1990年，当女歌手朱哲琴以一首《一个真实的故事》红遍大江南北时，董春凤正躺在歌曲中传唱的那片沼泽地的草垫子上一颗一颗数着星星。她大概不会想到，二十多年后这片沼泽地将会成为她画笔下同样“真实的故事”。1998年，董春凤只身一人飘到北京。她完成了自己的心愿——考上美院，却发现自己陷入了一个更深的漩涡——找不到自己。于是她离开象牙塔，走入社会，去寻找填补心灵的故事。2008年，她还在跟自己打架，虽然已成功举办个展，但她觉得“还是挺混乱的，我不知道怎么把那种境界表现出来”。整个一年她都画不出东西来，这种糟糕的状态一直持续到2009年的下半年，然后她完成了自己的新作《扎龙女孩》系列，她笑着说：“我找到了部分的自己，你知道，就是小时候那片沼泽地，那里的碧水蓝天、野鸭子、丹顶鹤……”
我带你去考艺校
Hi：先简要介绍下你的成长经历吧。
董：我出生在黑龙江齐齐哈尔地区。爸妈是哈尔滨人，年轻时下乡到了齐齐哈尔乌裕尔河地区附近的一个农场里。周围大概有200多户人家，都是来自北京、上海、哈尔滨各地的知青。我小时候不读书时，经常跑到附近的一个沼泽地里去玩。那边到处都是大雁、天鹅、猫头鹰、野鸭子，对，还有好多野鸟。我们在草垫子里捡野鸭子蛋吃，觉得又有营养又好吃，有时候还能采到一些黄花菜、野草莓、榛子这些东西。下雨天过后树林里遍地的蘑菇。等到再长大一些后才知道，原来那块好玩的沼泽地是著名的扎龙湿地，那些“野鸟”也不是野鸟，其实是丹顶鹤。
Hi：在你的新作《扎龙女孩》系列中，已经出现这些元素了。
董：对，还是一种情结，因为那是真正流淌过自己心口的生活。当时觉得理所当然的东西，后来都有了一些完全不一样的理解，其实这些画也未必全是对自己小时候记忆的描绘，我觉得更多的还是把当时的情境跟现在的认识组合起来，然后用画面把它们呈现出来。
Hi：什么时候开始画画的？
董：我画画算比较晚的了，是在上初中二年级的时候。刚开始我是学舞蹈的，因为你知道，女孩子都有一种爱美之心嘛，觉得学了这个东西以后会很受欢迎。后来我遇到一位美术老师，她是一个离过婚的女人，还带着一小孩，当时我就觉得这位女老师特漂亮、特有气质，刚好她也蛮喜欢我的。她看过我的画以后说：“画得不错，我带你去考艺校吧。”后来，我就走上了这条道路。她辛苦地帮助我、鼓励我，还要教我学会独立。如果说我的人生经历中有什么重要的转折点的话，遇到这位老师应该就算一个。
头脑空，要跟社会多接触
Hi：艺校毕业后就来北京了吗？
董：没有，后来在黑龙江艺术学院又读了四年，1998年毕业的，毕业以后就跑到北京来了。
Hi：为什么想到来北京呢？
董：在哈尔滨读书的时候，我们院长就老跟我说，如果你想往高处走，想受到更好的教育，就得去北京，去美院。当时我就想，等我毕业以后我一定要考美院，一定要去美院。后来就在美院又读了几年。
Hi：学院教育对你的影响大吗？
董：挺大的。因为它教会了我一些最基本的手上功夫、技巧和思考方式，这就跟学习武术先扎马步一样，要先补充好营养，然后才能长得粗壮结实。但虽然如此，那段时间我仍然有很多很多困惑，因为我觉得学院的东西是很好，但却找不到自己，那些都不是我内心里真正想要表达的东西。
Hi：怎么解决这个问题呢？
董：我是2003年从美院毕业的。毕业以后，在一家设计公司和一家画廊做过几年。
Hi：为什么？徘徊了吗？
董：其实也算不上徘徊，因为一直还在画。那段时间就觉得，自己的手上功夫是跟上了，但是头脑很空，对社会的理解很浅，然后就想先撂下画笔，多跟社会接触接触。
Hi：这个过程持续了几年？
董：从2003年到2007年，差不多有四年的时间。
Hi：四年过去了，社会也没把你染掉吗？
董：我的第一份工作是在科宝博洛尼做设计，做得也还不错。当时那经理就一直给我洗脑，说干嘛非要当艺术家呢，做一个很好的设计师也不错嘛。但是不论他怎么洗，我总觉得自己丢了一些东西，就是说当我不画画的时候，我会觉得自己很空，很没有意义。刚好那个时候，有家画廊跟我商量说，要不然就来我们这儿工作吧。当时我想反正你洗脑也洗不成了，干脆我还是回归自己的老本行吧，然后就去了这家画廊，呆了两年多一点的时间。
找到了部分的自己
Hi：后来呢，为什么又辞掉专职搞艺术了？
董：觉得时间到了，哈哈。是时候安静下来，画一些自己一直在揣摩的东西了。
Hi：2007年办了一次个展？
董：对。那批画是2006年底完成的，等于是一边上班，一边在家里画，最后完成了07年个展的那批作品。
Hi：挺辛苦啊。
董：我倒觉得一点也不辛苦。画画对我来说，就是一种快乐，就像有人爱好唱歌，有人爱好跳舞一样，画画能让我特别放松，然后自己想表达的东西，还能在画布上表现出来，我觉得是一件挺舒服的事情。
Hi：那次个展你画了一批女人的肖像？
董：对。其实那个时候脑子里面就已经开始冒小时候的东西了，湿地啊、蓝天绿水啊、野鸟啊，晚上自己躺在草垫子上看星星的情景啊，但还是挺混乱的，我不知道怎么借助绘画这个媒介把那种境界给表现出来。老是觉得自己在打架，不像现在，现在在画面里面加什么东西进去，或者去掉什么东西都比以前从容了。然后那批画，我画了有十多张，就停手了。
Hi：然后就开始画《扎龙女孩》这个系列了？
董：没有。2007年办完个展后，到2009年接近有两年的时间，我的想法还在打架，还在斗争，一直到2009年下半年，我才开始觉得自己能驾驭一些东西了，然后才开始画《扎龙女孩》这个系列。其实那段时间也挺痛苦的，因为2008年有差不多一年的时间，一直画不出东西来。
Hi：我简单地给你的艺术道路分一下期，1998年你在画静物、2007年你在画女人肖像，一直到2010年你画《扎龙女孩》，你觉得这么多年过去，一直斗争的你找到自己了吗？
