“罪犯的藝術(shù)”：“禁忌”的魅力

“禁忌”的魅力，就好像來(lái)自那不勒斯海的塞壬天籟般的歌聲，又如伊甸園里讓人垂涎欲滴的智慧果，危險(xiǎn)卻也誘人，所以有人為追隨塞壬的歌聲寧愿永沉大海，亞當(dāng)與夏娃一嘗禁果后被逐出伊甸園。同理，人們對(duì)“黑暗世界”的窺探與研究正是因?yàn)槠渖l(fā)的“可怕”甚至“不道德”的光芒。人們對(duì)“罪犯的藝術(shù)”的追捧，除卻“對(duì)邊緣群體的關(guān)懷”這層榮光，更多還是對(duì)那個(gè)“黑暗的角落”一種“欲嘗又止”的窺探心理在作怪。——Mac

The art world often nurtures its 1)enfants terribles. After all， rule breakers sell paintings. So it’s no surprise that real 2)felons are increasingly winning notice on the scene. As therapeutic art programs 3)burgeon behind bars， “criminal art” has generated a curious 4)niche in the U.K. London’s prestigious Southbank Centre will turn over its gallery space to works by Britain’s 5)inmates. The show， Art by Offenders (Oct. 21–Dec. 3)， is organized by the Koestler Trust， a charity that awards convicts with small cash prizes and a cut of any work sold. The show will be 6)curated by female prisoners on special supervised release who will give tours of the exhibit to the public.

In some pieces， the 7)claustrophobia of prison life is 8)palpable; an anonymous painting titled Full House shows a crowded mass of uniformed figures， representing Britain’s swelling prison population. In a work called9)Vortex， one of the potential exhibits in London， a 10)futuristic swirl of color is 11)splattered with red， blood-like paint. Another piece， entitled My World in Winter， is an abstract 12)Peter Doig-style picture that evokes the 13)gritty texture of the prison yard.

Therapeutic art programs are widely believed to help 14)rehabilitate criminals. Now they’re also generating controversial interest from critics and private collectors. Earlier this year， two paintings by London’s notorious Kray twins—who ran a violent gang called “the Firm” during the 1960s， were convicted of murder， and have since died—15)netted nearly pound;1，00016)apiece when they went 17)under the hammer at a London auction house. “(People) imagine that the 18)underworld might be revealed by having access to this work，” says Walsh. “Suddenly the taboo life of people in prison is available to the public. Even if it’s not to fully understand (it)， it’s just an attempt to try and glimpse that world. That desire is very compelling. That’s what’s driving this market.”

The growing demand has sparked a 19)contentious ethics debate in the U.K. Should convicted murderers be allowed to use government funds to become professional artists while they serve life sentences? To be sure， censoring the work of murderers would 20)discount several of history’s most talented artists—including 21)Caravaggio， who killed a man in a 22)brawl in 1606. Tim Robertson， director of the Koestler Trust， believes convicts should be encouraged to exhibit art made during their 23)incarceration. “On the whole， it’s to the benefit of all of us that the work is exhibited，” he says. “It is a way of rebuilding (a prisoner’s) relationship with society. Some of these prisoners are creating amazingly skilled work. By exhibiting it， you get to hear their perspectives. The majority of the public have no idea what’s happening (inside prisons). They are grim places. My God， they’re grim.” Opponents argue that displaying and selling criminal art celebrates some of society’s most violent24)sociopaths.

Some serious offenders have established popular followings. One British 25)detainee， Michael Gordon Peterson， who has assumed for himself the name of tough-guy actor 26)Charles Bronson， is the subject of a recent 27)biopic， and is a 28)prolific artist with more than a dozen Koestler awards. Bronson was convicted of armed robbery in 1975， then staged a one-man protest by taking hostages and assaulting guards. The former fighter has been in solitary confinement for the past 30 years and received a life sentence while in jail after he took his art teacher hostage in 2000. Yet his colorful， often comic cartoons depicting his 29)precarious state of mind continue to attract buyers online. This summer， the Welsh charity the Beacon of Hope sold two of his works for more than pound;700 after Bronson donated them to the trust. The charity is quick to point out Bronson’s good intentions as a clear sign that a once violent man is changing his ways.

So-called outsider art has been fashionable for some time， but the question of profit is clearly troubling the government， which is currently reviewing a section of the 30)Coroners-and-Justice Bill to empower the courts to seize assets from offenders who have made money from their crimes. A Ministry of Justice spokesman stated that criminals should not be allowed to “cash in on the story of their crime.”

But prison art appears to adhere to the same principles as all commercially driven art: 31)namely， market forces 32)trump all. And there’s clearly a consumer demand for criminal art. Ronnie Kray’s 33)Munch-like landscapes with 34)menacing figures standing outside bleak buildings sold in spite—or perhaps because—of his conviction for murder， 35)racketeering， and torture. What’s more， the auction was a spectacle， attracting serious 36)aficionados as well as 37)ne’er-do-wells from the Krays’ 38)sketchy past. “Some of the crowd you were afraid to speak to; others were collectors，” says Paul Smith of the Hampshire auction house. “It didn’t matter that the work wasn’t any good. There was a 39)morbid fascination all round.” As admirers of artists from Francis Bacon to Edvard Munch can attest， few things are more alluring than the vision of a dark mind hanging on the wall.

藝術(shù)界往往是培育“壞孩子”的溫床，畢竟，敢于破規(guī)犯戒的人才能使其藝術(shù)作品有賣(mài)點(diǎn)。所以，難怪重刑犯在這方面的發(fā)展愈發(fā)受到關(guān)注。隨著藝術(shù)治療項(xiàng)目在獄中“生根發(fā)芽”，“罪犯的藝術(shù)”在英國(guó)創(chuàng)出了一片奇特的小天地。倫敦頗負(fù)盛名的南岸中心畫(huà)廊將騰出場(chǎng)地展示英國(guó)犯人的藝術(shù)作品。10月21日至12月3日的“囚犯創(chuàng)藝展”由凱斯特勒信托基金會(huì)主辦，該基金會(huì)是一家慈善機(jī)構(gòu)，向罪犯發(fā)放小額獎(jiǎng)金以及售賣(mài)作品所得的部分款項(xiàng)。展覽將由獲短期假釋的女犯人組織管理，亦由她們負(fù)責(zé)向來(lái)參觀(guān)的公眾作導(dǎo)覽講解。

在一些作品當(dāng)中，牢獄生活引發(fā)的幽閉恐懼癥是顯而易見(jiàn)的;一幅沒(méi)有署名，題為《滿(mǎn)座》的作品畫(huà)的就是一群穿著統(tǒng)一的囚服擠在一塊的人，這表現(xiàn)了英國(guó)監(jiān)獄的人數(shù)膨脹得很厲害。在一幅名為《漩渦》的作品中(可能會(huì)在倫敦展出)，充滿(mǎn)未來(lái)感的回旋色彩上被潑濺了血一般的紅色顏料。另外一幅名為《我冬天的世界》的作品是一幅彼得·多依格風(fēng)格的抽象畫(huà)，使人聯(lián)想起監(jiān)獄院子那泥地沙礫的質(zhì)感。……