问：认识苍鑫是哪一年？这之前你做什么？在哪里生活？对艺术方面有那些认识？
答：与苍鑫认识是2004年4月。原来我在石家庄，跟着一个老师学了两年素描。当时呆在石家庄比较局限，石家庄与北京的文化环境、艺术氛围差别都很大。来北京后感受的东西比较多，思想也开阔了。在绘画方面，我一直很喜欢文艺复兴时期的作品和古典作品。我比较欣赏荷尔拜因、乔托和达·芬奇的作品，后来也喜欢安格尔的作品，甚至以后的现实主义，超现实主义作品，库尔贝、达利、杜尚等，但就年龄和接触面来讲，后印象派的绘画，塞尚、高更对我影响很大。
问：你什么时候开始做苍鑫的助手？谈谈合作初的情况与想法好吗？
答：2004年8月开始参与苍鑫作品的创作。我一开始是在他工作室看到了他的作品“舔”、“身份互换”和“天人合一”系列，进入素描阶段的创作和他的”天人合一”关系比较大。我参与最早创作的作品是“身份互换”的油画系列作品，就是与麦当娜、小布什换衣服的那些作品。
问：当时你知道苍鑫是个行为艺术家吗？那时你对苍鑫本人和他的行为有什么看法和理解？
答：知道。我感觉当时苍鑫在他的行为作品中一直表达着很多观念，与宗教也有关系。但我对于行为艺术的过程体验缺乏一些感受。在他的工作室里，给我感受最深的是”天人合一“的作品，无论从视觉上还是作品本身精神传达上都是引人注目和深思的，而且很亲切，很感人，也使我感到了震撼，冲击力很强。同时我也能很深地感受到苍鑫内心的一股激情、力量和他本人独特的个性。
问：实际上，无论从他的“身份互换”还是到现在的“萨满”系列的素描作品，主要是基于他的一些行为方案目前无法在现实中实施，所以寻求了另外的表达方式，在当时，你是否了解到苍鑫的这种意图？
答：我了解这一点。一开始我只是画一些素描小稿，当时是两人的磨合期，没有动手画现在的这批巨幅素描。随着苍鑫不断给我讲他的作品计划和想法，我越来越深地了解到他创作的意图、他要表达的观念等。事实上，他的作品是和宗教有关系的，他对自然的认知和崇拜，对生命的关注与尊重，对人的精神上的信仰都使我受到很深的感触和启发。
问：合作后，在作品表现上，我想不只是技法问题，无论对苍鑫方案的要求，还是你个人对画面效果的处理和把握，你应该说有一份个人理解吧？
答：是的。在处理画面上我想了很多，包括他整体上的仪式感和一种画面氛围，使如何气场凸显和更饱满。还有它内部的宏大精神结构。比如有一幅素描，树旁边的人身子和头是分开的，我反复琢磨过头和身子在画面中应保持的最佳距离；还有那幅有鳄鱼的，苍鑫想在黑色大背景中表现人的灵魂如同一束光呈现与升腾，就是一种灵魂出窍的感觉，那么我对这一点的表现也想了很多很久。随着我们俩不断磨合，随着我表现技法的更熟练，我基本上考虑更多的是如何使画面传达出内部精神，包括它的仪式感。
问：你也知道，苍鑫是满族人，他一直研究萨满教，并在作品中反复传达萨满精神，
能谈谈你对他所信奉的萨满教的理解吗？
答：我对萨满教的了解不是很深，我和苍鑫的共同点是都有宗教情结。因为我和我的家里人都信仰佛教。能和苍鑫很好地合作，并且在生活中感情一直非常好，除了我们比较相通的性格外，大概也有一种类似佛缘的东西。这样就使我们之间有了更多的亲和力和传达作品精神气质的一致性。
问：你觉得通过和苍鑫合作，你得到了些什么重要的有意义的收获？
答：我觉得得到的最重要的是精神方面的收获。一种充实感，一种坚持的生命活力。也感受到当代艺术，尤其行为艺术的活力，这具有非实验性艺术所没有的精神强度，一种被衍生的生命力。我想，这些作品对我会产生很大影响。
An Interview with Zhang Jun
Zhao: When did you first meet Cang Xin? What did you do before that, and where were you living? What knowledge did you have of art?
