蒋跃的水彩人生行走于艺术和生活之间
2018-11-12周懿
周懿
笔耕不辍的艺术人生
蒋跃鹤发童颜、声如洪钟,更令人感叹的是他仿佛活力无限。他是画家,是教育家,是媒体人,是管理者……采访约在上午10点,蒋跃已工作了两个多小时,他说自己是个闲不下来的人,正趁着好天气“晒晒书”——满满一地他的过往著作:教学研究、文集、画集、著作、杂志,行行排列的书籍占据了工作室一半的面积。其中,《绘画形式语言研究》一书在20年中不断修改完善,被多家出版社先后以7个版本出版;《绘画构图与创作》则被列为中国高等教育“十二五”全国规划教材。
除了记录他个人几十年艺术探索历程的一本本画册,出书著录中,更是倾注了他对传播水彩这门艺术的心血。《蒋跃水彩画课堂》《水彩画要点50讲》《水彩画技法、创意、鉴赏》《水彩画答问》《东西方绘画的交汇:中国当代水彩画研究》……中央电视台曾于2014年拍摄水彩专题教学片《中央电视台书画频道蒋跃水彩画教学》34集,一经播出,广受好评。蒋跃的努力推动,为广大艺术爱好者开拓了一条进入水彩绘画艺术的道路,也为艺术专业从业者指引了追求的方向。
他笑叹,“时间过得真是快,不知不觉已经发表了42种、总计400多万字的著作,最近还在整理一些手稿、笔记”。蒋跃笔耕不辍,交流对话、所思所想、文化趣事都会被他记录下来,“你看,这些笔记本整理出来又可以出书了。”厚厚的一沓笔记本,记录了他几十年艺术人生的过往点滴,记录了他对艺术的思考与实践,经过时间的沉淀,开出璀璨之花。
传道授业桃李遍天下
蒋跃最为人熟知的身份是水彩画家,他是中国美术学院水彩画专业教授。少年时期的他,深受家学影响,跟随在中国美院雕塑系任教的舅舅叶庆文学习绘画,表现出艺术天赋。高中时期,他的作品入选浙江省美展。之后,蒋跃考入中国美术学院深造,机缘巧合中与水彩画结缘。
水彩,是人们一般认知中的小众绘画艺术门类。在油画、国画成为资本市场宠儿,价格节节攀升的当下,蒋跃坚守水彩之路40余载。“我认为,勿以画价论长短。”蒋跃水彩画的金字招牌在30多年前就立了起来,连续入选被誉为“中国美术最高殿堂”的全国美术作品展的第7、8、9、10届,并有14次获国家级各类奖项的纪录。
“水彩画讲究水色交融、造型和构图,以及素描关系、色彩关系、空间关系、水分关系等等要素,都要在一笔之内解决,犹如跳芭蕾舞。但水彩画独特的透明感、水性的韵味感,会奏出无比美妙水色交融的华彩乐章。”1996年金秋,中国美术家协会水彩艺术委员会举办首届中国水彩画艺术展,蒋跃将自己以惠安女生活为题材创作的《渔汛》送展,摘得金奖。第二年7月,由中国水彩画家协会举办的第七届中国水彩画大展在四川美术学院亮相,他的《海风》又获唯一的金奖。
1986年,蒋跃留校任教,开启了“师者”的身份,30多年来,桃李遍天下。他更以水彩画普及为己任。1998年,蒋跃参与组织筹办中国第一个官方水彩画高研班——“首届中国美术学院水彩画高研班”,在杭州、北京、沈阳3地举办结业展览,出版师生画册,引起中国水彩画界的广泛关注,有水彩画“黄埔一期”的美誉。蒋跃亲力亲为,尽心尽责。那些当年参与高研班的学子,如今都已成为中国水彩艺术界的一面面大旗。
水色交融显东方神韵
“我们如果把油画比作小说,把中国画比作散文,那水彩画就是一首首短小又精致的诗。水彩画起源于欧洲,是贵族的艺术,就像皇后皇冠上璀璨的宝石。”说起水彩,蒋跃有着一种自豪的柔情。他认为,水彩画中水与色的结合、透明的质感、随机的肌理,形成奇妙的变奏,产生了透明酣畅、淋漓清新视觉效果,与自然幻化为和谐的灵动之美,构成了水彩画的个性特征,产生出独特的不可替代的特殊美感。
