Paintings

When we were young, we often spend whole day hours and hours playing. There’s no TIRED in our dictionary as if we were like a perpetual machine that we could have fun from morning till night. We were energetic, but occasionally we’d love to lie on the grass and look up at the sky, letting the imagination find us in the clouds. Time was passing by while we were arguing about the figures of clouds with friends. This cloud seemed like a fairyland while another one looked like an animal. We could lie there for a long time and enjoy the moment for real.
孩提时期，我们常常在玩乐中度过整整一天，仿佛是个永动的机器从早到晚还不觉得累，那时我们精力充沛，但在偶尔的闲暇之余躺在草丛间仰望天空，在变化莫测的云朵中寻觅着想象力，和身边的小伙伴们激烈的争论着这一朵像某种动物，那一朵又好似某个仙境，却也能让我们快乐的消磨时光。

When we were growing up as time went by, we probably were more eager to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, searching for our own inner peace and feeling the beauty of nature. When you were there and looked up at the same sky again, perhaps there’re only groups of birds, or the evening glow would make you stop for a while.
随着时光的慢慢挪动，逐渐成长的我们往往更多的是渴望逃离城市喧嚣，隐秘于幽静之中，去感受自然的美好，找寻属于自己的心之静。彼时，当你抬头仰望天空的时候，同一片天，或许唯有片片群鸟，亦或霞光能让你驻足许久。

We begin to feel the rhythm of life, to feel the colors of nature, to feel the warmth around us. We are more likely to enjoy happiness and relief from a spiritual level. Our imagination changes with it, sometimes it’s figurative, sometimes it’s abstract. And the ARTS let it all out incisively and vividly.
我们开始感受生命的韵律，感受自然的色彩，感受身边的温暖，享受精神层级的宽慰与愉悦。我们的想象力也随之变化，时而具象，时而抽象。而这一点，在艺术中呈现的较为淋漓尽致。

Representational art creation is one of the important basic requirements of literary and artistic creation. Because it requires artists to be more sentimental and to feel the surroundings via their hearts. Then with the help of their abstract minds, their imaginations involve emotions. They turn the memories of some objects and sceneries into the embodiment of artistic image in every little bit.
艺术创作中，具象往往是文学艺术创作的重要基本要求之一，艺术创作者通过生活中不断用心体会产生的情感，在抽象思维的辅助下，加之情感和想象力的相互作用，将记忆中某一事、物、景，一点一滴的具体化，酝酿浓缩后的艺术形象。

Take painting which aims to depict the physical appearance of things in general. It is different from photography on some level. You may press the shutter to copy a breathtaking view in seconds. However, painting is a process of rethinking, recreating, and representing the feelings from the depths of an artist’s heart, I think. My latest artwork “The Warmth of Love”, for example, expressed my nostalgia and love for the loss of my dog. I put his scattered joyful memories with us together and turned them into the painting elements through emotions and love feelings. Having been racked my mind, I created a work that integrated color, perspective, composition, scene, and imagination.
艺术绘画亦是如此，一般来说与摄影有一定的区别，更多的不是轻按快门，就完美复刻了眼前景象的过程。我个人觉得，是一种重构、重新思考、再创造后，来表达创作者内心情感和所思所想的一个艺术创作过程。正如我的这幅新作《爱的温暖》，我将生活中多个与爱宠的美好回忆拼凑在一起，运用宠物之爱的浓郁情感，以色彩、视角、构图、景象、想象力等相融合，思维加工后绘画而出的作品，寄托了我对于爱犬的思念之情。

Contrasted with representational art. The abstract is to simplify the realistic, definite, and simulative art form in the mind of the artists, in which to remove or retain some essential elements and features in the same painting. For depicting nature, we usually outline the flowers, animals, plants, landscapes, etc. with painting skills and techniques including light and shadow, color and composition to create a realistic or hyper-realistic and concept art, such as my artwork “A Secret Place to Fall”.
我们再来看看什么是抽象？从字面意义上理解，抽象是具象的反义词，应用于艺术则是把艺术创作者脑海中具体的、写实的、拟真的形象进一步化繁为简，舍去一些元素，摄取或保留一些实质的元素和特点。如描绘自然，我们常见的是一笔一划勾勒眼前的花卉、动植物、风景等，通过光影、色彩和构图等技巧，呈现出画家笔下的写实或未来概念化的场景作品，正如我的这幅作品《遗失的秘境》。

