“融——当代油画语言研究展”展览前言

油画艺术的语言结构本是建立在西方人文基础之上。彼时的西方世界发明了“油画”作为他们的视觉文本是自然而然的选择，也可以说在漫长的历史长河中，油画艺术承载了可视性的西方文明，就如同古老的中国选择了水墨与宣纸承载视觉形象一样，对应着彼此观看世界的方式、哲学观以及文化。

一个民族创造文化并不断发展，就会形成该民族的传统文化，也就产生了文化的民族性；而一个民族的文化在发展过程中又必然接受和融入别的民族的文化，这就产生了文化的时代性。文化的民族性与时代性既统一又矛盾，缺一不可：继承传统文化是保持民族性，而吸收外来文化又赋予了本体文化的时代性。通过对艺术史（或者文明史）的梳理，我们可以清晰地观察到文化在发展过程中的以上特性。东西方文化在各个历史阶段的交流中不断吸收对方的文化而产生新的文化，尽管彼此的融入并没有消除各自本体文化的民族性，但正是由于新文化的产生开创了新时代，使人类文明的边际不断拓展并持续进化。

时至今日，作为西方舶来的油画艺术，裹挟在近现代西学东渐的这股时代大潮中，在中国的文化土壤生根发芽，历经百年而根深叶茂。油画艺术深深地融入到中国文化中，已成为中国当下重要的艺术门类，参与着中国现代文化的整体建构。

“笔墨当随时代”，指的是中国画的绘画语言应当随着时代的更迭而变化，而源自西方的油画语言又何尝不是如此。“融：当代油画语言研究展”以艺术史为背景，观察油画语言随着时代的演进与递嬗：通过参展油画家的集体视觉文本，让我们看到了文明的画卷依次开启——抑或上一个时代的终曲往往孕育着下一个时代的序曲。


Fusion- Preface for Contemporary Oil Painting
Visual Language Research Exhibition


Oil painting – as an artistic medium – was originated in the West, and it was considered the carrier of Western visual cultures. While Chinese ink painting bears the responsibility of passing on a visual image of ancient China, oil painting plays a similarly important role in terms of representing Western values, philosophy and culture.

Whenever one culture is created within a nation, its tradition and identity will naturally form with features unique to the nation itself. As the culture of one nation communicates with those of the others, it will be further enriched and characterized by its contemporaneity. The national tradition and the contemporaneity of the culture are both uniform and contradictory: We inherit the long-standing traditions to maintain cultural identity, while we communicate cross-culturally to enrich ourselves with contemporaneity. Through the study of art history (or civilization), we can clearly observe the above features of an evolving culture. The East and West have a long history of intermingling with each other. Without compromising the original traditions respectively, they generate new cultural ideas that push the boundary of human civilization.

Till this day, oil painting – as a product of Western art and culture – has been fully accepted and well practiced by Chinese artists. It plays an indispensable role in the modernization of Chinese culture, carrying important meanings beyond being a mere artistic medium.

The kind of visual language that a painting carries should be kept up-to-date regardless of its cultural context. “Fusion-Contemporary Oil Painting Language Research Exhibition” is rooted in art history, observing the evolution of oil painting’s visual language over time. As the exhibited artworks reveal, the finale of an era breeds the preface of the next.