从刘永刚接受中国国际广播电台采访的一段谈话中可以看出，在上世纪90年代初期，刘永刚对德国表现主义美术非常关注，在一次观看德国表现主义美术作品展览时，感觉这些作品与他自己所想象的美术作品表现形式十分相近，由此决定了他的德国留学和创作生涯。 　　每一个人的思维总是体现出一贯的风格和模式，艺术家更是如此。任何一个艺术家最后的思维方式的选择，并不是突兀的创新，而是在一个连续的生长过程中的逐渐将其独一无二的特征予以强化。在每一个自以为新奇的“拐点”，其实都深藏着一条由来已久的线索。刘永刚对德国表现主义的理解以及所产生的认同感，恰恰是他一以贯之的思维方式之延续。在其早期所创作并引起业界关注的油画作品《北萨拉的牧羊女》中，就可以看到有诸多因素暗合德国表现主义绘画精神。 　　德国表现主义在其初起阶段，继承了北欧各国传统艺术中的表现主义倾向。在早期日耳曼人的所谓“蛮族”艺术、中世纪的哥特艺术和文艺复兴时期以博斯、勃鲁盖尔为代表的艺术家创作的作品中，可以感受到强烈的表现主义倾向。表现主义中能够吸引刘永刚的因素是什么呢？或者说，刘永刚究竟从德国表现主义艺术中受到了什么样的启迪、从而促使他义无反顾地奔向了这个国度？虽然没有直接与刘永刚交换过意见，但是，从他的艺术创作生涯中可以感受到，这是解读刘永刚的艺术理念和作品的一把重要的钥匙。 　　正如“桥社”（Drucke Die，成立于1905年）的创始人凯尔希纳（Ernst Ludwig Kirchner，1880—1938）在一份宣言中所倡导的：“每一个人，每一个属于我们的人，直接地、毫不虚伪地表现出驱使他们进行创作的东西。”他们在赞赏凡•高、高更和蒙克的作品的同时，对原始艺术亦怀有虔诚的态度。愁闷、空虚和木偶般的神态几乎成为这类表现主义作品的标志性图像。高更曾经认为：“人类现代智慧在详尽的分析中失去自身的作用，它甚至连最简单或最显而易见的东西也感觉不到。”（爱德华•路西—史密斯：《西方当代美术》，1986）在这样的艺术主张和推崇的艺术作品现象之下，其策略性的重点是对原始主义的理解和运用。从西方当代戏剧理论来说，原始主义（Primitivism）无疑包含着三个方面：表演性、仪式性和狂欢性。（吴飞：《先锋与原始——论先锋派戏剧的三个特征》）表现主义的艺术家将原始主义的视觉直觉性纳入到创作手段之中，在表达非理性、激情、神秘和主观性方面起到了重要作用。曾经何时，这种神秘的激情和带有暗示意味的表现风格启发了中国当代的艺术家，由此产生了一些重要的作品。刘永刚在1987年创作并受到业界好评的油画作品《北萨拉的牧羊女》即是这类风格的代表作品。无论从人物造型，还是色彩的处理，均反映出刘永刚对隐秘的激情和主观意趣表述的兴趣。近乎于笨拙和僵硬的人物姿态，显示出作者对仪式性的原始主义艺术因素的敏感。 　　10多年的留学和创作生涯，并没有将刘永刚的艺术禁锢在他曾经钟情过的德国表现主义之中，而是将促使刘永刚的艺术创作实践向着超越表现主义精神的方向迈进。刘永刚曾经谈到：“到了国外以后看了很多展览、很多作品，都觉得在大学学的，包括到国外学的，看着看着，学着学着，最后没有了自己，还是属于一种向人学习，不断地向人学习，向人模仿。越是这样，走到一个极端的时候，发现要有自己。那这个自己哪儿来？一定要有根。根在哪儿？在祖国大地传统文化上。传统文化我喜欢文字。我从小就喜欢文字。那我就开始有回归，所谓的回归，就是把（中国）传统的各个历史时期的文字开始进行研究，做比较，最后，其实也就是（把）这种（文字的）形状、构造，变成一种形象的，或者视觉的。”（引自中国国际广播电台访谈节目）这段谈话揭示了刘永刚在艺术创作观念有了新的发展，其内涵就是要将中国传统文化和艺术因素融入到当代艺术形式的表述之中。 　　在这一时期，刘永刚创作了大量的富有抽象表现主义精神的作品。众所周知，抽象表现主义在反具象化美学观念、自我表征和自我情感的强度表达方面与表现主义一脉相承。刘永刚的这类作品以强有力和狂放不羁的笔触以及强烈而奔放的色彩表达出一种凝重的力量，一些“十”字型构图的画面凸现出一种神圣的宗教意味。这或许是原始主义中的“仪式性”和“狂欢性”交织的结果。颇耐人寻味的是，刘永刚在这类作品中有意强化了中国传统书法的书写意味。中国文化传统所具有的写意性与现代西方文化所秉持的抽象性有着易于沟通之处。在习惯以主、客体二元对立的方法论观察和认识世界的西方人看来，摆脱客观对象的表面形象而以抽象形态亦有其魅力所在。中国人所贯持的“天人合一”理论则显示出主、客体一元论的方法论。正如沃林格尔（Wilhelm Worringer，1875-1965）所论：“东方人知道，在他的有限性中，他是不可能看到神的。”（《哥特形式论》，张坚等译）这一认识论特征决定了中国人更关注具有抽象意味的形式，如对书法艺术的领悟与钻研，以及对笔墨趣味的审美观照。刘永刚敏锐地抓住了这种东、西方文化和艺术中的精神及其变化，巧妙地将西方当代艺术的形式与精神融入他对中国传统艺术精神的思考之中，创造出了富有东方精神的当代艺术作品。 　　刘永刚在关注东方、尤其是中国传统因素的同时，对他所感兴趣的一种更加原始的人类情感以及力量进行了独到的考察，其结果就是以《爱拥》为主题的系列雕塑作品的出现。刘永刚在谈到这组作品的立意时说：“用爱，拥抱全世界，拥抱全人类，拥抱全社会，拥抱每一天！有爱，才能相互拥有！让爱，拥有天下！” 刘永刚在甲骨文、蒙古文甚至巴斯巴文中找到了灵感。 　　看到刘永刚的《爱拥》，不禁联想到布朗库西的《吻》。布朗库西以及其简约和写意的手法，将一对拥吻的恋人之爱升华到一个充满具体内容的爱的理念。那种温馨在观者心中引起深厚的暖流，它所产生的感动是任何一件写实作品所不能比拟的。布朗库西注重纯粹而完整的直觉，以极度单纯的造型表达对事物本质的感受。显然，刘永刚也力图以一种简洁的表述方式，将主题“爱”以抽象化和拟人化结合起来，对“爱”的本质作出自己的阐释。但是，刘永刚所阐述的“爱”是超越了一切人为限制的“博爱”，是“仁者爱人”之“爱”。当樊迟请教何为“仁”时，孔子答：“爱人。”（《论语•颜渊》）可以说，个体生命的“爱”与社会性的 “仁”是互为内容和互为本质的。有论者指出：“单就生命个体而言，‘仁’实质上是对生命本体的一种张扬和呼唤，是生命个体在持续不断发展中所孜孜以求的目标与化境，同时也是个体生命完善的一种推动力和牵引力。”（张涵、史鸿文：《中华美学史》）刘永刚试图表现的就是这样一种高度抽象化而有丰富内涵的“爱”之理念。 　　刘永刚的这些雕塑作品以“爱”这一主题为主要线索，让抽象的文字以拟人化的形态做出拥抱的姿态，然后生发出千姿百态的结构。这些雕塑作品给人以厚重而柔软的感觉，在作者表现出对材料的敏感和独特理解的同时，将这些坚硬的石材化作温厚而柔和的生命。无论是高大的露天雕塑，还是中国美术馆展厅内的小型雕塑，当它们以方阵的形式陈列在人们眼前的时候，观众仿佛看到了这些形体富有生命力的生长。或宏伟，或茁壮，均表现出一种力的扩展感。在这里，曾经深深影响过刘永刚的表现主义精神得到了转化与改造，表现主义或者抽象表现主义所具有的神秘感被代之以更加充满阳光感的正面颂扬。在此，可以清晰看到刘永刚将西方当代艺术传统与中国文化传统精神结合在一起的努力。 　　