中国文化百代传承，兴衰跌宕;迄于近世，文化之变、绘画之殇愈加令人扼腕喟叹!其文也，彬有余而质不足，进而兴起新思潮，文人志士几欲革中国文化之命，以期再生新文化。百余年来这股反思浪潮绵绵不绝。何以故?这是全球文化交融使之然;若无崭新文化的精神与面貌，断不可言新艺术之国度。

　　Throughout its history of inheritance, Chinese culture has evolved through rise and falls; yet its changes in recent decades have led to a heart-wrenching decline in the art of painting. Refined as it was, the rising manifestation of Chinese culture fell short in quality, and it propelled ambitious intellectuals to the mission of revolutionizing Chinese culture. The momentum has never ceased over the past 100 years. Why? The answer lies in the globalization of culture: a country cannot embark on a new artistic world if its cultural facets are not revamped.

　　李纲者，在广州实践水墨创作达三十余年，视水墨之变为生平快事，求水墨之新为艺术胜境。他在珠江边设一画斋，通透窗棂一览珠江无余;案条净几，书卷茶香，展纸研墨，别一番悠古神往之情拳拳心跃。李纲在此沉浸于水墨天地多年，以执着求纯粹的感觉，以深思做水墨的复活。李纲看水墨，不在于笔墨的记事，而在于水墨的实质;他与水墨，并非仅以笔来落墨于纸，而是将墨的形质化入无处不在之中，他可以顺手取茶杯为器，以其杯底蘸墨飞行于纸上，也可用铁盒为具，以其构型来组合反复的形迹，让纸面的摩擦激荡着墨的韵味，让简化的非人工构型宣泄墨的灵动。墨，并非黑色颜料的物理存在，它包孕着一种东方神秘主义，它单纯而深邃，它静穆而丰富，远则宇宙浩渺，近则人生智慧;它练达而不失雅致，它需要身体与心灵的体悟，但不失理性的艺术思考。李纲，因此而获得水墨的亲近，因此让水墨化为心灵的圣坛。

　　Based in Guangzhou, Li Gang has been practicing ink painting for more than 30 years. Ink painting is the joy of his life and it is his mission to elevate it to a higher artistic realm. His studio is situated beside the Pearl Rive where he sees the infinite river through his window. His room is neat with rice paper and ground ink on a table in company with books and tea, an echo on the atmosphere in our classical culture. Li Gang has been immersed in this world of ink for years in pursuit of purity, an the answer to how to revitalize ink painting as an art form. In his mind, ink painting is valued for its essence rather than its narrative quality. The artist does not only paint with his brush but let the spirit of ink permeate the entire universe. He may dip a cup in ink and let it fly across the paper; or he may use a metallic box to create inter-lapping structures and shapes. The scent of ink seeps and rocks the quiet rice paper, in a simple and totally natural expression of its soul. Ink is no longer simply a physical entity as a black paint; rather, it embodies an oriental mysticism. It is deep in its purity and rich in its silence; it touches on wisdom of our lives to the infinity of the universe. A fusion of simplicity and elegance, it calls for physical and spiritual understanding as well as rational thinking on art. Li Gang achieves the unison with ink and makes it the altar of his soul.

　　2009年，李纲北上，入中央美院美术馆，主持公共教育与拓展工作，但水墨之情愈加浓烈。这是因为身处北京，再次强化了李纲心灵中积聚多年的水墨情缘，不坠于延展抽象水墨艺术的大志。他将南方的抽象之风带入北京，在其入驻的环铁艺术区工作室里又画案铺陈，笔墨纸砚齐备，为的是再上层楼、积极深化内心深处的抽象之梦。此刻，李纲更加静穆、更加以心灵为指引，不假雕饰，凭任自然器物本真地传神与立法，法不我立而自立，这种抽象之形状是自然生成，富含工具理性而不失自由，墨韵虽工亦写，但不僵持而充满秩序。李纲的抽象水墨，将心性与物性合为一体，将法自心出与不循陈法相融，着重于发现存在着的形式秩序，它们被反复叠加或组合之后，呈现了一片新天地——非物质的视觉关系，具有解析与重构的形而上意味。

　　In 2009 Li Gang joined the CAFA Museum overseeing public education and development. His love for ink grew deeper: living in Beijing strengthened his life-long affection toward ink painting, and it inspired him to expand the art form into the territory of abstract art. He brought the abstract style from Southern China to Beijing, where he set up his studio in the Huantie Art Zone. The studio was decorated with brush, ink, ink stand and rice paper and all the visual aesthetics he would need to reach higher into his dream of the abstract. At such moments, Li Gang sought his self in quiet and by following his heart. Refinement is forsaken for natural elements to reveal their essence and intrinsic paths. Such abstraction is born of nature: it encompasses technicality and rationality while preserving its freedom. The ink paintings are fine brushwork in a free-hand style, in an order that is neat but not rigid. Li Gang’s abstract ink paintings embrace human nature and the material plane, as his craft stems from the heart rather than follows conventions. The artist seeks to discover existing patterns and orders, which come together in layerings and combinations to create a new realm--a non-material visual relationship, carrying a strong sense of disassembly and restructuring.

　　李纲，以对中国文化的脉动的思考而深入到当下新的艺术观念中，守成于水墨的文化灵魂存在，而张扬于视觉的新含义，他对水墨神圣地敬仰，故祭奠之，如神灵般，但又融入自己的慧通之识，而使之重生，是谓墨祭。墨，诚乃中国的文化神明，我们对它敬爱有加，虽饱经变革而更加多元，但墨的灵韵不变，墨的精神长存。这是一种当代需要的崇敬之心，有此，艺术常在，人生常在。李纲化墨为魂，为的就是常在。

　　Li Gang transforms his deep understanding of Chinese culture into new artistic concepts to revive the soul of ink, to redefine and promote its new significance. He worships and honors ink painting while merging it into his own wisdom, so that it is reborn as the rite of ink. Ink is the spirit of Chinese civilization that we have long loved and cherished. Through its evolution, ink has diversified in form while its spirit remains unchanged. This is the worship we must hold toward the art form, as our life is preserved in art. Li Gang depicts the soul in ink so that he, too, will last forever.

　　2011年8月17日 于中央美术学院

　　At the China Central Academy of Fine Arts

　　August 17th 2011