2016 “无 · 性” 王学军专访 | Interview with Wang Xuejun

1. 为何本次摄影系列的主题取名为“色盲”？

Why your first photography collection is titled “色盲-Se Mang”? (literally translated from Chinese as Colour Blind)

色盲，这名字是上次非商业预展时候策展团队根据我关注性别的社会性、生理性和心理性问题时候的错位感和复杂性起的多个主题中我最喜欢的一个主题。因为，我的所有作品都以红、绿色为主，而红绿色确有成千甚至上万的不同色相和色温，让我乐此不疲地在其中找到一种奇妙的碰撞。然而，“色”在中文里面也有情色的意思，所以两者交集而迷乱，让人无法辨认你所看到的就是真相，于是，每个人都以为自己看到了色的本质，其实非也。

This is one of my favorite titles based on my close attention to the social, biological and psychological aspects of gender, which was proposed by the curating team from Publicis Group during my last non-commercial preview exhibition. I noticed the misplacement and complication from male’s and female’s presence in today’s society. All of my works are dominated in red and green colour（色 Se）. I am obsessed by the different shades of red and green because of its huge magical contrast occurred in visual. In Chinese, “colour (色 Se)” also stands for “Lust”. So the title of “色盲-Se Mang” implicates the combination of the major colour from my art works that you can see and the “Lust” behind my artworks you can’t see but you may feel. In my works, it’s hard to identify Female and Male with our traditional definition and judgement.

2. 众所周知，你以往的作品都是以油画为主。而此次的摄影作品是你艺术创作生涯中第一次大胆尝试用摄影的方式去表达你的观念，能告诉我们为什么吗？

As we all know, your previous works are mainly oil paintings. This is your first photography collection to express your idea, why?

我毕业于美院油画系，但当下艺术家并非就是画家，我不想局限自己的表达手段或载体，所以其实我从绘画（不只是油画）到装置、影像、文本以及表演等手段都有运用或尝试，而当某种手段或语言确实成熟以后，我会开始做一些展览和交流。摄影是一项门槛比较低的创作手段，所以用它替代绘画是非常便捷的，所以我选择了摄影做这次展览。当然，以后还会陆续出现其他艺术方式。

My major is oil painting at Si Chuan Fine Arts Academy. However, I believe artist is not only a painter nowadays, I won’t limit myself to explore all kinds of media to express my art. Art performance, installation, video, photography, text have been tried already in the past. Personally I think photography is a relatively accessible approach to try, to realise my works. Certainly，I will try more in the near future.

3. 当年从川美油画系毕业后，你曾在阳狮集团以及喜来登酒店等一些知名的公司企业中担任过近十年之久的高级艺术设计总监一职。这些从业经历在你今后的艺术创作生涯中产生了什么影响？

After you graduated from Si Chuan Fine Arts Academy, you have worked as a senior artistic director in some well-known companies such as Publicis Group and Sheraton Hotel for nearly ten years. What does this experience influence your art career?

我觉得我是个比较排斥拷贝前人成功经验的人，我对什么感兴趣，就会去做。所以我担任过服装设计、建筑设计、平面设计等多种视觉工作。我很享受无知者无畏的过程。很多人都会套用前人的成功路径或需要得到很多理论支持，但我从客户需求和探索更多可能性出发，从而产生很多意想不到的视觉经验。这段经历让我在今后的艺术创作中受益匪浅，不拷贝别人、不重复自己或刻意重复自己成为我的创作趣味。

I don’t like repeating the same ideas or “successful experience” from others. I do things only if I’m interested in. I have a large interest in visual creation, so my job has involved in fashion design, architectural design, web design, and digital graphic design. I enjoy generating new concepts. It brings me more unexpected visual experience. I have benefited so much from my past visual working experience. Don’t repeat other people’s ideas, don’t repeat myself or do repeat myself in purpose are becoming my interest in the art creation.