罗伯特•戈德沃特（Robert Goldwater,1907-1973）在讨论原始主义的界定时曾经说过：“最终，单纯性和根本性的实质便是它们中有价值的、为它们而存在的：换句话说，是假设一个人在历史上、心理上和美学上越是返璞归真，事情就越单纯；由于它们更单纯，它们也就更深刻、更重要、更有价值。”（《现代艺术中的原始主义》，殷泓译）这段话既可以作为理解刘永刚现有作品的注释，也可以看作是对刘永刚的《爱拥》系列一个值得期待的、有待进一步延展的广阔领域的描述。 （郭晓川，美术学博士，艺评人，《今日中国美术》主编，北京中力文化体育公司艺术品投资总顾问） Appearance and Essence: the Development of Liu Yonggang’s Artistic Outlook Guo Xiaochuan, PhD, fellow of China Arts Academy, famous critic of fine arts 　　It is apparent from China Radio International’s interview with Liu Yonggang that he started to be interested in German expressionism in the early 1990s. At an exhibition of German expressionist works, he found that they were very similar to his idea of the best way of expression. Therefore he decided to pursue his studies and career in Germany. 　　There is a consistent style and pattern to everyone’s thinking, and that is all the more true of artists. The selection of the way of thinking is not sudden innovation, but the intensification of some unique feature in a continuous process. In every seemingly new ‘turn’ is hidden a clue of long standing. Liu’s understanding and acceptance of German expressionism are exactly the continuation of his way of thinking. In one of his earlier works that aroused interest in his peers, Shepherdess of Northern Sala, one could see many factors that coincide with the spirit of German expressionism. 　　At its beginning, German expressionism carried on the expressionist tendency in the traditional arts of Northern European countries. That tendency could be strongly felt in the ‘barbaric’ arts of early Germanic people, the medieval Gothic art, and works by such Renaissance artists as Bosch and Bruegel. What was it about expressionism that fascinated Liu? Or, what was it about expressionism that inspired him to go to Germany? Though I haven’t discussed that with Liu, I can tell from his artistic career that it is an important key to understanding his artistic outlook and works. 　　As advocated by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), who founded Drucke Die in 1905, in a manifesto, ‘Everyone, every one of us, will express what drives them to create directly and without any insincerity.’ Praising Van Gogh, Gauguin and Manch, they held primitive arts in pious esteem. Melancholy, emptiness and puppet-like expressions were almost characteristic of such expressionist works. Gauguin went so far as to believe that ‘modern human intelligence has lost its function in elaborate analyses; it fails to feel the simplest and the most obvious.’ (Edward Lucie-Smith, Contemporary Western Fine Arts, 1986) Under such a principle, their strategic focus was the understanding and use of primitivism. In terms of the theory of contemporary western theatre, primitivism has three orientations: performance, ritual and carnival (Wu Fei, The Avant-garde and the Primitive: Three Characteristics of the Avant-garde Theatre). Expressionist artists incorporate the visual intuition of primitivism into their means of creation, which went a long way to expressing irrationality, passion, mysteriousness and subjectivity. The mysterious passion and suggestive expressionism inspired contemporary Chinese arts to create important works. One of the masterpieces is the world-acclaimed oil painting Shepherdess of Northern Sala painted by Liu in 1987. The rendering of the human figure and colors reflect his interest in latent passion and subjective meanings. The posture of the human figure, almost clumsy and stiff, indicates his sensitivity to ritualistic primitivism art. 　　