周愛民

 

身體是表征意義的符號，是社會意識、文化觀念乃至政治權(quán)力角逐的場所。身體由靈與肉的二元論觀念向社會學(xué)的認(rèn)知轉(zhuǎn)向，與身體有關(guān)的崇高理念、信仰及精神象征退隱而出，時尚和消費主義的欲望控制支配了身體形象的塑造。在石巍的《骨感美人》系列作品中，那些青春女性的身體形象柔弱、纖細(xì)和蒼白，她們或冷艷，或酷味，或性感，是消費主義的身體形象的再現(xiàn)。

 

女性的身體形象是藝術(shù)創(chuàng)造的重要對象和題材，特定時代的社會意識和審美趣味或隱或顯地烙印在身體形象上。二十世紀(jì)五、六十年代，新中國的女性形象一般與勞動場景或勞動工具結(jié)合在一起。在驕陽下，她們臉色紅潤，身體結(jié)實，氣概飽滿。年輕女性們一般有著粗壯的胳膊，挺拔的身姿，還有她們樂觀自信的精神狀態(tài)，表明她們享有與男性一樣的社會主義勞動者的權(quán)利和力量之美，這樣的形象成為新生的社會主義國家的一種象征。到后來，文革時期，男女青年一色的綠軍裝，在紅色的海洋中，在廣闊的社會主義天地間，女性的身體形象以標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和統(tǒng)一化的方式出現(xiàn)，她們無差別化的服飾、表情和籠統(tǒng)的歡快心理是國家意志和集體主義信念的一種化身。

 

九十年代以來，中國當(dāng)代繪畫中的女性身體形象發(fā)生了變化，消費、時尚和欲望成為建構(gòu)身體形象的重要因素。女性身體形象的變化，反映出人們認(rèn)識身體觀念的變遷。首先，男性與女性的平等，不再反映為兩者形象的無差別化，而是承認(rèn)男性與女性有著生理上的差異。男子漢氣概和女性氣質(zhì)明顯有所不同，身體的性別差異和性感意識成為消費主義塑造身體形象的基礎(chǔ)。其次，身體形象與趣味、品好及生活方式有密切的聯(lián)系。消費主義建立起另一種無差別的社會關(guān)系——無差別的市場，在豐裕社會人們可以自由地選擇自己的所需和所好。但是，這種自由并不表明社會階層的消失和社會成員享有均等的權(quán)利。趣味、品好和生活方式潛在地制約著多極化的社會關(guān)系，臃腫和苗條的身材，淺褐色和白色的膚色，粗俗夸張和典雅得體的身體姿態(tài)------反映出不同的生活習(xí)慣和生活品好。

 

這些身體觀念的轉(zhuǎn)向是我們認(rèn)識石巍繪畫創(chuàng)作的基礎(chǔ)。從《江山美人》、《視覺暴力》、《視覺變異》到《骨感美人》，石巍的繪畫創(chuàng)作一直以女性的身體形象作為畫面的主題?！督矫廊恕穼⑴陨眢w與傳統(tǒng)山水、老虎等猛獸形象重疊在一起，制造了視覺上的重重沖突與矛盾關(guān)系?！兑曈X暴力》與《視覺變異》，則是通過當(dāng)代的圖像技術(shù)處理，直接再現(xiàn)出女性身體的變形，表達(dá)出當(dāng)代技術(shù)對女性身體形象的侵蝕和傷害。在《骨感美人》系列作品中，石巍除以圖像技術(shù)強化身體變形外，還意圖剖析制造骨感美人的深層的社會意識。

 

骨感美人是消費女性身體形象的欲望想象。T型臺上的模特，不只是展現(xiàn)服裝，也展現(xiàn)服裝與身體的完美搭配，高挑，纖腰，步履舒緩——在聚光燈的照射下，模特們高貴、典雅，萬人注目。這樣的服裝和這樣的身體展示，既是生活品味的象征，也是一種奢華與耀眼的生活方式的想象。消費主義的欲望邏輯就是不斷地制造生活的想象，不斷地制造時尚的幻像。為了塑造自己身體的苗條，時尚追逐者必須控制飲食，控制體重，參與健身和美容。對身體的精心呵護(hù)，使她們在滿足時尚趣味的同時，越來越遠(yuǎn)離了自然的身體。對美白亮麗面容的渴求，相應(yīng)地也使她們對化妝品產(chǎn)生依賴性。這種依賴不只是生理上，也是精神意志上。石巍的作品表現(xiàn)出來的骨感美人們肢體無力、目光散漫，如同嗜毒者。顯然，石巍并不是描繪真實的吸毒者。吸毒產(chǎn)生的是欲望的虛幻滿足，嗜毒者在上癮的過程一點一點地侵蝕自己的身體，而由消費主義建構(gòu)起來的欲望何嘗不是刺激身體和靈魂的毒劑呢？盡管這種毒劑看起來更為溫柔美麗，并隱蔽得更深。

 

在《骨感美人》作品中，美人們處于私密的空間中，她們肆意地展露性感。而這種性感如同冷灰的背景一般，是冰冷的，而不是有血有肉的。美人們的身軀如同環(huán)繞著她們的物什一樣，有形態(tài)，而無生命——生命和性感都已經(jīng)物化。如同安迪·沃霍爾不斷地復(fù)制馬麗蓮·夢露的頭像和《鉆石灰塵鞋》一樣，盡管它們看起來奢華和性感，但是它們是類像，是消費欲望復(fù)制出來的形象，僅此而已。

