作者：陈承卫
出版社：河北美术出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
另一个我试读：
自序
我是自己的造像者，也是孤独的修行者，排除自恋，依然还有鲜活的自我存在，我一直想捕捉到最真实存在的我，但似乎又有无尽的困难，瞬间的感受常常瞬间转变。我活跃的思绪或许因为我孩童时期能够在大自然里尽情的释放天性，在大自然里练就了敢于冒险与尝试，关于我的信仰和艺术的悟性却是我家人影响给我的。有时我的灵感思绪颇多，常常在不经意间就迸发，令我措手不及，一会儿是想表达我的某个幻想状态，一会儿是想借助过去表达我现在的状态，诸如此类吧！这让我既困苦又快乐，我甚至要感谢我的思绪繁多。我不喜欢重复自己，更不喜欢拘泥于过去。
三十岁是个有趣的年纪，我在经历这一个阶段的生活与情感后，内心开始寻找关于绘画的明确答案，寻找岁月带给我的证据，寻找我自己和与我有关的情绪。正如我这次个展一样，这批作品是我这四年来的回忆，它们可以让大家看到关于我对油画的“物质感”和“戏剧感”的独特理解。近几年来我的作品有了本质上的变化，开始探索关于我自己与超现实，尤其是以某种神秘与忧郁，神秘可贵，它可以超凡脱俗，若隐若现的忧郁情怀才是好作品的开始，生活中若没了忧伤，也便找不到好的灵感，或许也是我内心的写照。表现形式和当代性都很重要，当下发生，当下存在。比如我会翻出曾经的老照片，加以绘画处理成我内心世界的某个画面，也可能会幻想我会是谁，当我以我是谁的状态出现的时候，我发现这样的画面具备当代性，且具有不可复制的唯一性。作为具象绘画的艺术家，绘画性的流失，我想挽回一点。
关于我的创作到底是个什么样的界限，目前我自己没有确切的答案，可能需要大家来解读，我的思绪受很多因素影响，我相信这些因素也在暗示着我的某段生活。我不希望我与很多人一样走的太急，我只是想保留自己的生活，然后拼命地记录下它，可还是没有找到此时的我，这也正是我在创作上一直不停寻觅与突破的动力。
我生活在一个人的民国里，叙写着一个人的自传体，此生就为画画而活吧，但愿你们在想到我的时候，是常常传达美好的且又执着于绘画的那个人。——陈承卫
此次展览将在2015年10月10日以隆重
且具有学术高度性的面貌与大家见面，在此特别感谢今日美术馆，睿信艺术基金会，北京时尚瑞文化传媒有限公司，中国文化管理协会艺术家委员会，中国国家艺术杂志，对本次大展的鼎力支持。
Preface
As my own image-maker as well as a lonely gymnosophist．I still have my fresh ego besides narcissism．I have been trying to find my ego of the most real existence, but it seems that there are endless difficulties because my instant feelings usually change instantly．My active mind perhaps owed to the release of my instinct in nature when I was a child, which gave me courage to take risks and attempts．My perception in beliefs and arts comes from my family members．Sometimes, I have quite a lot of inspirations and thoughts in mind, which occur to me accidently out of my expectations．It makes me to express a fanciful mood of mine in an instant, and then my present state on the basis of the past, and so on．This makes me both suffering and joyful, and I am even being grateful for my numerous thoughts I do not like to repeat myself, neither to be stuck in the past.
The age of thirty is a quite interesting age, after experiencing the life and feelings of this age, I started to seek the definite answer about painting, evidences brought by time to me, myself as well as emotions related to me．Just like my personal exhibition this time, these works are my memories in the past four years, and they can bring my distinctive understanding of“material sense”and“drama sense”on oil paintings to everyone．In recent years, my works have essentially changed, and I have been started to explore myself and surrealism in my paintings, especially some kind of mystery and melancholy．Mystery is valuable because it can be otherworldly, and the partly visible melancholy feelings mark a start of good works．If there are no sorrows in life, good inspirations can be found nowhere, which is perhaps the reflection of my mind．Both expression forms and contemporaneity are very important, and things exist simultaneously with their occurrence．For example, I would dug up old photos to process it into one picture in my inner world by painting, or I would fantasy whom I could be．When I play the one I could be, I find that this picture has, contemporaneity as well as the uniqueness which can’t be reproduced．As an artist of figurative painting, I would like to retrieve a bit of the painting essence loss.