Then this realistic art could be refined by removing some visual details of nature, including plants, trees, rivers, etc. Instead, nature was decorated with shapes, geometric patterns, lines, colors, and other subjective elements to express the feelings for nature. The painting will be more like a shortsighted person who takes off his glass and look at things around him. You will see only colors and blurry shapes, lines, or images that be mixed together. At that time, the limitation of realistic and recognizable images is broken, and art is presented in a new form of artistic expression, which is abstract art.
紧接着我们再进一步细化，去除超现实的细节，不深入描述自然世界，而是以形状、几何图案、线条、颜色等主观方式来表达所思所想。这时候，犹如摘除了眼镜，呈现在你眼前的只有颜色和模糊的形状或色块，此时打破了艺术强调写实的、可认知的形象局限，以全新的艺术表现形式传达艺术，这就是抽象艺术。

In this article, I invited Adrien Asselin, a Canadian abstract and digital artist to explore more representational and abstract art. At an early age, one of his paintings, “LIBERATION”, was presented to the Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. Speaking six languages, he traveled around the world to find the meaning of himself and the art. Through his passion for art, Adrien was invited to be displayed one of his artworks in exhibitions or hold personal exhibitions for various times. In 2014, he visited Shanghang City, Fujian Province, China, which was his second time visiting China. Together with the local Association of Artists, Association of Photographers, and other local organizations, the Shanghang Federation of Literary & Art Circles held a three-day photography and art exhibition for him where he transferred his love of China into his art and offered western abstract concepts and photography to the locals. I was honored to be invited to join him as his accompanying interpreter and art adviser as well, trying to share the art culture of the East and the West with every art lover and student.
在本期，我邀请了加拿大抽象艺术家Adrien Asselin，一起深入探讨具象和抽象艺术。早年，他的其中一幅作品“LIBERATION”赠与了荷兰的玛格丽特公主殿下。会六国语言的他，凭借对艺术的热情，周游世界各地，多次受邀参加或举办画展，寻找自我和艺术的意义。又先后两次到访中国，其中一次是2014年拜访了中国福建上杭县，由该县文联、美术家协会、摄影家协会等多家当地单位共同为他举办了为期三天的个人摄影和艺术展。将他自己对于中国的热爱之情融入其中，为当地呈现了西方的抽象派理念。那时我也有幸受邀参加，作为他的陪同译员和艺术顾问，努力将东西方的艺术文化分享给每一位艺术爱好者和学生们。

All these years later, Adrien recalled that exhibition with lots of emotions: “There’s something in Southeastern China that particularly fascinated me, which’s why I came to Shanghang for the second time. During my daily stroll through the town, I got a chance to get in touch with the working class.” After a pause, he said with sparkles in her eyes, “I yearned to know who are those people of whom I daily and diligently took pictures so that I could capture their uncommon ability to daily honor their trade. They truly are worker bees; we are marveled by it as much as it is the only way they know.”
时隔多年，谈起那一次展览的时候，Adrien还是非常激动，眼里放着光彩：”中国的东南部总有着其特别之处让我深深着迷，这也是我第二次来到上杭的原因。散步于这座城镇间，久而久之，我接触到了这里的工薪阶层。”，停顿片刻，他说道：”我渴望去熟知、去了解他们。为此，我常常拍摄他们，期望能捕捉到日常生活里不同寻常的那一面，平凡中的不平凡。他们，是不折不扣地小蜜蜂。不仅因为勤劳，我们更为惊奇的是，也唯有这词形容他们再恰当不过了。”

