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Kuart Artist of the Year: Loy Luo,the Inspirat 库艺术年度艺术人物:羅一,被抛掷的灵感

Updated: Jun 10, 2021

By: Kuart转载库艺术



《2020年度艺术人物·不懈》


年度话题:这一年

The year 2020 was an unusual year for all of us, also, it was a difficult year. Today we stand in 2021. When we look back at the past year: what we have been through? What we have been thinking of? What we have had the conceptual and creative changes? What we will do?… Obviously, the epidemic has changed the development track of our time forever, and "post-epidemic" will become the background topic of discussion for a long time to come. Therefore, we hope that in "Topics of the Year: The Year", on the one hand, we can review the overall thinking and creation state of artists in 2020; On the other hand, it also tries to show artists' judgment and grasp of the future, and discusses how artists deal with the great unknown, as well as how to integrate it into new artistic expression: grasp the main line in the change, bulid the foundation in the chaos , and inspir the greatest creativity on the biggest problems -- that's the attitude we want to take in this column. 2020 年,对所有人来说都是不平常的一年,也是难熬的一年。今天我们已经站在 2021 年。当再来回顾过去的这年:我们到底经历了什么,思考了什么,有哪些观念与创作上的转变,下一步要如何动作……显然,疫情已经永远的改变了时代发展轨迹,“后疫情”将会成为今后很长时间内所绕不过去的讨论背景话题。因此,我们希望在“年度话题:这一年”中,一方面回顾 2020 年艺术家们的整体思考与创作状态;另一方面也力求展现艺术家们对于未来的判断与把握,讨论艺术家们在面对巨大未知时所采取的应对之策,以及如何将之融入新的艺术表达之中。在变动中把握主线,在纷乱中立定根基。在最大的问题面前激发出最大的创造性——这正是我们希望在此栏目中所呈现出的态度与立场。

A Chinese artist living and working in Beijing, she has been working in New York since January 2020. She received her MFA from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in 2010 and taught art at Beijing Institute of Technology Management and Management from 2010 to 2012.

生活和工作在北京的中国艺术家, 2020 年 1 月后,在纽约从事艺术创作至今, 2010 年获北京服装学院艺术硕士学位, 2010 年至 2012 年在北京科技经营管理学院教授艺术。

Loy Luo :At the beginning of the epidemic, The feeling that being thrown by the whole world was my inspiration. 

【羅一:疫情最初仿佛被整个世界抛掷的感觉是我的灵感来源】


Kuart=K: In the year of 2020, when the epidemic is raging, what is your living and creative state?

库艺术=库:2020年正值疫情肆虐,您的生活与创作状态是怎样的?


Loy Luo=L: When I first came to the United States, before the epidemic started, I went to visit museums, art galleries, and exhibitions in different cities. After the outbreak began, I started to prepare for the creation of an exhibition of portraits of 100 people. When I walked on the street with a mask, I asked passers-by to take off their masks and let me take pictures of them from various angles. Some moved their masks to their chins, some hung them on their ears. I said it was for the memory of life in the epidemic in New York, and some people responded and some people refused.

羅一=羅:刚到美国时疫情还没开始,那时候到处参观博物馆、美术馆、画廊,看展览。疫情开始后我开始筹备创作百人肖像行为展,戴着口罩走在街上,看到路人就让人摘下口罩进行各种角度的留影,有人把口罩留在下巴上,有的挂在耳朵上,我说是为了纽约的疫情生活做记忆,很多人响应,也有很多人拒绝。


"The Other I" 100 People Portrait Action Show, White Box Art Center, New York 2020

“另一个我”百人肖像行动展现场 纽约白盒子艺术中心 2020


For nearly half a year, I bounced from place to place, my address changing month to month. My lifestyle changed as well. For example, at the International Youth Hostel in Brooklyn, I used the huge communal area as my own open studio and befriended artists and people from all over the world; At the Queens Community Apartment, I lived with a group of young people, some of whom slept on the floor, and we encouraged each other to ward off the initial panic. I also rented a room in a shared apartment in downtown Manhattan through Airbnb, but I couldn't stand being there because the room was windowless, and too small to fit anything except a tiny bed and the cold, arrogant attitude of the landlord. However, I didn't give her a bad review, since I didn’t want to interfere with her business in those terrible days. Another time, I looked out of the window of my room in a midtown business hotel and experienced the magic of not knowing the real city from the top of that metallic mountain. Or, living in a high-rise apartment in Chelsea on the West Side, I began trying to peek through a large, glass-windowed wall into the lives of wealthy New Yorkers...In short, experiencing the living conditions of residents in different blocks changes from east to west, north to south. My creations at this time only needed a mobile painting box and a sketchbook, so moving from place to place was convenient enough.

