云，一直是中国文化“变化无常”的象征，如果中国文化与西方文化有着根本的差异，就体现为对变化无常的信念，而不是对规则的信仰，这导致中国文化肯定变化之际而赋予了艺术最大的权能，因为只有艺术在肯定变化的同时还能带来某种协调的法则，并不僵硬，艺术仅仅是谐调与不断调整，形成“无法之法”与“法之无法”的应变：云或“云意”，从古代的云纹到云虚纹，从壁画的仙气纹或神仙腾云驾雾的云彩，到书法与山水画上的满纸烟云，只有中国文化才有一种不断逃逸，敞开新的游戏空间的“云的理论”，如同法国艺术史家达米施试图以云之生动流变及其空白的关系，重建一种新的绘画史与绘画理论！西方无法表现云意，因为缺乏一种自然的生动性想象。

　　但是，传统水墨在摆脱云的神仙拯救象征之后，要么仅仅成为一种装饰性的纹理，要么成为山水画丘壑的附属物，如果把“云”还原到事物本身之中，尤其在现代性对事物之物性的客观还原之后，即经过科学的对象化处理之后，云只能回到自然性。一旦云回到了云自身的气候与变化，云，如何再次成为绘画的对象？而且传统水墨是上留天下留地，一般并不表现天空，尽管画出云烟，但这仅仅是丘壑吞吐的象征物，云自身的变化无常及其自然性，还有待更为彻底在现代性的艺术中得以发挥。

　　我们就在王牧羽的系列云图作品上看到了云的再次君临。

　　王牧羽对云的重新发现与观照，有着两个来源，对于王牧羽，这并非向壁虚构，而是对世界深切的观察与体认。

　　第一个是2012年早些时候的《边城》系列，王牧羽把自己的目光转向城市的边缘地带，这个被人忽视且萧瑟寂寥的地带，或者一个无意义的角落，或者落寞无人的一隅，或者一个路的拐弯处，或者一片白茫茫的雪野，或者几颗墨染吹散的树枝。王牧羽似乎放下了任何刻意的目光，而是带着一种末世而回眸的余光在观照这个世界，这个艺术的主体来到了世界的边缘——如同海子曾经在大戈壁的诗歌中《日记》中写道：今夜青稞只属于它自己，万物都在生长，我来到了人类的尽头。来到边城是来到世界的边缘，边缘处的一切都超出了人类界限，不再有意义，而只有自身存在的自在性，这些无人的场景，稀稀落落的事物就是如此，不希求人类关注的目光，这是让事物回到了周围世界，回到世界的世界性。

　　第二个也许更为重要与直接，这是来自于他对2012年那次发生在北京都城的倾盆大雨的思考，他画出了《突围》系列，在画面上，汽车，行人，树木，等等都被大水淹没，一切都无根地漂浮起来。画家试图为现代人寻找一种突围出去的可能性，画面上的暖色底子让人感伤到一种浮动与游离的可能性。也许，对现代都市生活的反思，对现代灾变不可避免的思考，还有对个体生命痛苦的反思，给了王牧羽一次启示与契机：无论人类多么强悍，无论自主的意志多么强烈，但是在大自然面前，尤其是一旦自然作为第四维来临时，自然的威严就会再次显现，即那一次的大暴雨不是人类三维空间可以接纳与控制的，而是突然从时间的不可预测的第四维来临：是突然的洞开，是自然深渊的敞开，也许正是通过这个灾变的“洞见”，让王牧羽以第一次打开了天眼的目光，第一次让他看到了真正的天空，那自然性的、深渊般洞开的天空。在深渊般的天空中，如果还有着某种拯救的期待：那就是云的君临了！

　　如果有着所谓的中国现代性政治学，其实是面对天空，面对云雨，重新以赤子之心面对自然本身，尊重自然，气象的政治学即将成为艺术政治学的核心，既然传统政治学的象征符号体现中，“云”化而为“龙”——也是天子的象征，那么，面对灾变的可能再次发生，重建云意的自然元素性，也是重建一个健康的文化政治想象空间，一个崇尚“天人合一”的文化，应该重新从天空再次获得启示与灵感，尤其是面对灾变的想象时，重新获得真理的力量，让真理来到艺术作品之中。

