Under 35 – Wang Ruilin

gooood团队采访世界各地 35岁以下的年轻创意人，他们有的是创业者，有的是业主，有的是普通职员。我们探访众生百相，记录这个时代年轻人的面貌和真实状态，欢迎您的推荐和建议。
第38期为您介绍的是雕塑家和艺术家 王瑞琳，其作品多以动物为主题，兼备东方意境与超现实的美感。更多关于他，请至：Wang Ruilin on gooood

gooood team interviews creative individuals under 35 years old from all over the world, some are pioneering founders, some are clients, some are ordinary practitioners. gooood is trying to record the authentic living and working states of this era. Your recommendations and suggestions are appreciated!
gooood Under 35 NO.38 introduces Wang Ruilin, a sculptor and artist, who is famous for his surreal animal sculptures, heavily influenced by traditional Chinese art. More: Wang Ruilin on gooood

 

出品人：向玲 / Producer: Xiang Ling
编辑团队：武晨曦，陈诺嘉 / Editor: Wu Chenxi, Chen Nuojia

 

▼视频，video（全文深度采访见下方文字。视频为4分钟精华版，建议选择高清1080p观看。）

 

除标注外，本文所有照片由王瑞琳提供，摄影师：邹胜武 郑晓淳
All photos courtesy of Wang Ruilin. Photographers: Zou Shengwu; Zheng Xiaochun

 

 

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成为雕塑家
Becoming a sculptor

▼王瑞琳，Wang Ruilin

选择雕塑应该算是一种偶然。我从小就比较喜欢画画，也喜欢捏橡皮泥。后来选择雕塑是在对艺术慢慢有了了解之后，发现自己更喜欢一些直观的、能够在三维空间里给你直接反馈的东西。

在中央美院的经历起到了一个人生跳板的作用，它给了我一个很好的起飞高度。更重要的是它让我接触到了很多真正的艺术家，跟他们学习技法，以及怎样用艺术的视角来观察这个世界。我觉得这对我后来从事艺术专业而言是一个非常重要的开始。

It’s more like an accident that I chose to do sculpture. I have been interested in drawing and plasticine since I was a child. Then I got to know more about art and realized that I’m more inclined to engage with visualized things that can give you a direct feedback in a three-dimension world, which may explain my later interest on sculpture.

For me, studying at CAA was like a springboard that provided me with an ideal altitude to “take off”, and more importantly, it brought me the opportunity to get in touch with real artists, from whom I have learned skills and how to observe the surrounding world from an esthetic perspective.

▼学生时期的王瑞琳（左）；大学期间作业（右）,Wang Ruilin during his schooldays (left); work in college (right) ©王瑞琳

 

 

__________
找到自己的风格
The personal style

 

“我觉得我的作品可能算是一种新东方的风格。”
“My work may be regarded as ‘New Oriental Style’”

摸索，需要一个过程。一开始做了很多不同的尝试，但是慢慢就会在个人兴趣和作品呈现效果之间找到一个平衡点。慢慢地我发现自己对东方的这种有韵律感和线条感的东西比较感兴趣，所以在作品里面会刻意地、主观地去提炼一些类似的元素。

尝试的过程其实是一个不断了解自己的过程。我本身是中央美院雕塑系第一工作室出来的，这个工作室以铸造和木雕见长，因此我也做了大量的这种实践。木头这种材料不太容易驾驭，它是一个活的材料，需要根据环境干湿程度的不同或者材料本身品种的不同去调整制作方法和创作手段。这种感觉对于某些艺术家来说是如虎添翼，但对我来说可能是一种阻力，所以我会选择去做其他的尝试，比如金属焊接和陶瓷。最后我发现自己还是比较喜欢用铸造和彩绘的手法来创作，因为铸造基本上可以实现我任何的想法，我不用去为材料的特性而妥协。可能因为我的作品更偏重于感性，所以对材料的注意力就不会那么多。

我们现代人是很难去做纯粹的、所谓传统的艺术，因为对于我们来说传统就是过去，而现代人能做的是从回望整个历史的过程中汲取一些自己感兴趣的元素和特点。所以我觉得我的作品可能算是一种新东方的风格。现在行业内对这种偏东方的雕塑种类其实并没有一个明确的名词去概括。

▼王瑞琳的雕塑以铸造和彩绘为主，Wang Ruilin prefers to create in the way of metal casting and color painting ©郑晓淳；gooood（右上）

It would take a process to explore. At first I made a lot of different attempts, and gradually found a balance between my personal interest and the presentation of my work. In this process I recognized my interest in things with an oriental sense of rhythm and lines, and would deliberately refine similar elements when creating my own work.