而在水彩画中呈现东方的、民族的美学,是蒋跃一直的艺术追求,“我觉得水彩畫有深厚的艺术底蕴,有远大的发展前程。中国画讲究水韵、情调,水彩画亦然。两者间诗意性完全相通。在当今的水彩画创作当中,应该融入更多的中国的民族意识,民族情怀,民族境界。水彩画的道路,会越走越宽。”他深信民族的就是世界的。受家学影响,蒋跃有优秀的中国画底蕴,他在用色、用水、笔法上不断探索,将中国画的东方神韵融入水彩画当中。
2002年,蒋跃受俄罗斯文化部邀约,前往莫斯科举办个人画展,大获成功。莫斯科水彩学院校长安德烈·杨卡激动地称赞,这位中国画家竟然用西方传统的水彩,画出了东方美学的神韵。安德烈·杨卡还邀请他经常带着作品来俄罗斯交流,莫斯科水彩学院的大门随时向他敞开。
探索修炼行者无疆
活力如他,“出去走走”不仅仅只是一句话,而是脚下的路。新疆的高山、内蒙的草原、藏区的牧场、江南的水乡、欧洲的教堂……他浏览风景无数,更用水彩定格风景无数。
2010年,蒋跃与专修俄罗斯文学的夫人李莉一同前往乌克兰进行学术交流。在紧张的日程安排中,他们特意抽出一天,只为寻找大文豪果戈里的故乡。下了大巴突遇狂风暴雨,恰逢几位年轻人开车经过,向他们伸出援手。经过交流,知道他们是乌克兰师范大学的教师,他们很惊讶,甚至不知道那个他们日常熟悉的小镇原来是果戈里的故乡,更感慨于这对来自中国的中年夫妇竟然长途跋涉寻找文学偶像。直到现在,他们之间仍有联络,或许应该感谢那场突如其来的大雨,让他们收获异国挚友,收获奇妙的旅行经历。
交流过程中,蒋跃对影响他一生的世界文豪如数家珍。泰戈尔的理想信念、莫泊桑的希望追求、杰克伦敦的生命力量、茅盾的悠扬激越……几十年,慢慢化作河面荡漾的薄雾,聚成一汪微醺的红月亮。那些生命燃烧而成的文字,那份浪漫主义的诗情,那关于人类意念之美的画意,融进了他滚烫的血液中,也汇入了他画笔灵动的色彩里。而《伏特加里的红月亮》正是他在10多年前赴俄罗斯举办个人画展并考察了伏尔加河沿岸后,与其夫人李莉合写的一本散文体的游记。
10年前,时任中国美术学院教研处负责人的蒋跃,又被委以重任,派往该学院与浙江日报报业集团合办的《美术报》任副社長。当时正值媒体报业发展的春天,有着深厚文学底蕴、心怀社会担当的他责无旁贷,除了是三尺讲台前的美院教授,还成了案边忙碌的媒体人。说文解字、句读标点,一路走来,他亲历了10年来艺术圈的大小点滴,也见证了媒体报业的辉煌岁月。
蒋跃翻看着日历,不无感慨,“晃眼之间,这都快退休啦。”多少过往,都付笑谈,面对60个春秋,他显得释然,“退休了,这一切反倒可以卸下了。人其实生来就是在画句号,直至人生的终点,要把这个句号一笔一笔画圆满,一切均在修炼过程之中。”自由安排的时间,自由选择的未来,蒋跃其实早就做了计划,“前段时间在整理作品,发现自己已经画了上万幅作品了。以后属于自己的时间就多了,我希望沿着长江、黄河,一路走一路画。‘无限风光在险峰,去游、去看、去感受、去创作。”
生命不就是这样吗,在成长中收获不同岁月的美好。美丽的夏天凋谢了,但强大的生命和艺术的信念,正如泰戈尔笔下的“夏花”,“生来如同璀璨的夏日之花,不凋不败,热烈如火”。
A Watercolor Life and Dedication
By Zhou Yi
It was an early autumn morning when I came to visit Professor Jiang Yue at his studio on the campus of China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province. This visit marked the 60th year of the artists life. Jiang was about to retire.
