作为一个艺术的“门外汉”，其实我是看不太懂杨鹏诚的作品的——集印象派、结构主义于一身的画，总是需要观者更多的想象力；但是作为一个经常访谈艺术界人士的人，我和杨鹏诚聊起关于艺术的话题，却是很愉悦的。因为我更关注他身上体现出的一种朝气、一种精神——当下中国青年画家常显现出的突破和包容。特别是他谈起艺术时的那种热情和昂扬的情绪，让人觉得他真是一位认真的、努力的艺术家，正向着自己选定的路不断前进。

杨鹏诚刚刚参加完第41届纽约国际艺术博览会，获得了本次博览会的卓越奖。这次获奖，是对他自大学毕业以来12年艺术之路探索的一个国际性的认可，证明了他作品的价值，也是他开始迈向国际艺术界的一个重要节点。此前，他那些不安分的突破欲望，仿佛正是为了此刻的收获。

美国最大的中文报纸《世界日报》评价他的画作时称，“通过照片肖像，进行超出空间、引发无限想像的创作，让人在看画的时候产生‘又像又不像’的感觉，独特地感受画作的多样性”。

不安分的画家

杨鹏诚是一个画着画着就出戏的画家。

他是学中国画出身，小时练书法，后开始练习国画，高中毕业后考入中国美院国画系。你以为他会沿着中国水墨画的道路走下去？不是的。对于他来说，考入美院国画系只是意味着他的艺术之路的开始。

在本科求学期间，学习中国画优秀传统技法的同时，他开始大量接触西方的绘画语言，并尝试着将它们融入自己的国画作品中。那会儿就有同学对他说：你不适合画传统国画，你的画很超前。

2007年毕业时，同学们各奔前程。时至今日，仍坚守在艺术创作一线的同学已是寥寥。而当时，杨鹏诚则是不假思索地决定走专职画家之路。他第一时间租了个房子，建立了自己的工作室，一画便是3年。这3年对于杨鹏诚来说，意义匪浅，因为在这时期，他开始认真地思考自己的未来艺术之路，并开始形成自己的画风。

没有了学业考核压力，杨鹏诚瞬间释放出巨大的探索热情，他结合借助多种西方绘画材料，运用国画的意境、技法，体现出不同文化背景下的艺术差异，并试图寻找出一种冲突中的和谐。

有一天，一位从事艺术收藏的藏家找到他说，我帮你办个画展吧。于是，《朋鸟言成》抽象画展在杭州加纳艺术机构开幕，展出了他的30余幅抽象画。他的大学启蒙老师来看了画展，对杨鹏诚说了一句话：去北京吧，那儿才是你的天空。

杨鹏诚没有犹豫，立刻背起画板前往著名的北京宋庄画家村，成为“北漂画家”，这一待，就是8年。

北京宋庄，这是一个很奇特的地方。一个艺术家，可以在这里汲取大量的艺术信息，由此而成长而自信而成功；也可以因太多牛人的存在，由此自卑由此不蹶一振。年轻的杨鹏诚在这里则是如鱼得水，直到现在谈起宋庄，他都会两眼放光，觉得那实在是个宝地，让他更多地了解世界是怎样看待中国艺术的。他的工作室也一直设在宋庄，没有搬离。

这8年的探索，让他形成了自己的艺术理论：艺术总是处在时代里的，是要与自己发生关系的。国画是传统艺术，传承很必要，但是我们学到的东西必须与现在的我们有关系并挂钩，而不是和一千多年前的古人挂钩。他们的思想不是我们的思想，他们的审美情趣未必是现代人的审美情趣。

不安分的画

正如文为心声，画，同样也是一位画家内心世界的真实写照。

杨鹏诚的画，和他一样不安分。他的作品早已脱离出中国画的范畴，直奔西方印象画派而去，无论是笔触还是绘画材料。现代西方美术史的各个流派，解构主义、超现实主义、表现派等等，都能在他的画中找到影子。而他的画严格说来又并不属于西方美术，因为里面又有着大量的中国画元素，比如线条、色彩等等，甚至是画画的材料。

在早期的作品中，他已经开始运用皮纸、布料等材料，结合西方油画的技法去表现中国重彩。他创造了一大批重彩作品，都是使用了皮纸和布料，在这些材料上作画，颜料很难着色，但他通过西方油画的笔触叠加来表现，克服了技术难度；而在画的结构上，还对传统图式进行了解构，拉开了与传统工笔重彩画的距离，画完后再用国画的托裱方式去呈现。有一次他无意中接触到硫酸铜溶液，天空般纯净的蓝色顿时让他产生了浓厚的兴趣，由此，他的画作有了更为丰富的层次和肌理。《世界日报》在评价其早期作品时认为，“其早期作品在本就充满视觉张力的画作上加入皮影、剪纸等元素，在一块画布上充分发挥想像力，虽天马行空又不失动感韵律”。

创作的过程很漫长，思考的过程更加漫长。杨鹏诚会先选择他喜欢的素材，比如以儿童画作为基础，一遍遍地增加，一遍遍地删减，还会剪裁和拼贴其他元素，比如线条以及不规则图案……看似无逻辑，但是每个位置却都不是随意摆放的，有的是凭直觉，有的看审美效果，而有些是进入状态后顺其自然的罗列。这便是杨鹏诚努力想突破并达到的——在破坏和重塑中达到东西方艺术的有机融合。

