陈文令的红男孩，通体鲜红，如火如荼。红色是2002年的流行色；从韩国的红魔拉拉队到欧洲足坛以往罕见的红队服，再到中国各式各样的红色物象，举目四股，处处红色。红色的流行使得红男孩们找到了名正言顺的色彩空间。在历史中，红色是中国南方的标志色和吉祥色。在现实中，红色的人体改变了作品的写实倾向，加强了非现实意图，表达出作者对现实中成人们势利、紧张、焦虑、恐惧、残酷的否定，也不期而然地道出了人们的共同心愿：对童真状态的怀念和对早熟了两千年的中式文明的质疑。
2002年春，当陈文令率领这群红男孩在厦门珍珠湾海滩露面时，立即吸引了成千上万的观众。临近收场时，市民曾向政府呼吁将他们长留厦门。一时间，红孩子成了厦门传媒每天的话题。2002年秋，陈文令的红男孩在广州参加首届“中国艺术三年展”，不仅又一次引进传媒和观众的好评，也引起了美术批评家的关注。这群裸体男孩塑像，总共一百多个，分为几类在水边嬉戏玩耍的姿态。作品用玻璃喷制，打磨，抛光，喷上红漆，放置在沙滩、树干、船头、灯塔上。这组作品投资四十五万，是所有参展作品投资最多的一件。艺术和投资和艺术价值不一定成正比，但陈文令这组作品的确产生了水涨船高的效果。
中国每年数以万计的个展和联展，脱颖而出的作品只是极少数。它们大多能满足一项视觉需要：新鲜。陈文令的作品属于新型的艺术形态，介于写实雕塑、装置、互动式行为艺术和偶发艺术之间。作为雕塑，陈文令的雕塑有别于学院派的正和现代派的奇，有别于马约尔的“肥”和贾柯梅蒂的“瘦”。作为集装置和行为于一体的行为艺术，他的作品同以往走极端的前卫艺术相比，在艺术观和艺术表现上有根本的不同。这群红男孩不是天真的而不是邪恶的，是健康的而不是病态的。众所周知，20世纪晚期的视觉艺术，无论美术还是影视以及电子游戏中的三维动画，充斥着暴力和无病呻吟的作品。陈文令的红男孩有着出淤泥而不染的品格，切合了人们对前卫艺术新流向的渴望，也就是从艺术作为人性批判的武器转变为人性建构的载体。他的作品，使外行和内行、学院派和前卫批评家都能找到自己的看点。
陈文令的这组作品，取名为《红色记忆》。他具有当代艺术见仁见智的多义性。人们面对这群孩子，可能会想到古典文化中的赤子，但却感受不到迂腐。人们可能会想到《西游记》中的红孩儿，但却找不到妖气。人们可能会想到文革中的红小兵，但却看不到杀气。人们可能从厦门这个军事重镇去回忆过去的战火，但却不会造成丝毫的恐惧感。熟悉陈文令的人，还可能会将红男孩同他的一段经历联系在一起：1996年《厦门日报》发表题为“难能可贵的自卫与自救”的文章，说的是一对青年男女在海边被歹徒劫持，男方奋力反抗，身中几十刀，被割开两个手腕的动脉，血染全身，成为当地流血最多的血案。被文章作者描述并视为英雄行为的男青年，就是大难不死的陈文令，不过，在陈文令的《红色记忆》中全然看不到仇恨。
当代艺术强调作品蕴涵的观念，常常派生出观念超载的作风，让人一看就累。陈文令于此相反，显得朴实，没有刻意制造的观念。裸露的躯体剥去了伪装，留下的只是人与自然的直接关联，只是人与社会的直接对话。面部与肢体语言的适度夸张，是对这两种关系的强调，这组作品，可以说是对观念超载的解脱，也可以说是携带着裁减观念的观念。
The Red Boy is having his moment
The red boy from Wenling Chen's The Red Memory is bright red all over the body like a ragging fire. Red is the color of 2003, from the "Red Devils" cheer squad of Korean to the red team shirts in European football, which were very rarely seen in past years, and then not to mention all kinds of Chinese objects in red; red is everywhere if you take a look around us. And this very popularity of red color offers the perfectly reasonable color space for The Red Memory. In the history, the color of red has always been an iconic color and the symbol of auspiciousness in South China; in the actuality, the redness of the body altered the realistic tendency of the artwork, emphasized the non-physical intention, while communicated the artist's deny against the snobbery, tension, anxiety, fear, cruelty of human being in reality, meanwhile, unexpectedly expounded the common aspiration of us all： Our cherished memories of the innocent childhood, and the query against the precocity in Chinese culture for over two thousand years.