The experimentation is also a process of constantly understanding yourself. The studio I used to worked in at CAA was the Studio No.1 of department of structure, which was good at casting and wood carving, and therefore I had practiced a lot in  similar aspects. Wood as a material is not easy to handle, as it has its own life. You have to continually adjust your method of shaping and producing according to the change of environmental humidity or to the nature of the material itself. For some artists, this could greatly strengthen their work, but for me it is more like a barrier. I would rather choose other materials and techniques to create, such as ceramic and metal welding. Consequently I found I prefer to present my work by metal casting and color painting, because it can basically realize any of my ideas, and I do not have to compromise on the character of the material. The stress on sensibility of my work may be the reason that I’m not paying too much attention to the material.

It is a little bit difficult to name the stye of my work. It’ s probably oriental, but not purely oriental. Actually it’s hard for contemporary people to dedicate to pure, so-called traditional art. It has become a symbol of the past. What we can do is to draw some impressive images and characteristics by looking back at the history. From this aspect, my work may be regarded as “new oriental”, since there is not an accurate definition for such kind of sculptural works in current industry.

▼王瑞琳的雕塑工作室，Wang Ruilin’s sculpture studio ©gooood

 

 

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钟爱“动物”的雕塑家
Sculptor who loves “animals”

 

“我觉得从动物的视角来观察这个世界可能会更客观和全面一些。”

“I believe that it’s a more objective and comprehensive way to observe the world from the perspective of animals.”

艺术作品基本上是以人类角度来看的，属于人类文明的一个闪光点。从我个人的角度上讲，我在大学本科的整整五年内接受的都是人体的训练，我们其实是通过对人体的绘画塑造来锻炼对一个事物进行整体把控和描绘的能力。但是弊端在于，毕业之后再以人体为素材去创作，可能就没办法把情感寄托在这上面了，也就是没办法把情感附着到人身上，因此我就把视角转移到了动物身上。我有很多作品都是在讨论生命与自然的平衡关系，因此我觉得从动物的视角来观察这个世界可能会更客观和全面一些。

Artworks are essentially viewed from the perspective of human beings, and can be regarded as diamonds in human’s  civilization. As for me, I was trained to draw and  shape the human body through out my five years as an undergraduate to develop the ability to accurately profile an object, but this may lead to an embarrassing situation that you will find hard to project your feelings and emotions on it. Knowing that the human body can no longer stimulate my perception, I shift my eyes on animals. I love to find the conformity between life and nature, and I believe that it’s a more objective and comprehensive way to observe the world from the perspective of animals.

▼王瑞琳部分雕塑作品，part of Wang Ruilin’s sculpture work ©邹胜武 郑晓淳

 

 

《马·戏》
Horse·Play

我从小就很喜欢马，例如我会追着那种卖菜的马车观察很久。但其实我在生活中接触马的机会很少，大部分时间是从绘画作品里面去了解这种动物。我觉得马可能是介于人类和动物之间的一个种类。自古以来，马对人类文明的发展起到了很大的作用，从我个人角度来看，马身上也具备了很多人类的优点，比如马在奔跑的时候既有男人的矫健，也有女人的柔美和线条感，在性格上也有许多和人类的共通之处，所以很多艺术家都愿意以马为题材去创作。

I have been always obsessed with horses since I was a child, and I would keep running after a cart pulled by a horse for hours. Most of the time I learn about houses from books and paintings. I think houses are a species between humans and animals. They have played a great role in human civilization since ancient times. I also find they have human-like characters, like they simultaneously have the sturdiness of men and the elegance of women, especially when they are running. There are quite a lot of commonalities between horses and human beings, and so many artists are willing to choose horses as the theme of their work.