For the exact boundary of my creation, I don’t have a definite answer for now, and it needs to be interpreted by all of you．My thinking is affected by a lot of factors which, I believe, also imply a certain period of my life．I do not want to make my life as hurry as many people, but only to retain my life and then try my best to record it．But I still fail to find myself at this time, which is exactly the reason why I have been continuously seeking and making a breakthrough in creation.
I live in my own world, and write my own autobiography．I have dedicated my whole life to painting, and wish I would be the person who conveys happiness and persists in painting when you are thinking of me.——Chen Chengwei
自我形象演绎中的成长
在西方艺术史中，有一个门类的绘画常常被人忽视，这个门类对于艺术家来说又是至关重要的，它们是艺术家自己的镜子，证明着自己的存在。这就是自画像。对于艺术家来说，自画像远不是练习作品那么简单。1000多年前，艺术家的签名出现在艺术品上。艺术家从此不再是手艺人，而成为“大家”被人尊重，被历史记录下来。相同的，自画像的存在无疑代表着艺术家地位的提升，他们不再是沉默的记录者，反而走上主角的位置，用自己的笔传递着自己独一无二的个性和生命故事。在没有摄影技术的时代，这种对于自身的记录，是艺术家们独有的天赋。对于这些以图像为生存工具的艺术家来说，他们对于图形的敏感远远超过文字。所以与其去写传记，他们不如使用自己的特权，让不同阶段的自己永久保存下来。穿越了时空，忠实的记录自己的内心。
对于人类如何认识自己这一深奥的哲学问题，大部分艺术家也没有具体的答案。陈承卫大约也是如此。凡·高给弟弟特奥的信中曾经写道“虽然不易，但如果有一天我能画好自己的肖像，那我就能轻松画出这世间其他红男绿女的肖像了。”人们想要描绘自己是不易的，因为谁也不能看清自己。而自画像的练习不仅有助于画家练习造型与色彩，还可通过自我观察，深入探索形象的精神气质与心理活动的外在显现。当艺术家能够通过描绘自己抓住自己隐藏的心理时，他们便能够真正的抓住“这世间其他红男绿女”微翘的嘴角，含羞的眼波或者略带忧愁的眉脚了。这大概也是陈承卫一直以来坚持画自己的形象的原因之一，这是一种练习，同时也是一种审视。用眼睛品读世界的艺术家们总是用画画的方式审视自己的内心，我常常认为这样的艺术家都是勇敢的。他们通过作画，勇敢的寻找着内心。也许在这个时候，时间和脑海才能真正的安静下来，让他们充满创造力的脑海集中精力。
陈承卫就是一个勇敢的人，一直坚持不懈地描绘着自己。无论是“自传体”系列或者是“大民国”系列中艺术家穿插在画作中扮演的各种形象，都是艺术家对于自我写照的不断探索。
西方艺术史中，对于艺术家自我形象的认识也经历了漫长的过程，有趣的是这个过程在陈承卫的作品中则是逆向进行的。艺术史上很早以前艺术家们就开始将自己的形象拐弯抹角地隐藏在作品之中，最著名的无过于委拉斯凯兹《宫娥》镜中倒影的艺术家本人，是戏谑也是一种对于自己身份的认可。艺术家们不再甘愿为贵族王室作画，而是骄傲的将自己的形象也置于架上，这种半恶作剧的传统可以被视作自画像的前身。到后来干脆直接为自己作画，骄傲地告诉世人，我就是我。扬·凡·艾克1433年就在自己的自画像《戴红头巾的男子》顶部写下“尽我所能”。画的底部，还戏谑性的写下了一句“扬·凡·艾克描绘了我，1433年10月21日。”毕加索这位艺术巨匠也在去世前将全部心力用到自画像创作上来。自画像从开始对于艺术家职业价值的认识，最终成为艺术家展示个性和自身生命故事的演变。
伦勃朗的一生中共有61幅自画像，在这一系列的自画像中，我们可以看到伦勃朗始终不屈不挠的性格，他倾尽一生都在描绘自己的皮肤、头发和纹理，勇敢的记录自己的痛苦、哀伤、不羁与快乐，这种描绘与自我分析在伦勃朗的生命中已经被视为尊严。于陈承卫的作品中也是如此。他总是在画面中直视外面的世界，带着笑意，无论带上弄臣的帽子还是装成贵族。看着他的自画像能够感受到一种强烈的信心，只要他还能继续作画、创作，他的尊严就不会泯灭。
