Appreciation of Oil Sketch Portrait of Carmine Gelli by Xiong MingBy Gao Liuxing熊明的肖像画总能深深地打动我。之前，我曾经针对他的"孩童系列"肖像画作一连写了好几篇文章。熊明去美国肖像协会"面试"时，他只带去了那幅《大师的起步》，就如此轻松地获得了会员资格。Xiong Ming‘s portrait paintings have always impressed and fascinated me. I once wrote several articles about his portrait series of "Children". When Xiong Ming went to the Portrait Society of America for an "interview"， he obtained his membership easily by presenting only the portrait named Starting of Master. 

　　熊明油画《大师的起步》Oil painting Starting of Master by Xiong Ming今年五月，熊明在他的朋友圈贴出了两幅肖像画，说画中人物是他的贵人，这幅画是其中之一。我当然知道他所指的恩人是谁。由于熊明跟卢浮宫有约，很多抽象画、肖像画是不能对外公开的，去年加入美国肖像协会后创作的几幅肖像画，使我大饱眼福，所以我不知道这幅写有"二零一九o五於纽约"字样的肖像画在风格与技法上与他那些暂时无法面世的作品是否相同。若是根据常理去推测，不同的可能性更大一些。In May this year， Xiong Ming posted two portrait paintings in his WeChat moments， saying that the character in the paintings is his benefactor， and this is one of the two paintings. Of course I know who the benefactor he refers to is. Since Xiong Ming is a contracted painter of Louvre， many of his abstract paintings and portrait paintings cannot be made public. Several portraits he painted last year after joining the Portrait Society of America really glutted my eyes. I have no idea whether this portrait with the caption saying "May 2019 in New York" is the same in style and technique as his other works that are temporarily unrevealed. If we speculate in the normal sense， this painting is more likely to differ from those collected in Louvre.

　　熊明写生油画《吉米瑞·吉利肖像》Oil sketch Portrait of Carmine Gelli by Xiong Ming这幅画最打动我的是人物的神韵与气度和人物所呈现出来的完全自然的状态。我长久地凝视着画面，揣测着画中人物被定格的那一刻所处的情境。慢慢地我面前似乎出现了这样一个情景：What impresses me most about this painting is the charm and bearing of the character and the completely natural state of the character. When I stare at the picture intently， speculating on the situation at the moment the character is freeze-framed in the picture， there seems to be a scene gradually emerging in front of me.一个颇有风度的男人正在悠然地散着步，突然他发现对面不远处一个老友正在向他走来，老友尚未注意到他，于是他就停驻脚步，微笑着等候与老友目光相对的那一刻。呈现在他脸上的那份喜悦是由内而外自然地传递而出的，那是一种由衷的喜悦。下一刻，他就会把手从裤袋里抽出，张开双臂上前去拥抱他的朋友。An elegant and graceful man is taking a walk leisurely， when suddenly he finds that an old friend is coming up to him not far from the opposite side. Since the old friend has not noticed him yet， he stops and smiles， waiting for the moment when they make eye contact. What presented on his face is a heartfelt joy naturally transmitted from the inside out. The next moment， he will take his hands out of his trouser pockets and open his arms to hug his friend.

熊明和吉利先生的合影A group photo of Xiong Ming and Mr. Gelli

　　有一句话叫做："心中所想，即眼中所见。"苏东坡与佛印针对"在你慧眼中我是何物？"的轶事是这个最好的诠释。用专业画家的话来说就是："一幅绘画，之所以我们喜欢，大家都喜欢，除了在绘画策略方面的营造以外，实际上是个人的情感和情绪。"

　　There is a saying goes "What you think in your heart is what you see in your eyes." The anecdote of Su Dongpo and Fo Yin on "What am I in your eyes of wisdom？" is the best interpretation for it. In the words of professional painters： "Apart from the construction of painting strategy， the reason why we like a painting actually lies in the personal feelings and emotions."

