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Beijing — Outside China, he is best known as the man behind Mr. Chow — the high-end Chinese restaurants and longtime watering holes for artists and celebrities in London, New York, Beverly Hills, Miami Beach and Malibu.
周信芳身故后在政治上得到平反，如今受到官方文化机构的尊崇。中国正在庆祝他的120周年诞辰，他的儿子也在中国举办了个人纪念活动——展览“致我的父亲”。 It is the first exhibition in mainland China by Mr. Chow, who was sent to England in 1952 at the age of 12, leaving behind a pampered life of servants and chauffeured cars in Shanghai. In England, he attended boarding school and later trained as an artist at Central St. Martins in London. After struggling to succeed as an artist, he turned to an endeavor that had a much more receptive clientele in London: Chinese cuisine. About three years ago, Mr. Chow, now 75, returned to making art after a 50-year hiatus, painting under his Chinese name, Zhou Yinghua. 这是周英华第一次在中国大陆举办展览，1952年，12岁的他离开上海仆役服侍、司机接送的骄纵生活，被送往英国。在英国他上的是寄宿学校，后来在伦敦的中央圣马丁学校接受艺术教育。在为成为艺术家奋斗期间，他开始努力发展另一项在伦敦更受欢迎的事业：中国菜。周英华现年75岁，三年前，他在搁笔50年后重新回归艺术，以自己的中文名字周英华发表油画作品。 In addition to Mr. Chow’s own paintings, the show features portraits of him from his wide-ranging personal collection, including works by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Also on display is a selection of archival images of Mr. Zhou, who wrote more than 200 operas and performed about 600 characters during an illustrious 60-year career. 展览中除了周英华自己的画作，还有若干他的肖像，来自他范围广泛的个人收藏，作者包括安迪·沃霍尔(Andy Warhol)、凯斯·哈林(Keith Haring)和让-米切尔·巴斯奎特(Jean-Michel Basquiat)的作品。此外还展出了若干周信芳的档案照片，他在60年辉煌的艺术生涯之中创作了200多部京剧，并饰演了600余个角色。 “For me personally, this exhibition is very much so filling a void,” Mr. Chow said in an interview at the exhibition’s opening reception. “A long time ago, when I was 12, I arrived in England. I lost everything. I literally lost everything. I never saw my father again, and I never communicated with him again. I didn’t even know about his tragic death during the Cultural Revolution.” “对于我个人来说，这个展览在很大程度上填补了一个空白，”周英华在展览开幕式上接受采访时说。“很久以前，我12岁就来到了英国。我失去了一切。我真的失去了一切。从此就再也没有见过父亲，也没能和他联系。整个‘文化大革命’期间，我甚至不知道他已经悲惨地去世。” Just minutes before, the exhibition space had been filled with the warbling voice of Mr. Chow as he put on an impromptu Beijing opera performance, with the help of the prominent performers Sun Ping and Ye Jinsen. 几分钟之前，周英华在著名京剧表演艺术家孙萍与叶金森的配合下即兴唱了一曲京剧，婉转的声音在展厅内回荡。 Onlookers gathered to take in the performance by Mr. Chow, who had ditched his signature, a perfectly tailored Hermès suit, in favor of paint-splattered jeans and a black shirt. China Chow — the artist’s daughter with his second wife, Tina Chow — nudged her way to the front of the crowd to capture the moment with her camera phone. 观众们聚集过来观看周英华的表演，他脱掉自己的招牌服装——剪裁合体的爱马仕西装——露出里面的黑色衬衫，下身是一条溅着颜料的牛仔裤。他与第二任妻子周天娜所生的女儿周佳纳挤到前排，用手机拍下了这一刻。 Also in attendance were other family members, including the artist’s wife, Eva, as well as friends including Simon de Pury, the Swiss art auctioneer and collector, and Jeffrey Deitch, the New York-based art dealer and former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, whom Mr. Chow credited with helping him decide to return to the canvas. 其他家庭成员也来参加开幕式，包括周英华的妻子伊娃(Eva)，此外还有他的朋友们，比如瑞士艺术拍卖师与收藏家西蒙·德·普里(Simon de Pury)、纽约艺术交易商与前洛杉矶现代艺术馆馆长杰弗里·德奇(Jeffrey Deitch)——周英华说，正是在德奇的帮助下，令他决定重回绘画艺术。 