何艳将最普通、平凡无奇和公共性的汉字抄写作为她的绘画语汇，这使她的绘画有一种显著的社会性和稳定性。这是不是表明她对集体文化习惯形式的强烈依恋，对私人主观性和随心所欲的直觉主义的绘画的拒绝呢。
随着绘画的商品化和市场化，绘画更需要某种强有力的、稳固的集体文化习惯形式作为基础，来遏止绘画过分的任意和自由。
集体文化习惯形式，不证自明、自主、沉重、坚不可摧，是绘画创作的神圣场所。没有这种稳定的基础，绘画创作将流于空洞、任意、杂耍和虚无主义。
何艳借助公共的抄写模式作为她的绘画的途径，借助公共抄写这种行为来进行绘画幻想，她一方面作为公共文化习惯形式的代理人，另一方面同时可以进行最严肃、最纯粹的绘画创作。
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何艳好象是用汉字抄写来复制或解析一幅旧图画，其实，何艳是借助抄写旧图画来进行纯抄写的美学表演，探索抄写本身的修辞力量和美学效果。何艳将普通的抄写变为某种最纯粹的仪式，抄写者就是仪式的主持人。在这抄写仪式中，抄写失去了理由和功用，仅仅是抄写仪式的排练。因此，何艳在抄写中忘记了抄写所要分析的内容，抄写变得越来越机械、抽象，仅仅是单纯的反反复复的行为。正是这种机械、抽象，单纯的反反复复的行为，产生出抄写的修辞力量，也即绘画自身的力量。这种力量就是绘画自身最原始、最纯粹的力量和隐喻。
绘画自身的力量和隐喻是什么呢？就是绘画自身的复杂运作，以及形式隐喻效果。在何艳的抄写绘画中，描述和分析的对象已不是那些旧图画，对象恰恰是抄写自身这种抽象行为。在再现性绘画中，绘画和对象是分离的。但在这里，绘画和对象的之间的距离已经消除，绘画和对象已经统一起来。
因此，何艳的抄写式绘画，可以看作是对绘画抽象的自身力量和效果的探索和关注。也即对隐喻维度，也就是哲学维度的关注和探索。
绘画自身运作力量和幻象效果产生的隐喻，在现实中以及在既有的理论和概念中无所归属。这种隐喻超现实、超感觉、超情感、超自然、超理论，是由绘画运作自身产生和推论出来的，是抽象的隐喻。
何艳抄写式的绘画的复杂表层，让人感受到某种情感，但这是异化的情感、象征的情感，而非真实的、内心的、日常欲望的情感。这种象征的、虚构的感情只能在抄写的抽象劳动中产生，在抄写的象征区域内发生。
何艳的抄写式的绘画，让人感受到某种信息，但永远难以说出内容是什么，因为它仅仅是抄写行为本身产生的幻影，抄写者成了隐秘信息的代言人。
对绘画自身抽象力量的关注和探索，不是对抽象形式的关注和探索，而是对隐喻的关注和探索。隐喻是人类理性和情感的一部分，是人类理想和情感的扩张和补充。抄写劳动的表层就是承载隐喻的表层。
何艳将抄写行为，也即绘画的自身力量，作为她绘画存在的理由。在炼金术式的缓慢、冷静的抄写行为中，情感和理性得到升华和异化，进入到形而上的维度。因此，何艳的抄写式绘画抵制了对快感和感官刺激的迷信，抵制了琐碎的日常经验和感伤主义。这种绘画中立，不冷不热，没有痛苦和狂喜。
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何艳的绘画界于历史旧图画和抄写的抽象行为之间。抄写无意中造成旧图画的改变和取消，从而干预了旧图画，排除了它的旧面貌。因此，抄写不是形式游戏和审美娱乐，而是一种论争和干预的行为，是一种叙事和评论的戏剧。
何艳用她的抄写，用绘画行为自身的抽象力量去评论生活和历史的图画，在她的绘画上，重新给予生活和历史的图画某种合法性。在评论式的抄写中，抄写即绘画自身的抽象力量具有解释的垄断权。由此，抄写式的解释和评论纠正了意识、情感和常识主义的解释和评论。
生活和历史的图画，将由绘画自身力量的思辩所重新决定，而不是对直接感知的日常现象和主观想象的再现。由于绘画自身的抽象力量的作用，绘画解释的生活图画是猜测的，形而上的，隐喻式的、非现实、非主观、非直接感悟的。
何艳的抄写式绘画是一种抄写仪式的表演，是绘画自身抽象力量的展示，它默默无语，难以述说，却是一种比表现内容的绘画更负责、更严肃的论争态度。
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何艳抄写式绘画尽管工整、秩序井然，但不是被理性一次性、一览无余的规划，字里行间总有一些偶然、意外和偏离的微小事变发生。何艳的抄写虽然有假定的严格规则指引和控制，从容、文雅、没有冲动，但它是反反复复、持续不断的进行叠加。反反复复和持续便是时间的延续，便是夜长梦多，便可能有其他规划以外的事情发生。比如，会不断出现抄写比划的偏差、不到位、失误，还会出现增殖的次要笔划和多余笔划，以及不断纠正，想恢复秩序和工整的努力。所有这些抄写的偏差、失误和纠正，它们作为事变改变了理性事先的规划，产生微小的变调，微弱的混乱和幻影，以及轻微的偶然效果。这是理性规划的额外事物，这些事物不可设计、不可想象、不可认知，即是隐喻式的、幽灵式的神秘幻象。
何艳的抄写，由于对失误、偏差、纠正这些衍生行为的认可和保留，所以显示出比理性的一次性规划更精微、复杂、充满变数、难以控制和认知的幻象。工整、单调、秩序井然的抄写潜藏着丰富的事变的涌动。
何艳的抄写式的绘画，是以运动和变化、以抽象运动学、抽象仪式行为，来拒绝静态和主观的理性规划，因为运动和变化，是比规划理性更奇异、更别样的理性幻想。
朱小禾
２００６.４
To copy the most common, public Chinese characters is He Yan’s painting language, which makes her paintings characterized with socialization and stability. Does it show her strongly attaching to the collective culture and reject to the paintings of private subjectivity and freewheeling intuitionism.
