文/许柏成 Bocheng Xu
琳琅的元素，鲜艳的色彩，时尚的气息……哪怕相隔很远，陈雷的画也能被观众一眼看到。它不拒绝任何一名观众的目光，无论年龄与性别、国籍与职业。他的画面中似乎有一种魔力，吸引着观众走入视觉的迷宫，带着好奇与愉悦向深处探寻，每个人都能得到属于自己的答案。
随意而深刻，通俗却隽永，这就是陈雷的画作。如果你熟悉中国现当代艺术的滥觞，你不会对陈雷的名字陌生。在中国当代艺术史极具影响力的1992年“首届广州油画双年展”上，他是最年轻的获奖者。当年同届获奖的艺术家们在中国当代艺术市场上呼风唤雨，而陈雷却激流勇退，心怀对艺术的纯粹，远赴大洋彼岸，从喧嚣的中国当代艺术舞台上消失，成为一名历史的“失踪者”。
当我们回头再看陈雷的获奖作品《辫子症结：生物工程》，如同当头棒喝。30多年前，陈雷将电路芯片、生物神经、语言符号、锁链辫子等元素组合在一起，表达了他对未来科技世界的展望与自身黄土文明的反思。如今脑机接口已成为现实，这幅画不正是当下人工智能社会的写照？画面静默无声，却如同一颗核弹在脑海中爆炸，震动人心。从这张画看出，图像与思辨，一直是陈雷艺术中最有力的武器。
初到美国，陈雷并没有急功近利地投身当代艺术的战场，而是游历于各大博物馆、美术馆和画廊之间，仔细观看和梳理西方艺术史的精粹脉络，思考并重新认识视觉艺术。凭借卓越的图像创造能力，他曾多年在好莱坞的一家艺术机构从事视觉创意工作，对各种艺术语言、艺术与大众的关系、艺术与时尚潮流的融合都有切实的揣摩和实践，虽然远离纯艺术舞台，但多样的视觉工作体验恰恰为他持续追问艺术的本质提供了时间与机遇。
阅尽千帆，再度归来。随着年龄阅历的增长，陈雷的画面褪去冷峻、严肃，愈发呈现出一种平易、轻松与幽默，在这些高饱和的色彩和丰富的图像符号上，承载着极高品质的艺术形式语言。而在轻松坦荡的表象之下，恒久不变的是犀利与深刻，撩拨观者的心田。2024年以来，陈雷的作品先后在798国际艺术中心、中央美术学院美术馆、艾利艾智库、韩建美术馆、萃岛画廊等展出，观者热烈地交谈、留言，发自内心的喜欢、收藏，甚至有很多孩子饶有兴趣地坐在地上观看和临摹，这与一向被吐槽“看不懂”的当代艺术形成鲜明的反差，成为值得探究的现象。
从《辫子症结》系列开始，陈雷就确立了用视觉图像与符号来创作的道路。这并非是说其他艺术家不是用图像来进行艺术呈现，而是强调图像隐喻、戏剧性、诗意在陈雷作品中的重要性。无论是远古的原始岩画，还是当下的AI创作，视觉艺术首先是通过形象传达信息。在好莱坞浸染多年，让陈雷笔下的画面更趋向于流行与易懂，与他聊天就知道，他不希望以任何专业和学术的借口在自己的作品和观众之间形成高不可攀的理解壁垒，而总是会留下很多容易辨识的形象和符号，但这些线索的指向又绝不单一，甚至是极其复杂的，这是陈雷希望达到的目的：既然要让观众在作品前打开感官去感受，就得把门留出一道缝来，让人能往里走，然后才能找到共鸣进而有更多的思考，而不是一开始就把门堵着。
似乎是天生的想象与创造力，在陈雷的画作里充满了千变万化的形象与符号。男人、女人、动物、植物……这些通俗易懂的形象被他奇异地组合在画面中，不断地让观众产生新的思考。在互联网时代，那些来源于古今中外人类文明的符号，被他拿来置于画面中，隐藏着解读画面的关键信息。读者虽然无法准确言传，但凭借共同的文化记忆，可以心领神会。随着创作的深入，陈雷逐渐形成了他的形象与符号话语体系。比如，人物与动物的组合。画面中，一名女性与马、狗、猴、甚至龙虾……相比于复杂的人类，动物无疑是单纯的存在，在这种组合中，我们似乎看到了一种包容与共生的关系。在主体之后的背景中，往往出现莫名其妙的线，打破原有的结构，让空间更为复杂，宛如迷宫；有趣的是，他的笔下也逐渐诞生出属于自己的独特符号，例如“花瓣鸟”，象征着温情与美好，在画面中翩翩起舞。
现实与梦境，在陈雷的画面中交织。图像可以吸引观众，而真正让人回味良久的是它的语言形式。这些形象与符号看似简单，但当你走近细看，就会发现隐藏着令人感动的绘画质感。陈雷说“画什么是感觉的投射，怎么画是理性的抉择，怎么画比画什么重要得多。”在绘画题材上，他自由随心、顺手拈来，然而在绘画语言的呈现上，他是一个近乎苦行僧般的实验者，拼贴、拓印、刮擦、构建、破坏、覆盖、重来……在你看见或看不见的画层中，沉浸着他无数遍的累积，陈雷对特殊绘画材料和效果制作有多年的深入研究，但近年的作品在手法上却越来越简单直接、随心所欲，我认为这是他进入另一个境界的表现。
陈雷深居简出，艺术对他来说如同修行。他画作中的很多场景撷取于日常生活，内在的隐喻却常常引人深思。正如黄庭坚称赞苏东坡“嬉笑怒骂，皆成文章”，他并非不关注人类命运，但对于当下宏大主题的关切，往往被他化为一朵朵向阳摇曳的小花，如《数字女孩》《通灵者》，在美好与微笑之中潜藏着一丝对当代世界的忧虑与不安。《我们都是来自世上的鸟》《和一匹白马度过整个夏天》《丽达与天鹅》……他笔下的一幅幅作品宛如一个个禅机，在不露声色之中，让人去品尝、会意、回味。这依赖于作者的思想深度，同时运用如此直白的形象，也需要有打破自我、超越自己的魄力与勇气。
当然话说回来，陈雷之所以这样画，并非完全是是精心预设与严密推理，归根结底是他想这样画。正如他所说：“画一张好画其实是很乏味的事情，那意味着迎合某种趣味某个标准，画一张特别的画才会令自己血脉喷张、回味无穷。”感觉，是艺术的灵魂。陈雷只想画出一些自己想看到的东西，那是一些不完美、甚至有些粗糙但有人性和灵性的东西，这也正是人与AI与机器的区别所在。
在图像化与全球化的今天，陈雷的艺术无疑是一个宝藏。他无尽的灵感、多变的图式、持续的创造，让人联想到20世纪最伟大的艺术家毕加索。陈雷是一个“睁眼看世界”的艺术家，他不囿于地域文明内部，而是充满了远望与反思精神。他欣赏“艺术的平等主义”，认为大众与艺术之间不应该存在鸿沟，每个人都可以去理解和参与艺术，艺术能让人类变得更好……我们期待着陈雷继续带给我们惊喜，持续与世界分享他内心的精彩。
A profusion of elements, vivid colors, and a trendy vibe. Even from afar, Chen Lei's artworks can catch the audience's eye at a glance.He doesn't turn away the gaze of any viewer, regardless of age, gender, nationality or occupation. There seems to be a kind of magic in his paintings that draws the viewers into a visual labyrinth。Viewers explore deeper with curiosity and pleasure, and each one can find their own answers.
