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面包 Bread
布面油画 Oil on canvas
140 x 140 cm
路航的作品常常令人感到熟悉又陌生，那些再平凡不过的物品，如面包、碗、勺子、桌、椅等在他手中被重新定义，即拥有了一种生命难以承受的沉重感。这些物品与其说承载了物质世界中的现实需求，不如说是路航以此种表达方式，传递着我们对生活本质的深刻追问。这种对物品的重新诠释，是对现代人对生存、孤独与精神的思考，也触及了当下社会中的困境。
回想我们在日常生活中所见的碗、勺等物，它们无疑是每个家庭、每个人日常不可或缺的一部分，但路航将它们转化为探讨人性与存在的工具。通过物品符号的重构，他将观众带入一个关于生存的叙事中，重新赋予了多重文化和情感含义，物品似乎与它们原本的功能渐行渐远，成为了关于人性与社会的深刻隐喻。在路航的日常物品系列中，《面包》这幅作品，尤具代表性。在创作《面包》时，路航曾将其与碗、勺子和陀螺并置为一套作品，意图探索关于自由的命题。在他看来，真正的自由并不是他人给予的，而是对自身的要求。这意味着人必须为自由承担责任，并从中选择自由。面包在这一组合中象征着人类信仰的“考验”，它不只是生存的必需品，更是对自我选择的挑战。如果人仅仅为了面包而活，便要面对为其生存而承受的痛苦——痛苦本质上是一种“自我选择”。正因如此，路航的面包便不仅仅是一块食物，它也是一个象征，象征着人类在自由与生存之间的挣扎和选择。随着时间的推移，《面包》已超越了最初的创作意图而产生了新的意义，在不同观者眼中展现出独特的生命力，它仍在不断生长与变化，也为观者提供了更多思考的空间。而在我看来，这幅作品既凝聚着对物质与自由的思考，也触及了物性与存在本质的拷问，是对人类生存的多重维度的探讨。![]()
面包 Bread
布面油画 Oil on canvas
140 x 140 cm
2021
在作品《面包》中，路航用极简的画面语言包裹着深刻的哲学思考。
面包，这一看似普通、却象征着生存所需的基本物品，在他的笔下被赋予了沉重的象征意义。它不只是物质世界中的一个符号，还可从中窥见个体在生存困境中的隐秘心声。通过这块面包，观者被引领进入到一个更深层次的生命追问：我们在忙碌地追逐生存所需时，生命的更高意义何以体现？
艺术家以极简的构图形式为作品注入了深沉的力量。画面背景单一且空旷，焦点则集中在画面的中心——一块质感丰富的面包。面包被孤立地置于画面中，仿佛脱离了现实世界的复杂性，悬浮在一个象征的空间中。这种简洁而不失重量的构图，让观者的目光无可逃避地聚焦于面包本身，使这一日常物件从其功能性的束缚中升华为一种象征性的存在。
路航通过这块面包，引发了对物质与精神双重层面的思考。他看到人类为着最基本生存需求而进行的挣扎，也看到了个体在现代社会中无尽追逐后的精神空虚。正如海德格尔从梵高的《一双农鞋》中看到了劳动与大地的紧密联系，强调了物之物性与器具的可靠性，路航的面包也通过其上留下的劳动痕迹，展现出人与世界的深刻关联，开启了对存在、生存、劳动和人性复杂问题的哲学探讨。面包不再是食物，它成为了生存与存在之间不可忽视的象征。路航在对面包的质感描绘上，处理的十分细腻，笔触有轻柔的过渡，也有锐利的勾勒，以展现面包表面的裂纹与烤痕，柔软的质地与其硬朗的外壳形成对比，呈现出其物质存在的痕迹。
细腻的笔触也让面包具有一种视觉上的真实感，传递出触觉上的粗粝质感。裂纹、斑驳的外壳，预示着劳动与时间留下的痕迹。它并非普通的食物，而是一个承载着沉重生命故事的物件。裂痕与破损，不仅是面包烘焙过程中产生的物理痕迹，也似乎镌刻了面包的经历与历史，无言地诉说着生命在劳动中的艰辛与分配的无情。还有那厚重的质感，如同凝固的时间，静静地提醒着我们，生存中的无常与短暂。
面包令物品的真实存在通过其“可靠性”展现出来，正如海德格尔面对梵高那双充满褶皱、沾染着泥土的农鞋时富于沉思的表述：“从鞋具磨损的内部那黑洞洞的敞口中，凝聚着劳动步履的艰辛。这硬邦邦、沉甸甸的破旧农鞋里，聚积着那寒风料峭中迈动在一望无际的永远单调的田垄上的步履的坚韧和滞缓。……在这鞋具里，回响着大地无声的召唤，显示着大地对成熟谷物的宁静馈赠……浸透着对面包的稳靠性无怨无艾的焦虑，以及那战胜了贫困的无言喜悦，隐含着分娩阵痛时的哆嗦，死亡逼近时的战栗……”
海德格尔在农鞋破旧外表中看到了劳动者与大地的关系、生命的沉重与大地的馈赠，传达出“物之物性”不仅在于其形态和功能，更在于它与人的关系以及它在世界中的“在场”方式。
路航的《面包》在我看来也是如此，一个表面如同眼睛般张着裂痕的粗粝的面包，同样在诉说着它在世界中的历程，它是一件食物，更像是一个沉默的见证者，承载着人类通过劳动与世界建立的联系。面包表面的裂痕和粗糙的质感，记录着现代社会中个体在生存压力下的挣扎与脆弱，记录着人类在生存过程中所付出的代价。
文森特·威廉·梵高 Vincent van Gogh阿姆斯特丹梵高博物馆 藏 Housed in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam1886
面包，作为最基本的食物象征，凝聚着人类生存的基本需求。然而，正如作品极简表达背后的深邃隐喻，路航将这一物质符号进行了提炼，并将其孤立于画面中央。它的孤独与唯一性，不断向观者发出无声的质问。海德格尔曾指出，器具的本质在于其可靠性，它支撑着人类日常生活的稳定与依赖。而在路航的《面包》中，这一可靠性被赋予了更复杂的含义。面包不再仅仅是食物，它被升华为一种象征，代表了生存、存在与精神的多重含义。这种象征意义的转变，使面包从日常物品跃升为一种存在的隐喻，质疑着我们对物质世界的依赖与理解。面包的质感与重量，带有一种原始的力量，而路航通过极简的视觉表达，将这一力量呈现得格外沉静且深刻。在艺术层面，路航的《面包》展现了简约之美与力量的结合。他巧妙地在作品中融合了物质与精神的象征意义，借由简洁而深邃的表达，探讨了人类存在、生存、劳动与精神层面所面临的复杂问题。正如海德格尔所言，“艺术作品是存在者之存在的无蔽”，路航通过这一质朴的面包，引导我们重新审视物品的本质，并激发对日常生活中物性与存在的重新思考。
Laurent LU | How Many Hidden Thoughts Can a Loaf of Bread Conceal?
Laurent LU’s works often evoke a sense of both familiarity and strangeness. Ordinary objects, such as bread, bowls, spoons, tables, and chairs, are redefined in his hands, imbued with a weight that life itself seems unable to bear. These objects, rather than simply representing the material needs of the physical world, serve as a medium through which he conveys profound inquiries into the essence of life. This reinterpretation of objects reflects a contemplation of survival, loneliness, and spirituality, while also addressing the predicaments of contemporary society.When we think of everyday objects like bowls and spoons, they are undeniably indispensable parts of every household and individual’s life. However, the artist transforms them into tools for exploring human nature and existence. Through the reconstruction of symbolic objects, he immerses the viewer in a narrative about survival, reassigning cultural and emotional meanings to these