造型艺术是传统技艺的升华与视觉语言的精英性建构，是人类所能达到的精湛手艺的明证，是敏锐精准的视觉感受能力和充满想象的形式表达能力的明证，也是人类追求精神超越的不懈努力之象征。

　　造型艺术的概念，准确地说是一个西画的概念，曾经有一段时间国画也被纳入到造型艺术之中，但这种归纳并不那么贴切。因为这里面有一个绘画体系上的不同：国画表现的是二维的元素，是比较平面的表达，是“形”;而造型艺术表现的是三维的空间，是一种立体表达，是“型”。所以，我们可以严谨地讲，“造型”基本是从西方传统绘画体系嫁接移植过来的。

　　造型专业，按照西方所说的就是“架上艺术”的范畴，通常我们称之为“纯艺术”这样一种形式，它在未来视觉艺术的发展大趋势当中还能走多久?还能走得怎样?还会不会有一种世界性的兴盛景象?……这背后有一系列深层次的问题。要回答这些问题，思考造型艺术的未来发展，则离不开两个大的语境：一个就是速度迅猛的“全球化”;另一个就是国家宏观经济发展态势以及提出的复兴中华民族文化的大方向。我们在这两大背景下思考造型艺术的发展问题，一方面，从全球化或者说是从西方艺术主流的角度，由于二十世纪现代主义变革浪潮的冲击，架上艺术的传统体系逐步解体，欧美主要美术学院的教学理念与学科设置自上世纪六十年代以来经历了重大改革，以素描为基础的写实技巧训练相继降低标准并逐渐淡出，取而代之的是以艺术观念的分析，创新思维的训练与尝试，这样的训练与原来的严谨性相比已变得非常自由了。另一方面，从我们中华文化复兴的角度，造型艺术在中国的发展与西方现代艺术张扬个性、完全自主表达自我的要求是不同的。随着中国经济突飞猛进，在全球范围内的政治、经济、军事地位都在迅速提高，弘扬民族文化的这种诉求就成为一件很自然的事情，中华文化的复兴也是中华文明对整个人类文化的现代转型和现代建构应做出的贡献，这正是我们考虑造型艺术发展的另一个更为重要的背景因素。

　　中央美院对待造型艺术的态度与基本方式，是在严格的基础训练的前提下，不断地往前发展，并非像西方一度认为的造型已经无路可走了。事实证明，我们的造型艺术还在向前推进，是有路可走的，而且在不断往前发展，在国际上已产生影响，这其实也可以说是一种中国特色。另一方面，我们现在将实验艺术也作为一个非常系统的、理性的内容纳入到学院教学当中，与架上造型绘画并列来对待，这一点充分彰显了我们对艺术的理解在宏观上不同于西方的把握。我相信，随着时间的推移，这种模式会在国际美术教育领域中产生比较深远的影响。

　　正因为中央美院不局限于眼前，而是放到全人类文化这样一个大范围当中来思考造型艺术的发展问题，充分认识到造型艺术作为西方文脉发展到近现代取得了高峰性成就，其悠久历史和辉煌成就不会随着曾经为之服务的宗教与宣传功能的减弱而整体淡出，而形式本体在历史演进中生成的独立价值和潜在的精神空间，仍然具有不争的未来学价值。造型艺术范畴内在的技艺性、文化性、超越性原则和中央美院“关注社会，服务社会”的现实主义传统，则仍将被坚守和发扬，这将贯穿于今后可以预见的很长一段时间。

　　我们有理由相信，造型艺术的新世纪是光明而美好的。

2010年10月28日

　　The plastic arts are the sublimation of traditional arts and the creation of an elite visual language. Being the witness to humankind¡’s most superb craftsmanship，their sensitive ability to accurate visual perception and the extremely imaginative forms，the plastic arts are also a symbol of man¡’s tireless pursuit of spiritual transcendence.

　　Precisely speaking，the concept of the plastic arts is a western one. There was once a time when Chinese ink painting was included in the plastic arts，although this classification is not so accurately appropriate in that these two painting systems are inherently different: Chinese ink painting presents a two-dimensional space，for it is relatively flat in “form”，while western plastic arts manifest a three-dimensional space，a geometric expression in “models.” Thus，we can say succinctly that “the plastic arts” are directly appropriated from the West.

　　The plastic profession，according to its western definition，falls within the category of “easel arts”，which we often call the “pure arts”. How will they go in the general development road of visual arts in the future? In what other ways can they develop? Will there be another renaissance of arts? There is a series of deep level issues in the backdrop here. To answer these questions and contemplate the future developments of the plastic arts，we cannot isolate ourselves from the two larger contexts: the first is the sweeping “globalization” and the second is our national macroeconomic development trends and the general direction to accelerate the renaissance for Chinese culture. We should consider amidst these two general backdrops these issues. Firstly，from the globalizational or western mainstream artistic point of view，due to the impact of the twentieth century modernist revolution，the traditional arts gradually disintegrated，the basic art educational concepts and disciplines offered for students to choose from in Europe and North America have undergone substantial reconfiguration since 1960¡’s and the role of sketching as a fundamental element in realist technique was gradually diluted and replaced by conceptual analysis and training in innovation and experimentation. Such a training method，compared with the rigorous former training，has much more freedom. Secondly，from the angle of a Chinese cultural renaissance，the development of the plastic arts in China differs，to an extensive extent，from that of the western modern arts which emphacizes the demonstration of individuality and complete free individual expression. In the wake of China¡’s rapid economic developments，its escalation of global politics，economics and military powers，the promotion of its ethnic heritage seems naturally and absolutely normal. A Chinese cultural renaissance is also China¡’s contribution to the transition and the modernity in human culture，which is also another kind of important background element for the developments in the plastic arts.

　　The attitude and essential methods adopted by the Central Academy of Fine Arts stress rigorous training，so that the plastic arts can continue to move forward. We do not agree with the westerners that there are no roads left for the plastic arts to be traversed. It is a proven fact that our plastic arts are on the move forward; though there is still room for improvement，we are already on that road，exerting a definite influence on the international arena. This is also a Chinese characteristic. Moreover，we are integrating experimental art into the academy teaching in a systematic and rational way，treating it with the same rigor as we do the easel arts，which fully demonstrates that our understanding of art is quite different from that of the West. I believe，with the passing of time，this mode of teaching will exert a rather lasting effect on the international world of education.

　　It is precisely because the Central Academy doesn¡’t restrict itself to what it sees before its eyes and treat the plastic arts and its developments in a broader sense of human cultural achievements，we are sure that the height of western achievements made in the field of the plastic arts and the brilliance of such a long history of triumphs will not fade out completely with its weakening function in the service and propagation of the church，for the form itself evolved over the progression of history will assert its own spiritual space and its undeniable and independent academic value for future studies. The technicality，culturality and the transgressive nature of the plastic arts，together with the Central Academy¡’s realistic tradition of “focus on society and serve society”，will continue and carry forward for a foreseeable long time.

　　We have reason to believe that a new era of the plastic arts is sure to be promising and bright .

October 28，2010