中国的年轻观众中，至少70年代后以来的那批是看卡通漫画长大的。日本和美国的动画产业在这批中国观众群中留下了深刻印象，而中国原创动画产业却依然在本土影响力方面落后与国外竞争对手。宋洋这位在16岁就开始正式从事漫画创作的艺术家，目前已成为了中国最具实力和影响力的年轻漫画家，在世界的知名度也与日俱增。他的作品背后最重要的信息是：中国有能力发展出一个生机勃勃的漫画产业，虽然达到这个目的将并不轻松。
我们在一年前邀请宋洋为Timeout [英国泰晤士报beijing版] 画漫画专栏，当时我们立刻就被他作品中一种感性的能量打动了。宋洋为Timeout创作的Song Yang’s People这个系列的漫画，首先触动读者的是艺术家对市井生活的细腻感受：城市这个现代从林一直是创造力的孵化器，北京也不例外，在很大程度上北京能够n倍突出地体现这一规律，这不仅是因为这座城市正在经历高速的变化，更是因为在这些变化发生的同时，中国正在越来越强烈地认识到，中国在文化方面在国际舞台上将成为积极的角色扮演者，而不再是被动的观察者。Songyang’s People抓住了这种变化的感觉，却并没有抛弃对其描画对象的心灵刻画—内心是任何艺术作品的创作根源，无论它在表面上还试图要达到什么其它目的。
Song Yang’s People主要是通过不同阶层生活在北京中的人和事，从艺术家，歌手，成功商人到公司打工者侄清洁环卫工人，建筑工人，卖早点的大妈，路边世代修皮鞋的小人物，通过宋洋的视角来看待每个人的生活状态，从而从细小的地方来展现北京乃至中国在经济社会迅速发展中的人为主题的生活状态，绘画方式界于漫画，版画和油画之间，大大区别于以往的日，美风格。
构成这次展览的另一部分重要作品是宋洋工作室自2005年来开始创作的。它展示了宋洋作品中一个更趋商业化却依然令人兴奋的发展方向，因为我们终于看到一个本土的卡通偶像在这位中国漫画家的手中诞生了。宋洋和他工作室的成员们创造的Bad Girl是一组迷人的漫画作品：漫画，油画，专卖店，玩具设计从不同方向全面开发BADGIRL原创品牌，围绕着一个有点时尚爱玩的女孩小P展开。小P和Songyang’s People里面的人物之间的联系没有被点出来，但却是肯定存在的：Songyang’s People里面的人物来自于真实的生活，而小P这个人物虽然有更多幻想的成分，却同样是这个城市的产物。“小P ”宋洋最近和我们谈到，“一定是个爱玩爱闹的都市年轻人，但她还必须有做人的原则，她应该能够真正代表当今这个时代的青年人！”
关于这次展览最后要强调的一点是：商业化的卡通艺术与近来中国艺术圈内卡通艺术的繁荣现象之间的联系是不容被低估的。对于中国最新一代的艺术家，也就是70后那一代而言，从小看的卡通漫画对他们有着不可磨灭的影响。那些卡通产品，无论是出现在荧幕上的还是漫画书，大多数都是从国外盗版过来的。如果有更多像宋洋一样雅俗并蓄的艺术家能站出来，那么中国的下一代就不用再从国外去找影响。他们也将会拥有他们自己的偶像。他们也会像宋洋一样自信地去通过漫画创造一种真实的视觉语言，去“表达当今这个时代”。
艺评家Stacey Duff[美]自2005年起任Time Out Beijing艺术编辑。
Hungry for an icon: the animation art of Song Yong
Stacey Duff
Young Chinese audiences, at least those born in late 1970s and after, have grown up on cartoons and animation. Although Japanese and American cartoon industry has left a deep impression on those audiences, China’s domestic cartoon industry has yet to match its foreign competitors in terms of influence on the mainland. Song Yang, who began seriously working as an animation artist at the age of 16, has emerged as the country’s most dynamic and influential young cartoon artist, whose influence at home is matched with increasing recognition abroad. But the most important message behind his work is that China is capable of producing a thriving native cartoon industry, although getting there won’t be easy.
When we invited Song Yang over a year ago to come up with illustrations for Time Out, we were immediately struck with the visceral energy of his work. Looking at Song Yang’s series for Time Out, Song Yang’s People, the reader is first struck with the artist’s impeccable sense of street life: urban jungles are great incubators for creativity. Beijing is no exception to this rule, and in many ways the city illustrates that that point to the nth degree, not only because changes here are happening at breakneck speed, but because those changes are happening even as China is increasingly more aware of itself as a potential cultural player (not just a passive observer) on the world stage. Song Yang’s People captures that speed without abandoning compassion for his subjects – compassion being the root of any work of art, whatever else it is attempting to do on the surface.
The second major component of this exhibition, which Song Yang’s studio began developing in 2005, represents a slightly more commercial but no-less exciting development in Song Yang’s work, because finally, a Chinese animation artist is coming up with a native cartoon icon. Song Yang and his studio have created Bad Girl, a mesmerizing series of that revolves around a jaded character, named Little P. The link between Song Yang’s People and Little P is not pronounced but it is definite: like the real-life characters that his People series is based on, the more fantasy-driven Little P is every bit as urban. ‘Little P’, Song Yang recently explained to us, ‘has to have the playfulness and loudness of urban youth. But she has to have integrity too. She has to really be able to represent the present times.’
One final note must be emphasized in approaching this exhibition: that is, the link between commercial cartoon art and the recent explosion of cartoon art in the Chinese art world proper cannot be underestimated. China’s latest generation of artists, the Post-70s generation, have been indelibly influenced by the cartoons they watched growing up. Most of those cartoons, whether on screen or in comic books, were pirated and were funneled to China from the outside. If more artists like Song Yang – who works in both high-brow and demotic genres – steps forward, China’s next generation will not have to look outside of China for influences. They too will find their own icon. They too, like Song Yang, will have the confidence to create an authentic visual language, through cartoons, ‘to represent the present times.’
Since 2005, art critic Stacey Duff has served as the art editor for Time Out Beijing.