▼《马·戏》系列，The Horse·Play series ©邹胜武

我在创作的时候并不会参考马的照片或解剖图，相反我会刻意地避开真实的马的一些特点，凭着脑海里面的印象去做。因为从源头上讲东方艺术和西方艺术的出发点是不同的，东方可能更意象一些，它体现的是一种气韵，它对事物的理解可能都是一团气，只是这团气的张力、形状或者其他某些方面存在着不同。

I don’t really need to refer to photos or anatomical drawings of a horse when I work on a sculpture, instead I would deliberately avoid the quality of a real horse. I’m more likely to create with its profile in my mind, because the starting points of Eastern and Western art are different: Eastern art dedicates to express the “Yi” （意）and “Qi”（气）, which can be understood as an intangible force that makes up and binds together all things in the universe, with varying tension, shape and strength.

《马·戏》这组作品可以说是我的一种个人总结。我会把一些阶段性的感受和对生活的看法通过马的形象抒发出来。最早的时候我做了一些佝偻的马、卷曲的马和静卧的马，可能跟刚刚毕业时的那种慵懒和迷惑的状态比较契合。《马·戏》这个系列到今天还在进行，但你会发现这些马的动作、造型，包括它的五官神韵会有一些变化，这可能是根据我个人的一些境遇和心境的不同来改变的。

从技法的角度上讲，《马·戏》目前的创作变得更加行云流水；从思路的角度上讲，你会越来越明白自己为什么要做这个东西，以及你为什么会喜欢它、你想通过它来表现什么样的情绪。我觉得现在的作品肯定要比之前更成熟，不过从情感的角度上讲，每一个阶段都有每一个阶段值得去观察和回望的东西。

The Horse·Play series is like a personal summary, in which I use the body of horses to carry my feelings and opinions on life. In the earliest stage, I shaped the horses with stooped, bended and lying gestures, probably in tune withe the languid and bewildered moods when I first graduated from school. The recent pieces from the Horse·Play series have changed in the horses’ posture, movement and facial features, which may be a response to my personal feelings according to the change of daily circumstances.

From a technical point of view, my creating process of Horse·Play series now goes more smoothly, and has become more pertinent to my essential motivation. I’m convinced of what I love about it, and what kind of emotion I’m going to express through it. While the recent works are definitely more mature than before, each stage of life has something worth looking back.

▼不同形态的马，契合了作者在不同阶段的状态，the change in the position of  horses responds to the artist’s state of mind ©邹胜武

 

 

《逐梦记》
Dreams

《逐梦记》是一组将动物和自然形态结合起来的作品。我最原始的想法和冲动是想去探讨这种生命与自然之间的关系，以及如何平衡。最早的一件作品是2012年开始做的，那个时候正好赶上民间的世界末日传说，我觉得这是一个很好的契机，所以就开始了这样一个探讨生命与自然的系列。

Dreams is a group of works that united animals and the natural world. My initial idea was to explore this kind of relationship between life and the nature and how they balance each other. The first piece in this series was started in 2012 when I happened to hear about a story of doomsday. I was inspired from it and thought it was a good opportunity to start a new series that explores life and nature.

▼《逐梦记》是一个探讨生命与自然的系列（点击这里查看更多）
The Dreams series explores life and nature （Click here for more details）©邹胜武 郑晓淳

和马一样，我在《逐梦记》里选择的这些动物也是处在某个临界点上。比如说鲸，它是自然界最大的哺乳动物，所以我觉得它代表着生物与自然的一个边界和焦点，因此最早我创作的是一头传情的鲸，背上驮着山，与自然形态结合。犀牛也是一种很神奇的动物，是我们现实生活中的独角兽。 悲哀的是，我在创作的过程中，野生的白犀牛就绝迹了，它成为了真正的神兽，对于我们的后代来说，也许它就只是一个传说中的动物了。

鳄鱼在很多传说中是龙的一种雏形，也有人把它叫土龙。我在做偏东方、偏传统的雕塑的时候会看大量的寺庙壁画和雕像，我发现其实古人也会在人物和动物雕像中刻意寻找龙的感觉，比如汉代墓葬里出土的那些马，会具有一些龙的特征。龙对于我来说挑战还是很大的，所以这么多年一直也没有敢直接地去做，但我会尝试在其他动物身上找龙的感觉，鳄鱼就是一个从表象上最容易接近龙的动物。

Just like what I have made in the Horse·Play series, I chose animals for the Dream series for their position: they are all species that standing at a certain critical point. For example, the whales, as the largest mammal in the nature, they represent a boundary or a spot between creatures and the natural world. Therefore, the first piece I had done for the series was a sculptural whale with a rocky landscape on its back, indicating a harmony with the nature. The rhinoceroses, also from this series, are even awesome, just like the unicorns in real life. However, as I was still working on this series, I was sadly to be told that the white rhinoceroses had become extinct, which made it a true mythical monster. It is unimaginable that for our future generations, a rhinoceros will appear only from the folklore.

