无家可归，看到这个展览主题的时候，莫名感觉跟我认识的艺术家羅一的气质很搭。

出现在镜头里的羅一，总是一个很酷的形象，推着平头，一袭黑衣，专注于眼前的画面或手里的画笔，心无旁骛。

Homeless. When I saw the theme of this exhibition, I had a strange feeling that it matched the temperament of artist Loy Luo who appears in the camera, being always a cool figure, with a crew cut and dressed in black, concentrating on the picture in front of her.

她很酷，也很独立，总是一个人潇洒帅气地闯荡陌生的世界，从北京到欧洲，再到美国，一个人旅行，一个人看博物馆。在很多人看来没有保障不敢前行的路，羅一从来不会迟疑，立即前行。

她有着艺术家特有的自信，当然这同时也带给她孤独，她迫切地希望有人理解她的艺术，所以她也很喜欢倾诉，如果有人告诉她喜欢她的艺术，或者跟她探讨艺术，她会很兴奋，但能理解她的艺术并能达成一致的人总归是少数。

认识羅一很多年，很少跟她聊艺术，因为每次都很费脑细胞。为数不多的聊天中，我理解她的作品，无论是雕塑还是绘画，多是以抽象的方式传达出一种关于生命、关于人、关于自我的忧郁的思考。所以我觉得“无家可归”很适合她的气质：一直在追寻，一直却追寻不到的那个“家”，对于羅一来说，现实和精神，都是如此。

所以我始终羡慕她的勇气，对于艺术的那份坚持，对于探索陌生世界的不迟疑，和对于“自我”的那份自信。仅仅是这份坚守和勇气，就让人很羡慕，也很感动。

She is very independent and is always traveling on her own.  From Beijing to Europe, to the United States, she travels and visits museums. Many people are afraid to travel to some new place alone because but Loy Luo never hesitates to seek out new places.

She is eager for someone to understand her art, so she enjoys talking with others about it.  If someone tells her that he likes her art or discusses it with her she will get excited.  There are always a few people who can understand and appreciate her art. 

I have known Loy Luo for many years, and I have seldom spoken about art with her because it has always cost me a lot of brain cells every time.  From the few conversations we did have, I understood that her works, whether sculpture or painting, mostly conveyed a sense of melancholy about life, people, and the self in an abstract way. Therefore, I think "homeless", the title of her new exhibit suits her temperament very well: she has always been searching for the "home" that she has been unable to find. For Loy Luo, her reality and spiritual outlook have become the same.

Therefore, I always admire her courage, her insistence on art, her unhesitating willingness to explore the strange world, and her unwavering self-confidence. It is this perseverance and courage that have made people admire her.

罗一  摄影：张宝琦

更多的时候，和羅一不谈艺术，简单的聊天也欢乐美好，来自江西的她喜欢美食，做饭也好吃，颇具风味，她喜欢周边的孩子，也有一种老母亲般对孩子充满爱意的抱抱。她喜欢跟别人聊天，邀请很多人来工作室做客，让别人给她生活和艺术上的意见。

她追求美好的生活，总喜欢在工作室也是她的生活空间投入很多精力和金钱，她会为了一个玻璃屋子而请人来大动干戈很多天；不喜欢工作室的大门，她就会自己设计一扇大门找人定做，然后踩着梯子刷上自己调色的油漆。

Most of the time, Loy Luo and I do not talk about art, we simply chat about her life.  She comes from the Jiangxi province, she likes delicious food, cooks well and she likes the children around and hugs them as if she were an old mother full of love.  She loves to meet and talk with people, invites a lot of people to her studio and lets them give her a lot of advice on life and art.

She loves life, she always likes to invest a lot of energy and money in her studio which also serves as her living space.  At one point, she invited people to build a glass house for many days with her.  When she didn't like the studio door, she designed one herself and had it custom-made, then climbed up on a ladder and painted it. 