　　因此，自然如何成为拯救的密码？如同阿多诺在《审美理论》的遗著中所渴望的：重新让自然成为主体，而不是人类成为主宰，认为自然的美是事物中非同一性的踪迹残余，自然美有着不可规定性，是转瞬即逝的火花，云最为体现这个瞬间的变化与不定性，艺术应该模仿的是自然美本身！相信自然中还有着尚未人化的与可能事物的密码，并且有待于重新发现大自然作为一种救赎密码的可能性！自然的显现也仅仅呈现为一种余象，云也并非云彩与云朵，而是可以被无限想象与投射的余象。云，恰好是最为没有自身，却一直有着某种生动样态的。那么，艺术如何解救自然所允诺的这幸福的可能性？云意的重新来临是否构成一种新的救赎的期待？对于王牧羽，无疑这是一次真正的内心的期待！

　　王牧羽自此开始画他的云图，其内在意义就更为明确：如何在一个灾变频发的现代性处境下，让自然的尊严，自然的诗意，自然之为拯救的密码，重新来临。

　　王牧羽最初云图中有一幅作于2013年的《幻城》，满幅画面都是如同雪堆般，在不断震动着的云片，其实知道云图的人都可以看出，这画的是地震云，是一种灾变来临时的症候，画出如此这般的作品，表明王牧羽既有对自然的准确气候学观察，也开始让水墨回到事物本身，并且以笔墨来表现云意。

　　王牧羽对云图的描绘，有着几种不同的样式：

　　第一种样式是画面分为两个部分，是上下空间的强烈对比。下面部分是黑色低矮的房子与树木，纷乱的笔触似乎为了表现人类环境的破坏；上面部分则是一片开阔的蓝色天空或白云，蓝色的纯粹与白云在光影中的变幻，让人炫目，也更为吸引我们的视线。即，画面的黑色暗示人间的废墟或荒原，蓝色与白色则暗示提升的渴望。天空与大地被区分开来，矮矮的地平线表达了压抑的心绪。明媚的天空则传达了少年的心事与诗意，所谓的壮志凌云之心象

　　第二种样式是画面只有一片蓝天为整幅背景，而只是飘散着一朵白云或少许白云。以蓝天作为整幅背景，这是在改变我们的凝视角度，不是自下往上的正常观看，而似乎就是把我们贴近天空，贴近天空的呼吸，绘画是要提升我们的目光，让我们进入天空的呼吸之中，那些变幻的白云，或者炙热或者冷白，或者消散或者聚集，在一片蔚蓝的底色上，那么自持，那么轻逸，似乎云朵在发出诗意地召唤。而纯色的蓝色，有着细微的呼吸，有着层次变化，这纯粹的蓝色蓝得让人心碎，蓝的让人迷醉，进入如此的蔚蓝，似乎这并非自然的环境，而是心绪的国度，我宁愿说，这是又一个新的虚托邦的发现，如此真切，又如此虚化，却托住了灾变时代人们的期待。

　　第三种样式则是画面一半是蓝色一半是白云，蓝色背景在白云强光的冲击下，相互融合，甚至相互撕裂，蓝色，白色与灰色，在浓淡变化中显露出细微变化，这些云意自在的变化着，无需人的观看，没有隐喻和象征，就是自在与自然的流动。王牧羽做到了对人为性的消除，在参照很多云图照片，仔细观察天空云气变化之后，并不是写实方式，画面上的云气或云图更多是随心而变，是心目的遥想，如同庄子“庖丁解牛”所言的“以神遇而不以目视”！王牧羽的作品塑造的是一种新的凝视目光：让我们重新抬头开始仰望，是一种仰视的目光，抬起我们呆滞与劳累的头颅，重新面对天空，同时，又让我们贴近云朵，似乎与之一道呼吸，一道自由地逍遥。

