18世纪德国杰出的启蒙作家歌德在诗剧《浮士德》中塑造了“浮士德”这样一个不断追求知识和美好理想的探索者形象，表现出人道主义者、古典主义者渴望超越现实感性生命，不断追求人生理想的精神生活。歌德所说“浮士德身上的活力”就是人类为追求理想而生生不息、努力奋斗的精神生活。施宾格勒在《西方的末落》一书中把“浮士德式生存”叫做“积极的、奋斗的、征服的生存”，强调“浮士德精神”是一种不断追求的意志精神。“浮士德”永不满足、勇于探索、不断追求的意志精神正是一个艺术家应具有的一种精神。追求作为人的一种生存状态以及生命方式有很多种表现：可以是追求物质享受，可以是追求精神愉悦，可以是追求现世快乐，可以是追求理想的精神生活，等等。人对追求的觉解程度不同，追求的目标和人生的意义就各不相同，人生的境界也各不相同。刘文作为一个在绘画道路上勤奋而踏实地不断前行的画者，在他身上充分体现着一个艺术家对绘画艺术不断追求的精神。刘文说：“生命过程就是一个不断追求的过程，只有在自己的绘画领地永不停滞地追求，才能让那颗为尘世所累而烦躁的心得到安慰，才能让那漂泊的灵魂寻找到精神的栖居之所。”

　　作为一个始终沿着写实人物绘画道路前行的艺术家，刘文很关注形式语言。我们知道，无论选择什么样的主题或试图表达何种观念，都应注重形式语言，因为形式语言本身既是审美的，同时也承载着观念或隐喻的指向。画家内心深切的感悟、深刻的思想必然要通过色彩、明暗、线条、笔触、质感、光感、空间、构图等多项艺术语言去表现，没有对形式语言高度驾驭的能力，也就无法完美地表达出作者的视觉感受，无法传达出作品存在于形式构造之能中的、给人印象深刻的秩序的功能。艺术作品之所以打动人，毫无疑问是形式语言独特的精神气质，历史上伟大的艺术大师都是善于经营艺术语言的大师，如贾克梅蒂、拉斐尔、伦勃朗、维米尔等。作为一个写实画家，刘文深知形式语言的重要性：小时父亲的严格训练，后来在大学里得到的正规教育，加上迷恋写实的内在要求，这些因素使他几十年不受风潮、市场的影响，也不因物质生活的贫乏与生活的孤寂而放弃艺术、放弃对绘画语言的锤炼。特别是在广州美术学院研修班、研究生班学习期间，他潜心研究写实人物绘画，如饥似渴地从中外绘画大师的作品中吸收营养，并不断地加以实践。《冬日》、《凉山彝族组画》、《女孩》、《春》是他在广州美术学院学习期间的作品，从中可以看出他在古典写实绘画形式语言研究上的最初痕迹。

　　艺术史是一个在传承基础上的创新史。宗白华先生在《中国艺术意境之诞生》中说：“……‘温故而知新’却是艺术创造与艺术批评应有的态度。历史每向前一步的进展，往往是伴随着向后一步的探本求源。……文艺复兴追摹着希腊，19世纪的浪漫主义憧憬着中古。20世纪的新派且溯源到原始艺术的浑朴和天真。”任何一个艺术家都不会仅仅停留在纯摹写传承的层面，在对古典写实语言掌握得比较娴熟后，都会寻求自己的绘画语言和风格。刘文在艺术上的追求也体现了这种特点，多年苦苦探索，努力追求，最终形成了自己的语言特色，这充分表现在他对意象的选择、对画面结构的安排、对造型节奏的处理、对色彩色调和空间层次的把握中。我们从他的“像花儿一样”系列中可以明显感受到：选择的意象是现实生活中清纯的小孩或少女;画面结构采用写实的人物与平面的背景结合，使古典写实绘画的三度空间减弱而趋于半平面化，在压缩的浅空间里完成画面视觉图形的构筑;线条的虚实处理注重动与静的韵律的和谐;细节刻画典雅精致;色彩的涂抹、揉擦、罩染形成丰富的肌理……画面构成元素的提纯和扩大运用，增强了视觉的强度和张力，有着独特的视觉意味和精神含义，赋予平凡生活场景温暖、隽永的诗意，它标志着刘文的艺术语言走向了成熟。

