Lai Zhigang, an artist who returns to tradition in a contemporary context, has an extraordinary understanding of brush and ink, surpassing even the second generation of Li family landscape painters. Today, I deeply understand Mr. Li Keran's prediction: Chinese painting and Western painting are two towering peaks. When we view Chinese painting through more visual languages, we realize that Chinese painting is not just about perspective on a flat plane but also about viewing from the base and an introspective angle.

Lai Zhigang has his own unique characteristics. His paintings are either extremely large or very small. The particularly large paintings are not panoramic landscapes like those of the Northern Song dynasty but rather partial views. The very small paintings emphasize the charm of brush and ink. In Lai Zhigang works, I see his deep understanding of brush and ink. Since the 1980s, we have explored more modernity, spontaneity, and experimentation in ink painting as well as the medium of ink. From Lai Zhigang works, I see how he uses the relationship between brush and ink to create the charm of brush and ink in his paintings. A particularly good aspect of his work is that even when painted very dark and thick, he can also exhibit light and moist characteristics.

Lai Zhigang has painted many ink works of Huangshan and Jiangnan, showcasing his use of ink layering and lines. In his works, one can see not only ink layering but also the traditional dot-stroke and even some small axe-cut strokes incorporated into his paintings.

I believe Lai Zhigang landscape paintings have a grandeur that differs significantly from some other painters. His works "Yidao" and "Yundao" do not entirely derive from real landscapes. His works aim to change Mr. Li Keran's method of extracting from natural landscapes, instead reflecting more of his subjective imagination, reconstructing landscape forms from his mind. These landscape forms not only express the sentiments of the industrial civilization era but also resemble landscapes from deep within the heart, a mystical reflection of the mind.

For example, in his work "Yidao," he uses an extremely long horizontal composition. The handling of clouds or streams extending from the top and back of the painting to the front creates a novel and mysterious visual sensation. Through landscapes, he presents a novel world of landscapes rather than a depiction and presentation of natural landscapes. His paintings are particularly large, full, and dense, giving the impression of being in a fantastical realm. His work "Dachao" distinguishes itself from traditional landscape painting by enlarging a single element. It is precisely this expression of the spiritual landscape, with repeated variations of a section of landscape, a segment of clouds, or a portion of waves, that I find excellent. This repetition and variation create a rhythmic quality in the paintings. His method of ink accumulation turns intangible images into tangible forms.

In this sense, I believe he has altered our traditional understanding of landscape painting. Since Gong Xian and Li Keran, landscape painting has developed two major backgrounds: one is the expressive line drawing mentioned by Wolfflin, and the other is pictorial, emphasizing the expression of vagueness rather than clarity. Lai Zhigang seeks to express this vagueness in landscape painting, creating a pictorial quality akin to Baroque art, even pursuing a certain instability in the picture. This instability is actually a manifestation of Baroque art and reflects the dynamic pursuit in Lai Zhigang paintings. This dynamic quality contrasts completely with the static mood pursued in traditional literati landscape paintings.

This is where Lai Zhigang differs from Mr. Li Keran. He does not solely rely on ink accumulation but also employs a small amount of small axe-cut strokes to present the texture of rocks. Otherwise, with such large compositions, merely using Confucian-style ink accumulation would inevitably lack strength. This strength is not a depiction of the side of natural rocks but an expression of the entire texture of the landscape. This is Lai Zhigang own recreation of the texture of landscape rocks and the language of brush and ink, transforming clouds and water into substantial forms, pursuing fantastic changes within these forms. This represents an artistic feature that Lai Zhigang presents from deep within his heart.