将近半年时间内每个月我都换一两个住址,顺便换一种生活样式。比如:在布鲁克林便宜的国际青年旅社,我把巨大的公共活动区当成自己的开放工作室,并结交来自世界各地的流浪文艺人士;在皇后区社区公寓,我和一群青年人一起打地铺,抱团取暖以抵制最初的大恐慌;在曼哈顿下城没有窗户的、狭小到只能放一张床的共享公寓,我无法忍受洁癖女房东的冷漠傲慢斗气出走,不过终于不忍心给人差评砸人饭碗;在中城商务旅馆看窗外如山如岭的建筑丛林,体验城市山中不识庐山真面的魔力;也有在西城切尔西的摩天公寓,透过大玻璃幕墙试图偷窥纽约富人的生活……总之是东西南北不同方位,各种体验不同区块街道居民的生活样态。因为这时的创作只需要一个移动画箱、一本素描本就可以,所以移动也比较方便。


Live performance art at the White Box Center ,New York, 2020

现场行为艺术表演 纽约白盒子艺术中心 2020


At the end of July, I moved to the Brooklyn DUMBO art district, rented a half-underground studio and mimed being homeless, working and living as a homeless person in the studio. My neighbors had a gallery and there were several other artists with normal places to live. Soon, my homeless act and paintings were known to the locals, so at the end of 2020, the "homeless" exhibition was successfully launched in Undercurrent gallery.

七月底,我搬到布鲁克林DUMBO艺术区的一个半地下工作室,实施无家可归的行为作品,即像个流浪汉一般吃住工作都在工作室里,邻居是一个画廊和几个有正常居所的艺术家,我的无家可归的行为和绘画作品很快就得到了人们的理解,于是2020年底在暗流画廊顺利举办了《无家可归》艺术展。


"Homeless"live art exhibition, Undercurrent Gallery ,2020

“无家可归”艺术展现场 暗流画廊 2020


K: Earlier in 2020, you held an exhibition of 100 portraits of "The Other I" at the White Box Art Center in New York. During the epidemic period, what is the difference between these portraits and ordinary portraits?

库:2020年您在纽约白盒子艺术中心举办“另一个我”百人肖像行为展,正值疫情期间,这些肖像作品与普通的画像之间有何区别?


L: “The Other I” looks like a portrait exhibition, but it is not. First of all, this exhibition was designed as performance art. During the epidemic period, I traveled around the city and encountered different people. I responded to this specific period in the form of sketch portraits and kept-memories. Secondly, the exhibition was not like those in which the portraits are taken directly in front of the object. Instead, I observed from the street, from different angles, capturing fleeting moments and facial expressions, and selected one picture which, in my eyes, captured the object's inner character. With this copy I drew the portraits subjectively and objectively.

羅:《另一个我》百人肖像行动展看似一个肖像作品展,其实不是,或不全是。这个展览首先是一个行动艺术设计,是我在疫情期间游走于城市的各个方位遭遇不同人群,以素描肖像的形式对此特定时期实施反馈、保存记忆;其次,它不同于一般直接面对人物的肖像写生,而是在街头对对象多角度瞬间表情抓拍,从中选择一张艺术家眼中对象最卸下防备并最接近人物内在真实的图片(有时也和对象共同磋商选择),从而以此为摹本进行主客观结合的素描刻画。


Screenshot of the video, the exhibition academic seminar , 2020

展览线上研讨会 视频截图 2020


There was a mask theme implied here; as the physical mask of the object is removed, the mental mask is also prompted and attempted to be removed, not by hand, but by selecting a special moment that tells a defining story. Thirdly, the opening of the exhibition was a launching ceremony, and only half of the sketches on site were completed at the time. The kick-off was an impromptu, face-to-face sketch of a moving character for a spinning Sufi dancer. All the works of the 100 portraits were not completed until the closing ceremony of the exhibition, including a large group portrait, so the process of the exhibition itself was a dynamic and gradual process. It ended with an almost ritualistic closing ceremony, with me and a gong musician and the audience participating. Fourthly, the physical installation of the exhibition and a video installation, which was planned to be composed of five units of videos, constituted important parts of the exhibition. This group of videos was like a compound eye to observe, or present this period.