Zhang: I met Cang Xin in April 2004. Before that I was living in Shijiazhuang, and had studied drawing for two years with a teacher there. Living in Shijiazhuang was rather limiting, as the cultural and artistic environment there can’t be compared to Beijing. After moving to Beijing I was exposed to many more things, which broadened my ideas. As far as painting goes, I always loved Renaissance and classical art. I admired Holbein, Giotto, and Da Vinci, and later I also came to like Ingres’ work, and even Realism, Surrealism, and the work of Courbet, Dali, Duchamp and others. However, my biggest influences are the post-impressionist painters Cezanne and Gauguin.
Zhao: When did you start working as Cang Xin’s assistant? How did this collaboration begin?
Zhang: I began to be involved in the creation of Cang Xin’s work in August 2004. I had visited his studio and seen the works “Licking”, “Identity Exchange” and “Heaven and Man as One”. This new phase of making drawings is largely connected to his “Man and Sky as One” series. The first work I participated in was the “Identity Exchange” oil paintings, the works where he is exchanging clothes with Madonna, Bin Laden and George Bush.
Zhao: At that time did you know Cang Xin was a performance artist? What opinion and understanding did you have of Cang Xin himself and his performance work?
Zhang: I knew. I felt that Cang Xin always expressed many concepts in his performance works, often related to religion. But I don’t have any experience of the process of performance art. In his studio, the work that made the deepest impression on me was “Man and Sky as One”, both visually and in what the work is expressing. It is eye-opening and inspires deep thought; it is intimate and moving and made a strong impact on me. From this work I can feel the passion and strength in Cang Xin’s heart, and his unique personality.
Zhao: In fact, both the “Identity Exchange” paintings and the current “Shaman Series” drawings are based on the fact that some of his performance plans are impossible to realise, and he has to find another way to express them. Did you know that this was Cang Xin’s intention?
Zhang: I understood this, and to start with I just made some little pencil drawings. We didn't start work on these huge drawings until we were used to working with each other. Cang Xin constantly talked to me about his plans and ideas, so that I would understand his creative intentions, the concept he wanted to convey and so on. Actually, his works are related to religion, and his reverence for nature, concern and respect for life, and spiritual faith in humanity all deeply moved and inspired me.
Zhao: In a collaboration like this, I don’t think the way the work turns out is just a question of skill. Even though you are following Cang Xin’s plan and demands, you are the one managing the effect of the picture, and I think it is fair to say that there is some of your own personal interpretation in it, would you agree?
Zhang: Right. I thought a great deal about how to handle each picture, including the overall sense of ritual and the kind of atmosphere it would have, how to make it more saturated and express the internal spiritual structure. For example, in one drawing, a separated head and body are lying next to a tree. I pondered over and over how far apart the head and body should be, and also in the drawing with the crocodile, Cang Xin wanted a human soul emerging and rising like a beam of light against a black background, the feeling of a soul coming out of a hole, so I thought for a very long time about how to depict this. As the two of us got used to working together, and my expressive technique became more proficient, I started to give more consideration to the internal spirit expressed by the picture, and its sense of ritual.
What is your understanding of the Shamanism he believes in?
Zhang: I don’t know very much about Shamanism, but what I do have in common with Cang Xin is that we both have a religious mindset. My family and I are all Buddhists, so I am able to cooperate well with Cang Xin; we relate to each other very well and can communicate easily. In addition to having quite similar personalities, there is probably also something of the Buddhist “cause” or destiny in it. This has produced a greater affinity between us, and a consistency in conveying the spiritual mood of the works.
Zhao: What important or significant things do you think you have gained through working with Cang Xin?
Zhang: I think the most important thing I have gained is something spiritual, a feeling of being enriched and energised. I have also experienced the vitality of contemporary art, especially performance art, which has a spiritual intensity that other non-experimental things are lacking, a sort of derived life force. I think these things will be very helpful to me in my life.