　　艺术的形式语言不完全只是一种技术，还是一种本于心、感于物的精神表现手段。形式语言应当具有对精神的传达和表现。一个具有丰富、深刻思想的艺术家，不会仅仅停留在对纯形式语言的追求上，一定会以心灵映射万象，观照具体的现实人生和对象，把艺术的表达与时代的情绪和精神联系在一起，表达他对人生事象的热切关注与对生存意义的追求，使作品承载丰富的精神内涵。例如文艺复兴时期的意大利，人的个性得到了重视与彰显，整个时代精神是高雅的、开放的、积极的、有活力的，社会将精神生活看得高于一切。在这样的条件下出现了大批杰出的艺术家和伟大的作品，我们所熟知的拉菲尔、米开朗基罗、达芬奇，他们的作品打着时代的烙印，充盈着伟大的“文艺复兴”的人文精神。艺术史评价艺术家艺术成就高低的依据是他的语言形式与精神内涵的融合所达到的高度。如何以写实的语言传递自己对社会、对人生的感悟，使形式与承载的精神内涵达到和谐之境，是刘文艺术追求的更高境界。

　　社会的转型、观念的转变，使人们的生活发生着重大的变化，似乎一切都在忙乱与惶恐之中，如何立足现实、直面人生、反映深刻的社会问题成为当今艺术的重大社会课题。艺术家们以强烈的社会责任感和艺术使命感在各自的领域里“突围”，努力思考并探索语言图式与时下人的生存状况、心理期待、生命意义、内在精神的吻合，以期获得丰富的文化内涵和人文气息。刘文作为一个在古典主义精神中浸润颇深的画家，对人的生存状态的关注与思考自然也就成了他艺术创作的主题，以语言图式表现诗意人生的追求是其作品的主旋律。刘文说：“诗意的生活才是人类生活的本真状态。尽管‘现实充满劳绩’，但我们不可放弃对它的追求，特别是在当今的社会。”正是因为这种对生存意义的追求，他常常通过对绘画诸要素的意向性掌控，将写实的人物与抽象的背景结合，象征隐喻借物抒情，营造出诗意境界，在这境界里表达自己对人生的思考。如《听海》通过描述母女的生活场景，静静地陈述一种古典的审美观念，为因人生现实性欲望无限膨胀而导致精神无根的人们寻求一块诗意的栖息之所，唤起人们对人生问题的哲学思考。《春风又绿》中小女孩站在一覆盖着残雪的一堆玉米秆垛前遥望远方，远处冰雪消融，露出嫩绿的麦苗，显示出万物无限的生机和顽强的生命力。《像花儿一样》描绘三个女孩，三支黄色小花、一支飘浮在空间中连接着三个女孩的箭兰，一字形的构图、写实的人物、平涂的背景、抽象的色点符号、暖色的调子，隐喻着“无垠的宇宙万象归一”之意，在虚实相生的境象中观照人类的生生不息及和谐美好的景象。刘文笔下的人物既内敛、含蓄，又清新、纯洁，没有突显的戏剧冲突，没有造作的粉饰，画面温馨淡雅，泛着恬静的诗意，所有的喧嚣都在静静的、纯净的诗意中消解。艺术家的生活是基于现实又超越现实的生活，他们能创造出慰藉人心灵的理想世界。综观刘文作品，我们可以看出一个画家对生活、对人类的热爱以及对理想境界的追求。

　　创作艺术需要有敏锐的直觉。艺术直觉既包括对艺术语言的直觉感悟，也包括对社会生活的直觉感悟。艺术直觉是艺术修为不断磨练的结晶。刘文不善言辞，在艺术追求上却善悟、善行，几十年的历练，已经使他的艺术境界达到了一个高度。作为他的老师，我见证着他在艺术追求之路上一步步提升的足迹和坚强的意志与精神。近年来刘文的作品被中国美术馆收藏，连续在国家级、省级展览中获奖，但他并不因此而自满，相反，他把这看成是对他艺术追求的嘉许与鼓励，使他更坚定地在自己选择的艺术道路上不断地追求下去。

