初识钟鼐是因为他的作品《精灵》，至今我还清晰记得当时所受到的触动。虽未曾谋面，但通过他的作品，我能看出这位画家在追求画面的形式和技法外，更着力通过画面来阐述自身的主观精神和审美追求。他的大部分作品都是将生命和自然视为最高境界，展现出了一种人性中美的情怀。

　　钟鼐的绘画，无论是他早期的《春》系列还是他当下创作的《心·境》系列，从作品中我都能强烈感受到一种情感的释放。钟鼐对主观情感和自我感受的表达胜过对技法的强调，在他《心·境》系列的部分作品中，我们甚至能清晰的看到画面中所呈现的一种艺术家身体运动的粗犷痕迹。算来与钟鼐结识也已近三年，随着更多的交流，对他作品也有了不断了解与研究，但此刻，解读钟鼐的作品对我来说却成了件不轻松的事，他的作品无论是个性风格还是绘画语言可阐释的地方太多，反而很难做一个较为系统的梳理。这里暂从钟鼐绘画作品的笔触、线条、色彩及表现形象等画面元素开始吧，或许可能对钟鼐绘画做出一个相对合理的阐释。

　　笔触狭义上是指画笔、颜料和调和媒介在画面中留下的肌理。广义的笔触是指作画者通过对物象的观察，形成自己对物象的理解，并将形象概括出来，用有着抽象语言的形式表达出来。这种表达不仅仅是画笔在画面上留下的印记，也涵盖有刮刀与基底，画面中留下来的这些印记有的厚重、有的轻薄、有的顺畅、有的停滞，都是画家在作画时将情感转换成绘画语言表现出来的痕迹，这些痕迹、语言都依附于画家，是画家主观情感的外化形式。钟鼐的作品，我们能感受到他笔触所蕴含的韵律美，他的笔触在画面中所呈现的长与短、大与小、直与曲、虚与实、厚与薄、快与慢等都能给人以节奏感。钟鼐的用笔就像是那些在音乐中跳跃着的音符，将内心的自由、情感转变在用笔中展现出来，形成视觉与听觉的交响乐。在钟鼐的一幅作品《盛装》中，他将笔触的发挥运用到了极致，作品中不间断跳跃的短色块与条形色块，涂鸦式的笔触和漩涡形的笔法，使画面中每一个物体都有着自己的韵律。从他的作品中，可以看出钟鼐对这种内心的艺术情感的表达并不是一种任意的倾泻与一发不可收拾，他在情感与表现之间寻找相互间的衔接。钟鼐笔下这种富有动感、生命、力量的笔触将画家的创作情感展现的一览无余，是画家发自内心的旋律，传达出对生命的深层体验和感悟。

　　钟鼐虽久居欧洲，但骨子里依旧是一个地地道道的中国北方汉子，从他的作品中我们可以感受到中国绘画对他的艺术创作的深刻影响，他作品中从语言表现到情感传达都有相当丰富的线的参与。线条在中国画中有独特的形式规则，通过线条的运用来确立画家独特风格的造型因素，画家通过对线条的简练与概括来传达一种绘画的意境和人生的观点。我们可以在钟鼐的一幅命名为《心·境三十三》的作品中明显感受到这点，画面中那些看似杂乱无章的线条实则为画家潜意识下，一种内心世界的宣泄，流淌，看似错落的线条却能让人感受到画家在一种强烈的创作和表现冲动下的情感律动，极具节奏感的画面趋向于一种线形解构的意味。在他的整个《心·境》系列作品中，线条成了他情感的抒发与精神层面的表达的一种可视化痕迹，书法化的用笔使得线条成为了有韵律，有节奏的运动轨迹，传达出了画家心灵的情绪与潜在情感，在我看来，这种毫不做作的情感抒发才是最宝贵的东西。钟鼐在长时间的探索与实验中，形成了自己独特的线语言，将情感融入进去成为自己绘画的表达方法，通过这种独特的线条运用来影响观者的情绪与思想。作为一个青年画家，钟鼐能做到这种程度，在我看来，的确天赋异禀。

