朱朱

　　以系列画的方式来表现一个题材，显然有别于单幅画的方式。就观看的角度而言，当我们在展览上发现一幅令自己着迷的作品，会为之流连忘返，将自我融入到画面的深处，将画面放大成世界。但是，当我们面对着系列组画，进而是以此构成的整个展览，我们的状态就被动得多，自我们进入到展览的空间，就已经被一座小世界包围，在某种程度上，我们成为了俘虏和被囚者;换句话说，组画的物质感要强大得多，它实际掌控了空间，以它的数量和体积布置了一个新环境，而画家似乎扮演了一个临时的“造物主”角色。

　　但是，在荣耀的背后，画家却是另一个角色---苦役犯。系列画是一项历史性的工程，过程相对漫长，其中的劳累和枯燥是不言而喻的，苦恼、怀疑和烦躁总是伴随着具体的工作。当这项工程进行到一定的阶段，他很可能会迷失，产生放弃的打算。在这样的时候，他会回到当初的那个起点去，重新思考和掂量自己的动机，想一想整件事情是否值得他投入这么多的精力与时日，并且，究竟是否有意义可言。

　　尹朝阳关于《神话》的那篇笔记，正可以视为这样一种检视。以相当坦率的口吻，画家首先回忆了一个夏日的下午，他在回家的途中发现了一块大石头，“它静静地待在路边，无声、苍白、坚硬。我突然有种莫名的感动，大概有两分钟时间我就和这块石头对峙着，然后我揣着颗沉甸甸的心就回去了”。晚上，石头被搬回家，接下去的一段日子里，他希望给这块石头起上一个名字，在查阅字典寻觅灵感的过程里，他找到了“神话”这个条目，想象力开始打开，当他将石头与西西弗斯神话、米开朗基罗雕塑中手托石头的大卫、夸父逐日、愚公移山等等联系在一起时，为石头进行命名，已经变成了为一个绘画题材所做的思考，这里，笔记里有一句话尤其是需要注意的，他说：“虽然牵强，甚至有图解的危险，但是我还是被笼罩在这些英雄人物身上的辉煌、悲剧的力量所震撼。”

　　这就是说，这组画最初的构想里，包含了自我怀疑的成分。他以“图解的危险”道出了这一事实，我以为，在尹朝阳确立起他整个绘画形象的过程之中，这种危险都一直是潜在的，它如同一个随时都在窥视他的陷阱，在某个拐角或者看似平坦之极的地方，想将他捕获、吞没，而他始终设法绕过去，他的警觉和内省、他的才能与勇气在此充分地展示出来，但是，这并不意味着陷阱的消失，和危机的解除，事实上，每个画家的风格具有双刃剑的意味，在征服观众的特殊锋芒之中，势必意味了某种偏执。他的绘画表现出一种个人英雄主义的气质，在我们的这个年代显得罕见，当代绘画的领域内确实充溢了炫奇和矫饰，低俗的游戏性与不断的精神妥协，当这位年轻的艺术家以充满蔑视和对抗的批判姿态出现的时候，他就显得如此与众不同，并且备受瞩目。可以说，无论外部世界经历着怎样的变迁，在人们的内心深处，总是存留着一份对于英雄的崇拜，对于道德回归的向往，尹朝阳正好契合了这种内在需要，他的绘画具有道德的美感和力度，同时激发着生命释放出巨大的能量，从虚无的深渊里进行向外的一跃。

　　然而，确实存在着一种可能的危险：艺术中的道德美最容易得到观众的欢呼，同时也最容易走向衰败。因为，道德往往正是宗教、神话或哲学的图解，这类形象最大的弊病，是会泄露出理念的源头，使作品充满了说教的色彩，显得僵硬、浅薄，并且与意识形态的措辞相类似，而且，包含于艺术家头脑之中的信仰和理想往往是含混的，它们并非是真理性内容的价值，而是依凭形象的表现力来感召观众，就我们这个年代所能触摸到的精神高度而言，这类形象只能将自己悬置于空洞的深渊之中，它在尽力显示翱翔和攀升姿态的同时，随时都需要寻找让自己站得住脚的理由。

