左正尧是位总会不断有新想法，并尽力去加以实现的艺术家。这与一些常有宏大想法却不积极赋予实践的艺术家有很大不同。从2007年开始，他一直在以写意的方式画清纯的都市少女，用以对消费社会的价值观相抗衡，后来他又将其做在了瓷器和镀锌铁板上，一些作品还在2013年参加了威尼斯双年展的中国独立艺术展，并广受好评。
Zuo Zhengyao is an artist who always has new ideas and tries his best to realize them. This is very different from some artists who often have grand ideas but do not actively give practice. Since 2007, he has been painting pure urban girls in a freehand way to compete with the values of the consumer society. Later, he made them on porcelain, galvanized iron plates. Some of his works also participated in the Chinese Independent Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and were widely praised.
青蒿 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2017
不过，左正尧并没有满足于此。2017年，他转而开始了系列草本作品的写意画创作。在写于洛杉矶的一篇短文中，他一方面强调之所以画系列草本是要还二十年前的心愿；另一方面他又从草与历史、草与世界、草与自然、草与现实、草与人生的角度强调了隐藏在小草外表中的各种文化内含。
However, Zuo Zhengyao was not satisfied with this. In 2017, he began to create freehand brushwork of a series of herbaceous works. In a short article written in Los Angeles, on the one hand, he emphasized that the reason why he drew a series of herbs was to pay back his wish 20 years ago;
地黄随 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2017
由此看来，他画系列草本，既不是单纯的要为各各不同的小草去写照———就像一些为各类中草药书籍画插图的古今作者所做过的那样，更不是要借以表达某种闲情逸志或审美趣味———就像曾经的古代文人画家所做过的那样，而是要画他本人对于历史、现实、人生、自然的深刻感悟。
On the other hand, he emphasized various cultural connotations hidden in the appearance of grass from the perspectives of grass and history, grass and the world, grass and nature, grass and reality, grass and life. From this point of view, his series of herbaceous paintings are not simply to portray different grasses - as some ancient and modern authors have done for various Chinese herbal medicine books, nor to express some leisure or aesthetic interest - as the ancient literati and painters have done, but to paint his own profound perception of history, reality, life and nature.
大生菜 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2021
于是，他对多年来形成的写意花鸟画法进行了大胆而必要的改革。我注意到：首先，他在面对脚下成片的小草时，有意采用了平视或仰视的角度；其次，他不仅将微小的单株野草做了放大化的夸张处理，而且让其在画面占有了全部的位置。
Therefore, he made bold and necessary reforms to the freehand flower and bird painting formed over the years. I noticed that: first of all, when he faced the grass at his feet, he deliberately used the angle of looking up or up; Secondly, he not only magnified the small single weed, but also made it occupy all the positions in the picture.
相非相 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2021
很明显，这样的处理方式既表达了他对小草发自内心的礼赞，也表明了他对个体生命的无比重视，而当一幅幅有关草本的作品以密集的方式呈现时，我们就会联想到芸芸众生的命运，甚至还有更多……从历史上看，以微小的细节，即常以局部的物象来暗示或象征整体世界是宋代艺术家的杰出贡献，例如著名的《桃鸠图》仅仅通过开花桃枝，《水仙鹑图》仅仅通过水仙和土坡那简素的线，便暗示与象征了和暖的春光和寂寞的池汀等周围的自然环境。
It is obvious that such a treatment not only expresses his sincere admiration for grass, but also shows his great importance to individual life. When pieces of works about grass are presented in a dense way, we will associate the fate of all people, even more... Historically, it is an outstanding contribution of Song artists to imply or symbolize the whole world with small details, that is, often with local images, For example, the famous "Peach Dove Painting" only through flowering peach branches, and the "Narcissus Quail Painting" only through the simple lines of daffodils and soil slopes, they imply and symbolize the warm spring and the lonely natural environment around Chi Ting.
若有象 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2021
相比起来，左正尧的做法明显不同，虽然他也借用了勾勒、渲染或省略背景等传统手法，但他的本意并非要观众去联想小草与周边的自然环境，以及由此产生的一些诗情画意，而是希望观众结合自已的人生经验去思考一系列与历史、人生、现实、自然相关的问题，继而与作品产生积极互动的关系；
In contrast, Zuo Zhengyao's approach is obviously different. Although he also borrowed traditional techniques such as sketching, exaggerating or omitting the background, his original intention is not to ask the audience to associate grass with the surrounding natural environment, as well as some poetic and picturesque feelings arising from it, but to hope that the audience can think about a series of issues related to history, life, reality and nature based on their own life experience, and then have a positive interaction with the works;
应云何住 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2022
再其次，在艺术的表现上，左正尧除偶尔会用一些花青及设色外，多用勾染相济的纯水墨画小草，与此同时，他还常常会使用水墨相撞的手法，这也使他的画面形成了一种类似窑变的艺术效果，极为耐看！
Secondly, in terms of artistic expression, Zuo Zhengyao, in addition to occasionally using some flowers and colors, often used pure ink to paint grass with hook and dye. At the same time, he often used the technique of ink and water collision, which also made his pictures form an artistic effect similar to kiln changes, which is extremely impressive!
旧物藏月 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2022
作为艺术家兼评论家的的靳卫红女士不久前曾撰文高度评价了左正尧的系列草本作物绘画：“他在人物画里也做过不少探索，我很赞许他笔下的女性是审美性的，绝无消费的眼光。而今他转而将目光降至脚下，礼赞微小，而这种礼赞我理解是他寻求到了生活的核心，这些作品不仅安慰了他自己，也安慰了我们这些看它的人。
As an artist and critic, Ms. Jin Weihong recently wrote highly of Zuo Zhengyao's herbaceous crop paintings: "He has also done a lot of exploration in figure painting, and I applaud the women in his works for their aesthetic nature and no sense of consumption. Now he has turned his eyes to his feet, and the praise is small. I understand that this kind of praise is that he has sought the core of life. These works not only comfort him, but also comfort us who look at it.
自秘其传 纸本水墨 48X58cm 2022
他用描绘草本来扩大水墨语言区域，期求制造它的公共性，引发共鸣。”我完全同意她的看法。但我也想，如果他将这一系列作品和他的装置、影像结合起来展示，也许更易于使观众进入他的人文思考和立体維度的作品情境。
He uses the description of grass to expand the area of ink language, hoping to create its publicity and resonance 。” I totally agree with her. But I also think that if he displays this series of works together with his installations and images, it may be easier for the audience to enter his humanistic thinking and three-dimensional work situation.
（文/鲁虹）
（来源：大美墨韵）
艺术家简介
左正尧，广州美术学院教授、研究生导师、中国美术家协会陶艺委员会副主任、粤港澳大湾区美术家联盟副主席、第12至23届亚洲艺术家联盟中国委员会主席、加州西海岸艺术家联盟主席、2005-2019年大学城美术馆馆长、第11、12、13届全国美术作品展初评、复评评委、文化部第三届中国美术奖评委。
Zuo Zhengyao, professor and postgraduate tutor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, deputy director of Ceramics Committee of China Artists Association, vice chairman of Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Artists Alliance, chairman of the 12th to 23rd Asian Artists Alliance China Committee, chairman of the California West Coast Artists Alliance, curator of the University Town Art Museum from 2005 to 2019, preliminary evaluation and re evaluation judges of the 11th, 12th and 13th National Art Exhibition, and judges of the 3rd China Art Award of the Ministry of Culture.