“The curiosity and the sensitive awareness that guide me are translated in the artist wanting to immortalize these people with my camera. In their mere moves, rites, and traditional clothing unfading chromatic poetry is sprinkling. In their every glimpse, in the scintillating specks of their very soul, I also caught the pride that lies within them, despite the fact that I don’t speak Chinese at all.” He added.
“我拿起相机盼望着能用艺术的眼光去诠释、以摄影来悬若日月。他们的一个举止、一场习俗、一件传统服饰，单单这些却宛若一首诗歌耐人寻味、笔墨横姿。每一次的隐约闪现、每一次的点滴闪烁，在他们的灵魂深处，有这样一缕自豪、一丝骄傲，尽管中文我一窍不通，却仍能感受真切。”他继续补充道。

“Masters such as Siméon Chardin, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and the Dutch school of their time painted the working class in all its glamorous simplicity, using a chromatic spectrum that did render an exuberant and loyal blend of color and light. What is your expression of art?” I asked.
“早期，工薪阶层就已经是荷兰画派大师们笔下的刻画人物。如：法国的夏尔丹、荷兰的伦勃朗及维米尔。他们对于光线的写实运用，并与颜色的丰富混合，充分地描绘了普通民众的闲情逸致，以及他们的简单朴素。对于您来说，您的表现形式是什么样的？”我问道。

“Yes”, he nodded thoughtfully, “Enough with the wealthier class and its opulence; the artists were rolling the dice on renewing their art with then trivial yet authentic subjects. Such pure and sheer simplicity with elegant style is also what I pursue”, he said: “My coming back to their workplace, factory workshops and unloading ports, had most certainly convinced them of my genuine interest. I had to spontaneously capture the most poignant scenes during those busy and diligent people. Through these images, these surreal flashes, these poetic happenings, my purpose was to unveil the working class’s environment and to let their every move and their every smile glow in symbiotic sparkles.”
他若有所思的点了点头：”是的，那时上层社会与其繁荣昌盛的状态早已不再是画家们的创作题材，转而投身于真实存在的普通大众。这种极简素雅的风格也是我所追求的，我时常去拜访他们的工作场所、工厂车间、卸货港口，望着那些忙忙碌碌、勤勤恳恳地人们，我不由自主地去抓拍着我觉得最为深刻的场景。通过摄影、超现实主义的点滴闪现，以及颇有诗意的情景，我想将这些小人物们所处的工作环境展现给世人。”

“In today’s photography, retouching seems to be pretty normal. What do you think of this photo retouching?” I continued to ask. Pointing to one of his works from the camera, he said: “These pictures are nothing but a too-small sample of what I had the utmost privilege of witnessing. The effects are all-natural and genuine, as nothing has been touched up, no software was used for anything, no artificial distortion has been allowed; the light is that of the sun, of the lighting devices they use, and of the people themselves. Only zoom-ins and close-ups have sometimes occurred, so that everyone could have access to more intimate details that would have, otherwise, been part of a mere background. In the exhibition, for example, I could still remember seeing those women vigorously and relentlessly working construction and other heavy-duty imperatives almost always, at least in Canada, materialized by men and manhood. Because of this, I hope to restore the real scene, so that people could understand these photographs.”
“当今摄影，后期修图属于常态。对于这一现象，您怎么看？”我追问道。他指着他其中的一幅作品说道：”这些作品普普通通，拍摄的主光源为阳光，其周边光源则是拍摄对象的自身反光、环境色等补光。对于我来说，我展出的作品不会去修图或润色，禁止使用软件进行人为修饰。唯有调焦与快门有时需要手动微调，这样观赏者才能欣赏到微妙的细节变化，否则，仅仅只是画面的一块背景而已。例如在上杭展览，我仍能记得：女人们在建筑工地辛勤工作、极为卖力，甚至从事着重活累活，而这些工作至少在加拿大，往往都由男人或者成年的男性来完成。正因为如此，我更期望还原真实的场景，才能让人们意会这些摄影作品。”

