃，尚且能风靡世界，何况千变万化的“模拟人生”。

 

 

 

When the SIMS had millions of gamers, it was an undisputed mass medium. On the one hand, it allows its audience to conduct multi-level information transmission and interaction; on the other hand, it integrates text, image, audio, video and other rich forms of media symbols, with a strong narrative ability, conveying information, meaning and even ideology, reflecting the bizarre world in which we live. New technology brings new media, and new media brings new possibilities, which may lead to the danger that people will be alienated and enslaved without knowing it.

In Ideological Analysis and Television, the left-wing thinker Mimi White said that computer games are also “produced by and for specific social groups in particular historical contexts” and “reflect enact specific scales of values, beliefs and ideas”. Cultural hegemony is accepted and plays a role in these subtle influences.

“The characters in the SIMS, at our ‘free’ command, seem to be living the most normal middle-class lives, pragmatic, free and self-reliant. In fact, what really dominates them is the ideological system in the game: in the SIMS, consumerism becomes the basic ideology: the richer you are, the bigger the house, the more virtual friends you have, the more social success you achieve in the game. The SIMS: Superstar reflects the interaction between capitalist society, economy, media and the masses as the players strive to become entertainment superstars. In many other games, we learn that “more money, better equipment, and more money… This is success “, or “The easiest or only solution is to kill those who stand in your way”. With this ideology, we as players don’t have much choice.

当《模拟人生》拥有千百万游戏玩家时，它便毋庸置疑地成为大众媒介之一种。一方面它允许其受众进行多层次的信息传播与交互，另一方面它综合文本、图像、音频、视频等丰富的媒介符号形式，具备强大叙事能力，传递着信息、意义乃至意识形态，折射出我们身处世界的光怪陆离。新技术带来新媒介，新媒介带来新的可能，而可能导致人的被异化和被奴役而不自知的危险。

左翼思想家米米·怀特在《意识形态分析与电视》中说，电脑游戏同样是“在特殊的历史语境下由某些特殊的社会群体所产生并为他们服务的”，并且“体现与规定 (enact) 着特殊范围的价值、信仰和观念”。文化霸权恰是在潜移默化中被接受和起作用。

“模拟人生之中的角色在我们的“自由”支配下看起来过的是最正常的中产阶级生活，务实、自由、自食其力。实际上真正支配他们的是游戏中的意识形态体系：“模拟人生”中消费主义成为最基本的意识形态，拥有越多的钱，买了越大的房子、越好的家具和电器，就能拥有更多的虚拟朋友，在社交上取得成功。《模拟人生：超级明星》则在游戏者努力成为娱乐界超级明星的过程中，将资本主义社会经济、媒介、大众等相互作用的原则体现出来。其它许多游戏中，则让我们体会到：“更多的钱，就能有更好的装备，从而赚更多的钱……这就是成功”，或者：“对待阻挡你的人，把他们打倒甚至杀死是最简单或唯一的解决办法”。在这样的意识形态下，作为玩家的我们并没有太多选择。

 

 

 

Not only in a game, it is the same in real life. We are given the right to choose, but there is no such possibility. We are controlled by many invisible hands: ideology, customs, thinking habits, etc., through television, computers and other media of ubiquitous manipulating our habits of thinking, behavior. For example, we get angry, but the way we express our anger may come from the behavior of a star on a TV show. The eyes are our own, but the way we see things are not. The way we see comes from photographs and moving images.

I want to visualize this omnipresent sense of manipulation on the screen, so I have the idea of presenting real life with the 3D technique from games.

When I was making the Virtual Life series, I was still simulating real-world social rules in a virtual way. Now the popularity of intelligent terminals has made the virtual and real world deeply mixed. Intelligent devices have influenced our living habits and integrated the world again. You have the illusion that you can make all the choices and dominate everything. In fact, all the options are given to you by AI. The algorithm is snooping on everything and deciding everything, letting us live in information cocoons and reshaping our work and life patterns.