苏东坡与佛印（图片来源于网络，侵权必删）

　　Su Dongpo and Fo Yin （This picture is sourced from the Internet. Please contact me to delete it in case of infringement）

　　这幅肖像油画是熊明为被他称之为贵人的杰米瑞o吉利（Carmine Gelli）而画的，那么这幅画自然是饱含了画家的个人的情感与情绪的。关于他是如何遇上这个贵人的，熊明在他的朋友圈如是说：This portrait is painted by Xiong Ming for Carmine Gelli， whom he called benefactor， so it is naturally full of the painter’s personal feelings and emotions. With regard to how he met this benefactor， Xiong Ming said in his WeChat moments：有一天我在街上画画，一个老外带着翻译跑过来说："兄弟，我带你去卢浮宫画画，去吗？"我说："去"。心想大不了换条街画画…就这样我成了卢浮宫画家，他成了我的贵人。One day I was painting in the street， a foreigner came running to me with an interpreter and said， "Hey bro， do you want to paint in Louvre？" "Yes！" I answered. I thought to myself that I might as well paint in another street. So I became a contracted painter of the Louvre， and he became my benefactor.

　　卢浮宫画家熊明的创作场景The creation scene of Louvre‘s contracted painter Xiong Ming吉利先生是意大利美术家联盟主席和意大利北部商会联盟主席。从他的头衔看来，我们多少可以判定他的性格特点会是多重的，诸如精明、睿智、审慎、坚定、自信、执着、和善、豁达等等。同一个人在不同的人眼里会显示出不同的性格侧面，所以熊明想要通过画笔表现的肯定是他心目中的吉利先生。Mr. Gelli is the President of the Association of Italian Fine Artists and President of Chamber of Commerce of Northern Italy. Judging from his title， we can more or less learn that he has multiple personality traits， such as smartness， wisdom， prudence， firmness， self-confidence， persistence， gentleness， and generosity. The same person would show different aspects of personality in different people’s eyes. Therefore， what Xiong Ming wants to demonstrate through his brush is definitely the image of Mr. Gelli in his mind.虽然这幅画引发了我前面的想象，但是我还是想用一些言辞来描绘一下画面所揭示意的吉利先生的一些个性品质。Although this painting arouses my imagination as mentioned above， I still want to use a few words to describe some personal qualities of Mr. Gelli revealed by the picture.画面上，吉利先生两手插在裤袋里，挺身远望，似乎在展望未来，眼中嘴角溢满笑意，这笑容充满善意也非常坦率，这是一种对未来充满信心的神情。据此我看到了一个和善、坦荡、自信和乐观的吉利先生。In the picture， Mr. Gelli puts his hands in his trouser pockets and looks out into the distance. It seems that he is looking towards the future. His eyes and lips are full of kind and frank smiles. This is an expression of confidence towards the future. On these grounds， I see a genial， magnanimous， confident and optimistic Mr. Gelli.

　　熊明写生油画《吉米瑞·吉利肖像》Oil sketch Portrait of Carmine Gelli by Xiong Ming画面人物穿着深灰色长裤和银灰色T恤，背景色是略淡于裤子颜色的深灰色，这样画面就呈现出种高级灰的色调，从中可以看出画家眼中的吉利先生也是个质朴优雅、沉稳执着的人。这一点也可以通过我之前在另一篇文章中提到过的关于吉利先生的很不寻常的举动中得到印证，我不妨在此再赘述一遍吧。The character in the picture wears a pair of dark gray trousers and a silver gray T-shirt， and the background color is a kind of dark gray that is slightly lighter than the color of trousers， making the picture present a high-grade gray tone， from which it can be seen that Mr. Gelli is also a simple， elegant， profound and persistent man in the eyes of the painter. This can also be confirmed by the unusual behavior of Mr. Gelli mentioned in another article before， so I might as well repeat it here.吉利先生第一眼看到熊明的画就被深深地吸引住了，为了确定熊明手边的画都是他亲手所画--大概他对某些画家通过学生之手采用流水作业的方式创作绘画作品的事有所耳闻吧，他就去熊明画室看熊明作画，他整整看了一个多月，每天带一点面包之类的干粮充饥，这举动似乎小说家笔下的人物才会有的。从这一个事例上我们可以看出吉利先生虽然十分自信，但却不是个自负的人，他很审慎，也很执着。Mr. Gelli was deeply fascinated when he saw Xiong Ming‘s paintings for the very first time. To verify those paintings were really created by Xiong Ming himself， Carime Gelli went to Xiong Ming’s studio to watch the painting process of Xiong Ming for more than a month. This was probably because he had heard about some painters who created works through the hands of their students by means of assembly line. During that time， he took only a little solid food such as bread to feed himself every day. What he behaved seems to appear only in the characters depicted by novelists. It can be seen from this story that Mr. Gelli is confident but not conceited， and also he is a prudent and persistent man. 熊明在他杭州河坊街画室的创作场景The creation scene of Xiong Ming in his studio in Hefang Street， Hangzhou这幅吉利先生的肖像画采用了古典写实画法，画得非常细腻逼真。人物的轮廓线不是那种简单直接的平滑线条，而是经过了及其微妙的处理，是由一系列向背景虚出去的细微笔触构成的，因此轮廓线得以完全融入背景之中。T恤的总体色调虽属于灰色色系，但却画得层次非常丰富又不带雕琢痕迹。