 

消費時代一方面創(chuàng)造了豐盛的物質(zhì)、舒適的生活，另一方面也使人在身體、心理方面產(chǎn)生新的壓迫和扭曲?！豆歉忻廊恕肥窍M時代類型化的美人，她們美艷性感，但卻空洞無物，她們的形象是這個時代的一個符號，銘刻著此時此在的生活觀念、生活方式，以及人們在精神上的困惑與不安。

 

 

The  Molding  of  the  Body

                                            Written by Zhou aiming

 

The body is the mark of symbolism, it is the social consciousness, the cultural idea and the place for the contention of political authority even. The idea that the body is made of the spirit and clay has changed to the sociological cognition, the lofty idea, the belief and the spiritual symbol related to the body has withdrawn, the desire of the fashion and the consumption has controlled to mold the image of the body. In Shi Wei's "the Skinny Beautiful Woman Series”,the image of the young girls' bodies is weak, slender and pale, they are indifferent and sex,which displays consumption characteristic.

The image of the female body is the important object and theme of the artistic creation ,in which the social consciousness and the esthetic interest at the specific time either hides or embodies. In the 50's - 60's of 20th century, the female image in new China was generally linked with the work scene or the instrument of labor. In the scorching sun,their faces were red,they were healthy and strong and their spirit was full, which indicated they enjoyed the same worker's right and the strength with the male in socialism, such image had becomed a kind of symbol in the new-born socialist countries. During Great Cultural Revolution time,both the young men and young women wore green military uniform, in the broad socialism world, ,the image of the female body appeared in standard and unified way, their same clothing, expression and the general cheerful psychology were the national will and one kind of incarnation of collectivism faith.

Since the 90's of 20th century, in the chinese contemporary drawing the image of the female body has changed, the consumption, the fashion and the desire becomes the important factor to construct the image. The change of the image reflects that the people's opinion about the body has altered.At first, the female is equal to the male , the image of the female is no longer identical with the male, and people acknowledge that there is the physiological difference between the male and the female. The spirit between them is obviously different, the sex difference and the sexy consciousness are the foundation to portray the image of the body. Next, the image of the body is closely related with the interest and the life style. The consumption has established another kind of  identical social relation and identical market,now our society is in plenty,where people can choose freely what they want. But this kind of freedom does not indicate that all the members enjoy the equal right and there are the different social strata. The interest and the life style is latently restricting the multipolar social relations, extremely fat and slender stature, shallow brown and white skin color, the vulgar and elegant body posture ,reflect the different habits of the life style and the interest.

These changed opinions about the body are the base of which we understand Shi Wei's works. From "Landscape and Beautiful Woman", "Visual Violence", "Visual Variation" to "the Skinny Beautiful Woman", the image of the female body is the important theme in Shi Wei's artistic creation.In "Landscape and Beautiful Woman",the female body is superposed with traditional scenery or the beast such as tiger, making the visual conflict and contradictory relations.In "Visual Violence" and "Visual Variation",through the contemporary processing of picture technology, the female body becomes deformed, which expresses the contemporary technology to corrode and  injure the image of the female body.In "the Skinny Beautiful Woman", Shi Wei does not strengthen the deformed body by picture technology only ,but also analyses the deep social reason why there are the skinny beautiful women.

The skinny beautiful woman is the desire imagination of the image of the female body.The models on T-stage unfold not only the clothing, but also how the clothing and the body match perfectly,they are tall,their waists are slender and the steps are slow;In the spotlight,they are noble,  elegant and spectacular.

Such clothing and body is the symbol of the life savor, it is also a kind of imagination to the luxurious and dazzling life style. The desire of consumption is unceasingly making the life imagination and the mirage of the fashion. In order to shape the figure, the people pursuing the fashion must control the diet and the body weight, they must participate in the body-building and the cosmetology. Protecting the body carefully causes them to be satisfied with the fashion interest, but they are more and more far away the natural body. Seeking having a beautiful white face ,they also depend on the cosmetics correspondingly. This kind of dependence is not only in physiology, but also in the spiritual will.In Shi Wei's works the bodies of the skinny beautiful women are incapable, their vision is sloppy, as if they were the drug addicts. Obviously, Shi Wei does not describe the real drug adicts. Addiction may make people be satisfied with the desire illusorily, the drug addicts are corroding their own bodies gradually during they are addicted to drugs , but we can say the desire constructed by the consumption is the toxicant to stimulate the body and the soul, although this kind of toxicant looks like gently and beautiful, and it hides deeply.

In Shi Wei's "the Skinny Beautiful Woman Series”, the beautiful women are in the private  space, exposing the sex appeal recklessly. But this kind of sex appeal is similar to the gray background, it is ice-cold without vivid. The body of the beautiful woman is similar to the substance surrounding them, it is the form without life --- the life and the sex appeal have already objectified.Just as Andy Warhol duplicated Marilyn Monroe's head portyait unceasingly, although they look like luxurious and sexy, but they are a kind of picture, which is duplicated by the desire of consumption, no more than this.

On the one hand the time of consumption has created the sumptuous matter and the comfortable life, on the other hand it also causes people to have the new oppression and the distortion both at body and in the psychological aspect. The skinny beautiful woman is the type of beautiful woman in the time of consumption, they are beautiful and sexyl, but actually devoid of content, their image is the mark at this time, which represents the life idea and life style of this time, as well as people's puzzlement and restlessness in spirit.