赵力

　　中央美院教授

　　策展人

　　任何的秩序都是貌似完美公平，其实不免缺陷僵化，即如绘画本身。那么为什么还要绘画呢?对于这个问题的回答林林总总，亦不免各执一词，只有开端没有结尾，亦如当今的世界。李继开的回答只是其中的一种答案，但他一直以自己的艺术方式来宣誓自己的答案，并力图清楚而明确。

　　自2004年从川美硕士毕业之后，李继开就在武汉默默地沉浸于自己的创作，他十分享受画室中的生活，顽强而坚韧地执着于自己的思路。从一开始李继开就是反秩序的，当然他针对的只是绘画本身。但是对于70后的艺术家而言，对于任何既有规则轻蔑的思想根源是普遍的怀疑精神，其背景即是社会的剧变所带来的沮丧感和挫折感。尤其对于那些刚刚跨出校门的年轻人来说，从高高在上的“象牙之塔”到“平凡人”的生活落差，是他们青年时代挥之不去的残酷记忆。

　　在李继开早期的作品中，学院式绘画的固有法则被冷冷地丢在一旁，刻意突显的是自己的存在。这是一个围绕着“我”的封闭世界，一个孤零零的“我”和彼此无关的物什所拼凑出来的叙事。李继开甚至以一种有关“小男孩”的连续性的话本虚拟来强化这样的叙事系列，以至于有点看似“自说自话”。而这种“自说自话”的“强迫症”，最终表现为以“玩偶”来短暂地替代了“小男孩”成为了叙事的主角，这让虚拟更加虚拟，“自说自话”更觉“自说自话”。

　　李继开的第二步是考虑如何去撒个“弥天大谎”。他开始虚构一个个更宏大的场景，而把“我”沉浸于“梦游”之中。现实世界的秩序和绘画的秩序同时被解构，正如梦境中的一切都是针对现实生活的反秩序。开始的时候，李继开就像一个涉世不深的少年那样怯生生的，表现得有点迟疑、有点彷徨，但是一旦尝到了甜头，便不由自主地放纵起来了。肆意的涂抹，凌乱的线条，流淌的痕迹，在“梦境“的包裹之下都变得看似顺理成章了。

　　事实上，从“小男孩”的“自说自话”到“小男孩”的“梦境”，有着合理的内在逻辑，那就是李继开不仅要突出“我”的存在，而且要拓展为“我的世界”的存在。“我的世界”是针对现实世界的反制，由此“我”不再是现实中“我”的镜像，更是“我的世界”的主宰。

　　李继开针对绘画解构的副产品就是“碎片”。“碎片”从表面上看是对画面整体性原则的反秩序，但是现在已然成为了李继开手中的“利器”。它可以是那些散乱于画面的石头、杂乱无章的树丛、破碎的木屑，也可以是到处流淌的色痕、涂鸦式的乱线，自由而触目惊心地出现在你的面前，更可以对应于画家的情绪、观赏者的观看，形成暧昧而纠结的情愫。

　　这些“碎片”，看似散落于画面各处，但就像是复调音乐中各个声部各自独立但又和谐统一为一个整体，形成了巨大的和声关系。也就是说李继开对整体性的反制却达成了另一番的整体性，并构成了李继开式的画面秩序。

　　现在的李继开已经不再是“小男孩”的青涩，也不是“玩偶”般的无助，更不是“梦境”中的彷徨，虽然“男孩”、“玩偶”和“碎片”依旧出现在他的画面，“梦境”依旧是画面的母题，但是他的画笔更加自信，叙事和情绪之间的结合显得更加完足。

　　李继开似乎开始要讲述一个个真实的故事，有关他自己的真实故事，不再是虚拟中的那种人生，正如他画面中那一双双睁大的而不再迷离的眼睛。而画面的“男孩”和“玩偶”，也不再是梦游般的到处逡巡，却是怡然自得的那副模样。

　　“碎片”化的处理变得更加有机和自由，是肌理的，是质感的，是情绪的，也是整体的。躁动、不安、怀疑等等，过去的一切好像借助画面被悄悄地翻了过去，或许这一切还存在于记忆之中，但即便是那些残酷的记忆也总是在时间的沙漏下变成了淡淡的忧伤。绘画的意义在此刻也成为抚平自己伤痛记忆的一剂良药，这或许也是李继开创作的“利己主义”式的表达方式。

　　但是李继开从未想过放弃自己创作的那份自由，对于一个未到四十岁的艺术家来说一切必定是刚刚开始。他的反秩序已经成为了他的创作的某种信条，而义无反顾即是他的坚定坚持。2009年左右的李继开，尝试去做一些立体性的作品，他很喜爱树脂丙烯着色的雕塑效果。在这次的展览中，他也展示了陶瓷片的近期创作，为此他不仅尝试着在上面随心所欲地涂抹，将“完成”和“未完成”混淆视听，而且开始熟悉窑炉的烧制方法，刻意保留某种手工性。或许未来的李继开还会走得更远，在大家的期待和惊喜中又一次看到一个全新的自我。

　　2012年 8月9日

　　Anti order

　　Zhao Li

　　Professor at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts

　　Curator

　　Any order seems to aim at perfect fairness， but it can't escape the trap of rigidity; this is true for painting as well. So why should one still want to paint? There are a multitude of answers to that question， and everyone has its own; like our present world， there is a beginning but no end. Li Jikai's answer is just one among many， but he proclaims it with his art， striving to be clear and explicit.

