汪凌试图在寻找一种视觉的方法论，来为她的作品建立新的逻辑关系。通常的过程是这样的：首先要推翻早先学习绘画的方式，学术一点的说法叫“颠覆”;其次是在推翻当中建立与之不同的描绘程序，以求取与正常途径所获得的图式不同的风格，这也可以有一个所谓学术的说法，叫“异化”;再其次，则是在推翻与建立的双重游戏中，对应个人的性格与气质，来为新风格做出合理的解释。汪凌的解释具有一种物理性质，她称之为“动物的凝视”。

　　按照艺术写实主义的教学路子，所有学习绘画的人，其实是在学习一种描绘框架，以便于在二维平面上塑造类似三度空间的错觉。很少人会对这样一种学习方式所达到的“写实”程度产生怀疑。事实上，这样一种类型的写实，在程度上，或者，使用“等级”这样一种多少有点统计意味的词，在写实等级上，是有限度的。用一个美学式的说法，写实的等级应该停留在对绘画性的生动表现上，也就是说，一张好的写实绘画，应该保留生动的笔触与情绪化的描绘。结果是，在这样一个笼而统之的写实主义绘画体系中，绝大多数的艺术学生与艺术家，其所能达成的写实等级，都只是粗略的，否则就无法留下“表现性”的绘画空间。

　　毫无疑问，汪凌也是在这样的体系中训练出来的，只要她通过毕业程序，按照学院的一般要求完成作业，那么，她就一定能达到上述所说的那种有限的写实。剩下的就是，如何在这个一般性的粗略型写实框架当中，塞进所谓的个人风格。

　　聪明的读者大概已经发现，在这种描绘训练与风格尝试当中，存在着一种循环游戏：写实止于一个粗略的程度，然后用风格，不管这风格是冷静的还是狂热的，是表现的还是观念的，来填充剩下来的视觉空间，以便于让画面因素，转变成对个人审美的象征性解释。

　　问题是，这种循环游戏是有限的，尤其在写实主义这条可怜的路径上，能够寻找与建立的风格类型，已经越来越少。

　　汪凌的异化恰好起始于对粗略的写实等级的突破上。尽管在她前面，已经有聪明的艺术家在做类似的实验，但这并不妨碍她的志向。她很快就发现，异化与其说来自于一种风格实验，一种在描绘上的选择，不如说来自一种观看方式的突破。她发现，原来那种粗略的写实等级的观看，原来是一种远距离的遥望，一种略去惊人细节的概括，是一组关于“写实”的概念说明。要让描绘有所突破，就必须在观看上发动一场真正的变异行动。于是，她决定去除遥望，让眼睛变成一种潜在的威胁，用盯视与凝望来替代无关痛痒的所谓诗意化的远眺。去除遥望也就意味着去除表现性，去除情绪化的笔触，去除粗略的写实框架，去除概念化的描绘。汪凌借助于现代的观看工具，借助电脑的物理功能，把对象放大，把皮肤的每一个毛孔清晰地呈现出来，就像一个人睁着大眼，一丝不苟地盯着对象的表皮紧张地搜索一样。这时，她发现，原来皮肤每时每刻都在呼吸，皮肤上那些据说影响美人观感的皱纹与起伏，那些毛孔与疤痕，都是些特殊的、生物化的呼吸器官。在这个等级上，汪凌不得不承认，人就是动物，就是一种与所有生物无异的细胞聚合。她甚至得出一个结论，像这样一种盯视，一种逼近的视觉探查，是生物化的，而不是人性化的。汪凌不是一个反人性的艺术家，恰好相反，她的人性意识细腻而具体。借助于这样一种盯视，她的人性主义突然变得坚实起来，变得与细胞一样，具有摸得着的触感，具有体会得到的体温，是一种微观的人性主义。

