博山志 — 关于马骏个展

 

文：付晓东

 

一、 自觉

 

马骏自幼酷爱中国传统人物绘画，上自神仙力士，下至市井风情，力所能及，眼追手摩，早慧而有才名，无左无右，自谓天性使然。入天美受唐宋严谨经典的人物画教育，体悟染色的用笔和写意，用线的超拔和神逸。从看似严谨细密的画面皆是书写与用笔，始悟愈工愈写的道理。深得用线与笔法之趣，笔笔生发，自得线之韵味与质量妙处。却又不限于此，常扎入图书馆中翻查古今中外资料之中，从心所向，不可自拔，由此获得了一种不为时下各种风潮所限的个人轨迹。

 

二、广兼

 

以画供藏，以藏养画。以一根生气活泼之线为入眼准则，以线之微妙与弧度，取其时代精神，体其审美观念，以胡汉杂糅的北朝为师古之基，以隋法为脉，追溯其源流，纵览其演化，二十余年已涉秦汉质朴、魏晋风神、隋唐华贵、又及欧亚大陆不同区域的上古风韵，造像、瓷器、器物、织物、配件，无所不包。上下追其支脉，复溯其源。以时代的实物为样本，体会不同时空审美的精神内核，进而钻研不同流派的线性造型观念。积淀之深之广，叹为观止。马骏所藏非仅于物，乃得其品，以之为邻，日揣其意，纳其神气于腕下。除了与经典对弈，民间亦有可转化之处，其浑厚、质朴、活泼泼处，具有原始艺术的整体世界的直觉观念。其审美对象在其主脉上最大可能的扩展化，即粹传统之真意，又破陈套之藩篱。

 

三、简

 

简之要义，在于精炼。马骏之作，皆一气喷洒而出，风涌泉流，万象吞吐，巨细精粗，远近出入，各自度量于分寸之间，不可有一浊笔滞泄清气，不可略复以为疑笔，又不可一笔脱去不在体系之中。线与墨的交叠，即在纷繁元素间取势、切割，又可在整体混元一气中绽放，舒展。线条的抽象性、功能性与具象性恰好完美契合。删之又删，减之又减，直至去伪存真，去杂提纯，如煲一锅配料复杂的上汤，虽清寡，而不减其醇味以为贵，简笔而不减意，得古人心手合一之理。所做之人物，难在挥洒流畅，却意味玄远，寄兴深微，不可移之分毫，可云足踏风去，又可清高气深稳。其矜重顿挫，腾挪入微，蜻蜓点水而入万钧之力，寥寥同古今，苦心人未识。

 

四、文与质

 

马骏取率真，质朴之格，神清气淡，如鸾凤于山间齐飞，忽逢林下野鹿，神完气足，兼具升腾之气。不追慕消费时代的奇观中强烈震撼的视觉刺激，和密集大量的信息量的堆叠，而是吸收了文人传统中的简淡中出奇思，内敛中见雄强，力量在其背后的理性和感觉，自然而然，而非矫饰。马骏在上古的民间传统中提炼生命力的真纯和元气淋漓的表现，以文质彬彬来控制不失于野。用笔流畅洒脱，风骨俊逸，泼墨挥洒，而有形质具胜之内核，以格调揉之。

 

五、风格

 

马骏所建立的特殊风格是在融会贯通了漫长的历史线索之后，不断尝试和迭代，基于对偶然性的触发，内心的遵从，感觉上的准确，在基本审美因素上反复提纯和凝练，形成了一个清晰的，稳定的，独特的，和历史上的文化脉络互相映照的个人结构。编织在一起的点、线、色、面之间的关系和质量，一步一步愈发纯化的语言，构造了一个内在的精神世界的整体。以一种现代主义的审美关照，从跨文明的古代艺术中，找到一种精神上的亲缘关系，吸收民间艺术的形式和结构和创造性的觉悟，打上了一种对形式自由的开拓和实验性姿态的印迹。

 

六、博山

 

