两种视觉经验的交织 The interweaving of two kinds of visual experience
作为建筑师的朱小地早已闻名，但他以跨界的方式进入水墨的世界也已有时日，而且出手格高，直接进入水墨语言本体的实验与探究，我曾在他的几个系列作品中看到，他将建筑设计对点、线、面的形式敏感转化为水墨的形态，我称他做的是“构筑的水墨”。但是，朱小地还在向新的境界迈进，那就是要把建筑和水墨两种经验融合起来，交织起来，在一个空间里实现水墨语言与建筑语言的交响，由此有了“容迹”这个别具新颖体验的展览。在建筑这个空间的“容器”里，水墨的绘画与水墨性的装置相互叠印，在光影闪烁之际，建筑被融化成画面，空间中的墨线构筑成空间的墨象，而所有这一切，都展现出朱小地的感觉之迹和精神之迹。
朱小地的这批水墨作品是他试图捕捉媒介材质所带来不可复制性的实验，是一种用枯笔渴墨在反复摹画中偶发性的印迹过程，在反复涂染的过程中，媒材的痕迹逐渐清晰：纸在制作、运输、折叠时的印痕，毡的起伏不平与粗糙质感，笔与纸反复摩擦后发生的肌理变化，都一一显现了出来。可谓画到生时是熟时，其间笔的运行、提按的控制，都没有刻意的预设判断，而是一种理性与感性不断转换，互化相生的过程。由此，朱小地在极简的平面上脱离了纸本水墨原本意义上的笔线概念，而达到了富含更多维度与线面层次效果的新境。
中国传统水墨讲究画法：积墨、泼墨、破墨、皴、擦、点、染等皆为表现物象所必须运用的方法，但朱小地摒弃了这一套处理方式，以墨为语言，尽可能虚淡其笔，返回纯粹的平面性表达。远观其画，仿佛拓印而成的肌理效果，不著笔痕，营造出新的笔墨秩序，其空间感、复杂性、纵深感既不同于传统水墨语言，又超越了建筑肌理。
痕与迹也就是形与象，在朱小地的画作中，这个“象”并非简单的形象，而是经过主客观经验处理后所呈现出的踪象、迹象、意象，这种“象”脱略有形的藩篱，从具象中抽离出来。面对他的作品，其墨色行迹在不同角度观看，会产生不同的效果：有千里江山的平远纵深，如泛泛苍波，淡岚远岫；有云林幽绝的深远空灵，也有云水间氤氲化境的萧散清濛，既有次序，又含气韵。大笔拂过之际，纸纹浮现，迹象生成。
从空间的俯仰进入平面化的墨笔世界，又从平面的笔墨迹象返回建筑的真实空间，朱小地重新聚焦于空间概念的思考当中，这是他在两种身份的交换激荡间慢慢生成的思想意识，也使得他找到了更加多元和自由的表达。他用真实的墨线分割空间，形成层次的叠印，借助光的穿行，使空间抽象化为形式的块面。这种具有东方文化对纯粹性、单纯性的视觉表达，是一种新的当代感受。
无论是纸面还是空间，朱小地的创作过程可谓手、脑、心与介质的有机统一，于凝神静气间进行体力与心力的投射、理性和感性的交织，在行笔的轨迹与思维的轨迹间构成多层次的叠加，在近乎修行的俯身图画与仰望高空的编织墨线中达到心神的安宁与精神的自由。可以说，这是他主体心性关照世界的路径，严谨的视觉营构在心、手、笔的交叠中层层推开，进而达到理性之上新的自由，也透溢出理性背后的浪漫情怀。
朱小地在自我建构的笔法墨道中实现了新的水墨意象，又通过空间中的墨象将生生之化推到弥漫的境地，也将自身与观者引向了一方超越固有体验、蒙养心灵的净土。
范迪安
2017年12月
Zhu Xiaodi has long been known as an architect, but he has also devoted himself, with equal dedication, to experiencing and exploring the study of ink-painting. In several of his series of works, he transforms the point, line and surface of architectural design into new forms of ink painting, which I refer to as “constructed ink painting”. Now, Zhu Xiaodi is moving into a new realm, combining his experience in both architecture and ink painting to create a symphony composed of the languages of ink and architecture, within the same space. Through this harmony, a unique and innovative exhibition emerges—Unlimited. In Unlimited, ink wash painting and design superimpose upon each other, where the building merges into the picture through the alternations of light and shade, where lines form images in the space—all reflections of Zhu Xiaodi’s feeling and spirit.
In these works, Zhu Xiaodi tries to capture the essence of his materials, each effort creating a non-reproducible moment, repeated differently each time and transmitted through the unplanned action of the marking process, into a repeated sequence of paintings. Traces of the medium are gradually revealed—the marks within the paper itself, its passage from creation through folding, the resilience and coarseness of its texture, to the changes created by the repeated friction between brush and paper. The action of the brush is not controlled by deliberate predetermination but through a continuous conversation composed of intuition and sensibility. In this way, Zhu Xiaodi breaks away from the original formalism of line and paper to achieve a new territory enriched with greater dimension and line-layer effects within the smallest possible plane.
Traditional Chinese ink painting emphasizes techniques that include the buildup of the ink, splashing, breaking, stroking, wiping, stippling and dyeing, all of which are central to express the image. However, Zhu Xiaodi abandons this set of methods. He blurs his brush as much as possible, highlighting the ink as the central language, restoring the pure plane of expression. Looking at the paintings from a distance, you will feel that they are made in a new way -- an impression without brush marks so that the space, complexity and depth are not only different from traditional painting, but also beyond the qualities of architecture.
Trace and mark equate to shape and image. In Zhu Xiaodi’s work, the “image” is not just a simple picture, but a trace, sign and appearance presented through the process of subjective and objective experience, breaking away from the visible boundary of the tangible. Traces of Zhu Xiaodi’s work, seen from different angles, present different effects: the distance and depth of a thousand miles of mountains, the quiet serenity of cloud forest or the tranquil state of watching the drift of a cloud along the water. Order and flavor are expressed directly and vividly: lines and images emerge organically as the brush passes.
Seen from an angle at different planes of the space, the viewer becomes immersed into the frame of two-dimensional ink and brush, while hints of the physical structure reappear, slowly refocusing our sense of space – these multiple and overlapping perspectives created through the conversation between the characteristics of artist-architect, which enable Zhu Xiaodi to find greater variation and freer creative expression. He divides the space with ink lines to form a layered superimposition, and abstracts the space into tonal modalities of a cube by virtue of the trajectory of the light. It is a type of pure and simple visual expression within the vocabulary of Chinese culture, yet with a new, contemporary feeling.
Zhu Xiaodi’s work, whether on paper or in space, reflects a unity of hands, mind, heart and medium: the fusion of body and emotion, the interweaving of sense and sensibility that stems from a concentrated attention and stillness -- the layered superimposition of brush-trace and thought, the realization of mindfulness and spiritual freedom found within the painting and woven ink lines. It can be said that this is his pathway to care for the world. Rigorous visual structures are expanded through the overlapping of heart, hand and brush, reaching a new freedom that exists beyond reason, revealing the ideals of the emotion behind it.
Zhu Xiaodi realizes a new form of work in this self-constructed way, forming a new category of practice through images in space. In the end, he leads viewers and himself to a land of pure soul, transforming and transcending the limits of spatial and visual experience.
Fan Di'an
2017/12
Translator：Yan Liu \ Hana Iverson