　　WILL AND SPIRIT OF CONSTANT PURSUIT

　　—Liu Wen’s Art Creation of Oil Painting

　　By Guo Run Wen

　　The 18th century, the great German enlightenment writer Goethe in his poetic drama Faust shaped such an explorer image Faustin constant pursuiting of knowledges and good ideals, showing the humanitarians’, classicists desire for transcend reality perceptual life pursuit of ideal life’s in the spiritual life. Goethe’s word“The vitality existed inFaust’s life”is what people need to pursuit their dream for their spiritual life. In The Decline of the West Spengler called “Faustian Survival” as “positive, struggle, conquer survival”, emphasizing that “Faust Spirit”is the willing spirit which iskeep pursuing. “The spirit ofFaust”-never satisfied, has the courage to explore, keep pursuing is what an artist shouldhave. Being a way of living condition or even a part of life, pursue can be various, such as pursuing the material comforts, pursuing the spiritual pleasure, pursuing the happy life, pursuing the ideal life, etc. People’s understanding of pursuit differ in degree, so that their ambition and the meaning of life is different, and the state of life is different, too.As a painter, Liu Wen is diligent, stead and keep forging ahead in the road of painting who fully embodies spirit of an artist’s pursuing constantly in his art. Liu Wen said: "The process of life is a process of constant pursuit, only never stop pursuing in his own painting domain can let the tired and distracted heart comfortable, and let the wandering soul to find spiritual habitat."

　　As a artist who is always marching along the path of the realistic figure painting, Liu Wenquite focus on formal language. As we know, no matter what choice about the theme or trying to express what kind of the concept, the formal language should be put at the first place, because the formal language itself is aesthetic, but also carries the perception or metaphor. Painters’ feeling in the deep heart and the profound thought must be shown through a number of art language factors like color, light, shade, lines, brush strokes, texture, light, space, composition and so on. Without the ability to control the formal language, a painter can’t express his feeling perfectly, can’t convey the impressive function of works that existing in the form of structure and order. The reason why an art work impresses people is no doubt the unique spiritual temperament of the formal language.Inhistory, all the great masters of art were good at artistic language, such as Giacometti, Raphael, Rembrandt and Vermeer, etc. As a realistic painter, Liu Wen knows the importance of formal language. His father's strict training in his childhood, then the standard education at university, and the inherent requirement of infatuated the realism, these factors make him unaffected by some agitations and markets in these decades.Also he did not give up painting and the temper for painting because of the poor material life and the lonely of life.Particularly when he was study graduate student art training class in the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, he concentrated on realistic figure painting, devoured absorb the nutrition from the paintings by Chinese and western masters, and constantly practicing the paintings, Winter, The Series of Liangshan Yi,Girl,The Springwere all created during his study in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, we can find from these paintings the original traces that he studied the classical forms of realistic painting language.

　　Art history is a history of innovation on the basis of inheritance. In the workThe Birth of Chinese Artistic Conception, Mr. Zong Baihua said ‘…Gain new sights through reviewing old material’ is the attitude that the artistic creation and criticism should have. The progress of the history’s each step forward, is often accompanied by a backward step of the agent... The Renaissance imitate Greece, the romanticism in the 19th century looked forward of the Middle, the new school in the 20th century traced back and the austere naïve of the original art.’ No artist will just stay in pure facsimile transmission level, when they master more proficient in the language of classical realism, they will seek for their own style of painting language. Liu Wen also shows the characteristics on the pursuing in art. By many years of hard exploration and great efforts in pursuing, he finally formed its own language characteristics, which was fully reflected in the selection of image, frame structure arrangement, modeling, color and rhythm. From his worklike Flowers we can feel that the images of his selection were pure children or teenagers in real life, The frame structures combined realistic characters with the plane background the three-dimensional space used in classical realistic painting was reduced and tended to half complanation, the picture visual graphic construction was compieted in compression shallow space .In processing the line’s virtuality and reality, he payed attention to the harmony of rhythm in dynamic and quiet. The detail depict elegant and delicate. And the color formed rich texture by covering was and rubbing.  Purification of compostition elements and its expanding utilization, enhanced the strength of the visual tension, and has an unique visual meaning and spiritual meaning, endowing the warm meaningful poetry to ordinary life scenes, All these showed the artistic language of Liu Wen had been mature.

