李南凤先生能进入广东美术馆的关注视野，基于我们对当代艺术史的积极参与行为和冷静观察态度，特别是对“85思潮”以来艺术生态环境的研究经验。1979年以来中国当代艺术在针对经济持续快速发展所衍生的个体和社会现状，以及历史、环境等多方面进行的丰产创作令世界印象深刻。在这个特殊历史时期，李南凤先生早在90年代初就前瞻性地引进西方艺术思想观念，并悉心探讨其与中国本土文化和社会的调和关系。政治波普和粉色人物系列已表明他具有一定的世界目光。

　　The coming of Mr. Reagan Lee into the attention of Guangdong Museum of Art is attributable to our active participation and calm observation of the history of contemporary art, especially our experience of research into the art ecological environment since the 85 Ideological Trend. China has impressed the world deeply with the rich wealth of works on individuals, social conditions, history, the environment, and other aspects attributed to its sustainable and rapid economic development since 1979. In this special historical period Reagan, with his foresight, made efforts to introduce Western artistic thoughts and ideas, and explored into the reconciliation between them and Chinese native culture and society. His politic pops and pink portrait series have well demonstrated his vision towards the world.

　　为寻求与国际的对话，众多艺术家游走西方先进国家展开各自当代艺术之梦。李南凤先生却选择远赴非洲岛国塞舌尔，通过近10年的探索后又辗转游学欧洲和定居新西兰。20多年来李南凤先生经受了人生的磨难、艺术的失衡乃至心灵的动荡，好在他勇于面对内心，不囿于传统，也不再试图投身于浩荡的当代大潮去感受搏击风浪的趣味。这似乎主动脱离了世界前沿的艺术环境，李南凤先生转入关注个人栖息于现实的体验，因为其机智、率直和敏感，由此他的艺术便拥有了庞大而多面的生命触感。在表现形式上，李南凤先生吸收了表现主义的营养，结合传统中国画材质语言，从中发现创作灵感，然后以纯粹表现的语言展现他的创新资源。正是这样的理性与激情、禀赋与狂野，浇铸了李南凤先生在画坛上耀眼而富有个性的魂魄。

　　To seek international dialogues, numerous artists travel to advanced Western countries with their dreams of contemporary art. But Reagan chose a quite different place: Seychelles in Africa. He has lived there for nearly 10 years before move to Europe and then settles down in New Zealand. During these 20 years, he has suffered from life difficulties, disequilibrium of art and turbulence in his soul. What’s adorable is that he has braved his heart, broken away from tradition and no longer tried to experience the pleasure of beating waves and winds in the vast contemporary trends. This seems to diverge from the frontier of the world's artistic environment to the focus on reality-based experience of individuals, as a result of which, his art practice has gained a colossal and multiple touch of life with wit, candor and sensitivity. Reagan absorbs the essence of expressionism, gains inspiration from the combination of Chinese painting materials and language, and displays his innovative resources in a posture of pure expressionism. It is the very reason and passion, talent and unrestrainedness that have combined to form Reagan's brilliant and most individualistic soul in the painting community.

　　广东美术馆持续关注海外华人及归国艺术家动态，并对之进行严肃的学术梳理。像李南凤先生这样独特的艺术家自然在我们的学术视野凝注中。为此我们举办“十字架风景——李南凤水墨艺术展”以及研讨会，同时编辑出版李南凤大型画集，旨在通过对李南凤艺术实践的深入讨论和展示，进一步探讨华人艺术家在脱离中国的当代艺术历史情境后，如何寻找国际化的创新原动力和探索更多可能的前进方向。以关注个案为基础，历史地考察“当下的艺术”、明晰个案与整体的联系与差异——我们认为这种以接受环境作为主导的研究方式，在思考艺术史的发展逻辑问题时是行之有效的。

　　Guangdong Museum of Art pays consistent attention to the up-to-date movements of overseas Chinese and returned artists, and classifies them academically in a serious manner. Naturally, such a unique artist as Reagan has come under our artistic scrutiny. Our sponsorship of "Melancholy Within the Cross: Reagan’s Ink--Wash" and relevant seminars, and our compilation and publication of a large-scale painting collection by Reagan, is designed, through an in-depth discussion and display of Li's art practice, to further explore how Chinese artists, when dislodged from the current Chinese historical context, can find globalized drive for innovation and seek after more possible directions. Focusing on individual cases, considering "the current art" from a historical perspective, defining the connection and difference between individual cases and the whole picture --the approach of regarding the environment as the dominant factor, we believe, is feasible in considering the logic of art development.

　　广东美术馆馆长：罗一平

　　2012年7月

　　Luo Yiping, director of Guangdong Museum of Art

　　July 2012

作者：罗一平