卡尔维诺在《看不见的城市》中借马可·波罗的话说：“城市犹如梦境，凡可以想像的东西都可以梦见，但是，即使最离奇的梦境也是一幅迷画，其中隐藏着欲望，或者隐藏着反面的恐惧，像梦一样。”这就是卡尔维诺对城市寓言般的理解。我们生活的城市丰富多彩，气象万千，这些都是我们看到的是城市生活中真实的物质的存在，但同时城市又是飘渺的、虚构的和模糊的，在表面清晰、鲜亮和张扬的后面隐藏滋生着难以把控的细节，正是这些被我们忽视的细节和碎片闪烁着光斑，夹带着零乱的记忆，“一点一点拼凑出一座完美的城市”。

　　巨燕是这样一个生活在大城市的时尚女子，但她没有成为那种沉溺于都市繁华的女性，相反她却用女性的敏锐冷静地躲开了城市那种炫目的亮光，把注意力集中到光亮后面的细节——电线。在这个细节里，她触到了城市的脉络，感受到独特的信息。作为一种能量的载体，电线是一张无边无际巨大的蜘蛛网，是这个城市的毛细血管，它悄悄地把电这种现代文明的血液输送到城市的每一个角落——无论光鲜的还是阴暗的，高贵的还是肮脏的;机器轰鸣、觥筹交错、灯红酒绿，寻情偷欢……无尽的能量被源源不断送到线条的每一处末端，点燃一个个不同的激情，燃烧一个个不同的欲望。电线是欲望的传递者，是城市生活的编织者，是辉煌和失败隐匿的书写者和见证人，是梦的缔造者，也是毁灭者。

　　在这座城市里，有着一百年前就被架设的中国最早的这些东西，它像爬满老人脸上的皱纹，无论这座城市如何神奇的起落衰荣，无论这个城市的主宰是谁，它始终默默传递着能量和动力，不为所动。然而，在这座城市变得越来越发达，城市形象越来越追求奇景化的同时，这些电线杆和电线逃脱不了被淘汰的命运，输电的方式正逐渐被更先进的地下电缆所取代，能量以一种更高效、更迅速，也更隐秘、更不动声色的方式传递着，那些沉默矗立的电线杆以及电线正被当作落后和不雅而连根拔去，天空中纵横交错牵肠挂肚的线条正被当作城市的疤痕逐渐被抹去。

　　巨燕敏感的捕捉到这种城市神经脉络的颤动。很多年前，她被天空中由这些线条构成的景像所吸引，进而沉迷于它们带来的那种混乱、纷扰和纠缠不休的印象。在她眼中，城市的恢宏和绚烂变得模糊不清，被她推到后面成了背景，她也有意躲开了人们热气腾腾的生活，只冷静地记录下只言碎语的片断。在她笔下，那些即将消失的线条冷峻、荒芜又带些神秘，勾勒了隐藏在城市背后梦一般的清冷、迷离、杂乱和纠缠，仿佛把这座城市的欲望和冲动的末梢抽丝剥茧般的抽离出来，展示给大家，而城市那个野心勃勃的庞大躯壳被虚化和退后，其意义变得可有可无。

　　需要说明的是，画家并没有沉溺在城市巨变带来的怀旧和伤感中，虽然这座城市在大规模的更新过程中抹去了很多所谓的温情记忆，现在也正到处弥漫着一种浓浓的由怀旧情绪和亢奋批判混杂在一起的对旧时光的眷恋之情。但显然，我并没有从这些作品中看到这种情结。相反，画家对这些即将失去的工业时代的东西表现出一种旁观者的冷峻。这种情结早在2006年就已经展现，当年，她曾徘徊在巴黎的街头，用相机悉心寻找工业时代的物品和构件，窨井盖、防滑板、埃菲尔铁塔内部构造等等，然后将这些照片制作成系列图影作品。退却了那种金属的冷酷坚硬和锐利后，那些图影折射出印象派般的光泽，一如巴黎那座城市的温暖多姿。反观这次在另一个大都市背景下诞生的电线杆系列，则出现另一种情绪的有趣比照。画家用冷静的色彩和细致的笔触刻划出城市的细节，发掘出其中蕴藏的迷失和纠结，她的眼光已经滤过了都市的光怪陆离和繁华躁动。不过，虽然这两部分作品前后形成不同的理念，但显然它们都指向同一个语境，即：城市亦真亦幻，既是有舞台般的炫彩生活，也有细碎的梦境般的片断。正如卡尔维诺说的：“把城市一点一点拆开，再将碎片调换、移动、倒置，以另一种方式重新组合”，这样重新创造了一个新的城市。