这里其实暗示了一个面具的双关,即在摘下对象物理面具的同时,精神面具也被提示并被试图揭下,只不过不再是用手去摘下,而是通过选择一个不带防备的瞬间;第三,这个展览的开幕是一个启动仪式,当时在现场的素描作品只完成了一大半。启动仪式是由我为一位正在旋转中的苏菲舞者进行一次即兴的、面对面的动态人物速写。百人肖像的全部作品一直到展览闭幕式才完成,包括一张大幅的群组肖像,所以这个展览的过程本身就是一个动态的行动过程。这个过程由我和一位锣音乐家以及现场的观众一起,以一个近乎宗教仪式感的闭幕式结束。第四,展览中的实物装置和一个计划由5个单元视频组成的视频装置构成了这个展览或说这件作品的重要组成部分,这组视频就像是对这个时期类似复眼般的观看或呈现。


《卡西莫多》91cm x 122cm 综合材料 2020


K: In 2020, you also hold a solo exhibition of "Homelessness" at New York's Undercurrent Gallery. Are these works also related to your observation on the living conditions of the underclass people in New York during the epidemic?

库:2020年您还在纽约暗流画廊举办“无家可归”个人作品展,这些作品是否也与您对疫情期间纽约底层人们的生存状态的观察有关?


L: Frankly, I don't think of these works as observations of the underlayer of New York pandemic-life on the ground. On the one hand, homelessness in New York is complex. Some struggle with underlying mental health problems, but others choose the wandering life, like artists. In addition, some of my paintings do not portray a conventional state of homelessness, but rather a temporary state of wandering during the pandemic, such as sitting on the floor like a tramp, outdoor dining, searching in vain for a toilet, or unabashedly peering through closed windows, etc.

:坦率地说,我并不认为这些作品是我对疫情期间纽约底层人们的生活状态的观察。一方面,纽约的无家可归的人群比较复杂,他们不见得是底层,他们中有些是有精神问题的人,有些是自主选择流浪的艺术家,另外,我的画作中有些人并不是常规意义的无家可归者,他们只是在疫情期间体验到一种临时的流浪生活状态,比如像个流浪汉一般席地而坐,户外就餐,找不到卫生间可用,甚至像个流浪汉那样去偷窥关闭的玻璃橱窗等。

  与其说我是在观察别人的生活状态,不如说,我是在借用无家可归的意象刻画我自己的存在状态,疫情最初仿佛被整个世界抛掷的感觉是我的灵感来源。展览得到了很多朋友内心的共鸣,尤其是当人问我为什么画无家可归者时,有时我只蹦出“这是一个隐喻”,对方便领会、便不再追问并神情肃然。我想,也许无家可归确实是一个被人们普遍感同到的精神处境。


Dumbledore, Mixed Materials 《邓布利多, 综合材料 2020, 91cm x 122cm


K: But after all, your art is really concerned with the living conditions of people at the bottom of society. Why do they especially touch you and make you want to express it?

库:无论怎么言说,您的艺术确实很多关注到处在社会底层人们的生存状态?为什么他们会格外触动你,让你希望去表达?


L: Perhaps there is one thing in common between the faces of these seemingly underclass people; that is, they do not wear masks. At one point I even tried to conclude that maybe the people ended up homeless because they didn't wear a “mask”.

:也许是这些看似底层生活的人面貌表情有一个共同点,那就是不戴面具。我甚至一度试图结论,或许因为不带面具所以最终无家可归。


The interpretations of critics and audiences may be diverse, but for me, the three solo exhibitions I did this year are actually trying to trace one theme from different angles, that is, the loss of human individuality and subjectivity. In the online show of Funspace Gallery in Rome, Italy, which took place in between White Box and Undercurrent, I was surprised to find that the individuality that I had initially cherished and tried to emphasize in extreme detail, eventually and inevitably dissipated in the image of the group. It took me a long time to understand that the dilemma of individuality was an almost unsolvable paradox, at least not through visual means alone.