　　第四种样式则是画面上还会出现一些装饰性图样与马的“图腾”，飞马与闲云，都是各种世俗生活渴望的投射，各种梦想的投射，有着古代仙气的回归，是生命渴望轻盈飞翔的古老意志的保留。古意和梦想，在王牧羽的作品上有着灿烂迷人的结合。

　　水墨艺术，对于王牧羽，是放牧自己的心情，是牧云牧雨，是少年永恒的心事得以旁若无人地放飞，是为云增加心性的想象的羽翼，绘画难道不是自由地游戏与见证？！水墨与彩墨应该回到这个自由的高逸意境之中！

　　天空的回归，是如同海子再次写道的：天空上面还是天空，道路前面还是道路。绘画上的天空——那是天空的天空，西方的图像来自于天空，因为那是光芒的来临，是一切显现的条件，中国水墨需要重新接纳天空，这是对另一种元素性的接纳，水墨的水性与柔和，需要接纳光的强度，接纳燃烧的火性，但这种火性并非暴力的燃烧，而是化为云彩，云彩减弱了暴力，带来一种流动而默化的气息，艺术家仅仅跟随云的自然流散，天空之为天空似乎是一个敞开怀抱的接纳者，王牧羽重新改造了中国传统的丘壑，使之置于高处，那是一个不断敞开的敞开性，天空并非仅仅是背景，而是一个类似于哲学家们所梦想的虚化世界，并不是实在空间，而是让画面的平面空间得以发生的默化与虚托的虚境，让云朵可以自由漂浮，让心事可以翱翔。

　　在这个纷乱与杂乱不堪的人世上，也许遥望天空与接近云朵，才能调转我们迷茫的目光，看白云苍狗，思往事如烟，在反复无常的人世间获得一种超越的热烈目光，在这个时代，绘画如果有着内在的超越性，那是让我们敞开怀抱，接受一种来自于自然的恩赐，王牧羽带给我们一种面对天空的凝望目光，他的绘画把久违的天空真正还给我们，让我们默默倾听蓝天与白云的默语。

　　Wang Muyu’s Artistic Conception in His Painting Cloud Atlas-a Poetry Sky

　　Cloud has been an icon of Chinese culture symbolizing "unpredictable change”. Compared with western culture, a fundamental difference in Chinese culture is reflected in the philosophy of unpredictable changes, rather than the faith in rules. Based on this idea on changes, art has been assigned greatest power and ability in Chinese culture, since only art might define changes while finding some kind of coordination; art is not stiff; art might harmonize and adjust with changes constantly; art is adaptive to changes by “way of no way” and "rule of no rule": Cloud, namely " artistic conception of cloud", was applied everywhere—ancient cloud moiré and imaginary cloud lines, fairyism cloud moiré on murals, clouds with immortals fly on it, smoky mists and clouds on calligraphy and landscape painting. This "Cloud’s theory ", constant escape to a new game space from the real world, is a unique phenomenon in Chinese culture, as French art historian Hubert Damisch tries to rewrite the history of painting and rebuild the theory of painting by vivid flow and form changes of clouds and the relationships between clouds and space. Because of the lack of a natural and vivid imagination of cloud, the artistic conception of clouds does not present in western culture.

　　However, after cloud was no longer used as a symbol of supernatural rescue in traditional Chinese ink painting, it becomes merely a decorative texture or appendage in landscape painting. Especially if we regard “cloud" as a natural phenomenon as described in modern science, changing according to weather and scientific laws, how could it be an object of painting again? Moreover, as background and symbols for landscape, clouds and sky were not themes in traditional Chinese ink painting in general. To paint the unpredictable changes and natural characteristics of clouds remains a task of modern art.

　　From Wang Muyu's painting series Cloud Atlas, we see that the artistic conception of clouds reigns again.

　　Wang Muyu’s rediscovery and contemplation of cloud is not his fabrication; it is his in-depth observation and realization of nature. It has two origins.