作为一位年轻的艺术家，陈承卫的早期作品反倒是比较直接的自我展示。大概是因为出生在这个时代，艺术家已经能够非常自信的面对自己的价值。相信他对于伦勃朗的喜爱可能也是原因之一，“自传体”系列明显是对于这位巴洛克时期大师的致敬。善以概括手法表现人物的性格特征的伦勃朗精于心理描写的肖像画和自画像作品，他集大成的“明暗对比法”被誉为“用黑暗绘就光明”。“大民国”系列中，来自伦勃朗的明暗对比光影使用、戏剧色彩、以及四分之三侧脸肖像的构图特点清晰可见。陈承卫对于伦勃朗式用光的使用已经非常娴熟而灵活。光线仅照亮脸部的四分之三，在主要形象脸部的任意一侧呈现出倒三角形的亮区。看上去将脸部一分为二，又使脸部的两侧看上去各不相同。将光线集中在主要部分，让其余部分隐藏于黑褐色或浅橄榄色的背景之中。强化画中的主要部分，也让暗部去弱化和消融次要因素。给人以稳定庄重华丽的感觉，更让“自传体”系列带上了巴洛克时代的神秘感，魔术般的点亮了原本平实的主题中戏剧性色彩。
另一方面，戏剧性在陈承卫的作品中也占据了很重要的地位，尤其是“大民国”系列中艺术家对于大民国时期富有符号性的演绎。艺术家如前文提到的委拉斯凯兹，将自己穿插在大民国的各个场景之中，在压抑中自我寻找，体验不同的情境不同的生活。用自己纯熟的画工，将写实主义与中国当今的古典主义审美完美结合，并将自己的想象融入在作品之中。分散在各个作品中的红色绸缎，具有政治寓意性，又有传统婚姻对于女性枷锁的隐喻。另一方面，作为一名年轻的艺术家，难得的是我们通过陈承卫艺术表现的成长过程，看到的是越来越复杂的艺术表现与思考，而非因为审美趋同及利益驱使，走向媚俗与平庸的流程化创作，这一点十分可贵。最明显看到艺术家成长即是对于张爱玲名作《红玫瑰与白玫瑰》的演绎。丰富的符号隐藏在作品当中，将男主角振保德心理状态表现的淋漓尽致。“也许每一个男子全都有过这样的两个女人，至少两个。娶了红玫瑰，久而久之，红的变了墙上的一抹蚊子血，白的还是‘床前明月光’；娶了白玫瑰，白的便是衣服上沾的一粒饭黏子，红的却是心口上一颗朱砂痣。”作品“红玫瑰”中，男子的帽子虽是红色，却身着白衣。红玫瑰是振保心中的一颗“朱砂痣”，即使穿着应与白玫瑰结合的白衣，却急迫地将象征心与火热的红玫瑰送给红衣女郎。只是这朵玫瑰已经开始凋零亦或者从未完全开放，就如小说中后续的故事，在红玫瑰终于回过身认真的面对与振保的关系时，振保选择了懦弱的离开。而作品“白玫瑰”就像前作的续写，大红色的绸花前，白色衣着的二人目视前方，毫无表情更无激情。一朵白玫瑰挡在白色肚兜暗示心与热情的红色花纹前，男子则防御性的双手相交。这或许便是传统意义上相敬如宾的夫妻，两人虽站在一起却如相隔千里。然而另一只手却从画面外伸向女子的肩头，暗示振保最终发现妻子与裁缝保持暧昧的未来。
所以在我眼中，陈承卫一直在自我形象的演绎中不断成长。通过绘画，他试图在不同时空中寻找另一个自己。高鹏博士今日美术馆馆长2015.8.17写于北京
Making Progresses Through the Exploration of Self-portrait Painting
There is a category of paintings usually ignored in western art history, which, however, matters a lot to artists, for it is their mirror and proves their existence．It is self-portrait．For artists, painting self-portraits is in no way as simple as practicing drawing．Artists’signatures began to appear on artworks 1,000 year ago．Since then, artists have no longer been called craftsmen but“masters”respected by people and recorded by history．Likewise, the emergence of self-portraits symbolizes undoubtedly the rising status of artists, that is, artists are no longer silent recorders but protagonists that depict their own unique personalities and life stories with their brushes．In an era without photographic techniques, such kind of self-portrayal can be achieved only by artists with their unique expertise．Those artists who earn a living by painting are much more sensitive about drawings than words．Consequently, they would rather use their privileges to record themselves of different phases than write autobiographies, faithfully depicting their inner feelings across time and space.