“The purpose underlying this exhibit was to pay a tribute to a gigantic class, too often ignored and neglected by the media sphere, seemingly guided by sheer complete indifference, and by their own counterparts and fellow citizens. It was a great honor for me to have this opportunity to present them at an exhibition. They truly were the atoms in the realization of herculean tasks and projects such as buildings blooming like a perpetual sudden springtime in the Shanghang”, He continued:” I was only witnessing and trying to grasp what an astronomer was able to take in from the start; the latter was shooting, while the former was falling. The working class was humble. The people were noble and were all-worthy, who were subtly honored to be living.”
“非常荣幸，那时有机会可以举办展览，让我有幸以艺术的角度向世人歌颂这一阶层的民众。而他们又往往被媒体所忽略、所忽视，似乎由一种漠不关心的氛围引导着，也时常被他们自身和周边的人群所遗忘。他们，好比是现实生活中，庞大的建筑工程项目上的一颗铆钉，霎时渺小；又宛如上杭的初春，意外之中恒久远。”，他继续说道：”我曾试着去领会一名天文学家是如何观赏星空的？前者是遥望星星的坠落，而后者则是拿起相机拍摄它落下的过程，这恰似我抓拍那些普通民众的方式一样。谦逊者，小人物；崇高者，小人物；可敬者，亦小人物——平凡之中不平凡，点滴荣誉活当下。”

We smiled at each other and nodded knowingly. Following the subject, I asked, “Besides photography, abstract art is your favorite creations as well. However this kind of art is actually difficult for us to appreciate, coz there is no specific identifiable image, at first glance, it seems to be a disorderly, random painting with a pure accumulation of pigments and color blocks, I guess. So, would you mind explaining to us how you picture abstract art?”
说到这，我们相视一笑，彼此会意的点了点头。顺着话题，我问道：”除了摄影，您创作的还有抽象艺术。而这一艺术其实对于我们大众而言欣赏比较困难，因为没有了可辨别的具体形象，乍一眼仿佛没有章法，乱涂乱画，纯粹是一种颜料和色块的堆积。您能为我们讲解您理解的抽象艺术吗？”

As soon as the question was asked, he seemed to remember something and let me wait for a while before disappearing from the computer. A moment later, Adrien held a large abstract painting in front of me and explained, “This abstract painting was my first work, and I kept it well to encourage me to continue to explore the beauty of life and create the art of my life as if the god work.” Set at the computer, He put down the painting and continued: “Picasso and his arts had a great impact on me for a long time. He was a brilliant artist that I admired him so much and followed his painting style as a starter. In my childhood, I had lots of opportunities to reach nature. I used to sit on the mountain overlooking the town, the fields, and mountains, listening to birds and enjoying the fragrance of flowers. Gradually, the plains and valleys opened my mind and became my friends and great sources of inspiration. So, most of my early artworks were based on nature. I painted the shapes and structures of natural objects by overlapping bright colors and geometric elements with the feeling of awe for nature. In the end, those three-dimensions images were changed into graphic art. So, Abstract Art is the simplification of the images before my eyes, I think. It is an art form with an expression of stylization, simplification, conceptualization, and superposition that mix with your emotions, colors, shapes, lines, and geometric elements.”
话音刚落，似乎让他想起了什么，让我稍坐片刻，随后消失在电脑的另一头。过了一会，Adrien拿着一幅巨型抽象画，摆在我面前诠释道：”这一幅抽象画是我的处女作，我很好的保留了下来，以此激励我继续挖掘生活的美好，不断向上(上帝)创造自己身边的艺术作品。”，放下画，继续坐在电脑旁说道：”长久以来，我一直深受毕加索的画风影响，一直热爱着这位杰出的艺术家。小时候接触大自然的机会很多，常常坐在山上俯瞰大地，感受田野和山川，聆听鸟语，品味花香。渐渐的，平原和峡谷打开我的思绪，成了我的好友和灵感源泉。于是乎，早期的作品以大自然为主，不描绘眼前的景象，而是通过鲜明的色彩、几何元素层层叠加，空间转为平面，带着对自然的敬畏情绪，创作出自然物体的形体和结构。对我而言，抽象艺术是对眼前自然物象的简化，并带着一种情绪，以色彩、形体、线条、几何形式相互作用下的风格化、概念化、叠加或化繁为简的表现形式。”