近一年来，因全球疫情影响、国家关系不断变换，羅一的经历也巧妙地成为一个缩影，就如亿万受到疫情影响的个体一样。从一次简单的美国东部的自驾旅行，到受疫情影响无法归国，再到慢慢安顿于纽约布鲁克林Dumbo艺术区的工作室，从事艺术创作。

即使被滞留在异乡，羅一“既来之则安之”的心境让她很快找到了自己的创作方式，最初是以在街头给人画素描肖像，并以此获取创作灵感，后来她将这种方式改变成一种观看社会现实的途径，设定为《另一个我》百人肖像计划。在这一计划中，她陆续观察到并描绘出一些无家可归的流浪者。

In the past year, due to the impact of the global epidemic and the changing relationship between countries, Loy Luo's experience has become a kind microcosm,  similar to that of hundreds of millions of other individuals affected by the epidemic. Beginning with a simple road trip in the eastern United States, to being stranded and  unable to return to China due to the epidemic, to slowly settling into a studio space in the Dumbo Art district in Brooklyn, New York, and finally working through this dislocation by engaging in artistic creation.

Even though she was stranded in a foreign country, Loy Luo's "take things as they come" mentality soon enabled her to find her own way through these experiences through her own creative process.   At first, she sketched portraits of people on the street and made it a tool for viewing the existing social reality. Later, she altered this process and made it a tool for viewing the existing social reality.  She then started the hundred of people’s portraits project named The Other I. In this project, she gradually observed and depicted many homeless and on the streets of New York.

羅一《邓布利多》91*122 cm  综合材料 2020年

Loy Luo, Dumbledore, Mixed-Media, 36” *48”, 2020

于是，在结束了百人肖像计划之后，随着心态、生活和创作状态的相对稳定，羅一开始将思考转向更为深度和正式的创作，那就是《无家可归》系列。在我看来，她的这批作品更加与以往的抽象艺术一脉相承，大色块的渲染，人物形象的抽象化，整个画面呈现出既有场景感却又无法具体描述的气息。相对于以往的抽象创作，显然她的这批绘画有了温度和情感，能感受到她近一年来，有着比以往更加深刻的生活经历和体验。

不断在社交平台观看她的状态，也在几次简单联络中体会到她的心境：依然独立地用艺术思考着现实和自我，思念着故乡，也喜欢着已经适应的异乡状态。

At the end of the hundred portraits’ project, Luo, with a relatively stable life and studio situation, shifted her thinking to a more profound and formal creation called the Homeless series.  In my opinion, these works are more aligned to her previous abstract works, with the rendering of large color blocks and the abstraction of characters. The whole painting presents an atmosphere that has a sense of scene but cannot be described specifically. Compared to her previous abstract creations, it is obvious that these new paintings have temperature and emotion, and she has had a more profound life experience in the past year than previously. 

I have followed her on the social media platforms and it is clear to me that she still thinks independently about both reality and the self through her art, and although she misses her hometown, she also likes being in the foreign country, to which she has adapted.

2020年12月4日，羅一个展“无家可归”在纽约布鲁克林区的暗流画廊开幕，展出了她的《无家可归》系列，在展览之际，作为远在国内的多年好友，无法以实际行动支持她更多，也无法给她一个拥抱，只能以此短文与对话的方式，恭祝她的展览顺利，生活如意，并希望她能早日归国相见。

On December 4, 2020, Loy Luo "homeless" Solo exhibition opened in Undercurrent gallery in DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn, exhibiting her "homeless" series. As a friend of many years, being far away, I can't take any concrete actions to support her more, can't give her a hug, I only have this essay and this interview.  I would also like to wish well and that I hope she can get back home soon so that we can see each other again.

Q：刘倩 Liu Qian

A：羅一 Loy Luo

Q：能否跟我们分享一下你2020年的经历？

A：2020年一月我因为家庭重大事件无心创作而临时决定远走美国疏解心情。下飞机后我租了一辆汽车，开着它在东岸几座城市如饥似渴地看画廊看博物馆。

原打算开车游到西海岸，后来传来国内疫情的消息，我以一叶知秋之心境预见世界之大不安，于是神经质地跑到纽约以北的山区，寄居在美国家庭的House里。大概半个多月后又回到纽约，观摩三月前后艺术黄金月各色缤纷的艺术活动。与此同时，我开始了百人肖像展的筹备与实施。尽管其中经历了种种困难，我始终坚信这个疫情背景下的行为艺术作品是有意义的。

