A Personal Statement
I cannot fully explain why I so enjoy guohua, Chinese painting. On a very basic level, I simply love the feeling, the space, and the subject matter: I love the landscapes. I love the flowers.
Painting and Chinese culture have both had special meaning to me for many years. Perhaps it was inevitable they would merge someday. I studied Western painting when young; I encountered Chinese aesthetics in a wonderful course on Asian poetry (in English) while an undergraduate at Columbia. Chinese interplay between the world of men and the world of nature has many moving aspects, sometimes emphasizing the one, sometimes, the other, but always both. Even in works that seem only to depict trees. In Chinese painting, trees can be men and women, friends, moralists, lovers, who can make emotional and even political statements.
In 1994, on a visit to Hong Kong, my wife and I bought an ink painting by Harold Wong, and it opened a new door for me. A few years later, after teaching in China for several months and meeting some Chinese painters, I realized I wanted to learn Chinese painting. Now, more than thirteen years of study have passed, and I am happy to show my works.
My first teacher was a young lady in the US who had studied at the Art Academy in Shanghai: Zhu Aihua. She kept me focused for several years on the basic calligraphy brushstrokes. On my own, I furthered my studies in Chinese aesthetics. I later took a painting class taught by Jin Guangyu at the China Institute in New York and then took private lessons with him. Last, I studied with the eminent Shandong-based painter Professor Shen Guangwei. It is Professor Shen who showed me the path from being student to being a painter. In 2006, Professor Shen pressed me to work on my own. I was forced to find my own solutions to whatever problems I encountered. “My own solutions” of course were found in the works of the many better Chinese painters that preceded me; I return to my sketches, photos, memories, and books of Chinese paintings as often as to my sketches, photos, and memories of actual trees and landscapes.
The buds and fragrant blossoms of the Chinese plum tree that dominate this show can be harmonious and beautiful, and the plum’s trunk and branches allow for coarse and dissonant lines. Such contrasts give much meaning to the tree, and allow for the play of such Chinese aesthetic elements as wet and dry, line and form, light and dark, color and no-color, object and empty space. Plum blossom – meihua – painting has a long tradition. The plum tree is a symbol of perseverance and even optimism: the plum is the first tree to bloom in spring, often even blooming in late winter. I have several times seen the hardy blossoms open and colorful amidst falling snow – very strange and beautiful.
I study as many Chinese paintings as possible, as often as possible. Much beautiful Chinese art passes through Hong Kong. I stop in to see the Chinese collections of museums in cities I visit. The New York Met Museum’s rotating collection is always inspiring. Other influences have come from Japan (which influenced such Chinese painters as Fu Baoshi and his amazing daughter Fu Yiyao) and also from the most Chinese of Western painters, Rembrandt and van Gogh, with their animated lines and powerful empty spaces. Has anyone else referred to these Dutch as Chinese?
Where next for me? So much more to learn and to do. And perhaps I will return as Chinese in my next life.
Allan Ermann
Autumn 2011, Hong Kong
個人陳述
我也說不清自己為何這麼喜歡國畫。基本上，我就是熱愛當中的情感、空間和題材：我愛山水，我愛花草。
多年來，繪畫和中國文化對我都別具意義，兩者最終相融合也許是早晚的事。我年輕時研究過西洋畫；在哥倫比亞當本科生時修讀過一門有關亞洲詩學（以英語教授）很棒的課程，從而接觸到中國的美學。中國式的人景交融有很多動人之處，時而重此，時而重彼，卻每每皆是彼此互動。就連看似只是描寫樹木的作品，在國畫中也可以是君子伊人、朋友、衛道士、戀人的化身，訴說着情感甚至政治的語句。
於1994年我和妻子在訪港期間買下一幅黃仲方的水墨畫，該幅作品為我開啟了一道新的大門。幾年後，我在中國任教了幾個月，又拜會了幾位中國畫家，我意會到自己想學習國畫。如今，經過十年有三的學習後，我很高興能夠展示自己的作品。
我的首位老師是當年在美國一位曾經就讀於上海美術學院的年輕女士：朱愛華。她使我多年來專注於基本的書法用筆練習，而我也自行進修中國美學。後來我在紐約的華美協進社上了金光瑜先生的繪畫課，然後再請他私人授課。最後我有幸能跟山東大畫家沈光偉教授學畫。沈教授指導我踏上由學徒變成畫家之路。在2006年，沈教授催逼我自己作畫，遇到困難時，我只好硬着頭皮去找自己的答案。而我「自己的答案」當然就在各位國畫前輩的優秀作品中可以找到；我常常翻閱自己關於國畫的草圖、照片、回憶和書籍，也常翻閱自己關於真實草木山水的草圖、照片和回憶。
這次畫展梅蹤處處，梅之花朵朵飄香、和諧優美，梅之幹枝則可展示粗豪蒼勁的線條。如此的對比既為梅樹賦予深意，也能表現出中國美學的元素，例如乾和濕、線和面、光和暗、有色和無色、物件和留白。畫梅是一個悠長的傳統。梅樹是堅強、甚至樂觀的象徵：春來時梅花先於百樹盛開，甚至在嚴冬也開花。我曾數度目睹堅韌的梅花在漫天飄雪中怒放光彩──奇異而美麗。
我盡量經常鑽研更多的國畫作品。很多優美的中國藝術品都經過香港。到訪其他城市時，我便去當地的博物館看看其中國館藏。紐約大都會藝術博物館的巡迴收藏展總是極具啟發。其他的影響還有來自日本（東洋之風也影響了一批中國畫家，如傅抱石和他令人讚歎的千金傅益瑤），也有來自西洋畫家中極具中國風的倫勃朗和梵高的那些充滿動態的線條和力量澎湃的留白。還有何人曾經把這些荷蘭人視作中國人？
從此以後呢？要學的、要做的還有那麼多。也許我來生會做個中國人。
歐安龍
2011年秋於香港