There have always been three types of artists: one is thinking more than practice, the other is practice more than thinking, and the third is the coexistence of practice and thinking. These three types of artists all have their own artistic pursuits and their own emphasis on creation, but they do not leave the two aspects of thinking and practice. Only in the 1970s, with the rise of "conceptual art", idealism appeared in some people's minds. It seems that as long as a person has new ideas or new ideas, new artistic forms and styles will naturally appear, and as for the "tangible" things like handicraft skills, they will become insignificant. This school, which advocates the supremacy of ideas, once had a great influence in the western art world, spread to China, and was once popular with some young people in the middle and late 1980s. He, who was still studying for a master's degree in oil painting at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts at that time, had his own views on this issue. He published an ambitious article "Language and Concept of Painting" in the magazine of Fine Arts, where I was then editor-in-chief, and expressed his views on how to transform ideas into painting, the influence of motif on painting and the way of painting in turn affecting the expression of ideas. It is worth noting that these views are not entirely academic arguments, but in many ways, as he himself said in his article, they are "after years of painting practice." The basic points of these viewpoints are: painting language has a strong independence in the process of artistic creation, and any concept has a specific expression language. The painter's duty is to express his ideas by painting.

It has been nearly twenty years since that paper was published. He Chengjian's life and artistic course have undergone many changes. He has been engaged in artistic creation in the United States, and has conducted investigations and studies on the history of western art and contemporary American art. He also pays close attention to domestic artistic thoughts and trends. Of course, he worked and experimented diligently on the canvas to explore and perfect his painting language. The development of contemporary art at home and abroad fully shows that trying to replace painting with ideas is only a popular fashion and cannot last long. Paintings created by people's brains, hearts and hands have eternal value. This consolidated his position and enhanced his confidence. Over the years, he has been advancing in this direction and achieved gratifying results.

As early as 1987, He Jian's achievements clearly show that he is an artist who pays equal attention to practice and thinking. He is not satisfied with simply showing his skills in painting, but expects to appeal to some ideas and concepts; He explored the integration of these concepts into the language of painting, rather than showing them naked. From then on, he began to choose natural stones as elements of painting. His idea is to take concrete objects as the motif, not divorced from the traditional painting expression method, but to minimize and avoid the listing of objective objects, and strive to express them with the aesthetic principle of "less wins more" in traditional Chinese painting. How to express the meaning of life in a static and lifeless stone is a subject that He has been exploring. He Chengjian's outlook on life is pessimistic. He said: "Everything in the universe exists forever, except creatures ... creatures are so addicted to fantasy and self-righteousness. This is the sorrow of biology, and it seems destined to be sad. " Let's not discuss the value and significance of any point of view for the time being. As far as his artistic creations are concerned, they are of cultural and philosophical significance, rather than just providing people with visual pleasure, which is very valuable. As can be seen from his masterpiece "Dry Elephant Series", he shows that stones are a part of life through different combinations, colors and environments, trying to reveal the mystery of the vast universe. Just because He Chengjian doesn't want to tell the audience what he wants to express in these works doesn't mean that they have no content and meaning. He said, "every stone, like every soul, seems to be telling something." He let the concrete form on the screen speak for itself, communicate with the audience and let the audience play their imagination. These concrete forms are the combination of points, lines, surfaces and colors, and the specific realm they form, except for a few objective images-stones. He Chengjian is very particular about the use of color tones, but he does not deliberately pursue them. The following passage may reflect his point of view: "Everything that breeds has always been logical, and some have died freely without rules." They have gathered and dispersed, and they can't see. The birth of artistic symbols should be natural,

He Chengjian's works

There is no need to ask for work deliberately. "(He Chengjian readme). Therefore, some of the colors and tones on his pictures are simple and some are rich, but they are clear, definite and uncomplicated, and there are quite random elements under the principle of grasping the whole.

He Chengjian said: "There is no time in space, only change, and so is painting." The random combination of rational thinking and creative process seems to be a major feature of He's artistic creation. The arbitrariness in his creative process is subject to rational principles and personal feelings, and he carefully and skillfully balances, adjusts and exerts his imagination. He knows that if rational thinking in art is not inserted with the wings of fantasy, the work will look pale and powerless because of its lack of appeal. At this point, He Chengjian's idea coincides with the western surrealism theory. Undoubtedly, his creation has been influenced by surrealist artists, especially Magritte, but his painting style is unique, which not only has his own personality in subject matter and painting language, but also has oriental characteristics because of absorbing the expression techniques of China traditional painting.

What needs to be pointed out is that today, when the wave of commercialization violently impacts the painting world, why is a sinking mood and pious attitude obsessed with artistic exploration? He is not concerned about the quantity of works, but the artistic quality of works. His paintings have always maintained a fresh, simple and clear style, which does not cater to the taste of market customs and is commendable.