馬可魯

　　每每瀏覽自己近二十年客居紐約時期的作品，總能感覺到一份難得的“沉靜”。

　　那時的日子堪稱“面壁”，從容面對生計之余竟也涂抹出為數(shù)不少的畫作,我尤其珍惜它們呈現(xiàn)出的“無聲”的狀態(tài)。

　　自一九九三年起,我的畫面逐漸浮現(xiàn)出中國山水及山水中草木的形態(tài)。卻一如既往的奉行“極簡”，似乎執(zhí)意要了結“文化鄉(xiāng)愁”與轉而師效古人的宿愿。至一九九五年，完成“八大”系列。九六，九七年又有黃子久，董源。此次展覽中的仿趙松雪“水村圖”則已是兩仟零八年的尚未完成之作。

　　藝術訴諸內(nèi)心，不限于媒材與樣式， 而我獨鐘繪畫。二十年前作如是說；論畫：以為描畫“物” 易， 繪畫“物” 難，而畫中“無一物”而不失為好畫則更難。 故曰：除塊壘，去耿介，不驕飾，忌浮華，去機巧，勿炫耀，直面素白，虛懷“ 靜觀，此真畫也。

　　這確是一番理論，今天看來或稍許隙隘與拘泥。我不曾止于“抽象”，在畫中喜歡來來去去，何況政治時效，社會當下于我， 一一不在話下

　　2008.11.06 I often skim through my previous 20 years of works made while living in New York, every time I feel a rare sort of“serenity.”

　　Those days were like my“wall meditation,”tolerantly facing the challenges of subsistence and still scratching out a fair amount of works in the studio; I especially treasured the“muted”state that these works displayed.

　　Since 1993, mountains, rivers and forests of traditional Chinese landscape painting have gradually emerged in my painting, however, the same“extreme minimalism”seemed insistent on dealing with the“homesickness”and conversely long-cherished wish of these effective ancients, in 1995 I finished the“Bada Shanren”series, in‘96 and‘97 the Huang Zijiu and Dong Yuan series respectively. The work after Zhao Songxue’s“Watery Village”in this exhibition is actually a recent, but still unfinished work from 2008.

　　Art appeals to the inner self, it is not limited to medium or style, I prefer painting. Twenty years ago I understood that painting, I understood the theory of painting as: sketching objects was easy, painting objects was difficult, and it was even more difficult to paint a good painting without a subject. Therefore: eliminate the narrative, be upright and just, avoid mannerism and gimmicks, do not show off, and genuinely face the canvas,“observe myself”with an open heart, this is real painting.

　　This is actually a theory, maybe today it seems a little narrow, too formal or conservative. I’ve never restricted myself to the“abstract”, but prefer to come and go within my paintings, for me, the political, trends or contemporary society, its not even part of my ethos.

　　Ma Kelu November 6, 2008