　　巨燕说她很多年前就开始注意这些电线的景致，这在她创作工业构成系列作品之前，那时上海已经进入了大规模的城市更新。在完成那批斑斓的图影作品之后，她回过头重新审视这种城市奇特的风景，在多年的寻找和发现的过程中，她找到了想要表达的想法，拿她的话来说就是：“我们建造了城市，背弃了自然，城市改变了我们生活方式。这些如天罗地网般无处不在的电线，也许正是我们穿越城市大街小巷，在这个光怪陆离的魔幻般的集中营中寻求精神依托的借体。”

　　Italo Calvino quoted Marco Polo in his book Invisible Cities：“With cities，it is as with dreams：everything imaginable can be dreamed，but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or，its reverse，a fear.” That’s Calvino’s interpretation of cities in a fable form.The city we are living in is of variety and diversity，the materialistic quality we can see is obvious.However，it is also of vanity，unreal and misty.Its image seems clear，colorful and aggressive.But behind the surface，something small and uncontrollable are subtly hidden and breeding.These are the details that we very often forget about but the memories glow.“Patching the bits and pieces together，we have a perfect city.”

　　Ju Yan is a fashionable woman living in this big city.But she never just indulges in the glamour of the city.On the contrary，she calmly and sharply stays away from the glamour and works on details behind the scenes – electric wires.In such detail，she feels the veins of the city and the special information it carries.As something to carry the energy，wires are like a vast spider web.They are like the capillaries of a human body，quietly sending electricity，a creation of modern civilization，to every corner of the city，whether it is bright or dark，noble or dirty，whether it is somewhere machines are running and roaming，people feasting and rejoicing.Endless energy is going to every end of the wires，lighting up passions or desires.Wires carry desires，weave the life of a city，and secretly write and witness its glory and failures.They create dreams and ruins.

　　In this city，we have wires that were set up a hundred years ago.They are like the wrinkles on an old man’s face.No matter the city is in its prime or at its lowest point，or whoever is in charge of the city，the wires quietly send out energy and power.However，when the city is more developed and people are pursuing grander views the wires are replaced.Transmission of electricity is replaced by underground cables，which run in a more efficient，secretively and quicker way.The silently standing electric poles and tangled wires are being removed.The crisscrossing lines in the sky are wiped out as scars of skyline.

　　Ju Yan is sensitive enough to feel the change of the city veins.Many years ago，she looked at the lines of wires in the sky and felt amazed.Then she was deeply attracted to its messy，wide and persistent image.To her，the grand or glamorous city became vague and distant.She gets away from the superficial glamour.She also strays away from the jovial city life.In her paintings，the lines，which are cold，hard and mysterious，outline the lonely，dreamy and tangly qualities behind the glamour.She sees through the surface and digs out the inside desire，impulse and confusion of the city.She shows people that when the aggressive and bulky body disappears，there is not much left.

　　I would like to note that the painter doesn’t play up too much on the nostalgia brought by the fast changing.Although the city has wiped clean many of its warm memories and now you can feel a sentimental attachment that is mixed with nostalgia and aggressive criticism everywhere.But I can’t feel nostalgia from her work.On the contrary，the painter shows her coldness towards the disappearing memory from the industrial age.In 2006，she was walking around Paris and with her camera，she captured bits and pieces from the industrial age，a manhole cover，an antiskid plate and the structure inside Eiffel Tower.She published them.Removing the cold，hard and sharp quality，the pictures，glowing with luster of impressionism，shows a warm and colorful Paris.However，looking at the works of the electric poles，we can find an amusing comparison.The painter's use of cold colors and delicate strokes to depict details of a city，and explore the confusion and loss.Her vision is above the bizarre and bustling surface of the city.Although the two series are different but point to the same concept-the city is realistic as well as fantastic.It has its glamorous side.On the other side，it's dreamy and broken.As Calvino said，“Dismantling the city piece by piece，he reconstructed it in other ways，substituting components，shifting them，inverting them”，in that way，a new city was born.

　　Ju Yan said that she began to pay attention to views of electric wires since many years ago，before she started her industrial series.At that time，Shanghai has entered the stage of its fast facelift.After she finished the photographic works，she looked back to the unique views of the city.In her years of looking and exploring，she found the ways to express that idea.

　　“We built a city and ran away from nature.Cities changed our life.We hold onto the wires that are everywhere to explore the city and find comfort in this bizarre and restless world.”