Text by撰文x Harry Liu劉競晨
Translated by 翻譯 x Cai Sudong蔡蘇東
East and West are by no means a mere geographical parting; to any Chinese people living in Britain, it represents markedly different sets of logic and ways of living. With these two systems colliding with each other in his mind and exerting their respective influences on his art, Liu Jincheng, a Chinese artist who has been in Britain for over 20 years, has formed his own artistic style and language. However, such formation has nothing to do with harmony—a feeling so commonly felt in “well-formed” art; to the contrary, his art is filled with entanglement and disintegration such that it is impossible to succinctly summarise, and his pursuit of such dilemmas suggests a way to interpret his works. Such a clue is understandable to overseas Chinese artists, for in response to a different social mechanism, cultural context and all the metaphysical concepts in a foreign land, we, just like Liu, have never stopped adapting, revolting, repositioning and reshaping, in utter bewilderment. Through visual means, Liu’s works directly enlarge such a state of mind, which is the purpose of the show.
The solo show “Punch” in Bloomsbury Gallery displays 15 works by Liu from his two series produced during 2010 to 2015; it is also the debut of these two figurative art series; “False/Real” and “Memory of Stones” in London, both of which convey the artist’s perception of the current world and a reflection of the identity check in his inner world.
During his 30 years of being a professional artist, Liu’s art career has gone through several stages. The social realistic training and the artistic approach he received in China severely contrasted the contemporary artistic and philosophical practice and modes of thinking he had after moving to the West. Such a contrast resulted in a profound impact on the formation of his artistic style, whether in his techniques or ideas.
Liu’s university time coincided with the first enlightenment age in modern Chinese society. In the 1980s, with the open door policy, more and more Chinese students looked to the outside world, especially in art, young and idealistic artists began their artistic experiments and explorations with movements like ‘85 New Wave and organizations like the Stars Art Group popping up one after another. Liu experienced and witnessed that golden age, he organized the November Exhibition in Beijing and participated in “Beijing Youth Painters Club”.
After 1989, however, the flourishing of art and different thinking came to a halt. Therefore, Liu came to Britain in search of a broader artistic horizon and started his art exploration in the West. He studied at Slade School of Fine Art, the top British school of art, where he was exposed to authentic Western art and had access to the Western contemporary artistic concepts. Different ways of thinking and artistic logic from the East and the West began to ferment in his practice. Up until today, we can still discern in his works the traces of the collision and combination of the two systems. It was also from that time on, he confirmed his artistic orientation—art does not simply showcase life but is more about creation, that is, expressing the artist’s view of the world with his unique language.
After graduation from Slade, Liu became a full-time artist. The high-brow occupation may seem to be a dream for many, but as a professional artist, he had to confront the dilemma between the pursuit of pure art and a realistic worldly life. An artist has to strike a balance between split identity, social recognition, and his inner world, but this has proved difficult for Liu who is never ready to surrender himself to the mundane. He is always pushing to be alternative, despising unequal values with anger, and striving to maintain his pure nature. The idea expressed in his works is contemporary, but his works are never kitsch; the skills he develops are unique, but never for the sake of showing off. His practice is governed by a consistent logic—to express the understanding of the world and the feedback to life with an artist’s language.
The “False/Real” series fully reflects Liu’s exploration and thinking in art in the past five years, which is dedicated to his understanding of the current world and society by means of ultra realism. The vivid works with lifelike details are very often mistaken by viewers as crumpled paper or photocopies of photographed works, however they are actually the product of intricate oil painting techniques. Furthermore, such somewhat ambiguous representation is, in fact, apt at disclosing the relation between what is real and false and what is displayed and what is intended. Making illusion seem real is an eternal metaphor—in our life, we often take illusions as granted and have faith in them to be real, we see them as indispensable parts that construct the whole of our life—sadly this may be the only truth we can be sure of.
At the same time, he has been probing into values based on his personal living experience and finding appropriate artistic representations for the cultural background and tradition he was immersed in, and his current artistic climate. The “Memory of Stones” is a work that illustrates his reflection on these points. We have every reason to believe that Liu will continue pursuing and innovating his art in the days to come.