批评家和观众的解释可能是多样化的,而对我而言,这一年中三个展览其实都试图在不同角度地追踪一个主题,那就是人的个体性、主体性的失落问题。意大利罗马的Funspace画廊的线上展厅让我惊讶地发现,我原初珍视并企图以极端细节刻画的方式试图强调的个体性最终还是不可避免地在群的意象中消散了,这一点起初让我很是懊恼。直到过了很久,我才明白,我所面对的个体性困境几乎是一个无解悖论,至少仅仅通过视觉方式无法实现。


《地铁大厅》91cm x 122cm 综合材料 2020

《大床》91cm x 122cm 综合材料 2020

With reflections on the relationship between art and technology which had already begun before the epidemic, I realized that human subjectivity has been lost in the era of big data, because the individual's self-view has been replaced and submerged by self-fragmented images. The objectified and fragmented reality leads to the loss of human subjectivity, that is, the active and reflective self lost in the passive, objectified projection. In my opinion, the meaningful choice of these fragments is a metaphor for self-reflection, while the artist's choice behavior, prior to hand-painted labor, is not only the beginning of reflection or self-reflection, but also the beginning of the recovery of self-subjectivity.

相关思考其实在疫情之前关于艺术与技术关系的话题中已经开始了。我最早察觉到人的主体性失落是因为大数据时代个体自观被自我碎片化的图像所取代、所淹埋,对象化、碎片化的现实导致人的主体性,即主动的、反思性的我丧失在被动的、客体化、对象化的投影中。我觉得,对这些碎片的有意味的选择隐喻着自我反省,而艺术家的先于手绘劳动的选择行为既是反思或自我观照的开始,也是自我主体性复苏的开始。


A further reflection was that in the epidemic, the human faces were covered by the masks, and it was inspired by the repeated actions of people taking off the mask.The repetition of this action helped me complete the shift of the concept of mask in my consciousness, that the physical mask was replaced by the spiritual mask. I was aware self-reflection is not so simple, and the true self is seen not only in laying down the obvious, external protective disguise, nor those seemingly natural moments due to fatigue; the mask which is deeply inset into the individual spirit and social skin is not so easy to take off, even if people want to do it with great enthusiasm and motivation.

更深入的思考是有感于疫情中人脸被覆盖在面具之后,更被激发于人们一再摘下面具的动作中。这一动作的反复使我在意识中暗中完成了对面具这个概念的漂移,即物理面具被替换成精神面具。我意识到自我观照不是那么简单,真实的自我不仅仅是放下显而易见的外部伪装防护,也不是那些因疲惫而看似卸下防备的瞬间真实,那些深入个人精神和社会肌肤的隐含面具不是那么容易被摘下的,哪怕是有极大的热情和动机去这么做。

《工地包工头》速写 11 x 14英寸 2020.6


《护士》素描 11 x 14英寸 2020.8


It was precisely because of the implementation of "homeless" that I was initially surprised at the so-called clear exposure of the faces of the people at the bottom of society, and then I began to think more about the demand for masks for the functions of social order. At this time, the mask derived its third meaning, the efficiency and rationality of the functions of social roles. So, while respecting the dignity of the homeless as human beings, I also had a thought beyond criticism of the systems that create homelessness and which are often condemned. Toward the end, a long, noisy BLM protest, which was finally replaced by the passion of the election, gave me a more intuitive understanding of another connotation of the mask, implying behavior of conformity.

正是因为《无家可归》作品的实施,在最初惊诧于所谓底层人物一脸的清澈袒露后,继而更多思考社会秩序功能对于面具的需求,这时面具衍生出它的第三层含义,社会角色功能的效率与合理。于是在尊重无家可归者作为人之尊严的同时,我也对另一个被批判得更多的体制系统产生出超越于批判之外的思考。另外,一个绵长的、轰轰烈烈的且终于被大选激情取代的BLM大型游行抗议活动,让我对面具的从众内涵有了更直观的体认。


All this speculation, repeatedly overthrown, was my underlying passion for these paintings. From the extreme detail of the faces to the messy and fuzzy images, and again to the faceless but still highly-recognizable archetypes.

所有这些反复推翻的思辨是我创作这些绘画的底部激情。从面部的极致细节刻画到开始凌乱模糊更到无脸却依然辨识度很高的性情人物。


《看展的人》速写 11 x 14英寸 2020.8


《王锐》素描 11 x 14英寸 2020.2


K: From 2019 to 2020, you also participated in the CD, "No Words Chinese Voice," co-produced by MuliangwenWang (Dou Wei, Wen Bin, Wen Dake and Wang Xiaofang), in the form of guest female voice. Is music also an artistic expression that you often use?

库:2019年—2020年您还以特邀女声形式参与暮良文王(窦唯、文宾、文大可、王晓芳组合)合作的CD《无字汉音帖》,音乐是否也是您经常使用的艺术表达方式?


L: Yes, since the “Stillness” exhibition in Beijing, I have played music in all my exhibitions. In the two live exhibitions in New York, I have cooperated with local musicians and dancers to help convey the theme of the exhibition.