　　瑞士著名理论家、包豪斯的大师约翰·伊顿关于色彩说过这样的话：“在现代绘画中，色彩有着三种不同的发展方向，一种是结构的、一种是印象的，最后一种是表现的。”钟鼐擅长主观性地运用色彩，他的色彩与自然保持了一定的距离，在自然色彩的基础上，寻找视觉上色彩的无限性。无论是他的《春》作品系列还是《心·境》作品系列，我们都能明显的看出钟鼐喜欢用强烈的带有主观情感的色彩来构建画面。在他那里，色彩是精神的一种创造，而不是物体本身颜色的再现。大诗人歌德曾将色彩分为两类，一种是主动的色彩另一种是被动的色彩。钟鼐画中的色彩单纯、强烈、概括，不依附自然物色，他通过色彩在画面中的排列、重叠形成有秩序的、极具动感和节奏感的色彩。在他的画面中常用到黄色、蓝色、白色等鲜艳色彩，来渲染一种天真烂漫的气息，发挥色彩的表现性，使色彩依附于绘画情感。

　　无论东方或西方，绘画作品中的形象是艺术家审美素养的体现，同时也反映了画家的价值观念和艺术情操。绘画中的形象是艺术家内心世界的写照和精神世界的反映，画面中的形象也可以被理解为艺术家的“形象”，是艺术家在绘画的追求中所反映出的映像。最后，我想重点提及一下的就是钟鼐作品中的艺术形象，我想那些形象可以用一个词简单概括，就是“大巧不工”，这比较符合中国传统文化中的“拙”精神。大巧若拙强调的是稚拙的美，无心机不做作的美，自然的真情实感的美。从哲学角度看，钟鼐绘画的主题具有对生命情感的回归或是对净土的探寻与畅想，在他表现的画面中，人物形象被写意化、符号化。主要体现为人物形象的夸张变形，人物姿势的抽象提炼。钟鼐这种对形象的夸张展现也反映在钟鼐的《心·境》系列中，花朵、枝叶的造型明显带有非理性夸张以及神秘主义的一些特征，在无限重复的强烈的符号性画面中，让观者感受到钟鼐笔下的颜料是剧烈搅动的，浓抹厚涂的，激烈爆发的。画面中的造型是建立在钟鼐对自然物象的理解之上，变形、扭曲或从自然中抽取了某些典型元素而呈现出的独特形象。这些形象较远的拉开了与现实的距离，使作品流露出了超于自然物象之外的意象境界。

　　钟鼐作为一位中青年艺术家，我们能感觉到他试图寻找一条在油画中呈现东方意境的途径，我们能看到他所作的种种努力及获得的成绩，但他面对的，依然是一条异常艰辛的探索之路。

Dynamic Melody

By Han Yi

　　My encounter with Zhong Nai began with his work "Fairy", which I came across without knowing its painter beforehand. It impressed and touched me so much that today I still clearly remember its impact. Through his painting, I could sense his idealistic spirit and aesthetic pursuit paired with the form and techniques represented therein. As most of his works are ultimately about life and nature, he presents a special kind of aesthetics that are humanistic.

　　From Zhong Nai's paintings, I can strongly feel a sort of emotional release, whether it is his early "Spring" series or his current "Soul & Conception" series. He gives greater priority to the expression of his idealistic and personal feelings than techniques. In his "Soul & Conception" series, I can even clearly see a free and rough trace of the artist's body moving in the piece. Three years upon being introduced, I have formed a better understanding of his works through greater exchanges and research. At this point, however, I still find it a challenge to interpret his works. A systemic interpretation is difficult to say the least, for, in terms of personal style or painting language, there are way too many aspects within his paintings that can be interpreted. Thus, I would like to begin with painting elements, such as brush strokes, lines, color, and representational forms, which may hopefully lead to a relatively reasonable interpretation of his paintings.

　　Narrowly speaking, brush strokes refer to the texture formed by a paint brush, paint, and media in a painting. Broadly speaking, they are an expression in an abstract language of an image, which are captured by a painter through his understanding of an observed object. This kind of expression not only is seen in the marks left by the brush on the painting, but also involves a spatula and base. Thus, some of the marks left are thick and heavy while others are light and thin. Some are smooth while others are stagnant. This represents the traces a painter leaves behind as he tries to translate his feelings into a painting language during the process of painting. These traces and accompanying language are part of such painter and an extension of his own feelings. In the case of Zhong Nai's works, a rhythmic beauty is hidden in the brush strokes, which are rhythmic innately through representational forms that are long and short, big and small, straight and bent, unreal and real, thick and thin, and slow and fast. Like dynamic musical notes, his brush strokes unleash a spiritual freedom and sentimental transformation, composing a symphony that is harmonious visually and acoustically. His "Costumes" sees him making the best use of brush strokes, where the dynamic continuation of short color blocks and strip-shaped color blocks with graffiti-like brush strokes and vortex-shaped painting techniques makes every object in the painting alive with its own melody and rhythm. As revealed in his works, his expression of inner artistic sentiments is not outpouring or unstoppable. Instead, he looks for a connection between sentiments and their representations. His dynamic, vigorous, and powerful brush strokes fully show his creative passion, bringing forth the melody of his heart while expressing in-depth experiences and revelations of life.