　　当然，这种类型的创作产生过更高一级的范例，譬如戈雅的绘画或卡夫卡的小说，尽管作品极具图解性和象征性，但它们同时可视为想象力的自主行为，艺术家以形象的原创性，震撼和折服了观众。

　　“神话”的题材本身有可质疑之处，首先是它的异域性，固有一种文化形态上的隔阂感。

　　我们知道，20世纪80年代，存在主义曾经在中国引起极大的反响，加缪的作品获得广泛的阅读，他关于西西弗斯神话的剖析文章，和小说《局外人》、《鼠疫》一起为中国读者熟悉，在加缪的笔下，被罚在地狱中推石头的西西弗斯，象征了荒缪的人类处境里的现代英雄，他的身上“体现了辉煌的悲剧力量”，正可以说是尹朝阳所需的理想主角。

　　实际上，画家在思考这个题材时，已经将夸父追日、愚公移山这类中国神话作了考虑，然而，最终它们被放回了隐性的背景之中。这种舍近求远的选择看起来有些奇怪，不过，如果把“石头”或尹朝阳的个人气质放进来考虑，就变得容易解释。夸父无疑具有强烈的英雄主义气概，然而，如果对这个故事进行视觉转换，突显的将是人与太阳的意象关系，虽然愚公移山的过程正是人与石头的展示，但在愚公这个人物的身上毕竟带有愚顽的特性，只有在某些特殊时期他才被赋予了不屈不挠的象征性，成为英雄化身。

　　在中国的神话中，与“西西弗斯”相仿的是精卫填海的神话，她所表现出的正是一种英雄般的奋斗，是有限的生命向无限提出的挑战，石沉大海与巨石推至山顶重又落下，都象征了一种在无望之中的抗争。

　　然而，一颗可置于鸟喙之间的小石子，对于从气质上偏好于重大、严峻之物的尹朝阳而言，显得太轻巧、滑腻了。石头，那沉重、冰冷、坚硬、布满棱角的物体，更吻合他的审美态度，与之相对，北方式的、凝固的荒野背景比南方式的、流动性的大海，更具有刚毅的雄性气魄。

　　西西弗斯的“到来”，意味着他不得不采用感情误置(Pathetic Fallacy)的方式，将石头进行拟人化的处理，用以指称人的欲望和精神负担---那块路边的石头已经不复它本来的面目，它被提升到一个象征的位置上，与神话和英雄的精神题旨迅速结合在一起，成为人性之中欲望、焦虑、压力等情感的客观对应物。从本质上来说，物自身的特性被淹没了，在表现物的自然特性和表现理念这两者之间，他选择了后者，这意味着，在感动他的最初事实与他要表现的事实之间就有了一种脱节，但他敏感地意识到了这种脱节，这种“图解的危险”。我们可以看到，当这组画最终呈现在我们面前的时候，物的自然特性得到了很大程度的挽留和表现。其中有一些画作直接描绘了岩石本身，它本身的褶皱和棱角、苍凉和沉重，同时，并没有人出现在这样的画面上。另外，也有一种深邃而平静的画面，调子是柔和的蓝灰色，人默默地俯身于岩石之间，似乎就是要体验物的本性。它的厚度、形状、体积，人通过与这种自然物的对话，从而将自身融化在宇宙的苍茫和安宁之中。

