隋老师：“我最早是在80年代在美术馆看到田老师大型展览的作品，当时还不认识田老师个人，当时特别震撼，因为他的作品充满了西南边陲的异域风格，而且这种风格是有一种强烈的个体性风格来造成的。后来我到北京读研究生留校，田世信老师也从西南调回北京，这才见到田老师艺术家本人，一下子就被他的个性和人格所俘获，一下子喜欢上了田老师这个人。我觉得田老师作品中的极端个体性就是因为他本人的极端个性而形成的，我觉得是先有了艺术家本人再有了艺术家作品，田老师雕塑作品除了极端的个体性，个人化风格手法之外，他从一开始就带有强烈的明确的地方性，这种地方性是在当田老师用来做少数民族时用木雕，石雕，陶，来表现西南少数民族生活的时候而形成的。那时候在北京人看来他是来自于西南边疆的地方性，其实这种地方性是田老师的个性形成的，他是因为他的个性才有的这种地方性，不然在西南地区如此之多的画家，雕塑家，怎么就没有几个如此有个性的人？所以这种地方性是建立在艺术家个性的基础之上的。而这种艺术家个性最终变成了地方性。这种地方性在现在我看来它已经不是所谓少数民族，西南边疆的地方性而是中国自己的地方性，是中国文化的本性。是一个活的自由自在的充满个性的中国人，他个人艺术语言所形成的地方性，是他是个人的地方性。

　　田老师这些年有做了些帝王像，这些人物形象塑造都是建立在田老师个人他自己认识社会，认识历史，认识人的本性这样一个基础上所形成的他自己的创作方法，塑造形式和艺术语言。

　　我想当田老师他去欧洲看博物馆和美术馆时，他一定是把那边的雕塑和绘画当那边的地方性，如法国就是法国的地方性，英国就是英国，德国就是德国的地方性，北欧就是瑞典，瑞士的地方性，他们的地方性面对的就是田老师个人的地方性，这种地方性对地方性才是一种公平公正的对话状态。

　　田老师一方面是我最喜欢的中国雕塑家之一，也是我最敬佩的前辈之一，另一方面我觉得他的雕塑所体现出来的个人性和地方性，特别是极端的个人性，其实是我们正确看待全球性，国际性的一个出发点，这也是我最敬佩田老师的这一点，从这里我能看出来田老师是和一般学院里教出来的雕塑家不一样的，他自己神完气足，个性特别圆满，所以他人格的个性整个渗透了他的艺术作品里去，这是一个统一的世界，他本人和他的艺术统一，这也是我最喜欢和最敬佩田老师的地方。

An Interview with Sui Jianguo

　　Sui Jianguo: I first saw Professor Tian's work at a large museum exhibition in the 1980s. At the time, I didn't know him personally, but I found his work surprising, because it had the exotic style of the southwestern border, shaped by something very individualistic. Later, around the time I came to Beijing to do my master's degree and then stayed on to teach, Tian Shixin was transferred back to Beijing from southwestern China. This was the first time I saw him in person, and I was instantly captivated by his character and personality. I liked him immediately. I think that the extreme individuality of Professor Tian's work is due to his extreme personality. I think that an artist needs to be that way before the artworks can be that way. Apart from his extreme individuality and very personal style, Professor Tian's sculptures have always had an intense, clear local character. This local character emerged when Professor Tian was making his ethnic minority works, using wood carving, stone carving, and ceramic to depict ethnic minority life in southwestern China. At the time, Beijingers thought that the local character of his work came from the southwestern border, but this local character was also shaped by Professor Tian's personality. It is because of his personality that this local character exists; otherwise, out of the numerous painters and sculptors in the southwest, why aren't there more people with this personality? This local character is built on the foundation of the artist's personality. The artist's personality eventually becomes local character. In my view, local character is not just related to ethnic minorities; the localism of the southwestern border is the local character of China itself; it is the essence of Chinese culture. He is a living, carefree Chinese person with personality; the local character formed from his personal artistic language is his personal local character.

　　In recent years, Professor Tian has made sculptures of kings, and the creative methods, modeled forms, and artistic language for these figures are built on Professor Tian's own understanding of society, history, and human nature.

　　When Professor Tian goes to museums in Europe, he must see their sculpture and painting as the local character of those places. France has French local character, Britain has British local character, and Germany has German local character, while northern Europe has Swedish and Swiss local character. Their local character confronts Tian's individual local character, and only then is this local character engaging with local character in a fair and equal dialogue.

　　Professor Tian is one of my favorite Chinese sculptors and one of the members of the previous generation that I most admire. I also think that we can correctly identify a global, international starting point for the individuality and local focus embodied by his sculpture, as well as his extreme individuality; this is something I very much respect about him. Professor Tian is different from a lot of academy-educated sculptors. He is full of spirit and energy, and he has ample personality. His personality has completely permeated his artworks—this is a unified world. He is one with his art, which is something that I very much like and admire about Professor Tian.