Crocodiles are sometimes depicted as a prototype of dragon, calling it the “earth dragon”. When i’m doing Eastern styled sculptures, I would like to spend a lot of time researching on the murals and statues displayed in temples, and I found that the ancients would also integrate the image of dragons to their works, such as the horse sculptures excavated from the tombs in Han Dynasty that have some of the characteristics of a dragon. In fact, it’s a quite big challenge for me to sculpture a dragon, but I tried to capture its temperament and inject it to other animals I cast for my work. Just like the crocodiles, in appearance, they are the most dragon-like species in real life.

▼犀牛和鳄鱼，rhinoceros and crocodile ©邹胜武 郑晓淳

▼动物形象与自然形态的结合，the united features of animals and the natural world ©郑晓淳

《逐梦记》可能展示的不是一种特别表象的东西，它更关乎于个人的状态。从艺术的角度，其实这是我们中国人特别惯用的一个手段：留白。在水墨画里面我们经常会看见，一座山与另一座山之间，会自然地用云雾、用想象把它填充起来。雕塑是一个空间上的实体，没有办法去“留白”，但我们可以在思想的层面上、在观者的想象中去把它“留白”。我希望通过观者把留白的这一部分填充起来。艺术品是一面镜子，虽然是老生常谈，但我觉得这句话特别经典。艺术品能映照出观者的心理、经历和他对未来的期许。

The Dreams series is more about my personal state of mind rater than how things look like. From the perspective of artistic skills, It is quite common to adopt the concept of “leaving blank”（in Chinese, Liu bai）. This is a means that is widely used in traditional Chinese drawings and paintings. For example, the void between mountains could be naturally filled with clouds and mist. Comparing to paintings, sculpture is more about a physical entirety, which is more difficult to “leave blank” in, but we can still create blank at the mental level, or in the viewer’s imagination. I hope that my audience can fill up the blank in my sculpture works, just as how the clouds fill up the void among the mountains. It may be a cliché to say art is a mirror of your consciousness, but it is the truth that everyone of us can find our experiences, feelings and expectations when gazing into an art piece.

▼在雕塑中融合传统山水画的意境，The Dreams series incorporates the artistic conception of traditional landscape painting ©邹胜武 郑晓淳

 

 

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真假美猴王
The Monkey King

《真假美猴王》是我的研究生毕业作品。这个作品的契机主要是，在艺术圈和其他一些领域，你在创作过程中会遇到很多山寨和仿制现象，所以在毕业论文和作品上，我从这个角度去延伸了一下，想反映艺术品版权方面的一些问题。可笑的是，在这件作品的第一版还没有安装的时候，山寨作品就已经面世了，我觉得这个事可能让这件作品在某种角度上变得更有趣味了。

对于一个刚刚开始创作的青年艺术家来说，抄袭有可能就是一个灭顶之灾。他积攒了那么多年的创作欲望，在他刚有雏形的时候就被大量地抄袭，基本上就把他这个心火浇灭了，有可能会改变一个青年创作者一生的轨迹，我觉得这是一个很严重的问题。艺术品之所以成为艺术品，并不是因为这件作品有多么高的技术含量，而是它承载了我们每个人对生活的一种希望，至少它在告诉现代人，有一种人是以这样的生活方式在这个社会里孤立地生活着。在他没有做好的时候，我们应该给他更多的时间，让他去成长。

我现在还没有去做所谓的周边产品，是因为我自己不够强大和成熟，对于这一块我还不够了解，我也在不断地去试探，所以大家要给这个市场一些生长的时间，不要盲目地去推崇一些山寨的东西。

The Monkey King was my graduation work for master degree. The topic I tried to discuss on was the plagiarism and copycat issues in art industry and some other fields. It has now become a common problem that the copyright of artworks is not well protected, and I was attempting to further investigate this problem through my graduation thesis and work. But the funny thing was that before the first edition of my work was completed, the “copycats” had been already out there. To some extent this accident had made the piece even more interesting.

