ZHANG LI

MAY 2018

SHANGHAI

墨的周围

雪松的绘画总是关注着自然，制造着超越于自然与人的物像。他近期画的是山川树木，与之前相比，画中的空间更为广阔和丰富，也有更多可供想象的细节，观者可以更惬意地探访其间。对自然的认识是无法穷尽的，人们渴望对自然的感知和亲近，但最终无一例外地使这种探索回到对人自身的认识。这也是绘画传统中的一个永恒主题。在雪松的作品中，我们会发现他是以随机自洽的心中风景摆脱摹写的窠臼，以自然的机理映照人的情感。在他的笔下，山和石在与水与风的伴随和消融中塑造着这个世界，树木和花草在光线与空气中代谢着生命。这些山石和树木的形态成为这个世界的规则和秩序的喻体，在凝聚和显现中被观看，进而被人的情感所发现和感应。雪松借助观察体悟的敏锐和准确，结合他经年的训练，阅历的积淀，巧妙并令人震撼地从庞杂而混沌的外部世界提炼出了物质的秘密和自然的精神，将其凝聚笔端，成为这一秩序形态的人间文本。

雪松的作品越来越倾向于单色黑白。他在画布上的功法经过长期的淬炼已能随心所欲。或浓或淡的墨色的施予中节制和自由已达成统一。简洁是因为墨迹只是物像形态的提示，而不是形态的模仿。无论是画面中的任何方位，或是构造中的任何部分，墨迹永远不会孤立，而是向四周连接、蔓延和扩展，映射着大千世界的无垠空间。唯有如此，才能达到生命简洁而有力的生长，在凝聚而又扩散中体现造物的意志。所以雪松所做的不是建构和塑造，而是使自然的规则自动显现。他超越了师法自然或师法自我，他达成的是自然秩序和法则的精准。这种精准完整地对应着山川草木给予人的情感启迪，在黑白掩映衬托中不显一丝斧痕，故而无所谓虚实，无所谓笔法，存于其间的是生动的气息，是关照的极致。

为此作证的是雪松画面中无处不在的“无名之物”。那是一些初看起来模糊混沌的团块或者影子，不起一点“应物象形”的作用，是多数画家所竭力避免的。然而这些无序和莫名的墨迹在雪松的画面中是那样自足和贴切，丝毫无损于人们面对自然时所产生的那种真切感受。它们可以是浓雾薄云的氤氲，可以是竹石草木的枯荣自在，也可以是风与水的扰动和平息。它们在异度的空间中传递着自然的法度和精髓。这不是任何一个画家都能为的，它显现的是艺术家永不停歇的进取心和深度的磨练造就的通达和磊落。

张离
2018 05 上海
 

Surrounding Ink  

Evolved around the subject of nature, Xuesong has been painting images that transcend the figuration of men and nature. His recent paintings focus on mountains and trees, where the dimensions of the imagery seem to have broadened and enriched in comparison to previous works. In addition, the details on these works provide imaginations to the viewer, through which one could roam among them leisurely. The perception of nature can often be infinite. People yearn for the knowledge of and intimacy with nature, although often this kind of exploration, without exception, returns to grasping a perception of the self. For this eternal subject in the tradition of painting, we discover that in Xuesong’s works, he has adopted a willful approach to visualize the landscape of his mind in order to be freed from artistic conventions, so he can project human emotions with natural textures. Under his brush, the stones and mountains, in the company of streams and breezes, shape a unique world where vegetation under the sun and nurtured by the air appreciate the gift of life. The forms of these stones and trees are analogies for the rules and orders of this world, sublimated and visualized, to resonate with the viewer’s sentimentality. Xuesong relies on his acute and accurate observation and perception, and draws from the trainings he has honed in his youth and the experiences he had accumulated. With which, he extracts the secret of things and the spirit of nature from the chaotic world with wit and sophistication, and condenses his discoveries through the brush, into the worldly reference of such ideological of order. 

Xuesong’s works gradually incline for the monochrome. His execution on canvas has attained a level of mind-hand unity over long periods of practice. His application of the ink, either dense or light, integrates self-constraints with freedom. The succinctness in his ink signals the form of his subject, instead of imitating its form. For any details in his paintings, or any part of his composition, the ink marks are not isolated, but connect, extend and expand into their surroundings, so they render the vastness of a world at large. Only then, a simple yet vital life would grow, where one would experience the purpose of creation through sublimation and dispersion. In other words, Xuesong’s work is not aimed at building and constructing nature, but to allow the natural order to become self-evident. He transcends the notions of “learning from nature in order to teach oneself”, what he achieves is a natural order and law that are precise. Such precision enable a comprehensive provocation of human emotions from the landscape, where its monochromatic scheme does not make the work seem unnatural, but rather its distinction of reality and fiction, the artist’s technical skills become less important than the sense of vitality and the ultimate humanist concern discovered in the atmosphere rendered. 

Such impressions from Xuesong’s paintings are supported with his ubiquitous “nameless objects”. These ambiguous clusters or shadows seen upon first glance, do not amount to “the shape or form of any object”, an approach that most artists try to avoid. However, these scattered and nameless ink marks are self-efficient and appropriate, without impeding on the establishment of truthful sentiment when one is confronted with nature. These marks can be the enshrouding dense mists and thin clouds, the withered grass and bamboo nestled among the stones, or the ebb and flow of wind and stream. Together, they convey the laws and essence of nature in an alternative dimension. Not many artists can achieve this level of representation, as it demands one’s lasting desire for improvement and one’s enlightenment shaped by tireless practices. 

Zhang L