曾浩是个内向的人，但他却有着一腔士者的情怀与热血。我与他第一次见面之前就已经在微博上互相关注很久了，常常在微博上看到他非常关注社会，也常常对于一些公共事件仗义执言，也就大约知道他跟自己是价值观和立场近似的同一类人。大约两年前，朋友郑念缇说要介绍位艺术家给我，于是在约好的一天她领着曾浩来到了元典美术馆见我，之后又一起去参观了他在费家村的工作室。曾浩不善言辞，只是安静地在工作室里来回搬抬他的作品给我看。作品大多是油画，量很大，尺幅也很大，看得出是多年工作的积累。看着那些作品我几乎很难与眼前这位平和腼腆的人联系起来，那些对于现实有着强烈批判意识的画面，画面里充斥着拜金狂潮下奢靡艳俗的人物与风景，以及很多对于城市拆迁、过度建设提出质疑的视觉表达，我注意到他画面中的很多事物的表面都借用了一种发光的肥皂泡泡般的描绘方式，画的很平很虚很薄，色调轻浮诡异，质感逼真，他以很高的油画技巧，画出了那些肥皂泡般的脆弱、剔透和轻浮的感觉。他笔下的那些所谓的伟人标志性建筑物城市摩天大楼都成了这些泡泡的拥塞和堆砌，似乎会一触即溃瞬间灰飞烟灭，这些作品简直像极了一种这个泡沫化时代的隐喻。看到这些作品我非常喜欢，也提出了希望他继续简化细节、强化符号、纯化语言的一些积极建议。双方也约定有了调整后的新作品后再深入交流。打那之后我也时常会留意他的一些动向，双方在微博微信上的交流也慢慢多了起来，并且又去过几次曾浩的工作室看他的新作品，后来就自然有了在元典美术馆的展览之约。
曾浩曾就学于四川美院，川美以盛产当代油画家著称，从“伤痕美术”时期的何多苓、高小华、程丛林到“八五新潮”时期的张晓刚、周春芽、叶永青，一直到“艳俗艺术”的代表俸正杰以及更年轻的“卡通一代”的陈可等等，川美确实出了一大批当代油画家。曾浩在川美接受了高超的油画技法训练，当时还得到了张晓刚、叶永青等尚在川美担任教职的著名艺术家的言传身教。本科毕业后又成为首都师范大学美术学院著名艺术家尚扬的研究生进一步深造，因而无论从美术功底、油画技法、创作理念等方面曾浩都可说是师出名门根正苗红。加之他自青少年时代就与生具备正义感、责任感与关注时代关注现实的特性，使他拥有了成为一名优秀的当代艺术家的基础素养。为了实现自己的艺术梦，曾浩研究生毕业后没有选择回到生活舒适气候宜人的南方家乡，而是在北京郊区建立了自己的工作室，环境艰苦生活清苦，忍受着与妻子儿女聚少离多的候鸟式生活，为了潜心创作他放弃了在南中国一所大学的工作。尽管这样艰辛的状态持续了七八年之久，但是曾浩心中的理想与信念一直不曾泯灭，从少年时代就已经确立的艺术家梦始终在他的前方引领他的前行。
百多年来，中国社会历经了沧桑巨变，从清末的国运衰败外强欺辱到求强图存的戊戌变法、到追求共和宪政的辛亥革命、从救亡救危的抗日战争到兄弟反目的国共内战，从近三十年的极左路线到文革十年浩劫，加上后来的改革开放与全民经商大潮，可以说整个中国像是在一艘汪洋风暴中的一艘跌宕起伏险象环生的大船，中华民族更是历经磨难九死一生，尽管改革开放以后国家逐渐富强，人民生活水平大幅提高，但商业大潮冲击下全民道德体系的瓦解溃败，制度缺陷带来的发展不均与社会公平问题，令中国仍然面临着巨大的转型挑战。社会问题错综复杂，公共事件层出不穷。而绝大部分艺术家要么依附于体制内以牺牲独立性和尊严来换取既得利益，要么沿袭中国传统文人逃避现实的心态不问国事自得其乐，要么就只是与资本与市场合谋急功近利的追求商业利益。真正有现代公共知识分子责任感和担当，敢于关注现实，敢于针砭时弊，并用自己的创作对于时代和生存处境给予回应的艺术家少之又少。而曾浩正是这样一位有良知有勇气的艺术家，他的作品找到了表达这个泡沫时代最典型的视觉符号，并以此高度概括性地描绘了中国近代以来的历史与现实场景与代表性视觉符号，为观者呈现了一个清晰、敏感并且高度概念化的画面形象，建构了一套自己的绘画技法、视觉语言和观念传达的通道，形成一种颇具个人风格特征别开生面的创作体系。
一个展览也许无法给与曾浩太多，但这代表着元典美术馆以及我个人一直以来的文化立场和价值追求，以及我们对于有着公共担当的优秀艺术家的认同与尊敬。期待这次曾浩的个展能够给予他一些温暖和鼓励，也能令他感受到自己十余年艰辛孤独的思考、创作和表达同样构建了不同寻常的价值和意义，也衷心希望曾浩能在自己的艺术道路上越走越远。
2015年3月16日于香港
Light of Conscience Through a Bubble Spectacle
Zeng Hao is an introvert with a heart full of sentiment and passion. We were followers of each other on Weibo for a long time before we have actually met in person. I knew he and I shared similar values and positions from looking at his reposts that showed his concerns on social issues, along with his bold expressions of his opinions on public incidents. About two years ago, my friend Zheng Nianti offered to introduce an artist to me. We arranged a time, and she brought Zeng Hao to meet me at Yuan Art Museum. Afterwards we visited Zeng’s studio in Feijiacun altogether. Zeng Hao was not a talkative person. He moved his artworks back and forth to show me, the whole time barely spoke any words. Most of his works are oil paintings. The amount of art produced were innumerable, and the sizes were massive. I could tell they were accumulated from years of making. I had a hard time connecting the dots between his art and this gentle, humble person who stood in front of me. The images with strong intentional criticism werefull of gaudy extravagant characters and landscapes under mammonist frenzies and visual representations questioning the demolition and excessive construction in urban cities. I came to notice the surface of his subjects were rendered in a glowing painting technique reminding me of the soap bubble texture. The surface of the paintings were extremely flat and thin, the tones frivolous and peculiar, the texture was extremely realistic. Zheng Hao used highly skillful techniques to paint the fragility, lightness, and transparency of his bubbles. The iconic majestic architectures and urban skyscrapers became the suffused and congested bubbles under his brush, as if they would easily be destroyed and turn into smoldering ashes instantaneously. Those works were direct metaphors to the current bubble era. I liked them the instance I saw them, and I suggested Zeng Hao to continue simplifying the details, intensify the symbols, and be more direct in terms of language in his work. We have agreed to meet again and discuss in more depth after he finishes more artworks with adjustments. After our meeting, I paid attention to Zeng Hao’s news and where abouts. We began to have more and more in-depth conversations over Weibo and Wechat. I followed up on his work and visited his studio several times afterwards, and naturally we came to an agreement to have his solo exhibition shown at Yuan Art Museum.
