可能是我的油画创作的起步比较特别的原因，一段时间我的油画总有半路出家的感觉，也许正是有了这种感觉，才有画油画的冲动，至于要达到何种艺术效果我不是很在意。我的油画被一些人认为是在主流绘画之外.，属于边缘的一类。本来，当今的艺术已经没有主流和非主流之分，中国油画已呈现了一个多元化的格局，它容纳了各种观念，形式和媒介材料，中国油画发展有许多的可能性。
　　从习水墨到用油彩画风景，我一直是把自己置于一个适于自身思维和创造的自然状态中，从生活到创作我从来不爱为难自己，比较讲水到渠成，我的油画就是在这样的自然状态中发展和走向成熟的。模仿、追随“潮流”不是艺术家真实心态的体现，不管怎么的风格，是否能准确地用独特艺术语言反映艺术家的观念和情感，才是艺术家应该追求的，艺术的真是最重要的。
　　我出身在大巴山，学习美术是从一张黑白木刻开始的。在我进四川美院读书之前，县城里还没有人进过专业院校，学习艺术只能是自生自灭。我不知道素描、色彩，也没有美术范本，只有从报纸上剪下来的黑白木刻中去学习造型、构图、木刻技法，开始起步学画便是画想象画，那是一个非常自由自在的过程，也是一个无比快乐的过程，全然没有“搞创作”的意识。童年的生活、儿时的幻想是当时画面的主要内容，生在大山，长在大山，对大山的依恋和崇敬是我始终摆脱不了的情结，从最初的木刻刀水墨山水，到现在油画风景，大山是我永恒的表现主题，对山势、岩石、树木、溪流的熟悉与了解甚至超过了了解自己，喜欢大山，以致认为只有报考中国国画系才与自己的兴趣有联系，因为中国画系有山水画专业。我画画的情感性和情绪性很强，任何时候都是随感而发，感兴趣的事就做，没兴趣就不做，比较纵容自己。学习水墨，又不满足于水墨，水墨的色彩不够强烈。水墨的质地没有触摸感，于是我课余时间开始了油画创作，课堂上和课堂下的交叉尝试。我感到了水墨与油彩的互补关系，从中我寻找到了乐趣与激情，渐渐地，我更多选择了油画。
　　对油画材料和质地的偏爱，和油画所具有强烈的表现力，是我选择油画的主要原因。多年来，对于油画材质和油画表现手法，我作过许多的尝试与研究，正是在这种非“正统”的油画技法训练与中国画影响所构成的冲突别扭中，寻找到了一种特有语言表达方式和独特东方审美取向。
　　对中国传统文化的重视与研究，我有一个不自觉到自觉的过程，中国本土艺术家离不开传统文化的底蕴。中国当代艺术最终必须在中国这块土地上成长，最终也必须有中国人来承认。我因为画风景，就特别对传统艺术中的山水画感兴趣。山水画在中国绘画中最具代表性和创造性，也是最能体现东方人的哲学观和审美精神的画种。中国山水画要比西方古典风景画的起点高得多，中国山水画不像西方古典风景画那样忠实地描摹大自然，而是强调对大自然的体验与感悟，达到“心境交融”，实现主体对客体的超越。宋元山水画以及清代“四王”的山水是我很喜欢的。宋元山水有一种雄浑壮健和广阔渺远的空间境界，是中国山水画造型和意境的主调。我的油画风景取材主要来自自己生活过的大巴山，在画面构成和图式处理以及拖、染、刮等技法上，潜移默化地受宋元山水的影响，虽然我没有刻意追求，但作为学习过水墨画的人来说，这种潜意识是无法没有的。中国山水画在千百年的演变中形成了一整套程式和内涵，这种形式与精神的默契，已成为中国人独特的审美特点。作为今天的本土艺术家，应该如何去继承和发扬民族传统文化中的优秀东西，不管如何去理解，如何去做，首先我们应该十分珍爱这片沃土。
　　对于一个艺术家来说，借鉴某种表现形式并不难，但要把它变成自然地、准确地反映自己内心体验和文化认识的艺术语言，就不容易了。自然的真实表达是尤为重要的，画家应该坚持自己的想法，不要违背自己的本性去做勉强的画，如果太注重某一方面，过分注意语言修饰就会出现生硬的样式化。我的风景油画从来不对景写生，也不要照片，主要依靠童年时的记忆以及对现在自然生活环境的感受，当我面对画布常常有一种似是而非的超现实山水画面在脑海中出现，我感到有许多情景可以画。在构成与色彩方面我也从中国彩瓷艺术中寻到借鉴，我的借鉴与传统国画家讲的借鉴不同，传统的国画家也讲借鉴，他们很讲究师承关系，并要掌握多种技法和技巧，主要是吸取前代大师的作品，如黄公望刻意师法巨然，而文征明效法黄公望，如果从一幅画中找不到这种师承痕迹，这幅画就会被认为是失水准、不得要领。今天的时代造就的是迥异于古人的文化、思维和生活样式。文人画家要与自然在心理上的交融达到“天人合一”的境界，是那个时代文人画家的人生状态也是人格修养的体现。在今天这样的文化背景下，艺术家不同于文人士大夫在书斋里的自娱自乐的消遣，艺术家必须以现代人的思维与眼光去审视、发现、面对我们生存的周围世界，做出符合现代人审美的视觉语言。对于艺术冢，视觉语言直接反映了他的文化心态，反映了他的人格和生命价值观。
　　塞尚、康定斯基之后，西方艺术出现了抽象表现主义、行为艺术、环境艺术等，我们发现这些艺术对自然世界的理解和情感表达方式的某些地方很接近东方艺术的原理，西方艺术家感兴趣的不再是摹拟客观物体，而是人的内心世界，尽管东方和西方都有不同于对方的语言表达方式，但终会有一天，二者会走到一个文化交叉上，握手、交谈……

　　Maybe because of special startup of my creation in oil painting. In a period of time, I felt that I switched to oil panting that I was not trained for, maybe it is this feeling that I have an urge in painting oil painting and I do not care about what kind of artistic effect it will reach. My oil paintings are regarded outside of mainstream painting and are deemed as edge paintings. In fact, there is no boundary between mainstream and non- mainstream of art, a diversified pattern has occurred in Chinese oil painting, it contains various concepts, formation and media materials, there are many possibilities in development of Chinese oil painting.
