画家万晓笳快递来这本画册的样书，嘱我写篇前言，此事让我有几分犹豫。翻阅样书和收录在书内的文字，

　　画家的艺术取向已了然在她独有的语言之中，外人说三道四，徒添杂音，非明智也，此犹豫一。眼下有种风气，画册前言或评论文章，理应由院校名嘴名笔为之，这样方有助于画册的“权威性”和画作的出路;平庸 如我，竟敢班门弄斧，此犹豫二。万晓笳本人，年轻而富个性，家学深厚，画作自成一格，我充其量也只是 “白发童子”，学则其乐融融，“成”则何敢奢望，遑论舞文弄墨，此犹豫三。犹豫再三，最后还是默默接 下任务。这当中不仅有“忘年之交”的情谊，也有艺术爱好者对画家的爱护、钦慕之情，如画家所说的， “怎一个‘情’字了得!”

　　所以，我特别欣赏万晓笳以下的表述： “我的画是求表达一种感情⋯⋯”

　　“⋯⋯在创作中发扬白己的真实情感⋯⋯”

　　“创作，是我一生的事⋯⋯是有感而发⋯⋯”

　　“自己没有强烈的感情，如何让看的人被你的作品引起强烈的感情?”

　　一幅画，若缺乏真挚的感情，就不成其为艺术，因为有感情才有生命，有真挚的感情才有生命的阳光，才能产生热情，引起共鸣。艺术如此，人又何尝不是如此。若不是有一份真挚的感情，写前言这事，随便一推，还不容易吗!其实，让我不顾肤浅，滥文充数，不仅仅是感情使然。画家对“境界”或意境的认识和把握， 也引起我极大的兴趣。一幅画，仅有感情，而欠缺“境界”或意境，层次必低。且听她是怎么说的：

　　“心灵境界的高低，决定着艺术之境的标准。”

　　“自己心中的境界倘若不美，人家看了你的作品，怎么会觉得美?”

　　“‘境由心生’，有何心便有何境。”

　　“文字与画作，其背后的故事，全靠心灵世界来支撑。”

　　感情有虚伪和真挚之分，境界也有高低之别。境界的高低，离不开画家的思想和探索精神。关于这一点，万晓笳的认知是清晰的：

　　“我从不停止思考，我就是一株会思想的芦苇。”

　　“思考和心灵的探索才是我创作的隐性主线。”

　　“我在创作中追求纯净的美，这种美可以离现实的尘埃很远很远，却离心灵很近很近。”

　　当下画家，倾向于单纯追求绘画技术，要么画得太实，要么太虚，而最令人失望的是：感情麻木、心灵空 虚、思想贫乏。

　　反观万晓笳，在画作中巧妙地融入感情、境界、思想之余，还十分凸显重视个性和独特性： “人的心灵世界才是最个性化、最独特的。”

　　“画画纯属我的个人行为⋯⋯对我而言，这是艺术的本质——独特、本真、特立独行、纯粹。”

　　可贵的是，她对艺术怀有一种神圣感，视之为“心灵吟唱漫舞，是我生命的仪式”。正因为如此，她对真正 的艺术家，其实也是对她自己，提出很高的要求：执著、坚韧、勇敢、创新、学养、品质等等。

　　所有这一切，是为了打通和超越知识、规则的藩篱，步入创作自由的天地，最终“形成一个完全属于我个人的视觉美术风格”。她以“女性”为题材，潜心创作。对她而言，“女性题材更好表达，因为我也是女性，我更能感同身受”;她要“在画中创造一些人物，以此诱发去想像人物背后的故事，营造想像中的某种环境和气氛”。在呕心沥血的全过程，既有灵感的眷顾，也有她对古今中外画风的借鉴、学习和汲取。我有幸先睹画家近几年所作的努力，并期盼画家交出的这份成绩单，能在画坛引起关注和思考。

　　谢声远

　　Preface

　　I must admit to a degree of trepidation when Wan Xiaojia couriered a draft of this art book to me and asked me to write the forward. As I perused her writings, it dawned on me very quickly that here was an artist who could very concisely describe her art and artistic vision, and injudicious theorizing on my part would only obfuscate her message. Any critical essay on an artist should be penned by a credible and academically recognized name and I can make no claim as an academic expert. Wan Xiaojia, although still a young artist, is a scholar in her own right. I am at best a student, and I would not deign to overreach and claim to be erudite with the pen. Despite my concerns, I have accepted this assignment, both for the respect and admiration I bear for the artist as well as for that rare friendship that spans the generation gap.

　　Passion. What an exceptional word. It has such a multitude of implied meanings – of complex feelings, reaction, sentiments. The word itself is agnostic; passion can be positive or negative, but it implies a sense of motion, unrest. In her own words, her art represents passion. The act of creation is an expression of her inner feelings. ‘If one does not have strong passions, how do you expect to evoke strong reactions from someone who views your work?’

　　A painting, if it lacks a sincerity of feelings, cannot accurately be called art. Art only has life if it is infused with the inner sun that is the passion of the artist. Writing this foreward, it would have been incredibly simple to have passed off a few nondescript words. That would have come across very quickly to the reader as superficial and it would be an injustice to an artist who treats each of her creations as birthed from her inner soul.

　　If passion is the raw energy that animates a piece of art, then perspective must be the lens that focuses our attention. A painting created with passion but without perspective is so much unconceptualized and dissipated energy. Wan Xiaojia best described it herself – ‘perspective is borne of the heart’. One’s perspective – high or low – determines the boundaries of the human spirit. Literature and art is born of the human spirit; if the mind’s soul is not beautiful, how can anyone who looks at the work of art consider it beautiful?

　　The act of thinking and the search to understand spirituality are threads that woven, form the act of creation. Wan Xiaojia pursues an almost Platonic ideal of beauty that can only be felt with the inner soul’s eye, never truly realizable in the physical but somehow familiar to us, like a distant dream, vaguely remembered. It is a type of beauty that is far, far different from dusty reality, but is conversely very near to what the inner eye sees.

　　As an artist, it is important not to be caught up in a purely technical pursuit of perfection. Wan Xiaojia with her adroit tapestry of feelings, perspectives and thoughts displays a character and individual flair that neatly sidesteps this hazard. She is an artist capable of translating the unique inner spiritual world onto a physical medium. That marks her as an artist worthy of our attention.

　　Seah shin wong