初识孟涛就被他画中的东方神韵所吸引，用油画来画心中的山水，画中国画所特有的意境，的确有其独创性。
　　孟涛的山水画，中国式的油画带有东方的典雅与诗人飞扬的情思--让想象力指挥着色彩与笔触在画布上游弋，成就一个个梦幻式的天堂。这是天才的思维，工具与画种不能限制想象。无法想象没有想象力的艺术是多么的平庸，然而在画界对着相片“临摹创作”的匠人却很多，很真实、很美，但缺少的是打动人的情感与思想。绘画同样要同文本一样讲究思想之美。
　　谈及他为什么要用油画来创作中国画式的作品，孟涛的回答特别质朴：“可能是我油画创作的起步比较特别的原因，一段时间我的油画总有半路出家的感觉，也许正是有了这种感觉我才有画油画的冲动，至于要达到何种艺术效果我不是很在意。我的油画被认为是在主流绘画之外，属于边缘的一类。本来，当今的艺术已没有主流与非主流，中国油画已呈现了一个多元化的格局，它容纳了各种观念，形成和媒介材料，中国油画的发展有许多的可能性。”
　　问：“我知道你生于大巴山区，对于山也许你有一种独特的感受．你很多的作品都与山水树木有关，山水画是中国画的主要内容，你学的是国画．你可以用国画来表达你心中的山水．但为什么会选择用油画来表达呢？”
　　“这是我当初选择国画系的一个原因之一。我喜欢大山，以至认为只有报考中国画系才与自己的兴趣有联系，因为中国画系有山水画专业。我画画的情感性和情绪性很强，任何时候都是随感而发，感兴趣的事就做，没兴趣就不做，比较纵容自己。学习水墨，又不满足于水墨，水墨的色彩不够强烈。水墨的质地没有触摸感，于是我课余时间开始了油画创作，课堂上和课堂下的交叉尝试。我感到了水墨与油彩的互补关系，从中我寻找到了乐趣与激情，渐渐地，我更多选择了油画。”
　　问：“中国画重在写意，油画重在写实。近年来一些先锋的绘画行为开始用各种形式和材料来表达一些想法，而你为什么没有走进当下的前卫而回到中国传统文化上去的呢？”
　　“对于中国传统文化的重视与研究．我有一个不自觉到自觉的过程，中国本土艺术家离不开传统文化的底蕴。中国当代艺术最终必须在中国这块土地上成长，山水画是中国绘画中最具代表性和创造性，也是最能体现东方人的哲学观和审美精神的画种。中国山水画不象古典风景画那样忠实地描摹大自然，而是强调对大自然的体验与感悟，达到心境交融实现主体对客体的超越。”
　　细细地观看孟涛的画，感到一种高古的清雅一种出世的高远，无欲无求，自由放纵着心灵，他找到了自然准确表达自己内心体验和文化认识的艺术语言。在谈到“表达”这个话题时，孟涛显然有一些忧虑，因为现在太多的艺术界的人在摹仿自然、在摹仿别人，唯独没有创造，没有思考。他说：“自然而真实的表达对于艺术家来说非常重要。每一个画家应该坚持自己的想法，不要违背自己的本性去做特别勉强的创作．如果太去注重某一方面，过分注意语言修辞就会出现生硬的样式化。”
　　问：“你现在画了那么多的山水画，你还去写生吗？问一个画界比较普遍的事，你会用照片作素材吗？”
　　“我作风景画从来不对景写生，也不要照片，主要依靠童年时的记忆以及对现在自然生活环境的感受。当我面对画布常常有一种似是而非的超现实山水画面在脑海中出现，在构成与色彩方面我也从中国彩瓷艺术中寻到借鉴。传统的国画家也讲借鉴，他们很讲究师承关系，并要掌握多种技法和技巧，我的借鉴与传统的国画家讲的借鉴不同。
　　“在今天这样的文化背景下，艺术家必须以现代人的思维与眼光去审视、发现、面对我们生存的周围世界，创造出符合现代人审美视觉语言。对于艺术家，视觉语言直接反映了他的文化心态，反映了他的人格和生命价值观。”

　　When meeting Meng Tao, you will be attracted by oriental verve in his paintings, he paints mountain and water from his heart and paints unique artistic conception of Chinese painting by means of oil painting, so his paintings are of great originality.