For a young and upcoming artist who just began to have works, being copied by other people may be an extreme disaster in his or her artistic career. We call a work as a piece of art not depending on how it is technically mature, but it carries our hope of life. At least it is telling us that there are still people who live and create in such a way, and they need more time and supports to grow and step forward in this society.

▼真假美猴王（《迷·藏》系列），The Monkey King (Hide·Seek series) ©郑晓淳

 

 

_______________
孙悟空背后的创作理想
The dream behind the Monkey King

 

“我希望有更多人能够站在我们本土的文化角度去施展自己的神通，为中国创造更多拿得出手的文化IP。”

“I hope that there will be more people who can use their skills and talents to create brilliant cultural icons for China.”

孙悟空是一个有着正反两面的英雄。他首先是一个领袖，有领导能力，也有大智慧，但他更需要有一种自控能力，我希望能通过我的作品来丰富他不为人知的这一面。我作品中的这种比较安静的状态只是说完善了他的某一个角度，任何对孙悟空感兴趣的人都可以去继续丰富他的形象，因为仅凭一己之力是没有办法塑造一个国家或者是一个地区的文化符号的，它需要一代人或者几代人共同去完成。

西方有很多自己的文化符号和英雄形象，比如说超人、钢铁侠和美国队长等等。其实我们自己也有很好的可以拿出去的元素。孙悟空就是我第一个能想到的超级英雄。从作品本身来讲，我还是希望能够把东方文化里的一些闪光点通过我自己的作品呈现出来。因为我觉得现在这种全世界高度融合的状态是需要大家带着各自的长项或者是特征来融合的，而不是抹掉所有人的特点。

我更希望中国以一个有着雄厚历史、独到见解和丰富艺术风格的形象去融入世界。我也希望能够通过自己的学习、研究和努力，把中国本土的一些文化特征提炼出来，然后展示给这个世界。

我希望有更多人，不光是艺术家，而是各个专业和领域的人，能够站在我们本土的文化角度去施展自己的神通，站在一个本土的文化符号里面去看世界，以此为出发点，为中国创造更多拿得出手的文化IP，让我们可以更理直气壮地去融入和拥抱这个世界。

▼《迷·藏》系列中的孙悟空，代表着一种中国式的英雄形象，The Monkey King（Sun Wukong）from the Hide·Seek series,  representing a hero in the Eastern culture ©郑晓淳

Sun Wukong is a legendary figure who has both positive and negative sides. He is foremost a leader with impressive wisdom, but in the mean time he lacks the ability to be self-restrained. There are many things to tell about his personality, especially the part that is rarely known by common people. The Monkey King in my series looks calm and peaceful, which can be seen as a small part of him. Anyone who has an interest on Sun Wukong is able to further enrich his image from different angles of understanding. Building a cultural symbol for a region, or even a country, can not be accomplished through an individual. It is has to be done by efforts from generations.

In Western countries, especially the US, have many of their own cultural symbols and heroes like Superman, Iron Man and Captain America, etc. We actually have a mass of figures that could represent our domestic culture and spirit. The Monkey King（Sun Wukong）is always the first superhero that comes to my mind.  As for the work itself, I hope it could reflect some of the highlights of the Eastern culture, because it is necessary for everyone to bring their strengths and characteristics to contribute to the fusion of global cultures, instead of erasing their diversity.

I would like to see that China could step onto the world stage with her solid history, unique insights and rich artistic accumulation, and I also hope to be part of the process to bring Chinese culture to the rest of the world, through my effort on studying, researching and improving.

I hope that there will be more people, not just artists, but people from all professions and fields, who can use their skills and talents to create brilliant cultural icons for China, making China behave more confidently on the world stage.

▼《迷·藏》系列，The Hide·Seek series ©邹胜武 郑晓淳

 

 

__________
雕塑的创作过程
Sculpturing Process

 

“雕塑会给我那种实实在在的感觉，泥巴抓在手里，这种温度的互动是其他艺术形式替代不了的。”

“Sculpturing brings me a down-to-earth feeling. The clay is veritably in my hand, creating an irreplaceable interaction of warmness.”