汉代的自然观念是“天道无为，听恣其性，故放鱼于川，纵兽于山，从其性命之欲也。不驱鱼令上陵，不逐兽令入渊者，何哉？拂诡其性，失其所宜也。”（《论衡自然篇》）“”吾所谓有天下者，自得而己。自得则天下亦得我矣。吾与天下相得，所谓自得者，全其身者也。全其身，则与道为一矣。”（《淮南子·原道训》）汉代认为自然万物皆是至上神的观念物化的显现，博山这个意向既是从“元气”这个万物之本出发，所有物象从自然混沌之中生发显现，又终消融于混沌。在最原始之物上略加刻画，于是万物互相转化，水转山，山转为灵兽与神人，再归于气，万物一圈，自然原始的万物又皆自体圆满有灵。马骏的整体观念正是在语言、形式和精神世界的探索追求中，抵达于此。在自然的墨气之中自然变化，以阴阳相生的方法，得其气，取其势，从混沌之中顺势跳脱出鲜活的形象，吞吐宇宙，生于自然、长于自然，不违天性，自然而已。博山自汉代以来，即是对于人类理想世界的描述和模仿，是一种微观的宇宙的模型。马骏的作品在不知不觉中，纷纷指向了博山上的一切，云烟之气生成芳草羽人，神兽嘉木，画中之人物我两忘，解衣磅礴，人山兽在空间中主观错落，天人在笔墨中冲淡一气，万物皆是一个整体。

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A Fantasy of Mount Bo: Ma Jun’s Solo Exhibition

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By Fu Xiaodong

 

 

Self-consciousness

 

Ma Jun grew up with a passion for traditional Chinese figure painting, from immortals and strongmen to the scenes of ordinary life. With early talent and intelligence, he is able to follow with his eyes and hands, and he claims it is due to his natural disposition. He received a rigorous education in figure painting from the Tang and Song dynasties when he entered the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, and learned the use of brushwork, the expressions of colors, and the techniques of line drawing. He understood that seemingly strict and meticulous paintings are all about writing and brushwork, and the more he works, the better he gets. He deeply enjoyed the pleasure of using lines and brushstrokes, and his lines were full of charm and quality. However, he was not limited to this. He often delved into the library to study various materials from ancient and modern times, both domestic and foreign, and was unable to stop himself from doing so, thus acquiring a personal trajectory that was not limited by the various fashions of the day.

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 Collection

 

We use our paintings to provide for our collection, and use our collection to nurture our paintings. Using a lively and energetic line as a criterion for the eyes, capturing the subtle nuances and curvature of the line, extracting the spirit of the times and embodying aesthetic concepts, taking the Northern Dynasties, which were a mixture of various ethnic groups, as the basis for ancient study, and the aesthetic conception in the Sui Dynasty as the main vein, tracing back to its origins, and exploring its evolution, for over 20 years, Ma Jun’s collection has covered the simplicity of the Qin and Han dynasties, the charm of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the elegance of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the ancient styles of different regions of Europe and Asia, including sculptures, ceramics, objects, textiles, and accessories. Tracing its branches up and down and back to its origins, using physical objects from different eras as samples, he experiences the spiritual core of aesthetic perception across different time and space, and then delves into the linear conceptions of different schools of modelling. The depth and breadth of the accumulation is astonishing. Ma Jun’s collection is not only about objects, but also about its essence. Living with it, he can understand its intention and imbue its spirit in his work. In addition to playing with the classics, there are also places where folk art can be transformed. Its simplicity, rusticity, and liveliness embody the intuitive conceptions of primitive art as a whole world. Its aesthetic object is maximally expanded on its main vein, that is, it conveys the true meaning of tradition and breaks through the barriers of stereotypes.

