One-Dimensional Man
艺术是人们可以私自经历的事件，无论是作为艺术家或者观看者。但艺术因其本性，并不是私密的追求，也不是自我的沉浸。因为艺术延伸至普遍的人性。从某种意义上讲，支撑持续发现新的感知方式和阐释生存状况的使命。而其所用的形式应为艺术家所处的时代作证。
我并不认为沈敬东所创造的偶人是一个一本正经的玩笑。我也不认为有趣或者可爱是对其作品恰当的表达。因为在这些范式化，类型化的群像中，我看到了消费时代，被物化所规训的，单向度的人的生存镜像。
我从这些偶人中获得的不是现实。而是对现实产生的幻觉。而其却是我们心中的宁静。与外界产生的距离则巩固了这份宁静。
这是一场少数人演出而多数人默默观赏的表演。但无论表演者或者旁观者怎么进行自我区分，实际上都是向某种范例趋同，都是通过某种参照确认自我身份。并因而放弃了那一切可能的真实的差别和独特性。
这可以理解为一种提示：不必过多地关注个体符号之下体验的独特性问题，因为所谓个性化只是同质化系统下的有限的语言表达。其已深陷不自知的异化之中。
同时，也不再有一种力量，可以解释或批判一种现实和另一种现实、现实的一种状态和另一种状态。因为一方面，艺术创造的不断趋向大众化，而另一方面，大众抵消甚至对抗意义。要求获得更多的娱乐与奇观。以至于媒介与“现实”之间的边界被侵蚀而模糊不清。媒介甚至在某种程度上内爆为大众。因此，从一极导向另一极的单向的意义或含义也成为不可能。
沈敬东用他的偶人表达了艺术与观看者共同的状况。艺术从交流和宣告的必要性而来。
Art is the collection of events people may experience personally, both as an artist or a viewer. However, for its nature and its extension to the universal humanity, art shall not be deemed a private pursuit or the self-immersion. In a sense, it supports the mission of continued discovery of new ways of perception and interpretation of the living conditions. The forms it takes, on the other hand, should evidence the times of the artists.
I don't think that the puppet men created by Shen Jingdong are a serious joke; nor do I think "funny" or "cute" are appropriate descriptions of his works. In these normalized and typed group portraits, I saw the mirrored images of the one-dimensional men living in the age of consumption, disciplined by materialization.
What I perceived from these puppet-men was not reality, but the illusion of the reality. Yet they reflected the peace in our hearts, which was consolidated by their distance with the outside world.
This is a performance where a few people perform and most people watch in silence. However, no matter how the performers or the spectators distinguish themselves, they are in fact converging towards a certain paradigm, confirming their own identity via a certain kind of reference and therefore giving up all possible and real differences and uniqueness.
It can be interpreted as a hint: no need to pay too much attention to the uniqueness of experience under the individual symbols, for the so-called individuation is only the limited language performance under the homogeneous system. It has already plunged into the unknowing alienation.
Meanwhile, there is no longer the power that can explain or criticize one reality and another reality, one state or another state of the reality. That's because on the one hand, more artistic creations have taken on a popular style; on the other hand, the people counteract or even oppose significance but demand more entertainment and spectacles. As a result, boundaries between media and "the reality" have been eroded and blurred. The media even imploded to the mass to a certain extent. Therefore, one-way significance or meaning from one end to the other also became impossible.
Shen Jingdong expresses with his puppet-men the shared position of art and the viewers. Art comes from the necessity of exchange and declaration.
Art Critic Wang Hong
June 18, 2019