　　After he obtained his master degree at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004， Li Jikai silently immersed himself in creation in Wuhan， and he enjoyed very much his life in the studio， clinging tenaciously and firmly to his ideas. From the beginning he has been anti order， inasmuch as painting was concerned， of course. But for the artists born in the 70's， among whom scepticism was widespread and who tended from the origin to have some contempt for any rule， the background was a sense of depression and frustration brought about by the dramatic social changes. Especially for the youngsters who just came out of school， the difference of life when climbing down from their superior "ivory tower" to "ordinary citizen" was like a cruel memory of youth that they couldn't just chase away.

　　In Li Jikai's early works， the inherent academic rules of painting were coldly cast aside， and he endeavoured to highlight his own existence. It was a closed world revolving around the "I"， a narrative knocked out from a solitary "I" and things unrelated to it. Li Jikai even strengthened this type of narrative series with a fictive object related to the "little boy"， to the point that it looks a bit like "speaking his own language". And with this "obsession" with his "own language"， the "doll" that represented temporarily the "little boy" eventually became the main character of the narrative， making imagination more imaginative and "self-language" more self-language.

　　Li Jikai's next step was to think about how to proffer a "huge fabrication". He started by fabricating a more grandiose scene， and to immerse his "ego" in his "daydream". The orders of the real world and that of painting were deconstructed at the same time， just like everything in dreams is an anti order as opposed to real life. In the beginning， Li Jikai just looked like a timid inexperienced youth， hesitating， but as soon as he had tasted sweetness， he unconsciously lost discipline. Wanton painting， inordinate lines， and flowing traces included in "dreams" appeared suddenly to form a well organized composition.

　　In fact， from the "little boy" who "speaks his own language" to his "dream"， there is an internal logic， in that Li Jikai wants to highlight not only "my (his) " existence but also the existence of "my (his) world". "My world" is an anti system against the real world， and therefore "I" no longer mirrors (reflects) the real "I" but rather the master of "my world".

　　The side effect of Li Jikai's deconstruction of painting is the "fragments". On the surface， "fragments" are an anti order towards the principle of the integrity of painting， but now they seem to have become his "perfect tool". They can be those randomly dispersed stones on the canvas， the chaotic groves， broken pieces of wood， but also those colour traces flowing everywhere， or disorderly scrawling lines freely popping up before you and attracting the eyes， or even the emotions for the painting， the observation of the viewers， forming an ambiguous yet structured sentiment.

　　These fragments seem scattered all over the picture， but just like in polyphony each sound is independent yet part of a whole that forms a great harmony， that is to say that Li Jikai has reached a new integrity countering the initial integrity， and

　　thus constructs his own order.

　　The Li Jikai of today is no longer the immature "little boy"， neither is he the helpless "doll"， nor the hesitating， shy young boy full of "dreams"， and even if the "boy"， the "doll" and the "fragment" appear on his canvases， "dreams" are still that painting's main subject， his strokes are more confident， and the harmony between the narrative and the emotions seems to be more satisfactory.

　　It would seem that Li Jikai is really starting to be bent on telling a true story， one about himself， and no longer that of people with a virtual life， just like those two eyes in the painting that are wide open and are no longer blurred. And the "boy" and the "doll" on the canvas are no longer drifting in daydreaming， but seem rather contented with themselves.

　　The treatment of the "fragmentation" has become more organic and free， it has texture， sense of reality， emotion as well as integrity. Restlessness， anxiety， doubt， etc.， all these things from the past seem to be reversed with the help of the painting， or perhaps they remain in the memory， but then again those cruel memories， through the hourglass of time， tend to fade into sadness. The significance of the painting is that it becomes at that moment a medicine to cure this sadness， which is perhaps the essence of Li Jikai's ways of expressing his "egoism" in his creation.

　　But Li Jikai never thought of abandoning ever his creative liberty， and for an artist still under forty， everything is actually just starting. His anti order has already become some sort of creed of his creation， and there is no turning back on this. Around 2009， he tried to make a work in three dimensions， he loved the coloring effect of resin propylene on sculptures. In this exhibition， he also shows some recent works with pieces of porcelain， and he not only tries painting freely on it， confusing the public over the notions of "achievement" and "unachievement"， and getting familiar with the methods of baking ovens， striving to maintain some sort of handicraft character. Perhaps the future Li Jikai will walk even farther， looking once again at his own new self， to the expectations and surprise of everybody.

　　August 9， 2012