新春将至，柯路为您带来了各式各样的“牛”形艺术作品大赏，一起来“云”看展。

荷兰艺术家Theo van Doesburg是一位与皮特·蒙德里安绘画理念相同且相交甚好的艺术家，你能看出他的作品Composition VIII是一头牛吗？中间的黄色正方形是巨大厚实的胸腔、左边的黑色矩形是臀部，下面的蓝色和红色代表两条腿。右下角是一个三头：蓝色的前额，黑色的鼻腔和红色的嘴巴。作品的标题十分恰当，乍一看，我们看到的只是一个抽象的彩色矩形的“组成”，但隐藏在里面的确是一头牛。 Is it possible for you to see Composition VIII as a cow? The central yellow square is a massive, weighty ribcage, and the black rectangle on the left is a hip, with the blue and red below representing two legs. In the lower right is a tripartite head: blue forehead, black snout, and red mouth/nostrils. The title is appropriate after all. At the first sight, what we see is just an abstract “composition” of colored rectangles, but hidden within is a cow.

20世纪的中国水墨艺术有四绝——齐白石的虾，徐悲鸿的马，黄胄的驴，李可染的牛。 李可染在孩童时代对水牛的记忆便十分深刻，从那时起开始对牛作画，到后期画作中牛的形象，都代表着近现代中国人宣扬的美德——纯良温驯、任劳任怨、力大无穷、俯首孺子。郭沫若曾写诗盛赞称他笔下的牛为“国兽”。 In the 20th century, there are four well-known Chinese ink and wash painters: Qi Baishi's shrimp, Xu Beihong's horse, Huang Zhou's donkey, and Li Keran's buffalo. Li Keran had a deep memory of buffalo when he was a child. From then on, he began to paint cattle. The image of the animal represented the virtues advocated by Chinese people: pure and gentle, hard-working with perseverance, and bow to the head. Guo Moruo once wrote poems praising Li's cattle as the "national beast".

巴勃罗·毕加索受西班牙共和国委托创作了一幅油画，以回应西班牙内战爆发。这幅画的主要目的是表达对残暴、战争的反抗。画中的公牛是一个复杂的象征性人物，它虽是愤怒和侵略的形象，但其实也是受害者。在展示力量时被杀掉，在仪式上投降，或被更狡猾、高超的人类剥夺权力并驯服。 Pablo Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Republic to create a painting in response to the civil war that had started in Spain. The main purpose of the painting was to act as an expression against war and brutality. The bull in the painting is a complex figure of symbolism. At once it is a figure of anger and aggression, but all too often it is also the victim, killed in a show of strength, surrendered in an act of ritual or tamed and reduced in power by man's superior cunning. 

安迪·沃霍尔的奶牛壁纸是他在20世纪60年代至80年代创作的一系列壁纸设计中的一幅。从20世纪60年代的艺术商人伊万·卡普那获取灵感，沃霍尔听从他的建议，借奶牛田园牧歌的特征和在艺术史上长青的形象，创作了高对比度和大胆色彩的奶牛壁纸，使其成为了粗野、幽默、怪诞而有趣的题材。 Andy Warhol's Cow Wallpaper was the first in a series of wallpaper designs he created from the 1960s to the 80s. Warhol drew inspiration from Ivan Karp, an art dealer in the 1960s, who suggested him to paint cows for they are wonderfully pastoral and such a durable image in the history of the arts. What made the final product even more interesting was that Warhol used bold high contrast colors making the cow a humorous and strangely exciting subject matter.

1970年，平克·弗洛伊德的第一张英国冠军专辑《Atom Heart Mother》，也是一张没有标题、乐队名字、歌曲信息，只有一头牛在田野间照片的专辑封面。这张“牛”封是由Hipgnosis设计的，他的想法是设计一个出乎意料、非传统意义的专辑封面。这一设计理念在上世纪70年代之后也一直得以延续。 In 1970, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother became their first No.1 album with a cover missing a title and the group's name. Instead, there was just a cow in a field. The cover was designed by Hipgnosis whose idea was to design a non-cover that was unexpected. This led to a trend that continued on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s and beyond. 

