搅一杯往事的下午茶

有一天的下午，我来到画室，打开电脑查看雷燕发过来的几张图片，是雷燕用迷彩布做的软雕塑，很有意思。一部电脑，一个相机，一台老式电话，一个茶壶，两个杯子……哦，这些元素似乎构成了一杯浓郁的下午的茶。我突然想起了作家董桥散文中的一句话：“下午的茶，是搅一杯往事,切一块乡愁,榨几滴希望的下午。”哦，雷燕总喜欢炮制一杯略带苦涩却又回味甘甜的“茶”来。雷燕不但自己茗“茶”，而且约上她的好朋友一起来分享，当然这“茶”是一种视觉的盛宴。

作版画、油画也作图片和装置的雷燕，游任有余的徜徉自己的艺术世界里，但并不是自娱，而是作为一种文化行为，其艺术传达出的理念总是让人们感动，让人感慨。比如雷燕的作品《冰冻》红色系列，一本红宝书，一副红袖章……向我们展示了曾经把红色作为时尚的文化身体的那个年代。雷燕的作品有很强的符号特征，冰与文物（红色的宝书、袖章等），所产生的符号学的意义，让每个经历过那个年代的人都难以释怀。雷燕试图打捞心底冰封的视觉记忆，有她自己的诉求与愿望：冰冻中的红色记忆，是一个有关信仰、思想与追求的红色身体的记忆。在这个变化莫测、物欲横留的时代，随着时间的慢慢的消融，是否能唤回红色身体的记忆？当记忆由时间（艺术的表述方式）与空间（艺术构成方式）固化为文化的身体，必须以质疑的眼光与手段去呵护它的存在。因为，追求欲望与淡化欲望的文化身体构成了历史发展的生物链。

雷燕的软雕塑迷彩系列从色系上讲应该是绿色，绿色充满生机但也平和温馨。如果说《冰冻》的红色系列是陈封已久的欲望的历史，那么迷彩系列作品的理念，将迷彩文化从新整合后的日常性的叙事，则是淡化欲望后的人性的回归。雷燕的迷彩系列有两个文化层面的意义。一，迷彩在军事上被定义为迷惑与伪装，在保护作战的人和物的同时，也掩饰战争的血腥。迷彩理念的转换与解构，是在还世界一个宁静与和平的宿愿。二，军人出身的雷燕已经离开了部队，但是心系着部队的岁月。迷彩花瓶的稚拙，老式电话的亲切，茶杯茶壶的温馨……寓言似的身份转换，伤感中的眷恋尽在迷彩系列的软雕塑中。

雷燕善于把个人的亲历转换为公共的记忆，在极为日常性的叙事中，总能找到现实与历史的交汇点。而她的敏感与智慧总让她与众不同，总让她去发现表达艺术理念的艺术介质。无论是“冰冻”红色系列，还是“迷彩”绿色系列，理性材料的感性的表达，凸显文化的内涵，彰显人文的意义。作为一个女艺术家，艺术的人文性的追求，让她始终保持着先锋艺术的姿态。雷燕早期的作品“假如”系列，记录了年青生命的丰碑是如何成为大地的肌理；记述了产业结构调整后废弃的厂房的萧疏与凄凉；记载了城市建设是以摧毁本土文化为代价的所谓繁荣的假说。特别是作品《假如他们是女人》，将女性的发式装饰在男性领袖人物身上细节的真实，使解构与建构为同一性的权利话语。雷燕的领袖文化身体，强烈的话语权的现实意义在于，让女性实现“躯体的最强者同时也就是这个空间的统治者”的政治宣言。雷燕通过自己的艺术实践建立起来的话语权，表明艺术身份是独立的，艺术视角是独特的，艺术的人文性是追求的终极目标。在流行文化铺天盖地泛滥成灾的时候，雷燕有“坐看云起时”的清醒与坦然，并以自己的艺术表述方式，成就自己的艺术事业。

已进入中年的雷燕，以她的才情和机敏为她带来了艺术的辉煌时期。董桥说中年是下午的茶，雷燕和她的艺术就是一杯香醇而又浓郁的、苦涩而又甘甜的下午茶。

文/佟玉洁
2007-10-24
西安美院

Memory

I have known Lei Yan for several decades, ever since the time we worked together in the Kunming Military Region in the 1970s. I still remember that we spent a lot of time preparing for the art exhibitions in the army then.

Lei Yan made a series of prints, titled “We Have Lei Feng Everywhere”. It has been cited by many forms of media and been very influential. I was new in the army at that time and I felt so fortunate to receive tremendous help from Lei Yan – she was such a good and experienced teacher. It is a great honor for me.

Lei Yan served in the army from as early as the age of 14. She worked in a military hospital, a school and later in a research institution - she has been a soldier, a nurse, a scholar and researcher and also a military officer in various places. Even though she has had a range of careers, Lei Yan had always been greatly interested in art and especially paintings, leading her to produce a lot of art work which has been seen in many military inter art exhibitions. Lei Yan and I have had numerous discussions about art ever since she graduated from the China Military Fine Art College. In 1994, Lei Yan and I were invited by the Military Political Department to work together for the media art work titled, “The Pictures of an Era”, from which I found that she was no longer a soldier who only liked painting but an artist who had her own ideas and views on art. Because of her experience in printmaking, Lei Yan was more interested in printed material and was able to do a fine job. In 2001, with the completion of her new Loft in Kunming, Lei Yan retired from the military where she had served for more than 30 years and set up a studio in her Loft. Since then, Lei Yan has had more opportunities to communicate with foreign artists, institutions and art studios. She has recently finished a series of good pictures and set works, in which I found the theme “Memory” to have become her main focus in art.

We can have memories of certain people, of certain things, of sadness and happiness, of the happenings in our daily life and also of the nightmares we face in our lives. Because of the different personalities and life experiences, the memories arising from different people can be a very special element. In her time as an artist, Lei Yan used her memories of military service to express a special history of her life in the army - a story of a certain group of soldiers, a reflection of our nation and also a short biography of that time. The personal experience based on a period of national history, in other words, the memory that was created from that particular period of national history, became the fountain of Lei Yan’s art work, where she focused more on a human being’s soul, imagination, history and the future that we look towards.

The theme of “Memory” in Lei Yan’s latest work is one of the most valuable series of art done by a person born in the 1950s. I wish Lei Yan’s personal exhibition to be a roaring success!

Zhigang Tang
Loft, Kunming, China
December 2nd 2006

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