在中国艺术界，很多人知道当年的“星星画会”，也有很多人认识李爽。甚至有人说：“现在风行一时的行为艺术，李爽已经轰轰烈烈举行过了。李爽事件是中国最大的一项行为艺术作品。”
星星画会始于1979年，作为一个非官方民间画会，当时有八九个人参加（后来阵容渐扩大），他们在北京美术学院外的小公园举行露天美展，两天后被喊停，百幅作品也被全数没收，画家们举行示威游行，口号是“艺术自由”。
作为“星星”开山的唯一女性成员，李爽先是失去创作自由，接着又失去恋爱自由。当时她和驻华的法国外交官白天祥（Emmanuel Bellefroid)相恋并在外交公寓同居，为此李爽被“劳动教养”两年，白天祥被勒令离开中国，直到法国总统密特朗访华时向中国当局求情，李爽才获释放。
从获释那天开始，李爽离开中国已23年，目前夫妇居住巴黎，育有两名男孩。她在巴黎南部有一间工作室，每天作画六七个小时。
从苦难中找到甜美
值得一提的，白天祥在7O年代曾在前南洋大学学过中文，算是新加坡人的老朋友了。据说当爱人入狱时，白天祥日以继夜到处奔走，在法国展开系列“救人计划”。今天事过境迁，李爽个展已获准在中国北京盛大举行。
可是谈到这件往事，她不无骄傲说：“以行为艺术的开拓性来说，我是当时一个敢于嫁给外国人的中国女人，也是开风气之先了！在监狱中我只能用功读书，狱方不给我外国书，我就要求看中国历史书和古典名著。他们要我和白天祥一刀两断，代价是，送我进入正规的美术学院。”
经历那么多变故，她对这场浩劫有什么看法？“在那个动乱时代，就是普通老百姓也有许多惨痛经验。我的哲学是：受过那么多艰辛苦难，我全都把它们和泥吞下并消化，积存下来的部分，已不是憎恨而是甜美。”
三年画3000幅作品
李爽生于北京，父母分别在清华和北大任建筑系教授，由于家庭背景“不好”，她从小失却接受教育机会，却生来喜欢画画，画得最多的是静物和风景。懂事以来，生活就是一连串批斗、上山、下乡和劳改。
一度，李爽也像许多知识分子家庭的孩子一样，发出令人揪心的“天问”：“为什么我不是工农兵的孩子！为什么父母是知识分子？”她与美术的直接关系是：在劳改时用能到手的油画棒，三年中完成3000幅作品，靠着这批作品，她得以成为中国青年艺术剧院的舞台美工。
以观音形象代表自己的文化背景
她近期在中国、新加坡和印尼的展出，作品是23幅中国古典女性的画像，人物樱桃嘴、丹凤眼，形象让人想到华人普遍崇拜的观音娘娘。
是否因为她在北京展画的画廊地点在观音堂文化大道，因此作品必须配合？像《七万佛云轻》，根本就是一幅佛像画。
回答是：“我自己至今没有任何信仰，可是无可否认，在经历过那么多事件后，阅读了许多宗教经书，对于佛教的中道也很赞同。但重要的是我的作品从内心出发。此外身在外国，反而有机会更多寻找自己的文化根源，像以前我反对过中国风景画法，现在却非常推崇，甚至发现外国人画风景是唯物的，只是把眼前东西搬进画面，中国画是唯心，在平面构图中画面饱含画家的精神层次。我画的人物分成一个到三个，手法近于中国传统肖像画。人物在我画中是焦点，却用各种背景和前后景来衬托。”
新系列的数字作品
移居法国后，李爽曾在巴黎蓬皮杜中心展出“中国木刻”，参加的联展包括台北汉雅轩画廊的“星星：十年”及在中国、韩国、西班牙、意大利、和日本的联展。
她说：“我的作品是一个系列一个系列完成。我现在处理的是和数字有关的画作。我对数学没有什么研究，但却发现：那些各种写法的数字，有时候无心地在桌面上排列开来，每次的排列都没有什么大的变化或出入，觉得很有趣味，也可以画成系列作品。”
The Forgotten “Star”: Li Shuang
By Lynn Zhang
Most people in the world of Chinese contemporary art don"t know the name Li Shuang, but she was a pioneer.
In 1979, she was one of the 12 founding members of the Stars group -- a collection untrained, experimental artists who challenged the orthodoxy in China. They were a political and artistic group, and in a series of unauthorized exhibitions in Beijing these artists broke all the rules, setting the stage for the emergence of avant-garde art in China.
Li Shuang was the only female members of a group that included Huang Rui, Wang Keping, Ma Desheng, Li Xianting and poet Bei Dao, Mang Ke and writer A Cheng. And she was the only member imprisoned.
In Sept.27,1979, The Stars Group showed their experimental work in the garden outside the China National Museum, after having their request for a show turned down by the authorities. The exhibition was closed by the authorities after two days. Soon, on October 1, 1979, a group of artists marched through the streets of Beijing demanding freedom of expression. In many ways, this movement was a turning point for Chinese contemporary art, pushing forward the development of more radical expressions of art.
Later, in September 1981, at the age of 24, Li Shuang was jailed for cohabiting with a French diplomat, her fiance, Emmanuel Bellefroid, who had arrived in Beijing in 1975. Mr. Bellefroid was expelled from China soon after her arrest. He was accused of supporting anti-government activities.
Li Shuang spent two years in prison, mostly reading Chinese classics, and enduring psychological torture. Meanwhile, her fiance, Mr. Bellefroid lobbied the French government to get her released.
Her love story, and her release in 1983, were chronicled in The New York Times.
The release came after Francois Mitterand, who later served as French president, brought the matter up in a 1983 meeting with Deng Xiaoping.
Shortly after the meeting, Li Shuang was released from prison and allowed to travel to Paris, where she later married Mr. Bellefroid. They now live in Paris and have two sons, age 18 and 12.
Li Shuang never gave up her artistic life. She continues to paint, often colorful Buddha like figures, in a studio in the south of Paris, where she works six or seven hours a day. Some of her works have been sold at auction by Sotheby"s and Christie"s. And recently, her works have been shown at exhibitions in Beijing and Singapore.
Below, are a few previously unpublished photographs of the Stars group taken in 1979 to 1980. And also, there is a video of members of the Stars group, one of the rare moving images of the group from that time.
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