Instead of confining his art to German expressionism, the ten-odd years of study and creation will take his creative practice beyond the expressionist spirit. As he said, ‘After I saw a lot of exhibitions and works abroad, I found that for all that I learned in college and saw abroad, I had lost myself. I was still learning and imitating. But I finally came upon the point where I found it necessary to be myself. How do I find myself? I got to find my root. Where is the root? It’s the traditional Chinese culture. I’ve been fond of Chinese characters since I was young. So I started to return. That is, I began to study and compare characters of different periods of the tradition. And finally, I turned their shapes and compositions into visual images.’ (quoted from CRI’s interview with Liu). That indicates that his artistic outlook experienced some new development, that is, the incorporation of traditional Chinese culture and art into the formal expression of contemporary art. 　　It was during that period that Liu created a large number of works of abstract expressionism. As we know, abstract expressionism is in line with expressionism in terms of the anti-figurative aesthetic view, self-indication and the forceful expression of the artist’s own feelings. Liu’s works convey a dignified power with powerful, uninhibited strokes and rich, bold colors. Some compositions that feature the cross convey religious sacredness. That may be the result of the interweaving of the ritual-orientation and carnival-orientation in primitivism. Interestingly enough, Liu deliberately accentuated the importance of ‘writing’ in traditional Chinese calligraphy. The stress on the spirit or impression in the Chinese cultural tradition is similar to the importance attached to abstractness in modern western culture. In the eye of westerners, who are used to perceive the world in terms of the binary opposition between the subject and the object, the abstraction of the object is also fascinating. The Chinese belief in tianrenheyi, or man being an integral part of nature, suggests unity of the subject and the object. As Wilhelm Worringer (1875-1965) observed, ‘Easterners known that they cannot see god in his limitedness.’ (Form in Gothic, tr. Zhang Jian et al) That epistemological characteristic determines that the Chinese care more about forms that suggest abstractness, as embodied in their perception and study of calligraphy, and their aesthetic appreciation of the interest of ‘brush and ink’. Liu was keen enough to grasp the spirits and changes of Chinese and western arts and cultures, and was ingenious enough to incorporate the form and spirit of modern western art into his thinking about the spirit of the traditional Chinese art. The result was contemporary works rich in the oriental spirit. 　　