“I learned from Picasso and tried to depict my surroundings, stories, and lives with different ways of artistic expression. I even changed the traditional paintings into digital art. However, my concept of abstract art is the same which to show the ideas and objects in front of us. Together with realism and abstraction, I applied beautiful colors to the objective images and added my inner emotions to them. The surface and the dimension became clear. It formed into a relationship, and into a kind of sense of space that’s involved in the abstract structural form.”
“正如毕加索一样，我也不断尝试着不同的艺术手法，去刻画我身边的事、物，甚至由传统转向数字化创作。但其抽象艺术理念是不变的，内心的情感来展现概念想法和眼前的物象。通过写实和抽象相结合，呈现面与体积的相互关系，铺上色彩把客观的具象物体本身引入绘画，再与抽象的结构形态相融合，形成一种空间感。”

“Indeed, when appreciating abstract paintings, it may be easier to understand them if you get the picture of the artist’s background first, and then try to feel the painting context with the help of the title of the work,” I said: “At that moment, colors of the painting may begin to flow, blurry shapes become more and more clear. Then your imagination and emotions start to play a part in it, where resonant expression will collide.”
“诚然，在欣赏抽象画的时候，得先了解艺术家作画的背景，然后结合作品标题，带着情绪去欣赏，或许更易于读懂。”，我说道：”这时，色彩或许开始流动起来，从模糊的形体中看到具象的身影，你的想象力和情感也开始发挥作用，共鸣将在此碰撞。”

“That’s right,” Adrien replied immediately: “Normally, painting skills and styles are not the keys to abstract art creation. It is the sentiment that does the work. To follow your hearts and your emotions when comes to appreciating and creating arts around you, even it’s sad or happy, or a warm feeling.”
“说的很对，”Adrien立刻接过话题回复道：”抽象艺术创作更多的不是你的创作手法和技巧，而是你要有情感，感性的去表达、去认知周边的物象，是快乐的，还是悲伤的，亦或给予你一种温暖的氛围，和其他艺术表现形式一样都需用心去细细品味。”

And that reminded me of the Rorschach test, a famous psychological test in which subjects’ perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then normally analyzed to examine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning by using psychological interpretation or complex pareidolia. The latter is the pattern of objects, shapes, or other patterns of visual symbols that are related to a person’s sentimental feelings. Nowadays, since the scheduled urban life, it seems that there’s a psychological paradox between people and objects, and within people as well somehow. In which, when they failed to load off their shoulders or be comfortable in reality, they are more likely to unwind from the expressions of art, including music, literature, painting, etc. This may explain why the framed abstract works of art are displayed in many grand places, residences, hotels, etc. The abstract, as if the cloud in the sky, is unpredictable and be related to the viewer’s emotions. At a certain moment, perhaps, they find inner peace from abstract art.
此时，不经让我想起著名的罗夏墨迹测验，通过图版上抽象的墨渍来投射人格测试，被测者可说出具体的某物、或表达心情的喜怒哀乐等一切可联想到的视觉符号。如今的城市化生活，人与人之间、人与物象之间有着一种莫名的心理矛盾，当在现实中找寻不到慰藉和解压的时候，往往会转移到艺术形式中，在音乐、文学、绘画等里寻觅宁静。这或许就诠释了为何很多场所、住宅等，都会摆放装裱好的抽象艺术作品，模糊的形态，犹如变化莫测的云朵，观赏者的情绪感知眼前的作品，或许某一时刻，求得了一片心之静。