　　劳动的场景从不同的角度展现在那些画作里，进一步地表现那种本真情怀，劳动正是一个释放人的原始活力而且直达物质深层的过程，这个过程充满了无穷的乐趣，它“使人处于宇宙的中心，而不是社会的中心，”(加斯东·巴什拉，Gaston Bachelard);我们可以看到，西西弗斯神话中那个关于人推着石头上山的、单调不变的情节性动作被改写了，画家以“慢镜头”，以一再定格和放大的方式，展示和穷尽着采石的全过程，画中人将石头从山体中攫起，将它举过头顶，怀抱它，背负它，卸除它，摇动它，靠在它的旁边，或者像秃鹫般敛翅在它的上边……在这方面，令人想起一部西班牙影片《牛》(导演朱里奥·密谭，Julio Medem)，影片中以繁复多变的视角展示了劈柴的过程，在其一再的放大呈现下，观众带着惊讶和新奇的感觉，领略到其中蕴含的力与美，体悟了释放人体内在能量的满足和幸福。然而，影片中对劈柴的表现仍然是牧歌式的，是唯美化的粗犷，相比之下，《神话》的调子绝不是幻美的成分，也不是原始活力的单纯赞歌---在它的核心调性上，劳动被引入了现代社会紧张、异化和疯狂的状态，现代人内心深处的焦虑与冲突感被人与石头的关系尽可能地摹拟与演示出来，劳动，因而成为了苦刑。

　　为这个系列画所突显的人与石头的关系，更是一场无休止的搏斗，一场战争。最典型的情态出现在其中的一幅画里，鲜血正从搬石头的人的双腿之间流下，而他的背后，成堆的岩石上有熔化成岩浆般的液体往下流淌，人与石头仿佛都处在沸点之中，两者之间的战争完全可以用“白热化”来形容。

　　这种搏斗的激烈与残酷也充分表露在画中人的表情和肌体之中，不妨说，在对这些面孔和身躯的塑造中，尹朝阳回顾了一个从戈雅到弗朗西斯·培根的谱系，其中应该包括了众多的表现主义者们，例如凡·高、蒙克、奥斯卡·科柯施卡(Oskar Kokoschka)，所有这些画家都绘制了“焦虑的人”，他们的笔触显得激烈而敏感，颜料有一种可怕的实体感，他们所绘制的人物面孔和身躯，都具有精神梦魇的重负之下引发出的扭曲和抽搐感，器官因此而变形，甚至模糊不清;在“神话”之中，精神梦魇具化成了石头，具化成了人与石头之间的搏斗，人体的扭曲和变形的理由因此来得更为具体，当人奋力地举起一块石头时，他全身的肌肉和表情都自然地处在极度紧张的状态之中。

　　尤其值得一提的还有“神话”画面中经常会出现的那种划线，它们呈圈状环绕人体。培根曾经以这种划线表现人体被压抑的活力，而在画面效果上显示出的是一种“鬼怪式的花哨”(罗伯特·休斯)。而这种划线在尹朝阳这里得以被巧妙地运用，它们像血痕，勒痕，从用力过猛的身躯上绽裂、飞溅到空中，成为了被挣断的锁链，彰显伤痕与暴力的记号;另一方面，可以将它们比喻成内在能量的射线，仿佛内在的痛苦和欲望终于在苦刑之中被引渡，转化为虚空中的狂喜体验。红线也给画面带来了悸动感，粉碎了古典的平衡和呆板，空间更为立体感，同时弥散着不安定的、不可定义和不可名状的因素，仿佛画家有意用它们来充填理念与“图解”的可能裂缝，以非理性的活力消解了单一化的理念。

　　“神话”中有一幅关于面孔的特写，那是一张如同戈雅灾难画里的那种青面獠牙的魔怪面孔，这种异形的出现仿佛在证实，即使是英雄也已经因为无法忍受漫长、孤独而残酷的苦刑，而丧失了善的追求，邪恶成为了他的精神主宰，他已经彻底地异化了。从主题而言，尹朝阳笔下的这张面孔已经取缔了加缪笔下的“现代英雄”，加缪在那篇著名文章的结尾处说：“攀登山顶的奋斗本身足以充实一颗人心。应该想象西西弗斯是幸福的。”换句话说，假设处于劳役过程中的西西弗斯是绝望的、歇斯底里的，不断地发出恶毒的诅咒，那么他的意义等于不存在。只有在苦刑之中体验到圆满意义的人，才能提供一种个人英雄的样本，不妨说，“充实”和“幸福”正是加缪为西西弗斯这个原型添加的道德基座。

