艺术是心灵的召唤——访知名油画艺术家许江

文/肖艳艳 祝融融

人物名片

许江，中国文学艺术界联合会副主席、中国美术家协会副主席、中国油画学会会长、浙江省文学艺术界联合会主席。

许江。Xu Jiang.

杭州白马湖畔，一片葱绿中，有一个院子。红墙砖与灰水泥错落组合在一起的建筑，依山就势，自然得体，既有江南的典雅，又透着现代感。

这就是“最葵园”艺术中心。

徘徊其中，几个由红铜锻塑而成的葵盘，分散在户外区域，平均重量都在两吨以上，阳光下闪现出源自土地的色彩。

近20年来一直以葵为题材创作的许江，在这里读书沉思、会友雅集，更多的时候则一个人挥舞画笔。

眼前的许江正襟危坐，两眼炯炯有神。不像是接受采访，更像是应约上一堂艺术课。

他拿出的一个本子上，用黑笔密密麻麻而又工工整整写了3大页，还用红笔做了各种标记。

在茶香氤氲中，我们开始聆听他时而激越时而低沉，时而静默时而声如洪钟的思考。

“艺术是心灵的渡筏”

盛夏的午后，天气闷热。路过杭州地铁站，前去拜会许江时，我们特意在武林广场站拍摄了他10年前创作的铜雕作品《阳光 · 葵园》。

我们把照片拿给他看，原本师者威严的眼神变得柔和起来。“好久没去了，我要抽时间去看看。”他凑近并端详照片，如同面对多年没见的孩子。

那幅满墙怒放的向日葵，在川流不息的城市空间中，热情奔放，流光溢彩。这是对城市生生不息的礼赞，更是对普通人心灵的无声滋润。

“人们在城市里赶路，艺术能带来片刻的宁静。”他说，美可以抚慰心灵，所以他一直坚持为大众创作美的作品。

“新冠病毒让平静生活了半个多世纪的人类一下子不知所措。”许江说，“艺术是心灵的召唤，对那些深陷疫情中的人们来说，艺术是超度焦虑和恐惧的竹筏”。

“我发现我的艺术家朋友，相对其他人更为平静。他们在疫情期间抓紧读书，抓紧画画，有的人还把拖了很久的‘文债’还上了，音画读物成了他们生活的重要伴随。”许江说。

拿起画笔，绘心中所想；拿起文笔，写心中所思。因为疫情，文化交流活动减少，但也让他有更多时间读书思考和艺术创作。

艺术之路，不痴心者难入佳境。许江说，自己的这股“痴”，源于多年对美和艺术的执着。他说，搞艺术，是一种精神的坚守，既要有国际视野，也要有本土关怀。

“全球视野与本土关怀共生互动”

访谈中，突然下起了大雨，雨声沙沙，窗外的绿色氤氲如油画。而室内更加安静，讲中国美院，讲中国美院与世界，许江富有磁性的声音，与外面的雨声形成奇妙的复调。

对许江而言，国美是一个绕不开的话题。一讲到国美，他一脸虔敬。

“国际化视野不是我们这一代人所独有的。”许江说。1928年，蔡元培选址杭州西湖创建国立艺术院时，就以调和中西艺术为办学宗旨。国美初创时的那一代人，大部分都有留学和研学的经历。可见，国际视野从来就是国美的追求。国美是世界的国美，不仅要扎根中国沃土，还要有世界眼光。“全球视野与本土关怀共生互动，这是国美的精神之源。”许江说。

从在国美读书、执教到担任院长，在校40年，锻造了一种国美情结，他说，这是国美精神的延续。

“我们这一代人赶上了改革开放，生命个体的节拍和整个社会、整个民族命运的节奏踩到了一起。”许江说，在国家资助下，他出国留学，开了眼界。

担任院长后，他提出全球视野与本土关怀共生互动。他说：“国际视野是动力，本土关怀是内核。我们所有的专业，都要通过世界的眼光、国际的视野来催生、再造，这是我们国美的独特法门。”在这个理念的带动下，国美为上海双年展和上海世博会的成功举办积极贡献了力量。

这时，他从笔记本下抽出一本厚厚的书。这本名为《地之缘》的“巨”著出版于2003年。书已微微泛黄，但他摩挲其中，珍爱有加，眼神温和而动人。

2002年，他担任国美院长时，有感于亚洲各国之间的文化隔膜，开展了一系列亚洲当代艺术考察。他选了杭州、伊斯坦布尔、孟买、德黑兰、曼谷等亚洲城市，成果最终凝结成眼前这本书。

先生还提及一段往事。美国旧金山美术学院前院长马丁把自己40多件艺术作品捐赠给国美。许江说：“这既是对国美的敬意，更是对中国艺术的敬意。”

上海美术馆展出的许江作品。Works by Xu Jiang are exhibited at the Shanghai Art Museum.