　　汪凌就是这样建立了她个人的视觉的方法论。至于她具体所画，从青春期的少男少女，到奇特发型的局部，再到动物的大脸，或者狂舞的身躯，已经不太重要。重要的就是她的这个方法论，让她，一个女性艺术家，寻找到了对应于个人心灵起伏的真实而触摸的存在世界。汪凌就生活在这个世界中，具体、逼真而有温度，然后就坚定不移地盯视，从容不迫地凝望。她知道，只要皮肤在呼吸，艺术就有意义。她的风格就是，让皮肤的呼吸变成所有看到她的艺术品的人们的呼吸。她明白，只有这样，盯视与凝望才会落实，才会成为一种境界，从而让艺术变成实存。

　　汪凌的绘画就是一个明证。

　　2009-12-26-广州番禺三号线艺术空间

　　Staring at Breath of Skin – Approaching Gazing in Wang Ling’s Works

　　Yang Xiaoyan

　　Wang Ling has been trying to find a visual methodology to establish new logic for her works.

　　All those who study painting, is actually learning a framework for portraying so as to figure an illusion similar to three-dimensional space based on the two-dimensional plane according to the teaching way of realism art. Few people doubt about the “realistic” level that such a learning approach could reach. With an aesthetic style of wording, level of realism should stay at the lively expression to the portrayal, which means, a good realistic painting should retain the vivid brush strokes and emotional portrayal. As the result, the realistic level achieved by the vast majority of the art students and artists is just rough in such a general realism painting system; otherwise, there shall be no “expressive” painting space left. What left is just how to fill the so-called personal style into such a realistic framework of general rough-type. There exists a kind of circle game in this training of portrayal and attempt of style: realism stops at a rough degree, and then the style, no matter cool or fanatical, no matter of expression or concept, fills the remaining visual space so as to transform the painting factors to the symbolic interpretation of personal aesthetic.

　　Undoubtedly, Wang Ling is also trained in such a system.

　　But the problem is that, this circle game is limited, especially on this miserable path of realism, style types that could be found or established have been less and less.

　　Wang Ling’s alienation just starts on the breakthrough to the rough realistic level. Although there has been similar experiments done by some smart artists before her, it does not hinder his ambitious. She discovers very soon that alienation is not so much a style experiment or a choice of portrayal but a breakthrough in the way of viewing. She finds that such viewing of rough realistic level is originally a kind of looking from the long distance, a summary omitting the striking details, and a set of concept description about “realism”. A real alienation action in viewing must be launched in order to have the breakthrough in portrayal. So, she decides to give up looking from the distance, make the eyes become a potential threat, and replace the indifferent so-called poetical overlooking with gazing and staring. Giving up looking from the distance means give up expressiveness, emotional brush stroke, rough realistic framework and conceptual portrayal. With the help of modern viewing tools and the physical features of computer, Wang Ling enlarges the object to clearly present every pore of the skin, just like a person widely opening his eyes, fastidiously staring at the epidermis of the object and nervously searching. Then, she discovers that the skin is breathing all the time, and she even draws a conclusion that the gazing like this, an approaching visual exploration, is biological-oriented rather than humanized. Wang Ling is not an artist against human nature, but on the contrary, her sense of humanity is fine and concrete. With such a gaze, her hominism suddenly becomes strong and becomes the same as cell with palpable touching and realized body temperature, is a micro-hominism.

　　Wang Ling just establishes her personal visual methodology in such a way. As to what she painted, from boys and girls in the period of adolescence to peculiar part of the hair style and the large face of the animals, or wildly dancing body, are not so significant. The important thing is that it is just her methodology, which makes her, a female artist, discover the real and touchable existing world corresponding to personal spiritual ups and downs. Wang Ling just lives in such a world, concrete, realistic and with temperature, then unshakably gazes and leisurely stares. She knows that art makes the sense as long as the skin is breathing. Her style is to allow the breath of skin to become the breath of those who see her artistic works. She understands that gazing and staring can only be implemented and become a state so that to make art into real existence only in this way.

　　Wang Ling’s painting is the very proof.