　　但是，在尹朝阳的这幅肖像画中，这个基座被打碎了。

　　我们可以看到，在尹朝阳对英雄和神话题材的关注与痴迷之中，正隐含了一种愿望：艺术家在当今的年代里、仍然能够继续扮演起英雄式的人物。而西西弗斯这个神话人物本身就是双重的象征，象征人类荒谬处境的同时，也象征着重复不断的个人努力与孤独的创作命运。

　　超人的意志力，正是英雄和依照英雄形象塑造自我的艺术家的一个标志。在尹朝阳的几个系列画之中，如果说“失乐园”是关于破灭的爱情神话的挽歌，“广场”与“乌托邦”是关于破灭的意识形态神话的挽歌，那么，“神话”更具精神的自传性，它可以视为一种艺术家自画像的变体，是关于个人意志的颂歌。

　　然而，这一颂歌依然隐含着这样一个悬而未决的矛盾：艺术家的英雄梦是应该卸下的负担，还是应该以个人的强烈意志去创造的神话?

　　喀迈拉也出自希腊神话，它是一个怪异的精灵，有狮子的头颈，山羊的身躯，巨蟒的尾巴，隐喻为幻想、空想、妄想。在波德莱尔的散文诗集《巴黎的忧郁》里有一篇小文，题为“人人背着喀迈拉”，诗人在开头描述的背景，与“神话”中的背景显得很相似：“在辽阔的灰色天空之下，在尘土飞扬、没有道路、没有草地、没有一颗蓟草、没有一棵荨麻的大平原里，我碰到好些弯下身子行走的人。……他们每个人的背上背着一个巨大的喀迈拉，沉重得像一袋面粉，一袋煤炭，或是一个罗马步兵的装备。”有趣的是他没有用岩石来做比喻，或许他认为，岩石已经成为了西西弗斯的专利。接下去，他描述了怪兽如何紧紧地钳制和压迫着背负它们的行人，那些人则毫无怒意，面孔疲惫而严肃，并不知道自己要走向哪里，“他们露出注定要永远抱着希望的人们的逆来顺受的表情缓慢前进”。而结尾是这样的：“有好一会功夫，我坚持着要弄懂其中的奥秘;可是不久，不可抗拒的‘漠不关心’向我袭来，比起那些被沉重的喀迈拉压着的人们，我却是被‘漠不关心’更沉重地压垮了。”

　　这个结尾是颓废的，作者将批评的刀尖转过来对准了自己。这位开启了现代主义想象的诗人，同样深怀英雄主义的梦想，然而，他最终陷入了“漠不关心”之中，他将举止显得懒散而冷漠的纨绔态度视为“堕落时代的英雄主义的最后闪光”。(瓦尔特·本雅明)

　　尹朝阳的“神话”系列里有一幅画，巨大的石头几乎占满了整个画面，相比之下，画中的人经过了激烈的挣扎，松弛了下来，行将瘫软一般，渺小、无能、心有不甘而黯然神伤，俨然已经放弃了与石头的搏斗，在这个英雄主义调式的系列里，尤其是与其中表现了英雄那巨人般的体魄和能量的画面相对，这幅画中的人甚至显出了一种酸楚的滑稽感---这里，我们确知反讽已经介入了他的绘画，并且，可以理解为一种自我反讽。它并非是纨绔式的慵懒，然而，确实不再绷紧他全身的肌肉，不再保持激昂而单一的斗姿，好像一切都已经难以为继。在画中的英雄卸下了石头的同时，艺术家自己也仿佛卸下了英雄梦，任凭那巨大的石头像烈火般燃烧和蔓延，包围我们，紧紧地挤压、烤炙我们，并且溢出整个画面，它以全部的沉重、坚硬和尖锐使我们窒息，反衬出我们脆薄如剪纸般的生命。但是，这样的画面真的意味了终结吗?意味着个人力量的消失和对精神追求的彻底放弃吗?不，这生命无言而动人，仍然站立着，呼吸着，正因为它有勇气将自己置于悲剧的深处，做一种自我的检视，它反而更具道德的透明感，也更有力地消解了图解的危险。