Chen Lei's paintings are casual yet profound, simple yet enduring. If you're familiar with the history of the beginning of Chinese contemporary art, you won't be unfamiliar with the name Chen Lei. At the first Guangzhou Oil Painting Biennale in 1992, which was highly influential in the history of Chinese contemporary art, he was the youngest award - winner. But then, Chen Lei chose to bow out at the height of his success. He wanted to keep his love for contemporary art, so he went to the United States on the other side of the ocean. He vanished from the bustling stage of contemporary art, becoming a missing figure in history.
When we look back at Chen Lei's award - winning work “Braid rub: Bioengineering”, we find a lot of things that were ahead of their time. Over 30 years ago, Chen Lei combined elements like circuits, chips, biological spirits, language symbols, chains, and braids to express his outlook on the future technological world and his reflection on the "loess" civilization of his own. Look at it now，BCI have become a reality. Those artworks exactly be a true portrayal of today's AI society. The image of this work is silent, but it's like a nuclear bomb exploding in your mind, truly mind - blowing.This painting just proves that images and critical thinking have always been the most powerful weapons in Chen Lei's art.
When Chen Lei first arrived in the US, he didn't rush to dive into the American contemporary art market. Instead, he wandered around various museums, art galleries, and exhibition halls. He carefully observed and sorted out the context and essence of Western art history, and re - thought and recognized visual art. After that, relying on his outstanding image - creating ability, he took up a visual creative job at an art institution in Hollywood. So, he gained hands - on experience and insights in various art languages, the relationship between art and the public, and the integration of art and fashion trends. Although he was away from the realm of pure art, the diverse visual work experiences provided him with the time and opportunities to keep pursuing the essence of art.
After experiencing countless things, he returned once again. As Chen Lei grew older and gained more life experiences, the look of his artworks changed. The cold and serious tone in his paintings faded away, and they increasingly took on an amiable, relaxed, and humorous air. These highly saturated colors and rich graphic symbols carry high - quality artistic formal languages. Beneath these seemingly relaxed and straightforward appearances, what remains constant is the sharpness and profundity, tugging at the hearts of the viewers. Since 2024, Chen Lei's works have been exhibited successively at art museum and galleries，such as the Beijing 798 International Art Exchange Center, CAFA Art Museum，IRI Consulting Group，Hanjian art gallery，Treeland gallery. At these exhibitions, viewers engaged in lively conversations and left messages, showing their heartfelt love for the works and even choosing to collect them. Even, you could see lots of kids sitting on the ground with great interest, watching and copying Chen Lei's paintings. These phenomena stand in sharp contrast to contemporary art, which is often said to be hard to understand. It's a really interesting phenomenon worthy of study.
