在当今经济与艺术日趋全球化这样一个大交流、大融通、大碰撞的时代，画家只有不断推陈出新、超越自己、紧随时代，才能创造出具有时代特征和精神力度的作品。也只有这样高扬原创精神的画家才是真正意义上的现代画家。现定居于新加坡的中国油画家程亚杰，其艺术风格的可贵正在于此。他的作品从初期的社会主义现实主义到幻想的世界，再到更能够表达出他对世界的幻想的超现实主义，他以自己独特艺术风格创造出一个全新的语境。在他的作品中，视觉经验、空间想象和神奇现实巧妙遇合，艺术特征唯美鲜明，艺术境界、艺术语言与众不同，同时更呈现出一种“当随时代”的感召力。

　　程亚杰自幼习画，后入天津美术学院深造，在专业老师的正规指导下奠定了扎实的绘画基础。在大学期间主要是以传统学院派(苏派)为主,强调基本功的训练，以照相写实主义的方式表现出画面的光影,色彩,空间和质感，力求气氛逼真,刻画到位。创作方向是以现实主义的角度观察事物，客观真实地再现生活。在大学时代创作的油画《数不尽的黄砂粒》获得天津大学生美展一等奖，《细雨无声》获得第六届全国美展优秀奖。这些运用现实写实主义手法创作的作品体现了程亚杰扎实的绘画技巧和写实能力。苏联的社会现实主义不单在绘画上引导着中国艺术界，也在文学，音乐，舞蹈等诸方面影响着中国，成为主流思潮。当时除了中国的古典诗词，欧美的世界名著外，苏联的歌曲《莫斯科郊外的晚上》小说《钢铁是怎样炼成的》等作品深深影响着那一代人。艺术创作除了现实生活外还要具备深刻的思想内涵。这些影响也在程亚杰的作品里体现出来。像参加在日本举行的世界大学生美展的油画《回归的鸽子》，就是借用鸽子从远方带来一封信给乡下正在磨面的姑娘，赋予人们遐想的空间。世界大学生美展执行委员长味尾美智子女士被此画感动的留下了眼泪，并派专员前往中国与画家协商收藏此画。而另一幅参加国际青年节的作品《春光》也同样被日本弘方茗先生收藏。

　　当程亚杰创作出《我的朋友》（获天津青年美展二等奖）后，其画风开始有所转变。黑格尔，苏格拉底等哲学家的思想，特别是弗洛依德的心理学著作《梦的解析》，给画家程亚杰更多启示，使他早在1983年就开始了幻想的萌芽。入选奥林匹克体育美展的作品《银花》就是运用女子柔道旋转动作展示出似梦似真的“盛开的花朵”（原作被中国天津体委收藏）。与此同时，美国的“怀斯”风以迅雷不及掩耳之势席卷中国艺术届。罗中立的《父亲》，何多苓的《春风已经苏醒》，陈凯歌的《黄土地》等代表作品的出现，把艺术再次拉近生活，赋予新的艺术语言。法国的“印象派”，苏联的“学院派”以及美国的“怀斯”风等等已经成为中国艺术界的主流。然而如何把他人之长真正掌握在手，再发扬光大，谈何容易？“欲穷千里目，更上一层楼”，可这攀登的梯阶何在？如何才能创作出更高境界的作品？当时国内的艺术资讯贫乏，想了解欧美绘画大师的作品，只能借助印刷拙劣的画册。无论古典,还是印象派的作品,其颜色几乎是清一色。笔法技巧更是难以分辨。未来之路，何去何从？