Zeng Hao studied at Sichuan Fine Art Institute. SFAI is famous for producing contemporary painters, such as He Duoling, Gao Xiaohua, Cheng Conglin from the “Scar Art” period; Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, Ye Yongqing from the “85’ New Wave”; Feng Zhengjie as a representative of “Kitsch Art”; Chen Ke from the “Cartoon Generation”, to name a few. Zeng Hao received highly skillful training in SFAI from mentors like Zhang Xiaogang, Ye Yongqing and other well-known artists teaching as faculties at the time. After receiving his Bachelors degree, Zeng Hao acquired his Masters degree with well-known artist Shang Yang at capital normal university. Zeng Hao received traditional art school training from great masters of art in art foundation, painting techniques and creative concepts. In addition, his righteousness and responsible nature developed from youth as well as his awareness in social realism became the foundation stones for him in becoming an excellent contemporary artist. In order to pursue his art dream, Zeng Hao did not return to his comfortable, mild-in-climate Southern hometown. Instead, he set up a studio in the suburbs of Beijing. The environment was harsh and money was tight. He had to withstand long periods of separation from his family and migrated back and forth like a bird. He had to give up a job in university in Southern China in order to concentrate on art practice. Although the difficult situation continued for eight long years, Zeng Hao’s ideal and beliefs for art never vanished. Being an artist was a boyhood dream, a dream that became the momentum which kept him going.
In the past century, China’s society went through tremendous change: from the Qing dynasty’s decline and attack by foreign powers, to seeking competence and strength through the Wu Xu Reform Movement; from Xin Hai Revolution that pursued a republic constitutional government, to the national salvation and resistance of the Japanese War; from the civil war to three decade of extreme-leftist and a decade of near-catastrophic cultural revolution, to the reforms and a national business wave; what China had gone through is comparable to a perilous ship traveling through a stormy sea. The Chinese nation suffered through numerous vicissitudes and narrow escapes. Despite the fact of a gradually strengthened, prosperous nation and the greatly improved living standards of the people, China still face enormous challenges in transition from the collapse of the national moral system due to the impact of a commercialist tide as well as deficiencies in the system causing uneven development and social equity issues. Complicated social issues and public incidents continue to arise. The vast majority of artists either attach themselves within the system at the expense of independence and dignity in exchange for vested interests, or they followthe mentality of traditional Chinese literati escapists who enjoyed life and avoids all social affairs. Another kind simply conspires with the capital and the market for quick commercial interests and financial success. There are extremely few artists who acknowledges their responsibility as public intellectuals and dares to attend to reality, or bold enough to point out problems and use their art practice as a form of response on the living conditions of the era. But Zeng Hao happens to be an artist of conscience and courage. His work found an iconic visual symbol to represent the current bubble era, and uses highly conclusive methods to depict scenarios from both reality and recent Chinese history, as well as portraying images of identifiable, representational visual symbols. His art provided clear, sensitive and conceptual images for the audience. Zeng Hao developed a set of unique painting techniques, visual languages and specific channels in conveying his concepts. They formed into an unique personalized working system with distinguishable individual stylistics.
An exhibition may not offer much for Zeng Hao, but it embodies the pursuance of value and cultural standpoints of Yuan Art Museum and myself. It represents our recognition and respect to an outstanding artist who carried social responsibilities on his shoulders. We hope the individual exhibition of Zeng Hao can endow him warmth and encouragement. At the same time, we hope the show can help Zeng Hao realize his lonesome thought making, art making and expressions of the past decade have constructed extraordinary value and significance. We sincerely wish Zeng Hao an exceeding future and many more accomplishments to come on the forthcoming path of his art career.
Liang Kegang
March 16th, 2015 in Hong Kong
