“静谧的迷狂 — 王小松个人展览”将于11月26日在广州开展

160×165cm|2022|综合材料

在德国长期生活过的艺术家王小松对于当代新表现主义舞蹈的吸收直接聚焦在身体、衣纹和情感的关联之中。他用雕塑的手法将画布塑形，将身体的运动定格，将情绪塑封在平面和立体之间。其作品既可以追溯到巴洛克雕塑中衣纹的表现主义源头，又影射了二战后的抽象绘画。他的创作在模仿上世纪精神性信仰下又悖论式地反讽了这一意识形态的“迷狂”，并将当下情绪的瞬间凝固在永恒的静谧之中。

（文/姜俊，艺术批评家、策展人）

绘画应该深层次地对现代社会的多重机制作出反映，潜在表达人们在面对社会压力与期望时的心理状态。

▲超越Surpass（局部）

93x97cm|2022|综合材料

Tranquil Ecstasy

Artist Wang Xiaosong’s work evokes echoes of 1950s American Abstract Expressionism, akin to figures like Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and the “Post-Painterly Abstraction” as expounded by American art critic Greenberg in the 1960s, embodied by artists such as Morris Louis, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, and Ad Reinhardt...

The artist’s appropriation and emulation of 20th-century abstract art history exemplify a typical contemporary approach: a homage to late modernist classics while simultaneously engendering in the form of mockery and irony. Undulating folds supplant taut canvas frames as if the pursuit of “spirituality,” “sublimity,” and “transcendence” of that era undergoes different distortions, symbolic of our contemporary state — a “post-ideology.” The evident paradoxical tension within the imagery oscillates between the present and nostalgia, hovering between belief and emptiness.

Additionally, Wang Xiaosong’s works also evoke parallels with Baroque sculpture, particularly Bernini’'s “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.” The dramatic fluctuations and cascading movements of the clothes within the serene marble material serve to accentuate the spiritual state of Saint Teresa—ecstasy. His works occupy intermediary space between painting and sculpture, abstracting and fragmenting the creases of figures in Baroque sculptures.

Within the annals of Western art history, the utilisation of clothing folds to manifest a character’s spiritual disposition has an extensive lineage, tracing back to ancient Greek sculpture. This tradition, notably prominent during the Italian Baroque era, transmuted immateriality into material expression, where the vortex of figurative energy itself became the focal point. The ecstatic state of the soul and the undulating fabric merge, transforming the representational into the abstract through the solid stone and bronze-crafted robes and cloaks. This metamorphosis may be constructed as a prelude to a form of expressionism.

During the 1920s-30s, German Expressionist aesthetics commenced taking shape, transcending diverse art forms. In the realm of modern dance, bodily movements directly mirrored the dancer’s spirit, delineating the subject’s existence, especially evident in Mary Wigman's dance. She pursued individual expression, enabling dance movements to rouse and stimulate the audience's emotions, thereby fostering resonance.

In the post-World War II era of the 60s-70s, German Expressionist dance attained global singularity, distinct from American formalist dance that perceived the body merely as a manipulative instrument. This expressionist tradition is not only present in dance but as an international zeitgeist impacting various art forms such as painting, sculpture, music, and dance...

Having extensively resided in Germany, artist Wang Xiaosong’s absorption of contemporary Neo-expressionist dance focuses directly on the nexus between the body, creases, and emotions. He employs sculptural techniques to mould the canvas, congeal bodily movements, and encapsule emotions between the two and the three-dimensions. His works hark back to Expressionism, roots of creases in Baroque sculpture while alludes to post-war abstract painting. His creations mimic the spiritual beliefs of the last century, paradoxically satirizing this “ecstasy” of ideology, and freezing the fleeting moments of current emotions in eternal tranquillity.

（Jiang Jun，Art critic, curator）

艺术家|ARTIST

王小松

1987年毕业于中央工艺美术学院（现清华大学美术学院），1997年获柏林艺术大学大师生学位。现任浙江大学艺术与考古学院副院长，教授、博导，浙江大学当代艺术研究所所长。

王小松始终坚守以传统“油彩与布面”为主要媒介与形式，在不断实践中突破了传统绘画中固有矩形外框或者其它几何形边界的视觉定义，提出了具有革新性的“多维度绘画”理念。“多维度绘画”旨在探讨弯曲与皱褶空间的艺术表现形式。王小松将平面绘画里的线条、色彩、构图、肌理等变量，延伸至多维立体空间，运用大面积单色铺陈、凹凸的画面等，竭力探讨弯曲空间中绘画形式与变量间的关系，同时不断探索如何充分利用不同的材料，在画面上折射出中西方双重文化的共性与矛盾。在画布“凹入”与“凸出”的多维度皱褶空间里，绘画以“折叠”的方式被塑造，在凸显材料媒介的“物质性”的同时，使画面整体成为“视觉空间的连续体”和真实可触的空间，并表现出超越材料形式之外的生命与灵魂，以弯曲的形状隐喻当下人性的焦虑与精神困境以及多变性，使作品发人深思。

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Wang Xiaosong

Wang Xiaosong graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (now the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University) in 1987 and obtained a master’s degree from Berlin University of the Arts in 1997. He currently serves as the Vice Dean, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Arts and Archaeology, Zhejiang University, concurrently holding the position of Director at Zhejiang University Institute of Contemporary Art.

Wang Xiaosong has consistently adhered to the traditional use of “oil and canvas” as the primary medium and form. Through continuous experimentation, he has transcended the visual definition of the inherent rectangular frame or other geometric boundaries in traditional painting. Wang Xiaosong introduced the innovative concept of “Multidimensional Painting.” This concept aims to explore artistic expressions within curved and wrinkled spaces. Wang Xiaosong extends variables such as lines, colors, compositions, and textures from two-dimensional flat painting to multidimensional spatial forms. By utilising extensive monochromatic layouts, textured surfaces, and other techniques to explore the relationship between painting forms and variables in curved space. Simultaneously, he continuously explores how to fully utilise different materials to reflect the commonalities and contradictions of Eastern and Western dual cultures on canvas. In the multidimensional wrinkled space where the canvas “concaves” and “convexes,” paintings are shaped in a “folded” manner. While emphasizing the “materiality” of the medium, the artwork transforms into a “continuum of visual space” and a tangible space. It expresses life and soul beyond the material form, using curved shapes as a metaphor for the current human anxiety, spiritual challenges, and variability. This approach prompts profound contemplation.

Main Collections

United Arab Emirates (Royal families of the UAE), Austria (Schütz Fine Art, Vienna Künstlerhaus, Barwell Arts Foundation), Germany (Ludwig Museum Koblenz, Lübeck St. Anne’s Museum), Greece (Larissa Contemporary Art Center), Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou), Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Art Museum (Chongqing), Yin Ru Studio (Taipei), Chinese Olympic Committee (Beijing), China International Import Expo (Shanghai), and other institutions or private collectors.

策展人|CURATOR

姜俊