　　20世纪80年代到90年代时代的转换对于整个中国美术和中国油画，意味着文化格局的变化和艺术思潮的变化，年轻一代画家在新的国际文化格局的重组中以锐意探索的锋芒表达着自己的现实处境和文化追思。程亚杰也因“画缘”来到日本求学,然而，当真正了解日本的油画艺术时却大失所望，遂于1991年初远赴苏联求学。由于在中国深受苏派影响，苏联艺术已经成为那个时代中国人学习的典范。走遍各大美术馆,仔细品味仰慕以久的“苏里克夫”、“列宾”、“希施金”、“马克西莫夫”等大师的作品的精华,之后他又到欧洲各国及其博物馆进行参观和研究。以“零距离”欣赏各国艺术大师的经典名作，使得他对世界艺术潮流有了更加深刻的理解，从而以更加宽广的视野从事融合东西方艺术精神的绘画实践。这些经历对于他在20世纪90年代的发展成为一个现实主义与超现实主义的画家起了很大的作用。
胡特（Hutter），维也纳幻想写实主义画派创始人，他的艺术魅力把程亚杰吸引到维也纳应用美术学院大师级班。在胡特的幻想世界里，程亚杰第一次领悟到艺术创作的真缔,从而走进了美伦美焕的艺术新天地。“一个优秀的艺术家最基本的要素就是具备高超的绘画技艺,然后是丰富的阅历和知识。运用自己独特的艺术语言创作出照相机难以达到的梦幻世界。”胡特如是说。此时程亚杰开始从头学起:颜色的研制,画布的制作过程,超薄的古典油画技巧等等。1994年在胡特教授的指导下程亚杰创作出入选欧洲著名Sheba大赛的油画《我的宝贝》，以欧洲古典的油画技术，结合现代的构思赢得欧洲著名大师评审团的一致通过。从而在国际著名大赛中有了中国人的名字。

　　“大师就是把普通司空见惯的东西重新组合,从别人不易察觉的角度切入,展开一个奇妙、令人耳目一新的梦幻世界，所谓的风格也就从中自然而然地产生出来。”胡特教导程亚杰创作出《天际》（入选1994年香港佳士得拍卖），《伊甸园》等幻想写实主义的作品，从而走出一条全新的幻想之路。打破了以往绘画的视觉逻辑常规，呈现出了更加出人意料的效果。走出属于自己的幻想之路,就要编织自己的幻想之梦。见多才能识广,展开环球寻梦之旅,积累“作梦“的素材，寻找人类共通的艺术语言。以我为主，上探下览，有选择地学习，借鉴那些能够进一步丰富、强化自己风格的元素，而由此创作出《海韵》，《生命之泉,源远流长》等共同关注的作品。在这些画面中，精神象征的全部因素，自然的生命、生命激情的情感隐喻、空间构成的荒诞性自由，以及洋溢于其中的个人情愫，都被巧妙组合，完美呈现，并进一步展示出其超现实主义画家的艺术风格。只有拨开了浅显层面的浮云，对艺术深层的意蕴、内涵有了游刃有余的洞悉与开垦的画家才能站在个性语言的颠峰上，建构他所感知的艺术天地。程亚杰的象征符号看起来似乎容易得到和运用，但是，要将它们融合在一起，并使它们在每一幅画里发挥超越它们本身拥有的文化界限的作用，并非容易。在他的画面里，玩偶，面具，蝴蝶等，与天空，白云，泉水诸元素重新组合构建出一幅幅生动的画面，这种建构是耐人寻味的，它钩连着传统、现实与未来，在艺术语言、象征符号和美学画面里中充盈了画家对历史、对文化、对自然、对生命、对艺术意义的叩击与追问。“艺术的深奥不是故弄玄虚,令人费解,而是给人启迪,令人回味无穷。”胡特就是这样把学生一步步推向更高境界。

　　如此，程亚杰的绘画自由地游走于具象与抽象，梦幻与现实之间。把记忆中的、带有隐喻意味的景象转移到画布上。他捕捉印象中的过去、现在、甚至是未来的景象，通过富有美感和诗意的巧思妙想，运用不同景物和色彩构成一幅幅心象，创作出耐人寻味，超越现实的梦幻世界。

　　雅昌企业（集团）有限公司董事长 万捷

　　A Walk between Dream and Reality

　　Exploring Cheng Yajie’s World of Fantasies

　　At our age featured by the rapid globalization and the clashing of civilizations, an artist can never stop being innovative if he/she wants to be powerful in revealing the pulse of the time. Only a few artists managed to have this stamina of creations, and Singapore-based Chinese artist Cheng Yajie is no doubt one of them. He started from the Socialist Realism and arrived at Fantastic Realism. In his works, visual experiences melt into fantastic imaginations, and the charm of our age is given a full play.

