只要将冯•沃格特的话稍加修饰，即可见出艺术在今日的状况，并非如我们所设想，不堪昨日的重负。“我们被错误地灌输了一种看法，即把摆脱旧的艺术看作是自由的本质。实际上那只是自由的属性，自由只能从一些自我规定的新规则中才能获得和被建立。”也就是我们清楚地意识到自己的作为即是为自己立下门户，不论书法、绘画，抑或书象、装置，我们言谈或者呈现，借助语言、线条、色彩，不外是为了确立自身存在的一种方式。徐家麟谓徐洁的书象是她黑衣长发深山舞剑留下来的墨迹，大有吓死仓颉的气魄。这种如海燕冲向暴风雨般的激情，在中国女性书画家中颇为少见。徐洁以书象为结点，并且撒之成网，传统必于是，现代必于是，所能计较的便是这种以书象的方式呈现出来的艺术给我们带来了什么，论书法线条必托于二王，论抽象风格，必言之毕加索、马蒂斯、波洛克，何况我们还能看出克利、蒙德里安、克林姆特，我们一再地追问，真正触动我们的是什么?或许佩特在1877年就可以说清楚了，“一切艺术都渴求着音乐之境，即纯粹的形式。音乐展现了幸福、神话、饱经沧桑的面孔、一些霞光、一些地域;它努力向我们述说，它说到我们不该忽略的事物，或者它有些事物欲向我们倾吐;这不曾化为实际生活却又具有急迫性的启示，或许即是美学现象。”徐洁抟笔作书象，便是这“不曾化为实际生活却又具有急迫性的启示”。

　　裘樟清(浙江师范大学人文学院教授)

　　大写意即是大抽象

　　我偶然路过古子城的满堂书院，看见墙上挂了徐洁女士的大幅照片，开始我还不知道她是个女性，直到看了画展，再回过头来仔细一瞧，知道这是个女人，大为惊讶。在中国传统中，女性给人的感觉总是典雅柔美，不论生理还是心理。化入艺术则常以婉约、娴雅为胜，这种美感已经成为中国知识分子的一个思维定式，然而这种思维定式一经遭遇徐洁的作品，以致让我觉得像我这样的知识分子所接受的教育近乎荒谬，经不起后人的推敲和质疑。徐洁的性格大抵如秋瑾、吕碧城，身有侠气，现诸身上，自是一种不让须眉、迥异于传统女性文化的气质，这是我的第一感觉。她笔下所呈现的精气神不同于我以往所看到的诸如胡秋萍、孙晓云、周彗珺、林岫等女性书法家，胡秋萍等人在书法上不曾超越女性艺术家所要追求的理想和格调，但在徐洁身上，她和她们之间已经有了距离感，不是在精神内核上，而是在反映女性独特视觉的角度上有了自己独到的语言。

　　“书象”一词，在金华我也是第一次听说。书象不是书法，其中意思，我只能望文生义，它既不是完全的书法，也不是完全的绘画，大抵是综合书法、线条、图象的一种独特艺术。随后，我翻查辞海，略搜资料，得知书象有广义、狭义之分，徐洁的作品当在狭义的书象范畴，然后论其美学特点何在，则可拈出两点，一是传统性，也即是古典性;一是现代性。若说古典性，整个中国书坛必以“二王”(王羲之、王献之)为标杆，“二王”到了今天仍不可逾越的原因，我概括为“六风”：风雅、风神、风骨、风骚、风流、风格。徐洁承继“二王”，并非从形式上，而是从内在精神上追摹古人，以草书的面目呈现而已。在她的构图中，即使不是以书法的线条出现，其中仍有书法的线条在支撑。尽管有人对她有所非议，但她绝不是野狐禅。

　　我教了三十多年的西方文学，于表现主义、印象派尤为崇拜。只恨不曾早生几十年，像徐志摩一样周游法国，与梵乐希、曼殊斐儿相往来，瓦雷里，马拉美，莫奈，梵高，毕加索，我无不顶礼膜拜。赵无极出走法国，便是如此。徐洁的作品也在这一流风余韵之中。尽管她所用的不是西方式的涂抹，而是与中国笔墨的结合。所能引起的只是无限的想象，不在单纯抽象的某物，而是一种视觉冲击，美的陶冶，美的享受。譬如赵无极的画，笔触所至，描摹心境之空旷、悠远，极尽能事。中国画家应该借鉴、吸收这样的艺术语言，简而言之，大写意即是大抽象，不拘泥于象，而在乎其感觉。西方现代艺术也是颇为切合中国传统中的老庄哲学，表现主义在我们老祖宗那里就有了，不是颓废艺术。徐洁的这次书象展览之所以给金华带来这么大的冲击，不论教授名家，还是普罗大众，都能有所触动，可见她是在传统的基础上吸收了东西方文化的精髓，熔铸笔下，方能造此如凌宇冰所言“有如坦克轰隆开来”的书象。