 

Simplicity

 

    The point of simplicity lies in refinement. All of Ma Jun’s works spill out in one breath, surging like a fountain, encompassing all phenomena: the large and the small, the refined and the coarse, the near and the far, each with its own measure of appropriateness, without a unclear stroke impeding the fresh and lucid spirit, without a stroke of doubt, nor can a single stroke be removed from the system. The overlap of lines and ink is used to seize and cut between the various elements, and also to bloom and expand within the whole mixed unity. The abstract, functional, and concrete aspects of the lines are perfectly integrated. They are deleted again and again, reduced again and again, until the false is removed and the true is retained, until the impurities are removed and the purity is obtained. Like a pot of broth with various ingredients, though mild, it does not diminish its aromaticity; the simple strokes do not diminish the meaning, but rather achieve the unity of the mind and hands. The difficulty of portraying figures lies in the fluency of the strokes, and that implies a deep and subtle meaning that cannot be shifted in the slightest. It can be said that the strokes are soaring on the wind, yet also lofty and stable. Their weightiness, abruptness, and nimbleness penetrate to the minutest details, exerting the power of a dragonfly landing on the water, and this is a rare achievement of ancient and modern times, known only to those who have made great efforts.

 

Pattern and raw substance

 

Ma Jun takes a straightforward, simple style, clear and light, like phoenixes flying together among the mountains, suddenly meeting a wild deer in the woods, with a rising spirit. Instead of chasing after the intense visual stimulation of the spectacle of the consumer era and the dense and massive stacking of information, he absorbs the literati tradition of the simple in its simplicity, the majestic in its introspection, and the power of reason and feeling behind it, naturally rather than pretentiously. Ma Jun distils the true purity of vitality and the dripping expression of it in the folk traditions of the ancient world, using the harmony of pattern and raw substance to control the recalcitrant wildness. The brushwork is smooth and spontaneous, the style is pretty and easy, the ink is splashed and wielded, and there is a core of the excellence both in form and quality that mixed in a stylist way.

 

Style

 

Ma Jun’s unique style has been developed through a long process of assimilating historical clues and continually experimenting and iterating. Based on accidental triggers, inner compliance, and accurate perception, he has repeatedly refined and condensed the basic aesthetic elements to create a clear, stable, and unique personal structure that reflects the historical cultural context. The relationships and qualities between the points, lines, colors, and surfaces that are woven together, as well as the increasingly purified language, construct a complete inner spiritual world. With a modernist aesthetic perspective, Ma Jun finds a spiritual affinity with ancient art across civilizations, absorbing the forms and structures of folk art and creatively experimenting with form and style.

 

 

Mount Bo

 

The conception of nature in the Han Dynasty is “The Dao is without effort, allowing things to follow their own nature. Thus, we release fish into the river and set beasts free on the mountains, following their desires and nature. Why not force fish to swim uphill or drive beasts into deep waters? This would violate their nature and disrupt their dispositions.” (Of Nature, Discourses in the Balance) “I speak of having the world because I possess myself. When I possess myself, the world also possesses me. I am in harmony with the world, and when I possess myself, I am in accord with the Dao. To possess oneself is to preserve one’s body, and by doing so, one becomes one with the Dao.” (Searching Out the Dao, The Huainanzi) During the Han Dynasty, people believed that all things were manifestations of the supreme god. The image of Mount Bo was both derived from the “primordial energy” of all things and manifested from the chaos of nature. Everything was interconnected, with water turning into mountains, mountains becoming spirit beasts and immortals, and ultimately returning to the primordial energy, completing the cycle of all things. By lightly sketching out the most primitive elements of things, everything could be transformed, allowing nature to take its course. Ma Jun’s outlook is reached through his exploration and pursuit of language, form, and the spiritual world. In the natural ink, his strokes naturally change and follow the method of the unity of Yin and Yang to obtain their Qi and take their momentum. From the chaos, the strokes jump out of vivid images and swallow the universe, born in nature, grown in nature, not violating nature, simply natural. Since the Han Dynasty, Mount Bo has been a description and imitation of the ideal world of mankind, a microcosmic model of the universe. Ma Jun’s works unconsciously refer to everything on Mount Bo, where clouds and smoke generate fragrant grass and feathered people, mythical creatures and auspicious trees; the figures in the paintings forget the distinction between oneself and the outside world; humans and animals are subjectively intertwined in one space; the divine and immortals blend seamlessly in ink, and all things integrate into a whole.