高岭：有画，风景更美——读高峡的油画

Through Painting, Nature’s Beauty is Enhanced

-- appreciating Gao Xia’s oil paintings

Gao Ling

2019 年 11 月 14-15 日

Nov. 14 - 15, 2019

　　每当春光明媚或夏意盎然，置身于山野自然中间，人们总是会在心神荡漾之时，用“风景如画”来形容大自然扑面而来的美的气息。风景之美的裁定，总是要搬出绘画来，说明绘画在人们心目中的完美性和至上性。可绘画之美，究竟有多美，它又是如何成为美的呢？

　　When people describe a bright and beautiful day in spring or summer, when they are surrounded by the beauty of nature, they always like to use “painting” to express: as beautiful as a painting. Why do people use painting when describing the beauty of nature? It’s because in people’s minds, paintings are perfect and noble. Then, what’s the beauty of a painting? How does a painting embody beauty?

　　我们眼前的这位艺术家高峡，就是以自然为对象，以现实为内容， 以人的情态为主题的。数十年来，因为工作和生活的关系，他游走过许多地方。国内也好国外也罢，时空的位移和转换，总是吸引着他对每到一处的花草树木和人居街景的敏感和捕捉——他总是不停地用手中的画笔记录着自己对这些景致的喜爱和流连。请注意，这位艺术家是在“记录”自己的“喜爱”和“流连”，而不是记录自然景致本身，也就是说，他在表现他心目中经过情感的浸染而升华出来的审美意象，是他感受到的周遭世界“应有的”样子，而非世界在视网膜中“原有的”样子。作为一位早年深受美术专业训练的艺术家，他知道自己在自然和风景中需要什么，那不是现实的可见的物理世界的全部细节，而是他在其中发现的与他的个人偏好以及对世界的形象认识相一致的某些东西，比如色彩的提纯，比如形状的塑造，比如线条的处理。

　　The artist in front of us is Gao Xia, who paints nature, focuses on reality and people’s emotions and mood. Due to work and family, over ten years, he’s travelled to many places. Weather in China or overseas, the change of location and time always inspire him to capture nature and people of that place - he uses his paintings to convey his appreciation of the world around him. Please be aware this artist is “recording” “the things that inspire him” and “things he wishes to hold on to”, not nature as it is. In other words, he expresses the images filtered through his emotions and creative expression, not the original form of the subject. As an artist who has been trained at a young age, he knows what he wants to extract from nature and scenery, it’s not the details of the physical world, but it’s those which fit his personal liking or his perceptions:

　　e.g. the preference of colors, the forming of shapes and forms, the treatment of lines.

　　我们在他大多数自然和乡野主题的油画中，找到了这方面的有力视觉支撑。急促有力的笔触和线条，在打底的颜料块面上，伴随着他对观察对象的形体和结构洞察，不断地层层交汇和叠加，使得山峦、树木、河流，在视觉上仿佛充满了勃勃生机。他对天空和劲草的表现， 令人格外喜爱——舞动的线条裹挟和带动着它们，让“生生不息”、“周而复始”的伟岸和绵延，不再是一种不可见的抽象意念，而是一种视觉化的可见的呈现。

　　We can find the evidence of the above conclusion in most of his oil paintings about nature and the countryside: the powerful strokes and lines and the color palette combined with his perception become different layers overlapping, bringing life to mountains, trees and rivers. His depiction of sky and grass are extremely vivid - the dancing lines create a visual depiction of the sky’s“endless” grandeur and the “natural cycle ” of plants.

　　从色彩上看，高峡也勇于从自然中找到并强化某些元素，比如满幅青绿中，总有金黄、桃红或蔷薇的身影，它们象征着自然的成熟和娇媚，代表着艺术家钟爱自然的个人化取向——无论现实中是否存在，在画面里它们“应该”被描绘进去，因为绘画是一种个人化的情感的表达，艺术家认为是必须的，那就是合理的，那就一定是美的。

　　When it comes to color, Gao Xia is very bold and re-enforces certain elements found in nature, e.g. you can always find gold, pink and rose colors among greens. The colors represent the ripeness and beauty of nature, and also represent the artist’s personal idealization - no matter if these colors exist in reality, they “should” be painted into the paintings since painting is very personal, it’s a personal expression. If the artist thinks the colors are there, they are there and they are beautiful.

　　在他的一些描绘城镇街道的小景画和表现青年男女的肖像画里， 作为最接近可见现实“原有的”样子的写实手法，似乎有了抬头的痕迹——透视和焦点在小街建筑立面的处理上出现了，但笔触和线条依然是从由着自己的心性和情绪而轻松飘逸；即便是人物头部的素描式写生，在追求轮廓明暗关系塑造的同时，依然要用大面积的背景平涂和阔约的笔意来传递画者对形象的主观肯定。

　　In some of his street scenes of small towns and portraits of young men and women, it seems that he is applying realistic techniques - the “actual”

　　proportions and focus appear in the dimensions of the streets; but the brushwork and lines are still influenced by his emotions and mood - they are light and elegant; even for a portrait sketch, the light and shade balance of outline (profile) is obvious, but the ambiguous backgrounds and broad brush strokes reflect his fondness towards his subjects.

　　是的，在绘画中面对表现对象的主观肯定十分重要，它是艺术家对可见世界的物象背后的生命力的理解和表达，实际上，它就是艺术家对形象“应有的”样子不断深化过程的某个节点。是写实多一点还是表现多一点，抑或更趋于抽象，都取决于艺术家面对具体自然物象的时间、地点、天气还有心情。更多的情形中，我们看到的是一个在不断图绘中日益自信和更加主观的高峡——他的许多新近的画作中， 异域的花草树木和城镇景观益发简约率性，线条更加松动奔放，背景和天空的描写，让位于眼前某个突出景物的灵感启发和意象喷发，一花一世界，潦笔见精神。

　　Yes, an artist’s fondness towards his subjects is very important in paintings, it’s the artist’s understanding and expression of the life of the objects in the world around us. As a matter of fact, it’s a point in the process when the artist expresses his ideal of what his subjects “should be”. More realistic or more expressionistic or more abstract, it all depends on the time, location, weather and mood of the artist. What we see is an ever confident and subjective Gao Xia - in many of his new paintings, the flowers, trees and street scenes are simple and carefree, the lines are loose and free, his treatment of the background and sky enhance the subject in front of us, giving us insight into his imagination and inspiration. As we can see, a diverse and dynamic world shines through his paint brush.

　　没有人能说清楚世界有多大，但在高峡的绘画里，世界源自自然， 天高云飞，绿树红花，已然丰饶广袤；也没有人能阐明世界有多美，可在高峡的画笔下，恣意的树影，烂漫的山花，收放的笔势，却呈现出别样的风采。或许，这就是绘画的魅力所在，它不需要过多的社会参照，但却更接近社会中人的内心。有画，风景更美，况人乎。

　　Nobody knows how big the world is, but in Gao Xia’s paintings, the world originates from nature, the sky, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, grand and bountiful; nobody can describe how beautiful the world is, but in Gao Xia’s paintings, the shadow of trees, the blossoms of mountain flowers, with either free or controlled brush stroke, all depict the beauty of the world. Maybe this is the power of painting, it doesn’t need to conform to the common perceptions of society, but it’s closer to our heart. Through his paintings, the landscape’s beauty are even more enhanced., as are the people.