　　鲁 光(中国著名画家)

　　徐洁的书法里面有武功

　　我进门看了徐洁的第一张作品，很是喜欢，传统与民间的东西，里面都有。她父亲是画龙袍的，所以看她的画，偏有龙袍的色彩，鲜艳，喜气。裘教授是门内看徐洁，我这是门外看徐洁。就我目力所及，像徐洁这样的书法家金华还没有。“书象”我不懂，我只当它是书法与现代结合起来的一种艺术。我和徐洁颇有缘分，一是我本名徐世成，这不，我们徐家又出了一个女书法家。二是我当了八年的中国武术协会副主席，徐洁曾经又是武术协会会员。书如其人，画如其人，所以，我说徐洁的书法里面有武功，没有武功不行，写那么大的字，男的也感吃力。

　　我有个朋友，二三十年前，他准备画一百个中国文化名人，他画了27个的时候拿来给我看，我说画得真好，每个人都从石头里长出来似的，但我建议他不要画下去。他的画不是最好的，他的字也不是最好的，但是字画结合起来说不定就是中国第一。他听了我的建议，就开始搞书画结合，我也是从那时候起，接触了一些中国现代书法。但始终都是外行，传统书法我不懂，现代书法也不懂。我是纯凭感觉，画到现在，心得只是一句“得意忘形”，不拘泥于具体的形象。画画无非是表达内心世界、艺术观点、审美观念，要求形似，更求神似。但画画，我是半路出家，譬如登珠峰，人家是从南坡、北坡一路上去，我是在山腰往上走。

　　书法练再好，超不过古人，中国现在能写好字的人太多了。书法发展到了今天，应该有突破。都21世纪了，书法的功能慢慢消退，毛笔谁还在用，书法更多的只是艺术价值，书法的变也是被逼出来的，就看怎么变。中国画也是如此。故步自封违背历史规律，越雷池几步才是往前发展。简单地说，徐洁的作品，连我们这些70岁以上的人都还能接受，可见其中传统水墨与现代元素的结合很成功。当代艺术里面有些我不大喜欢，在于西方希望我们年轻一辈按照他们的艺术理念走他们那条路，这是西方的目的，但中国要坚守自己的底线，传统的东西一定要有，严格上说，最有传统的最现实，最扎根泥土中的最具有国际性。完全照搬西方没有出路，你永远不可能在他的路数上超过它。中国文化在美国上层社会根本进不去，因为他们不接受。***访华时，看李苦禅表演中国画，李苦禅半个小时画完，***不以为然，以为西方的油画大抵都要好几个月才能完成，他不知道李苦禅的这一笔要练一辈子。浸淫西方文化这么久的赵无极如今也转过头来画中国画，他当年可是翻窗子逃了潘天寿的课，一味向往着巴黎的人。不忘中国传统，也能兼收西方传统，吸收要有尺度与分寸，如此打烂、揉碎，重新组合，但不论多烂，其中仍有中国的气韵在。徐洁仍在往前探索，她有“凤”的柔美，也有“侠”的刚劲，以后会更上一层楼，也如裘教授所说，她是在实践苏珊•朗格的“美是一种有意味的形式”。

　　靳晓日(湖南师范大学教授，著名画家)

　　中国文化所要复兴的是本土文化

　　我在中央美院读的就是美术史，专攻当代艺术批评。去年12月我在北京参观上个世纪80年代末出道的艺术名家画展，随后也在上海美术馆看过当代美术展览，今天我所要提出的一个问题在于解构与重构。自林风眠、徐悲鸿留学归来，改良中国传统绘画，到如今也有百年光景，因此，现在我们的艺术创作不再是折衷中西。学习毕加索、马蒂斯的阶段应该过去了，这个时代也不是一个折衷、改良的时代。我们对传统的理解，必然要走向一个更新的文化平台。而我们对当下的理解应该是什么，在85新潮、89新潮之后，我们应该重构一个怎样的现代中国文明?以及，我们自身的探索应该在哪里?我看徐洁的书象作品，其中装饰有象形文字，这只是停留在一种形式上。我们也会走向古代，走向传统，当后人看我们时，我们做了什么事情，这才是根本旨意。中国文化所要复兴的当是本土文化，尽管借鉴、吸收西方，也是取意“他山之石，可以攻玉”。我想，我们这一批人都过了不惑之年，现在要的应该是理性，而不是感性，不是如徐洁所说的“创作的躁动”。徐洁所说的“象”，也不是易经的象，更不是仓颉造字的象，她需要再造一个象，以期能够在中国的传统中形成经典，从感性走向理性，因为中国文化有他自己的理性，甚至它不是简单的感性，也不是智性。