董：我只能说，找到了部分的自己，也许以后会找到更多。
Hi：怎么评价自己这些年来的艺术创作？
董：1998年，我从小地方来到北京，算是在追赶艺术；2008年，我自己跟自己打架，唯一想的是怎么能把美院学到的东西跟自己的生活真正结合起来，然后到现在，我觉得已经可以驾驭一小部分的自己了，比起以前来要来得更加从容一些。
In 1990, when the singer Zhu zheqin sang the popular song “True Story” Muse Dong was laying by a marshland counting out the stars in the sky. Who would of known that 20 years later this patch of marshland would become her “True Story” appearing in every part of her brushstrokes.
In 1998, Muse Dong moved to Beijing alone and fulfilled her dream of becoming a student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. However she realized a deep problem lying in front of her. A whirlpool of confusion of who she is a where she belongs in the academy. Hence she left the cocoon of the academy and into the real world to explore her soul and find her own story. By 2008 she had successfully held her own solo exhibition, but at the same time she was still unsure of herself. As she said, “I’m still very confused, I still have not been able express the realm in which I feel”. For a whole entire year she stopped painting, until the end of 2009 she created the “Girl from Zhalong” series. She happily says, “You know, I finally found a part of myself. Its that time when I was a young girl living by the marshland, enjoying the blue skies, wild ducks, and red-crowned crane…”
Let me take to an art school examination.
Hi: Lets first talk ab0ut your upbringing and your experiences.
Muse: I was born in a small town in Harbin. Both of my parents are from Harbin. We lived in the countryside near a farm. Our neighbors of 200 something people were all from educated backgrounds coming from Beijing, Shanghai and Harbin as well. As a child when I was not studying, I would run to the marshland near our home. The marshland is home to a lot of wild birds such as geese, swans, owls, and ducks. Sometimes I would pick up duck eggs and eat them thinking that they are very nutritious and delicious. Other times I pick out wild strawberries, lilies, mushrooms, hazelnuts and such things all over the woods after a rainy day. It wasn’t until I grew up that I learned this marshland I was so fond of is a famous place called the Zhalong wetlands, and those “wild birds” are not wild, but the graceful, slender, charming red-crowned crane.