　　The first origin is the painting series Border (early 2012), Wang Muyu turned his attention to city's fringe, this ignored bleak solitude area—a meaningless or deserted corner, a turning point of a road, a snow-covered field, or some grayish branches dispersed by wind. Wang Muyu seemed to put down any deliberate view, but viewed the scene with his peripheral vision as he was look back at the moment of apocalypse. The subject of art came to the fringe of the world—as the poem Diary which Hai Zi wrote in Great Gobi: “Tonight, hulless barley just belongs to its own, all things are grown, but I came to the end of humanity.” The artist came to the fringe of city; he felt it was the fringe of the world. In this solitude scene with something sparse, all things here were beyond human’s reach, no longer makes sense; the only meaning was their existence themselves, which did not expect human’s attention. Things belonged to their surrounding again; the world belonged to nature again.

　　The second origin might be more important and intuitive. This is the painting series Breakthrough, which was based on his reflect on that downpour storm occurred in capital Beijing in 2012. On the paintings, cars, pedestrians, trees, etc. were flooded with water; everything floated without roots. The artist was looking for the chance to break out from this situation. Warm colors of the backgrounds of the paintings let viewers feel a sentiment of floating and dislocating. Perhaps, the reflection on modern urban life, the thinking on inevitable modern catastrophes, as well as the reflection on painful individual life, gave Wang Muyu an enlightenment and an opportunity—no matter how tough human beings are, no matter how strong the will of being their own master, facing the nature, especially the fourth dimension of the nature, the natural majesty will show up again. That big rainstorm was not what human can accept and control in their three-dimensional space, but it came suddenly from the unpredictable fourth dimension of time. It was the sudden wide opening of the natural abyss. Perhaps by this insight into catastrophe, Wang Muyu opened his “eyes of sky” for the first time, which let him saw a real sky -- it was a naturally, abyss-like wide-opened sky. In this abyss-like sky, if there was a certain expectation of salvation, that was the reign of clouds!

　　In fact, the so-called modern Chinese political science is the political science that respect nature and weather—facing the sky, facing clouds and rain with innocent mind like a child. This is about to become the core of political science of arts. As the "cloud", which can transform to a "dragon"—a symbol of the emperor, was used as an icon in traditional political science, the reconstruction of artistic conception of cloud with its natural property in order to face the possibility of re-occurrence of catastrophe is the reconstruction of a healthy cultural and political imagination realm, an advocate of "Harmony of Man with Nature" culture. We should once again get enlightenment and inspiration from the sky, especially when facing catastrophe. We might regain the power of truth; let the truth come to artworks.

　　So, how to let nature be a cipher code of salvation? As Adorno craved in his posthumous book Aesthetic Theory—let nature be master again, rather than let human dominate the world. He believes that natural beauty is traces of heterogeneity of things. It does not follow a law. It is an instantaneous spark. The cloud might best present these properties of diversification and uncertainty. What art imitates should be the natural beauty itself. I believe there are cipher codes in nature which are not yet discovered by human; there is chance that we might re-discover the salvation cipher code from nature. As the nature we observed is only its afterimage, the clouds are not just rosy clouds or sheets of cloud as we see; they are afterimages of unlimited imagination and projection. Clouds, which happen to be shapeless, always have some kind of vivid patterns. So, how can art release the potential the nature provides? Whether does the re-discovery of artistic cloud constitute the new expectation of salvation? For Wang Muyu, no doubt this is real expectations deep in his mind.

　　Since then Wang Muyu started his cloud painting. Its intrinsic significance has been even clearer—in the modern environment of frequent disasters, how to re-discover the dignity and poetry of nature and the cipher code of salvation in the nature?

　　One of Wang Muyu’s early cloud paintings was Fantasy City (2013). The picture was full of snow-pack-like, constant-shaking clouds, and anyone who knows about cloud can tell those were earthquake clouds, an omen of catastrophe. Such works showed that Wang Muyu not only observed climate and nature accurately, but also started to bring Chinese ink painting back to objects themselves, and presented artistic conception of clouds with his pen and ink.