东西方艺术交融的探索成功与否，重要的是在于观展者的反应。2017年杨鹏诚参加了法国戛纳国际艺术展，这是他的画作首次在国外展出，不错的反响促使他紧接着在第二年参加了第40届纽约国际艺术博览会。而博览会上发生的一件事，让他十分开心。

当时有一位观展者在一幅抽象人物肖像作品前驻足许久，看完出门后折了回来，又在这幅画前看了许久。他最后找到杨鹏诚问：你这幅画卖吗？我实在太喜欢了。而且，我觉得它和我很有缘，因为我思考的时候也喜欢像画里的人那样手托着脑袋，我要把它挂在我的书房里。这位想买画的人，是美国一所常春藤名校的一位教授。

而今年，杨鹏诚的画又被一位台湾画廊老板收藏。

在国际交流的过程中，杨鹏诚也逐渐对中国书画如何走向世界，如何打破东西方艺术之间的壁垒越来越有自己的想法。不同文化背景差异是必然存在的，无法避免，那么又怎么理解“艺术家有国界而艺术无国界”这句话呢？为什么有的现代国画作品不被认可，而有的则被认可呢？杨鹏诚觉得，关键在于传承背后的创新，如果艺术品没有创新，那么就是在重复着古人的思想，那为什么不直接去看流传了千百年的名画，而要来看现代人画的古画呢？一些作品不被认可的原因也在于此，因为“你们画的不是自己，画的只是你们的祖宗”。

杨鹏诚的画还在路上，远没有尽头，而正是这样的创作状态，让人对他更有期待。不管杨鹏诚的艺术之路会走到哪一步，前行总是比停留更让人看到未来的希望。

Yang Pengcheng in Search of Breakthrough

It would not be easy to understand Yang Pengcheng’s paintings, I think, but it is a huge pleasure to talk with him about his art and his pioneering search of breakthroughs, I find. I have had a talk with the artist, born in 1982 and now based in Songzhuang, Beijing.

My interview with Yang occurred after he came back from New York. He won an award of excellence at Artexpo New York in April 2019. He thinks the international award confirms his 12-year exploration and recognizes his desire to find breakaways and breakthroughs in his artworks the value of his artworks. And he thinks it is a key turning point in his career toward the international art world.

Born in 1982 in Zhuji, a county-level city in eastern Zhejiang, Yang began learning art when he was very young. He first focused on calligraphy and then studied Chinese painting in the traditional style. Upon graduation from senior high school, he was enrolled into China Academy of Art as a major of portraiture painting at the Traditional Chinese Painting Department.

While studying the Chinese style, he exposed himself to the western elements of art at the university. He integrated western techniques and media into his painting. His classmates commented that confining himself to the traditional study was no longer enough and that his paintings testified to his avant-garde passion. Upon graduation in 2007, he chose to be a full-time artist while many of his classmates turned to other professions for personal development. He wasted no time to set up a studio in a rented space in Hangzhou and began to work as hard as possible. He spent three years experimenting and exploring possibilities for his unique individual style. With passion, he fused the western art and Chinese art in an effort to harmonize the both. Then one day an art collector sought him out and offered to hold a solo exhibition in Hangzhou. The solo show took place, presenting 30 plus paintings, all done in the abstract art style. After viewing Yang’s artworks at the exhibition and seeing what Yang had accomplished, his university mentor advised him to go to Beijing.

Yang took the advice and uprooted himself immediately. In 2011, he put his roots down in Songzhuang, the nation’s biggest art colony in the east of the capital city where about 2,000 artists live and work. The art commune is a strange place, according to Yang. It is where an artist can learn a lot and grow. However, some artists can lose heart or even develop an inferiority complex if they don’t have a strong sense of self-confidence, because there are too many brilliant young talents lurking and endeavoring. He has been living there since 2011. He can’t tear himself away from his spiritual homeland. Songzhuang is a window for the world to see how art in China evolves and blooms.

In the past eight years, Yang has developed a theory: art exists only in its own time and it must concern with the artist. “Chinese painting is a tradition that should be carried on to the future, but what we have learned from the tradition must be associated with us of today instead with the ancient artists of one thousand years ago. What they thought may not be necessarily what we think; their aesthetics and sentiments are not necessarily our aesthetics and sentiments,” notes the artist.

An artist with a restless and untamed energy in search of breakthroughs, Yang has pushed his horizons back from his major of Chinese portraiture. He has long since stepped away from the traditional Chinese painting. His is a style closely associated with impressionism. Strictly speaking, however, his art cannot be considered totally western, for it abounds with Chinese elements. A viewer can easily see the Chinese touch in his lines, colors and the media. 

His works have begun to draw attention. In 2017, his work appeared at an exhibition in Cannes, France. He received warm response there. In 2018, he exhibited his works at Artexpo New York. A professor from an Ivy-league university asked if Yang would sell an exhibit to him. In 2019, his artworks have been bought by a gallery owner in Taiwan.

Increasingly engaged in international exchanges, Yang is aware that innovation is a key in artistically bridging the east and the west. An artist of today should never repeat what artists of yesteryears thought and expressed. Why would anyone want to look at the old ideas in your work if the same ideas were expressed and highlighted a long time ago? He believes many artists of today are dismissed largely because they paint what artists of the past already painted.

Yang is eager to explore and blaze a trail for himself. I expect to see more from Yang because of his restless search of a possibility into future. He believes moving ahead is better than staying put.