我和阿海的联系中断了十五、六年，这期间，听说过他的各种传奇，每次问及他时，总是问，这哥们还活着吗？不问别的。

　　我能够容易地解剖阿海的画，同样，阿海也能够轻易地走进我的绘画。记得多年不见的一次会面，阿海用四个字评价“你功夫好”。

　　现在，很多艺术家都在做一种新的尝试，阿海在这些方面都是做的比较好的，看他的画面，我觉得还是热，跟他的性格有关吧，怎么画，气质上，还是文人的，南方的。红的，绿的上去，怎么热，心里还是温文尔雅，内心还是知识分子气质。

　　若没有马，鹅等这些载体，没有一点过去的符号，画是会打折扣的。就如我刚才说的，旁观者的理解，他有理由去找这些东西，很自然形象的搬出来，这些主体的东西一看就很远，就是他本真的那些东西，根的东西，形象放大，这种亲切感没得说，就是再遥远也有亲切感，而他呢，又把它给现代演绎了，没有给它完全定在宋、唐代时空，他又把它拽到了今天，其实他后来色彩的因素，包括小人，这种比例、这种夸张，很多这些元素都拉得很近，很模糊，火候把握得挺牛的。

　　他的绘画还有一种病态的美，内心的狂放不羁，时常呈现出梦幻的感觉，时间感与空间感的无限延伸。尤其在画马，画鹅的时候，这种南北方文化的交融，前前后后，包括色彩，没有特别明显的界限，幽微的情绪，然后近处看吧，有很在意的东西在里面，一点就够了。一种失落，早期的失落，伤感，一种把握，观察者看来是一件很单纯的事情，这种节制的单纯是可贵的。

　　阿海的画是南京人的画，他的骨子里承载了这座古城的历史感，沧桑感。历史一遍又一遍的洗刷，含混的，生命与时光不可逆转的惊惧。比如，他用古代的马，有一种流失，永恒的流失来表现他的主题。

　　阿海的偷懒成就了他，偷懒不是贬义，我现在看问题是中性的，无黑无白，其实，中国的很多东西，它最后的理念就是把两个极端缩减到中间，万物都是相对的，相生相克。这种游离是必要的，他的绘画情节最终回到他的精神赌博情节里。艺术家在追求艺术的时候，就是真正可以操控自己，肯定自己的时候。而真正赌博的人，是清楚自己的根性的，是能把握住自己的人。

　　前几天，我看到阿海的一幅画，是一双袜子，画的非常好，真的，那颜色的感觉，吶喊的感觉，特别棒。没有人能单纯地画袜子，太简单了。哪怕是画假牙，他把图案化，日常化的东西，画出了人文情怀，以小见大，表现了他无处不在的人性关怀，这是一个艺术家的最高境界。他现在已经不需要内容，甚至内容都不重要，只要把两者的关系表达准确，体现的细微与概括，具体的把它做好，那就很厉害了。实际上，这是很多艺术家一辈子都无法解决的事情，是有相当高度的。

　　I lost touch with Hai for 15 or 16 years. During this time I’ve heard of many legends about him. Every time I asked about him, I said nothing but always“is he still alive?”

　　I can easily interpret Hai’s painting, and Hai can also easily enter mine. When we met after long time separation, Hai gave his judgment with four words:“your technique is good.”

　　Nowadays, many artists are trying something new. No matter where the beginning is, whether or not at the same time, Hai does rather well in these aspects. Looking at his painting, I sense the passion, which may have something to do with his character. The quality of his painting is still literary and southern. Despite the heat in red and green, he is still gentle inside, with literary quality. In his painting there are both detail and summary, which are connected naturally with harmony. He expresses color with paper and light. The kind of penetration into texture may be related to his character, as well as his thoughts of life.

　　If there is no carrier such as horse and goose, no symbol in the past, the picture will lose charm. As I have mentioned, due to the comprehension of the onlooker, he has reason to find these things, and move them out naturally. These subjective things appear far away, however, they are his real, original things which have been enlarged. This is a sense of intimacy, no matter how far it is. And you interpret it in a modern way. That is, instead of fixing it in Tang and Song Dynasty, he drags it to today. Actually his later elements of color, small figures, proportion, and exaggeration, are pulled together. With small distance, they look blurry, and the level is just all right.

　　Besides, his painting bears a morbid beauty. There are unrestrained inner heart, frequent sense of dream, and unlimited extension of time and space. Especially when he is painting horse and goose, we can see the blending culture of south and north. There is no obvious line between front and back, between the colors. Watching the tiny sentiment from nearby, the little emphasized things inside is enough. A kind of loss, early loss, melancholy, and a kind of control, is very simple matter from the observer’s viewpoint. Yet this controlled simplicity is valuable.

　　Hai’s painting is Nanjing citizen’s painting. His spirit carries the historic and aged sense of this old city. With one and another washing of history, there is blurry fright that life and time can never be reversed. For example, he uses ancient horse to express his theme of loss, eternal loss.

　　Hai’s laziness accomplishes his success. Laziness is not derogatory. Now I see things objectively, with no black or white. Actually, in many occasions in China, the final idea is to bring two extremes into the middle. All things are relative, counteracting with each other. This dissociation is necessary, as his painting complex finally returns to his spiritual gambling complex. When an artist is pursuing art, he can really control and confirm himself. A real gambler is the one who knows well of his nature, and is able to control himself.

　　Several days ago, I see one of Hai’s paintings. It is a pair of socks, very nice, really. The color and the feeling of cry are great. Nobody can simply draw socks, for it’s too easy. Even he is drawing fake teeth, he expresses cultural spirit. To state big theme through pattern or daily stuff, he shows his humanity care everywhere, which is the highest realm of an artist. Now he does not need content, and even the form is not important. As long as he clearly expresses the relationship between the two, between detail and summary, it is already good job. In fact, this is the kind of problem that many artists can never solve during their life time. It has a certain height.

作者：李津