梁铨：以实衬虚，新水墨抽象意义的表达

虚实之道，对中国文人墨客、诗人画家来说，是为艺术表现必需之物。究其根源，为老庄美学思想。老子认为，“道”是原始混吨，在天地之先，而能生万物。当“道”作为天地之始时，它是虚、无；当“道”作为万物之物时，它是实、有。所以，“道”是有无、虚实的统一。这种思想深刻影响了中国知识分子、精英阶层的思维，成为中国古典美学的重要原则，照理论家徐复观先生的观点，“中国艺术精神”之根本实为老庄美学思想。

中国传统文人士大夫画山水时，往往大片留白，以虚衬实。这是一个画传统山水约定俗成的惯例。而活在当代的梁铨对传统水墨的虚实之道有了新的思考。他希望将“空”这样一个禅宗概念放入抽象水墨艺术实验中表现它的本体意义。看到地上长得杂乱满当却无甚意义的小草们，他受到了启发。将千篇一律的细节堆砌起来，使它们在视觉上泛化一体而失去实际意义，因而实现“空”的表现。这是梁铨的艺术所要诉诸的精神内涵，而这种内涵投射在形式上，将要如何表现呢？对于艺术家来说，在艺术里体现本民族的性格是个自觉与否的意识性问题。参与西方后现代主义运动并回归中国艺术语境的梁铨把创作有中国色彩的艺术作为自己的归宿。

梁铨把中国传统书画用品宣纸，裁切为条，叠垒铺加；以茶代墨，平铺点染。一方面，这受到西方现代主义艺术的影响，使艺术家利用材料程度特性，更好地表达抽象艺术的形式。同时，唤醒中国艺术家对传统艺术材料的关注。新时代下，守陈者有之，破旧者亦有之。梁铨对传统材料的切割和替换表现了他一个后现代艺术家的态度。另一方面，通过裁切和点染，他希望能抽离出抽象的形式；叠垒和平铺是对抽象形式的延展，形式的堆砌超越了形象的现实性，展现了艺术家对真实性的思考，通过对传统文人画“以虚衬实”进行逆向思维，而“以实衬虚”，实现了“空”之境界。
LIANG QUAN： ENHANCING EMPTINESS WITH FULLNESS — AN EXPRESSION OF ABSTRACT MEANINGS IN CONTEMPORARY INK ART

For Chinese literati poets and painters， the principle concerning emptiness and fullness is essential to artistic expressions. Such a principle has its root in the Taoist aesthetics proposed by Laozi and Zhuangzi. Laozi regards “Tao” as the original chaos preceding the formation of heaven and earth while generating everything in the world. In other words， when regarded as the dawn of heaven and earth， “Tao” is emptiness and nothingness； but when viewed as the source of everything， "Tao" becomes fullness and existence. Therefore， "Tao" unifies emptiness and nothingness with fullness and existence. Such philosophy has exerted profound influence on the mindset of the intellectuals and the elite class of China and become one of the key principles governing the Chinese classical aesthetics. According to Mr. Xu Fuguan， a well-known theorist， “the Spirit of Chinese Art” essentially originates from the aesthetic ideologies of Laozi and Zhuangzi.
During creation of landscape paintings， traditional Chinese intellectuals and scholar-officials tend to follow the convention of reserving large empty spaces in order to enhance the fullness. Regarding the traditional principle in ink painting that emphasizes complementarities between emptiness and fullness， Liang Quan clearly has his new understanding. He wants to deliver the ontological meanings of the Zenist concept “Emptiness” by incorporating it into his experimentation with abstract ink art. It was the chaos and meaninglessness of grass that inspired the painter to pile up identical details， thus visually conforming them into an entity stripped of substantive meanings. Such is the way Liang Quan performs "Emptiness" in his works. It is the spiritual essence of Liang Quan 's art. But how exactly can the artist project such spiritual essence in artistic forms? Artists vary in their level of self-consciousness when it comes to embodiment of national character in their works of art. To Liang Quan， a participant in Western post-modernist movements who has returned to the Chinese context of art， creating art works of Chinese characteristics has always been the ultimate goal.
Liang Xuan cuts rice paper， the traditional carrier of Chinese painting， into strips before pasting them together and stacking them up on linen. Besides， Liang Quan replaces ink with tea for tiling and touching up. His creative endeavor is partly inspired by Western modernist art， resulting in better forms for artistic abstraction by exploiting special properties of the materials. Liang Quan’s efforts have awakened other Chinese artists’ interest in exploring their traditional materials. In this new era with both conformists to convention and rebels against tradition， Liang Quan demonstrates his stance as a post-modernist artist by cutting and replacement of traditional materials. Meanwhile， through cutting of paper and touching up for details， he expects to distill modeling of abstraction. To him， stacking up and tiling is the extension of abstract forms while piling up of the forms transcends the reality of images， revealing the artist’s thinking on authenticity. Through reversed thinking on traditional Chinese principle of literati painting that emphasizes “enhancing fullness with emptiness”， Liang Quan creates in his works the ideal state of emptiness and nothingness by “enhancing emptiness with fullness”.