Hi:In your “Girl from Zhalong” series, these elements have emerged.
Muse: Correct. And it has emerged in a complex way. As a child, people take whatever amazing environment they are surrounded by for granted, but once we grow old we have a completely different understanding of our past. Actually, my paintings aren’t entirely based on my childhood. They are a mix of my childhood and my current life mixed together on my canvases.
Hi: When did you start painting?
Muse: I actually had a late start on painting. I started my sophomore year in high school; at first I was taking dance lessons because I thought this is what a girl is suppose to do to become popular with the boys. But later, I met an art teacher who was a divorced single mom with a child. I thought she was beautiful, elegant, and she also enjoyed my company. After she’d seen my painting, she said “You paint very well, let me take you to an art school for an entrance exam”. After that the rest was history. I continued to follow the path of an artist while she stood by my side encouraging me, helping me, and teaching me. If asked what was an imp0rtant turning point in my life experience, I would say meeting this teacher.
My mind was drawing a blank, I need to get out and socialize more.
Hi: So it was after art school that you came to Beijing?
Muse: No, I studied at the Art Institute of Heilongjiang for four years. Upon graduating I came to Beijing.
Hi: Why did you decide on moving to Beijing?
Muse: While studying at Harbin, my professors would always tell me. If you want to be the best, you will have to go to Beijing, and get accepted into the Central Academy of Fine Arts. So I was determined to get into the school, and once I got accepted, I studied there for several years.
Hi: Did the education at the academy influence your life dramatically?
Muse: Yes, it influenced me greatly. Because it was there that I learned the basics of hand movements, skills, and the ways of thinking. It is like planting a seed, providing it water, nutrition in order for it to grow strong with long roots, solid stems, and beautiful flowers. Nonetheless, during that period of time I still felt a lot of confusion because although everything in the academy was great. I was having difficulty finding an identity for myself.
Hi: How do you work out this problem?
Muse: After I graduated the academy in 2003, I worked in a design firm and a gallery for several years.
Hi: Why? To linger?
Muse: Actually it’s not really lingering because at the time I was still painting. I had mastered painting, however my mind was black. I understood a very shallow understanding of society. So I wanted to put down my brush and become more social.
Hi: This process lasted a few years?
Muse: From 2003 to 2007, almost four years.
Hi: After four years, society hasn’t gobbled you up?
Muse: My first job was in design, I did very well. The manager there was very determined to brainwash me into believing being a designer is just as good as being a painter. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t change my passion for painting. Finally, a gallery suggested that I work for them, so I left the design firm and stayed at the gallery for a little over two years.
Found a part of myself.
Hi: And then? Why did you quit your full-time job at the gallery for painting?
Muse: I felt it was time, haha. It was after things started to quiet down that I figured things out.
Hi: You held a solo exhibition in 2007?
Muse: Yes, that batch was completed in 2006. I worked and I painting from home at the same time. Eventually completing the bath for the 2007 solo exhibition.
Hi: That’s very hard work.
Muse: I wouldn’t call it hard work. To me, its a kind of happiness, as it is with people who love singing, or dancing. Painting allows me to relax, and express myself on a canvas. I think this is a very soothing thing.
Hi: For that solo exhibition you drew portraits of a group of women?
Muse: Yes, actually at that time I had already started remembering on my childhood, wetlands, blue skies, green water, watching the starts at night. But I was still very confused and didn’t know how to express what I had seen. So that batch of woman, I painted ab0ut ten of them and stopped.
Hi: And then painted the “Girl from Zhalong” series
Muse: No. After the 2007 solo exhibition, all the way into 2009, my ideas were still conflicting, struggling until the end of 2009 I managed to come up with something that helped me start on the “Girl from Zhalong” series. That time was the hardest for me, because in 2008 for a whole year, I couldn’t paint anything.
Hi: let’s take a simple overview, so in 1998 you were painting still life, 2007 you painted woman portraits, until 2010 “Girl from Zhalong. All these years have past by, do you think you have finally found yourself?
Muse: I can only say I found a part of me, perhaps I will find more in the future.
Hi: How do we eva1uate your artwork from all these years?
Muse: From 1998, I came from a small town to a big city, this is when I was chasing after art. 2008, I struggle with myself. All I’m considering is how to use what I’ve learned from the academy and combine it with my life, now I’ve learned how to manage, and things are calmer than before.
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