　　In terms of Meng Tao's landscape painting, oil painting with characteristic of Chinese painting contains oriental elegance and poet's lingering affection, i.e. enabling imagination to drive color and brush on the drawing board so as to create dreamy paradise. This is the thinking of talent, tools and painting types cannot limit his imagination. We can not image how trite the art is if there is no imagination, however, in the painting circle there are many "journeymen" who are creating works by copying photos, although their works are true and beautiful, yet their works are lack of attractive emotions and thoughts. Beautiful thoughts must also be emphasized in painting, just as in text.
　　When he is asked "why to use oil panting to create works with Chinese painting style?" he answered: "maybe because of special startup of my creation in oil painting. In a period of time, I felt that I switched to oil panting that I was not trained for, maybe it is this feeling that I have an urge in painting oil painting and I do not care about what kind of artistic effect it will reach. My oil paintings are regarded outside of mainstream painting and are deemed as edge paintings. In fact, there is no boundary between mainstream and non- mainstream of art, a diversified pattern has occurred in Chinese oil painting, it contains various concepts, formation and media materials, there are many possibilities in development of Chinese oil painting.
　　Q: "I know you were born in Daba mountain region, maybe you have a kind of unique feeling to the mountain, many of your works are related to mountain, water and tree, landscape is main contents of Chinese painting, your major is traditional Chinese painting, you may express mountain and water from your heart by means of traditional Chinese painting, but why do you express them by oil painting?"
　　"This is one of the reasons for me to choose Traditional Chinese Painting Department at that time, I love high mountains, so that I thought only after I major in landscape painting in Traditional Chinese Painting Department can I realize my dreams. I have very strong emotionality and always do things against interests at any time. I learned inkwash painting, but I didn't satisfy myself in it, because color of inkwash painting is not as strong as expected, moreover, I felt no touch sense on texture of inkwash painting, so I started to learn oil painting in my spare time and often practiced in and out of the class. I find there is a complementary relations between inkwash and grease paint and I find interest and passion from them, so I prefer to oil painting gradually."
　　Q: "Traditional Chinese Painting focuses on freehand brushwork and oil painting focuses on realistic painting. In recent years some pioneering painters start to express some thoughts by various forms and materials, but why you still insist on Chinese traditional culture instead of following the current fashionable way?"
　　"I have experienced a course from non-conscious sense to conscious sense on emphasizing and researching Chinese traditional culture, it is difficult for a Chinese artist to throw away profound traditional culture. Chinese contemporary art must grow on Chinese land. Among all Chinese paintings, landscape painting is a kind of painting that has the most representativeness and creativeness, and also presents the most philosophy and aesthetic spirit of oriental people. Chinese landscape painting emphasizes experience and feeling in the nature to achieve surpassing of main body to the object on the basis of combination of heart and scenery, rather than classical landscape, which only traces the nature without any creativity."
　　Looking at Men Tao's paintings carefully, you will feel a kind of elegance and desire-free loftiness and a free soul. He has found an artistic language to exactly express his internal feeling and cultural knowledge. When mentioning the topic of "expression", he looks worried, because at present more and more people in artistic circle are copying the nature and other artists' works without creativity and thought, He said: "natural and true expression is very important to any artist. Every painter shall insist on his own thought and shall not make constrained works by violating his own inherent character, otherwise abrupt mode will occur if painter only focuses on one aspect and emphasizes trope of language."

　　Q: " Will you continue paint or sketch from nature after you have painted so many landscape paintings? Will you take photos as source material?"
　　"I never paint or sketch from nature or photos when I am painting a landscape painting, I only depend on memory about childhood and my feeling on present natural living environment. Every time I face the drawing board, there is often a kind of surrealistic landscape painting occurring in my mind, I can also learn the formation and color from Chinese decorative porcelain. Many painters of traditional Chinese painting focus on such a kind of "use for reference" as "inheritance relation", and emphasize many skills, these are different from mine."
　　Under today's cultural background, artists must review, find and face the surrounding world where we survive with modern thinking and sight so as to create language satisfying aesthetic vision of modern people. Language of vision has directly reflected the artist's cultural psychology, personality and life values.