从20世纪90年代观念摄影引入国内至今，其在形式上经历了各种演变，但万变不离其宗，即摄影成为艺术家艺术观念阐释的载体。通过对灯光、取景、形式、构图以及后期的处理，观念摄影用隐喻的方式给观者提供了新的视觉感知方式。然而，由于当代艺术中“观念”诠释的泛滥以及摄影艺术发展脉络的模糊，使很多所谓的观念摄影艺术脱离精神的批判性转而沦为投机、消遣的游戏。傅文俊先生作为中国观念摄影的先行者，始终秉承着批判思考的原则一步一个脚印地进行着摄影艺术的实践。从最初的纪实摄影开始，到90年代中期的观念摄影，以及而后的抽象摄影，艺术家尝试着各种艺术门类间的跨界，其很多作品都无限的趋近于绘画语言的表达。与此同时，傅文俊多年来对摄影媒介进行了深入研究、对高新科技更是大胆尝试。其中对文化问题与精神感悟的独立思考成为其创作的逻辑。在《是与不是》抽象系列作品中艺术家打破条框的圈囿，通过对图像的捕捉、解构与重构，将观者引离对象的真实，而引至图像元素契合下的隐喻含义。
Since the introduction of conceptual photography into China in the 1990s, it has undergone various formal transformations. Yet despite these changes, its core principle has remained constant: photography serves as a vehicle for articulating the artist’s conceptual intentions. Through the manipulation of lighting, framing, form, composition, and post-production, conceptual photography offers viewers new modes of visual perception through metaphor. However, the overproliferation of “concept” interpretations within contemporary art, coupled with an increasingly blurred understanding of photography’s developmental trajectory, has led much so-called conceptual photography to lose its critical spirit, degenerating instead into a game of speculation and entertainment. As a pioneer of conceptual photography in China, Mr. Fu Wenjun has consistently adhered to the principle of critical reflection, advancing his photographic practice step by step with perseverance and rigor. Beginning with documentary photography, moving into conceptual photography in the mid-1990s, and later developing abstract photography, the artist has continuously explored cross-disciplinary approaches between different artistic fields. Many of his works increasingly approximate the expressive language of painting. At the same time, Fu Wenjun has conducted in-depth research into the photographic medium over many years and has boldly experimented with advanced technologies. His independent reflections on cultural issues and spiritual experience form the underlying logic of his practice. In the abstract series Being and Not Being, the artist breaks free from rigid frameworks. Through the capture, deconstruction, and reconstruction of images, he leads viewers away from the literal reality of objects and toward metaphorical meanings that emerge from the convergence of visual elements.
The Wise Are Not Puzzled
在创作手法上傅文俊先生从多图重构关系与符号学角度切入，利用各文化节点的矛盾与关联，构建自我对文化与历史的认知场域。艺术家创作的语言是抽象的，其对图像的拼接、形象的转化、表现形式的跨界使画面的意义不再由文字或者主题素材所决定，而是嫁接在创作时所运用的媒介、数据的输出形式和图像重构的理念以及后期制作的模式。立体的空间转化为平面的多重叠加，并将叠加的层次简化为大块的色调对比或者影调的过渡，这便为各个视觉因素的重构提供了虚幻的空间。无论是石窟造像与抽象绘画的相遇还是西方经典维纳斯与远古图腾崇拜的媾合亦或是中国传统山水与将要消失的土著文明的影射等等，傅文俊的作品都表现出历史符号的异化和焦虑。不言自明其中所影射的正是艺术家对历史、文化、政治、经济的认知与感悟。在信息高速膨胀的今天，艺术家通过理性的思考，坚守着自己的文化身份和立场。毋庸讳言，其表达的精神理念是独立的、丰富的且深刻的。而他的理念依赖的恰恰是当代艺术的抽象概念以及对文化的自觉意识。
In terms of creative methodology, Mr. Fu Wenjun approaches his work from the perspectives of multi-image reconstruction and semiotics. By engaging with the tensions and interconnections among cultural nodes, he constructs a cognitive field through which he articulates his own understanding of culture and history. The artist’s visual language is abstract: through the splicing of images, the transformation of forms, and crossovers between modes of representation, meaning in the image is no longer determined by text or thematic subject matter. Instead, it is grafted onto the media employed in the act of creation, the modes of data output, the concepts underlying image reconstruction, and the strategies of post-production. Three-dimensional space is transformed into planar, multi-layered overlays, with these layers simplified into broad tonal contrasts or gradual transitions of light and shadow. This, in turn, creates an illusory space for the reconfiguration of diverse visual elements. Whether it is the encounter between grotto sculptures and abstract painting, the coupling of the Western classical Venus with ancient totemic worship, or the evocation of traditional Chinese landscape painting alongside vanishing indigenous civilizations, Fu Wenjun’s works consistently reveal a sense of alienation and anxiety embedded in historical symbols. It is self-evident that what is being alluded to is the artist’s understanding and reflection on history, culture, politics, and economics. In an era of rapid information expansion, the artist upholds his cultural identity and position through rational reflection. There is no denying that the spiritual concepts he expresses are independent, rich, and profound. And it is precisely contemporary art’s abstract concepts, together with a conscious awareness of culture, that underpin and sustain his artistic vision.