　　In spite of his long stay in Europe, Zhong Nai remains pure Northern Chinese in his heart. In his works, the influence of Chinese painting tradition on his artistic pursuit is conveyed. A multitude of lines are used in his paintings' language expression and communication of feelings. Traditionally, the lines in Chinese paintings possess unique forms and rules. Using lines to establish unique structural elements, a painter can convey his artistic conception and outlook on life through simplification and generalization. This is evident in Zhong Nai's " Soul & Conception No.33". The seemingly messed-up lines in his painting are actually a subconscious and free expression of his inner world of feelings, and the seemingly disorderly lines make one feel the sentimental rhythm caused by his strong creative and expressional impulse. In addition, the highly rhythmic painting tends to suggest some kind of linear deconstruction. In his "Soul & Conception" series, lines become a means to visualize his traces of emotional and spiritual expressions. Moreover, due to his calligraphy-styled brush strokes, the lines form a trajectory of movement that is melodious and rhythmic while expressing his spirit and inner world of feelings. His free expression of feelings in this way is, in my opinion, the most valuable. On his long journey of exploration and experimentation, he has developed his own line language and incorporated his feelings into it to create his own expressionist painting style. Meanwhile, he uses these unique lines to influence the audience's feelings and ways of thinking. With this ability as a young painter, Zhong Nai is indeed a great talent.

　　According to the Swiss theorist Johannes Itten, in modern painting, color develops in three directions: structuralism, impressionism, and expressionism. Zhong Nai is a master in using color subjectively. His color keeps a certain distance from nature, and on the basis of natural color, seeks the visual infinity of color. Whether in his "Spring" series or "Soul & Conception" series, Zhong Nai obviously prefers to construct a painting with a strong and subjective color. For him, color is no longer a representation of the color of the object itself, but a kind of spiritual creation. Goethe classified color into two categories: active color and passive color. The color in his paintings is simple and pure as well as vivid and general. Moreover, it does not depend on natural color. By arranging and overlapping colors in his paintings, he forms color patterns that are orderly, dynamic, and rhythmic. In addition, he often uses bright colors, such as yellow, blue, and white to create an atmosphere of naivety in his paintings. This brings into play the expressionism of color while subjecting such color to emotional expression.

　　Whether in the East or the West, the image in a painting is an embodiment of an artist's aesthetics, mirroring his values and artistic sentiments. It is a representation of his inner world and spiritual world, which can be understood as his own image as an artist in pursuit of the art of painting. Therefore, when it comes to Zhong Nai's artistic images in his paintings, they can be summed up in one phrase, "ingenious though seemingly ungainly", which befits the "clumsy" spirit of Chinese tradition and culture. This emphasizes the beauty of naivety and clumsiness, innocence, naturalness, and truthfulness. The themes of his paintings are also philosophical, describing the value of life and sentiments as well as the exploration and fantasy of paradise. In his paintings, the images of people are rendered in freehand brushwork and symbols mainly by way of exaggeration and deformation. This rendering is also seen in his "Soul & Conception" series. Here, the construction of flowers, branches, and leaves evidently feature some form of irrationalism, exaggeration, and mysticism. In the paintings, with infinitely repetitive and strong symbols, the audience can feel Zhong Nai's color violently stirring, thickly applied, and intensely eruptive. Based on his understanding of natural objects, the constructions in his paintings are unique images represented through deformation, distortion, and abstraction of some typical elements from nature. These images, further detached from reality, give his paintings the conception of being supernatural.

　　As a young/middle-aged artist, Zhong Nai earnestly seeks an approach for representing an oriental artistic conception in his oil paintings. Despite his many efforts and resulting achievements, a difficult journey still awaits him.