画，本无固定的法则和固定的格式，法则和格式是人们在实践中逐渐总结出来的。有法则可依，有格式参照，有好处，也有不好处。好处在于可以引导初学者认识入门的途径，少走弯路；不好处是容易束缚后来者的手脚，使人畏首畏尾，不敢越雷池半步。古人常用“在有法与无法之间”来形容人们的创新状态，意思说从有法走来又不为法所拘，而敢于破旧法、创新法，自立面貌。这就是我们常说的建立独特的个性面貌或个性风格。艺术中个性面貌和个性风格确实非常重要，因为艺术创作最忌千人一面，最怕单调重复。可是，时下人们对艺术中的个性往往有所误解，以为个性是可以刻意做出来的。其实，艺术中的个性是作者性格、素养和思想感情的自然流露，真正的艺术家追求的是如何用生动、巧妙的手段，表达自己面对客观世界的真切感受，由此自然形成的与他人艺术面貌的差异。清代戴熙曾说：“凡画谱称某家画法者，皆后人拟议之词，画者本无心也，但摹拟造化而已。吾心自有造化，静而求之，仁者见仁，智者见智可也，泥古未有是处。”(《习古斋画絮》)
　　刘山民君是一位国画家，也是一位作家。他不仅受过学院的艺术训练，更有深厚的文史修养，对古代东方哲学特别是玄学很有研究，对中国传统美学理论有自己的体会，对艺术有自己的独立见解。他深谙意象说的奥妙，十分喜欢原始初民的艺术、古代岩画、甲骨文、古代画像石和画像砖、儿童艺术、民间剪纸等，对西方现代艺术也颇有涉猎。他从这些更接近艺术本原的创造中，体悟到艺术创造的真谛：真与不真。真，心性与感情；不真，形与象。他写过一篇阐述自己审美理想的文章《说恍惚》，从道家哲学说到诗和画，讲空灵，讲意境……讲文艺思维和创造的特性。刘山民依据自己的见解和知识、修养储备，选择了他的艺术实践。他主要借鉴和参照他热爱的艺术语言，发挥着自己的想象力和创造性。由于他有全面的艺术修养，历史、哲学、文学、书法，他的绘画题材是广泛的，有取自于古代史籍中的典故、文学名著中的人物和故事及民间传说和谚语，有取自于劳动生活的场面，也有故园童年趣事的回忆……作品面貌别具一格，“形”若有若无，若隐若显，重在神似与神韵。他的绘画语言既有鲜明的自由书写的特征，又有思考的深度。随心性、不经意地即兴发挥，使他的绘画语言具有灵动性和舒展感，而艺术追求的坚定与执着，以及艺术技巧和技艺的一丝不苟，则显示出他绘画创作沉着和实在的品格。换句话说，他的艺术构思是缜密的，作品中的点线与面、墨与色、前景与背景、细节与整体……都有精心的安排。他笔力的遒劲，笔墨中包含的构成意味，尤其予人以深刻的印象。在他经营的画面上，有与无，虚与实，黑与白，浓与淡，粗与细……一切处在变动与转化之中，稍纵即逝，有的只是言极简而意无穷的情、理、趣和只可感悟的力与美。这使我想起沈括在《梦溪笔谈》中的一句名言：  “书画之妙，在于神会难可以形器求也。”刘山民的画是他与造化的神会。而我们欣赏他的作品，则是与他心灵创造的一种神会。
　　　　　　　　　　　The Beauty Lies in Spiritual Appreciation
　　　　　　　　　　　　　On Liu Shanmin's Paintings
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   Shao Dazhen
　　Initially, there were neither fixed rules nor set patterns for painting. Derived from practice, these　rules and patterns have both advantages and disadvantages. While providing guidance for beginnings and helping them avoid detours, they tend to fetter the latecomers so that they become too timid to attempt any possible violation. The ancient Chinese often describe the creative state as "from being　rule-abiding to rule-violating". That is, one may start with abidance of rules, but instead of fettered by them, one should have the nerve to break them and create new ones, thereby attaining originality. This is what we often refer to as cultivating one's individuality or personal style. This is of vital importance for art, with which repetition and imitation are regarded as major taboos.  Currently, however, it is difficult for many to resist the impression that individuality of artistic works can be improvised with deliberation. In fact, individuality is a natural product of the artist's personality, attainments, feeling and emotions. A real artist often exerts to express his heartfelt feelings towards the objective world with vividness and ingenuity, which in turn gives birth to a unique and original style. Dai Xi of Qing Dynasty once said, "The so-called masters' brushworks in books of model paintings are all inventions of future generations. The painter is unintentional in the creative process, simply imitating nature, which is in his mind and appears to him in contemplation. An artist may paint in his own unique way. Sticking stubbornly with tradition is not a wise choice." (Discursive Thoughts On Painting in the Xigu Study).
　　An artist of traditional Chinese painting and writer, Mr. Liu Shanmin has undergone systematic training in the art academy and is well-versed in literature and history, especially in ancient oriental philosophy and metaphysics, and has formed his own understanding of art and traditional Chinese aesthetics. Fully conversant with the imagery theory and widely read in modern western art, he is enchanted by primitive art, ancient rock paintings, oracle bone inscriptions, ancient relief stone sculptures and relief brick sculptures, children's art, and folk paper cutting. From the works that are relatively closer to the origin of art, he has perceived the essence of artistic creation-being truthful and untruthful, being truthful to one's inclinations and feelings and untruthful to the specific shapes and images. He has written an essay entitled On Evasiveness, which covers a wide range of subjects, from Taoist philosophy to poetry and painting, from emptiness to artistic conception, and from artistic and literary thinking to the nature of creation. Liu Shanmin bases his artistic practice on his own perception, knowledge, and attainments and exerts his imagination and creativeness by borrowing from and referring to the artistic languages that fascinate him. Thanks to his comprehensive artistic attainment which covers history, philosophy, literature, and Chinese calligraphy, his subject matter varies, including allusions to ancient history, figures and stories in literary classics, folk stories and proverbs, scenes of work and life, and memories of interesting episodes from his childhood, etc.. His works are unique with all the evasive shapes and the obvious emphasis on the essence and the likeness in spirit. His painting language is profound and bears distinctive marks of free writing. By following his heart and working in an extemporaneous manner, he creates a painting language that is both vibrant and free, and his staunchness and perseverance in artistic pursuit and scrupulous attention to technique and skill indicate his equanimity and rigor. In other words, his arrangements are always meticulous, taking into careful consideration aspects such as point, line and plane, ink and color, the foreground and the background, the details and the whole. His vigorous strokes and the constructivist traits are highly impressive. In his works, everything is elusive, involved in the constant process of changing and transformation-being and nothingness, reality and fantasy, black and white, light and shade, thickness and thinness, which gives birth to the emotions, principles, and charm that are simple in appearance but infinite in meaning and a kind of strength and beauty that can only be fully sensed in contemplation. This reminds me of a famous sentence in Shen Kuo's The Dream Rivulet Diary, which reads, "the beauty of calligraphy and painting can only be penetrated with 'spiritual appreciation', and can not be perceived by simply looking at the shapes and figures." Apparently, Liu Shanmin's paintings are results of his spiritual appreciation of nature, and our appreciation of them is in turn a spiritual appreciation of his spiritual creations.

作者：邵大箴