　　张风明(金华市书法家协会副主席)

　　书象讲究味道，不在乎笔墨

　　徐洁出道比较早，上个世纪80年代就已经入书法门径，同辈中人能够跟她一样坚持到现在的也不多了。这个书象展览，对我而言，既是意料之中也是意想不到。自她去了深圳以后，环境塑造人，意义在于新。书象一路，在日本则为墨象，在他们的书道协会下面流派有九，讲究味道，而不在乎笔墨。这也给书界提出了一个思考，中国传统书法里面的用笔、构架、点线面如何化为我用，别开生面，或许也是徐洁今后所要加强的一点。

　　戴玮成(《金华晚报》文化专刊部副主任)

　　徐洁的书象类似姜子牙画符

　　就艺术语言而论，中国的点线面与西方的点线面不在一个层次上。看了徐洁的书象展览，最大的感受在于作品的构成几乎以西方的平面、立体、色彩为最。另一层感受，这些作品不由让我想起《封神榜》中姜子牙的坐骑四不象，中西结合，似画非画，似书非书。姜子牙另有一项本事便是画符，徐洁的作品也有画符的意味。中国的东西要走向世界，要让世界接受，徐洁的书象是条路子。

　　范志方(中国笔迹协会常务副理事)

　　她的书象给人第一感觉“徐洁疯了”

　　我是搞笔迹心理学，所谓字如其人，我把笔迹心理鉴定当作企业管理的工具。从字里面能够看出一个人的天赋。认识徐洁20多年，这也是第一次看她的字，她的书象展览给我的第一个感觉就是，“徐洁疯了”，我甚至给她发了一条短信“你的字让金华的书家感到自卑”，阳气十足，好似母鸡打鸣，既会下蛋又会司晨，很是了不起，但这里面有个问题，我让她抽空把她自然状态下的硬笔字发来给我看看。以她的《宋词篇》而言，她温柔静美;以她的《裁岩通月》而言，她躁动难安。不同凡响也就是不很正常，这种心理状态，发挥得好，对艺术是极大的贡献，对自家性命不是良好的开端。

　　杨 军(金华硬笔书法家)

　　徐洁的书象跟鲁光的牛一样大气

　　我一直厕身中国传统书法，20年前，几乎天天练字，每天六小时。在传统里面呆得越久，受传统影响越深，也就越难跳出窠臼，自成一格。我和徐洁是高中同学，读书的时候，她就跟男人一样大气。她的作品就跟鲁光老师画的牛一样大气。一个书法家或者画家，大是一种胸襟，一种气魄。为什么我经常要去看看大海，因为海纳百川，包容万物。一个好的艺术家也是一个很大气的人。在徐洁的书象作品中，我欣赏她的《夜来风雨声，花落知多少》，视觉冲击非常强烈，能够激发想象。徐洁的书象至少在书法表现形式上是一大突破。

　　徐洁

　　(金华籍画家、首届国际书象学社艺术家、深圳市女书法家协会副主席兼秘书长)

　　我的笔触不是海浪，而是海啸

　　我现在40多岁，可我想要自己的气息和80多岁的老太太一样老辣。《夜来风雨声，花落知多少》是我在向波洛克致敬，他习惯手上拎个几斤重的罐子，往布面上洒颜料。我自小去了广东，但我觉得金华这一方水土的文化根本不是别的什么可以替代得了的。在我的作品里，中国传统笔墨肯定是有，拿西方的东西当我的佐料也自然不少。有天我想开了，觉得何必要和王羲之、颜真卿他们比，我们是不是要做当代人的事情，站在他们的肩膀上飞驰一下未尝不好，过了这个瞬间也就没了。不管好坏，我总要把自己的东西表现出来，我是个劳动者，工作者，更是个耕耘者，我是先出走，再回来，仍是传统。我对“象”的理解就是包罗万象，人生百态，有时一根细线，我把它当作气若游丝般地去写。就这样来来回回，需要的只是理解。艺术爱好者跟艺术家不同的地方在于，艺术爱好者是蜻蜓点水，艺术家是燃烧生命。我希望我的笔触不是海浪，而是海啸。

　　凌宇冰(金华知名画家)

　　看徐洁的书象如同观公孙大娘舞剑器

　　我初看徐洁的相，以为是个体育教练，后来见她当过武术队员，便不奇怪了。爱迪生说，成功在于1%的天分加上99%的苦干，但是，1%的天分要超过99%的苦干。可见天分之重要。徐洁的书象展览给予我的信息很多，我最喜欢也是自觉她最好的当是其中跑得最远、最惹争议的那些作品。我敢说，徐洁回金华，这是衣锦还乡。

