《邮票》系列 Stamps – 傅文俊 Fu Wenjun

《邮票-大狮身人面像》
Stamps – Great Sphinx of Tanis

媒介：数绘摄影
尺寸：80 x 100 cm
创作年代：2014
在我看来，傅文俊创作的精华之处就是对邮票这一媒介的借用与诠释。众所周知，邮票是由国家发行的，它的存在具有以下几种特征，首先它的设计通常是国家主权的象征，如清代邮票多用龙做图案，龙体现了至高无上的权威，也是本民族的象征。其次，邮票本身就是商品，即邮资的计算。再者，它在某些时候成为宣传教化的工具，如法西斯通过大量印制邮票制造对希特勒的个人崇拜，金正日、斯大林等等。在《邮票》系列作品中，而艺术家将邮票的内容置换为“残缺的、断裂的传统之经典”，例如缺少生殖器的大卫，迷失双眼的蒙娜丽莎，失去鼻息的狮身人面像以及缺失手掌的石窟造像等等。这样的媒介与这样的主题设计可谓是巧妙至极。从全球角度来看，无论东方还是西方其传统都在商业文化的强势攻击下变的残缺不全。这样的残缺可以理解为不具有完全内容的形式抑或是断裂的继承。甚至可以说是全民的文化态度，就在前一段时间有关iPhone 6的上映着实让我为之一惊，人们可以拿出上万元去疯狂抢购一部通讯工具，却少有人愿意花几百元去看一场莎翁剧作。因此，文化的弱败不是弱在它的内涵本身，而是在于人的态度。正如《邮票》作品中所呈现的那样，经典似乎只是作为一种形式而存在着，对于其内涵人们只是浅尝辄止或片面接受，这一切导致传统文化精髓的慢慢缺失。
节选自《缺失的是什么——傅文俊《邮票》系列作品浅析》，廖沙泥，广东美术馆研究员

Media: Digital Pictorial Photography
Size: 80 x 100 cm
Year of Creation: 2014
To me, the brilliance of this series lies in Fu Wenjun’s appropriation and reinterpretation of the postage stamp as a medium. As we know, postage stamps are issued by states and carry multiple connotations. Firstly, their design often symbolizes national sovereignty—for example, Qing dynasty stamps frequently featured dragons, symbols of supreme authority and national identity. Secondly, stamps are commodities, functioning as currency for mail. Lastly, they have served as tools of propaganda; fascist regimes printed massive quantities of stamps glorifying figures like Hitler, Stalin, and Kim Jong-Il. In Fu Wenjun’s series, the content of the stamp is replaced with “fragmented and broken cultural icons”—David missing his genitals, the Mona Lisa with blinded eyes, the Sphinx without a nose, Buddhist cave statues with absent palms, and so on. This choice of medium and subject is strikingly astute. From a global perspective, both Eastern and Western traditions have suffered from the pervasive dominance of commercial culture. This fragmentation can be seen as an incomplete transmission of cultural content, or a break in continuity. In some ways, it even reflects a widespread cultural attitude. Not long ago, the launch of the iPhone 6 was a shocking example—people were willing to spend thousands of yuan to snatch up a phone, while few would spend a fraction of that to attend a Shakespeare play. Therefore, the decline of culture lies not in its intrinsic value, but in people’s attitudes toward it. As Fu Wenjun’s Stamps reveal, the classics today are often reduced to hollow forms, with little regard for their deeper meaning. This superficial or selective engagement leads to the gradual erosion of cultural essence.
Excerpted from “What Is Missing? A Brief Analysis of Fu Wenjun’s Stamps Series”, Liao Shani, Researcher and Curator of Guangdong Museum of Art