items. The objects seem to drift away from their original functions, becoming profound metaphors for humanity and society.In Laurent LU’s series of everyday objects, the piece Bread stands out as particularly representative.When creating Bread, LU used to paired it with a bowl, a spoon, and/or a spinning top as part of a set, intending to explore the theme of freedom. In his view, true freedom is not something granted by others, but a demand one places on oneself. This means that one must take responsibility for choosing freedom. In this composition, bread symbolizes the “test” of human faith. It is not merely a necessity for survival, but also a challenge to personal choice. If one lives solely for bread, one must face the pain that comes with surviving for it—a pain that is, in essence, a “self-imposed choice”. For this reason, LU’s bread is not just a piece of food; it is a symbol of the human struggle and the choices between freedom and survival.Over time, Bread has transcended its original intention, gaining new significance and revealing a unique vitality to different viewers. It continues to grow and change, offering viewers more space for reflection. To me, this piece not only encapsulates reflections on materiality and freedom but also probes into the nature of things and existence itself, exploring the multiple dimensions of human survival.In Bread, the artist uses minimalist visual language to wrap deep philosophical reflections. Bread, a seemingly ordinary item symbolizing basic survival necessities, is endowed with profound symbolic meaning in his hands. It is not merely a symbol of the material world but reveals the hidden inner voices of individuals grappling with the dilemmas of survival. Through this loaf of bread, the viewer is guided into a deeper inquiry into life: As we busy ourselves with chasing survival needs, how is the higher meaning of life manifested?The artist imbues the work with profound gravity through its minimalist composition. The background is simple and expansive, while the focus is entirely on the center of the painting—a richly textured loaf of bread. The bread is isolated in the frame, as if removed from the complexity of the real world and suspended in a symbolic space. This clean yet weighty composition forces the viewer’s gaze to linger on the bread itself, elevating this everyday object from its functional constraints into a symbolic existence.Through this bread, LU provokes thought on both material and spiritual levels. It reflects humanity’s struggle to meet the most basic survival needs and highlights the spiritual emptiness that follows endless pursuits in modern society. Much like Heidegger’s interpretation of Van Gogh’s Shoes, which emphasized the connection between labor and the earth and the reliability of tools, LU’s bread, marked with traces of labor, reveals a deep connection between humanity and the world. This opens up a philosophical discussion on existence, survival, labor, and the complexities of human nature.Bread ceases to be mere food—it becomes an undeniable symbol of the tension between survival and existence.LU’s depiction of the texture of bread is meticulously handled. His brushstrokes transition softly yet sharply outline the cracks and baking marks on the surface of the bread, contrasting the soft interior with the hard crust, highlighting the traces of its material existence.The delicate brushwork lends the bread a visual realism, conveying a tactile roughness. The cracks and weathered exterior suggest the marks left by labor and time. This is no ordinary food; it is an object that carries the weight of