“凝视”曹萍个展
OPENING：on Sunday, 16:00–19:00, Septembe 27th, 2009
开幕酒会：2009年9月27日 下午4时至7时
DURATION：Septembe 27th – November 15th, 2009
展览日期：2009年9月27日至11月15日
OPEN：Tuesday - Thursday, 13: 00 - 18: 00 / Friday – Sunday, 11: 00 - 19: 00
开放时间：星期二至星期四, 13: 00 - 18: 00 / 星期五至星期日, 11: 00 - 19: 00
展览地点：Art Channel 艺术通道 Cao Chang Di No. 255, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100015, China 北京市朝阳区草场地255号
Tel: 86-10-64335080
凝 视
凝视，是一种独特的视角，是一种无言的状态。在艺术家曹萍看来，绘画本身就是一种凝视，是由际遇深处生发而出的。
曹萍酷爱绘画,她认为绘画是人们寄予感情的一种方式，是关于回忆的，是一种凝固的激情。
绘画在中国有五千年历史，有着非常严酷的体系。在当下的环境下，绘画更应该在以前的体系下推陈出新。花鸟画，在中国古代多为小品，而曹萍用西方的方式重新理解了花鸟的构图，把它扩大化，同时与西方对人物内心的理解方式相结合。她的绘画包含了东西方传统的融合，同时又有非常个人化的体验。
此次展览中，曹萍将为我们呈现她对于自然的理解，对艺术的感受。巨幅作品《四月》表达了生与死的交替状态，四月，是冬季刚刚过去，春天开始的时节，这幅作品让我们想起英国诗人托马斯••斯特恩斯•艾略特的诗作《荒原》中的句子：“四月是最残酷的季节”；作品《玫瑰园》中，描绘了三五个女孩、孔雀和花鸟，姿态各异，相映成趣的景象，这幅作品犹如“现代版的仕女图”……
曹萍对于东西方的绘画有着自己深刻的思考和独到的理解，她认为西方绘画是描述性的，是关于人在生死、欲望面前的反应；而东方绘画如山水、花鸟画等，是隐喻和比喻性的，更多的是对自然以及人在环境中的关系的理解。
自20世纪90年代，曹萍移居荷兰，她坦言作为一位中国艺术家，在了解了西方的视觉体系之后，一直在考虑的是如何将自己民族的文化体系中有价值的东西发掘出来，融入自己的创作中。同时她也说：“我的艺术方式，既不代表东方，也不代表西方，但也不强调东西方的对抗，我的作品更多的是个人的感受，但这种感受又是世界的”。
曹萍说：“21世纪是一个东西方交融的时代，东西方都要把自己文化中最好的东西拿出来”，她正在为此而努力。在当下，艺术形式如此多元化，艺术家有着很多选择，但曹萍说她依然对绘画情有独钟，因为在她看来，绘画是一种可以个人独立完成的艺术形式，而当个人对别人的需要越来越少时，内心就会越来越自由。
曹萍用自己最喜爱的绘画通往了心灵的自由，我们祝福她！
GAZING
"Gazing" is a unique perspective, and a silent state. To the artist Cao Ping painting itself is a kind of gazing, which is coming from the deeper part of some certain chances and realities.
Cao Ping is fond of painting. She regards painting as a way of expression, and a kind of solidified passion about memories.
In China painting has a history of five thousand years, with a very harsh system. However, in the current environment painting should introduce some new elements from the previous system. In ancient China painting of flowers and birds has been more regarded as opusculum. With her understanding of the western ways Cao Ping re-composites and magnifies the painting of flowers and birds, and at the same time combines with the inner character . Her paintings integrate thereby eastern and western traditions as well as some special personal experiences.
In this exhibition Cao Ping will present her understanding of nature and her artistic feelings. The huge work "April" expresses an alternate state of life and death. "April" is a month when winter has just past and the spring season is beginning. In this respect the painting reminds us of a sentence from the English poet Thomas Stearns Elliott's poem "The Waste Land": "April is the cruellest season". The poem "Rose Garden" describes 3 to 5 girls, birds, flowers and peacocks with different attitudes and positions. Such a marvelous scene makes the painting like a modern version of "the figues of ladies "... ...
In relation to the eastern and western painting styles Cao Ping has her own deep and unique understanding. In her view the western paintings are descriptive, are about people’s reaction to desires, life and death; while the oriental paintings such as landscapes, flowers and birds, and so on, are a metaphor and analogy of nature; they are more about understanding natural and human relationships in the environment.
Since the 1990's Cao Ping moved to The Netherlands. After understanding the western visual system she admitted, that - as a Chinese artist - she had been considering how to explore the valuable merits of her own cultural background and to integrate them into her artistic creations. "My artistic approaches do not represent the East and the West, do not stress the East-West confrontation. My work is a more personal feeling, and this feeling is universal" .
According to Cao Ping "the 21st century is an era of East-West blending. The East and the West should express their own best cultural features". Nowadays, due to diverse art forms, artists have a lot of options, but Cao Ping says she still keeps a soft loving flavor for painting. In her view, painting is a kind of art form, that can be accomplished by personal independence. When the individual asks less and less from others, the heart will have more and more freedom.
Through her favorite painting manners, Cao Ping leads to the freedom of the soul. Let’s bless her!
【编辑：霍春常】
