春晓

春眠不觉晓

处处闻啼鸟

2022年的春天似乎极为漫长，三月初前往成都郊外罗敏工作室时的艳阳油菜花田，让我“健忘了”北方的“乍暖还寒”。初春的画室，画里画外从嫩黄到艳黄，从粉红到酒红，通过艺术家画面中时常出现的“隐秘的时间线索”谱系下的繁花（繁华），在一次次否定加否定的不确定下，厚涂层的油彩有了半浮雕的“造型”，加重了花苞的份量，压弯的花枝反而看上去有了力度和倔强，生命力的“铿锵” 在艺术家更迭的劳作中慢现。此刻我几乎看见罗敏早期军旅绘画“排队”洗澡女兵的肖像， 亦或是寒鸭朝向田野自由的飞奔？

我与罗敏聊天中无数次问及为什么花一直存在于她作品？是作为材料还是命题？她不假思索的回复：“画顺了，就忘了”。记得王小波为《时代三部曲》总序中的开头，“有人问一位登山家为什么要去登山-谁都知道登山这件事既危险，又没什么实际的好处，他回答道：“因为那座山峰在那里”。我以为罗敏沉浸在观察和描绘这个熟悉“客体”的过程中，随着时间的推移和个体情绪的变化为画面注入了她另外一种“花语”。长期以来纠结于当代艺术作品中“文本式”的解读方式在此刻乏力！期间偶尔“乱入”的鸟儿在构图中大多也是一个非常规的占位，或木纳于画面的一偶，或纠缠于花枝的背后……杂色的玫瑰的基底色同样也是明快的不规则色块的拼图，是艺术家与生命交谈后完美的“自洽式”呈现。何谓“顺”？得心应手，信手拈来？玫瑰在希腊神话中是宙斯所创造的杰作，用来向诸神夸耀自己的能力，宛若罗敏作品的面貌就是那么“漂亮”得难以克制。且莫问“夜来风雨，花落多少？”

The Spring Matters

Spring arrives quietly in my slumber，

And the air is filled with the chirping of birds.

The spring of 2022 feels incredibly long. In March， while travelling to Luo Min‘s studio near the outskirts of Chengdu， I passed by a field of blooming rapeseeds. There， for a moment， the sight warmed away my lingering chills from the Northern spring. Back in the artist’s studio， the space is illuminated with soft hues of yellows and pinks and the richness of gold and burgundy. In her painting series “Hidden Time and Clues”， the flourishing bouquets‘ impasto surface--conceived through an accumulative rhythm of choice and accidents-- thickens to an almost impasto relief ’structure‘. The dipping stems remain mighty and resilient， despite the throbbing heaviness of their floral counterparts. This permeating sense of “sonorous” vitality draws my memory to a painting from the artist’s early military series--a line of female soldiers waiting for a shower--， and the impression of flocks taking wing into the distant fields.

During our conversation， I often ask Luo Min the reason behind her flower motif-- is it a material or a theme. She replies， “I can‘t remember； it just comes with the flow”. Likewise， in the preface to his novel The Ages Trilogy， writer Wang Xiaobo wrote： “A person asks a mountain climber why he climbs mountains when everyone knows it is dangerous and has no practical benefit. The mountain climber answers， ’Because the mountain is there.‘”  Accompanied by the accretion of time and the index of her own sentiments， Luo Min’s observation and depiction of this familiar ‘subject matter’ are transformed into a lyrical “floriography” that is uniquely hers. Here， the application of “textual” interpretation common in contemporary art discourse feels lacklustre. Occasionally， birds play “peekaboo” in her painting composition， but for the part， they rarely take the limelight- preferring instead to blend into the scene or hide behind a rosebush… the motley roses are also a colourful spectrum of base tone patchwork that emulate a “self-consistent” expression about the artist‘s personal encounters with life.

How should one define “flow”？ To attain what the heart desires， or to have things arrive at one’s fingertips？ Like the rose Zeus created to showcase his powers to the fellow Olympians in Greek mythology， Luo Min‘s paintings are adorned with the same irresistible ’charm‘ that refrains one from asking， “How many flowers wither when the night cometh？”