十多年来，我一直注意林天行君的艺术创作。在中国大陆和海外展览会上，经常可以看到他的作品，他还举行过许多次的个人作品展，我曾到他香港的工作室看过他的画。他的为人和他的作品给我的印象是，他身上具有两种互相对立又非常可贵的品格：感情沉稳而又激越。他言语不多，做事扎实，一步一个脚印，行为相当稳健。但当他该迈出大步的时候，却果断、坚定，毫不含糊。他的画呢，创作态度严肃认真，工作程序一丝不苟，但不拘常规，充满激情。大概是因为他具有这两种品质吧，他的艺术一直显示出独特的个性面貌：反叛传统的样式和承继传统的精神。

　　天行在1998年为自己的画集《景象·香港》写的题为“景象种种”的文章中，有过这样一段话：“在这多元文化的时代，任何事物都已失去它原有的意义与纯度，一切尽在混合中成长。固守山水文化载体，以传统规范的准则，来统杀不够传统的武器，无疑是对传统的误解，从而导致沦落成文物的险境。”这段话鲜明地表达了天行的艺术立场，他尊重传统、学习传统技巧，但面对新的现实和新的表现对象，有抒发自己内心感受的强烈愿望时，便不能墨守成规，抱着传统的观念和技法不变，而要探求新观念、新技法，以适应时代需要，以满足人们新的审美享受。诚如他所说：“作为有意改革的勇士，不得不铤而走险去寻觅未曾被发现或随处充塞的不可知的神秘现象与力量，藉以唤醒长眠心中的直觉与艺术情怀。抛掉所有概念，将感觉的魅惑与象徵的效果形象化，以趋得到精神的真实。”(同上)天行之所以发出这些言论，一是因为这是他从实践中获得的经验和体会;二是有感於中国画界某些抱残守缺的舆论，以文人画的传统笔墨作为衡量一切中国画的标尺。而当今中国画画坛的许多艺术家，包括天行在内，恰恰是文人画笔墨传统的“叛逆者”。他们认为，水墨画要表达包括现代都市景象在内的现实生活，光靠传统笔墨是不够的，应该而且可以采用一些新的媒材、技法和手段。从这个理念出发，天行的创作似乎是义无反顾地一直走来，当然他会根据他发现和挖掘出来的种种平凡景象变化自己的艺术手段和技巧。

　　天行少年时代先後拜吴国光、林光、陈挺、刘牧等学习西洋画和中国画。1990年，他毕业於中央美术学院中国画系。他有中西两种不同的绘画基础，在比较中他也清晰地认识它们各自的优长和不足，而且他有开阔的视野，对西方现代艺术也很关注。根据他的学习心得和认识，他以为古今中外艺术都是融通的，衹要能表现对客观世界的感受，艺术家有广泛选择技巧和手段的自由。我们会发现，毕业於中国画系的天行出版了许许多多画册，几乎没有一本标以“中国画”的名称，因为这些画越出了传统文人画的笔墨底线，但细看他的作品却又发现，他的画和传统中国画有一脉相承的血缘联繫。他从文人画之前的传统壁画中吸收了不少营养，尤其在自由取景和色彩方面;他也接受了文人画用线和自由书写的不少技法;他从西画块面造型和画面构成中得到许多启发，大胆地把西画的一些抽象手法拿来为我所用。这些知识、技法和手法，在天行手中有时是十八般武艺，各有其用处，在更多的情况下，是他特有的综合“武器”，用以形成自己艺术特有的面貌。而统率这些武艺或武器的，是他执著於艺术的精神和真诚的内心感情，而这正是传统中国画的精神所在。

　　俗语说：艺高人胆大，胆大人艺高。天行因为有高超的艺术技巧，他探索的胆量越来越大;因为他有过人的胆识，他的艺术作品也越来越精妙。从他的三大系列作品“景象香港”、“西藏”和“荷花”中可以看到，他的艺术语言探索越来越深入，技巧、手法越来越放鬆，个性面貌越来鲜明，他自觉不自觉地在强化作品的文化含量。这固然与年龄和生活阅历增长有关，也得益於他开放的心态和好学的精神。他从不满足在艺术上取得的成绩，他把人们对他艺术创作的赞赏视作继续前进的力量。他不辞辛劳、不顾病痛甚至冒着生命危险多次去西藏写生。读他在西藏的一幅幅速写和他完成的“写生长卷”，再读他许多在写生基础上完成的一幅幅彩色独幅画，可以看出天行的天赋、想象力和创造力，更可看出他用汗水、用艰巨的劳动拼搏的精神。天行一直重视写生，他采用两种写生法：写印象、感觉与写真实场景。按王国维的说法，前者主要创造“有我之境”，即“以我观物”，後者创造“无我之境”，即“以物观我”。而他在写生基础之上的构思，更多的是“有我之境”，即“以我观物”的创造。这在他的“荷花”系列中表现得尤为明显。他笔下的荷花寄寓了他童年对荷的记忆，少时对故乡“莲花峰”的崇敬与憧憬，今日回乡面对昔日荷塘消失的感叹，在云南与台湾途中观荷的美好印象，在香港新界赏白莲的心境……他在画荷，更在画自己的人生感受，在抒发积压在心头複杂的感情，表达他对人生中最宝贵的真情与爱的赞美。我们在他的富有抒情诗意的“荷花”系列中，也看到了天行在更多地思考人生、思考自然、思考人世中最珍贵的真情与爱。而这真情与爱，正是艺术创造的源头和目的，也是天行不懈追求的目标。

