純純各歸 Pure Return

纯纯各归
文 / 周褐褐

冬季已过，春日将至。

完成打扫的庭院，花草树木纷纷抽枝散叶，鸟儿啁啾，小虫唧唧。美好，一如既往。与往年相比，不和谐的音符时有闪现：人与人的交往方式在很大程度上被改变了，出于对疫情前景的未知，面孔纷纷被口罩遮掩，面对面的交往少了，工作室寂静了，令人遗憾。艺术与生活在日常构成的平衡被无情打破，十足的考验。还有机会将生活的焦虑消解，有力量还动荡的心灵以安宁吗？心神不定。想到家中的生物角，多年的收藏，回忆和书籍。有它们在，颤动的思绪才能收获暂时的宁静。

智人走出森林，建设城市，似乎远离了自然的怀抱。然而事实并非如此，我们的意识或者潜意识一直都在亲近自然。绿道、湿地，一直在我们身边。其实我家就像是一座微缩动物园。有限的条件下，我饲育了两只猫、三只螳螂、四只独角仙、两只乌龟、十一条蚕宝宝，还有部分稀有多肉植物。看似繁杂，还远远未达到满足我探索未知世界好奇心的数量。

2020年春末夏初，家里迎来了两只圆脸小猫——朋友家白色金吉拉和虎斑美短的混种，我第一次养猫。幼年拜访养了7只猫的祖母，印象里那些猫咪爪尖锋利，不太亲人。如今惊异的察觉到猫的叫声、性格等都与其品种息息相关。宠物喵星人和汪星人一样黏人，而且会发出4、5种不同的声音。生物学家John Bradshaw在BBC的纪录片中讲解说猫有两套语言系统，一种用于与同类交流，另一种则是延续年幼时呼唤母猫的“喵喵”的叫声与人交流。颇为震惊的是，猫咪观鸟时的叫声甚而类似于鸭子的嘎嘎嘎……这叫声让我犹如发现了新大陆，狂喜。

在与家蚕的朝夕共处和严肃观察中，我记录下家蚕羽化，破茧而出直至生命终结的点点滴滴。与部分科普网文里的描述大相径庭，蚕蛾并非交尾后即刻死亡，雌雄蚕蛾同等可存活十天以上，每一只蚕蛾都可与不同的异性多次交尾，最长交尾时长可达三至四天，部分交尾中的雌蛾身体虚弱，需借助人为拆对，否则可能无法断开产卵器与雄蛾交配器的连接，直至难产而死。

若谈及我最喜爱的萝藦科多肉植物，必定欣喜若狂。这个科很多品种的茎叶貌不出众，花朵却犹如幻想中外星生物般奇异多姿。其下每一个属都存在着繁多的不同品种。例如大花犀角这一种还可分为长毛短毛、厚毛薄毛、超级绒毛、白毛黑边、外红内白、带皱不带皱等等性征。虽然不像昆虫达到上百万种之巨，三十五万多种植物也足以叹为观止。而此间的个体又各不相同。万事万物均被命名、计数在凡人的眼里，映射在俗世的头颅里，如果没有“我们”，这些异类的图样又是为何种隐秘的目光而存在？

泥盆时期的粗大纵板层孔虫，侏罗纪时期的恐怖虫，随着地质层面动辄变迁，跨越数亿年的时空出土。《文子》里说：“天静以清，地定以宁。”轻抚这些收藏的矿物、化石和琥珀，精神与自然再度联结。自然界无时无刻不在更大的尺度上进行着创造，这是某种绝对的张力。有人在努力脱离自然，哪怕或多或少的想法依附于自然的启发；我们身心的每一个原子都源于自然，我们一直都是其组成部分之一。

我们在物理上从未真正脱离自然而存在。

2011年首个个展之后，我试着在形而上学、现象学、理性主义、科学主义的探索之路上逡巡往复，作品发生了一些变化。厚重的，轻灵的，题材围绕生命、朝向文化展开，自然主义的色彩逐步厚重。作品中可辨识的造型减弱，整体性强化。西方的宇宙漫游，东方的高旷逍遥。世界的本质到底存在于感觉经验或是理性概括，亦或神思上升/下降的过程？虽然买了不少书，有一，未曾言明其后还有二、三……乃至∞。

