刘兰收藏 LIU LAN COLLECTION

一九九六年，经刘婷婷介绍我认识了冷林，那年我第一次走进了中国当代艺术的殿堂，《现实：今天与明天》的展览带给我的陌生与困惑至今刻骨铭心！那年我27岁。我出生于一个传统的中国知识分子家庭，父亲是电影导演，母亲是戏剧编剧及演员。中国传统的艺术形态与主流文化从我丫丫学语时便开始影响着我，莫奈、塞尚一直是我认为唯一的艺术标准，可那一年却被完全颠覆。当代艺术对我是一位陌生者，他们（艺术家）想表达的是什么？从怪异的图像中我没有找到答案。传统的绘画艺术带给我们的是一种视觉享受，是塞尚的风景、是莫奈的“睡莲”，可这次展览却是一个怪物！

七年后，也就是二零零三年，经一位朋友介绍我又一次进入了中国当代艺术的领域。可这一次中国当代艺术所带给我的是一种新思想、一种新眼光、一种新技巧，也使我认识到一种风景的新形式，给人提供一种“看”的新艺术，以及给世界提供的一种新图式，这一切都深深震撼了我！艺术家通过艺术创作把我带入了艺术品的思考形式中，它是一种视觉思考，具有很强的力量，它们告诉我随时随地都可以创新，让我的眼光在新艺术语言中探险。
从这年开始，我开始了我的中国当代艺术收藏生涯。在这几年里，我沉湎于当代艺术的收藏享受中，收藏成为了一种生活方式，我把它比喻为“心灵的游历和探险”。但这仅仅只是一个开始，我期待着未来带给我无数的未知与惊喜……。

刘兰于北京 2008年7月

In the year 1996, I came to know Leng Lin through Liu Tingting. That was the year when I first entered the hall of Chinese contemporary art. The exhibition, “Reality: Today and Tomorrow”, embraced me with unfamiliarity and confusion, which I can never forget. I was 27 years old then. I was born in a Chinese traditional intellectual family. My father is a film director; my mother is a playwright and an actress. I grew up under the influence of mainstream culture and Chinese traditional arts. Monet and Cézanne had always been my only artistic standard. That year, however, I was completely subverted. Contemporary art to me was a stranger - what do they (contemporary artists) want to express? I failed to find any answers from the absurd images. Traditional art gives us visual sensation and pleasure - look at Cézanne’s scenery and Monet’s Water Lilies. But this exhibition is a monster!

7 years later, in the year 2003, I walked into the world of Chinese contemporary art through a friend. This time, Chinese contemporary art amazed me by revealing to me a philosophy, an attitude, a new technique; it also introduced to me a new format for scenery and landscape paintings. Chinese contemporary art provided us with a new image and new way to look at art. These have greatly impressed me - With their works, contemporary artists introduced to me the meditation on art objects. It was a kind of visual meditation that was superb with power. These artists made me understand that I was capable of innovating at all times; they led me to the exploration of new artistic languages.

I have started my career of collecting Chinese contemporary artworks in recent years, since then, I have enjoyed collecting contemporary art. Collecting art has become my way of life. I like to think of it as “the travel and adventure of the soul”. Yet this is only a start, I look forward to the uncountable surprises that the future brings.

Liu Lan, in Beijing 2008 July