7月15日被命名为《另一个我》的百人肖像行为展在纽约白盒子艺术中心开幕。展览得到了专家们的高度评价：这是一件充分展示了个人与环境密切连结的、具有后后现代艺术气质的作品（当然理解这一点对大众有点困难，因为它的表象太像一个普通的肖像展），展期延续了两个月。但这时我已经顺从自己的心意开始了《无家可归》展的筹备与创作，仿佛对无家可归者的表现是我必须要尽快吸入的另一口气。

A：目前在纽约布鲁克林区的Dumbo艺术区工作室生活了近半年，创作状态非常好。其实，在我筹备《无家可归》展览前，基于这个展览的内在需要，我计划了一个长达半年之久的无家可归者状态的行为。顺应于疫情中特有的经济不安全感，自7月底我选择非法居住在工作室内，即以一个无家可归者的状态睡在帐篷睡袋里。工作室没有淋浴间，我就去办了健身卡，去健身房锻炼淋浴。半地下的工作室极其安静，到了晚上几乎整条街、整个世界只有我一人。经常半夜我会一个人出去放风般跑一圈，星空下，空荡荡的世界听到自己的心跳时感觉非常振奋、奇妙。

Q: What's your current life and creative experience like?

A: I have been living in the Dumbo Art District studio in Brooklyn for nearly half A year, and my creative state has been very good. In keeping with the economic insecurity that is endemic to the epidemic, since the end of July I have chosen to live illegally in my studio, sleeping as a homeless person in a tent and a sleeping bag. The studio didn't have a shower, so I have to go to a local gym to take a shower. The semi-underground studio was extremely quiet, and at night it seems like I was the only person on the whole street and the whole world. Often in the middle of the night, I would go out and run around like the wind. Under the stars, this empty world let me feel very exciting and wonderful and I could hear my heart beating.

展览开幕现场

Q：请简单谈一下此次展览的缘起？为何会做这样一场展览？

A：简单说就是，疫情期间的纽约街头，更多无家可归者的形象共振了我个人体验中无家可归的感受，不仅是特定时期个体经历的无家可归的客观殊态，更是隐喻层面人们无家可归的精神常态。尽管这个展览可能会引起对等级制度的疑惑，但我更想传递某种超越政治，甚至超越人性思考的东西，那是人们在这场灾难中所体验的、用语言无法传达而只好借力艺术表达的刺痛。

Q: Please tell us a little about the origin of the exhibition. Why an exhibition like this?

A: To put it simply, the image of more homeless people on the streets of New York during the epidemic resonated with my own experience of homelessness. It was not only the objective state of homelessness as experienced by individuals in a specific period, but also the spiritual normality of homelessness on a metaphorical level. While this exhibition may raise questions about hierarchy, I want to convey something that transcends politics and social structures, that is, the sting that people have experienced in this disaster, cannot be conveyed in words but only by art.

Q：2020年，你在海外，画了一段时间的素描，当时也做了展览。这次展出的是综合材料作品，两个系列的创作如何转变的？

A：这两个系列之间有紧密关联，可以说后者是前者的自然延续；也可以说后者是基于对前者的反思与深化。

在《另一个我》的大多数作品中，作为观察者的我是以一种极富耐心的细节描写去刻画对象。这是作品方案内涵的环节设计，即街头画像是疫情下的特定生存方式，这里的画像本身并不是纯粹听凭创作者个人喜好的所谓纯艺术，而是被设计为满足生存的工具，和历史上所有街头画像师的任务类似。

Q: In 2020, you sketched overseas for a while and did an exhibition. This exhibition is of mixed-media works. How did the creation of the two series change?

A: There is a close connection between the two series. It can be said that the latter is a natural continuation of the former. It can also be said that the latter is based on the reflection and deepens the the former.

In most of the works of The Other I, I, as an observer, depicted the subject in deliberate detail. This is only one aspect of the work scheme, namely, in covid-19 the street portrait is a particular way of making a living. Here, the painting itself is not a so-called pure art since it is not created only through the individual will of the artist, but is designed as a tool to help me to survive in this difficult economic environment.