不仅是游戏，在现实生活中的我们也一样，我们被赋予了自由选择的权利，但并无这样的可能，操纵我们是许许多多无形的手：意识形态，风俗，思维习惯等等，通过电视，电脑等媒介无所不在的操纵着我们的思维习惯，行为方式。比如我们可以生气，但生气的方式可能来自于电视剧上某位明星的举止；眼睛是我们自己的，但观看方式却不是，我们的观看方式来自于照片和电视的教学。

我想把这种无所不在的操控感物化于画面上，便有了用游戏的3D手法表现现实生活这个主题。

如果说我在创作模拟人生的时候，还是在模拟现实中的种种社会规则， 那么现在智能终端的普及，已经让虚拟和现实深度的混合起来了，智能设备影响着我们的生活习惯，再度整合着这个世界。你会有那种“可以做所有的选择，主导一切”的幻觉。其实一切选项都是算法给你的，算法在窥探一切，决定一切，让我们活在信息茧房里，也重新塑造着我们的工作形态和生活形态。

 

 

 

Instead of liberating people, technology has increased the sense of being manipulated and monitored. So in 2019 I did the Transparent Wall project. PLATEshowcase is a project space located in the WeWork shared office space in Longfu Temple area. Inside The WeWork, everything is transparent, and although the space can be locked, everything inside is still in view. I loved this space the first time I saw it. I arranged the space into a real office, added “personalized” gadgets and furnishings, and restored it to its original spatial attributes. I also suggested the virtual nature of the physical space through a dummy Sophie who acted as a white-collar. In the computer monitor watched by the dummy, my mother’s monitoring in the real office is shown in real time, so as to complete the interchange between the virtual space inside the screen and the physical space outside the screen, which is also a kind of dimensional ambiguity.

科技的发展并没有解放人，反而被操控感和被监视感更加强烈了。于是在2019年做了《透明的墙》这个项目。PLATEshowcase 是位于隆福寺WeWork共享办公空间中的一个项目空间，在WeWork里面，一切都是透明的， 虽然空间可以上锁，但里面的一切还是一览无余。第一次看到这个空间我就特别喜欢。我将空间布置成真正的办公室，加上“个性化”的小玩意儿，摆件，还原成其原本的空间属性，并通过一个扮演成白领的假人Sophie来提示这个实体空间的虚拟性。而在假人观看的电脑显示器中，实时放映的是我母亲真实的办公室中的监控，并以此来完成屏幕内的虚拟空间与屏幕外的实体空间在意义上的互换，这也是一种维度的模糊。

 

 

“The work is intended to mock current workplace culture by mimicking standardized office spaces and white-collar images. In this physically and meaningfully transparent space in the workplace, employees look at and peer at others in interpersonal relationships while they are also watched. This transparency is reinforced by the existence of real-time monitoring. In the overall environment of the shared office where the project space is located, each transparent cubicle wall also becomes part of the concept of the work. (Cao Yani, Curator)

“作品意图通过模拟标准化的办公空间和白领形象去嘲讽当下的职场文化。在职场这种物理上和意义上双重透明的空间内，职员在人际关系中打量、窥视他人的同时，自己也被注视着。实时监控的存在则更加强调了这种透明性。在项目空间所处的共享办公室这种整体环境下，每个透明的隔间墙也成为作品概念的一部分。”（策展人曹娅妮语）

 

 

 

 

◯ 镜子或墙 | Mirror or Wall ◯

 

The mirror, as a special wall, replaces the function of blocking the space with a reflection of the “image” of the person facing himself, an image that is exposed and breaks all illusions.

Although the wall is a material entity, when you face the wall, your imagination and mood are relatively free and even private. No one knows what is behind the wall, just like no one knows your expression at the moment.

镜子，作为一面特殊的墙，将空间隔阻断功能取而代之的是反照出面对者自己的“像”，一个暴露得一五一十、打破所有幻想的像。

而墙面虽为物质上的实体，但面壁思过时，想象和心境却相对自由，甚至私密——没人知道墙后面是什么，就像没人知道你此刻的表情一样。

 

Q1

You’ve painted a lot of walls, and you’ve done “breaking walls” with vague dimensions. Talk about the Transparent Wall, or think about the relationship between painting and ideas and forms of expression.

