《东庄图》之稻畦 160x190cm 布面油画

　　艺术家多以及其个性化的眼光来审视自己及世界。而在自视、外观的过程中，必然融入流淌在自身血脉之中的民族文化精神的基因。随着他的文化底蕴不断深厚，并以一己的个性力量寻求突破、超越和转换，从而构架起属于自己的人文图式。这种人文图式既依托于民族的传统文化精神，又显现出艺术家所置身的时代人文精神和审美情趣，画面就自然地流泻出艺术家个人的文化情怀和艺术志趣。肖谷的“寻找东庄--系列作品”就是体现了这样的一种人文精神。

　　肖谷创作“寻找东庄---系列作品”始于2005年，我在他家里的工作室，见了他创作“东庄”的第一幅作品《振衣岗》的草图。当时我为他的独具匠心而吃惊，因为他的创作素材来源于五百多年前明代画家沈周的《东庄图》。沈周是我故乡苏州人，是我早年学习绘画时顶礼膜拜之人，恰恰此图册又是我耳熟能详，手摹心随过很长时间，自认为与沈周有神交。但当我面对他的《振衣岗》草图和他一路聊开时，我感到了自己的浅显。首先我问他为什么要以沈周的《东庄图》来演绎他心目中的“东庄》?他说：“他想通过这样的一种方式来寻找文脉气象上的传承关系，接上民族传统文化的气脉。”寻找这样的“气脉”是不同寻常的，不仅仅需要定力，还需要不一般的承受力。

　　肖谷“寻找东庄--系列作品”得益于隐逸文化传统的“精神化”转向。中国隐逸思想是古代文人士大夫的精神追求，在其不断发展的过程中，精神化倾向日益增强。传统意义上的凿岩穴居、餐霞饮露的“形隐”，已越来越注重心性主体精神化修炼的“心隐”方向发展。只要能把握隐逸的精神实质从而涵养自己的隐逸品格，而不必高卧林泉、脱离尘世，即可获得隐逸的乐趣，达到与隐逸文化的精神化倾向相适应的“隐之为道，朝亦可隐，市亦可隐。隐初在我，不在于物”的境界。沈周是明代中期江南布衣士绅隐逸的代表人物，正如明代陆粲所说：“吴中昔以文学擅天下，盖不独名卿材士大夫之述作煊赫流著，而布衣韦带之徒，笃学修词者，亦累世未尝乏绝。海内日兴于艺文，而是邦尤称多士。”其中沈周更是以“品行高洁，不为激矫，自守以正。”为后世推崇。

　　肖谷在追寻并探索沈周的文化精神内核，考量他隐逸思想背后的人文属性。这样的属性是具有特定的时代背景，沈周的隐逸来源于明代初期朱元璋对吴中士绅的残酷打击，据明中期太仓人陆容回忆：“洪武间秀才做官，吃多少辛苦，受多少惊怕，与朝廷出多少心力，到头来小有过犯，轻则充军，重则刑戮，善终者十二三耳。其时士大夫无负国家，国家负天下士大夫多矣!”变幻莫测朝不保夕的仕途让人敬而远之，急剧的政治风暴给明初的江南士绅心理上笼罩了一层沉重的阴影，到了沈周时代还是心有余悸。

　　因此，沈周读书不为官，不仕而终，与官绅交往但远离官场，以隐士自居。所以他“市隐”，其着眼点在于心志，而不拘形迹，以志驭迹，心隐身不隐。适志而行，行不乖怪，即使上对皇权纲纪，也无怪戾之嫌。如此，既可隐于诗、隐于画、隐于园林山水草木间。如此沈周画《东庄图》送与其在京城做官的东庄主人吴宽，他在“市隐”心态主导下，告诉为官的吴宽“如不知有官，可退居乡里，筑园修圃，莳花植木，三五雅客，徜徉其间，吟讽啸咏，逍遥自得。”其用心良苦可见一斑。从表面上看，沈周浸淫于“市隐”的文化精神中，似乎是温柔恭谨的“懦夫”，但实际上却深含着一种隐而未发不可屈服的刚的精神。

　　“寻找东庄---系列作品”肖谷已经画六年了，他甘于寂寞，固守其特立独行的艺术追求，寻找凝重而张扬的文化语境，化解他内心深处纠结着的民族英雄主义精神和审美蕴藉的情节。中国传统艺术及哲学思考偏于“表现”，而西方艺术及其审美则侧重于“再现”。然而这只是一种被抽象化了的表象而已。而与中国的“立象以尽意”、“神在形似之外”，以及“人心营构之象”“形妙在似与不似之间”的“意象”审美意蕴有着诸多的相通之处。肖谷以其对传统文化精神的深刻领悟和对材料及其油画材质运用的娴熟，将中国文化中的“意象”审美精神作为内核，凭借特定的绘画语言，构建自身独特的艺术图式。“观物取象、心象具化、物化成图式意象，”从而实现中国传统文化的当代转换。

　　肖谷，长期以来坚持着一条及其个人化的创作之路。他有着坚实的写实基础，作品的精神构架和笔法自然也不同凡响，他通过他独有的二度半空间分解结构，用表现主义建构出具有中国文人士大夫韵味的画面，体现出中国艺术精神的生动气韵来，形成了一种被幻化的视觉空间。尽管作品仍然有着具象的因子，但画面中具体的形象已在很大程度上转化为一种色与色的韵律回旋。传递出蕴涵在内的张力。