如今会不时回想2011年的作品，审视当年的理解和猜想，忆及如何感召生命循环的力量，将心灵之光外化……10年过去，恍如昨夜。异星人的目光一直在与窗外的树木对视，没有丝毫变化，哪怕昨日一去不返，世界从此迥异。

这次的展览主题意在探讨人与自然的关系，生命的存续何其渺小又何其伟大——小到个体，大至自然；小似糠秕，大如人类。

抽出厚重的《物种起源》，随手翻开，读到那段众所周知的文字：“生命及其蕴含之力能，最初由造物主注入到寥寥几个或单个类型之中；当这一行星按照固定的引力法则持续运行之时，无数最美丽与最奇异的类型，即是从如此简单的开端演化而来、并依然在演化之中”。芬兰交响力量金属乐队NIGHTWISH（夜愿）由此获得灵感，创作了2015年的精彩专辑《无数至美类型》（Endless Forms Most Beautiful），深入我心。

五个造型各异的金属物构成矩阵二代，近4米高度的能量塔悬于中心，仿佛违背了重力规则。金属物的相互“间隔”形成“实有”的力场，线条的走向和韵律从光与电的焦点射向四方，就像脱离了经典物理规律的羁绊，瞬间充盈了整个空间。物质与能量的转换显现于物与物、物与人之间。火山喷发、岩浆流淌，雷火从天而降。物入眼眸，气入心田。物质只是一种虚幻，场域视为本质。

《它处》是我首次尝试用木料制造的作品。把内与外的和谐感浓缩、收敛到对于素材的开发和使用上，探索日常生活和内在真实感受间的差异是这次表达的观念核心之一。整件作品以密集视觉为出发点，籍此刺激感受外部世界的人类感官，同时带来不会被轻易接受的快感。外壳外是似曾相识的生机、外壳里是茫茫未知的生机，正因为未知带来了可能性，才带来了恐惧。为何恐惧？H.P.洛夫克拉夫特曾写道：“人类最古老最强烈的情感便是恐惧，而最古老最强烈的恐惧则来源于未知。”舒适的未必是美妙的，阳光下满是粉饰的坟墓。

《在那遥远的岛屿上是我和昆虫的家》这组作品讲述了我的一个幻想：将自己的基因（和模因，meme）融入到昆虫的体内，化为一座又一座的自然岛屿，岛与岛之间存在明显的地理隔离（甚至是生殖隔离）。各处地貌的细微变化显现着鲜明的自然景观，留存着我的基因，一直是我的热情相向。

《COVID-19肺》从两个层面讲述了这两年来我对于自然现象的观察，也结合了我对于人类社会中金属乐亚文化的符号体系的研究。自然界中很多生物——例如昆虫背部的花纹图案——基本是左右对称；星系、海星、病毒等则具有旋转对称性。高对称度是完美，似乎在向外界宣示着其具有较好的遗传适应性。无独有偶，迄今为止已经发展了50年的金属音乐的乐队标志图案绝大多数也以左右对称为基础（和自然界生物一样，往往并非完全镜面对称）。近年来还常常见到有古生物学家以金属乐队或其成员的名字来命名新发现的古生物……兜兜转转，各种生命的基因与概念的模因组成了复杂的环圈。图案看似对称而并非绝对的镜面对称，正是环圈的关键所在。无法不将其视作大自然的神奇密码之一。病毒源于自然界，更多直观的神奇现象，抽象的奇妙规律，就在那里等待揭开，能否再次看到真实的全貌？

环境巨变，收集闻所未闻的信息，生发前所未有的感知。想和大家分享的美好的共鸣还有很多，不如展览上一起体味关尹子所言：“我通天地……天地通我。我与天地，似契似离，纯纯各归。”

PURE RETURN

The winter is over, and the Spring is coming.