　　徐洁是在85新潮以后成长起来的艺术家，我在思考为什么“书象”产生于她们这批艺术家，而不是我们。她的画大有“路见不平一声吼”的气势，有人说她“不逾矩”，其实她岂止“逾矩”，简直动荡不已。她是在用思想画画，而不是全凭技术。所谓“先求异，再求好”，个性鲜明，直抒胸臆，更近乎现代艺术的宗旨。以致我们看徐洁的书象，如同观公孙大娘舞剑器，满壁风动，惟见神采，不见字形。徐洁是在不断变化中与时俱进，永远保持青春势头，东方艺术不到年龄没有后路，她的作品就是感情的喷发，像梵高一样烧得太厉害。要是她不离开金华，决然产生不了这样的艺术，不到深圳就不会有这种改变。徐洁现在需要的或许更应该多研究她父亲的戏服作品，如何在动荡之中向中国传统靠拢，避免“洋多土少”，尽管她的书象新在这里，弱点也在这里。

　　吴文胜(金华市青年书法家协会主席)

　　书法由掌上玩转为壁上观

　　这个时代创新的词汇很多，中国叫书法，日本叫书道，韩国叫书艺，今天我又见识了一个新词：书象。颇令我浮想联翩。我对书象说不上感觉，只能就书法来谈，书法到今天有一个很大的改变，在于脱离了实用范畴，走向艺术范畴，甚至有人提出“艺术书法”，称书法与艺术两个词语在前置、后置上的不同，以致开出一路“流行书风”。书法也由传统的掌上玩转为壁上观。古人品书，精致细腻，细细把玩;今人观书，铺张扬厉，大快朵颐。书法展览的幅尺越来越大，四尺不过是练习纸。徐洁的手上功夫，自有临习古人法帖的力道在，也有西方现代派的影响在。反映在她的作品中，便是古典书法的承传与延续不能断绝，源头不能丢，自有活水来。更为我叹服的还是徐洁超群的想象力，也使我想要往书象这方向尝试一手，不知味道如何。

　　许中华 整理

　　2012年10月24日

　　Calligraphic Images Created in Shilu Studio by Wonderful Strokes

　　– An Awe-inspiring “Heroic Phoenix”- in the World of Cursive Script

　　Xu Zhonghua

　　October 24, 2012

　　Only if we slightly modify Alfred Elton van Vogt’s saying, we can see the state of art nowadays, it is in no way as we have imagined that it is overburden with yesterday’s heavy load. “We have been wrongly infused with a notion, which regards getting rid of old arts as the essence of freedom. In fact that is only an attribute of freedom, and freedom can only be obtained and established from some self-prescribed new rules.” Namely, we are well aware that our deeds are to establish a new school or genre for ourselves, either calligraphy, painting, calligraphic imagery, device, our speech or representation, by means of language, lines, colors, is nothing but establishing a way of self-existence. Mr. Xu Jialin says that Xu Jie’s calligraphic images are the ink marks left by her in black dress and with long hair when waving a sword in remote mountains, and display a boldness enough to scare Cang Jie (the inventor of Chinese characters in legend) to death. Such passion, characteristic of a sea swallow charging at a rainstorm, is quite rare in Chinese female calligraphers. Xu Jie uses calligraphic images as knots, and casts them to form a net, tradition must be here, and modernity also must be here, what she can haggle about is what this kind of art presented in the form of calligraphic images brings to us; speaking of calligraphic lines, one must resort to master calligraphers Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, while speaking of abstract style, one must resort to Picasso, Matisse, and Pollock, let alone that we can still discern Klee, Mondrian, and Klimt, we question closely again and again about what truly moves us. Maybe Pater could speak it clearly in 1877, “All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. For while in all other kinds of art it is possible to distinguish the matter from the form, and the understanding can always make this distinction, yet it is the constant effort of art to obliterate it. That the mere matter of a poem, for instance, its subject, namely, its given incidents or situation – that the mere matter of a picture, the actual circumstances of an event, the actual topography of a landscape – should be nothing without the form, the spirit, of the handling, that this form, this mode of handling, should become an end itself, should penetrate every part of the matter: this is what all art constantly strives after, and achieves in different degrees.” That Xu Jie handles her writing brush to make calligraphic images is the “enlightenment which has never changed into real life yet is urgent”.