我刚开始独立创作的时候，有朋友问我，你一年能做多少件作品？我说一年做十件八件的应该没什么问题，自从说了这句话之后就做得越来越慢，后来就变成一年做一两件，再后来就变成两年做一两件。我觉得限制速度的因素有很多，可能是因为我思考得更多了。一件作品还是要充分地凝聚创作者的经历和心力，它才能够真正称得上一件作品。

和绘画相比，雕塑它本身有一个弊端，就是它实现的过程一定会不停地出现意外，而不是一种胸有成竹然后顺理成章做出来的过程。雕塑需要依托材料才能呈现出来，我常用的材料泥巴和青铜，泥巴本身的干湿程度和体量大小都会给你的手感带来影响，造成不一样的结果，所以需要不停地区分和选择：这个效果行不行？这个效果能不能达到我一开始的预想？或者说偶然间出现了一个你没有设想过的效果或者造型的话，要不要把它保留下来？你需要持续跟这个材料进行平衡、对话和博弈。我基本上很少做小稿子，我会先做一个小的泥塑，再放大成品，从泥塑翻制成石膏，再翻制成树脂、蜡模，然后铸铜，这中间会经历大大小小约十几个工序。

最后还要进行彩绘，相当于在一个雕塑上以绘画的方式再创作一遍（彩绘是我太太来完成）。所以你需要在这个漫长的创作时间段里一直保持对这个作品的热情。这个热情不能高，高了会冒进，会导致你做出一些错误的行为让作品夭折；同时这个热情也不能减低，如果你做着做着没劲了，觉得泥巴给你的那种最鲜活最好玩的阶段过去了，不会产生任何感受了，也会让作品夭折。所以我觉得做雕塑最难的可能是你要在一个相对长的时间段里保持一种平衡的热度，它不像绘画那么直接。

Generally I will have one or two completed pieces every two years. Each sculpture can be regarded as the result of the artist’s painstaking experience and effort, otherwise it could not be truly called a work of art.

Compared with painting, sculpturing has a drawback that it is a process where accidents are constantly happening, which means it is impossible to finished a sculpture in a seamless way without any interrupts and mistakes. The expressing of sculpture relies on materials. For instance, the materials I use most often are clay and bronze, and both the humidity and the size of clay chunks will greatly affect the feels of my hand, which may lead to distinctly different results. Therefore, you must keep making decisions on each step of sculpturing.

Usually I will make a small scaled clay model before enlarging it to real size. From molding the clay to plaster, then turning it to resin, to wax, and finally to bronze, the whole sculpturing process may include a dozen detailed steps. After all these things it comes to painting and finish adding, which is equivalent to creating for the second time. It is a quite long journey in which you have to stay concentrated and passionate about what you are doing.

▼王瑞琳和妻子在雕塑工作室工作，Wang Ruilin and his wife working in the studio ©王瑞琳；郑晓淳

▼彩绘工具和雕刻刀具，tools for painting and sculpturing ©gooood（左）；王瑞琳

遇到瓶颈期时，我会选择忽视它，去干点别的，出去玩一玩。这其实是我从学生时期就养成的习惯，它会从不同的角度给你增加新鲜感。距离产生美，这个话还是有道理的。

虽然有时会觉得乏味，但整体来说，雕塑会给我那种实实在在的感觉，泥巴抓在手里，这种温度的互动是其他艺术形式替代不了的。当它完成的那一刻，你会非常有成就感，因为你把你思想当中的一些抽象、虚幻的影像实实在在地带到了三维的空间里面。这时候艺术家的身份可能更像是科幻电影里的时间转移机器，这也是让我非常感兴趣的一点。

Generally speaking, sculpturing brings me a down-to-earth feeling. The clay is veritably in my hands, creating an irreplaceable interaction of warmness. It will be a great satisfaction when you make it accomplished, as you have brought the abstract and illusory images from your mental world into a three-dimensional space. In such a context, the role that the artist plays is like a time-shifting machine in the science fiction movie, and this is exactly the most interesting part to me in finishing the sculpturing.