“And so, through countless walks, I witnessed the fieriest sunrises and sunsets. At night I lay down and gazed at the ocean of stars slowly revealing its quest as my mind would make its way through the darkness of silence. Out of these abstract scenes and colors, new paintings would translate my love for nature and the cosmos. I never attempted to copy what my eyes saw, knowing any camera could do that. No, I wanted to create, and to express the world that gave me such forms, energy, colors, and poetry,” He said with a smile at the end of the interview as if a summary of his whole life. It’s hard to persistent in doing something that you preferred and good at it in a field, especially when you actually achieved something during the journey of pursuing your big dream. Every one of us is special I think. Find out what’s special in yourself and make use of it to the utmost.
“走过无数的路，见证过太阳的初升和夕阳西下，最为动人的景象也有几时回。然而，夜晚当我躺下凝望星辰大海的时候，我的思绪也随着星空穿越宁静的黑夜，在银河系缓慢流动。彼时，抽象的物象在我脑海浮现，将我对自然的热爱和宇宙的倾心化作一幅幅画。虽然我深知相机可以复刻眼前的美景，但我想要创作，将我捕捉到的形态、能量、颜色、韵味去一一表达。”，采访最后，他微笑着道出了一番感言，宛如对于自己一生的概括。能在自己喜欢和擅长的领域持之以恒，去追逐梦想并有所成就实则不易。我们每一位是特别的，找到自己的特别之处，将它发挥到极致吧。

Pen in my hand that stopped in the air for a while, I tried to put the closure to my article, but my mind didn’t want to. As my article was about to be published, Adrien’s family informed me of the bad news. Adrien, the 82-year-old artist, had passed away of complications from his cancer on the 30th of October, 2021. And now, there had been another amazing artist in heaven. He who loved arts all his life and was always curious about his surroundings. He who had a warm and kind heart. He loved his family and friends, treating everyone around him kindly. At a certain moment, life or death has no end. It is written in another way, the lighting of our life. We’ll miss him more than words can say. Hope he continued to have his brushes and his colors, then he painted the paradise with radiance. Rest in peace.
而在文章的末尾，我提笔欲写，又不愿就此画上句号。文章即将发布之时，Adrien的家人告知了我这一噩耗，现年82岁的他，因癌症并发症于今年10月30日驾鹤西去。至此天堂又多了一位杰出的艺术家，一位一生热爱艺术，有着一颗温暖和善良的心，深爱家人和朋友，善待身边的每一位，对周边点滴始终充满好奇的他。某一时刻，生命没有终点，以另一种方式谱写着，点亮着我们的生活。对他的今昔之感，实则不能己于言也。愿逝者安息，在天国继续挥洒画笔，感受五彩缤纷。

I never thought that my art interview with my friend was the last exclusive time, and the video chat with him was the last time seeing each other as well. Indeed. It is unknown to all of us that what TOMORROW could bring us? Probably, to learn it from my friend, Adrien. Find out our gifts and do more of what makes us happy. Living in the present, and cherishing every beautiful moment with families and friends.
不曾想我对友人的艺术专访却成为了最后一次，和他的视频聊天，也成了最后一面。我们无从知晓，明天会带给我们什么？但或许可以像他那样，以自己的天赋，做自己喜欢的，并乐此不疲。活在当下，家庭亦或朋友，珍惜每一个美好瞬间。

Artworks/Photos/Interview/Writings/Art Edited & Translated by BubbleSwan
概念艺术/摄影/采访/撰写/美编/翻译：BubbleSwan
部分展览拍摄/ Some Photoshoots at EXPO by Jennifer
抽象艺术作品/ Masterpieces of Abstract Art by Adrien Asselin

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The Articles You may Love to Read | 猜你喜欢
1. Trapped at Home for Pandemic? How about Travel in Your Minds via Painting 出不了门，肿么办？画幅画，想象中遨游吧
2. Personal Short Film “The Dreamcatcher – Prologue” 个人微电影 | 追梦人-序章
3. When Harp Met with the Art 当口琴遇到了艺术，你的耳朵怀孕了吗？
4. Earth Hour | Painting Sections for My Advertising 地球一小时 | 手绘定格广告
5. The Charm for Weaving 编织的魅力
6. WeChat Sticker | The Daily Life of A’Wang-Episode Two 微信表情包 | 阿旺的日常-第二弹
7. Arts Exclusive | When Book & Design Found Each Other 艺术专访 | 当书与设计寻觅到了彼此

Read more, plz visit my official WeChat Account “梦与月”, or The Dreams & The Moon, the bilingual platform where the arts and your hearts collide with each other.
阅读更多，欢迎访问官方微信订阅号“梦与月”，一站式艺术双语平台。