Along with the Commercialization and marketization of paintings, a much stronger and firmer collective culture is needed to limit its freedom and willingness.
Collective culture is used to format. Paintings will become inanition, random and nihilism without such stable foundation.
The public copying is He Yan’s approach to painting, depending on which she does imagine. She is the attorney of the public cultural format on one side; on the other she does her own purest and most serious painting.
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He Yan copies and analyzes one old painting by transcribing Chinese characters. Actually, He Yan does aesthetic performance of pure copying by transcribing the old paintings in order to research the rhetorical power and aesthetic effect of copying. He Yan makes common transcribing certain purest rite. And the transcriber is the host. During the process, there are no reasons or function, but just a rehearsal of transcribing rite. So she forgets to analyze what she is transcribing, but just goes on the action again and again. But this action produces the rhetorical power, power of painting that is the most original and purest power.
What is the power and metaphor of painting? That is the complex action of painting and effect of metaphor. In her transcribing paintings, the objects she describing and analyzing are not the old paintings, but the abstract action itself. Objects and paintings are separate in reappearance paintings. Such distance between them has already disappeared here, and they are unified together.
So, her transcribing paintings are the exploration and attention on the power and effect of abstract paintings. That’s on philosophic dimensionality as well.
The metaphor resulting from the running power and the imaginary effect of paintings does not belong to the reality or the established theory and concept. Such metaphor is beyond realism, feeling, emotion and theory, which is an abstract metaphor and reasoned out from painting.
The complex surface of He Yan’s transcribing paintings makes people feel certain emotion, but this emotion is dissimilated and symbolized, but not real, inner or orectic, which can only be produced from abstract transcribing action in symbolic area.
People can feel something in her painting, but can never tell what the feeling is, because it is only the illusion of the action itself. And the copier becomes the mouthpiece of secret info.
The exploration and attention on abstract power of painting are not that of abstract ways but the metaphor. Metaphor is part of sense and emotion of human beings, and the outspread and supplement of ideality and emotion of human beings. The surface of transcribing is that of the metaphor.
The action of He Yan’s transcribing is the power of painting itself and her reason to paint. During this slow and calm action as alchemy, emotion and sense are sublimed and dissimilated to a metaphysical degree. So her paintings are against the superstition of feeling and exciting and trivial daily experience and sentimentalism. There is no pain or exultancy in her paintings, because it is neutrally.
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He Yan’s paintings are in between the historical old paintings and abstract action of transcribing. It changes and replaces the old paintings unconsciously, interferes the old pictures and eliminates its old frame. So transcribing is not a game of form or aesthetic entertainment, but an action of intervention and debate and a play of narration or comment.
He Yan comments on the life and historical paintings by her transcribing and the abstract power of paintings. There is another kind of validity to life and historical paintings in her paintings. Transcribing reserves the rights of monopolization. The analysis and comment by transcribing correct that of consciousness, emotion and common.
Pictures of life and history will not directly reappear the daily phenomenon or subjective imagination, but will be decided by the power of paintings. Because of the abstract power, the living pictures explained by paintings are all guesswork, metaphysical, metaphorical, but not direct feeling, real or objective.
Her transcribing paintings are performance of transcribing rite and display of abstract power of painting. It is quiet, and hard to narrate, but a serious attitude with more responsibilities than painting itself.
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Her transcribing paintings are orderly, but they are not in box. In the contrast, there are certain accidents happened in between the lines. Although her transcribing is limited by some supposed strict disciplines, it is ease, elegant, and calm. And it is piled up again and again. Continuance and repetition means the time lasting, and there may be something unexpected happen, such as warps and efforts to correct them. All these accidents change the original layout and produce fine modification, confusion and illusion. All theses are out of program, which are considered as the mystic metaphorical illusion.
Because He Yan reserves the warps and correction of the transcribing, it seems much finer, more complex and changeable. Under the well-ordered copying are lots of active accidents.
He Yan’s transcribing paintings are to refuse the static and subjective layout by abstract kinematics and abstract action, because the actions and changes are more illusionary than sensible layout.
Zhu Xiaohe
2006.4