　　Wang Muyu portrayed cloud with several different patterns:

　　The first pattern: the picture was divided into two sections—upper and lower spaces with sharp contrast. In the lower section there were black low houses and trees, with tangled brush strokes seeming to represent the destruction of human environment; in the upper section there were white clouds in the blue sky. The solid blue of sky and the changing shape of white clouds in light were dazzling and attractive. The black implied ruins or wasteland of humankind world, while the blue and white implied desire for improvement. Sky and earth were separated; the low horizon expressed depressed mood. Bright sky conveyed poetic minds of youngsters—minds of soaring aspirations.

　　The second pattern: only one cloud or some clouds drifted on the blue sky background in the picture. To use blue sky as the only background was to change the angle of gaze, not from the normal direction of from bottom to up. We were close to the sky, close to its breathing. The artist wanted to enhance our eyes, let us enter the sky to feel its breathing. Those clouds on the blue background, fluctuating, hot or cool, dissipated or aggregated, seemed calling the viewers poetically with their lightness; while the solid blue of sky, with subtle breath, layers of change, and heartbreaking and fascinating purity, it seemed we were not in a natural environment, but a realm of spirit. I would say that a new Utopia was discovered. It was so real; it was so unreal. It lifted up people's expectations in this cataclysm era.

　　The third pattern: half of the picture was blue sky and half of the picture was white clouds. Blue sky, white clouds and intense light were merging and mangling. With different concentration of ink, the artist presented subtle changes of blue, white and gray colors. These artistic clouds were changing freely; they did not need people attention, without metaphor or symbolism, flowing freely and naturally. Hence Wang Muyu eliminated artificiality. After carefully observing the sky and referring to many cloud photographs, the artist painted clouds and mists unrealistically as his wishes and mind was up in the clouds. As Chinese ancient philosopher Zhuangzi said "feel it with your mind, not see it with your eyes", Wang Muyu provides us a new angle of view by his paintings: Let's look at the sky once again with reverence; let us raise our dull and tired heads, facing the sky once again; let us move closer to the clouds, breathing with them, wandering freely with them.

　　The fourth pattern: some decorative patterns and horse "totem" were added on the picture. Flying horses and idle clouds were casts of aspirations in worldly life and a variety of dreams. They are the reintroduction of ancient fairyism, the residue of ancient aspirations to fly lightly at will. Old-fashioned artistic conception and dreams are combined in Wang Muyu’s works brilliantly and fascinatingly.

　　Chinese ink painting art, for Wang Muyu, is for browsing his feelings, is for browsing rain and clouds, and is the release of youngster’s mind at will. Isn’t it true that painting is a game played freely and a demonstration of free will? Chinese ink painting and color painting shall regain artistic conception of free will and poetic style!

　　Returning to the sky is like Hai Zi’s poem “Above the sky is still the sky, in front of the road is still the road”. The sky in a painting is the sky for its own sake. Paintings of western countries are inspired by the sky, since it is the advent radiance; it is the condition of revelation. Chinese ink painting shall rediscover the sky, which is the rediscovery of another element. The softness of water and ink shall combine with the intensity of light, with burning fire—the fire is not the burning of violence, but the clouds -- clouds weakened the violence, bringing a flavor of flow and calm. The artist follows the clouds to flow freely; the sky seems to embrace human with its open arms. Wang Muyu reformed landscape of traditional Chinese painting, making it stand high. It has eternal open nature. The sky is no more just a background, but a fantasy world dreamed by philosophers. The artist lets his two-dimensional painting become a fantasy with calm. The clouds float freely, and his mind fly.

　　In this chaotic and cluttered world, perhaps looking into the distant sky and clouds could turn around our confused eyes. Look at changing white clouds, think about our past like a dream, and get a transcendent vision in this capricious life. In this era, if painting has intrinsic transcendence, let us open our arms to accept nature’s gifts. Wang Muyu’s paintings give us a pair of eyes gazing at the sky. His paintings send back us a real sky. Let us listen to the silent language of blue sky and white clouds.