DSL Collection

Does the conventional "realism" exist in Zhan Wang's series of works Fake Rockery? With the substitutive material of stainless steel, can these works transmit the so-called "romantic" atmosphere? For certain, these questions seem no longer the art issues according to the current standard. Ever since 1949, the artistic way of thinking has been functioning in the force of aesthetics. And since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in 1979, humanitarianism and humanism have emerged as the major concepts to interpret China's contemporary art works. Since 1985, "Installation Art" and "Conception Art" have prevailed in China's critical texts. However, "Avant-Garde" and "Vanguard" have become the most important concepts for young artists as an up-to-date criterion as well as a brand-new authority. It seems that the effective infiltration of these new concepts finally puts an art history of "realism" into end. As a matter of fact, the reality narrates a far more complex story.

As a creator emerging from his sculptures featured in "realism", how could Zhan Wang stride over this feature or make use of it? That's my concern. In the early 1990s, I once categorized him into "new generation artists" (a generation of artists born in 1960s) of Mainland China. In fact, Zhan Wang took part in "New Generation Art Exhibition" held in Chinese History Museum (the current National Museum) in July 1991. Customarily, this exhibition can be described as a "realistic art exhibition", which falls into heretical "realism" in the eyes of classical realism artists and critics. But from my point of view, it is "new generation realism", faintly revealing the old trace left by realism and exerting an edifying influence on the new generation artists. The new generation of realism can be defined as a phenomenal realism making use of and transcending socialist realism, with individual as its essence. Not confining itself as "Cynical Realism", which is interpreted by people with religious or political stand who take Classical Realism as standard, this kind of realism may find several versions like "Personal Life Realism", "Depthless Realism", "Autobiographic Realism", "Short-distance Realism", "Self-mockery Realism", "Ridicule Realism" or "Part-of-the ¨Cworld Realism".

Summer Girl, Zhan Wang's realistic sculpture, was his works in the "New Generation Art Exhibition". Neither "cynical" nor "ridicule", this sculpture quietly dilutes the political connotation (since the founding of new China) and literary sentiment (since new times) which prevailed in the previous sculptures of contemporary China. He placed an ordinary girl (not a commercial girl or entertainment icon, nor political leader or cultural elite) in a position for special examination (in the History Museum), but added no particular meaning to the works. Audience should specially confront an "art" that needed no special attention. It happened in the summer of 1991. This sculpture deviates from the typical feature of "Realism", but meanwhile its techniques of making belong to realism. In reality, the theme image of China's contemporary realistic art is experiencing a process in which political leaders are being replaced by the populace. The whole group of new generation artists made their contributions to this process. Interestingly, two processes, trivialization of art and conceptualization of art, have taken place almost in synchronic manner in China. Those religious, political, literary, and dramatic elements which used to make art unusual have gradually been removed or manipulated. In the final stage, new generation artists have cast off the philosophic element commonly found in the pioneering art works since 1985, cutting off the habitual connection between an individual person and a great, profound, and original philosophic conception.  

Initially, Zhan Wang's way of art takes away the human body or the "flesh" intimately attached to "Realism", and designates the materialized (the opposite but more significant conception than "spiritual" in Marxist philosophy) clothing and other articles to be ¡°the main¡± of his sculptures and installation works. Such way of art is fully demonstrated in his creation series Kong Ling Kong in 1993, and the exhibition way of this independent sculpture is intentionally made as "installation", explicitly dimming the category notion of art works. Strategy of exhibition and strategy of diluting human's image as main part occur simultaneously, laying an essential foundation for his series works Fake Rockery.