Most artists have no concrete answers to the profound philosophical question of how we as human beings getting to know ourselves．I think there is no exception to Chen Chengwei for the same question．Vincent Willem van Gogh once said to his brother Theo in a letter that“If one day I can paint my self-portrait well although it’s hard, then I can paint easily portraits of the other men and women in the world.”It is not easy for people to paint themselves, for no one can see themselves clearly．But self-portrait practice can help painters not only practice modeling and colors, but also probe into spiritual temperament of images and external manifestation of mental activities through self-observation．When artists are able to seize their hidden mentality through depicting themselves, they can really capture the lips curving slightly, shy light in the eyes or eyebrow with slight gloom of“the other men and women in the world”．And that might be one of the reasons that Chen Chengwei has been insisting on painting self-portraits, which is a practice as well as an observation．Artists reading the world with eyes can always inspect their hearts by means of painting and I think these artists are brave．They are pursuing their hearts bravely through painting．Maybe it is at that moment that time and mind can really fall silent to enable their brain filled with creativity to concentrate.
Chen Chengwei is just that kind of brave man, persistently painting himself all the time．No matter what various interspersing images played by this artist in the“Autobiography”series or the“Republic of China”series, they are all his constant self-explorations.
In western art history, artists went through a long time to recognize their self-images．What’s interesting is that Chen’s works show that his self-perception process is just reverse．In the art history, artists began to display their images in their works in an indirect way long time ago, and the most famous example is, of course, the reflection of the painter himself in the mirror in the painting of Velazquez’s Las Meninas．This reflection is his banter as well as recognition of his identity．Artists were no longer willing to only paint for royal families, but were proud to put their images on the easels．This half-joke tradition can be regarded as the predecessor of the self-portraits．Finally, they just directly painted for themselves, proudly telling the world that they are who they are．In 1433, Jan van Eyck wrote down“Try My Best”on the top of his self-portrait, Portrait of a Man in a Turban, and jokingly wrote down a sentence“Jan van Eyck painted me on October 21, 1433.”The art giant, Picasso, also devoted himself to the creation of his self-portraits before he died．Self-portraits finally develop into a platform for artists to display their personalities and life stories from the recognition of professional value of artists at the beginning.
Instead, as a young artist, Chen ’s early works depicted a direct self-display．It’s probably because he was born in an era when artists are very confident about their own values．Another reason, I believe, may be his fondness for Rembrandt, for the“Autobiography”series are obviously his salute to this master in the Baroque Period．Rembrandt, adept at expressing characters’ personalities and features through generalization technique, is skillful in mental description in portraits and self-portraits, and thus, his excellent technique of contrasting light and shade is honored as“depicting light with shade”．Rembrandt’ composition features are seen clearly in the“Autobiography”series, such as the use of contrasting light and shade, drama features and 3/4 profile portrait．Chen has been quite skillful in the use of light of Rembrandt-type but with great flexibility．The light only shines 3/4 of the face, manifesting inverted triangular bright area in any side of the main character’s face, which seems to divide the face into two parts while making the two sides of the face look quite different．He focuses the light on the main part and lets the rest be hidden in the background of black brown or light olive．He highlights the main part of the painting and weakens the dark part, and eliminates the secondary factors, making people feel stable, solemn and gorgeous, endowing the“Autobiography”series with a mystique of the Baroque era and lightening up the dramatic colors in plain subjects.