许江在自己的作品《向日葵》前。Xu Jiang stands in front of his work, Sunf l ower.

上海美术馆的许江作品展现场。Works by Xu Jiang are exhibited at the Shanghai Art Museum.

2021年7月，“百年担当—浙江艺术特展”开幕，许江担任媒体导览。At the opening of the “A Hundred-Year Mission — Special Exhibition of Zhejiang Arts” in July 2021, Xu Jiang is seen introducing the works to a group of reporters.

“给年轻人创造更多出彩的舞台”

许江爱听戏，创作间隙偶尔会哼上两句。“前段时间，81岁的汪世瑜先生和弟子们同台演出《汪门薪传》，我看了之后很感动。汪先生作为昆曲界领军人物，为浙江戏剧培养了众多优秀人才。这一台演出，荟萃了昆曲、甬剧、越剧、婺剧、绍剧、瓯剧6个剧种。”

其实，许江自己也是一位毫无保留的师者。在国美，不管是做老师、当院长、还是现在担纲学术委员会主任一职，他都非常关注青年人才的培养，弟子中不少人已经成为海内外名家。

如今，作为浙江省文联主席，他把一部分精力放在策展上。他说，要给年轻人创造更多能出彩的舞台。

今年上半年，许江花费大量心血策划了之江国际青年艺术周。这个活动每次都会把全杭州的美术馆“占”满。连办4年，已经成了这个城市的文化节日。许江说：“我们希望全世界的大学生、青年艺术家，在西湖之畔用艺术交流心灵，同时把灵感带回世界各地。这也是蔡元培、林风眠那一代开拓者的梦想。”

许江说，新峰人才作品展上，他看到美术界、书法界、摄影界新的一代已经成长起来了，很是欣慰。

接下来，他希望通过“诗画江南、活力浙江”省域品牌主题词的带动，借助之江艺术长廊、宋韵今辉文化节等活动，推动浙江文化精品的创作，培养更多文艺生力军。

“这些活动的背后，其核心都是重塑传统，激活文化品质，推动浙江艺术人才成长和文化精品创作形成高潮。”许江边说边站了起来，双手在空中划了一个V字手势，如一个乐章戛然而止。

窗外雨停了，天空如一巨幅画布，云或如淡墨，或如浓彩，美美与共，浑然天成。

院子里的巨型葵盘，远远望过去，就像是一块块滚烫的烙铁，嵌入这座绿意葱茏的葵园中。

“来吧，一起留个影！”先生热情地邀请我们在铜雕前合影，“有空常来，我再把故事讲给你们听”。

（感谢戚建卫、王智媛、王金双戈对本文的贡献。）

Arts: A Call to the Heart

By Xiao Yanyan Zhu Rongrong

At the shore of Baima (or White Horse) Lake in Hangzhou,among an expanse of lush green there is a garden. A complex of red brick walls with gray cement, it is built naturally along the mountains, appearing elegant and modern at the same time.

This is the Sun flowers on the Horizon Art Center. Strolling inside, you canfind several red-bronze sun flower plates scattered outdoors, each weighting over two tons. Under sunlight, they re flect a color of soil.

This is the place where Xu Jiang, a painter who has been dedicated to sun flowers for the last two decades, reads, meets his friends, and, most of the time, paints on his own.

Now Xu was sitting seriously straight before us, with sparkling eyes. It seemed that he was ready for an invited art class instead of an interview: on his notebook, three full pages had been written thickly yet neatly in black, dotted with red marks.

Between a cup of tea, we began to listen to his thoughts,which flow dramatically like a symphony with silent intervals.

On a sultry summer afternoon, we went to visit Xu, and on the way we intentionally took a picture of a bronze sculpture “Sun and the Sun flower Garden” Xu created 10 years ago.

When we showed him the picture, his eyes softened. “It’s been ages since I last saw it. I really should make time and drop by.” He looked at the picture closely and carefully, like looking at a long lost child.

The blooming sunflowers painted on the wall shine passionately against the hustle and bustle of the city, a tribute to the city’s vitality, and also a silent nourishment to the hearts of its people. “People are rushing around the city, and arts can bring a moment of peace. Beauty soothes the soul,” said Xu. Therefore, he has insisted on creating works of beauty for the public.

