对话谷文达：当代水墨的探索与融合 Gu Wenda, John Moores And Contemporary Ink Art!

在当代艺术领域，谷文达是一位不可忽视的艺术家和评论家，他以其对当代水墨艺术的深入探索和创新实践，赢得了国内外艺术界的广泛认可。作为2010年（首届）约翰·莫尔绘画奖（中国）及2020年约翰·莫尔绘画奖（英国）的评委，谷文达不仅在艺术创作上有着卓越的成就，还在推动中西艺术交流方面做出了重要贡献。

In the field of contemporary art, Gu Wenda is an artist and critic who cannot be ignored. He has won wide recognition in the art world at home and abroad for his in-depth exploration and innovative practice of contemporary ink art. 

As a judge for the inaugural John Moores Painting Prize （China） in 2010 and the John Moores Painting Prize （UK） in 2020, Gu Wenda has not only made outstanding achievements in his own artistic creation, but has also made a valuable contribution to promoting cultural exchange and artistic expression between Chinese and Western art. 

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谷文达的艺术探索

Gu Wenda's Artistic Exploration

谷文达的艺术生涯始于对中国传统水墨的深入研究，但在八十年代初，他开始尝试将当代观念引入水墨艺术，开启了当代水墨艺术的新篇章。在他看来，“没有了不起的艺术，只有了不起的时代”。正是改革开放的春风，为他的艺术探索提供了无限可能。谷文达认为，当代水墨不仅仅是西方的舶来品与中国传统的简单结合，而是两者在碰撞中产生的独特艺术形式。这种艺术形式既包含了当代概念的引进，又与中国传统文化有着深厚的默契。

Gu Wenda's artistic career began with an in-depth study of traditional Chinese ink painting. However, in the early 1980s, he began to experiment with introducing contemporary concepts into ink painting, opening a new chapter in contemporary ink art. 

In his view, "there is no great art, only a great era". It is the spring breeze of reform and opening up that provides infinite possibilities for his artistic exploration. Gu Wenda believes that contemporary ink painting is not just a simple combination of Western imports and traditional Chinese culture, but a unique art form created through the collision of the two. This art form not only includes the introduction of contemporary concepts, but also has a deep understanding with traditional Chinese culture.

 谷文达 

谷文达，1955年生于上海。1976年毕业于上海市工艺美术学校，1981年毕业于中国美术学院国画系研究生班，后留校任教，1987年移居美国纽约，现为职业画家，曾在世界各地的博物馆、画廊举办展览，中国当代艺术中国际知名的艺术家之一。

Gu Wenda was born in Shanghai in 1955. Graduated from Shanghai Art and Design Academy in 1976, and graduated from the Graduate Class of the Chinese Painting Department of China Academy of Art in 1981. 

He later stayed on to teach at the school. In 1987, and he moved to New York, USAk, USA, and is now a professional painter. He has held exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world, and is one of the internationally renowned artists in contemporary Chinese art.

谷文达艺术创作总体分为三个阶段：第一阶段从八十年代初到离开中国之前，开始制造伪文字水墨画、水墨行为艺术和水墨装置艺术，这是 ；第二阶段是谷文达在美国进行的艺术创作，艺术创作直接研究物质材料世界；第三阶段，他开始探索发现最本质及最能打动人的不是普通的物质材料，而是人体物质本身。

The overall artistic creation of Gu Wenda can be divided into three stages: the first stage is from the early 1980s to the time before he left China, when he began to create pseudo-character ink paintings, ink performance art, and ink installation art. This is the foundation stage of his artistic creation.

The second stage of his artistic journey began in America, which evoked around his direct studies of the material world and its applications in art. In the third stage, he began to explore and discover that the most essential and impressive thing is not ordinary material, but the human body itself.

在谷文达的艺术实践中，他不断挑战传统水墨的边界，寻求新的表现方式和材料。他的绝大部分作品都与水墨和文字相关，并以对东方文化在哲学观念，图像和美学上的批判和重构，以及对西方当代艺术与文化上的分析与实验为国际艺术界所关注和熟知。

In Gu Wenda's artistic practice, he continuously challenges the boundaries of traditional ink painting and seeks new forms of expression and materials. Most of his works are related to ink painting and text, and are known and admired by the international art community for his criticism and reconstruction of Eastern culture in philosophical concepts, imagery, and aesthetics, as well as his analysis and experimentation with Western contemporary art and culture.

