Illusory Metaphorphoses No.1 collected by Richard L. Tooke
大学毕业后，在现代艺术博物馆（MoMA）工作时，我在隐形眼镜佩戴上出了一些问题。眼科医生告诉我，根据矫正需要，我的一只眼睛要佩戴近视镜，另一只佩戴远视镜，他还告诉我人不是用眼睛看东西，而是用大脑看东西。我很难相信他，自行开始佩戴中等距离的隐形眼镜，效果还相当好。一个周末我去工作，想到不会有电话的烦扰、同事的打断，我感到心满意足。突然一支隐形眼镜从眼睛里弹了出来，到处都找不到。我没有带眼镜，要回家拿上它再返回博物馆，得一个半小时。没有隐形眼镜的一只眼睛看近处非常清楚，而隐形眼镜还在的一支看远处非常清晰。我留下来工作，完成了自己设定的工作内容。之后我去了眼科医生那里，为每一支眼睛配上了不同的镜片。从那时起我明白，大脑会过滤眼镜发送来的图像，是大脑让你看到大脑想要看到的事物。
我为冗长的引言感到抱歉，但我有意引述这样一段经历。在文俊的自述里，他说道最早学习的是油画。后来，“纪实摄影”成为他的工作，即记录历史事件或日常生活，再之后，从事观念摄影。观念摄影为他开启了一种将现实图像与其脑中的图像呼应起来的创作方式。许多摄影师在最初都是记录相机看到的世界。他们很快发现，他们看到的和相机记录的不是一回事。这就促使文俊使用观念摄影记录其大脑内的影像。观看他从早期到现在的作品，你能发现他的发展：最初主要是相机的视角，而如今的作品更多地反映出其大脑内的影像。
曾经所有的照片都使用胶片，有一些“纯粹主义者”认为胶片捕捉到的图像应该未经任何处理地打印出来。有些人甚至打印出底片的边缘以证明打印来源于底片，非常纯粹，绝无剪裁或处理。随着数码影像的发展，艺术家能够改变图像以展示他们的思考，而不仅仅是相机所记录的。当然，这在以前也可以通过胶片来完成，但是非常漫长而复杂的过程，让许多艺术家感到麻烦。
我第一次观看文俊的观念摄影作品使我从我西方式的感情中产生了许多图像。文俊关于作品的陈述，却不是我或其他人所看到的。我看到的来源于我头脑中存储的图像和我的西方历史观。他想要表现的和我所“看到”有时是不一致的。细读他的艺术感染力和过往将会为观看他创作的作品增加一个维度。任何人观看如同文俊这样拥有丰富学识和想象力的艺术家的作品时，都会在智力和视觉上感到获得了丰富和充实。
最初让我感到惊叹的是，他的图像和埃及圣甲虫宗教符号间的联系。我并不了解大足石刻，但它们的高雅和精致穿越时空在向我诉说。另一个在我脑子浮现的图像是蝴蝶或飞蛾的茧。当然，当我读到作品的题目：《幻化》，我明白了自己的反应。
作为一名艺术家，我习惯于观看一幅作品而先不去看它的题目，甚至艺术家的名字。我觉得这样使我不受固有观念和图像的干扰。文俊运用古代和当代艺术创建了他的图像。我看到了希腊/罗马雕塑的图像，这让我感到惊奇。人体骨骼X光片的使用是源自20世纪的惊人想象力，同时和古代艺术品完美的融合在一起。他让它们存在于同一时代，而非相差几百年。宗教与世俗的融合为他的作品再增加了一个维度。将迥然不同的图像并置，构成一个和谐的整体，这让人惊叹不已。
我亲眼看过一幅文俊的作品，但我可以说，他将图像内容所独有的特质赋予到图像中，这种技艺是令人惊叹的。石像的坚硬是真实的，雕塑周围抽象的形状凭借其生命力让人感觉是活生生的。夏布不像夏布的照片，而是实实在在的。
我希望以装置的形式看到更多文俊的摄影作品。我不喜欢在书上或网上观看作品，因为我认为艺术作品的比例和大小是完全体验作品无法割裂的一部分。他是一位成熟的艺术家，不断向外扩张其艺术创作的边缘。他下一次的冒险在哪里，让我们拭目以待。
理查德·路易斯·图克，艺术硕士 2014年5月
理查德·路易斯·图克简介：
曾任纽约现代艺术博物馆（MoMA）版权与复制部主任，在摄影领域拥有三十多年的经验。那不勒斯艺术博物馆艺术之友协会主席、策展人。
I had graduated from college and was working at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, when I was having difficulty being fitted for contact lens. My eye doctor tried to convince me that because of the corrections needed that I should have one eye fitted for close up viewing and one for distance informing me that one does not see with one’s eyes but with your brain. I found that difficult to believe and proceeded to have contacts for a medium distance which worked fairly well. One weekend I went into work, knowing that I could get much accomplished with the telephone not ringing and interruptions by colleagues. Almost immediately I inadvertently flicked one of my contacts out of one eye. I could not find it anywhere. I did not have my glasses me and to go home and retrieve them and get back to the Museum would take an hour and a half. The eye without a contact lens gave excellent vision up close and the one with the contact lens made distance vision clear. I stayed at work and was able to complete the tasks that I have set for myself. I subsequently went back to my eye doctor and was fitted with different lens for each eye. From that time on I realized that the brain filters the images that your eyes send to it and that it is the mind that lets you see what it wants to.