profound life stories. The cracks and damage are not just physical traces from the baking process, but also seem to etch the bread’s experiences and history, silently narrating the toil of life and the relentless nature of survival. The dense texture, like frozen time, quietly reminds us of the impermanence and brevity of existence.Through its “reliability,” the bread reveals the true presence of objects, much like Heidegger’s meditative description of Van Gogh’s weathered, mud-stained peasant shoes: “From the dark opening of the worn insides of the shoes, the toil of the steps of labor presses forth… In the stiff and sturdy heaviness of the worn-out peasant shoes is the accumulated tenacity and sluggishness of the steps in the wintery furrows stretching far and wide… The silent call of the earth is heard in these shoes, revealing the earth’s quiet gift to the ripening grain… imbued with the uncomplaining anxiety for the reliability of bread, and with the silent joy that overcomes poverty; they carry the shiver of birth pangs and the tremors when death draws near…”In the worn exterior of the peasant shoes, Heidegger saw the relationship between the laborer and the earth, the weight of life, and the earth’s gifts. He conveys that the “thingness” of an object is not just in its form or function, but in its relation to humans and the way it “exists” in the world.LU’s Bread similarly speaks of its journey in the world—a rough loaf of bread, cracked open like eyes, telling of its silent witnessing of time. It is food, yet bearing the weight of humanity’s connection to the world through labor. The cracks and rough texture on the surface of the bread record the struggles and fragility of the individual under the pressure of survival in modern society, as well as the price humanity pays in its pursuit of existence.Bread, as the most basic symbol of food, embodies the fundamental needs of human survival. However, much like the profound metaphor behind the minimalistic expression of the artwork, the artist refines this material symbol and isolates it at the center of the composition. Its loneliness and singularity continuously issue a silent question to the viewer.Heidegger once pointed out that the essence of a tool lies in its reliability, which sustains the stability and dependence of human daily life. In Laurent LU’s Bread, however, this reliability takes on a more complex meaning. Bread is no longer merely food; it is elevated to a symbol representing survival, existence, and layered spiritual significance. This symbolic transformation raises bread from an ordinary item to a profound metaphor for existence, inviting reflection on our dependence on and interpretation of the material world. The texture and weight of the bread carry a primordial power, and through his minimalistic visual expression, he presents this power in a particularly calm and profound manner.On an artistic level, Laurent LU’s Bread demonstrates a fusion of simplicity and strength. He skillfully integrates the symbolic meanings of the material and the spiritual in his work, using concise yet profound expression to explore the complex issues of human existence, survival, labor, and spirituality. As Heidegger once said, a work of art is the unconcealment of the Being of beings. Through this humble loaf of bread, he guides us to re-examine the essence of objects, sparking a reevaluation of the materiality and existence within our daily lives.![]()
The Artist
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路航 | 从历史、集体到个人的自我认知
Author: Liu Siyuan
Artworks: Lu Hang
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