Rembrandt painted 61 self-portraits in his whole life．And in this series of self-portraits, we can tell Rembrandt’s unyielding character．He devoted himself to the painting of his skin, hair and texture, bravely recording his sorrow, sadness, freedom and happiness and such depictions and self-analysis were viewed as dignity in his life．The same is true with the works of Chen Chengwei．He always looks straight at the outside world inside the painting, smiling, no matter he wears a hat looking like a jester or dresses like an aristocrat．Watching his self-portraits, you can feel a strong sense of confidence that as long as he keeps on painting, his dignity will never cease.
Besides, dramatic features also play an important role in Chen’s works, especially the depiction of symbolic nature in the era of the Republic of China in the“Republic of China”series．Like the above-mentioned Velazquez, this artist put himself in interspersing in various scenes of the Republic of China, seeking himself in depression and experiencing various scenes and various lives．He perfectly combined realism with the current classical aesthetics in China and integrated his imagination into his works with his mature painting skills．Red silks and satin scattering in each work have political implications and are a metaphor of women suffering under the yoke of traditional marriage．On the other hand, what is striking and precious is that although Chen Chengwei is a young artist, we can see from the progress of his artistic expressions an increasingly complicated artistic expressions and thinking instead of pulp and plain streamlining creation due to aesthetic convergence or interests．The most prominent work that shows the growth of this artist is the depiction of Red Rose and White Rose, the masterpiece of Ms．Eileen Chang．Rich symbols are hidden in the work, depicting incisively and vividly the mentality of Zhenbao, the male protagonist in the novel.“Perhaps each man had such two women, at least two．After marrying Red Rose, as times passed, the Red became a touch of mosquito blood on the wall while the White was still a ray of moonlight in front of the bed;after marrying White Rose, the White became a grain of rice clinging to the clothes while the Red was still a cinnabar mole on the man’s heart.”In Red Rose, the man wears a red hat but cloth in white．