我是第一次这样大规模地看到童雁汝南的作品，或者说是第一次看到他的展览。这个展览好像是一个肖像画展，而且展览中也有意展出了一件古埃及墓棺上的肖像画，似乎是为了追溯肖像画的源头、提示肖像画的文脉。古埃及墓棺肖像画的确是这类创作的最古老的样本。

　　这个展览展示了童雁汝南自1998年以来21年所创作的肖像画，他画了很多的人，有国内的、也有国外的，有名人、也有他生活中的朋友，包括这次画的一些武汉艺术圈里面的人。但是在我看来，他所有的肖像作品都可以说是一幅肖像画，这幅肖像画就是他的自画像。   应该说童雁汝南的肖像画准确地定义了何谓表现主义绘画，也就是说他的肖像画是表现主义绘画最标准的范本。表现主义绘画说到底不是为了画对象，而是为了画艺术家自己，是为了表达艺术家自己对对象的感受、对世界的情感。童雁汝南的肖像画的形是对象的，但神是他自己的。我们看到，他画中人物的相貌千差万别，但神态却几乎是千篇一律。事实上，他的肖像中的所有人物都呈现出一种表情：凝重、忧郁而苦闷。虽然童雁汝南描绘了众多的人物，但他给所有人戴上了这样一副忧愁的面具。

　　如果童雁汝南只是将对象自我人格化，他也只能算是一个现代形式主义的艺术家，但是实际上童雁汝南是一个当代观念主义艺术家，他创作的当代性是怎么体现的呢？

　　我把人类艺术史大致分为三个时期，就是古典艺术时期、现代艺术时期和当代艺术时期，我用三个疑问词分别代表三个时期艺术的本质。古典艺术时期是“什么是艺术”的时期，就是解决艺术究竟是什么的问题。现代艺术时期是“怎样做艺术”的时期，现代艺术的名言是“画什么并不重要，怎样画才是最重要的”，现代艺术解决的是艺术手法、艺术形式的问题。当代艺术时期是“为什么艺术是艺术、为什么这个是艺术、为什么那个不是艺术”的时期，当代艺术打破了既定的艺术标准，重新定义了艺术，重建了人与艺术的关系。

　　实际上，童雁汝南颠覆了肖像画的传统，他给我们展现了一种当代艺术的创作方式，这种创作的当代性体现在以下几个方面：第一、他把创作过程、行为和现场作为他的作品的组成部分。他的作品不仅仅是创作过程物化的结果，他把创作过程也当成他作品的重要组成部分。在我看来，他这21年做的是一个行为艺术作品，只不过借用了绘画的手段和肖像画的媒介。他的作品包括三个方面：一个是被画的对象，就是模特儿；另外一个是他本人，他的展览海报有多个版本，每个上面都写着Face To Face，而且每张海报上都有他自己的照片；再有一个就是那幅肖像画。他的作品实际上是由这三部分构成的。第二、他的创作还有一个与传统艺术非常不一样的东西，就是画家与被画对象之间的关系也是他作品的组成部分。这些被画的对象在充当他的模特的过程中，他们的心理感受和精神状态与艺术家的创作状态和情绪反应形成了一个精神场域、构成了作品的张力。按照法国艺术理论家尼古拉·鲍里约的“关系美学”理论，艺术关系不仅包括艺术与观众的关系，还包括艺术家与客观对象之间的关系。我们看到，在童雁汝南的创作中，他对艺术中的种种关系进行了重新处理。第三、在作品展示方式上，童雁汝南不仅展出了那些肖像画，而且通过影像方式展出了那些肖像画的创作过程。在他看来，这两者构成了一个整体，二者缺一不可。

　　从这些角度看，童雁汝南的作品既是传统的又是当代的，这是当代艺术观念在他作品中的体现，是他艺术成功的关键。

Process, Behavior and Site: Conceptuality of Portraits Made by Tong Yanrunan

Wang Duanting

　　It is the first time that I have seen the works of Tong Yanrunan on such a large scale, or the first time that I have seen his exhibition. The exhibition seems to be an exhibition of portraits, and it also intentionally displays a portrait on an ancient Egyptian tomb coffin, seemingly in order to trace the origin of portraits and prompt the context of portraits. Portraits from Ancient Egyptian tomb coffin are indeed the oldest examples of such creation.

　　This exhibition shows the portraits created by Tong Yanrunan for the past 21 years since 1998. He has made portraits for many people, both domestic and foreign, celebrities and friends in his life, including some people in Wuhan art circle. In my opinion, all his works can be said to be one portrait. And it it is his self-portrait. It should be said that portraits made by Tong Yanrunan precisely define what expressionist painting is. In other words, his portrait is the most standard model of expressionist painting. In the final analysis, expressionist painting is not for the object, but for artist himself, to express artist's own feelings about objects and the world. Tong makes portray for the object, but the God is his own mind. We can see that the characters in his paintings are quite different in appearance, but almost the same in manner. In fact, all the characters portrayed by him present an expression of dignity, melancholy and depression. Tong depicted many characters, and he put on such a sad mask to all of them.

　　If Tong Yanrunan only personifies the object, he can only be regarded as an artist of modern formalism. However, Tong is a contemporary idealist artist. How does the modernity of his creation present?

　　I roughly divide the history of human art into three periods, namely, the period of classical art, the period of modern art and the period of contemporary art. I use three interrogative words to represent the essence of art in the three periods. The period of classical art is the period of "what is art", which is to solve the problem of what art is. The period of modern art is the period of "how to do art". The famous saying of modern art is "what to draw is not important, but how to draw is the most important". Modern art solves the problems of artistic techniques and forms. Contemporary art is a period of "why art is art, why this is art, why that is not art". Contemporary art has broken the established artistic standards, redefining art and reconstructing the relationship between man and art.

　　In fact, Tong Yanrunan subverted the tradition of portrait painting. He shows us a way of contemporary art creation. The modernity of this kind of creation is reflected in the following aspects: Firstly, he takes the creative process, behavior and scene as parts of his works. His works are the result of materialization during the creative course, and the course itself is also one important part of his works. In my opinion, what he has done for 21 years is a work of behavioral art. Painting and portrait are only the intermediary. His works contains three elements: the first one is the object, that is, the model; the second one is himself. His exhibition posters have multiple versions printed with "Face to Face" and his own photo; the final one is the portrait. His works are actually composed of the above three parts. Secondly, there is another thing very different from traditional art in his creation. The relationship between the painter and the painted object is also an integral part of his works. During the process of acting as his model, these objects have formed a spiritual field and tension with their mental feelings and emotional reactions. According to "relational aesthetics" by French art theorist Nicolas Borrios, artistic relations include not only the relationship between art and audience, but also the relationship between artists and objective objects. We can see that he has dealt with all kinds of relations of art in his works. Thirdly, Tong not only shows those portraits, but also presents the creative course of those portraits with images by exhibiting his works. In his view, the two make a whole, and they are indispensable.

　　From these perspectives, Tong's works are both traditional and contemporary. They represent the embodiment of contemporary artistic concepts, which is the key to his artistic success.