《 十年 》
十年前认识艺术家陈承卫，当时他刚刚从中国美院毕业，边勤恳的带着学生，边默默的画着架上绘画。当时他是以专业成绩第一的名次考入并毕业于中国美院，自然天赋异禀。我问他你最喜欢的艺术家是谁？他说，伦勃朗。十年后，当抽象作品在艺术品市场疯狂的今天，他仍然在坚持着架上绘画。术业有专攻，一攻就是孜孜不倦的十年。此时我再问他，你现在最爱的艺术家是谁？他说，伦勃朗。
曾经我们聊过关于前世，他曾在国外游历时遇到过一位老者，列了他的一世又一世。曾经的很多个不同的自己出生在环境迥异的东西方国度，完全不同的人生轨迹。而遇到老者好几年之前陈承卫其实就已经开始进入一个独特的单元，那就是-----为自己造像。这是将“物质感”与“戏剧感”融合的系列探索。人是否有前世，没有肯定的答案。若真有前世，他从2004年就开始创作的“自画像系列”笔下每一个不同的自己也许真的在前世里真真切切的存在过。
陈承卫说在他20出头的时候，天生的自然卷略黄的头发，与伦勃朗有某种神似，他们常常可以在创作时在内心里对话，就像与另一个自己对话一样自然随意。于是他在2015年创作了这件《自传体-致敬伦勃朗》。
伦勃朗的众多自画像中，他对自己苍老的面庞毫无掩饰，完美的形象对他毫无意义，对于人性的阐述非常直接。陈承卫也是如此，在他诸多的自画像中，那些青涩，高傲，孤独，犹豫，疲惫，全都呈现出来，正如他此次的个展那样，他希望让我们看到他丰富且活跃的艺术探索。我曾经拜访过艺术家工作室，看过他创作的过程，每一张画都要一遍又一遍的画好久。每一个局部都要一遍又一遍的反复叠加处理。人物的轮廓和细节会被他独特的艺术处理所赋予新的生命，诸如他会将表情纹，眼神等一切带情感脉络的东西一一处理到最妥帖的程度。让整个作品画面呈现独特的唯美，在细细品鉴的时候，又发现其中其实填埋了很多很多复杂的叙事与情绪。这是艺术家很特别，很不一样的地方。
那些伦勃朗笔下庄重华丽的服装，被光线撕碎的面庞，孤独的眼神，还有强烈的明暗处理，都深深的影响了承卫一路的创作。他敬仰伦勃朗，但并不想模仿伦勃朗，他将这种爱融入骨血里，从当下出发，进行新的创作。在他2012年开始创作的大民国系列里，他成了自己最出色的模特，他开始将自己自画像的形式与民国元素融合，用一种我们完全觉得惊讶的形式表达出来，画面里好人中也有坏人，坏人中也潜伏着好人，像一团迷雾。他并不想表达画中人物的实际身份，而是让观众自己去猜想推断。大民国开篇第一幅，画于2012年。穿着特务服装的人物手电筒照出来的是党徽，还有右上角神秘的投影是手。那些看似是不善的人物却是潜伏着正义的，就是这样独特的充满着想象力和戏剧色彩。我们能看到的每一幅关于他的作品都是让人可以浮想联翩耐人寻味的，艺术家最怕的是没有创造力和想象力，而他都具备了，这也是陈承卫极其不一样的地方。
承卫这几年开始关注古代佛造像。对于面庞庄重，形态唯美的菩萨都一一收入。从古代佛像中汲取了造像感与人物力度，他的心境也在逐渐的走向更高的层面，
记得艺术家最深刻的一句话就是
“画 就是自己的妻子，此生只为画画而活。”这十年便真是如此言出必行的，如此专注于一件事的艺术家必定是好艺术家，期待承卫的下一个再下一个十年。
A Decade
By friend: Chen Yunning (Collector)
I got to know the artist Chen Chengwei a decade ago when he had just graduated from the China Academy of Art. At that time, he was busy with teaching some students earnestly while working on an easel painting quietly. With the highest score in the professional course among all students enrolled by China Academy of Art that year, he is no doubt a gifted talent. I once asked him about his favorite artist, Rembrandt was his answer. After a decade when abstract works are making a hit in art market today, he still persists in working on the easel painting. One should try to be a master in the field he specializes in. To reach this goal, he has worked diligently and tirelessly for a decade. I ask him again about his favorite artist, Rembrandt, the answer is the same.
We had talked about pre-life. He told me that he met an old man who listed several forms of his pre-lives during the journey in foreign countries. Born in different eastern and western countries of various environments, the pre-lives of him had followed diversified courses of life. In fact, he had entered a unique unit, namely creating the portrait for himself, as early as several years before he met the old man. This is a series of exploration of the integration of "dramatic effect" into "real substance". It is not sure whether there is a pre-life for human beings. If there is pre-life, different self-portraits in his "self-portrait series" created since 2004 perhaps actually existed in his pre-lives.
Chen told me that he born a resemblance to Rembrandt with the natural curly slight blondhair at his twenties. There could even be an inner conversation between the two during the creation which was as natural as talking to another self. Therefore, he created the work Self-portrait-A Tribute to Rembrandt in 2015.
Among his self-portraits, Rembrandt had never tried to varnish his aged face, a direct illustration of human nature; because he thought that a perfect image doesn't mean anything. So does Chen Chengwei. His self-portraits present his naivety, proud, loneliness, hesitation, exhaustion, and so on. Just like this solo exhibition, he hopes to show us his rich and vibrant life in artistic exploration. I have visited his studio to observe his creation. He should spend a long time on the repeated painting of each work. Every detail is processed for many times. The outline and details of the character are endowed with new life by his unique artistic skills. For example, everything that can show the emotion of the character like expression lines, eyes, and so on, is properly painted. If you appreciate it carefully, you will find that his work not only displays a unique aesthetic value but also embodies much complex narrations and emotion. This is something unique as an artist.
The gorgeous costumes, the faces fragmented by light, the loneliness in the eyes, and the strong contrast in the works of Rembrandt have deeply influenced the creation career of Chengwei. He shows great respect for Rembrandt, yet he doesn't want to imitate him. With the passion for Rembrandt flowing in his blood, he makes new creations on the basis of the reality. He began to create the Great Republic Period series in 2012. With himself as the best model in the works, he integrated his self-portraits with the elements of the Republic Period and presented it to the audiences with a completely astonishing form. There are kind people as well as evil people in the picture, yet it is hard to tell who is kind and who is evil in the mysterious atmosphere. Without revealing the actual identity of the characters in the painting, he wishes that the audiences can make their own judgment. The first picture of the Great Republic Series was completed in 2012. The one dressing like a spy is using a flashlight to shed light on a Party emblem and there is the shadow of a mysterious hand on the upper right corner. Those with vicious look are showing a sense of justice. The works with unique features are rich in dramatic color to provide immense space for people's imagination. Every work of his is thought-provoking and grips the imagination of us. The greatest disaster of artists is to be out of creativity and imagination, yet he is rich in both, which makes him stand out of his peers.
In recent years, he began to pay attention to ancient Buddhist statues. He collects Buddhist statues and engraves their solemn faces and graceful gesture of these statues on his mind. Through absorbing the skills for making ancient Buddhist statues and their features, his mentality is gradually promoted onto a higher level.
I was deeply impressed by one sentence of him, "Painting is like my wife. I live for painting". He kept his words in the past decade. An artist with such great persistence should be a good one. I am really looking forward to the next decades of Chengwei’s art life.