　　Qiu Zhangqing (professor, College of Humanities, Zhejiang Normal University)

　　The great freehand style is great abstraction

　　I casually passed by the Mantang Academy of Guzi Town, saw a photomural of Ms. Xu Jie, at first I didn’t know she is a female, and after I visited the painting exhibition, I then came back to have a careful look, knew this was a female, and was astonished. In Chinese tradition, the impression a female gives people is always elegance and gentle beauty, either physiologically or psychologically. The dissolution into art then often features refined grace and elegance, such aesthetic perception has already become a mindset of Chinese intellectuals, but once such mindset encounters Xu Jie’s works, the case would be like this: they even made me feel that the education received by an intellectual like me borders on absurdity, and can not withstand later generations’ scrutiny and query. Probably Xu Jie’s character is like that of Qiu Jin and Lv Bicheng, with a heroic spirit personally and appearing on their person, this is naturally a temperament to rival male counterparts and to deviate from the traditional female culture, this is the first impression on me. The essence, vitality, and spirit displayed by her brushwork differ from those displayed by female calligraphers like Hu Qiuping, Sun Xiaoyun, Zhou Huijun, Lin Xiu and so forth, calligraphically Hu Qiuping et al have never surpassed the ideal and style pursued by female artists, but on Xu Jie’s person, we already have a sense of distance between her and them, it is not in the spiritual core, but in the unique female viewing angle, in which she has her original language.

　　I have also heard the word “calligraphic image” for the first time in Jinhua. Calligraphic imagery is not calligraphy, and I can only catch its meaning literally, it is not a complete calligraphy nor a complete painting, but maybe a unique art that integrates calligraphy, lines, and images. Later, I looked up the word in the Cihai (an encyclopedic Chinese dictionary), searching for information generally, and learned that calligraphic imagery has a broad sense and a narrow one, Xu Jie’s works should be in the narrow-sense category of calligraphic imagery, then as regards where its aesthetic characteristics are, we can pick out two points, one is the traditional character, namely classicality; another is modernity. Speaking of classicality, the entire Chinese calligraphy community must take Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi (“Two Wangs”) as the benchmark, the reason why until this day still has no one been able to surpass the “Two Wangs” is the “six styles”: literary pursuit, spiritual elegance, strength of character, literary excellence, romanticism, and style as I have summed up. Xu Jie’s inheritance of the “Two Wangs” is to follow and emulate the ancients in the intrinsic spirit and by no means in the form, and is displayed in the appearance of cursive script. In her composition of images, even if they do not appear in calligraphic lines, therein is still the support of calligraphic lines. Although some people have some reproaches on her, absolutely she is not a heretic.

　　I have taught Western literature for over 30 years, and especially adore Expressionism and Impressionism. I only regret that I had not born tens of years earlier, otherwise I would have toured France as Xu Zhimo did, and had contacts with Valery and Mansfield, and I worship Mallarme, Monet, van Gogh, and Picasso without exception. So is the case with Zhao Wuji who left for France. Xu Jie’s works are also under this surviving influence of their styles. Although what she uses is not the Western-style graffiti, but combines with the Chinese brush-and-ink. What it can give rise to is just infinite imagination, it is not in something simply abstract, but is a kind of visual impact, an edification of beauty, and enjoyment of beauty. Take Zhao Wuji’s paintings for example, where his strokes reach, no efforts are spared to the depiction of the spaciousness and remoteness of mental state. Chinese painters should learn from and absorb such artistic language, in brief, the great freehand style is a great abstraction, not rigidly adhering to images, but taking the feeling to heart. Western modern art also quite corresponds with the Lao-Zhuang philosophy in Chinese tradition, we already had Impressionism in our ancient ancestors, and it was not a Decadent art. The reason why Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery exhibition this time has brought such a huge impact on Jinhua, both master professors and common people are moved, thus it can be seen that she has absorbed the essences of Eastern and Western cultures on the basis of tradition, and fused them into her brushwork, only thus can the calligraphic images “like tanks rumbling in” as said by Ling Yubing be made.

　　Lu Guang (famous Chinese painter)

　　There are martial arts in Xu Jie’s calligraphy

　　I entered the door and saw the first work by Xu Jie, which I liked very much, and in which both traditional and folk elements exist. Her father engaged in painting dragon robes in the past, so when we watch her paintings, we can see they tend to have the colors of dragon robes, which are brilliant and expressive of happiness. Professor Qiu is an insider or expert to watch Xu Jie, while I am an outsider to watch her. As far as my vision reaches, there are also other calligraphers like Xu Jie in Jinhua. Ignorant of “calligraphic imagery”, I only take it as an art of combined calligraphy and modernity. Xu Jie and I have a destiny that brought us two together, firstly I had the original name of Xu Shicheng, so you see our Xu family has another female calligrapher; secondly I have served as vice-president of Chinese Wushu Association for 8 years, and Xu Jie was once a member of Chinese Wushu Association as well. Art is a manifestation of the artist, so I say that there is a martial art in Xu Jie’s calligraphy, it cannot do without a martial art, because you see, even a man would feel difficult to accomplish so big characters.