　　肖谷对传统文化的精神取向和长期的文化思辨，导致与他所谓的传统文化精神的当代转换。也正因为如此。对于肖谷来说，绘画只是一种手段，绘画语言和材料工具是他摆布的音符，有时显现得那样无关紧要，画面的灵性来至于心灵的感应，所以观者与其作品的碰撞能感悟出别具一种灵性。可以使你触摸到一种精神，一种文化。这种文化精神肯定来自于中国民族的精神传承。

　　2011年8月陈强于上海望浦楼

　　Inspiration from Xiao Gu’s Dongzhuang Drawings

　　Chen Qiang

　　Most artists tend to discover themselves and the world around them with an extremely individualized perspective. During this process of discovery, what they can never ignore is their own national cultural spirit. With the growth of their cultural knowledge and their attempt to surpass and transform, the artists are trying to build up their unique art framework. While this framework shows the traditional Chinese cultural spirit and the contemporary aesthetic value, the artists’ works naturally reflect their artistic taste and interests. The series of Dongzhuang Drawings from Xiao Gu shows us a vivid example.

　　Xiao Gu’s series of Dongzhuang Drawings started from 2005. Back at that time, when I saw the sketch of his first piece Zhen Yi Gang in his studio, I was deeply impressed by this unique and creative idea. The inspiration and the subject matter came from the famous Ming Dynasty painter Shen Zhou’s Dongzhuang Drawings. Shen Zhou came from my hometown Suzhou, and personally he was one of my favorite painters in the early stage of my art learning. Thus I was extremely familiar with this collection, and even believed that Shen Zhou and I were spiritually connected in a way. But when Xiao Gu shared his piece and his idea with me, I realized that I was wrong. When I asked him why he represented his understanding of Dongzhuang via Shen Zhou’s piece, he said he was trying to pursue the inheritance of traditional culture and to promote the continuation of the cultural context.  This unusual pursuit not only requires inner strength but also needs great endurance and faith.

　　The idea of Dongzhuang Drawings collection came from the spiritualization of Chinese hermit culture. The pursuit of hermit never stopped throughout different ages among ancient Chinese literati and developed to be more and more spiritualized.  The literati tended to focus on the spiritual hermit rather than the physical hermit in traditional way, which means once you cultivate your nature and comprehend the essence and seclusion, you can live a hermit life anywhere. Shen Zhou was one of the representatives of Jiangnan (lit. regions south of the Yangtze River) hermit in the middle of Ming dynasty. As the famous scholar of Ming dynasty Lu Can said, “Suzhou has been famous for its profound culture and active literati, not only because those famous scholars who have great political career, but also for there’re hermit scholars in different times.” Among them, Shen Zhou was rated highly by posterity for his noble character and personal cultivation.

　　Here in this collection, Xiao Gu is trying to explore the spiritual core of Shen Zhou’s art and find out the literati nature hidden behind his hermit ideology. Piles of evidence indicate that it was the particular history background that led to Shen Zhou’s final decision. Back to the early Ming Dynasty, lots of Suzhou intellectuals were persecuted by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. According to the then scholar Lu Rong’s recall, “most of the officials at that time served the imperial government wholeheartedly, but in return many of them were cruelly punished for tiny mistakes. Only few of them could get a peaceful life in the end.” The severe political environment frightened most of Jiangnan scholars in the early Ming dynasty, and the shadow remained until Shen Zhou’s time.

　　As a result, Shen Zhou never started his official career in his whole life. He regarded himself as a hermit. Although he had many official friends, he always kept a safe distance from the imperial government. In this way he was “concealing in the crowd” and abandoned himself to poems, paintings and the nature.  The owner of Dongzhuang, Wu Kuan, was one of Shen Zhou’s official friends. Shen Zhou finished the Dongzhuang collection and gave it to Wu Kuan as a gift, trying to suggest him that he can also enjoy his life in art and nature. It seems that Shen Zhou was a “coward” who is concealing himself in the chaotic times, yet actually he was very brave and processed an unyielding spirit.

　　Xiao Gu has been working for Dongzhuang Drawings series for six years, during which time, he sticks to his unique pursuit of art and tries to utilize the deep but characterized cultural text to display his national heroism and aesthetic appreciation. In general, we define traditional Chinese art as “artistic expression” and western art as “artistic representation”, but it’s not the whole story. Chinese art pays great attention to the spirit and artistic conception, so does western art. Xiao Gu’s extraordinary understanding of traditional Chinese cultural spirit and incredible master of oil painting helps him transform the traditional Chinese art into a contemporary form.

　　Xiao Gu has always been working on art in his own way. With profound realism skills and his unique two-and-a-half-dimension structure, he innovatively creates the Chinese style paintings in an expressionist way. Those paintings are full of vivid Chinese art spirit and contain a transformed visual space.  Figural still, but his art represents a combination of different colors and meanings.

　　Xiao Gu’s interests and thoughts in traditional culture leads to his success in combining the tradition with contemporary. To him, painting works just as a tool to express his spirit and thoughts. That is also why when you watch closely at his pieces, you will be strongly touched by the culture behind, and it definitely comes from the continuation of Chinese traditional spirit.