I apologize for this lengthy introduction, but I relate my story for a specific reason. In Mr. Fu Wenjun’s statements about his work he talks about beginning as a traditional painter of oil on canvas. Then “documentary photograph”, i.e. the recording of historical or daily events was his métier, then on to conceptual photography. When he discovered conceptual photography this opened up a way for him to create images of reality in concert with images from his mind. Many photographers, began by recording what the camera saw. They soon realized that what they saw and what the camera recorded were not the same. This is what led Wenjun to use conceptual photography to record his mind’s images. In looking through Wenjun’s first photographs and those of today, you can see his progression initially it was the camera’s viewpoint that was primary. His images today reflect more of the images in his mind.
When all photographs were made on film there were “purists” who thought that the images captured on film should be printed with no manipulation. Some even printed the edges of negatives to show that the prints made from the negatives were pure, with no cropping or manipulation. With the advent of digital images the artist could change the imagery to show what was in their minds and not just what the camera recorded. This of course was possible with film, but it was a long and complicated process, which many artists found too cumbersome.
My first viewing of his conceptual photography brought forth many images from my Western sensibility. What Wenjun says about these images are not what I or someone else would see. What I saw came from the stored images in my mind and my historical Western perspective.. What Wenjun intended and what I “saw” was sometimes at odds. Reading about his influences and history adds another dimension to viewing what he produced. When an artist, like Wenjun, has such a plenty of knowledge and imagery, anyone who views them will be enriched, both intellectually and visually.
I was initially struck by the relationship between his images and the sacred Egyptian Scarab with its religious symbols. I was not familiar with the Dazu Rock Carvings, but their sophistication and refinement certainly spoke to me from across time. My next vision brought to mind a chrysalis of the butterfly or moth. Of course, when I read his title: Illusory Metamorphoses, I could understand my reactions.
As an artist myself, I tend to look at a work of art without reading its title, or even the name of the artist. I feel that frees me of preconceived ideas and images. Wenjun has built his images using ancient and contemporary art. I was surprised by seeing some images of Greco/Roman sculpture. The incorporation of x-rays of skulls and skeletons was a brilliant layer of imagery from the 20th century, but melded perfectly with the ancient works of art. He has made them to exist in the same time period and not hundreds of years apart. His combination of the religious and secular also adds another dimension to his photographs. Putting these disparate images together as a cohesive whole is amazing.
I have seen only one of Mr. Wenjun’s photographs in person, but I can tell you that his technical skill in endowing the images with reality of their individual qualities is astonishing. The hardness of the stone sculptures is real, the abstract shapes around the sculpture seem alive with their own beings. The grass cloth does not seem to be a photograph of grass cloth, but is grass cloth itself.
I am looking forward to seeing many of Wenjun’s photographs in an installation setting. Looking at images in a book, or online, is very frustrating to me, as I believe that scale and size of works of art are integral part of experiencing their full impact. This is a mature artist who continues to push the boundaries of his art. Where he ventures next is something that we should all look forward to with anticipation.
Richard L. Tooke, – May 2014
About Richard L. Tooke, MFA, Former Director of Rights and Reproductions at MoMA, Ex-president of Friends of Art at the Naples Museum of Art, curator.