“All of a sudden, the coronavirus has overwhelmed us, who have lived in peace for more than half a century. And arts are like a call to the heart. For those caught in the epidemic, arts serve as the ark to transcend anxiety and fear.”

“I found my artist friends to be calmer in comparison to others. They caught up with their reading and painting during the epidemic, and some of them paid off their long-delayed literary debts. Music, paintings, books ... these became important companions to their lives,” Xu said.

许江 孔凡博 《清平乐—六盘山》（油画）。To the Tune of Qing Ping Yue — Liupan Mountain, an oil painting by Xu Jiang and Kong Fanbo.

2022年7月，第7届全国青年美展开幕式，许江致辞。Xu Jiang delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Seventh National Youth Fine Arts Exhibition in July 2022.

Because of the epidemic, cultural exchange activities have been reduced, but it has also given him more time to read, think and create.

In the pursuit of art, it is difficult to achieve a pleasant stage without obsession. To Xu Jiang, his “obsession” stemmed from his years of dedication to beauty and arts. He said that arts are spiritual perseverance, which require both global vision and local care.

During the interview, it suddenly rained heavily. The rustling sound of rain and the dense, oil-painting-like green outside the window made the room very quiet. Xu talked about China Academy of Art and the world, his magnetic voice forming a wonderful polyphony with the sound of rain.

For Xu, China Academy of Art is a topic that could not be avoided, and is to be brought up with reverence. “An international perspective is not unique to our generation.” In 1928, when Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) chose the West Lake in Hangzhou to found the National Academy of Fine Arts, he intended the institution to integrate Chinese and Western arts. It is clear that international vision has always been the pursuit of China Academy of Art. It must not only be rooted in the fertile cultural soil of China, but also embrace the world. “The symbiotic interaction of global vision and local concern is the source of China Academy of Art’s spirit.”

During his 40 years from studying, teaching to serving as its dean, Xu Jiang has developed a special attachment to China Academy of Art, which he calls “a continuation of the China Academy of Art spirit”. “Our generation embraced the Reform and Opening-up, and everyone’s beat of life stepped to the rhythm of the fate of the society and the nation as a whole.”

After he became the dean, he proposed a symbiotic interaction between global vision and local care. “International vision is the driving force, and local care is the core. All our disciplines need to be spawned and recreated through a global vision, which is our unique weapon.” Driven by this philosophy, China Academy of Art has greatly promoted the Shanghai Biennial and the Shanghai World Expo.

At that moment, Xu pulled out a thick book from under his notebook. This “giant” book, Edges of the Earth, was published in 2003. The pages were already slightly yellowed, but he was fondling it with love and affection, and his eyes were warm and moving.

In 2002, as the dean of China Academy of Art, Xu Jiang sensed the cultural divide between Asian countries and thus carried out a study tour of contemporary arts in Asia. He selected Hangzhou, Istanbul, Mumbai, Tehran, Bangkok and other Asian cities as the destinations, and the results were eventually condensed into this very book.

Xu also mentioned an anecdote. Fred Martin, the former president of the San Francisco Art Institute, donated more than 40 pieces of his artworks to China Academy of Art. Xu said, “This is a tribute to both China Academy of Art and the Chinese arts.”

He is also an unreserved teacher. At China Academy of Art, whether he was a teacher, a dean, or now the director of the academic committee, he has always paid great attention to the cultivation of young talents, and many of his students have become famous artists at home and abroad.

Nowadays, as the chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Xu Jiang invests part of his energy into curating exhibitions. He revealed that he wants to create more platforms for young people to shine.

In thefirst half of 2022, he spent a lot of time planning the fourth edition of the Zhijiang International Youth Art Festival, an event that “fills up” all the galleries in Hangzhou when it is being held. For four years in a row, it has become a festival for the city.

From the festival, Xu is pleased to see that a new generation of artists, calligraphers and photographers has emerged. Next,he hopes to promote the creation of Zhejiang’s cultural products and cultivate more literary and artistic talent through activities such as the Zhijiang Art Gallery, driven by the provincial brand of“Picturesque and Dynamic Zhejiang”.

“The core to all these activities is to reinvent traditions, and boost the growth of Zhejiang’s artistic talent as well as the creation of excellent cultural products.” While saying these, Xu stood up,gestured a “V” in the air with his hands, like a putting a sudden rest to a music chapter. The rain stopped. The sky looked like a giant canvas, interspersed with light or thick colored clouds.

“Come on, let’s take a picture together!” Mr. Xu warmly invited us to take a photo in front of a bronze sculpture. “Come again next time, and I will have more stories for you.”