我从小生活在浙江奉化外婆家，我外婆和舅舅都是虔诚的佛教徒。我二舅舅是吃了六十年长素的居士。我外婆每天早晨起床，第一件事就是念白衣大士观世音菩萨经文。我记得每天早晨拖着外婆的衣角一起念。我二舅舅在二楼有一间经堂，他从早至晚一直念经。在耳濡目染中，我也会背些经文。

不过我对经文的理解不深，学佛也停留在表面形式上 － 烧香、磕头。

2010年，听了台湾净空法师关于佛教的讲座，学佛的奥妙在佛学的经典理论中。佛教实际上是一门高深的人生哲学。首先必须遵守戒律，杀、盗、邪、淫、妄念、酒，排除贪、瞋、痴三毒。深知因果报应，用功于因，果报自然可得。

学习佛学还必须和儒学、道学联系起来。中国传统文化中，儒、释、道是核心。

2010年，我去了龙门石窟考察。亲眼看见从北魏至唐代，几百年历史中所雕琢的佛和菩萨伟大的艺术品。古代匠人们巨大的艺术成就令人叹为观止。去年秋天，我用丙烯和塑形胶绘制了几幅佛与菩萨的头像图画。朋友们看后，觉得还不错。这增加了我画佛教主题的信心。

今年年初，我构思了这批带有故事情节的佛教主题画。莲花是佛教形象使用最广泛的符号。我用莲花作为表意的主题，她出淤泥而不染。我们在红尘世间，难免不受污染。我们可以用佛教的思想不断清洗自己的心灵，保持一份内心的清静。这既可以救自己，也可以救他人。这就是我画这批画的用意。

关于这批佛教画的绘画语言问题，我认为架上绘画，画的语言是关键的难点。

我过去主要画以表现主义为主的画，而这批画的表现主义成分减少了一些。作为艺术作品，艺术的表现语言总是遵循继承传统，推陈出新这一规律。因此，我采用古典油画的薄画风。中国绢本绘画和西方的古典油画往往采用罩染法。罩染法的优点是层次多且透明、耐看、不粗糙。但古典画家往往用一种颜色罩染，虽然层次丰富，但色彩却千篇一律，呈酱油色。我用了冷暖色彩倾向的罩染法，可取得既能层次丰富且色彩漂亮的效果。我喜欢在画面上做出斑斑驳驳的肌理。如果我把画面的色彩画坏了，我用塑形胶覆盖，产生油画的厚度。再用薄薄的油彩涂上去，使画面的色彩透明又厚重。

有一次，我朋友从俄罗斯考察回来，告诉我俄罗斯油画有几百年的历史，他有非常扎实的传统特色。大学时，我只是学会了俄罗斯巡回画派的一部分。中国近代学习西方比较浮躁，急功近利，没有把欧洲油画的功夫学到家。例如，在调色方面过多的使用白粉，画面容易粉，看上去闷、脏。在绘画中，有一句名言：惜白如金。另外，调色最多不超过三种颜色混合，否则颜色不明亮。现代许多画家都疏忽了这一点。

我与几位对色彩有研究的画家经常交流有关色调倾向问题。色彩的高调、低调、冷调、暖调，不同色彩倾向的灰调，色彩面积的搭配，色彩的强对比、弱对比、互补等，这些都是色彩学的基本原理。这也是我过去疏忽的问题。因此，我对这批画的色彩也做了新的尝试和改进。另外在绘画的虚实处理上，七分虚、三分实。画面虚多给人神秘，耐人寻味。在造型上，我简化造型的结构，强化造型的体块。这是我从龙门石窟风化石雕艺术中启发的。

总之，我们在运用艺术语言中既要继承古今中外的优良传统，又要画出个人风格。这就我创作这批画时的感悟。





10,000 Believers
Sun Jianwei

I grew up in my grandmother’s home in Fenghua, Zhejiang province. My grandmother and uncle are both devout Buddhists, and my second uncle has been as a vegetarian for 60 years. The first thing my grandmother did upon rising was chant the Guanyin scriptures; and I would accompany her in reciting them. Also, my second uncle had a scripture hall on the second floor and often chanted from morning to night. I would often chant scriptures which had an almost imperceptible influence on me. But still my understanding of the scriptures and of Buddhism was fairly shallow – it just remained on the surface level of burning incense and kowtowing.

In 2010, I went to a Buddhist lecture taught by a Buddhist master from Taiwan who talked about studying Buddhist classical theory – Buddhism is actually an advanced philosophy. A Buddhist firstly must be obey the Five Precepts: to avoid killing, stealing, wickedness, improper sexual conduct, desire, alcohol and avoid the three poisons of greed, hatred and folly . Also, the Buddhist should not be infatuated by anything and understand and appreciate the natural system of karma and retribution.

But there must be contact with Confucianism and Taoism when you study Buddhism, as these three philosophies form the core of Chinese traditional culture. In 2010, I went to the Longmen Grottoes to study. I was shocked by the huge sculptures of Buddha when I saw them. They were made from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty – a long time ago. I was amazed by the achievements of these highly skilled ancient craftsmen. After this, I started to use acrylic and modeling paste to paint figures of Buddha. Some people liked them, which gave me the confidence to continue with this topic.

In the beginning of this year, I started this series of Buddha paintings, which have stories behind them. Elements such as lotuses are extensively used, mainly as Buddhist symbols of purity. We live in a secular environment; we can’t avoid being contaminated. Still, we can use Buddhist ideas to cleanse our minds and to keep our hearts peaceful. This helps not only ourselves others as well. This is my motivation for painting this series.

I think the language problem of easel painting is a very crucial point. I used to mainly draw expressionistic works, however the expressionist ingredients have been reduced in this latest series. For, me the express purpose of art is always to turn our artistic traditions into something new. I chose a classical painting method using a thin and light style. Both Chinese silk painting and Western classical painting use a technique of covering and staining. The result is multi-leveled, transparent, smooth and can be appreciated in different ways during different circumstances. The classic artists often use one kind of color when they cover and stain, but with abundant layering the color becomes muddied like soy sauce. So I paint some works with warm colors and others with cold tones in order to show the effects of this multilayered technique.

I am also interested in making textured effects on the surface of the canvas. If there are any mistakes with the colors, I use modeling paste to cover it up, which increases the thickness of the painting. Then I paint a very light layer of acrylic again, until it’s both transparent and thick.
Once a friend of mine returning from Russia told me that the history of Russian painting was 100 years long and has a very strong tradition. I studied the Russian Itinerant school of painters university and many students at that time were trying to be successful through learning Western painting methods, but they were too hungry for instant success and they never internalized the philosophy. They added white when mixing colors, which makes the painting look gray and dirty. There is a secret to painting: treasure the color white like it’s gold. Also, don’t mix more than three colors at the same time, otherwise the colors will become dark. This is something many artists neglect when they paint.
I often communicate with other artists who have studied and researched color theory. We talk about the fundamental principles of color mixing, the high and low, the warm and cold tones of color, the different tendencies of gray, the combination of different proportions of color, color weight and contrast, color complementation – I neglected all of these things before. So I started to change some colors in this series. However, solely focusing on color makes for paintings that are 70 % abstract and 30 % solid, which makes them mysterious, meaningful and thought-provoking. As to the modeling paste, I simplified the structure but strengthened the mass. All of these skills were inspired by the stone carvings of Longmen Grottoes.

I feel that we should always try to incorporate the great traditions we’ve inherited, both ancient and modern, when we learn and use the language of art. But at the same time we must also develop our own style.