　　I have a friend, who prepared to paint 100 Chinese cultural celebrities 20 or 30 years ago, when he had painted 27, he brought them to me for a look, and I said that he painted very well, and everyone seemed to have grown from rock, but I suggested that he should not continue to paint. His painting was not best, nor was his calligraphy, but maybe he would become a number one of China if he combined painting and calligraphy together. He accepted my suggestion, and began to practice the combination of painting and calligraphy; starting from then, I also came into contact with some Chinese modern calligraphy. However, I have always been an outsider, and am ignorant of traditional calligraphy, nor of modern one. I have painted until now purely by my feelings, and what I have learned from study is only one phrase: “being elated to the degree of forgetting one’s form for having obtained the meaning”, and never rigidly adhering to concrete images. Painting is nothing but expressing the inner world of the heart, artistic viewpoints, and aesthetic concepts, and requires resemblance in form and spirit. Yet as regards painting, I didn’t have a solid training, this is like climbing Mount Everest, others climb from the southern and northern slopes all the way up, while I climb up from the middle of the mountainside.

　　One can not surpass ancients no matter how he or she practices calligraphy, and there are too many people in China who can write characters well. Calligraphy should have breakthroughs as to its development up to this day. It’s already the 21st century, and the functionality of calligraphy is gradually vanishing, the meaning of calligraphy is more in its artistic values, moreover its changes are compelled, and the key is how to change. So is the case with Chinese painting. It is contrary to the law of history to stand still and cease to make progress, and it is just the development forward to overstep prescribed limits somehow. To put it simply, as regards Xu Jie’s works, even we – people already over 70 years of age – can still accept, so it can be seen that the combination of the traditional ink painting with modern elements is very successful. I don’t quite like some of modern arts, because the West expects our younger generations to go their way according to their artistic philosophy, and this is the West’s purpose, but China has to firmly defend its bottom line, we must have traditional elements, strictly speaking, things with most tradition are most real, things whose roots are deep in the earth are of most internationalism. It’s no way out to completely copy the West, and you can never surpass it along its way. Chinese culture can’t go into the American upper class at all, because they don’t accept Chinese culture. When President Nixon visited China, he watched the famous Chinese painter Li Kuchan perform Chinese painting, and Li Kuchan completed his painting in half an hour, yet Nixon didn’t have much appreciation, thinking that generally a Western oil painting has to take several months to complete, and he didn’t know that this painting by Li Kuchuan required a lifetime of practice. Even Zhao Wuji, immersed in Western culture so long though, also returns to Chinese painting today, inconceivably he climbed over a window to skip classes by Pan Tianshou (a famous Chinese modern painter) and blindly yearned for Paris in those years. Without forgetting Chinese tradition, one can integrate Western tradition as well, one has to make a proper absorption, so as to achieve a full analysis and re-integration, but no matter how fully the analysis is done, the unique Chinese artistic charm must still be there. Xu Jie is still exploring forward, she has the gentle beauty of “phoenix” and the bold vigor of “swordsman” as well, and will scale new heights in the future, just as Professor Qiu said, she is practicing Susanne Langer’s “Beauty is a significant form”.

　　Jin Xiaori (professor of Hunan Normal University, famous painter)

　　What Chinese culture has to revitalize is the native culture

　　I majored in art history at China Central Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in contemporary art criticism. Last December I visited an exhibition of paintings by the famous artists who started their careers in the later 1980s, in Beijing, later also watched a contemporary fine art exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum, today I want to present a question about the deconstruction and reconstruction. It has been 100 years or so since the return of Lin Fengmian and Xu Beihong after their studies overseas to reform Chinese traditional painting up to today, therefore, our artistic creation now is no longer the compromise between the Chinese and the Western. The phase of studying Picasso and Matisse should have passed away, besides this era is not an era of compromise and reform. Our understanding of tradition has to proceed inevitably to a newer cultural platform. And what should our understanding of the present situation be, and what a modern Chinese civilization should we reconstruct after the 1985-1989 New Wave Movement? In addition, where should our own exploration be? The calligraphic imagery works by Ms. Xu Jie, as I watch, are decorated with hieroglyphs, this is only staying on a form. We will also move towards antiquity, towards tradition, and what we have done when posterity sees us is just the fundamental meaning. What Chinese culture has to revitalize is the native culture, though learning from and absorbing the West is intended for the utilization of “other hills whose stones are good for working jade” too. I think, as a group we are already in our 40s, what we require now should be rationality rather than sensibility, and it is not “the agitation of creation” as said by Xu Jie. The “image” said by Xu Jie is not the “symbol” in the Book of Change either, let alone the symbol in the invention of characters by Cang Jie; she needs to re-create an image, so as to form a classic in Chinese tradition, and move towards rationality from sensibility, because Chinese culture has its own rationality, moreover it’s not of simple sensibility, nor of intelligence.