　　2006年3月

　　Zhu Zhu

　　To use a series of works to express one subject matter is explicitly different from a single work. As for seeing, when we see one of the charming works, we would like to linger a while to look at it with ourselves mingled into the deep of the picture surface, which seems being enlarged as a world. But when we face a series of works, then the whole exhibition made up of these works, we will feel more passive, for when we enter the exhibition space, we are surrounded by a mini-world. To some extent, we become captive and imprisoned; to put it another way, the physical sense of the series works is more powerful, and it indeed dominates the space to create a new space by its quantity and volume, the artist then seems play a role of a temporary creator.

　　Behind the glory, however, the artist is another actor, a prisoner. Series paintings are a time-consuming project, during which the artist no doubt works hard monotonously. His working is always followed by distress, suspect and anxiety. When the project comes to some stage, he may feel lost, or even think of giving it up. Thus, he might return to the original starting point, rethink his motive on if he is worth spending such more energy and time on it, and even there is any meaning in it.

　　The note on ｡ｰMyth｡ｱ made by Yin Zhaoyang would be regarded as a proof for this activity. He recalls one afternoon in summer in a rather frank tone, that on the way to home he found a big stone, It sat there quietly on the roadside, voiceless, pale, and hard. All of sudden I was moved inexplicably, for about two minutes I stood there watching this stone, then I went back with a heavy heart. At night the stone was moved to his home, during the following days, he hoped to name this stone. So he looked up for dictionary for an inspiration, and he found an entry on myth. Then suddenly the imagination was there. When he related the stone to Sisyphus, David by Michelangelo, a legendary hero Kuafu running after the Sun, the Foolish Old Man Yu Gong removing the hill, and named it, it became a thought as his subject matter of painting. One sentence in his note is worth noting, he says:

　　Although farfetched, or even in the danger of explanation through illustration, I am still moved and shocked by the splendid, tragic power surrounding these heroes.

　　That is to say, the original idea for this series has included some self-doubt. He reveals this fact of dangerous illustration. I think that during the process of his confirming the painting images, this danger was still latent, like a trap ready for him at anytime, catching him at some corner or a seemingly flat place. But he tried his best to go around it, his awareness and introspection, talent and bravery are revealed completely. But it didn｡ｯt mean the disappearance of trap and the removal of danger, in fact, every artist｡ｯs style, like a dual-bladed sword, would mean certain deviating while conquering the audience. His paintings show a kind of individual heroism, which is so rare in our times. The contemporary painting circle is full of queerness and namby-pambyism, vulgar game and spiritual compromise. So when this young artist emerged with critical attitude of distain and antagonism, he looked quite distinctive of others and well acclaimed. In fact, however the outside world undergoes changes, in the inside of human, there always remains an admiration of heroes, an aspiration for moral return. What Yin does just suits for such internal needs, his paintings are imbued with moral aestheticism and power, and stimulate life to release overwhelming energy, jumping outwards from the abysm of nothingness.

　　Notwithstanding there indeed exists a possibility of such danger: the moral beauty in art is easily welcome by the audience and also easy to turn into downfall, for morality is just an illustration of religion, mythology or philosophy, the biggest shortcoming of these images is to reveal the sources of ideas, make the works full of sermons, looking rigid and shallow and analogous to the ideological rhetoric. Thus, what is contained in the mind of the artist as belief or ideal is always ambiguous, they appeal to the audience not by true value, but by the expressive images. As for the spirituality that we can feel in this times, these images can only put themselves in the abysm of nothingness, while it tries to demonstrate a kind of posture of flying and climbing, it is ready to look for the grounding for his position.