Body, Nowhere to Lay
此次展览由艺术家的两大系列作品组成，一为以上所说的《是与不是》抽象摄影系列，另外一组作品则是傅文俊先生早期创作的《退场》系列。《退场》系列是艺术家由纪实摄影创作转向观念摄影创作的转折点，同时又是艺术家追求全然抽象的起点，不难看出《退场》系列创作中已经具有了抽象的特质。这组以黑白为主的表现工业化进程的摄影作品，具有强烈的阴刻版画效果。无论是车间厂房还是铁轨火车，都充满着超现实的幻想，肃静而默然，伟大中蕴含着破坏。艺术家突破集体意识表现了艺术个体对工业化进程的认识。《是与不是》与《退场》时隔多年，但是艺术家对摄影创作中图像所蕴含的文化精神的追寻并没有改变。可以说两个作品的组合具有特殊的意义，如果说《退场》是对纪实的退却，那么《是与不是》则是新创作形式的出场，它是对艺术家以往观念摄影的突破，从而更加接近摄影的本质。
This exhibition is composed of two major series by the artist. One is the Being and Not Being abstract photography series discussed above; the other is Leaving the Stage, a body of work created by Mr. Fu Wenjun in his earlier period. The Leaving the Stage series marks a turning point in the artist’s transition from documentary photography to conceptual photography, while also representing the starting point of his pursuit of pure abstraction. It is not difficult to discern that abstract qualities are already present in this series. Predominantly rendered in black and white, these works address the process of industrialization and possess a strong intaglio-like, printmaking effect. Whether depicting factory workshops or railways and trains, the images are imbued with a surreal sense of imagination—silent and austere, monumental yet charged with destruction. By breaking away from collective consciousness, the artist articulates an individual artistic understanding of the industrialization process. Although Being and Not Being and Leaving the Stage were created years apart, the artist’s pursuit of the cultural and spiritual dimensions embedded within photographic images has remained unchanged. The juxtaposition of these two series therefore carries particular significance. If Leaving the Stage signifies a withdrawal from documentary realism, then Being and Not Being marks the emergence of a new creative language—one that breaks through the artist’s earlier conceptual photography and moves closer to the essential nature of photography itself.
Leaving the Stage – Where Came from, Where to Go
在被影像格式化的今天，任谁拿起相机甚至手机似乎都可以成就一副摄影作品，摄影艺术面临着前所未有的新的考验，也面临着对摄影艺术本质的追问？如何使摄影作品不仅仅成为图像的语言，而成为抽象的图说，在当下这个多媒体的视觉文化时代，不蒂为一种好的观念。傅文俊先生的艺术实验远远超越了光线使感光介质曝光这一过程本身。在作品输出的瞬间，凝固了在他在历史文化旅行中所理解的场景。艺术家走访于各个国家的博物馆与美术馆去寻找创作原型，用镜头捕捉瞬间的真实，从而使维纳斯、大卫、石窟造像等文化原型在画面中都具有局部的真实性。傅文俊将自我内在的文化责任感，不断的以抽象摄影的方式予以呈现，并唤起观者对历史文化的思考。他的创作应该予以肯定，因为我相信，艺术在洗去铅华之后，历史永远只会记住具有历史责任感的作品。
关于作者：罗一平，策展人，时任广东美术馆馆长
In today’s image-formatted world, it seems that anyone who picks up a camera—or even a mobile phone—can produce a photographic image. As a result, photographic art is facing unprecedented challenges, along with renewed questioning of its very essence. How can photography move beyond being merely a language of images to become an abstract form of visual narration? In the contemporary era of multimedia visual culture, this is undoubtedly a compelling and meaningful proposition. Mr. Fu Wenjun’s artistic experiments go far beyond the process of light exposing a photosensitive medium. At the moment his works are output, what becomes fixed are the scenes as he has understood them through his journeys across history and culture. The artist visits museums and art institutions around the world in search of creative archetypes, using the lens to capture fragments of reality in an instant. In this way, cultural prototypes such as Venus, David, and grotto sculptures retain a degree of partial realism within the image. Fu Wenjun continuously externalizes his inner sense of cultural responsibility through the language of abstract photography, prompting viewers to reflect on history and culture. His practice deserves affirmation, for I believe that once art sheds its superficial embellishments, history will ultimately remember only those works that embody a genuine sense of historical responsibility.
About the author: Luo Yiping is a curator and served as Director of the Guangdong Museum of Art at the time