As he paid attention to the oriental, especially the Chinese tradition, he made an original examination of a more primitive type of human feeling and power that interested him. The outcome was the series of sculptures entitled Embrace of Love. Talking about the theme, Liu said, ‘Let’s embrace the world, mankind, society and every day with love! Love is the only way to mutual possession. Let love reign!’ He got his inspiration from oracle bone inscriptions, the Mongolian script, and even the Basiba script. 　　Liu’s Embrace of Love is reminiscent of Brancusi’s Kiss. With simple, impressionist techniques, Brancusi elevated the love of a couple embracing and kissing each other to a pregnant idea of love, the tenderness of which induces great warmth in the heart of the viewer. The moving effect could not been achieved by any realistic work. Valuing pure and complete intuition, Brancusi expressed his perception of the essence of things with extremely simple shapes. Apparently, Liu also tried to use a simple way of expression to abstract and personify the theme of love and to make his own interpretation of the essence of love. However, the love he tries to expound transcends all human limitations; it was the love as in ‘the Good love people’ (Confucius). When Fan Chi asked Confucius what was Goodness, the latter answered, ‘It means loving people’ (Analects: Yan Yuan). We may say that the love of the individual and the Goodness of society are the objects and essences of each other. ‘For an individual, Goodness is, in essence, the call for the essence of life. It is the ideal objective diligently pursued by the individual, and also the driving force of the individual’s perfection.’ (Zhang Han & Shi Hongwen, History of Chinese Aesthetics). What Liu tries to express is such a highly abstract and meaningful idea of ‘love’. 　　Centering round the theme of love, abstract characters are arranged in personified postures of embrace and varied structures. They produce an effect of heaviness and softness. While expressing his sensitivity to and original understanding of the material, Liu turned hard stones into warm, gentle lives. When his sculptures, both the tall, open-air ones and the small ones in the art museum, are displayed in a formation, viewers seem to see them grow with full vitality. Their grandness or sturdiness conveys a sense of expansion. Here, the expressionist spirit, which had deep influence on Liu, was converted or transformed. The mysteriousness of expressionism or abstract expressionism is replaced by positive eulogizing. Here we clearly see Liu’s efforts to blend the tradition of contemporary western art and the spirit of traditional Chinese culture. (Guo Xiaochuan, PhD in fine arts studies, art critic, editor in chief of Contemporary Chinese Arts, Chief Advisor for Investment in Works of Art at Beijing Zhongli Culture and Sports Co. Ltd.)