That day, Jiang looked young despite his silver hair and his voice was sonorous. His energy was impressive. He is an artist, teacher, media worker, and administrator. I arrived at his studio at the appointed time in the morning, that is, 10 oclock. He had already worked for more than 2 hours. He said he kept himself busy. It was a fine day and the floor of the studio was full of the books. Half of the studio was stacked with books.
A prolific writer, Jiang has published 42 books on art. The books amount to a total of over 400 million words. A Study of Form and Language in Painting, a book authored by Jiang and published 20 years ago, has been modified by Jiang many times and published in seven editions by various publishers. Composition and Creative Painting was inscribed as a textbook for the 12th Five-Year Plan for the countrys higher education system.
Of the 42 books, many are collections of his watercolor works and many are textbooks. His 34-episode watercolor course was screened in 2014 on CCTV, Chinas biggest television network.
“How time flies! I am surprised to know I have published 42 books. I have been going through some of my manuscripts and notes,” remarked Jiang. The professor is a writer indeed. He jots down his thought wherever and whenever. He pointed to a stack of notebooks, “They can become a book after I sort them out.” These notebooks are records of what he have thought about art and life over decades.
Jiang Yue is a well-known watercolor artist and professor of watercolor at China Academy of Art. While a boy, he took art lessons from his maternal uncle Ye Qingwen, who taught at the Sculpture Department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, which morphed into China Academy of Art in 1993. His artwork was good enough to be exhibited at a provincial art exhibition while he was still in high school. He then studied watercolor at the academy.
He graduated in 1986 and has been teaching at his alma mater since then.
Jiang established himself as an outstanding watercolorist more than 30 years ago. His artworks appeared at the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th National Artworks Exhibition, an event that takes place every five years since 1955 (2019 will see the 13th). He has received 14 national awards. In 1998, he was a teacher at a national master course for watercolorists. The works created at the course were exhibited respectively in Hangzhou, Beijing and Shenyang. The young watercolor artists studying at the course are now celebrated artists.
In 2002, Jiang Yue held his solo watercolor exhibition in Moscow, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. It was a huge success. His style of expressing the oriental verve in the western style won many hearts there.
As an artist, he has traveled a lot, leaving his footprints across the country and in foreign lands. In 2010, he and his wife Li Li, a scholar specialized in Russian literature, visited Ukraine for taking part in an academic exchange program. They found a day to travel and visit the hometown of Nikolai Gogol. They got off the bus and walked into a storm. A car stopped for them. The young people in the car happened to be teachers of a normal university and they had the slightest idea that the town so familiar to them was the hometown of Gogol. Jiang and his wife still keep in touch with the teachers today.
Jiang said his worldview and aesthetics reflect the thought of many great literary luminaries. Over years, he has read many masters including Rabindranath Tagore, Guy de Maupassant, Jack London, and Mao Dun. His understanding of these writers may differ from those of other readers, but his understanding has long since found its way into his watercolors.
Jiang Yue was appointed vice president of Art Weekly, a periodical jointly published by China Academy of Art and Zhejiang Daily Press Group, ten years ago. The professor has done a quite lot for the paper. He has witnessed the glory of the printed medium.
He isnt sad about retirement. He is ready to put a period to the past. And he is looking forward to a freedom he has never really enjoyed in his 60-year life. “I have examined all my paintings recently and to my surprise, they amount to more than 10,000. As I have much more time to myself in the future, I will travel along the Yangtze River and the Yellow River to take a look at the world, to feel what the world offers to me, to externalize what art says to my heart and soul,” enthused Jiang Yue.