谷文达创作的一批伪字、错字、漏字等错位书法及水墨行为艺术在借鉴中国汉字的基础上，谷文达解构了传统汉字规则上的音形义，建立了新的书写规则--以字为词，不伤害原义。《汇流·通达》寓意海纳百川、包容自信、开放共享的上海，兼具地理与文化意义。尽管这些再造的字不可读，但形构漂亮，意涵圆融。谷文达将简词放置于当代感极强的水墨背景中，画面有了湿润的流动感，像两个细胞自然融合，像冰冷的汉字有了韵律，甚至有了发达的精神，成了熨帖有序的“自组织”。谷文达并没有如当年美术界人士所担忧的那样，变成一个在艺术里醉生梦死的历史虚无主义者。他对传统汉语字形的改变--不论是肢解打碎作重新建构，还是把偏旁部首拆散另加安排，都不是对传统的否定。他曾在多个场合强调这一点:“中国是我的母土，我其实从未，离开’过，也不可能离开传统。“

A series of misplaced calligraphy and ink-wash performance artworks created by Gu Wenda, such as fake, misspelled, and missing characters, draw on Chinese characters. Gu Wenda deconstructs the traditional rules of Chinese characters in terms of sound, shape, and meaning, and establishes new writing rules that focus on the word as a word and do not harm the original meaning. 

"Confluence and Accessibility" implies Shanghai's inclusiveness, confidence, openness, and sharing, which has both geographical and cultural significance. Although these reconstructed characters are unreadable, they are beautifully formed and have a harmonious meaning. Gu Wenda placed the short words in a contemporary ink background, giving the picture a moist and flowing feel, like the natural fusion of two cells, like the rhythm of cold Chinese characters, and even a developed spirit, becoming an orderly "self-organization". 

Gu Wenda did not become a historical nihilist who lived in art and dreamed of death, as the art world had feared. His changes to traditional Chinese character forms - whether dismembering, smashing, or reconstructing them, or disassembling and rearranging their components - are not a negation of tradition. He has emphasized this point on many occasions: "China is my motherland, and I have never, in fact, left 'it' and cannot leave tradition".

谷文达在革新当代书法与水墨的过程中，愈发清楚地意识到，原创和延续性的二元统一:“越是时间宽泛，事物就越有延续性;孤立地看一件事，才是所谓原创。”他在石头上刻字，也不是什么稀罕举动，但谷文达创作的《天象》，从原料本身的选择，就极其注重文脉的传承，特点选取山东曲阜附近孔子故乡的古石，结合自创的“简词典”，运用裹刻的手法，表达了可以说是真正具有中国的特色当代艺术抽象性的作品。

In the process of innovating contemporary calligraphy and ink painting, Gu Wenda became increasingly aware of the dual unity of originality and continuity: "The more time is available, the more continuity there is in things; only when we look at things in isolation can we call them original." 

His engraving on stones is not a rare act, but Gu Wenda's creation of "Astronomy" pays great attention to the inheritance of cultural context from the choice of raw materials themselves. The characteristics are selected from ancient stones near Confucius' hometown in Qufu, Shandong Province, combined with his own "simple dictionary", and using the technique of wrapping engraving, it can be said to be a truly Chinese-characteristic contemporary abstract art work.

随着千禧年的到来，新世纪开始。而21世纪也被认为是生命科学、遗传学、基因学的一个世纪。人发除了生物基因方面的重要意义之外，也与不同的文化信仰与社会历史紧密相连，大家都在讨论新世纪是新国际主义的年代，是生命科学、遗传学与基因学蓬勃发展的时段。谷文达对此，也有自己的看法:所谓基因，并不该狭义地指代脸谱化的传统，而应该是某种精神。《联合国》系列应运而生。以从全世界各地理发店收集的不同人种的头发为载体的，在全世界20多个国家实施的巨型纪念碑装置。这项至今有五百万人次参与的国际艺术项目和后来的《生之谜》一样，在生物科学方兴未艾的二十一世纪初，以人类基因的具体符号:头发、胎盘、精液，对个人身份、群体身份以及文化符号进行不同程度和维度的翻译。当然，在作品实现的过程中，艺术家也体会了世界名地的政治冲击与文化冲击，所幸，作品本身激发了公众对于艺术的感受力与参与性，也使艺术家得到了提升的助力。