The Red Rose is a cinnabar mole in the heart of Zhenbao, even though he is wearing white wedding suits to marry White Rose, he is still anxious to send the red rose symbolizing heart and enthusiasm to the lady in red, but this rose has already begun withering or has never been in full blossom, just like the subsequent stories in the novel, that is, when the Red Rose finally turns around and sincerely faces the relationship with Zhenbao, Zhenbao chooses to leave cowardly．And White Rose is like a sequel to the former work．In front of the red satin flowers, the couple in white look at each other without facial expression or passion．A white rose on the white bellyband is in front of the red decorative pattern symbolizing heart and passion while the man crosses his hands defensively．This, perhaps, is the traditional couple who are always courteous to each other, but there is an invisible thousand-mile barrier between them although they are standing together;however, another hand from outside the painting reaches the shoulder of the lady, implying that in the future Zhenbao will finally discover the affair between his wife and the tailor.
I believe, therefore, Chen has kept making progresses through his explorations of self-portrait painting．He has been trying to find another self in different space and time by painting.Dr．Gao PengDirector of Today Art MuseumWritten on August 17, 2015 in Beijing
另类自我写照——谈陈承卫油画的当代性
文/金影村陈承卫近期的《大民国》系列作品给人以耳目一新的感觉：手法分明还是那精致的古典写实，视觉上却呈现出某种荒诞、超现实、陌生化的审美特质。他将一幕幕想象中的民国历史片段搬上画布，营造出布莱希特式的舞台效果，同时融入了若干观念摄影的元素。尤为引人注目的是，画家本人也参与到了这出年代大戏中。画面中的他手持电筒，时而化身巡捕房的警察，时而装扮成翩翩君子，时而又带着几分花花公子的意味。背景似乎总是茫茫的夜色，唯有电筒照射出的光线掌控了局面，如舞台上的聚光灯，时刻将观者的视线引向唯美神秘之处，制造出强烈的心理张力。《大民国》系列的画面端庄肃穆，但因画家活跃的自我介入，又显得充满趣味性与戏谑性。通过挑逗观众的视觉神经，画家想要与我们展开的却是一场思维的游戏。陈承卫用自我扮演介入到作品创作中，已经与传统意义上的自画像大相径庭。而细细体味其中的意象，却处处能寻见画家个人的影子。这就引出了一个有趣的话题：艺术家的自我，有多少直接呈现的可能？图1 大民国-暗夜箴言图2 拉斐尔《雅典学院》图3 扬.凡.艾克《阿尔诺菲尔婚礼》
纵观艺术史，不难发现诸多古典大师也已厌倦了中规中矩的自画像，和观众玩起了类似捉迷藏的新花样：追溯到文艺复兴盛期，意大利画坛巨匠拉斐尔便在其史诗巨作《雅典学院》中插入了一个耐人寻味的细节——仔细观察画面右下方处，便会发现画家本人也站在众多古希腊哲人与思想家群体中，目光直视观者，仿佛是在声明，这前无古人后无来者的思想盛宴，我拉斐尔就算穿越过去也不能缺席啊！北方文艺复兴巨擎扬·凡·艾克（Jan van Eyck）更是奇思妙想，在《阿尔诺菲尔婚礼》一画中，为了证明自己作为画家兼证婚人的形象，他将自己画在了房间墙壁上一面硬币尺寸大小的镜子中，并在显眼的位置写上拉丁文“Johannes de eyck fuit hic”，意即扬·凡·代克在场。而巴洛克时期西班牙宫廷画家委拉兹凯支，则在《宫娥》（Las Meninas）一作中将自己正在画国王和王后的形象如实记录下来，在画与被画、看与被看之间实现了微妙的转化……图4 委拉兹凯支《宫娥》
这些别出心裁的自我介入，无外乎两重意图，一为实现画家参与画面叙事的愿望，二为自传式的纪实强调。然而，陈承卫的作品，体现出了前两者之外的第三重意图——通过自我扮演来实现个人叙事。扮演，是画家脱离自身身份的创造，同时又是观念化的自我写照，因而，在这一层面上，《大民国》系列显示出了其内在独有的当代性。图5 雍正行乐图
