隋建国
第一次对玩玩有印象，是2005年10月在后现代城的“一万年”展览上。他的作品是一根4米长，被用车床车的很光滑的一根直径有7、8厘米的、带有蓝白和肉色花纹的大理石石柱（确切说应该是石棍），中间断开来，断口留有新茬。作品要求两个民工双手握着这根断开的石棍，尽量端平端直将断茬対准在一起，像两个人共同端着一根没有断开的石棍。现场两个人就这样端着，直到力气和耐心用光，石棍的断茬对不准。人不是机器，总有力气用尽的时候，而且两个人也很难平衡对方的着力点，几乎是一开始就不断出现断茬松动，然后是错动，同时石棍开始高低不平左右不直。我当时看出来，玩玩的作品着力点与雕塑家不同，瞄准的是端着石棍——被要求尽量将断茬对准的两个人的努力。因此这件作品就被玩玩自己命名为《石玩玩》。
后来我们一起参加了“打鸟”等一系列活动。
再后来看到玩玩用观念艺术的方式做了更多不同形式的作品，涉及时间，空间，记忆与图像，关心政治，阶级，种族与革命。累计看下来，知道玩玩在他那一代人中走出了一条自己的路。
在去年尤伦斯的青年群展上，展出了他的《伊斯坦布尔画家》。最普通的一张画在A4大小尺寸纸上的素描，是借助现代网络联系方式才终于找到这个叫做阿里的艺术家，将一次冒险的想象化为现实。
玩玩的作品总是经由超越现实而与现实联系在一起的，而且也总是通过揭示生活中的缺憾而完成对于生活的关怀。在他最新的作品：《一首小诗》里，他将一整本圣经用墨水涂掉，只留下二十个字，这二十个字隔着许多页串成了小说《牛虻》里的一首诗:’“不管我活着，还是我死去，我都是一只，快乐的牛虻”。小说中的主角，写下这首小诗的亚瑟，是被自己的生父也是天天捧着圣经的大主教蒙坦里尼判处了死刑。
玩玩其实有好几件作品涉及到他对于革命的想象，从中可以感觉出他对于自己所身处的文化环境的思索与反省。这“一首小诗”中描述的牛虻，或许就是他对于自己的期许。
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隋建国，艺术家，中央美术学院教授、博士生导师，学术委员会副主任
本文为《墙报》年度艺术家项目推介词
By Sui Jianguo
My first impression of Shi Wanwan was created on an exhibition entitled “Ten Thousand Years” which was held in October 2005 in the Post-modern City. The work presented by him at that exhibition was a 4m long rock stick, with a diameter of 7-8cm. The stick had already been lathed, showing blue and white and incarnadine patterns on the body. It was broken in two halves, resulting in raw edges at the fractures. Two workmen were asked to catch the two broken halves as level as possible, as if the stick were intact, until their strength and patience ran out. As the strength of human body cannot last such a long time as the machine does, and it was too difficult for the two men to keep the two halves aligned, the sticks were unsteady from the beginning and gradually became worse. I realized at the exhibition that, unlike sculptures, Shi Wanwan’s work highlighted the efforts made by the two workmen holding the sticks to keep them aligned. Therefore, this work was called Play Stone.
After the exhibition, we participated together in some other activities, such as “Hunting Birds”.
From then on, concerned about politics, social class, race and revolution, Shi Wanwan has presented more works in the form of conceptual art, relating to time, space, memory and image. These works convince me that Wanwan has already found his own way, compared with his counterparts.
At the Group Exhibition held last year in the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Wanwan displayed his work An Istanbul Painter - an ordinary sketch drawn on a piece of A4 paper. Wanwan found the Istanbul painter named Ali through modern Internet communications, turning an adventurous imagination into reality.
His works are all associated with reality by being beyond the reality, and care for actual life by revealing regrets in life. In his latest creation entitled A Poem, he inked out all the words in a Bible but leaving a total of twenty Chinese characters in different pages which constituted a poem in The Gadfly. The English version of this poem is “Then am I a happy fly, if I live or if I die.” Arthur, the leading figure in the novel, who wrote this poem, was sentenced to death by his natural father Bishop Montanelli who was always carrying around a bible.
Actually, Wanwan has displayed his imagination about revolution in several works, reflecting his contemplation of the cultural environment he is in. The gadfly described in A Poem may indicate his expectations of himself.
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Sui Jianguo, Artist, Professor, Doctoral Advisor and Deputy Director of the Academic Commission, China Central Academy of Fine Artsbr>
This is a recommendation for the Artist of Year project of Wall Post