　　Cheng learned art first in his childhood, and later at an art school and the Tianjin Academy of Arts. In his college years, he received training in the skills to depict colors, lights, shadows and space. His works of the time could all be labeled as Socialism Realism. An oil painting he created in 1984, titled "Countless Sands," was given the first prize at the Tianjin University Students' Art Contest, and his "Silent Rain" (1985) also won a prize at the Sixth National Art Contest. His works in the period exhibited remarkable skills in depicting the reality. Apparently, Cheng was not the only one who followed the path of Realism. Art, drama, literature and music in China were all dominated by the Socialist Realism. To understand Cheng's art, one has to know that a whole generation was earmarked with their used-to-be passion for arts from the former Soviet Union. For instance, songs from the neighbouring giant, like the "Night in Moscow's Suburbs," were the favourite of many people in China at one time.

　　While abiding by the mainstream, Cheng demonstrated his strength in thinking at a young age. His oil painting titled "Pigeon Comes Back" depicted a pigeon bringing a letter to a village girl. It was humane and touching. When it was sent for the World University Students' Art Exhibition in Japan, the executive chairwoman of the organizing committee was moved to tears and she sent someone to China to buy the painting. Another work of his, titled "The Spring," (1985) was also bought by a Japanese collector when it traveled to Japan for the International Youth Festival. These successes didn't hinder Cheng from further innovations, and his style changed when he began to read Hegel, Socrates and Floyd in the 1980s. It was in as early as 1983 that his art had the first blossom of fantasies. In his painting “Silver Flowers,” the artist converted the act of wrestling into dream-like flowers. Also in the 1980s, Chinese artists became fascinated at American artist Andrew Wyeth as soon as they got to know his realistic paintings about the countryside. Under his influence, a generation of artists wrote their names onto the contemporary Chinese art history, including Luo Zhongli, He Duoling and Zhang Yimou. Cheng was also amazed at the human touch of Wyeth’s works, but he wanted more: He wanted to have a look at the best works of Western art, but those coarsely printed in China unanimously had the colour of soy sauce.

　　Chinese art scene saw an earthquake in the mid 1980s when the young avant-gardes emerged. At the end of the movement, Cheng traveled to Japan and studied oil paintings there, but he was soon disappointed and made his way to Russia in 1991. In those worldly famous Russian museums, he wandered before works of artists who had been loved by millions of people in China, such as those of Suricov and Repin. Then he traveled further around Europe.

　　In Vienna he met Wolfgang Hutter, one of the co-founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, and became his student. At the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna, where Hutter teaches, Cheng studied oil painting from its beginning. He got to know the tricks of European artists in the last millennium, such as how to produce colors and canvas, and how to make a painting appear thinner. He also came to believe that a good artist should first of all have great skills, abundant knowledge and rich experiences of life before he creates a dream-like world with the essence of the realistic one. Cheng’s
efforts led to his success at the SHEBA, the renowned European art contest, in 1994. His painting “My Baby,” with Hutter as the tutor, was widely applauded at the event, and Cheng became the first Chinese to have his name in a major European art contest.

　　Hutter said: “a master observes what is common in the life, shows it from an angle that hardly anyone else is able to notice, and makes it a fantastic, fresh new world. This is what the word `style’ means.” While learning from the teacher, Cheng soon established his own style. His painting “Horizon” was chosen by the Christie’s for its auction of Chinese art in Hong Kong in 1994.

　　Cheng traveled a lot to find sources of his fantasies. His works of Fantastic Realism, such as “The Sea” and “Spring of Life,” demonstrated his understanding of the history, the nature and the cultures. The toys, the masks, the butterflies and the clouds in his picture have all been endowed with a thought-provoking power. Cheng believes that art is not to confuse its audience, but to inspire them. Walking across the border of dream and reality in his casual way, Cheng is the one professional “dream-maker” of our time.

　　Wan Jie

　　The author is the Board President of the Artron, Inc., which is allegedly the largest and most prestigious art printing company in China.