在美术界的印象中，四川美院的油画不大讲究学院派技法。卡通式和艳俗类画法几乎成了川美油画的招牌。有了这个鲜明背景的衬托，李强揉合中西绘画风格的典雅作品，仿佛是从地下室冒出来一般，显得很不协调。他似乎想证明川美油画以致中国当代油画的另一面。这种不入时尚的作风，既缘于认识，也缘于性格。

　　李强同我是棋友，他在围棋网比赛曾升到4段。其人其画如同棋风，不张扬，不尚华丽，行棋严谨，有板有眼。自开局至中盘，感觉平淡、消极、忍让，但却走得厚实均衡。到了收官了断的阶段，厚实均衡的作风便处处显示出力量。同样，他的油画，从构图、造型到色调，即使是画失火的森林，画面效果也不火气。正因为如此，在热衷于制作视觉炸弹的当代中国美术界，李强取材平易、取景平实、构图平稳、情调文雅的作品，肯定不会引起强烈关注。

　　不过时尚总会过时。看腻了当代油画肤浅草率的风尚，面对李强含蓄而优雅的近作，不免会产生陌生感。李强近期画的几组花卉虫鱼，好像是写实，其实是表现。西画中的这类题材主要用于写生，通常是瓶花与标本，总之都是死东西，插着、摆着、挂着，除了技法炫目之外，往往了无生趣，索然无味。国画中的这类题材主要用于写意，诸如四君子图、三友图等等，搞成了千篇一律的套子，一代一代地重复，毫无新鲜感和陌生感可言。美其名曰意境，其实都是人云亦云的陈词滥调。即便是徐渭的杰作《杂花图卷》，尽管画得无比潇洒痛快，但却少了画外的意趣。比较而言，李强的花卉不仅画得雅致而又痛快，同时也含有言外之意。所谓言外之意，是指他的花卉不单单是画花，而是画花的境遇。比如他画的牡丹，被称为富贵花，其中的姚黄和魏紫分别指代帝王和丞相，同封建等级制度挂钩，从唐代以来一直受到器重。当代中国评选国花，呼声最高的便是牡丹，凌驾春兰夏荷秋菊冬梅之上。牡丹是财富的象征，财富成了当代中国人追求的主要目标甚至唯一目标。为了快速致富，国人到了无所不用其极的地步，使得近三十年的中国世相与心相变得暗淡沉重。因而牡丹入画，很容易流于世俗。李强笔下的牡丹花，剔除了俗气，画得沉郁，画出了牡丹现状在画家笔下形成的心象，在格调上是对当代油画艳俗风气的反拨。

　　李强把中国花鸟写意画的造型特征、留白方式和流畅笔法运用到画面，同时具有经典油画浑厚华滋的韵味。写意画一般用一色墨画成，比较单纯。李强的画色彩丰富、笔趣多样而又不失单纯。这需要娴熟的控制技巧。李强的画适合看原作，然而当今不是看原作的时代而是看印刷品和网络图片的时代。这批画如果压缩成小图片，笔触就会消失;画面色彩的灰调子又会使整体效果打折。我于是主张他将画面局部以超常的尺度放大、反置，以便缩小后仍能看出大效果。他说这正是他最初的构思，只是必须经过现阶段的铺垫才不会显得突兀。这同他讲究秩序、不走险招的棋风形成了呼应。

　　In my impression of Chinese art circles, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute doesn’t care for academism methods very much. Cartoon and flashy styles has almost become their signature for oil painting. In this background, the elegance in Li Qiang’s works which syncretizes Chinese and western methods together make them look like just coming out from a basement and totally inconsistent with the world. It seems that he wants to prove the other side of Sichuan Arts Institute and even Chinese contemporary oil painting. This tendency to go against what’s prevailing is out of insight, also character.

　　Li Qiang and I play chess together. Once he reached step four in a competition. Like his chess style, he is not an assuming and nobby person，neither his painting. He is a meticulous player. During the game, he always looks so plain, negative, even surrendering and yet steady and surefooted. It’s not until the end that you can see the power and strength of him. In the same way， his paintings never look blazing in no matter composition, sculpting or colors. Even the view of blazing forest is not blazing. Li Qiang prefers normal subjects and placid compositions, while in contemporary China most artists are dedicated to manufacture visual bomb. That decides that his works barely cause any strong reaction.

　　However, mode would be behind the times sooner or later. After getting bored with those hollow, cursory styles, the audience may unavoidably feel strange and distant in front of Li Qiang’s concinnity. His recent works of flowers, insects and fishes seem realistic, but actually expressionist. In western painting, those subjects, especially flowers in vase and specimens lying or hanging somewhere, mostly abiotic, are usually used in sketch which sometimes has no meaning except for the painters to show off skills. In Chinese painting, they’ve mostly been used in freehand painting, such as plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum known as “four righteous gentlemen” in Chinese classic literature, or pine, bamboo, plum known as “three durable friends in cold”. Same themes and patterns have been repeatedly done for generations, until there left no novelty. The advocated “hidden conception” is actually all echoing cliché, even Xu Wei’s masterpiece “Flowers Handscrolls”. As amazingly graceful and dynamic as it is, it still doesn’t have much greenness. Comparatively, Li Qiang’s flower is as graceful and at the same time has subtext too. He is not just drawing the flowers; he is telling stories of them. Take peony as an example. In china peony has been called “blossom of wealth and honor”. In ancient China, “Yao Huang” and “Wei Zi” those two breeds of peony respectively indicate emperor and prime minister. It has been regarded highly since Tang Dynasty. In contemporary China, whenever there is election for national flower, it must be the most popular one, leaving orchid, lotus, chrysanthemum and plum blossom all behind. Peony is a symbol of wealth which is the prior even only target for many people of contemporary China. People would spare no conceivable means for getting rich faster. Consequently, in the latest 30 years, both Chinese people and society became dim and heavyhearted. Under that circumstances, peonies could easily take on superficial，whereas，you can’t see any worldliness in them under Li Qiang’s brush. It is quiet and blue; it’s the reflection of the painter; moreover, it’s a reverse of the flashy vogue of contemporary oil painting.

　　Chinese freehand flower-and-bird painting has its own special way of sculpting, leaving blank and running brush. Combining them with the full color density and texture of classic oil painting, Li Qiang manages to give his painting intensity, variety as well as simplicity, which demands masterly controlled skills. The best way to watch Li Qiang’s works is to see the original but not any reproduction on presswork or internet. In any reduction of size, the excellence in brushwork will be lost; the bice quality of the whole picture will be positively compromised. Thereupon, I suggested he blow up proportions of his paintings to exceedingly large scale so that they can afford any dwindling. He told me that this was his primary idea too, only he needed time to pave the road before actually carrying that out. I am not surprised with this considering how he plays chess.