韩旭成是我的同乡，他和方力钧、张林海都是少年时代一起画画的发小，也曾一起报考美术学院，虽然韩旭成没有如期考上美术学院，但韩旭成并没有因此放弃画画，并几十年如一日地勤勤恳恳画到今天。而且因为画画，生活过得十分艰难。

　　十几年过去了，韩旭成以一个光棍之身又当爹又当娘，一把屎一把尿地把两个孩子养大成人，并且自始至终笔耕不辍。韩旭成的善良、质朴、勤恳，犹如北方的土地和大白菜，他在农村长大，自然对土地和大白菜有着说不出的感觉，也许这和他的艺术从画大白菜开始有点关联。

　　韩旭成画“白菜”大约始于十年前。那时，韩旭成住在京郊北40公里的上苑农村，画室和居室就是农民的房子和院子，院子不小，韩旭成又是勤快人，养孩子和画画之余就在院子里种菜，豆角、萝卜、茄子、西红柿，当然少不了“白菜”。韩旭成最早画的白菜就是地里的嫩绿的白菜，像大画幅的写生，不久韩旭成把白菜碧绿的叶子充满画面，以直接、纯朴的方式描绘白菜叶子的每一个细部，那种过度郁郁苍苍和生机勃勃的感觉，让画面中的白菜开始脱离“栩栩如生”的感觉，你想啊，一平方米多个头的大白菜，而且还局部，还碧绿碧绿的，多假呀!但是，艺术也许就在这儿被韩旭成触摸到了，他画他心中的白菜——那个把自然的白菜变成塑料一般白菜的世界，也许更真实，更接近今天越来越远离自然的这个现实性。

　　搬来宋庄小堡以后，韩旭成的“白菜”发生了“质变”──从“鲜”到“干”，那时你如果去韩旭成的工作室，可以看到他的窗台上摆满了干枯的白菜。此后很多年，韩旭成一直以刻苦的精神沉寂在干枯白菜的描绘中，艰难地寻找着自己的感觉。

　　几年后，韩旭成的“白菜”发生了另一次“质变”──从“干”到“烂”，初期还像是腐烂的白菜，后期越来越像动物的内脏，像是无休止泛滥的肉感欲望，现在看起来简直完全与“白菜”无关了。确实，画面与白菜无关了，但是，韩旭成是通过白菜的新鲜——干枯——腐烂的过程，来体会和表达他感觉到的这个世界和社会变化的。或者说，在急速的经济全球化进程中，文化价值的破碎，信仰的普遍失落，使中国迅速地进入了一个畸形的消费时代，人心浮躁，物欲横流，斑斓的物质世界掩盖的是贫富悬殊，和谐的口号粉饰不了激烈的社会矛盾……这种“艳若桃李”表象下“溃烂”的社会现实，带给韩旭成，乃至带给每个敏感的艺术家以困惑、愤懑、无奈，以至于韩旭成和那些敏感的艺术家，不使用恶心形象，就不足以表达他们心中的愤懑和无奈。这是当代艺术中多有“不美”形象出现的原因吧，与传统艺术相比，当代艺术更强调直面惨淡的人生，更少粉饰成分。韩旭成如此直接和大规模地把“动物的下水”当做“重大题材”来画，也是一种创作。而且岩浆般汹涌的内脏，如横流的物欲，油腻腻，粘糊糊，烂呼呼，满当当，向人们涌来，也是一种视觉刺激。

　　进而，韩旭成努力把烂呼呼的内脏画得象宝石一般的感觉，“溃烂之处，艳若桃李”，其实，“烂”和“绚”本身都简单，难在桃李和溃烂之间的那种分寸感，韩旭成如果能把这种复杂和分寸感觉表达得更到位，他的艺术就会更上一层楼。同时，烂和绚丽的分寸感，也是一种对现实真实更深刻的体验。

　　近年来，韩旭成的白菜更加“石质化”，或者干脆象“人造石”“假宝石”的感觉，巨制的白菜画面，象大堆大堆的石雕，铺天盖地，粗壮又廉价，仿佛是把传统的精雕细刻的“玉白菜”形制，刻成了粗制滥造、无限放大的劣质石刻，强势而虚假。韩旭成有意使用更为不真实的、不自然、生涩的色彩，粉绿，嫩黄得象塑料仿制的假宝石制品，更加强了“白菜”的虚假甚至廉价感觉。

　　韩旭成骨子里是个纯朴的人，不善言词，也不易改变。“白菜”是他借以表达的唯一物象，他的白菜几经变异，是他对现实生活感受的转化和表达。

栗宪庭

　　VariationHan Xucheng is my follow town. He was used to learn topaint with his childhood friends Fan Lijun and Zhang Linhai attheir boyhood. All of them applied Central Academy of FineArts. Han Xucheng failed to pass the entrance examination toCAFA, but he had not given up for it. Instead，he has beendiligently drawing till now. Because of painting, he has liveda harsh life. Over one decade passed, he as a bachelor actedas father and mother to raise his two children and has beendrawing every day. His kindness, plain and diligence as if heis the cabbage in the north land. Since he had been broughtup in the countryside, naturally he has a subtle feeling withthe land and cabbage. It might be associated with his art frompainting the cabbage.