This portrait of Mr. Gelli adopts the classical realistic painting technique， presenting an extremely delicate and realistic picture. Abandoning simple and direct smooth lines， the contour lines of the character are composed of a series of subtle strokes that are void to the background. In this way， the contour lines can be completely integrated into the background. Although the painter adopts gray as the overall tone of the T-shirt， it is finished with rich layers and no ornate traces. 熊明写生油画《吉米瑞·吉利肖像》Oil sketch Portrait of Carmine Gelli by Xiong Ming这幅画的画中人物有如此自然的神韵，是画家通过高超的光影营造手法达成的。这幅画完成于五月份，七月初画家又对它作了些修改。我把修改前后的照片作了仔细对比，发现修改后的画面光影效果得到了进一步的增强。由此看来，画得细腻画得逼真不是画家追求的终极目标，这只不过是画家扎实的基本功的具体体现，光影效果才是画家最大的目标。这幅画无论在高光、阴影、明暗边界线等方面都得到了较为完美的表现，让人感受不到丝毫的雕琢意味，从而呈现出一种完全自然的面貌。正如中国古代的伟大诗人们写诗，那些平仄格律尽管给人诸多束缚，就如后人所谓的"写格律诗是戴着镣铐跳舞"，可伟大的诗人们最终却能写出毫无雕琢痕迹的自然诗句来，那些诗句犹如从诗人的心中自然流露出来一样。The natural charm of the character in this painting is achieved by the painter through superb light and shadow creation techniques. This painting was completed in May， and the painter made some modifications in early July. I carefully compared the photos of the painting before and after modification， and found that the light and shadow effect of the modified picture was further enhanced. From this point of view， exquisite and realistic painting is not what the painter pursued ultimately， but the concrete embodiment of the painter‘s solid basic skills. The light and shadow effect is the biggest goal of the painter. This painting has been perfectly presented in terms of highlight， shadow and terminator， which makes the reviewers feel no ornate sense， thus showing a completely natural appearance. Just as the great poets in ancient China wrote poems， although the tonal patterns of metrical verses restrict the literary talent， as later generations said "writing metrical verses is like dancing in chains"， great poets can always create natural verses without any ornate trace， and those verses seemed to come out naturally from the poets’ hearts.

　　熊明写生油画《吉米瑞·吉利肖像》局部Part of oil sketch Portrait of Carmine Gelli by Xiong Ming熊明这幅吉利先生的肖像画正因为光影效果营造得好，使得画面非常透气，站在画像之前，我们简直能感觉得到从画中人物的鼻孔里呼出的生命气息，换句话说，画家已经给画中人物注入了生命力。The picture of this portrait of Mr. Gelli by Xiong Ming seems highly breathable because of its excellent light and shadow effect. Standing in front of the portrait， we can even feel the breath of life exhaled from the nostrils of the character in the painting. In other words， the painter has injected vitality into the character in the painting.仔细观赏完熊明先生的这幅吉利先生肖像画，我们可以感受到画家在此画赏倾注了许多心血和感情，以便能尽量画出一幅完美的肖像画，以此来表达自己的感恩之情。After carefully appreciating this portrait of Mr. Gelli by Xiong Ming， we can feel that the painter has put a lot of efforts and emotions into this painting， so that he can paint a perfect portrait as far as possible to express his gratitude.

​　　注：

　　本文由上海力友翻译公司翻译

　　部分图片源自于网络，侵权必删。

　　Note：

　　The article is translated by Shanghai LiYou Translation Co.， Ltd.

　　This article contains some pictures sourced from the Internet， please contact me to delete them in case of infringement.

　　作者：高六兴

　　来源： 高邸文化