在多元化时代，艺术家们的追求是各各不同的。比如，有的人更强调对于丑恶事物进行无情的鞭挞与讥讽;有的则更强调对于美好事物的热情表现与赞美。实际上，这两者目的完全一样，都是为了使生活更美好，只不过表达的方式不同罢了。艺术家李强的近作就属于后者。在一本画册《行云流水——李强作品》的“跋”中，他曾这样写道：“从某种意义上来说世界、人生怎么样在于我们自己怎么看。因而我愿意用一种审美的人生态度来看待艺术与生活，在悲剧性的人生中建立一种审美理想。以审美的态度介入生活，对抗生活的无奈，以审美的态度在人间，在日常生活中发现天堂。”他的这段话足以表明，在他看来，现实生活中丑恶的事物太多太多了，作为一个艺术家，他更希望用美的感受去激发人们对生活的热爱。美国艺术家史阿瑟·丹托曾在《艺术终结后的艺术》一文中认为，架上绘画在今天继续堕落着，而且他还将“艺术的死亡”解释为美的艺术的死亡。我猜想，李强一定不同意阿瑟·丹托的看法。一方面，他坚持认为架上绘画在机器复制的时代自有不可替代的作用;另一方面，他也认为，美的艺术在中国当代艺术中仍然有着一定的发展空间。而这也成了李强进行艺术创作的重要精神支柱。

　　正是出于自己的追求，画家李强在创作时并不刻意追求绘画的写实性，也就是说他并不是将现实中的对象——如花卉完整地搬上画布，以造成与照片一样的逼真效果，而是在现实的基础上，进行理想化、诗意化、抒情化的表达。于是，这也使他的作品与传统绘画一样，处在了似与不似之间。我觉得，在很大程度上，他的语言状态就是一种人生观念的呈现，所以我们决不能仅仅从纯粹形式主义的角度去理解他。

　　从艺术史的角度看问题，画家李强的追求明显是沿续了法籍华人赵无极所确立的艺术传统。我们知道，这位艺术家由于深受美国抽象表现主义的影响，在很长时间里，一直强调用近乎抽象的手法含蓄地表现宋人山水画的意境。如果说，他能在国际艺术界占有一席之地，其原因也在这里。李强的不同之处在于，他不仅是在以用近乎抽象的手法含蓄地表现近似于中国花鸟画的意境，同时还将东方美学追求和浪漫气息巧妙纳入到了他的作品里。从中，我们并不难体会出他对美好生活的向往与对大自然神圣灵性的感知。

　　李强作品的特点是即兴的、自发的、动感的、独特的和自由的。其色彩浪漫而富有表现力;笔触洒脱而富有变化;旋律优美而富有韵味。看后让人流连忘返。不知他人的感受如何，我在看他的画时，总感到画中的朦胧图像早已不是可感知的自然，而是画家心目中的自然。它常常会让我超脱于现实之外，进而产生美好的幻觉与冲动。比如在许多作品中，作为美好事物象征的花卉总是以局部与大特写的方式呈现，并在无限的延伸，它分明暗示着真善美的普世价值;又比如作品《2005年2月8日·雨·黄桷坪正街108号》就把一个远比现实更美好的黄桷坪呈现在了人们面前。按我的理解，这当然不是从外在出发去强调生活的美点，其实，他是在从生活的内在本质中去强调美点。这也很好证明了丑不掩美的道理。由此我不免感到，在一个功利滔滔的消费社会，李强恰恰是通过这种看似简单的绘画，来完成他对人生、自然与生活的哲学思考，而这种审美效果显然是批判类艺术所无法达到的。那么，阿瑟·丹托大势推销的架上绘画与美的艺术将要走向死亡的说法不是显得太偏颇了吗?

　　2005年12月26日于深圳美术馆

　　In a pluralistic time, artists have various pursuits. For instance, some of them pay more attention to lashing and satirizing frightfulness, while some of them are devoted to the exhibition and admiration for goodliness. As a matter of fact, they are pursuing the same thing through different ways, namely a better world. Li Qiang’s latest works belong to the latter one. “On some level how the world and life is depends on how we think of them. Therefore I would like to look on art and life with aesthetic eyes. It means I will live with the attitude of aesthetic, confronting all the helpless things in life, looking for heaven in ordinary days.” said Li Qiang in the postscript of a painting album “Wander as cloud and water——Works of Li Qiang” It obviously shows that in Li Qiang’s eyes, there are too much hideous things in life. As an artist, what he wants is to inspire people’s passion for life with experience of beauty. American artist Arthur Danto announced in his article of “After the End of Art” that easel painting had been deviated irrevocably from its definition, and in his explanation, “the end of art” is the end of “the art of goodliness”. I don’t think Li Qiang would agree with Arthur Danto. On one hand, Li Qiang insists that easel painting is playing an irreplaceable role in a time of mechanized production; and on the other, he believes that art of goodliness still has certain room for developing in contemporary China, which is also the mental crutch for him in art creation.

　　It is out of his our pursuit, Li Qiang never deliberately seeks for realism. It means what he wants to do is not to paint objects, such as flowers, faithfully and intact in pursuit of photographic verisimilitude, but manifesting the reality in a poetic and idealized way. It makes his paintings looks more like traditional Chinese painting which is always between similar and dissimilar. I think on some level his language status is simply a presentation of his life philosophy, and that’s why we can not understand him only from the angle of pure formalism.

　　In terms of art history, obviously Li Qiang carries on the art tradition established by Chinese-French Zhao Wuji who is known as an artist deeply influenced by American abstract expressionism and for a long time insisted in manifesting the charm of Chinese landscape of Song Dynasty implicitly through abstract technique. And that’s the reason why he can gain his own place, if any, in the international art circles. The difference between Li Qiang and him is that Li Qiang does not only use abstract technique to implicitly display the artistic conception of Chinese flower-and-bird painting, but also includes the breath of eastern romance and aesthetic pursue into his works. From his painting, it’s easy for us to fell his experience for the spiritual vanity of nature and good wish for happiness.

　　Li Qiang’s works have improvised, initiative, dynamic and unconstrained features. They usually have romantic colors which are expressive; they are composed with unrestrained brushwork which is changeful and variegated; and also they are endowed with elegant rhythm which generates rich lingering charm. I don’t know about other people, but when watching his works, I always feel that the blurry image in his painting is no longer the appreciable nature itself, but the nature in the author’s heart，which often leads me to disentangle myself from the real world and enter the one of rosy illusion and yearnings. In many of his works, as the symbol of nice things, flowers are always presented with local close-up and extended into infinity, which clearly is indicating the universal value of the truth, the good and the beautiful. In the picture of “8th, February, 2005·Rain·No.108 Huang Jiao Ping Street”, the viewer will see a Huang Jiao Ping much nicer than the real one. In my understanding, it does not mean Li Qiang is stressing the external goodliness of life; as a matter of fact, he is emphasizing the beautiful places of the innate nature of life. His painting proves the saying “evil never cover up good” right. In the society of consumption and utilitarianism, it is through this seemingly simple painting that Li Qiang accomplished his philosophical meditation for life and nature. This is an aesthetic impression which can not be given by critical art. In that way, does the “end of easel painting and art of beauty” ardently advocated by Arthur Danto looks too biased?

　　26th, December, 2005, at Shen Zhen Museum