不同的是，极其质朴耐心的细节描绘不仅为了表达对对象的尊重、妥协，更试图提示对疫情中容易被忽略的个体性的重视。只是最终，我的实践在展览环节触碰了悖论：在同时进行的线上和线下各具特色和创作意图的展陈方式中，当成百计的细节丰富的头像并陈一处时，还是不可避免地产生了一种个体被群体淹埋的客观效果。就好像真实世界无论个体多么精彩，都将不可避免地淹没于人海。

其实，在《另一个我》的后期实施中已经出现了一些无家可归者的形象，大家可能发现那些被削减了细节刻画的面部形象不仅没有削弱其个体性，反而呈现更为辛辣鲜活的精神气质。而这一隐秘发现在《无家可归》系列采用无脸特征时完全显明。而这并不是一句“少即是多”可以解释清楚的。

如果说《另一个我》更多是外观式地悲悯一整个世界，悲悯那些被忽略的普遍的个体性，那么《无家可归》在精神上更多是借用无家可归者的形象内观式地悲悯自我，悲悯恒常存在的精神上无所依凭的自我。显然，这种内省式的精神写照引起了人们更多的同情心、同理心。事实上，从《另一个我》到《无家可归》是一个更加深入的自我认知过程。

What's different is that these extremely simple, patiently articulated details not only express respect for the subject, but I also try to indicate the importance of individuality that is easily overlooked during an epidemic.  But in the end, my practice encountered a paradox: in the simultaneous online and offline exhibition of different features and creative intention, when hundreds of detailed portraits were presented together, it inevitably produced an objective effect that the individuals were  lumped together by groups. It is as if in the real world, no matter how wonderful an individual is, they will inevitably drown in a sea of people.

In fact, in the later implementation of The Other I, there are already some images of the homeless, and you may have found that the facial images reduced in detail did not weaken their individuality, but present a more poignant and vivid spiritual quality. This secret discovery was made more clear when the faceless features were adopted in the Homeless series. And it is not enough to explain it by the phrase "less is more."

If The Other I is more about externally sympathizing with the whole world and the neglected individuality, then Homeless is more about internally sympathizing with the self by borrowing the image of the homeless, and thereby sympathizing with the self-dependent spirit that always exists. Apparently, this introspective portrayal of the spirit lead to more sympathy and empathy. In fact, going from "The Other I” to "Homeless" was a much deeper process toward self-knowledge.

Q：这个系列作品中，如何描绘人？

A：关于这个，我想引用展览前言的那句话来回答：“一个生命在我们居住的建筑几何图形上留下印记，要多久，要到什么程度，才能给我们留下温暖的躯体的印象？”在我看来，在与世界的关系中，人的形象不过是一个个逐渐静止、褪色的印记。这种感受与残酷生存体验中人的身份无可避免的消解不无关系。即我们每个人都曾鲜活生动于这个世界的微观领地里，但生命耗不起宏观，耗不起岁月，耗不起灾难，我们终究只是一个个面容模糊不清，甚至只有含糊轮廓的存在。事实上，这些模糊的面容和身影反而传递出更强的精神气息，因为它们更吻合人这个存在事实的卑微和无解的孤立。

Q: How are people depicted in this series?

A: About this, I would like to quote the sentence in the preface of the exhibition to answer: "How long, and to what degree, must a being imprint itself upon the geometries of our lived architecture before imparting suggestions of a warm body? " In my opinion, in the relationship between the human and the world, human figures are nothing more than gradually static and faded marks. This feeling has something to do with the inevitable dissolution of ones identity in the brutal experience of existence. That is, every one of us has been vivid in the micro territory of this world, but life can not afford to macro, can not afford to time , can not afford to disaster. After all, we are only an obscure face, or even only a vague outline of an existence. In fact, these vague faces and figures convey a stronger spiritual breath, because they are more consistent with the humble and insoluble isolation of human existence.

Q：画面背景能看出来场景感，但是实际上的表达却是抽象的，抽象的画面，抽象的人，能否谈一下你的画面本身？

A：抽象是我本来的喜好，我曾经十余年专注于抽象艺术的研究与实践，抽象思考、抽象艺术是我个人精神的出口。这批创作的起稿阶段，我急于宣泄某种饱胀的情绪，画面简洁概括、一气呵成，笔触灵动随性，色彩直觉追心，当时只是想把他们作为一个初稿留待后期打磨，但给一些朋友看后纷纷说好，让我保留那种画面不可再得的手感。我个人并不特别热衷于快画，尽管它容易出一些视觉效果，但我的执念是，画和人一样，一时的、瞬间的美颜并不如经由时间沉淀的厚重层次更令人动心，所以我总是在纠结中去破坏一张张看上去不错的画面，这确实是需要勇气的，不过经过打磨的作品确实带来一些更深层的精神体验。对我个人而言，这种打磨其实往往是朝向无关情绪、消解情绪的方向，一如我的抽象作品，通过时间的投入去覆盖消解情感时，画面的抽象感得到加强，客观精神性取代最初的情绪情感。