　　We of course know that these kinds of creations have produced some more higher examples (such as Goya｡ｯs paintings or Kafka｡ｯs novels), which show that although the works are illustrative and symbolic, they could be regarded as imaginative automatism, and the artist shakes and subdues the audience by the original images.

　　The subject matter of ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ itself ought to be argued first of all about its exoticism, there is a kind of intrinsic estrangement culturally.

　　As we know, in the 1980s, Existentialism evoked a great repercussion in China, and Camus｡ｯ works were well widely read. His critical essays on Sisyphus myth and the novels ｡ｮOutsiders｡ｯ and ｡ｮThe Plague｡ｯ were popular among Chinese readers. Under Camius｡ｯ pen, Sisyphus was punished to push the stone in the hell symbolizing the modern hero in the absurd human conditions. What he stood for as glorious, tragic power is just what Yin likes to need.

　　Actually, when Yin thought of this subject, he had already considered the Chinese mythology such as Kuafu running after the Sun and the Foolish Old Man removing the hill. But they were placed into a latent context. It seems strange to select the remote myth rather than the local one, and yet it will be more easily explained if the stone or Yin｡ｯs own temperament. Kuafu doubtless has a strong heroism, and the image relation between man and the Sun would be outstanding if this story is transformed visually, though the hill-removing by the Foolish Old Man is just a demonstration of man and stone, a kind of stubbornness is embodied in him. It is only until the days of Mao that he is endowed with a symbol of persistence and perseverance as the incarnation of heroes advocated in the Theory of the Class.

　　In Chinese mythology, what is similar to Sisyphus is the story of The Holy Bird Jingwei filling the sea. She shows a hero-like struggle a challenge by a finite life to the infinite. That the screes falling into the sea and the huge stones being pushed up to the hill top and then falling down symbolize a hopeless struggle.

　　It can be imagined, however, that a scree picked up by the beak of a bird look too light, too satiny for Yin｡ｯs temperament: he tends to favor grandeur and austerity. Only do the heavy, cool, hard and pointed stones conform to his aesthetic attitude. As contrast, the northern, solidified wildness against the southern, fluid sea registers more resolute masculinity.

　　The ｡ｮarrival｡ｯ of Sisyphus means that he has to employ ｡ｮpathetic fallacy｡ｯ to personify the stone as signifying man｡ｯs desire and mental burden-the stone lying at the roadside has been changed and elevated to a symbolic level, which incorporates the myth with heroic spirit and becomes the objective equivalent to that of desire, anxiety, and pressure. In essence, the physical features are drowned and from between to express the natural physical features or the ideas, he chooses the latter. This means that there is disjoint between what originally moved him and what he would like to express, but he is acutely aware of it-the ｡ｮdanger of illustration｡ｯ. We can see that these series of paintings are finally presented to us, the physical features of the objects still remains and are expressed to some extent. Among them some directly depict the stones in their own part about their pleats and points, desolateness and heaviness; at the meantime, nobody appears in the pictures. In addition, some describe a kind of deep and calm picture: the soft, blue tone, men bending over the stones, who seem to feel the physical nature for its mass, shape and volume. Man, through the dialogue with such natural objects, dissolves himself into the desolateness and quietness of the universe.