With the arrival of the millennium a new century arrived, bringing with it new opportunities and challenges. The 21st Century is widely considered to be a… century of life science, genetics, and genomics. In addition to its important significance in biological genetics, human hair is also closely connected to different cultural beliefs and social history. Everyone is discussing that the new century is an era of new internationalism, and a period of vigorous development of life science, genetics, and genomics. Gu Wenda also has his own view on this: the so-called gene should not be narrowly defined as a stereotyped tradition, but should be a certain spirit. 

The "United Nations" series was born as the times required. A giant monument installation implemented in more than 20 countries around the world, using hair of different ethnic groups collected from various hair salons around the world as the carrier. This international art project, which has been participated by five million people so far, is similar to the later "The Mystery of Life" in that it uses specific symbols of human genes: hair, placenta, and semen, to translate personal identity, group identity, and cultural symbols to varying degrees and dimensions in the early 21st century when biological science is in the ascendant. 

Of course, during the realization of the work, the artist also experienced the political and cultural impacts of world famous places. Fortunately, the work itself inspired the public's sensitivity and participation in art, and also helped the artist to improve.

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约翰·莫尔绘画奖：推动中西艺术交流的平台

John Moores Painting Prize: A Platform for Promoting Art Exchange between China and the West

约翰·莫尔绘画奖自设立以来，就以其独特的评选机制和广泛的影响力，吸引了众多优秀艺术家的参与，今年还特别增设了一名当代水墨奖。

作为该奖项的曾任评委，谷文达对于约翰·莫尔绘画奖有着深厚的感情和独到的见解。他特别提到，约翰·莫尔绘画奖（中国）将油画与水墨放在一起进行评选，这种对比方式非常有趣且富有意义。这不仅促进了中西艺术的直接对话和交流，还让观众和评委能够更全面地理解和欣赏不同文化背景下的艺术作品。谷文达认为，这种对比不仅展示了中国当代艺术的多样性和活力，还促进了中国艺术在国际舞台上的传播和影响力。

Since its establishment, the John Moores Painting Prize has attracted numerous outstanding artists with its unique selection mechanism and wide influence. This year, a contemporary ink painting award has been added for consideration.

As a former judge of the award, Gu Wenda has deep feelings and unique insights about the John Moores Painting Prize. He particularly mentioned that the John Moores Painting Prize （China） put oil painting and ink painting together for the selection, which was very interesting and meaningful. 

This not only promotes direct dialogue and exchange between Chinese and Western art, but also allows audiences and judges to more fully understand and appreciate artworks from different cultural backgrounds. Gu Wenda believes that this comparison not only demonstrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary Chinese art, but also promotes the dissemination and influence of Chinese art on the international stage.

随着全球化进程的加速和科技的不断发展，当代艺术正面临着前所未有的机遇和挑战。作为一位具有前瞻性的艺术家和评论家，谷文达期待看到更多具有包容性和创新性的当代水墨作品涌现，他强调，当代水墨应具有更大的包容性，不应局限于传统材料和范式之中。数字时代的新技术和AI等前沿科技，都可以成为当代水墨创作的新元素。这种开放和包容的态度，使谷文达的作品充满了创新性和实验性，也为当代水墨艺术的发展开辟了新的道路。他希望通过约翰·莫尔绘画奖这样的平台，能够进一步推动中西艺术的交流和融合，为世界艺术的发展贡献更多的中国智慧和力量。

With the acceleration of globalization and the continuous development of science and technology, contemporary art is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. As a forward-looking artist and critic, Gu Wenda looks forward to seeing more inclusive and innovative contemporary ink works emerge. He emphasizes that contemporary ink should be more inclusive and should not be limited to traditional materials and paradigms. 

New technologies in the digital age and cutting-edge technologies such as AI can become new elements in contemporary ink painting creation. This open and inclusive attitude has made Gu Wenda's works full of innovation and experimentation, and has also opened up a new path for the development of contemporary ink art. He hopes that through the platform of the John Moores Painting Prize, he can further promote the exchange and integration of Chinese and Western art, and contribute more Chinese wisdom and strength to the development of world art.