世俗众人常把情绪情感统称作精神，但其实这是主观精神，主观精神和客观精神是两种截然不同的东西，前者是附属于世俗物质世界的，和肉身的关联过于紧密，各种具象、抽象表象主义中张扬的情绪都被尊为精神，主观精神在现代主义主流的存在主义哲学中获得了极高的尊崇，所以各种宣泄情绪的表现主义的艺术其实都属于现代主义艺术。但客观精神却是形而上的超脱尘世的古典哲学精神，是不同于存在主义哲学的古典哲学精神。但明显含有人的温度的我的作品显然不是复古的古典主义，当然，与其说我的作品曾引发了一个后后现代主义的发言，不如说我更倾心于后存在主义迷思，即是一种并不离走于存在却又试图超越存在的、有人的踪迹的世界客观精神的追索。

Q: The background of the work can tell the sense of scene, but the actual expression is abstract, abstract picture, abstract person. Could you tell me something about your painting?

A: Abstraction is my original preference. I have been focusing on the research and practice of abstract art for more than ten years. Abstract thinking and abstract art are the outlet for my personal spirit. At the beginning of this group of paintings, I was eager to vent emotion. These works were concise and general, with flexible brushwork and intuitive color. At that time, I just wanted to leave them as a first draft to be polished later, but after showing them to some friends, I was urged one after another that I should keep the feeling the picture captured because it could not be obtained again. I personally was not particularly keen on quick painting, although it is easy to obtain some visual effects, but my faith was that painting is the same as a person, the momentary beauty is not more impressive than the beauty precipitated and created by time. So, I was always struggling to destroy the picture that looks good early on, which really needs courage, because a polished work brings more spiritual depth.  For me, such polishing is usually directed towards the eliminating of emotion in the work.  Just like my abstract works, when I cover and dissolve emotion with the investment of time, the abstract sense of the picture is strengthened, and an objective spirit replaces the original emotion.

Worldly people often call emotional feeling spirit and various kinds of concrete, abstract expressionism reveres mood as spirit, but it is a subjective spirit. Subjective spirit and objective spirit are the two absolutely different things, the former is attached to the secular world of matter, which connects to the body too closely. Subjective spirit in existential philosophy, the modern mainstream philosophy, won the highest respect, so all kinds of expressionist art that depict subjective emotion actually belong to the modernist art.  But objective spirit is the metaphysical spirit of classical philosophy, which is different from the existentialist philosophy.  Obviously, because my work contains human temperature, my work is not of this classical approach.  Of course, maybe my work had sparked a discussion on post-post-modern, but I would rather say I prefer the term post-existentialist, a term is not far from existence but tries to transcend existence, a term in keeping with human’s traces but go forward the objective spirit of the world.

Q：这次展览主题为“无家可归”，契合了你2020年的心境和你对社会的观看？

A：是，2020年对我来说是一个非常剧情的年份，不过也就是这世界风云充当背景的剧场情节终于让我有机会得以毫无保留地借《无家可归》宣泄并释放先天而来的为人的痛苦。至于对社会的观看，终究摆脱不了对自己的观看，我们总是变换着视点：通过观看世界试图看清自己，通过内观自己试图理解世界，并借此演绎一个注定成为建筑上或天地间的模糊印记与其所依附的背景之间的隐没故事。

Q: The theme of this exhibition is "homeless", does it fit your state of mind and your view of the society in 2020?

A: Yes, 2020 has been a very dramatic year for me.  But it is the world which has served as a kind of background, much like a theater plot, which finally gave me the opportunity to use "Homeless" to vent and give expression to the inherent human suffering of this epidemic unreservedly.  As for the view of the society, we cannot get rid of this view of ourselves. We constantly change our point of view:  we try to see ourselves clearly by looking at the world, and we try to see the world by looking inside ourselves, so as to interpret a hidden story between a vague mark, destiny and its background, namely, architecture or universe.