Starting from the "Braid rub: Bioengineering" series of artworks, Chen Lei decided on the path of creating with visual images and symbols. This doesn't mean other artists don't use images for artistic presentation. It just emphasizes the importance of the dramatic and poetic nature of image metaphors in Chen Lei's works. Whether it's ancient primitive rock paintings or current AI - generated creations, visual art first conveys information through images. Having been immersed in Hollywood for years, the scenes in Chen Lei's works have become more inclined to be popular and easy to understand. From conversations with him, I learned that he doesn't want any professional or academic excuses to create an incomprehensible barrier between his works and the audience. He always leaves behind lots of easily recognizable images and symbols. But the directions these clues point to aren't single - minded. They're even extremely complex. his is the goal Chen Lei hopes to achieve：He wants the audience to open up their senses and enjoy themselves in front of his works.Since the audience is expected to open up their senses and experience the works, there has to be a path to understanding, allowing people to delve in, thus generating resonance and more thoughts.
It seems that with his innate imagination and creativity, Chen Lei's paintings are filled with ever - changing images and symbols. He combines easily - understood images like men, women, animals, and plants in strange ways in his paintings, constantly making the audience think new thoughts. In the Internet age, he takes symbols from human civilizations, ancient and modern, at home and abroad, and puts them in his paintings, hiding the key information for interpreting the pictures. Viewers may not be able to clearly put it into words, but they can understand it implicitly through shared cultural memories. As his creation gradually delved deeper, Chen Lei formed his own discourse system of images and symbols.like the combination of humans and animals.Compared with complex humans, animals are undoubtedly simple existences. In this combination, it seems we can see a relationship of tolerance and symbiosis. In the background behind the main theme, there often appear these inexplicable lines that break the original structure, making the space more complex, like a maze. It's so interesting how unique symbols have been emerging from his brush, like the petal - bird.It symbolizes warmth and beauty, dancing gracefully in the paintings.
Chen Lei's paintings blend reality and dreams. The images can attract the audience, but what really makes people ponder for a long time is its language form. These images and symbols seem simple, but when you take a closer look, you'll find a touching painting texture hidden within. Chen Lei said, "What to paint is a projection of feelings, and how to paint is a rational choice. How to paint is far more important than what to paint." He always has tons of inspiration when it comes to painting themes. However, he's really harsh when it comes to presenting the painting language. Collage, rubbing, scratching, constructing, destroying, covering, starting over.He's a tireless experimenter. In the painting aspects that the audience can't see, there lies his accumulation over the years. Chen Lei has conducted in - depth research on special painting materials and effect production for years. But in recent years, his works have become simpler, more straightforward, and more spontaneous in technique. That shows he's entered another realm.
Chen Lei lives a life of seclusion, treating art as a form of spiritual practice. Many scenes in his paintings are drawn from everyday life, yet the underlying metaphors often provoke deep thought. Just as Huang Tingjian praised Su Dongpo, saying, "Whether in jest, laughter, anger, or reproach, all become literature," Chen Lei is not indifferent to the fate of humanity. However, his concern for grand contemporary themes is often transformed into delicate flowers swaying towards the sun, as seen in works like "Digital Girl" and "Psychics." Beneath the beauty and smiles lies a subtle undercurrent of anxiety and unease about the modern world. "We are all birds in the world," "A summer with a white horse," "Leda And The Swan"... Each of his works is like a Zen koan, quietly inviting viewers to savor, comprehend, and reflect. This relies on the depth of the artist's thought, as well as the courage and audacity to break free from and transcend oneself, all while employing such straightforward imagery.
That said, Chen Lei paints this way not entirely out of meticulous planning or rigorous reasoning, but ultimately because he wants to. As he puts it, "Creating a 'good' painting can be quite dull—it often means catering to certain tastes or standards. What truly excites me and leaves a lasting impression is painting something unique." Feeling, he believes, is the soul of art. Chen Lei aims to create works that he himself wants to see—pieces that are imperfect, even slightly rough, yet brimming with humanity and spirit. This, in essence, is what distinguishes humans from AI and machines.
In today’s world of visual saturation and globalization, Chen Lei’s art is undoubtedly a treasure trove. His boundless inspiration, versatile styles, and relentless creativity evoke comparisons to Picasso, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Chen Lei is an artist who "sees the world with open eyes." He does not confine himself to the boundaries of regional cultures but instead embraces a spirit of exploration and reflection. He admires the "egalitarianism of art," believing that there should be no divide between the public and art. Everyone, in his view, can understand and engage with art, and art has the power to make humanity better. We look forward to Chen Lei continuing to surprise us and sharing the brilliance of his inner world with the globe.