Still hard to figure out the whole afternoon spent at ICP’s organized yet stuffed bookstore was an adventure or a trip to the wonderland of visual art, or perhaps it was more a feast even a fiesta of inspiration to eyes and mind?
Yet the best find was a pocket-sized book Letters to a Young Artist published by Dente. A recent art school graduate moved from the West Coast to New York is lost in the struggle maintaining between integrity and freedom of thought and participation in the art word. So the young artist wrote letters to established artists in the US, some local, some from other countries, and two dozen of the responses turned out to the book. A very inspiring and delightful book.
The first letter was from XU Bing, Vice President of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. I have been a fan of XU Bing’s writing for a long time, and the letter is just as thoughtful and sincere as his other works in Chinese. Below is the letters addressed to by the artist and from XU Bing to the anonymous young artist in both English and Chinese, which was published in XU Bing’s own website.
From a young artist to Xu Bing:
Dear Xu Bing:
I have considered writing you for several months, but have put it off out of fear of burdening you with a responsibility that is not yours and making myself vulnerable to someone who knows nothing about me. Nevertheless, there is a sensibility in your work and the way in which you have approached your career that I respond to — that keeps me hopeful despite the solitude right now in the shadow of the sublime and invisible mountain that is my career.
Last summer, after graduating from art school, I moved to New York from the West Coast. My friends and family discouraged me from doing so. They warned me how expensive New York would be, that I would spend all my time working to pay off my tiny apartment and that I would have very little time to make art. Unfortunately, their warnings have become my reality. I feel like I need to be here though, to absorb everything I can in the museums and galleries so that I can develop an historical awareness about my work. But the struggle is almost more than I can bear.
Over the past nine months, I have met many artists my own age who are in a similar situation with the exception that they have grandiose ideas about their future success. (It is true that gaining access to galleries is easier than I thought it would be.) Some of my friends are already showing and selling work. They claim that getting early recognition is important because it will be much harder to get farther down the road. Although I’ve had opportunities to show, I have been resistant to do so soon. I have always believed that it takes time to develop a true sense of self, and that that process should precede any commercial endeavors so as not to be tainted by them. Still, I wonder if I am my own worst enemy — if I am sabotaging my future.
And that leads me to my question for you: is it possible to maintain one’s integrity and freedom of thought and participate in the art world? You appear to me as someone who has dealt with these issues successfully. How have you managed to reconcile what seems to me, at this point, to be irreconcilable?
Thank you for decades full of challenging work. That in and of itself is a gift to me and has given me inspiration. Hearing from you directly would be an unbelievable honor.
Sincerely,
Young Artist
From Xu Bing to the young artist:
Dear Young Artist,
I did not answer your letter sooner, first because I am very busy and second because the honest and specific questions in your letter cannot be answered simply, in a few words. The situation of each person who engages in art is an individual case, with individual conditions. In addition, even those artists who have already succeeded when asked why others have not, have trouble answering the question despite their natural talents.
One can see from your letter that you are a person who has courage when it comes to your future and your artistic responsibilities. This is not something that everyone possesses; but it is the first condition of being a successful, outstanding artist. You should recognize this. I have always thought that to be an artist, the first thing one must do is clarify what art is and what its principles are. Specifically speaking, she must identify what an artist does in this world and what relationship exists between herself, society, and culture. And even more specifically, she must determine her particular commutative relationship with society. If you want to be a person who can survive on her art, you must clarify what can be exchanged with society before society will repay you. I sometimes think: I have a house in which to live, a studio in which to work and food to eat, what has been exchanged? Museums and collectors are willing to buy my work for a high price, what have they purchased? The artwork itself is a mere lump of materials; is it worth that much? Does value derive from meticulously cultivated skill? Many artists work more meticulously than I do. Rather, that part of the work with value presents society with a valuable way of thinking and is associated with a new form of artistic expression. As this “new mode” is something that people need, it can become a marketable value; and only then can it constitute a conversion key. The discovery of this new mode springs from talent, a sensitivity to one’s time and an above average recognition of the current culture and environment. In this way, it restructures the methodologies of old art. Consequently, a good artist is a thinking person, and is a person adept at translating thoughts into the language of art.
From your letter it is clear that your goals are lofty. At the same time you are not an artist looking to quickly achieve market results. This is the right way of thinking. Of course any “value” will be transformed into a commodity and it will ultimately be sold. A street artist might sell one piece every ten minutes; an artist in a gift shop might sell one piece every day and an artist in a commercial gallery might sell one piece a month. Some people sell a piece as soon as it is finished, others sell only one idea for their entire lives. It all depends on what kind of artist you prefer to be.
Some of the principles I have discussed above are a little broad and do not address the problems you are facing. Below I will bring up some specific examples from my experience, which you might find helpful.
Every person who has studied art wants to become a major artist, but every person’s conditions are different. This includes knowledge, artistic sensibility, financial and family background, etc. Everyone has strengths and limitations. One who knows how to work also understands that whatever limitations she meets can be transformed into things that are useful to her. Using a limitation well transforms it into a strength. I speak from personal experience. In China I received a very conservative art education, and I didn’t come to America to participate in Western contemporary art until I was 35 years old. Whereas you and the majority of young artists in America have received an open contemporary art education early on. In terms of their linguistic and cultural adaptations, it’s easier for these artists to meld into New York’s contemporary art scene. Compared to you, I was not naturally predisposed, but from this “inadequacy” I could extract something to utilize that others have not. Due to my socialist art-education background, I probably view contemporary art from a distinct perspective, which also stems from living in a new cultural environment and confronting language barriers. I am particularly sensitive to language, words and misreading. My art expresses these characteristics that other’s art does not.