4. 你觉得当今社会中的中性现象是一种普遍现象还是特殊现象？你是如何看待这种“中性“趋势的？你觉得这种趋势会给我们当今的社会和年轻的一代产生怎样的影响？

What do you think of the neutral phenomenon appeared in today’s society? Is this a common phenomenon or a special phenomenon? How do you think about this tendency of “Neutral Sex”? What kind of impact will it have on the young generation?

我一直认为“男性”、“女性”是一种很模糊的名词。如果这是一种生理性上的定义，我觉得可以接受。然而，我发现人类是种很复杂的生物体。在心理性别的认识上，往往很多人是错位的。以及我们对社会性别的划分，你能说合理吗？当今很多女性成为国家和世界的领导人，这从某种程度上来说，以前的社会性别分工的认识已被颠覆。这从某个角度说明了传统意义上社会性别划分的荒诞性和无知性。所以我觉得性别只能用来指其生理性，而谈及其社会性和心理性的话，我们就不要自作聪明地划分了吧。因为你的观点很可能在他人眼中不一定正确。所以我还是主张‘无性’的社会。

I understand the biological definition of Female and Male. However, they confuse me some times. I found human being is a very complicated kind. Speaking from its psychological and social aspect, many people misplace them for being female and for being male. Nowadays many females become the world leader, which denies or challenges the traditional recognition of being a female for the social roles in the society. Therefore, I think we can identify the female and the male by its biological gender instead of its psychological and social gender. I hence support this “Neutral Sex” world.

5. 能与我们简单谈谈你的这次摄影系列的拍摄制作过程吗？为何这次摄影作品中你选择的都是以男性而非女性的形象来表达？你觉得参与此次艺术拍摄项目的自愿者的总体表现如何？

Can you talk about your photography making process of this collection? Why you choose male participants instead of female participants? What do you think of their performance in front of the camera?

其实我已经认真研究摄影创作三年多了。以前拍的主题也很杂乱，但慢慢发现这种形式和我的绘画主题比较有关。于是我开始说服周围的朋友参与。最早我只想到找女性密友拍摄，因为听到人体艺术似乎只有女人体，但发现女人体无论怎么表达，性的意味都会被观者挤压出来，无论是胸部还是臀部或是大腿，更别说私密地带…… 所以这让我很困扰。于是，我开始说服我的一些男性朋友参与。男性与男性间也没太多防备心，所以整个拍摄过程进行得很顺利。刚开始时，我会画草图，并让参与者按草图摆相同的姿势。但后来我发现每个模特的气质和形体的不同很难达到最理想的画面。 所以我让他们自由发挥。令人惊喜的是他们自由的反应和随机的动态却超乎想象的好。所以，你要问他们每个人的表现如何，我觉得和我发掘他们个体特性至关重要。我必须感谢每个志愿者的支持与参与！没有你们的支持与参与，我的这个系列作品是无法诞生的！

Actually, I started working on my photography creation over more than three years. The earlier works are involved in large topics without any focus. Later, I gradually found photography is something can relate to my paintings. So I started to encourage my friends to participate in my project. In the beginning, I only looked for female friends due to the fact that we pay more attention to the female body rather than the male’s. Then the problem is no matter how I do, there are always something relating to lust will be squeezed out by the viewers, from their breasts, bottoms and other private area… It really frustrates me. Then I started trying to encourage my male friends to participate this project. It goes quite well, as there is no defensiveness between us. In the beginning, I did some drawings to let my friends pose according to my drawings. Afterwards, I found it doesn’t fit in everyone. So I let them do the free pose and follow their own feelings and emotions. The result is so much better than I thought. I think the most important thing is to discover their individual characteristics and let them create! I am being very grateful for all the participants who supported me to realise my first photography collection!

6. 你今后的创作方向是否会更多得使用摄影这一媒介而非传统的架上绘画这一形式？你会放弃油画创作吗?

Are you going to do more photograph works instead of painting? Will you give up on oil paintings?

我不会放弃任何一种我感觉有快感和幸福感的创作方式.

I won’t give up any means to create my art that excite me and make me feel happy.