:是的,从北京的《静穆》展开始,我的展览现场都有音乐的参与,纽约的两个现场展我都有和当地的音乐家、舞蹈家合作,以辅助展览主题的深入传达。


The first time I cooperated with Wenbin was in 2018 on the background music for that exhibition. Wenbin's understanding of the intention of my work, and his expression of musical art, made our cooperation take place in a free realm of understanding and deep trust. In the world of pure music, an illusion of love buried deep in the heart is stimulated and released, thus producing a state of absolute relaxation.

我第一次和文宾合作是2018年为《静穆》展作的背景音乐,文宾对我作品意图的理解和对音乐艺术的表现使得我们的合作处于一种心领神会、深度信赖的自由境界。在纯然音乐的世界里,一种深埋于心的爱到极深的错觉被激发被释放,于是产生出绝然松弛的艺术状态。



"No Word Chinese Voice Post" CD《无字汉音帖》CD


A year later, Wenbin suggested my voice to Dou Wei. Dou Wei asked Wenbin to invite me as the guest voice immediately, saying that my voice was clean and pure, in a way he never met before. So on a summer afternoon, 2019, I met Dou Wei without prior notice, and after shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, we immediately started recording. Later, nearly fifty minutes of the single "no words time ," was finished, smoothly and wonderfully. It was really an unforgettable experience of artistic creation: the sound was near and far, entwined and encircled, empty and bright; the pitch was generated and flowed naturally in the lyrics, the timbre was open, or cloudy, or tipsy, or hidden, just as sighing, breathing, singing, reading, surrounding silence, everything was sound, everything was music...The music originated in the laziness of drunkenly waking up, the end like a breath sucked in, less than spit out, suddenly cut off, such as a knife through water, such as cutting through silk, unguarded against, and suddenly surprised. The singer, as a listener, imagines herself frozen in the present, with her mouth open, becoming a silhouette of history...

一年后文宾将我的声音推给窦唯,窦唯要求文宾立即邀请我担任特邀女声,说我的声音透着前所未有的干净纯净。于是一个夏日午后,在并未事先告知的情况下我见到窦唯,并在握手不及寒暄后立刻投入录制工作。后来近五十分钟的音乐单曲《无字时录帖》当时就只录了一遍,一气呵成,妙不可言。那真的是一次难以忘记的幸福的艺术创作经历:声音的远与近,缠与绕,空和明,音高在吐字中自然生成与流淌,音色或空旷或混浊或微醺或隐遮,正所谓叹、息、颂、念、周遭寂静,一切皆为音,一切皆为乐……乐曲发起于慵懒随性的醉酣惬醒,收尾又象一口气刚吸进去不及吐出就嘎然绝断,如刀断水,如斩锦帛,让人措不及防,又恍然称奇。作为听众的歌者想象着自己就那么被立定在当下,呆敞着口,呆成一个历史剪影……



  取自暮良文王专辑《无字汉音帖》之单曲《无字时录帖》

  曲中人声窦唯,羅一, 2019年录于文宾音乐棚


K: Is the situation in New York getting better? In your opinion, what changes will be made in the development trend and direction of art in the post-pandemic era?

库:目前纽约疫情状况是否有所好转?在您看来,后疫情时代下艺术发展趋势和方向会有哪些转变?


L: Sometimes, I heard the numbers of infections and deaths skyrocketed and sometimes they said that things were getting better, but no one I know has ever died. Perhaps that's why people didn't always stay at home and instead took the opportunity to do something. I don't think about the trend and direction of art although I had contemplated it in the past. For example, in the 2010s, I predicted that abstract art would have a big explosion in China, which came true within a few years. But then I stopped making predictions, and thought it is kind of absurd and boring for artists to predict trends in art.

:总是听到感染和死亡数据一会儿惊心动魄地飙升,一会儿又说有所好转,不过我身边认识的人一直就没有死的。也许是这个原因,人们才并不总是安分呆在家里并逮着机会就可劲作吧。关于艺术趋势和方向我没去想,以前想过,比如10年代我预测抽象艺术在中国会有一个大的爆发,没几年就应验了。但后来我再也不做预测了,我觉得预测艺术趋势这事对艺术家来说有些荒诞,没意思。


K: What are your plans for creation and exhibition in 2021?

库:2021年您有哪些创作与展览计划?


L: The creation and exhibition plans for 2021 are in progress and I want to keep it a secret for the time being.

:2021年的创作和展览计划正在进行中,我想暂时保密。




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