开幕：2016年3月19日周六 15:00

展期：2016.03.19——2016.06.19

艺术家：魏立刚

地点：北京市朝阳区南皋路129号·塑料三厂文化创意园·在3画廊1号库

Universal Things Examine——Wei Ligang Retrospective 1996-2016 

Opening: Saturday, 19 March,3:00 pm, 2016

Exhibition Duration: 19 March – 19 June, 2016

Artist: Wei Ligang

Location:  Being 3 Gallery, No.1 Warehouse , Cultural  and Creative Park at the Number 3 Plastic Factory ,129 Nangao Road ,Chaoyang  District, Beijing

前 言

在3画廊很荣幸将于2016年3月19日推出开年大展：“万物察——1996～2016魏立刚回顾展”。本次展览收录了艺术家魏立刚自1996年到如今创作实验的各类作品，以及各机构和私人的宝贵收藏，共计140多件作品，是艺术家创作的全面展示。自魏立刚的艺术生涯伊始，他一直保持着对东方抽象绘画的疯狂求索，期望通过线条的魔力、毛笔与墨汁的纠缠术创生“全球抽象史的东翼”，可以说魏立刚的作品在根底上是一种深沉的文化思虑的外显。

 

魏立刚早期研习传统书法，又通过对西方抽象绘画的学习吸纳，从而自破藩篱，开始对自我身份的确认探索和对东方文化的反思建构，逐渐形成了具有鲜明个人特征的绘画语言。他从甲骨、金文、汉隶、楷书、行草中吸取养分，又视之为挑战的对象，打破重构，营造类方块字，形成魏氏魔块；他创作“金墨大草”，金色为底，黑草连绵，显得响亮而气贯如虹，表达对高贵、瑰丽和灿烂的狂热追求；他又删去汉字，做圆圈连缀缠绕，演算元素间的奏联，进入连绵数的推演，幻化为富丽的孔雀系列；他通过一种结构性的符码提炼，高度抽象出金枝大梅朵……他致力于书象研究与传播，志向直达“炳于艺史”。

 

在魏立刚的作品中，绚丽的丙烯金、流贯的黑墨线、有力的符码方块，投射出一种铿锵的庄严感，艺术的力量通过线色的对比，平面的符码结构展现出来。魏立刚的抽象艺术不是从西方借来的风格，也不是东方意蕴衍生出的抽象。与此相反，他参照早已享有话语权的西方抽象绘画形式的思想演进过程，依据书法、笔墨这两种东方长久而丰富的传统去探索新的可能性。他要克服的不仅仅是西方抽象绘画表层形式的影响，还有中国传统艺术样式根深蒂固的羁绊。在对西方抽象绘画的剖析中，在参与中国传统艺术的理解中，魏立刚激活了传统，创造出新质，正如西方抽象绘画对再现绘画的一种反叛创立，魏立刚对于中国传统艺术，尤其是书法艺术做出了非常彻底的现代回应。

 

正因为如此，魏立刚的作品对于我们观众来说也提出了巨大的趣味挑战。他既不墨守于传统的安全趣味，也不拘泥于业已成立的西方抽象绘画的趣味，而是出于个人与文化的现实，扩展新的期待。这一次的《万物察》即将带来这种扩展后的震惊，展览时间将持续三个月，相信这也是一场全新的趣味满足的展览。

Preface

Being3 Gallery is honored to present “All Things Observed: Wei Ligang Retrospective1996-2016,” our first exhibition of 2016, opening on March 19. With generous support from institutional and private collections, this exhibition brings together and catalogs over one hundred forty of Wei's experimental creations in various genres and media, providing a comprehensive study of the artist's oeuvre. From the very beginning of his artistic career, Wei has avidly explored the abstract imagination of oriental painting. In his fascinating choreography of brush, ink, and hand stroke, or what one might call the “East wing of theglobal history of abstractionism,” is found a serious examination of, and deliberation on, important cultural considerations. 

 

It  is from his early years of traditional calligraphy practice and later study of Western abstract painting that Wei explored and developed his artistic identity. From an engagement with Eastern thinking, he has established a recognizable personal style with distinct visual characteristics. Wei’s artistic practice has been tremendously enriched by diverse Chinese calligraphicstyles: the Oracle Bone Script (jiaguwen), Bronze Inscriptions (jinwen), the Clerical Script of Han (hanli), the Regular Script (kaishu), the Semi-cursive Script (xingshu), and the Cursive Script (caoshu). He broke down their extant forms and reconstructed them as square-like characters that became his signature “Wei Block.” This as well led to the creation of a unique scriptstyle called “Golden Cursive,” where the gold prominently foregrounds the flowing ink strokes in an elevating manner and reflects the artist's ardent pursuit of the magnificent and sublime. Wei then extended this reformation by removing Chinese characters entirely from his work. The abutting circles that emerged through this process perform a calculated play of elements and lead to a successive reduction of numbers, as with the “Peacock” series, in which highly abstract forms of golden branches and plum blossom rise out of a structural extraction of code. With his dedication to the study and advancement of modern calligraphic art,Wei makes his mark in the history of art.

 

Whether it is with the floridity of golden paint, the stream of inky strokes, or the strength of angular symbols, Wei's works project a powerful air of solemnness.The force of art comes to life in the contrast of color and the configuration of emblems. One would be mistaken to consider Wei's abstract art as an appropriation of Western methodologies or a derivative of the East. To the contrary, he is exploring new possibilities after studying the progression of ideas in the tradition of Western abstract painting as well as the rich and long-standing qualities of Eastern ink painting. There are two challenges: atendency to be influenced superficially by the form of Western abstractionism,and the fettering laws of ancient Chinese art. An in-depth analysis of Western abstractionism and a profound understanding of ink-art history enable Wei to revive the tradition and conceive of new forms. In a fashion similar to the rebellion that abstract painting brought to representational art, Wei's works poses a thoroughly modern response to the ancient art of calligraphy. 

 

Therefore,Wei's works also pose a challenge of appreciation to the viewer; his art doesnot stay in the comfort zone of tradition, nor does it confine itself to established concepts of Western abstract painting. Originating from the reality of an individual and a culture, it expands our horizon. We believe the three-month-long exhibition will provide the public with a satisfying andstandard-raising experience.