身处喧嚣的当下，心仪遥远的太古，这是许多艺术家身心二元的特征。左正尧亦如此。

　　他的《二元统一的图像表达》，并不是以图像为神话释义，只是描绘和表达他对生命、文化的一种理解和幻想。在情境里，人赤裸着，作为社会角色标志的衣冠没有了，作为时代文明象征的房屋建筑也没有了。人成为自然的肌肤，只有日月星辰、花鸟虫鱼和森林相伴。如在天上、海底、空气中，无复白天与黑夜，国家与民族;宁静、神秘，看不到一点现代文明和人类历史的影子。这当然不是现实景观，而只是心理景观。左正尧由湖北到广东，由相对沉静的、宜于哲思和幻想的环境改入更重效益、充满竞争喧闹的地带，并身体力行，加入那生存搏斗的行列。在具体的生活里，他是世俗的，有悲有喜的，有爱有恨的，有怨有怒的，附着于纵横交错的社会关系网络的;在幻想的生活里，这一切无踪无影，他又成了无悲喜、无利害冲突、无关系网的漫游于天地间的灵魂。

　　这一切是真的。但这种二元情境能维持多久?他们和谐么?

　　严格地说，一切艺术家都是俗人，都不免身心二元，在现代尤其如此。不过，他们又是不同的。有的人面对既欢乐又苦难的现实，面对它的真相，它的美丑，它的丰富与畸形;另一些人则只面对心灵，或者诉说心灵的苦涩，或者在幻景中乞望寻得心灵的避风港……只要真诚而又富于创造，他们都是有价值的。身心二元可能麻木成自然，可能敏感到两难而痛苦不堪，也可能像卡夫卡那样，把二元生活变作自己的艺术对象……左正尧今后如何，不得而知，他尚年轻，生活和艺术的路还很长。

　　这套宣纸水墨设色作品，不同于传统的勾勒填色，也不同于靠着喷、做而求朦胧与偶然机理的“新工笔”。线描淡化，重染，以块面造型。块面结构中，以圆形和锥形为基本形，既浑厚又尖利，加上黑、深蓝、深赭与白色的对比，整个画面很有分量感和力度，迥异于当下流行的阴柔画风。光的处理也别具一格，这不是自然光，也不是古代绘画中的阴阳对比，而是心之光，不知何来，也不定照在哪里;凡沐浴光下，就反射出一片白，就呈现出体积。这种处理，似乎受到了超现实主义绘画的影响，但糅合得自然，毫无摹痕，且与画作的主题相一致。

　　将两幅同样的画反向并置;一正一反，一上一下，在构图上形成“太极”式的正反相合，是一种新颖的结构。左正尧作画过程以随意、随机为主，凡构图、形象塑造、着色等都十分自由。反正并置后，出现了重复与对称，产生了意想不到的节奏和完美感。在一定程度上，正反相结合还可能产生太极的寓意，给作品增加了一层哲理色彩。

　　《广东美术家》，1993年第3期。

　　Admiration of Nature on the New Paintings of Zuo Zhengyao

　　Lang Shaojun

　　It is the dualist body-mind approach for many artists to live in the contemporary noisy world while admiring the way of life in ancient times. So is Zuo Zhengyao.

　　His Dual Unity Images Expression series is not to interpret the mythology with images, but to illustrate and express his understanding and illusion of the life and culture. In the scene, the man is naked and his dress, as a symbol of social character, has disappeared and, in the same sense, the buildings have also disappeared as a symbol of the civilization of our time. The man becomes the skin of the nature and there are only the sun, the moon, the stars, flowers, birds, insects, fish and forest accompanying him. Same as in the sky, in the ocean and in the air, there is no bright day or dark night and there are no nations and races. The paintings present us an air of tranquility and mysteriousness. Certainly, it is not a realistic landscape, but an psychological one. From Hubei Province to Guangdong Province, Zuo Zhengyao has changed his living surrounding from a comparatively tranquil circumstance which is good for philosophical thinking and fantasy to a region emphasizing the economic benefit and full of competitiveness. He has joined the others in the competitive struggles for his existence. In the daily life, he is secular as he has his hatred, love, sadness, complaints, pleasures and anger and he has to be a stick to the complicated social relationship. In his illusionary life, all of them have disappeared and he has become a free soul roaming about the world without any sadness, pleasure, conflict of interests and complicity of social relationship.

　　All of these is true. however, how long will the dualist approach last? Are they in a harmonious state?

　　In a strict sense, all of the artists are secular people and can never free themselves from the body-mind dualism, especially in the contemporary age. However, they are different from each other. Some of them are willing to face up to the pleasure and hardships in the reality, to the truth, to the beauty and ugliness and to its richness and deformity while what others want to do is only to face up to their inner world, to recount their worries in their souls or to look for a spiritual heaven in a illusionary way. All of them are valuable so long as they are honesty and creative. The body-soul dualism may gradually become indifferent and natural. The artists may be sensitive and suffer from spiritual pains or they may change the dual life into a subject of their practices like Kafka. I don’t know what Zuo Zhengyao will do in the future. However, he is still a young artist and has a long way to go both in his life and his art.

　　The set of the Chinese ink and wash is different from both the traditional way of outlining and coloring and the “new fine brushwork” emphasizing the hazy and accidental textures by taking the splashing technique. By weakening the linear outlines and emphasizing the coloring, the paintings are composed of color blocks. In the composition of blocks, the circular and cone are the basic forms and the whole paintings appear to be dynamic in a sharp contrast between the black, dark blue, dark brown and white colors, completely different from the mild colors of the paintings which are fashionable at present. His treatment of light is extraordinary. It is neither the natural light, nor the contrast in the ancient Chinese paintings, but the light of the soul. We have no ideas of where it comes from and where it shines. There is a white block where it shines, presenting a sense of volume. Such an approach seems to be influenced by the surrealistic paintings, but it is treated in a natural way, which is identical to the themes of his paintings.

　　It is a completely original composition to place the two same paintings in a reverse direction, reverse and obverse, upward and downward, to form a reverse-obverse combination similar to the Chinese Diagram of the Universe. In the process of painting, Zuo Zhengyao always takes free and random approaches to compositions, images and coloring. When putting them in a reverse-obverse way, there appears the repetition and symmetry, creating an unimaginable rhythm and a sense of perfection. In a sense, the reverse-obverse combination will also have an implication of the diagram of the universe, adding a psychological color to his paintings.

　　Guangdong Artist, the 3rd issue, 1993

作者：郎绍君