这样的尝试蕴含着某种超越时空的前卫性和实验性。举个例子，早在中国清代，画工们便创作了一套享誉盛名的《雍正行乐图》。在其中，雍正作为帝王的形象被最大限度地弱化。相反，他在图中化身为多种承载了满、汉文化符号的角色：山中抚琴的高士、书斋中手不释卷的士大夫、赏荷观梅的文人骚客、仙风道骨的隐者，还有渔夫、喇嘛、猎人、道士……不少人看到这些丰富多彩的形象，便认为此作反映了雍正皇帝广泛的业余爱好。而事实上，作为一名勤于政务的帝王，这套作品并不一定是雍正真实生活的写照，而更似一种个人的文化想象。文武并用，德才兼举，作为满族君王的雍正试图宣告自己在文化上兼容并蓄的姿态，政治性与趣味性并存，或许这才是这套作品的用意所在。图6 雍正行乐图
而在西方当代艺术中，自我扮演则更是比比皆是。其中，女艺术家辛迪·舍曼（Cindy Sherman）的观念摄影尤能体现自我扮演的魅力。辛迪·舍曼一路自拍，将自己装扮成电影演员、童话人物、历史肖像以及美国社会的典型公共形象，以此嘲弄消费社会的欺骗性与幻觉性。她的作品指向群体而非个体，却仅凭一己之力，超越了普通的摄影作品，直达观念艺术。图7 辛迪.舍曼《无题-剧照66》
一中一西，一古一今，以上所举的两个例子虽在媒介与意图上毫无关联，但放在当代艺术的观念领域讨论，却实现了辩证统一。雍正为了建构自我、强化自我，扮演成各式各样的典型人物，而所有的角色都附属于皇帝本人的身份；辛迪·舍曼解构自我，将自我变成了纯粹的道具，反过来证明了她的艺术家身份。举这两个例子，是为了树立自我扮演的两条路径与其中的典型。反观陈承卫的作品，仿若这二者之间的调和。画中的“自我”，既身处其中，又置身室外。画家将个人情感带入到作品中，或忧伤挣扎，或缠绵悱恻，或坦然释怀。与此同时，作品始终维持着舞台与观众之间的距离感。这假作真时真亦假的思维转换，释放出奇妙的艺术效果。
画家早期开始创作的《自传体》系列便流露出了这种倾向。在这批自画像中，他将自己打扮成武士、西方贵族、留络腮胡子的男子、长发少年、民国公子、情意绵绵的绅士等等，甚至原封不动地将伦勃朗《自画像》中的场景嫁接到自己身上。这其中当然有自传的成分，但更多的还是戏拟。然而，他的戏拟竟是如此认真虔诚，仿佛将身心都放在了那遥想的梦境之中，转化成了艺术创作的精神纪实。在《自传体—儿时梦想》一画中，画家身着一身盔甲，严阵以待，目光如炬，真真切切地还原了一个勇武士兵的形象。少时的幻想天真烂漫，成年后的他用艺术延续了这种幻想，将其庄重地定格在画布上。在另一幅画中，他出现在了伦勃朗1660年自画像的布景中。当年伦勃朗创作这幅自画像时，正值命运的巅峰，那意气风发、恃才傲物的神态，被画家模仿得惟妙惟肖。陈承卫以这样的方式向大师致敬，同时带着几分挑战大师的盛气与傲骨。画中这位雄姿英发的后生，就是这样坦率无畏。但是，又有谁能猜测，他私底下在用怎样的勤奋和努力，来为那傲视群雄的怒放做着准备呢？除此之外，陈承卫也用这种方式启发我们重审经典。时至今日，当我们将文艺复兴、巴洛克时期的古典油画大师之作奉为经典时，也包含了另一重潜台词，那便是认为它们已经过时了。时空的隔离，常常令纯正的古典趣味沦为扭捏的附庸风雅。然而，陈承卫的《自传体》系列打破了这样的隔离，直接从古典大师的作品中汲取养分，并以自画像的新形式重建了经典在当代语境中的意义空间。图8 自传体-儿时梦想图9 自传体-致敬伦勃朗图10 伦勃朗《自画像》
画家曾坦言，他要穷其一生将这种自画像持续下去。如此记录自己的生命轨迹，如同撰写一部浪漫的脚本，背后蕴含的是画家优雅多姿的情态与对自我内心莫大的忠诚。如梦如戏的人生用陈承卫的《自传体》来诠释，初看荒谬，细想却最适合不过：人来到世间走一遭，虽“趣舍万殊，静躁不同”，各自演绎各自的人生，却都逃不脱生老病死，殊途同归，真不如大梦一场！
如果说《自传体》系列虚构得恰到好处，那么《大民国》系列，则脱离了自画像模式，景幕分明，情境交融，彰显出画家日臻成熟视觉语言。作为《自传体》系列的延伸，《大民国》系列除了当代感十足的观念写实手法之外，或许还有两点难能可贵之处：图11 大民国-月下影
其一，“民国”作为一种文化记忆，在商品经济驱使下的当代社会已经被广泛地消费：从充斥荧屏的民国年代戏到低级廉价的时尚Cosplay，布衣、旗袍、长衫、马褂、毡帽都变成了供现代人狂欢的历史符号。然而，在《大民国》系列中，却极少出现以上提及的消费痕迹，而更多地体现出画家的个人情结与历史梦境，是一种自省式的情感世界的自我构建。正如陈承卫自己所谈到的那样：“大民国系列并非再现历史，仔细观察细节会发现这是一种属于这个时代才会有的一种解读，画面有某种岁月感和未来感，它甚至是一种历史的镜像，某些细节还有暗示语指向性，如人物的人状投影，如伸入画面的某带有力量的双手，再如手电筒映射出的党徽等等，作品整体都微微散着一丝独特的绘画情愫，这种情愫其实也就是我所要带进画面的观念。”
在《月下影》中，才子美人相对而立，案前的烛台首饰散发出微光，似乎暗示着离别的悲戚；《红玫瑰》与《白玫瑰》两幅作品，借女作家张爱玲的小说名称，讲述了两个爱情的寓言；《迷雾》中警察逮捕女学生的戏剧时刻，画家却处理得异常冷静，仿佛那曾经的压迫与反抗、柔弱与强势、文雅与鲁莽，都在岁月的烟云中褪了色，只留下淡淡的印记；《暗夜箴言》中，光线照亮女学生举起的纤纤玉手，顿时强化了事件的紧张感，从手法上鲜明地致敬古典大师伦勃朗……在这些作品中，情绪与事件、手法与观念融为一体，它们并不遵循时代的逻辑，而反过来投射当下的心理状态，写照自我的同时，也在写照每个观者。
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