　　The scenes of labor are represented in the pictures from different angles, further expressing a natural feeling. Labor is a process of releasing man｡ｯs primitive vital force penetrating the physical essence. It is filled with unlimited pleasures, and ｡ｮman is made the center of the universe, not of the society｡ｯ (Gaston Bachelard); we can see that in the myth of Sisyphus the epidemic scenic action of pushing stones up the hills monotonously is transfigured, the artist uses ｡ｮslow motion｡ｯ to demonstrate the infinite process of quarrying by means of fixed patterns and enlargement. The man in the pictures picks stone up from the hills, raises it over his heads, embraces it, carries it on the back, removes it, shakes it, lies beside it, or lingers on it like a vulture｡ｭIt reminds us of a Spanish movies ｡ｮBull｡ｯ directed by Julio Medem. The movie shows the process of hacking wood from multiple angles. Under the enlargement the audience are surprised and shocked to feel its internal power and beauty, to experience a satisfaction and happiness released from human body. However, the presentation of hacking wood is still pastoral, an aesthetic roughness. In contrast, the tone in ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ is not illusively aesthetic at all, nor a mere praise of primitive vital force-in its core, labor is transfigure into a state of intensity, alienation and craziness in modern society; the inner anxiety and conflicts of the modern man is mimically represented, so labor becomes a punishment.

　　The relationship between man and stones in this series is more like an unending battle and a war. The typical situation appears one of the paintings: the blood is bleeding between the legs of the man who is moving the stone, against him the molten magmatic fluid flows from inside the piled-up rocks, man and stones seem be over the boiling point, their battle can be described as ｡ｮperfervid｡ｯ.

　　The fury and cruelty of this battle is quite revealed in the figure｡ｯs complexion and body, or we say that to create these faces and bodies, Yin retrospected the genealogy from Goya to Francis Bacon, including many expressionists, such as Van Gogh, Munck, Oskar Kokoschka. All these artists painted ｡ｮanxious people｡ｯ, their brush touches looked intense and sensitive, their paints gave a horrible sense of solidity. The faces and bodies they painted are distorted and twitched under the burden of mental nightmare, so the organs are deformed, or even blurred; in ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ, the mental nightmare is incarnated as a stone, a battle between man and stones. Therefore, the deformed and distorted bodies look more vivid, when man strives to raise up a stone, all his muscles and expression are in an intense condition.

　　It is particularly worth mentioning that the scratch lines in the picture surfaces of ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ look circles surrounding human bodies. Bacon once used such scratches to express the suppressed vitality in human body, and to show a kind of ｡ｮghostlike gaudiness｡ｯ (Robert Hughes) in the picture effectiveness. Such lines are skillfully used by Yin, they look like blood traces and tightening prints, which splash into the sky from overexerting body, as a broken chain and a mark of wounded traces and violence. On the other hand, they can be compared to the rays of internal energy, as if the internal agonies and desires are finally extradited to be transformed as ecstasy in the nothingness. Red rays bring a sense of vibration in the picture surface to break the classical balance and stiffness, thus the space becomes more cubic, in the meantime they emit certain unstable, undefinable and nameless elements, as if the artist uses them intentionally to fill the gap between ideas and ｡ｮillustration｡ｯ, to deconstruct the single idea by using irrational vitality.

　　There is a close-up face in one of ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ series, as like that ghost-like face in Goya｡ｯs disastrous painting. Such abnormal shape appears as if it is proving that it is unbearable even for a hero to have so long, lonely, and cruel a penalty, while he loses his pursuit to goodness, the evil becomes his mental dictator, so he is completely alienated. As for the subject theme, this face created by Yin has put down the ｡ｮmodern hero｡ｯ described by Camus, who writes at the conclusion of his famous essay: ｡ｮto climb the mountain is a satisfaction for one｡ｯs mind, so it ought to be supposed that Sisyphus is happy.｡ｯ In another word, if Sisyphus is hopeless and hysteric, shouting malicious curses during his rolling, his significance would not exist. Only could he who has experienced such consummate significance offer a sample of individual hero. Or to say, ｡ｮconsummation｡ｯ and ｡ｮhappiness｡ｯ are just the moral bases Camus built for the prototype of Sisyphus.

　　But the base is broken in this portrait by Yin.