对，就是一只放屁的公牛！ 这是艺术家陈文令的一组雕塑作品，除此之外他还创作过《城市公牛》等以牛为主题的巨型雕塑作品。作为1978年以来中国当代艺术史上举足轻重的一位艺术家，陈文令创作出了一批在公共社会语境中产生共鸣和影响的作品。这尊放屁的公牛不仅寓意着“牛气冲天”，同样在深层次地讽刺映射庞氏骗局和全球的经济乱象。 Yes, it a farting bull! This is what Zhu Qi says about Chen Wengling’s sculptures, "Chen Wenling’s sculptures represent the spirit of collective imagery that defines China after her entrance into consumerist society." The “farting bull”, we will refer to "niu qi chong tian" in Chinese blessing and also is a reflection of the infamous global financial crisis and the Ponzi Scheme. 

“母子（分割）”是一件母牛和小牛被分成两半、保存在四个甲醛罐中的艺术品。作为“阿佩托93”威尼斯双年展的一部分首次进行展出。达米恩·赫斯特解释说，“在某种程度上，这件作品表达当生命与死亡发生交流后，虽然悲痛，但会对活着的意义了解地更深、更多。 ‘Mother and Child (Divided)’, a cow and calf bisected and preserved in four tanks of formaldehyde, was first exhibited as part of the ‘Aperto 93’ Venice Biennale exhibition. The artist explains, “In a way, you understand more about living people by dealing with dead people. It’s sad but you feel more ... my cows cut up in formaldehyde have more personality than any cows walking about in fields.

作为第二届鹿特丹国际建筑双年展的一部分，这三只8米高的充气奶牛被放置在兰斯塔德的主要公路旁，成为了荷兰独特地平线的一部分。这种古老的人造景观不仅具有重要的文化意义，而且也能引发观者的自我思考。 As part of the 2nd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, the three eight-meter-high inflatable cows were placed along the main highways in the Randstad as reminders of the unique Dutch horizon. They help viewers realize the fact that this ancient manmade landscape is not only of great cultural importance but also essential as a place for self-reflection. 

立在纽约曼哈顿金融区北边百老汇大街上的“华尔街铜牛”，不止是一尊雕塑，更是一个大热旅游胜地，每天吸引着成千上万的打卡合影人。而这座巨大铜雕的由来，是在1989年金融市场恐慌时的“黑色星期一”，艺术家Arturo Di Modica把自己创作的铜牛运到了纽约证券交易所对面，迅速放下并离开，前后不过5分钟时间。当年引起的全城市民轰动让警察和市政府不得不同意永久留下了这座非法雕塑。
The Charging Bull standing on Broadway Street just north of Bowling Green in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, is a popular tourist destination that draws thousands of people a day. In 1989, artist Arturo Di Modica created the massive bronze sculpture and dropped it in front of the NYSE without permission. The whole act stands for aggressive financial optimism and prosperity against the economic recession.

在19世纪早期，针对动物的某些特性进行选择性育种已是一种比较普遍的做法。这些优等获奖型家畜的主人开始委托画家来创作牲畜及自己的合影。为了让这些动物看起来更优种优育、令人印象深刻，艺术家们夸张了他们的外表，细长的小腿托起了比例极不协调的长方形巨大身体。
In the early 1800s, selective breeding for certain traits in animals was becoming a more common practice. This is when owners of prize livestock started to commission paintings of themselves with their cattle. In order to make the animals look as impressive and well-bred as possible, the artists exaggerated their look by making the body disproportionately big with spindly little legs holding it up. 

Thanks to the following references:

1. tate.org.uk 
2. khanacademy.org
3. artpie.co.uk
4. artdependence.com
5. irishtimes.com
6. damienhirst.com
7. west8.com