　　From practicing inkwash to oil painting, I always put myself into a natural state suitable for self-thinking and creation. From daily life to creation, I never feel myself awkward and I emphasize on "success will come when conditions are ripe", it is under such a natural state that my oil painting develops and becomes mature. Imitation and pursuit for "fashionable trend" is not an embodiment of artist's true psychology. No matter what kind of style, any artist shall seek for whether it can reflect the artist's conception and emotion by using unique artistic language. Artistic state is really the most important.
　　I was born in Mt. Daba and learned fine arts from a piece of black-and-white woodcarving. Before I studied in Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, no person in this county has ever studied in specialized university, so I studied fine arts by myself. I didn't know sketch and color, and didn't have sample of fine arts, I only studied sculpt, composition of picture, woodcarving skills from black-and-white woodcarving  collected from newspapers. What I learned at the beginning was to draw imagining picture, that was a very free and happy course, I had no awareness of "creation". Life and imagination in childhood were main contents in the picture at that time. Since I was born and grew in high mountain, so loving and worshiping mountain is a special love knot that I can never get rid of. From woodcarving at the beginning to oil painting of landscape at present, high mountain is my permanent subject of expression, I am more familiar with mountain topography, rock, tree and brook than being familiar with myself. I love high mountains, so that I thought only after I major in landscape painting in Traditional Chinese Painting Department can I realize my dreams. I have very strong emotionality and always do things against interests at any time. I learned inkwash painting, but I didn't satisfy myself in it, because color of inkwash painting is not as strong as expected, moreover, I felt no touch sense on texture of inkwash painting, so I started to learn oil painting in my spare time and often practiced in and out of the class. I find there is a complementary relations between inkwash and grease paint and I find interest and passion from them, so I prefer to oil painting gradually.