　　Expression of Love and Affection——Lam Tianxing’s Art of Painting

　　I have been watching Lam’s art for more than a decade. His works have appeared in many exhibitions in China and overseas, some of them solo exhibitions. I have been to his studio in Hong Kong too, like his personality, his works display a strong contrast of passion and rationale. Lam is not talkative. He is down-to-earth and steady, yet willing to take risks when circumstances arise. He is a serious artist. His works are well planned yet unconventional, always expressive. His dual personalities give his art a unique character---innovative while greatly respectful of tradition.

　　In his 1998 publication Vision---Hong Kong, Lam said in his article Visions, “We are living in a multi-cultural era. Everything has lost its original meaning and grows in fusions. It is a mistake to defend tradition at the expense of new ideas, which will only produce relics.” Lam has made himself very clear that he respects the tradition on which he builds up his skill, but when he comes across new subject matter, his desire to express the reality will push him to surpass convention in search of new expressions and skills. There is a need to explore aesthetic experiences that will suit our era. Lam once said, “Like revolutionists, we must be able to take risks in search of mystic phenomenon and power in order to wake our intuition and artistic inner self. We must abandon all concepts, formalizing our feelings and figurative ideas, in order to achieve the reality of spirituality.” Lam’s statement shows two things. First, it is from his experience and continuous practice that he has come to such realization. Second, he is disappointed with the academicism of the Chinese art world that judges all artwork with the formalism of the southern painting school. Lam is not the only radical. Lam and many of his fellow artists believe that traditional techniques in Chinese brush painting are not enough to convey the metropolitan vision and life of our era. New media, techniques and visual languages are all necessary for that. Lam doggedly explores artistic possibilities to represent phenomena of our daily life.

　　Lam began to study Chinese and western paintings in his early years. He has come under the guidance of masters such as Wu Gouguang, Lin Guang, Chen Ting and Liu Mu. He then graduated from Chinese Painting Department of Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. He was trained extensively in both Chinese and western traditions and has become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. Lam keeps a constant watch on western art world and has a wide perspective. With his knowledge and experience he believes that the Chinese and western art share many common languages and techniques, which artists may adopt freely to represent their feelings of the objective world.

　　Lam has published many art albums, none of which are under the genre of “Chinese Painting”. He has abandoned the convention of the southern painting school, but one can easily see the influence of traditional Chinese art, for example, in his use of the multi-point perspective and the colors of ancient mural painting as well as the linear and calligraphic qualities of the South Painting School. On the other hand, Lam has also adopted the western way of constructing a composition with shapes and abstract visual elements. Such fusion of knowledge, techniques and skills gives Lam’s art a unique character. He has become such a master of this style that he can freely express himself in any subject matter. His achievement is the result of his love and passion for art. He has realized the true spirit of traditional Chinese brush painting.

　　It is said, “Professionals aim high”. Lam is one of those professionals. His pursuit of knowledge and skills helps him create artwork of surpassing qualities. Lam has created three series of artworks, the first called “Vision---Hong Kong”, followed by “Tibet” and “Lotus”. Each one of them shows a better grasp of visual languages and techniques. As the artist’s experience grows with his age, his artwork shows a stronger personalities and deeper cultural reference. Lam is open-minded and willing to learn. He is never satisfied with his achievement or the applause he has received. He has even taken many harsh and dangerous journeys to Tibet to do location sketches. He has made a long scroll and many color studies, all displaying the artist’s talent, imagination and creativity, a result of his hard work and strong mind. Lam puts much emphasis in sketching with which he records both his feeling and the scene. According to Wang Guowei, the former is subjective but the latter is objective. Many of Lam’s sketches are subjective. In his “Lotus” series, many paintings represent the childhood memory of his favourite flower, the admiration of Mt. Lotus in his homeland, his nostalgic feeling on a demolished lotus pond, his happy trips to watch the lotus in Taiwan and Yunnan, the white lotus in the New Territories in Hong Kong... His paintings represent the feelings of his life, his emotions, his praises to love and passion. His “Lotus” series is poetic and philosophical. It displays his thoughts on nature, and most precious of all his love and passion towards life. Love and passion is the motivation and goal of all artistic creativity---the goal of Lam’s persistent pursuit.