My viewpoint is that wherever you live, you will face that place’s problems. If you have problems then you have art. Your plight and your problems are actually the source of your artistic creation. The majority of young artists who come to New York to develop their careers are eager to enter the mainstream. But a majority of people like you have to spend time working other jobs to support their costs of living here. It may seem like you are wasting time that could be used for creating art, but you needn’t actually worry about this too much. On the one hand, as long as you are a true artist every field that you are engaged in outside of art circles—living and working—will produce treasure, which sooner or later will be used in the creation of your art. On the other hand, for today’s artists it is not important to plunge headlong into this mainstream system. Instead they find a suitable position and relationship to it. But you should know that you must bring something new to this system, which is not already there, for the system to have a reason to accept you. And, it should be something that cannot be found in the system itself. Only if this thing is from some other realm or from the boundary between two regions, will it be possible for you to succeed. Today’s art has become, on the surface, rich and varied, but in terms of methodology more and more narrow. Too many artists know how to make “standard” contemporary art. The system really doesn’t need anymore of this kind of artist.
Just work, and don’t worry whether your talent will be discovered. In fact, with the speed and ease of communication today, tragedies like those of Van Gogh’s time basically do not exist. Museums and curators are the same as artists: they are anxious that no interesting work will come out. So long as you can bring forth something good, museum curators will come to snatch it away for exhibition.
I Wish You Success,
Xu Bing
给年轻艺术家的信：
没有及时回复你的信,一是因为忙,二是因为你信中那些实在又具体的问题,并不是三言两语就可以谈清楚的.每个从事艺术的人的条件状况都是一个个案.另外,即使那些已经成功的艺术家,要让他们说出为什么别人没有成功,他却得天独厚,也是很难的事情.
从你的信中可以看出,你是一个对自己的未来和艺术负责任并且有勇气的人.这一点不是每个人都能具备的,这是成为优秀艺术家的首要条件.你应该看到这一点.
我一直认为,要做一个艺术家,首先要做的事是把艺术的道理、艺术是怎么回事搞清楚.具体说就是身为一个艺术家在这个世界上是干什么的他与社会文化之间的关系是什么,更具体的说是你与社会构成一种怎样的交换关系.你要想成为一个以艺术为生的人,就必须搞清楚你可以交换社会什么,社会才能回报予你.我有时想,我有房子住,有工作室用,有饭吃,是什么东西换来的呢?美术馆,收藏家愿意用高价买我的作品,他们买走的是什么呢?作品本身只是一堆材料,值那么多钱吗?价值源于那些精耕细作的技术吗?比我在制作上讲究的艺术家很多的,我认为有价值的部分是通过作品向社会提示了一种我的有价值的思维方式以及被连带出来的新的艺术的表达法.这种新的方式是人类所需要的,所以形成了可出售的价值,才能构成交换链.这种新的方式的被发现源于有才能、对其所处时代的敏感及对当下文化及环境的高出常人的认识.所以说好的艺术家是思想型的人,又是善于将思想转化为艺术语言的人.
从你的信上看,你的目标很远大.你并不想成为一个能很快见到商业效果的艺术家.这是值得肯定的.当然任何”价值”都要转化为商品.最终都是要卖出去的.在街上画像的艺术家10分钟卖一张,礼品店中的艺术家一天卖出一张,商业画廊的艺术家一个月卖一张.有些人是随画随卖,有些人则是一辈子卖一个的想法.全在于你喜欢哪一类.
上面谈的道理有些”大”不解决你眼前的问题.下面谈一些具体的体会,也许对你能有帮助.
每一个学艺术的人都想成为大艺术家,但每个人的条件各有不同.这包括智慧、艺术感觉、经济和家庭背景等，谁都是有长处和局限。会工作的人懂得如何面对个人的局限并把它转化为对自己有用的东西.把局限使用好就会变为长处.就我个人的经历来说.我在中国接受的是很保守的艺术教育.三十五岁时才来到美国参与西方当代艺术的活动.而你和大部分美国年轻艺术家很早就接受了开放的当代艺术的教育.在用语和文化的适应性上都更便于参与到Ny的当代艺术中去.比起你们我应该说是先天不足,但我却从这个”不足”中挖掘出了可利用的别人没有的东西.由于社会主义艺术教育的背景,我就有可能从独特的角度去看当代艺术.又由于新的文化环境和语言的障碍.我对语言、文字误读这类事情就更敏感.艺术也就表现出别人没有的特点.
我的观点是你生活在哪,就面对哪的问题,有问题就有艺术.你的处境和你的问题其实就是你的艺术创作的源泉.大部分来Ny发展的年轻艺术家都急于进入这主流系统.但大部分人和你一样都需要花时间去做别的工作,以维持在Ny的生活开销.这看上去是耽误了你艺术创作的时间,其实不必过多的担心这一点.一方面,你在艺术圈之外所从事的领域、工作和生活,只要你是一个真诚的艺术家,任何东西都将成为财富,早晚会被用到你的艺术创作中去.另一方面,今天的艺术家,重要的不是一头扎到这个系统中去.而是找到一个与这个系统合适的位置和关系.你信上说:”希望这个系统接纳你”,但你要知道接纳你的理由是你必须为这个系统带来一些新的系统里没有的东西.而新的东西在这个系统本身是找不到的.必然从其他领域或两者之间的地带才有可能获得.今天的艺术变得表面丰富多彩但在方法论上却越走越窄.太多的艺术家都会做这种标准的现代艺术,真的不需要更多的这类艺术家进来了.
你只管工作吧,不要担心自己的才能不被发现.其实在今天,由于回信的方便,基本上不存在象凡高那个时代的悲剧了.美术馆和策展人与艺术家一样,急的是没有更有意思的作品出来.你只要能拿出好东西美术馆策展人就会来把你的作品抢走,拿去展览.
祝你成功!
徐冰 12/22/05