艺术家自述

纽约无家可归者的形象令人震惊。在这个人类引以为豪的文明世界里，底层生活场景极大激发了我的创作热情。我经常看到很多有精神问题的无家可归者手舞足蹈，大声吟咏，骄傲地象行走于天街。他们让我想起古代游吟诗人，所以每当我看到他们，总是心怀敬畏。我一直认为艺术家也是天生的流浪者，他们也有各种心理问题，因为他们对自己所处时代的问题比普通人更敏感。

2020年一月我来纽约，突如其来的疫情带给像我这样的旅行者前所未有的无家可归的体验。一开始，从中国传来疫情暴发的消息，亲友们出于关心建议我不要回国。两个月后，纽约成为疫情中心，亲友们因为大多数人的安全考虑希望我不要回家。后来更有各种断航、天价票、隔离检测标准设置等种种措施极尽所能地阻挡着人们的回归路。疫情对亲情、人情的尖利挑战以及所引起的纠结创痛早已令人失语地超出了过往思想者们对人性思考的所有深度。

作品的“无脸”特征既吻合大时代下身份缺失带来的迷惑感受，也双关着失去尊严的隐喻。而这一灵感最初来自疫情原始恐慌中的所见:当大多数人都已使用面具来保护自己免受病毒感染时，无家可归者一如既往的透明的脸上却依然不戴面具。我突然想到，利用面具掩示真实自我的人常在社会中获得成功，而袒露真实自我的人却常成为失败者，这不得不令人对社会运作体系中的身份系统产生怀疑。而当目睹“卡西莫多(Quasimodo)”驼背的身体散发出雕塑般的庄严，“游吟诗人（Troubadour）”孤立于历史废墟上的身影令人唏嘘时，这些世俗社会定义的无用者的存在让我关联到提倡无用之用的中国古典哲学。

事实上，除了一些人被迫流离失所，不得不睡在公共空间，帐篷、睡袋、甚至硬纸盒里，疫情更让无数人都收获了类似无家可归的经历: 我们很没有面子地在外面吃饭，坐街边台阶上休息，没有厕所可用，而且总是可耻地孤独……

羅一

Artist Statement

The images of New York's homeless shocked me. In this so-called civilized world that human beings are proud of, the scenes of underclass life both greatly appalled me and also inspired my passion for creation. I often see homeless people with mental health problems dancing, chanting loudly and walking proudly down the street. They remind me of ancient minstrels, so whenever I see them, I am always in awe. I have always believed that artists are also born homeless, and they also have various psychological problems, because they are more sensitive to the problems of their own times than ordinary people. 

When I arrived in New York in January 2020, a sudden outbreak brought travelers like me an unprecedented feeling of homelessness.  At first, when news of the outbreak came from China, relatives and friends advised me not to return home out of concern.  Two months later, when New York became the center of the epidemic, my friends and family wanted me not to go home out of concern for the safety of others at home. Later, there were a variety of obstacles such as canceled flights, sky-high ticket prices, quarantine testing standards, etc., to prevent people from returning. The acute challenge of the epidemic to family relationships and relations to others, and the unusual entanglements and wounds it has caused, is beyond the depth of previous thinkers' thinking about human nature.  

The "faceless" feature of these paintings should be consistent with the confused feeling brought about by the loss of identity during this unique time, and is also a pun on the human notion of dignity. The inspiration for these works originally came from my observations in the original panic of the epidemic: while most people had used masks to protect themselves from the virus, the homeless didn't wear masks over their faces.  It occurred to me that those who mask their true selves often succeed in society, while those who reveal their true selves often fail, which raises doubts about the identity in the social system. And when I saw the hunchback body of ”Quasimodo” standing, sculptural and solemn, or the lonely figure of “Troubadour" on the historical ruins,  I saw the connection between the useless presence defined by the secular social order and the useless as articulated by Chinese classical philosophy on the inherent value of the useless. 

In fact, aside from the fact that some people have been displaced and have to sleep in public Spaces, in tents, sleeping bags and even cardboard boxes, the epidemic has also brought the experience of homelessness to countless others: we eat out, rest on street steps, have no toilets to use, and are often always shamefully alone... 

Loy Luo