The courtyard is cleaned, flowers and trees are sprouting and booming, and birds and insects are chirping. Good as always. Different from previous years, there are discordant phenomena from time to time this year: the way people interact with each other has been changed to a large extent, that is, people’s faces are covered by masks, face-to-face communications are reduced, and working place is quiet, which is regrettable. The balance between art and life formed daily is ruthlessly broken. Is there a chance to ease the anxiety of life? Is there any power to bring peace to the troubled mind? Only by thinking of the biological corner at home, years of collections, memories and books, the trembling mind can get temporary tranquility.

In the late spring and early summer of 2020, two round-faced kittens — interbred babies of white Chinchilla and tabby American Shorthair — joined my family. This was the first time for me to raise cats, and I was surprised to know that their voice and characters are closely related to the breed. Biologist John Bradshaw explained in a BBC documentary: “Cats have two sets of language systems: one is used to communicate with others of the same kind; the other is to communicate with human beings with ‘mew mew’, which is continued from the call to their mother.” What shocked me was that the call of kittens while watching birds is similar to the “quack quack” of ducks…, which made me ecstatic as if I had discovered a new world.

In the process of keeping careful observation to the silkworms every day, I recorded every detail of them from eclosion, to cocoon-break, and till life ending. The results I observed are quite different from the descriptions in some popular science web articles: silkworm moths do not die immediately after mating; both male and female silkworm moths can survive for more than ten days; every silkworm moth can copulate multiple times with different isomerism, and the longest mating time can reach three to four days; part of the female moths in mating are weak and need to be separated manually, otherwise it may not be possible to disconnect the egg-laying organs from the mating organs of male moths until they die of difficult labor.

Whenever talking about my favorite asclepiadaceae succulents, I must be ecstatic. Many species of asclepiadaceae have unremarkable stems and leaves, but the flowers are as exotic and colorful as fantasy alien creatures. There are many different species in each genus of asclepiadaceae. For example, regarding characteristics, stapelia grandiflora is divided into long fluff and short fluff, thick fluff and thin fluff, super fluff, white fluff with black edge, outer red and inner white, wrinkled and non-wrinkled, and so on. Unlike millions of species of insects, plants with more than 350,000 species is enough to surprise people; what’s more, each plant is different.

All things are named and counted in the eyes of ordinary people, and reflected in the secular head. If there is no “human”, then what is the hidden sight through which the patterns of these species are presented?

The stromatoporoids of the Devonian Period and the strashilas of the Jurassic Period were unearthed after hundreds of millions of years as the geological level changed. Wenzi describes that “The sky will be clear and open without storms, and the earth will be peaceful and calm without earthquakes and landslides.” Touching my collection of minerals, fossils and amber, my spirit reconnects with nature. Nature is creating on a larger scale all the time, which is an absolute tension. Although some people make efforts to disengage from nature, but people’s ideas more or less adhere to the inspiration of nature. Every atom in our body and mind comes from nature and has always been a part of it.

Man has never really existed separating from nature.

Since the first solo exhibition in 2011, I have tried to make efforts on the exploring path of metaphysics, phenomenology, rationalism, and scientism. My works have become more connotative and flexible, focusing on life and towards culture, and naturalism is gradually highlighted. In my works, the recognizable shapes are weakened and the wholeness is strengthened. The West focuses on roaming in the universe, and the East focuses on the feeling of high openness and carefreeness. Does the essence of the world exist in sensory experience or rational generalization? Or does it exist in the process of rising and falling of mental state? What is described in the book is only one aspect, and there are more aspects and even infinity yet to be mentioned.

In response to the dramatic changes in the environment, I have collected unheard of information to generate unprecedented perception. I still have many wonderful discoveries that I want to share with you. Let us meet at the exhibition and experience what Guan Yinzi said: “I know heaven and earth… Heaven and earth know me. We seem to coexist in harmony and to be far away from each other. We all walk towards our destinations on our own”.
——Zhou Hoho