你画了很多墙，也做了模糊维度的“打破墙”的创作，聊聊《透明的墙》吧，或者绘画和观念和表达形式之间的关系思考。

Transparent Wall is more of a continuation of the Virtual Life Series, my constant switching between the virtual and the real to express an observation about society, which is subjective, full of prejudice and ridicule. Although I no longer present the relationship between the virtual and the real in the form of painting, this element is always in my painting.

There was a time when I felt that figurative painting was not important, but just one of many media to choose from. I am a conceptual artist. But I came to realize that painting was my mother tongue. The way of thinking, understanding and grasping the world in figurative painting have deeply influenced me. I spent a lot of time learning about painting.

From this work, I made a decision to let the painting solve the painting business. Painting can have ideas, but the ideas it can carry are very limited, too strong concepts will harm painting. I’m finding that delicate balance now. Ideas can be expressed in more powerful ways. Ideas have their own way. Ideas seek out materials. Of course, there are materials that collide with each other to create ideas. But painting is not such a material, painting has its logic. It is an image, also a material which involves action.

《透明的墙》更多的是我“模拟人生”的延续，我通过虚拟和真实的不断切换来表达我对社会的某种观察，这种观察是主观的，充满偏见和嘲讽的。虚拟和真实的关系这条线，虽然我现在不再以绘画的形态呈现，但我的绘画里一直有这个成分在。

有一段时间我觉得具象绘画不重要，只是众多可供选择的媒介中的一种，我要做一个观念艺术家。但是我慢慢意识到，绘画就是我的母语。具象绘画里面所带有的思考方式，理解、把握世界的方式，深深地影响了我。我花了很多时间了解绘画。

从这件作品起，我做了一个决定，就是让绘画解决绘画的事情。绘画可以有观念，但它所能承载的观念是十分有限的，过强的观念会损害绘画。我现在慢慢找到了这个微妙的平衡点了。表达观念可以有更有力的方式，观念有自己的行事方式，观念会寻找材料。当然，有些材料与材料的碰撞可以生发观念。但是绘画不是这样的一种材料，绘画有其自洽的逻辑，它是图像，更是物质，也包含行动。

 

 

 

池外 | Beyond the Pool

▼

和薛若哲的对话是收获良多的，一是因为他的作品逻辑和发展脉络本身自成体系，二来作为一名艺术家，他的语言表达能力也非常好、叙述姿态谦和友好易于理解和共情。

从央美夯实的体系出发，薛若哲的绘画功底毋庸置疑；很难得的是他也并不安于此，仍然会去思考一些很“当代”的命题例如主客关系、客观现实和意识形态间的冲突、作用与反作用之类的。

他的画中有一种难以名状的氛围，这与他的性格是相关联的。他更像是一个与作品中人物同时在场却不可见的时空封存魔术师，将「观念」用绘画的形式再现给创造了观念的「人」。

Untitled 无题 50x60cm, oil on linen, 2016

 

 

薛若哲，观念艺术家，主要应用媒介类型为具象绘画，也如很多艺术家一样涉猎过版画、摄影和装置等。探索客观审视写实绘画的可能性和尝试哲学性地处理各种关系问题是他创作的主要方向。

用传统油画的画法呈现很当代的内容物，本身是一件tricky的事。快餐和舶来文化融合日常生活语境，取代了原本画中的瓶罐水果，用这种old-fashion方式而非同样现代的摄影媒介来描绘日常，增加了图层和可读性，具有视觉冲突感的画面也更绵密和耐人寻味了。

 

 

15 Yuan15元, 25x40cm, oil on linen, 2010

“画”长大了，应该学会自己“生存”下去。

如果「绘画」本身是一种行为艺术，或者观念艺术，那么它理应在被创造落地后，具有自我生长、自我完成的逻辑和体系。它确实是有的。

甚至画还会自行与观众“交流互动”。它会告诉你许多创作者本身或许并没有想过或预设过的概念，往后延伸出更多的意义与可能。

这或许才是“艺术”存在的意义。

Self-Generated 自生, 20x2x2cm, Ready-made, 2010