　　The form language of artis not only a kind of technology, but also spirit content for feelings in mind. Form language should convey the spirit and be expressive. An artist who has rich, deep thoughts will not only stay in the pursuit of pure form language, he must be in the mind mapping and reflecting real life and the objects, connecting the artistic expressions and mood of the times and spirit together, express his earnest attention to life and the pursuit of survival significance, so as to make his works bearing the spirit of the rich connotation. Take Italy, for example, in Renaissance people’s personality was valued and revealed, in the whole time, spirit was elegant, open, active and energetic, a social spiritual life was regarded higher than all, in such conditions, appeared a plenty of outstanding artists and great works, as we know Rafael, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, their works carried the brand of times, and were filled with great "Renaissance" of the humanistic spirit. In art history, how to evaluate the artists’ achievement level depends on the fusion of their language form and spirit. How to use the realism language to deliver the feeling of the society and life, and to carry achieve a harmony between form and the connotation that the mental, is Liu Wen’s higher realm of artistic pursuit.

　　The society transformed, the idea of people change people’s life ad great changed, too. Everything seems to be hectic and fear. How to be based on the reality, face the life, and reflect the profound social problems become a major social issue in today’s art field with strong sense of social responsibility and artistic sense of mission, artists try to “breakthrough” in their respective fields. They think hard and explore the language schemata of age person's living conditions, psychological expectation, life meaning and inner spiritual life, in order to obtain the rich cultural connotation and cultural atmosphere. As an artist who has deep infiltration in the classical spirit, Liu Wen focuses on people's survival state and think about it, which naturally has become the theme of his artistic creation, To pass the pursuit of poetic with language schemata is the main melody of his work. Liu wen said: "The authenticity of human’s life should be poetic life. Although reality is full of merits and accomplishments, we can not give up pursuing, especially in today's society." Because of the pursuit of survival significance, he often builds a poetic real through intentional control of the painting elements, by connecting realistic characters with abstract background and the symbol of metaphor. And he can express his thoughts about life. In the work Listening to the Sea he described the scene of a mother and a daughter’s life, quietly stated a classical and aesthetic idea, and seek a poetic habitat for human who have unlimited expansion desire, causing no root of the human spirit, so as to arouse people to ponder questions about life philosophy. In another work The Spring Breeze Turns Green again, alittle girl was standing beside a pile of cornstalks covered with thin snow, with eyes looking forward. In the distance, ice was melting and light green wheat was appearing showing infinite vitality and tenacious vitality. The work Like flower through three girls, three yellow flower, a floating gladiolus coherent with the three girls. One glyph composition, realistic characters, flat background, abstract symbols, and warm color tone, embodied a metaphor meaning of“in the infinite universe, ail arehomologous”. In the actual situation of phase boundary reflection on human life cycle and the harmonious, beautiful sight. In Liu wen’s paintings the characters are implicate pure and fresh,no prominent dramatic conflicts ,no artificial whitewash. The picturesare sweet and quietly elegant, with a quiet of poetic, all the hustle and bustle of the dust are melted in the quiet, and pure poetry. The artist's life is based on the reality and beyond the real life, they can create an ideaworld to comfort people’s mind.Throughout the works of Liu wen, we can see a painter’s love of life and humanand the pursuit of the ideal realm.

　　Art creation needs a keen intuition, which includes intuition comprehension of art language, and the feeling of intuition, social life.Intuition is the crystallization of one’s artist accomplishment. Though Liu Wen is not talkative, does well in art pursue by thinking and actions. Though decades of experience, his art realm has reached a high level. As his teacher, I witness that he advancedon the road of art pursuit step by step, I witness his strong will and spirit, too.In recent years , some of Liu Wen’s works were collected by National Art Museum of China and won awards in national and provincial exhibition. But he is not complacent, on the contrary, he regarded this as recognition and encouragement,more firmly on the road of art.