艺术家：John Roch Simons

约翰-洛克-西门斯

                                                 

                                                                                                3 Portraits about 1 Thing

                                                                                                   <三个诗歌一个主题>

      在中国南方深圳的大芬艺术村里，艺术家们会很有礼貌地问您喜欢多大尺寸的梵高的《向日葵》，也会询问是否需要改变画的底色使它更衬您家的沙发？在这样一个国

   度里，中国的名画复制产业拥有数十亿元产值的发展生机，也正是因为其产业化批量生产着世界一半以上的艺术成品佳作，而被人们质疑原创真实性。那么在中国，原

   创性意味着什么？对世界范围来说，又意味着什么？如果原创性在一种文化传承中面临了危机，您又会如何应对呢？中国，一个在这颗蔚蓝星球上拥有千年传统视觉艺

   术积淀的民族，在文化艺术品产业化速成的今天，又将会使用何种方式赋予绘画之类的传统艺术表现形式以新的生机？

      这些问题不仅仅是中国所面临的，也是我们思考世界性艺术的根本出发点。对约翰-洛克-西门斯的画展《三首诗歌一个主题 》 来说，也是一次挑战。

      近二十五年以来，数码相机可是说是最平凡也是最惊人的视觉传达新媒介。它的发展恰似一面镜子般印证了新中国从改革开放到成功踏上国际舞台的历程。西门斯的作

   品试图在问，我们为何选择油画画笔、单眼数码相机等奇妙多样的表现手段来讲述我们的故事？他的这些作品或怪诞中透出美丽；或创新中透着传统，仿佛在对其他表

   现形式高傲地宣战。

      在北京日坛公园，我见过一个老人。他在炎炎夏日下，拖着一个巨大的毛笔蘸水写书法。笔迹在烈日下很快就风干了。

                                                                  

      也许，中国是世界工厂；也许，中国是触及每一个人的艺术复产地。但她永远是古老文明的发祥，是各种艺术作品发展的土壤为人们探索一切美好的事物。在约翰 洛

    

      克-西门斯的作品中，您总能找到三首诗歌,一个主题

       In Dafen village in southern China, the copy artists politely ask you what size of Van Gogh “Sunlowers” you would like, and can they change the colour of the background 

       to blend in better with your sofa? In a country where the reproduction of accepted visual norms is a multi-billion yuan industry, where notions of authenticity are called into

       question every day by an industrial machine that produces more than half of the world’s inished goods, what does “original” mean in China, and by extension the rest of 

       the world? How do you respond to a culture where notions of originality are consistently undermined? And in a country with one of the strongest visual traditions on the

       planet, what bearing does the accelerated production of cultural artifacts have on older forms of expression, such as painting?

       These are questions not only for China, they are fundamental to how we think about art globally, challenges borne out by the images in John Roch Simons exhibition, 

       ‘3 Portraits about 1 Thing’.

       The digital camera is the most banal and the most wonderful new tool developed for the visual medium in the last quarter century, a period that closely mirrors the opening

       up of China and its emergence onto the world stage. His pieces ask questions about why we choose to tell our stories, using media as fantastically diverse as a paintbrush

       and a digital SLR. The paintings combine an eerie beauty and a deiance that is metaphorical for the medium’s continued survival in the face of competition from other 

       modes of expression.

       In Ritan Park, in downtown Beijing, the summer heat brings out old men with giant paintbrushes, who dip the brushes in buckets of water and do elaborate calligraphy,

       which quickly evaporates in the sun.

       China may be the world’s factory, and home to an accelerated culture that has ramiications for everyone, but it is also an ancient civilisation with room for all methods of 

       artistic production, with scope for the exploration of themes that obsess us all. Themes that are the stuff of John Roch Simons’ exhibition.

       Clifford Coonan, China Correspondent, The Irish Times

       开幕时间：08年7月19日---8月1日