　　My preference to material and texture of oil painting and strong expressive force of oil painting are main reasons for me to choose oil painting. I have tried and researched materials and expression skills of oil painting for many times over the past years, it is in conflict arising from this kind of non-orthodox oil painting skill training and impact of Chinese painting that I find a kind of special language expression way and unique oriental aesthetic orientation.
　　I have experienced a course from non-conscious sense to conscious sense on emphasizing and researching Chinese traditional culture, it is difficult for a Chinese artist to throw away profound traditional culture. Chinese contemporary art must grow on Chinese land and must be recognized by Chinese people finally. Since I am painting landscape, so I have special interest in landscape painting in traditional art. Among all Chinese paintings, landscape painting is a kind of painting that has the most representativeness and creativeness, and also presents the most philosophy and aesthetic spirit of oriental people. Starting point of Chinese landscape painting is much higher than that of Western classic landscape painting. Chinese landscape painting emphasizes experience and feeling in the nature to achieve surpassing of main body to the object on the basis of combination of heart and scenery, rather than classical landscape, which only traces the nature without any creativity. Landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty and landscape paintings of "four top painters" are my favorite paintings. Landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty embody a kind of vigorous and firm and vast space conception, they are major tones of sculpt and artistic conceptions of Chinese landscape paintings. Landscape materials for my oil paintings are taken from Mt. Daba where I spend my childhood, meanwhile, landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty have exerted subtle influences on my picture composition, pattern treatment and skills such as pulling, dyeing and scraping, etc. Although I never seek for this deliberately, yet this kind of subconscious is a must to person who has learned inkwash painting. Chinese landscape painting has formed a compete set of pattern and connotation after thousands and hundreds of years of evolution. Unvoiced pact between this kind of form and spirit has become unique aesthetic features of Chinese people. As a today's local artist, how to inherit and carry forward excellent essences in national traditional culture ? and how to understand and do? First of all, we shall love this piece of fertile land very much.

　　It is not difficult for a artist to use certain expression form for reference, however, it is not easy for a artist to change the expression form into artistic language that can reflect his own internal feeling and cultural knowledge naturally and exactly. Natural and true expression is very important to any artist. Every painter shall insist on his own thought and shall not make constrained works by violating his own inherent character, otherwise abrupt mode will occur if painter only focuses on one aspect and emphasizes trope of language. I never paint or sketch from nature or photos when I am painting a landscape painting, I only depend on memory about childhood and my feeling on present natural living environment. Every time I face the drawing board, there is often a kind of surrealistic landscape painting occurring in my mind. I feel there are many scenes based on which I can finish my pictures. I can also learn the formation and color from Chinese decorative porcelain. Many painters of traditional Chinese painting focus on such a kind of "use for reference" as "inheritance relation", and emphasize many skills They mainly learn from masters of previous dynasties, e.g. Huang Gongwang imitated Ju Ran deliberately, and Wen Zhengming imitated Huang Gongwang, if such kind of inheritance trace cannot be found from one picture, then this picture would be regarded unsatisfied. What have been created by today's times are culture, thinking and life style which are widely different from those of ancient people. Painters shall communicate with the nature to reach a status of "heaven-human into one", this is an embodiment of life status and personality of painters in previous dynasties.  Under today's cultural background, artists are different from self-recreation of literators and scholar-bureaucrats in the study. Artists must review, find and face the surrounding world where we survive with modern thinking and sight so as to create language satisfying aesthetic vision of modern people. Language of vision has directly reflected the artist's cultural psychology, personality and life values.
　　Following Cézanne and Wassily Kandinsky, abstract expressionism, action act and environmental art emerge in western arts, we find that understanding and emotion expression modes of these arts to the nature are very close to principles of oriental arts. Western artists show no interests in imitating objectives any longer; instead, they show great interests in human's soul. Although both the East and the West have their own language expression modes different from each other, yet they would meet at a cultural convergence one day, shaking hands and talking together…

孟涛 1998年