影响雕塑艺术创作品，主要有三个方面：物料、运用物料的科技知识和艺术处理的观念。在西方，传统雕塑常用的物料主要是石，后亦有用铜和木的，但多数是实用美术的作品;在中国，铜、木、泥、石都常有应用;南美洲方面，也爱用泥和木。物料运用的倾向，多少和地理环境有关，一句老话：即是「就地取材」。不过正如前面所说，物料并不是雕塑艺术惟一的决定因素，科技和艺术观念的影响也很大。譬如铜，自从20世纪西班牙前卫雕刻家贡色拉(J.Gonzales)，首先运用铜来创作现代艺术以来，便被人认为是标志现代雕塑的一种物料，它打破了西方以石为主要物料的传统。这种提法，自然未免失诸片面。事实上在中国，殷商时代，早已有铜雕，一部分作品，已达纯艺术品的水平，但我们却不能说商朝的钟鼎是现代雕塑，虽然其物料也一样是铜。贡色拉的作品在西方有现代意义，一方面固然是由ｩ 他运用了西方传统雕塑艺术较少用的物料——铜，但更重要的，是他引用了现代科技和现代艺术观念来处理它。当然，物料、科技和艺术观念三者也相互影响着，物料的影响有时甚至有决定性的作用。例如当代著名的华裔动态雕塑艺术大师蔡文颖的电子雕塑，即受物料的影响甚大。相对来说，台湾的雕刻家朱铭却以现代艺术的观念，把传统的木雕刻带到一个新的境界。总之，物料、科技的运用和艺术观念是我们考察一个时代中雕塑作品成就的三个重要方面，我们也不妨从这三个方面出发，来看文楼的作品。

　　文楼作品的物料，以铜为主，间中也用塑料和其他的金属，他运用现代科技知识，按照自己的创作意念，把物料的色调质感等等控ｻs到随心所欲的地步。拿他常用的铜来说吧，他能把铜的金黄、金红和绿色通过化学药物的处理，造出不同层次的色调和质感。此外，他把塑料镀铜，使它产生金属的效果;用玻璃粉、颜料和铜片，创造了具有中国传统工艺品景泰蓝一样缤纷色彩的装饰材料，他称之为改良的景泰蓝。文楼运用现代科技使传统的物料(例如铜)，发挥出新的艺术效果，又把传统工艺品的艺术效果，吸收进现代的物料中(如改良景泰蓝)。这是文楼作品的第一项特点。

　　文楼作品的造型，以圆形和圆柱形为主，明显地反映出文楼接受过西方现代艺术观念例如意大利雕塑家庞摩多罗的作品的洗礼。但是，文楼的圆形和圆柱形，却不是机械的几何图形的设计。他的圆和圆柱总是按照他心目中「生生不息」有如生命细胞一样的意念去塑造。因此，在基本上是抽象的造型当中，往往可以叫观众联想到具体的形象。例如在他的球形作品中，早期中的一件很易使人想起一熟极而爆裂的石榴，露出颗颗宝石一般的种子;近期有一件，则会使人看成是破壳而出的飞鸟，向着万里睛空，展开蕴含无限活力的翅膀。当回归中国运动在海外掀起的时候，文楼有意识地向中国古代文物吸收滋养。文字的造型、图腾、器皿的形状和色彩，都被现代化地处理在他的作品中。但他这时期的作品，虽然可以看到传统艺术和现代艺术的汇合，却不免予人一种生硬地ｨﾖ合的感觉。也就是说，那仍ｰN是外在的形式上的结合，并未内化为艺术家思想感情的一部分。在太古城的近作之中，这种结合，却已向内深入，内容与形式已深然统一了。例如以变色铜管合成荷花，便为荷花这个中国诗文和绘画中常见的意象，赋予现代的感受，使原来就含蕴着丰富意念的荷花，平添了新意。又如在太古城进口处的四株铜柱，其灵感显然是来自华表。然而，柱身却没有龙和云的浮雕，ｰN有简洁的金属的光泽，柱头上富现代感的钉形装饰，其结构有秩序而不机械，又和文楼作品「生生不息」的主题相呼应。从这两组作品中，我们可以看到，传统艺术的某些意念或形式的特点，已溶和ｩ 他的作品中，成为作品的血和肌理了。把传统艺术观念和现代艺术观念相结合，是文楼作品的第二项特点。