　　Han Xucheng had started to paint‘Cabbage’about tenyears ago. At that time, he lived Shangyuan village, about 40Kilometers north of Beijing. His studio and living space werefarmer’s house attached a large courtyard. He was a hardworking.

　　At the free time of taking care of children and painting,he planted some vegetables such as green bean, radish,eggplant, tomato and cabbage as well. At first, his painted greencabbage in the land, like the sketching of large format. Later on,he made the green leaves fill in the picture, whose use of directand plain, depicted the over-luxuriant gray and vibrant feel withall the details of the leaves and let cabbage screen began to breakaway the feeling of “lifelike”. You see how fake it is! A cabbagewith one- square-meter sized, and it is the detail. However,here Han Xucheng might touch to the art. He painted the cabbagein his heart - the natural Chinese cabbage becoming the plasticone. Maybe it is more real, more close to the reality that todaymore and more away from the natural.

　　After Han Xucheng moved to Xiaopu village ofSongzhuang town, his ‘Chinese Cabbage’ had becomequalitative change - from ‘fresh’ to ‘dry’, at that time,if you went to his studio, you could see his windowsill filledwith dry Chinese cabbage. For many years, he had beensilence in dry Chinese cabbage descript with hardworking,struggling to find his own feeling. Several years later, HanXucheng’s ‘Chinese Cabbage’had another ‘qualitativechange’. That is from ‘dry’to ‘rotten’. In the earlyperiod, it looked like decayed Chinese cabbage, and then morelike animal internal organs. It seemed endless inundant sensualdesire. At present, it looks almost nothing to do with‘ Chinesecabbage’. Indeed, the painting is irrelevant to the Chinesecabbage. Nonetheless, in the process of the Chinese cabbagefreshness to dry, Han Xucheng has understood and expressedhis feeling toward the change of the society and the world. Inother words, in the rapid process of economic globalization,the cultural values broken and faith generally lost, China wentinto a deformed consumer era. Impetuous people, materialismand the gorgeous physical world cover up the gap betweenthe rich and the poor; the harmony slogan can not whitewashthe intense social contradictions...... The social reality ‘asdelectable as peach and plum’ beneath the ‘fester’surfacebrings Han Xucheng and each sensitive artist alike confusion,resentment and frustration. If they do not use nausea images,they can not express the frustration and helplessness of theirhearts. This is the reason that‘unattractive’images appearin contemporary art. Comparing with the traditional art,contemporary art focuses on the gloomy life and less sugaringup. On a large scale, Han Xucheng directly painted the‘ animalsewage’as the ‘main theme’also is a creation. The magmalike raging internal organs, as the cross flow of materialdesires, greasy, slimy, rotten whirring and full coming to thepeople, but also a visual stimulus.

　　Furthermore, Han Xucheng strove to paint the rotteninternal organs like the gems ‘Erupt in the place, asdelectable as peach and plum .’As a matter of fact,‘ rotten’and‘brilliance’are simple, but this requires appropriate sense ofpropriety, if Han Xucheng can fully express it, and his art willbe a higher ground. In the meanwhile, the sense of proportionbetween rotten and brilliance is also a deep understanding tothe reality.

　　In recent years, Han Xucheng’s Chinese Cabbage ismore ‘stone’ or simply the fake gemstones feeling like‘artificial stone’. The giant Chinese cabbage screens arelike piles of stone carving, overwhelming, stout and cheap, asif the traditional carved jade cabbage becoming shoddy poorquality stone carvings, hugely magnified strong false. HanXucheng intended to use more unreal, unnatural, jerky color,light green, light yellow like plastic imitation fake gemstonesproducts to stress the false of cabbage or cheap.

　　Han Xucheng is a simple person, poor words and not easyto change. ‘Chinese Cabbage’is his only object as a symbol.

　　The several variations of the Chinese Cabbage have showedthe transformation and expression of his real life experience.

Li Xianting