　　Zhang Fengming (Vice-President of Jinhua City Calligraphers Association)

　　Calligraphic imagery emphasizes the taste and is indifferent to the brush and ink

　　Xu Jie started her career rather early, and already entered the gateway of calligraphy in the 1980s; there are only a few in the same generation who have been able to persist until now as she has been. For me, this exhibition of calligraphic images is both expected and unexpected. Since she went to Shenzhen, the environment has shaped her, and the meaning lies in novelty. The so-called calligraphic imagery is called ink imagery in Japan, there are 9 schools under their Shodo (calligraphy) association, and they emphasize the taste, but don’t care about the brush and ink. This presents a thought to the calligraphy community, how to change the writing brush application, frame-forming, and point-line-plane in traditional Chinese calligraphy to our use and break a path may be also a point Xu Jie needs to improve in the future.

　　Dai Weicheng (Deputy Director of the Cultural Special Issue Department of Jinhua Evening News)

　　Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery is similar to Jiang Ziya’s magic figures

　　As far artistic language is concerned, Chinese point, line, and plane are not on the same level as Western ones. Having visited Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery exhibition, I have the biggest feeling that the makeup of her works almost focuses completely on Western point, solid, and plane. Another feeling is that these works could not help letting me think of Jiang Ziya’s horse “Four Unlikeness” in the Legend of Deification, they are of a Chinese-Western combination, similar to painting but not painting, and similar to calligraphy but not exactly calligraphy. Jiang Ziya’s another talent was drawing magic figures to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortune, and Xu Jie’s works also have a meaning of drawing such figures. For Chinese things to go global and be accepted by the world, Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery is a way.

　　Fan Zhiyang (Deputy Executive Director of China Handwriting Association)

　　The first impression her calligraphic imagery gives to people is “Xu Jie is mad”

　　I specialize in the psychology of handwriting, as the saying goes, “the writing is like the personality”, I take the handwriting psychological appraisal as a tool for business management. One’s talent can be seen from the characters one writes. I have known Xu Jie for over 20 years, and this is the first time I have seen her characters, the first impression her calligraphic imagery exhibition gave me is ““Xu Jie is mad”, I even sent her a message “Your characters let Jinhua’s calligraphers feel inferior”. Her calligraphic imagery is full of masculinity, like a hen crowing, which can herald daybreak as well as lay eggs, this is really admirable, but here is a question, I asked her to send her hard-pen characters in natural state to me for a look. She is gentle and graceful according to her Script of the Song Dynasty Poems; while she is agitated and restless according to her Cai Yan Tong Yue. The out-of-the-ordinary also means not very normal, and this mental state, well exercised, will contribute greatly to art, but is not a good start for one’s own life.

　　Yang Jun (hard-pen calligrapher of Jinhua)

　　Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery is as big-spirited as Lu Guang’s bulls are

　　I have always been involved in traditional Chinese calligraphy, 20 years ago I used to practice calligraphy nearly every day, and 6 hours every day. The longer you stay in tradition, the deeper its influence on you will be, and the more difficult it will be for you to break through set patterns and to form your own style. Xu Jie and I were high school classmates, and she was as big-spirited as a man when studying at school. Her works are as big-spirited as the bulls painted by Master Lu Guang. For a calligrapher or painter, bigness is a breadth of mind and a breadth of spirit. Why do I often go to loot at the sea? It’s because the sea receives all rivers and accommodates everything. A good artist is a very big-spirited personality as well. In Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery works, I appreciate her After Last Night’s Wind and Rain, How Many Flowers Would Still Remain, the visual impact is very strong, and can trigger imagination. Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery is at least a big breakthrough in the representation forms of calligraphy.”