　　无论是西方或中国，也有一个相当长的时期，传统艺术中纯艺术和实用艺术原没有严格的区分。二者严格区分是在近代的事。在古代，艺术品大多是实用性的。实用艺术达到最高的水平，也就进入纯艺术的境界。如希腊神庙中的诸神像，中国汉墓中的铜奔马等便是明显的例子。现代艺术有一种倾向是回到实用艺术和纯艺术相结合的传统中去。(例如西方的中世纪)构成主义包浩斯体系的艺术家所走的，正是这条道路。文楼在这方面的尝试，也取得了一定的成绩。太古城水池中的一群鸭子，是文楼用铜和改良景泰蓝塑造的。他自己虽然谦称ｰN是一组工艺品，但无论造型和色彩，都有创造性，给精心安排在水池中更别有诗意，当做纯艺术品来欣赏也无不可。实用艺术和纯艺术的合一，原是中国艺术传统的特色;现代中国艺术家因为接受了西方纯艺术的观念，对实用美术似乎没有足够的重视。文楼过去一向从事纯艺术的创作，现在能够在这一方面展开探索，无疑是值得肯定的。这是文楼近作的第三个特点。

　　由ｩ 香港的特殊环境，在过去文楼的作品多数是墙上的浮雕或室内的立体雕塑，很少创作户外的作品。这一次在太古城的作品，则绝大部分是户外的。文楼在创作的过程中，曾经考虑到作品和环境的配合。在色彩、造型和摆设的位置几方面都有所考虑。但是，这种配合却不是放弃个性的配合，而是把个性溶入环境之中，使作品和环境相结合，这样，作品的观念领域就拓大了，不再是展览厅或博物馆里面的东西，而是自然环境和社会环境中的一部分。古代希腊的神像雕塑和中国龙门、大足、云冈等地的露天石刻、石雕，本来也就是和环境溶成一片的，这是一个优秀的传统。不过在文艺复兴以ｫ ，由ｩ 强调人文主义的精神，这种天人合一的美学观念，渐渐给忽视了。文楼这组创作，和当代一些西方(例如意大利)和东方(例如日本)某些艺术家一样，注意继承这个优秀的传统。这是很宝贵的。可以说，这也是文楼近作的另一项特点。

　　从上面的分析，可以说，文楼的作品已进入卓然有成的成熟阶段。文楼是一个在台湾接受美术教育而在香港成长的艺术家，一方面受着西方现代艺术思潮的强烈冲击，一方面却仍然不能忘记自己根源所在的中国传统文化。他自觉地意识到中国艺术必须走上世界性的现代化的道路，同时也非常珍惜中国传统艺术极其丰沃的土壤。他在物料的选择、科技的引用和造型的观念上，都吸收了西方艺术现代化的经验，但却并不停止于学习和模仿。通过对中国传统艺术的继承，他创造了富有民族文化风味的现代作品。正如其他许多当代中国艺术家一样，文楼的创作道路是曲折的。经过失败的历程，ﾅﾗ获得一定的成就，这对于同辈和后辈的中国艺术家来说，相信具有参考的意义。

　　THREE FACTORS affect the making of sculpture: material, the sculptor’s skill, and the artistic ideas. For a long time in the West, sculpture has been associated with stone, and later with bronze and wood, especially in applied arts. The Chinese use bronze, wood, clay as well as stone, and South American countries mainly use clay and wood. While the choice of material is often determined by geography, technical skill and the artistic idea depend on the sculptor, and equally contribute to the quality of a work. Bronze has been regarded, rightly or wrongly, as a “modern” material since J. Gonzales started using it in the 20th century, terminating the tradition of stone. In ancient China, from as easy as Yin times (latter period of the Shang Dynasty, circa 16-11 centuries B.C.), bronze sculpture of a high artistic standard has been made, but such artifacts cannot be termed modern sculpture, though they are made from bronze. Gonzales’ works are regarded as “modern” because he used bronze-a material rarely used in traditional Western sculpture- with modern skill and modern concepts. The influences of material, technology and artistic idea on sculpture are reciprocal, while sometimes the influence of material is final. The cybernetic sculpture of Tsai Wen-ying, Chinese-born sculptor now working in the U. S., derives its form from the electronic medium: Contrastively, Zhu Ming of Taiwan applies modern art concepts on wood, a traditional material, and innovates the aesthetic content of his sculpture.

