去年在中国美术馆开幕的“无尽江山:南北油画家邀请展”上,来自河南的青年画家孟新宇的作品曾给我留下深刻印象。他的作品不仅带着强烈的表现主义色彩,而且带着浓厚的本土文化特色。河南地处中原,具有深厚的传统文化血脉,从这里走出来的画家如段正渠、段建伟至今保留着浓郁的乡土气息。孟新宇虽然还是初出茅庐,但他对油画的本土化思考已经至为鲜明。他虽然在学院的正规训练中也曾经努力掌握严格的写实技巧,曾经迷恋过西方从文艺复兴以来直到现代的诸多大师,一度徘徊在这些大师的阴影之下,找不到属于自己的路。但在这块中原厚土上的生存经验和文化记忆终于将他从迷惘中引领出来,在油画创作中有了自己明确的文化选择。可以说,这种艺术上的“开悟”对孟新宇是至关重要的,因为没有这样的“开悟”就不会出现艺术上的跨越。当 Last year, at the opening of the China Art Museum “Endless Jiangshan: North and South Oil Painters Invitational Exhibition ”, Meng Xinyu from Henan’s young painter left a deep impression on me. His work not only with a strong expressionist color, but also with a strong local culture. Henan is located in the Central Plains, with a deep traditional culture, artists come out here, such as Duan Zhengqu, Duan Jianwei has maintained a rich native flavor. Although Meng Xinyu still fledgling, but his localization of oil painting has been extremely clear. Although he tried his best to master the strict realism skills during his regular training in the academy, many masters who had been fascinated by the West from the Renaissance up to the present were hovering under the shadow of these masters and unable to find their own way. However, on this piece of plains, the living experience and cultural memory finally lead him from the confusion, and have their own explicit cultural choices in the oil painting creation. It can be said that this artistic “enlightenment” is of great importance to Meng Xinyu because there is no artistic leap forward without such “enlightenment.” when