张念作品序
张念一直以行为艺术为人所知，其作品有其鲜明的针对性和批判性，从89年北京现代艺术展上挪揄理论的“孵蛋”及其后的蛋系列，到后来一系列作品对于城市、民工、非典、自我等等问题的追问，表现了张念在艺术创作中对生存环境和存在?shy;历的关心。他不是那种以固有风格图式来应付生活变化的艺术家，而是生活于、感受于时代变化之中，在呈现历史的同时表达个人立场。艺术对张念而言，是一种生活方式，是一种在时间中寻找意义的生活方式。
张念作为知识分子型的艺术家，把自己的眼光聚焦于历史，他的一系列历史影像和历史绘?shy;是令人震惊的。仿佛从遗忘的深渊喷涌出来，带着突然爆发的光芒和热力，以急速的动感与气势扑向观者。——张念不愿以一种伤感的浪漫主义
来观赏历史，他想借助历史图像来召唤中国人的历史意识。这种如电光火石般的?shy;面，对个人而言，是命运的逼问；对社会而言，乃是精神的震撼，如棒喝，如霹雳。张念把凝固的历史瞬间化为瞬逝的图像，其目的正在于令人震惊，以唤醒久被忽略久被遗忘的历史记忆。他的作品不是在表现历史，而是让历史得以表现。
艺术始终针对着人的精神，而人的精神则生长于遗忘与记忆之间。在集体失忆的时候，艺术家可做的事情便是刺激观者对于历史的反应。
在遗忘的深渊，不会没有闪电。——这是我们对艺术的信念，也是我们对于当代中国人的信心。
Lightening at the Bottom of Forgetfulness
Zhang Nian has always been known for his performance art, and his work has a clear sense of purpose and critique. From the 1989 conceptual “Egg Incubation” exhibited at Beijing Contemporary Art Exhibition and the egg series that followed, to later series of works that have explored issues of the city, migrant workers, SARS, and the quest for the self, all express the interest that Zhang Nian feels for his surroundings and the experience of living. He is not the type of artist who reacts to life changes with existing pictorial styles, but rather he lives within and senses these changes in life, expressing his personal standpoint while also illustrating history. For Zhang Nian art is a kind of lifestyle, a way of life that consists of a search for meaning through time.
Zhang Nian, as an academic artist, has focused his attention on history, his series of historical photographs and paintings are all quite moving. They seem to be bursting out of a forgotten volcano, with a sudden explosion of radiance and energy, reaching to the audience with rapid motions and grandeur.
Zhang Nian is unwilling to appreciate history with a sad romanticism, rather he wants to appropriate historical images to awaken the Chinese people’s historical consciousness. Such rocket-like images press for answers at the personal level; at the social level they are a shock to the spirit, like beating and shouting, like a thunderclap. Zhang Nian has transformed frozen historical moments into flickering images, his purpose is nothing other than shocking people, to awaken the historical memories that have been long ignored and forgotten. His works are not meant to represent history, but to allow history to be represented.
Art has always pointed at people’s spirits, but people’s spirits have always grown between forgetfulness and memory. As the collective has lost its memory, what the artist can do is to stimulate the viewer’s reaction to history.
At the bottom of what’s being forgotten, it is impossible not to have lightning. This is our belief in art, it is also our confidence in the Chinese of this contemporary era.
Wang Lin
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