此次在Bloomsbury Gallery的個人展覽《撞（Punch）》匯集了劉金成從2010-2015年創作的兩個系列的共15幅作品，也是這兩個系列作品首次在倫敦集中展出，《假真（False/Real）》系列和《石憶（Memory of Stones）》兩個系列都是以具象的表達手法來傳達藝術家內心對當下外在世界的觀感與內心世界身份認同的反饋。
劉金城作為職業藝術家的30年以來，其創作經歷了幾個不同的階段，他在中國時接受的社會現實主義藝術的訓練和創作方法和其來到西方之後所接受的當代藝術和哲學的訓練和思維模式產生了極大的反差，而在這種反差之中的碰撞，不論是技法或是觀念上都對劉金成形成自己的藝術風格產生了極大的影響。
劉金成在大學求學的時代，正是中國現代社會第一次開始思想啟蒙的年代，在80年代，隨著市場的開放，越來越多中國人開始開眼看世界，尤其是在藝術方面，年輕的有文化理想的藝術家和青年們開始在藝術上進行新的嘗試和探索，“85新潮”“星星畫會”等運動和團體開始展現，而劉金成也正是那一段光輝歲月的親歷和見證者，他組織了北京《十一月畫展》並參加了“北京青年畫會”。
89年之後，中國藝術和思想界因為眾所周知的原因而備受打壓，為了更廣闊的藝術發展空間，劉金成來到了英國，開始了他在西方的藝術探索之路。他先是求學於英國藝術第一學府斯萊德藝術學院（Slade School of Fine Art），其間他開始接觸到完整的西方藝術，開始了解到整體的西方當代藝術概念，東西兩邊不同的思考和藝術發展邏輯開始在劉金成的藝術實踐中發酵，直到今日，我們仍可以從其藝術作品中看到他在東西兩套體系之中碰撞和生長後留下的痕跡，也是從那時起，他就確定了自己的創作方向“藝術並不僅是簡單的展示生活，更是創造，即以一種藝術家獨特的語言來表達對世界的觀點。”
從斯萊德藝術學院畢業以後，劉金成成為了一位全職藝術家，以藝術創作作為自己的職業，這陽春白雪的職業在很多人看來是夢寐以求的工作，其實作為一個純粹的藝術家，其面對的卻更多的是純粹的藝術與世俗生活之間的矛盾，作為人的個體，藝術家不得不在撕裂的身份認同，社會認知以及自己的內心世界之中找到一個平衡點，而這種平衡對劉金成這樣一個不願與世俗妥協的藝術家來說，永遠孤立於主流之外，永遠憤世嫉俗地蔑視不平等的價值觀念，永遠保持天性純良的代價就是很難與世俗同流合汙，他的作品表達的觀念是當代的，但絕不是媚俗的，他發展出來的技法是獨特的，但絕不是為了炫耀，而這一切創作都是遵循著一個統一的邏輯，用藝術家的語言來表達對世界的認識，對周遭生活的反饋。
此次展出的《假真》系列作品全面地反映了劉金成近五年來在藝術領域的探索和思考，通過超寫實的創作手法來表達其對當下世界和社會的看法和認知：那些栩栩如生擁有惟妙惟肖細節的畫作，往往被觀者誤以為是一張被折揉的紙張，或是攝影作品印刷出來的圖像，而實際上卻是通過複雜的油畫技法創作出來的繪畫作品，這種似是而非的呈現效果，也正表達了藝術家所要探討的關於“真實與虛構”、“表象與本質”之間的關係，使假像成真的現象是一個永恆的隱喻，在我們生活的世界當中，我們不斷地接受各種假象，並深深地篤信這些“假象”為“真”並構成了我們生活的全部，而這也許是我們唯一能夠確認的一種“真理”。
同時他也在探求個人生活經歷的價值觀，尋找自身的文化背景與傳統在當下藝術的表現形式。而《石憶》系列正式他在這種反思與探索下的作品。相信在未來劉金成更將會不斷地求索和創新他的藝術。