Mr. Deitch said he began encouraging Mr. Chow to return to the studio several years ago after seeing a small painting that the artist had made in the 1960s. It was leaning against a wall near the kitchen in Mr. Chow’s home in Los Angeles. 德奇说，几年前，他看到周英华在20世纪60年代期间绘制的一张小油画，从那以后便开始鼓舞他重返画室。这幅画当时放在周英华洛杉矶家中厨房附近的一堵墙边。 “I knew that he came from an artistic background, but I didn’t know that he was a very serious painter,” Mr. Deitch said. “There is this energy and drive of a young artist, but also this wisdom and experience of a mature man.” “我知道他有艺术背景，但我并不知道他曾是一个非常严肃的画家，”德奇说，“他的画中有年轻艺术家的能量与冲劲，也蕴含着成熟男人的智慧与历练。” Created with a combination of techniques, including thrown paint and collaging, the works are an exercise in what Mr. Chow calls “controlled accident.” 周英华的画作融合了多种技巧，包括泼溅画法与拼贴，周英华将之称为“有控制的意外”。 Only on closer inspection do the details emerge: egg yolks preserved in resin; a piece of gold worth $14,000; antique nails; sheets of gold and silver foil; a pair of the artist’s shorts; and even a $100 bill in a plastic bag encased in dried paint. (Cash is a feature in all of his paintings “because I love money,” Mr. Chow said.) 只有仔细审视，人们才能发现画中的细节：用树脂防腐的蛋黄；一片价值14000美元的金子；古董钉子；金箔与银箔；画家的一条短裤；甚至还有一张一百元美元钞票，被放在塑料袋里，围绕在干涸的油彩之中（钞票出现在他的所有画作之中，“因为我爱钱，”周英华说）。 The collaging technique was a natural choice, Mr. Chow said. “In collaging, you can put things together that shouldn’t be together, and that’s my life,” he said. 拼贴技巧也是很自然的选择。周英华说。“使用拼贴，你就可以把不可能的东西放在一起，而这正是我的人生，”他说。 As an art patron and avid collector, Mr. Chow commissioned numerous portraits of himself from his friends for his personal collection and for his restaurants. But it is also clear that Mr. Chow, as an artist, drew insights over decades of conversations and experiences — an influence that some say is apparent in his recent work. 作为艺术赞助人与热心的收藏家，周英华也拥有许多他自己的肖像，都是朋友们绘制的，这些肖像有些被他私人收藏，有些被放在他的饭馆里。但是，几十年来，身为艺术家的周英华显然从交谈和体验中得到了许多领悟，有些人说，这些领悟也体现在他最近的这些作品之中。 “Younger artists work in a very conscientious way, in that they try to make works that pre-position themselves in some sort of art-historical narrative,” said Philip Tinari, director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. “For him, it comes from a more real place. He absorbed a lot of influences, and he spent so much time around them.” “年轻一点的艺术家的作品都非常谨慎，他们希望凭借这些作品跻身于某种艺术史叙事，”北京尤伦斯艺术中心馆长田霏宇说，“对于周英华而言，他的作品来自更真实的领域。他吸收了多种影响，为此花费了很多时间。” “I think now to come to this later phase in life and have this new outlet — for him, it’s totally liberating,” Mr. Tinari added. “我想，如今他在晚年找到了新的表达方式，对于他来说是一种释放，”田霏宇说。 On the morning after the opening reception, Mr. Chow, standing before his paintings in the same paint-splattered pants, admitted he was tired. He had been in China for about two weeks, including a week in Shanghai to attend celebrations organized by the local government in honor of his father. 开幕式后的当天上午，周英华还穿着那条溅着颜料的牛仔裤，站在自己的油画前面，承认自己感到疲惫。他在中国已经呆了两周，一周是在上海，参加当地政府组织的纪念周信芳活动。 But the feeling of being able to bring these paintings back to China during what he called the “third act — or rather midthird act” of his life, Mr. Chow said, was incomparable. 但是，周英华说，能够在自己人生的“第三幕——或者说第三幕中段”期间，把这些油画带来中国，这种感觉无与伦比。 “I want to call it closure,” he said. “I have come home, to my parents, to China.” “我感觉这像是一个终结，”他说过。“我已经回到家，回到父母身边，回到了中国。” “周英华：致我的父亲”将在北京798和艺术区尤伦斯当代艺术中心展出至3月224日。展览将移至上海当代艺术博物馆展出，并于2016年在匹兹堡安迪·沃霍尔艺术馆展出。 翻译：董楠 |
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