"Fake Rockery" marks the artist Zhan Wang's summit of his personal style and model. Materialized feature, loosely connected with realism, displays itself in his works. Key notion of realism disappears along with the dilution of "human". The self-sufficiency and "relate-with-me" selectivity of the object flow through these works. Actually, an artist deeply affected by the academic methods and realistic principles can only find his liberal way by shaking off these two layers of dazzling robes. A new path also exists, for sure, if the academic methods and realistic principles can be developed. New generation artists have apparently made such attempts, for various ways of art have emerged ever since. Obviously, realism has been degraded by Zhan Wang as a concrete producing method to effectively exhibit the appearance and texture of Taihu Lake rocks and common rocks. Meanwhile, the original direct correspondence of "fake rockery" and traditional Chinese literary culture has been disassociated. The molded stainless steel featured in traditional and classical shape has attributed the characteristics to the imaginary real "fake rockery" or Taihu Lake rocks.  The room for erroneous interpretation of this point extends even further. Fake rockery refers to the artificial rocks in the conventional literary world. The false fake rockery refers to the genuine stainless steel works made by contemporary artists. The artificial rocks of man of letters are constituted with real rocks. They are "fake" in terms of the size and dimensions, not in the material. They signify the "real" mountains. Zhan Wang's "fake rockery", however, is "fake" not only in size and dimensions, but also in material. The dual "fakery" makes them the fake rocks in real sense. Compared with natural rocks, these rocks are newer "fake rocks". And to scholars, they are a kind of "fake artificial rocks". Trough the reality-simulation and fakery-simulation, these works deviate from or even annul the "real rocks" in the nature and "artificial rocks" in the literary world.
 
 Real rocks (natural )          Reality-simulation
Reality-simulation               fake artificial rocks (Zhan Wang)      

Artificial rocks (man of letters)       fakery-simulation
 

The fake rocks of man of letters can be comprehended as "man's rocks" or "personalized rocks", which give off an overly strong sense of literary sentiment and philosophic implication. But it is such sense that leads to "personalized 'personalized rocks'", which rightly defines Zhan Wang's "fake 'artificial rocks'". In ancient times, Chinese scholars "personalized" the natural rocks to gain literary and philosophic interests during this process. What Zhan Wang does, by "personifying 'personalized rocks'", is to get rid of the inherent interests exerted by traditional scholars. One kind of "personification" eliminates the other kind of "personification", producing an even faker "fake rocks" instead of restoring the "fake rocks" to "real rocks". The faker and newer "fake rocks" still preserve the feature of visual appeal of scholars' "fake rocks". They conform both to the fake rocks of scholars and to the natural real rocks; they overturn both the dimensions of real mountains and materials of fake mountains; they give rise to the imagination regarding traditional culture and at the same time diminish the traditions. The dual attitudes are realized in dual manners. On one hand, the accurate producing method of "Realism" is made use of. On the other hand, the classical feature advocated by academic group is also manipulated. Zhan Wang creatively swaps the method frequently used on realistic figures and applies it on "personalized" objects.   

The Western theories shall not be indiscriminately applied to assess the Chinese contemporary art. The art history with Chinese characteristics is a crucial reference. For a considerably long period, academic methods and realistic principles have actually been combined with China's art education. Many Chinese contemporary artists have received their education under this circumstance. What's more desperate is that the art works created in accordance with the academic methods and realistic theories are not the life or history themselves. Two folds of correspondence are surprisingly similar: firstly, the academic methods and realistic theories correspond to life and history; secondly, the fake rocks and culture of scholars correspond to nature which represented by real mountains. To Zhan Wang, the course of further "personifying" the "fake rocks" is to disconnect the spiritual relations between the academic methods and realistic theories, life or history itself, as well as the artist's personal style and conception. It is also a process in which the temporary "true identity" shows off itself one after another. Fake rocks are not mountain itself. Realism is not the reality itself. Realism may be sensed in Zhan Wang's fake rocks, which may act as his realism in another sense. While diluting the innate cultural elements of fake rockery, he is also eliminating his hidden realism concurrently. The former diluting process is targeted at conception, while the latter eliminating conduct is at history. Characters of the contemporary Chinese art narrative better manifest in the latter process for sure.