　　We can see that there lies latently a wish in Yin｡ｯs concern and obsession with heroes and mythological subject matters: the artists can still play a heroic role in today｡ｯs world. And Sisyphus as a mythical figure is a double symbol, symbolizing both human｡ｯs absurd situation and individually repetitious efforts and lonely destiny of creation.

　　Super will is a mark of hero and artist who is built upon the model of hero. In several series by Yin Zhaoyang, if ｡ｮParadise Lost｡ｯ is an elegy of broken love myth, ｡ｮThe Square｡ｯ and ｡ｮThe Utopia｡ｯ are an elegy of broken ideological myth, ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ then is a more spiritual autobiography, it can be taken as a variant of the artist｡ｯs self-portrait, a carol of individual will.

　　However, in this carol there still lies a strongly insolvable contradiction: is the artist｡ｯs heroic dream a burden to be unpacked, or a myth to be created with a strong personal will?

　　Chimaera is, also from Greek mythology, a queer spirit with lion｡ｯs head, goat｡ｯs body, and python｡ｯs tail, metaphorically referring to illusion, fantasy, mirage; in Baudelaire｡ｯs prose-poetry book ｡ｮThe Melancholy of Paris｡ｯ, there is a short essay titled ｡ｮEveryone carries a Chimaera on their backs｡ｯ, the poet begins with the description of the background, similar to the one in ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ: ｡ｮagainst the vast gray sky, in a open plain, dusty, no road, no grassland, no any thistle, no any smartweed, I encountered many cramped bowed people walking｡ｭ.all of them carried a big Chimaera on their backs, so heavy as a sack of flour, a bag of coal, or a set of Roman soldier｡ｯs outfit.｡ｯ It is interesting that he doesn｡ｯt use the rock as a comparison, or he thinks that the rock has been a patent of Sisyphus. Then, he describes how the beast grips and presses tightly the carrier, those people show no any anger, tired but serious, and they don｡ｯt know where to go, ｡ｮthey slowly proceed, they are seemingly destined to hold a hope under severe conditions.｡ｯ The conclusion goes as:

　　For a while, I insist on understanding its secrets; but shortly, a sense of unresisting ｡ｮindifference｡ｯ attacked me, as compared with those people under the burden of Chimaera, I was collapsed with ｡ｮindifference｡ｯ.

　　The conclusion is decadent, the author turns the critical knife-point to himself. This poet, who launched the modernist imagination, also holds a heroist dream. He, however, falls down into ｡ｮindifference｡ｯ eventually. He thinks of listless behavior and indifferent floppy as ｡ｮthe last sparkle of heroism in the decadent times｡ｯ(Walter Benjamin).

　　In one of ｡ｮMyth｡ｯ paintings, the huge stones almost occupy fully the whole surface; in contrast, the figures let down, after intense struggle, as if collapsedly, chikenlike, tiny, impotent, unreconciled and depressed, just like giving up battling with the stones. In this series of heroist mode, particularly as against with the picture surfaces in which the giantlike bodies and energy are expressed, the figures in it even look a sense of funniness-wherein we are certain that irony has been engaged in his paintings, and it can be understood as a self-irony that it is not a floppy laziness, while he indeed does not need to tighten his muscles, not to keep a zealous and single gesture for fighting, as if it seems difficult for everything to continue, and in the paintings when the heroes unpack the stones, the artist seems unpack the dream of heroes, letting alone the huge stones burning and overspreading, surrounding us, pressing us and scorching us, even running over the whole picture. It suffocates us with all these heaviness, hardness, and acuity, as registers our weak life like a paper-cut. But, does this picture mean the ending? Does it mean the loss of individual power and the abandonment of seeking the spirituality? No, the life stands, speechless and breathing, but moving, because it is brave to put itself into the deep of tragedy, to take on a self-inspection, and it is instead transparent morally, as well as deconstructs the illustrative danger forcefully.

　　March, 2006