▼泥巴抓在手里，带来实实在在的感觉，the clay in hands brings an interaction of warmness ©郑晓淳

▼铸造，casting ©郑晓淳

 

 

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“艺术”与“产品”的界限
The boundary between art and product

 

“做作品是个人的事，做产品则是要面对成千上万人。它不是某种妥协或牺牲，而是要把一件作品提炼到极致。”

“Doing art is a personal stuff, while productization relates to thousands of people. It is not some kind of compromise or sacrifice, but to refine this piece of work to extremely good.”

我不会主动去推销我自己的作品。我觉得收藏艺术品是一种缘分，有的艺术品从艺术的角度去看有很高的价值，但是如果藏家就是不喜欢的话也不可能促成一笔收藏。对于藏家来说，他也许并不痴迷或者了解艺术，但他可能会因为某件作品的故事或细节而被触动，我觉得这就是一种缘分。

和商家建立合作可能是个大趋势，因为收藏的生态在进化，不能让收藏局限在一个很小的范围内。越来越多的人需要用艺术来丰富自己的生活，从而产生收藏的需求。当然艺术家需要让更多的人去知道和了解自己的作品，但是这中间需要我们去做的事还有很多。我们要做个人的升级，作品的升级和思想的升级，比如说我现有的作品就不适合直接把它产品化。产品是有产品特征的，作品则是个人情感的一种表达，所以我也一直在摸索，往这个方向上努力。

当一个艺术家要去做产品设计的时候，相当于跨了一个行业。当然有很多人会说，现在我们的生产手段很先进，你只要把它交给我们，我们会瞬间生产出上万个或者是几十万个。这都没问题，但是它的价值在哪？当它是一件作品的时候，它的价值体现在它饱含了创作者真实的情感，它有创作者的偏激，就像孙悟空一样，有他性格中的缺陷，也有他的闪光点。

就产品来说，如果作者本人不能一一去把控的话，那这些情绪上的价值就很难在这个产品上实现了。所以在最初的创作和制作上，一定要有一个新的视角和新的方式，我现在就是在努力地尝试这一点。我觉得做产品其实比做作品更难，就像刚才说的，做作品是个人的事，做产品则是要面对成千上万人。它不是某种妥协或牺牲，而是要把一件作品提炼到极致。

I rarely take initiative to promote my works, because in my opinion meeting up with an artwork you love is almost a kind of destiny. To the buyers or the collectors, it is possible that they are not obsessed with art or have any specialized knowledge about it, but they can be touched by the details or stories of a particular piece of art. I think this is what can be regarded as destiny.

It may be a trend for artists to establish partnerships with manufacturers and merchants, since the ecology of art collecting has been evolving, and is not supposed to be confined to a small range. Progress should be made on the levels of individuals, works and ideology. Products have their own characteristics, while artworks are an expression of personal emotions.

Making a product is actually harder than making a piece of art. As I said, doing art is a personal stuff, while productization relates to thousands of people. It is not some kind of compromise or sacrifice, but to refine this piece of work to extremely good.

▼精雕细琢，sculpturing in a meticulous way ©郑晓淳

 

 

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新作品与未来计划
New series and future plan

最近在做一个跟冰雪有关的系列，叫做《融》，还是以动物为主，比如说北极熊、熊猫和羊，基本上还是生物跟自然形态结合的一种方式，但是会有不同的视觉效果。这组作品跟疫情有点关系，现在很多东西都转到线上了，每个人都在积极去适应这种新的生活方式，相当于是在一个冰封的状态里寻找裂缝，寻找新的可能。

Recently I have been working on a new series called “Rong”（melting）, whose topic is ice and snow, still based on animals, including polar bears, pandas and sheep. To some degree this series is a respond to the current pandemic situation, where everyone is trying to get used to the change in the way of living, just like animals struggling in a frozen world, looking for any possibilities to live a new life.

▼最新作品《融》，Wang Ruilin’s latest series: “Rong”（melting） ©郑晓淳

接下来我可能会主动地去规划一些展览，因为我的个人的想法会越来越多，单纯的群展形式可能没办法体现出来。我会考虑借助更多现代的手段，比如一些影像和装置来呈现雕塑作品。我更希望把观者带到一个整体的空间里面去体验雕塑。

▼正在进行的作品系列，Wang Ruilin and his ongoing series ©郑晓淳

▼王瑞琳，Wang Ruilin ©郑晓淳

More: 王瑞琳 （contact: ada-cheng@qq.com）更多关于他，请至：Wang Ruilin on gooood