　　Bronze has always been Van Lau’s chief medium, though he occasionally works in plastics and other metals as well. In Van Lau’s works, technical skill and artistic ideas are well-blended . Bronze is treated chemically to make the metal yield different textures and yellow, red and green shades in all their variations. Plastic is bronze-plated to assume the visual effect of metal. Glass powder, pigments and bronze plates are put together in a new invention which the sculptor calls “improved cloissone”, which is as delightfully colorful as the traditional enamel. A new artistic effect, kindred to that of traditional handicraft, is achieved by applying modern skills to traditional materials (such as bronze) and yielding a new material (such as “improved cloissone”). Such a complex creative process is characteristic of Van Lau’s works.

　　The sphere and the cylinder are predominant forms in Van Lau’s works, and they reflect the sculptor’s Western orientation, a possible influence being the works of A. Pomodoro. These geometric forms however are not by essence mechanistic designs. Instead they manifest the idea of budding growth. Basically abstract, the forms often remind the viewer of representational shapes. Among the spherical compositions, an early work suggests a pomegranate ripened to explosion, exposing a host of gem-like grains. A later work suggests a bird bursting out of its shell and unfolding its wings to the vast beyond. Ancient Chinese art and culture have left their imprint on Van Lau’s works when the artist sought identification with China, as have so many overseas ethnic Chinese.

　　Motifs derived from the Chinese writing script, totem and ceramics appear one form of modern arrangement or another, but the works of this period have a contrived appearance, showing a mixture of traditional and modern elements as yet not part of the artist’s inner thoughts and feelings. These elements have internalized and form and content have blended in the recent works made for Taikoo Shing. The bronze-tube lotus puts a modern stamp on this already heavily significant flower-image so much favoured by Chinese poets, writers and painters. The four bronze columns at the main entrance obviously owe their inspiration to the Chinese hua-biao, but instead of having the traditional dragon-and-cloud relief, are plain-surfaced on the shaft. The nail-like ornamentations on the column-head, arranged in an orderly but not mechanistic design, echo the theme of budding growth.These two groups of sculptures bear the mark of certain conceptual and formal elements taken from traditional art, and the fusion of these with other “modern” elements is characteristic of Van Lau’s style.

　　Until recently, neither China nor the West distinguished strictly between pure and applied art. Most art objects created in ancient times served a practical purpose, and were appreciated as pure art if they attained a high artistic standard-such are the figures of gods and goddesses in the Pantheon and the bronze Galloping Horse Treading On a Swallow excavated from a Han tomb in China. The concept of combining function with aesthetics is stressed again in modern times in the works of the Constructivist School and the Bauhaus. Working in the same direction Van Lau created his team of swimming ducks in a pool in Taikoo Shing in bronze and improved cloissone. Modestly described by the artist as “handicraft”, this group of animal figures, by its originality in colour and form, invites the viewer to appreciate it as pure art. The return to a function-and-aesthetics-combined art should be significant to Van Lau and other contemporary Chinese artists long possessed by the Western “pure art” concept.

　　For an artist who, working within Hong Kong’s local environment, has hitherto been confined to making mural reliefs and indoor independent sculptures, making sculptures for the open-air environment of Taikoo Shing is a new venture. The matching of the work to the environment in terms of color, form and display position have to be carefully considered, but not at the expense of the individual character of the work. An individual piece of sculpture placed in a suitable environment is conceptually enlarged, becomes more than an exhibition piece or museum piece, and is accepted as part of Nature and society. The figures of gods and goddesses in ancient Greece, and the stone figures chipped out in open air at Long-men, Da-zu and Yun-gang in China all manifest the harmony between Art and Nature .The effort of many contemporary artists to maintain this tradition in the high-tide of modern individualism is valuable in this sense, and it is significant that Van Lau should work in this direction.

　　The present exhibition puts before us the work of a maturing artist. Trained in Taiwan and working in Hong Kong, he is keenly aware of the impact of Western Modernism, but seeks identification with the Chinese cultural tradition. Regarding this as a vital source of inspiration, but also conscious of the need for Chinese art to face the challenges of a modernized international world, he adopts a modern outlook in his use of material, technical skill and artistic concepts and, moving beyond learning and imitation, absorbs elements of traditional Chinese art into his works. In short, Van Lau has created modern sculpture with a strong Chinese accent. What he arrives at today is the result of a many-stage development Such a development, together with the factors that have shaped it, should be valuable reference for contemporaries and those that come after.