When Wenling Chen first had his group of red boys displayed at Xiamen Pearl bay beach in spring 2002, thousands of audiences were attracted to them at once. By the end of the exhibition, the citizens of Xiamen appealed to the authority to keep them in the city permanently. The Red Memory once became a daily topic of the local media. Autumn 2002, Chen's Red Memory was exhibited in the first Triennial of Chinese Arts in Guangzhou. This time, the art work did not only won praises of the media and the audiences again, but also attracted the attention of critics. This group of sculptures of over a hundred naked boys is divided into a few categories by their different postures of playing by the water. The sculptures were grinded, buffed, and sprayed with red paint, and then placed on beach, tree trunks, prows and lighthouses. ￥450,000 RMB was invested to create this artwork, which made it the most invested piece among all exhibited artworks. It is true that value of an artwork doesn't necessarily in proportion to the cost to create it, but in this case, the ship certainly has risen with the tide.
There are over thousand of solo and group exhibitions in China every year, only very few artworks stand out from the crowd and they almost all meet one visual need: Freshness. Wenling Chen's works belong to a new type of art form, a joint among realistic sculpture, installation, interactive performance art, and happening art. In term of sculptures, Chen's work is different from the orthodox of academism or the novelty of modernism; it is different from the 'fat' in Maillo's work or the 'slim' in Giacometti's work. In term of an artwork that combines installation and performance art, Chen's work is also radically distinct - in both artistic perspective and artistic expression - from the avant-garde art that often tends to extremes. This group of red boys is innocent but not evil; it is healthy but not morbid. As is well known, the visual art in late 20th century are flooded with violence and artworks that making a fuss about imaginary illnesses. Wenling Chen's red boys have the character of a lotus, which rises unsullied from mud, and it fulfills our thirst for a new direction of the avant-garde art, where art starts to transform from a weapon of Human nature criticism to a medium of human nature building. Whether amateurs or professionals, academism or avant-garde critics, everyone can all find their own focus in Chen's work.
Wenling Chen's group of red boys is named The Red Memory. As a piece of contemporary art, it has the ambiguity that opens to interpretation. When people looking at these boys, they might think of the phrase "Redboy", which means newborn baby in classical Chinese literature, but not so pedantic; they might think of the "Red Kid" in the classic novel The Journey to the West , but not so wicked; they might think of the Red Guard during the Culture revolution, but not so violent. People might also look at the Xiamen, the military town, and recall its histories of wars and battles, but without any fear whatsoever. For whom knows Wenling Chen, might also associate the red boys to an experience of the artist: 1996, Xiamen Daily published an article under the name of The Commendable self-defense and self-rescue, about a pair of young man and women was robbed and attacked by the beach, the young man fought back with all his strength, he was terribly injured with dozens of knife wounds, the his arteries on both wrists were silted, and his entire body was soaked in blood. It was the most violent crime of the city then. This brave young man in the report is the very artist created the red boys, Wenling Chen, who had survived from death. However, there is not even a glimmer of grudge in his work, The Red Memory.
In contemporary art, the concept that the artwork implied is much emphasized, and this often leads to artworks overloaded with concepts, which makes the audiences tired at a glance. On the contrary, Wenling Chen's work is modest and earthy, without any deliberately made concepts. Camouflages were taken off from the naked bodies, and what's left is the straightforward connection between man and nature is the direct dialogue between human and the society. The moderate exaggeration of facial and body language is an emphasis on these two relationships, and this group of work can be interpreted as liberation from concepts overload, or, an idea of concept cut down.