　　Xu Jie

　　(Jinhua’s native painter, artist of the 1st International Shuxiang Society, Vice-President and Secretary-General of Shenzhen Municipal Female Calligraphers Association)

　　My brush strokes are not sea waves, but are tsunamis

　　Now I am over 40 years old, however I want my artistic aura to reach the peak of perfection at last. After Last Night’s Wind and Rain, How Many Flowers Would Still Remain is my homage paid to Pollock; he habitually holds a pot weighing several pounds in his hand and splashes paint onto the canvas. I moved to Guangdong when I was young, yet I feel that the culture of this land of Jinhua will never be replaced by anything else. In my works, Chinese traditional ink and wash painting certainly exists, and naturally there are also quite a number of Western things which I use as my “condiments”. One day I thought it through: why I should try to rival master calligraphers Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing in any way, whether we have to do contemporaries’ things, and have an upward dash by standing on their shoulders, as well as respect and inherit our tradition. For better or worse, I have to represent myself after all, I am a laborer, a worker, and more a tiller, I went out at first, and then came back, it is still tradition that remains. My understanding of the “imagery” is all-inclusiveness and all phenomena of life, sometimes I depict a fine thread by taking it as a feeble breath. It is just such a to-and-fro effort, what I need is only understanding. The difference between an art lover and an artist is that an art lover touches on something without going deeply into it, while an artist ignites his/her life. I hope that my brush strokes are not sea waves, but are tsunamis.

　　Ling Yubing (famous painter of Jinhua)

　　Watching Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery is like watching Dame Gongsun’s sword dance

　　Looking at Xu Jie’s face for the first time, I thought she was an athletic coach, later learned that she formerly was a member of a wushu team, and no longer felt surprised. Edison said that success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. (“Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration”), however, the 1% inspiration (“genius”) has to surpass the 99% perspiration. It can therefore be seen how important the inspiration (“genius”) is. Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery exhibition has given me a lot of information, and what I am most fond of and the best of hers as I myself believe as well are just those running farthest and being most controversial in her works. I dare say Xu Jie’s return to Jinhua is just a glorious comeback.

　　Xu Jie is an artist having grown up after the 1985 New Wave Movement, and I am thinking why the “calligraphic imagery” was born in this group of artists like her, rather than in us. Her paintings really have the imposing manner of “a loud roar against any unfairness”, some say that she “doesn’t overstep the bounds”, but as a matter of fact, she not only “oversteps the bounds”, but also is simply in an “utter unrest”. She is painting with her thoughts, rather than by techniques completely. This is the so-called “seeking difference at first and then seeking perfection”, with a clear-cut personality and a spoken-out heart, and more approximates to the tenet of modern art. Consequently, when watching Xu Jie’s calligraphic imagery, we seem to be watching Dame Gongsun’s sword dance, the whole representation is full of fresh liveliness, the expression of spirituality is overwhelming, and no particular characters can be seen. Xu Jie is advancing with the times in constant changes, keeping the impetus of youth forever, and there is no route of retreat for one who has not yet reached one’s proper age for Oriental art; her works are just the eruption of emotion, like those by Van Gogh who had too high a fever. If she hadn’t left Jinhua, she would never have produced such art, and would not have had such change if she hadn’t gone to Shenzhen. Maybe Xu Jie at present needs to study more of her father’s theater costume works, how to draw close to Chinese tradition in unrest, to avoid “more exoticness and less nativeness”, although her calligraphic imagery is novel there, her weakness is just there as well.

　　Wu Wensheng (President of Jinhua City Young Calligraphers Association)

　　Calligraphy is converted to the “view on the wall” from the “play in the palm”

　　This era has many creative words and phrases, for instance, the word calligraphy is called “书法” (“the way/method/law of writing”) in China, “书道” (Shodo) (“the way/principle of writing”) in Japan, and “书艺” (Seoye) (“the skill/criterion of writing”) in South Korea, today I again see a new phrase: calligraphic imagery. It really causes many ideas to flash through my mind. I can’t say I have any feelings as regards calligraphic imagery, but can only talk according to calligraphy. Calligraphy has undergone a great change until today, as it has broken away from the scope or category of utility, and is moving towards the scope or category of art; even some propose the “art calligraphy”, calling it the difference of the two words – calligraphy and art – in preposition and postposition, so that a “fashionable calligraphy style” is opened. Calligraphy is also converted from the traditional “play in the palm” to “view on the wall”. Ancients would appreciate calligraphy delicately and exquisitely, and play around with it finely; contemporaries watch calligraphy, keeping up appearances, being wasteful, and glutting themselves with delicacies. The paper size in calligraphy exhibitions becomes bigger and bigger, and a 4/3 meter-sized paper can only be called a practice paper. Xu Jie’s skill of hand of course has the efficacy from copying ancient models of calligraphy as well as the influence of Western modernism. This, as reflected in her works, is that the inheritance and continuation of classic calligraphy can’t be cut off, nor can the source be abandoned, and thus living water will naturally come. What I admire more deeply of Xu Jie is still her outstanding imagination, this makes me want to make an attempt towards the direction of calligraphic imagery, and I don’t know what the taste is.