张伟长大了。
我这样说，是不是张伟长不大？明明他已经奔五，为什么还有一个长大或者长不大的事？
张伟长大了，意思是说，他已经在油画上刻苦了十几年，有丰硕的成果，有成熟的作品，有独特的想法，曾经青春的面相，渐渐带出些许的皱纹，曾经楞头青的神情，也夹杂了入世的微笑。
张伟的个展，也是长大了的一个重要标志。
本来早就长大了的张伟，为什么会有一个成长问题？这和他油画中几乎不变的青春主题有关。从步入油画界开始，张伟就一直在画青春，不仅是青春男女的举动与表情，还包括青春期的骚动与不安，青春期的得意与放任，青春期的希望与向往。总之，青春一直是张伟所关心的主题，是叙说的对象和解读的内容。
本来张伟是通过主题性创作来呈现他的意图的。后来，他开始对他的学生写生，或一个，或数个，在大幅画布上，一次性完成，完成之后不再修改，以便保持一种现场感受，一种现场的生动性。
学院写实主义艺术的基础是写生，从速写到素描到色彩，总在课堂写生中达成。所以，所谓学院派，从某种意义上说，是一种建立在课堂写生之上的风格。但是，也正因为如此，课堂写生就很容易成为模式，既左右了此后的趣味发展，也规定了创作的路向。所以，大凡仅仅依循学院教育方法而成长的艺术家，其创作也包含了浓烈的课堂气息，而直接影响到整个面貌，免不了有所呆板甚至固化。更严重的是，像这样一种写生，也远离了写生的本性，是一种面对对象的方法重复。
但张伟的写生对于上述所谓学院派的模式来说，却是一种颠覆，其颠覆的意义有这样几个方面，一，去课堂味。他是用保持写生的现场感来达成这一点的。二，构图上强调一种随意性，甚至有某种不完整感，让人物有所偏移，让构图有所失重。三，以表现性为主导，强调绘画性本身的风格意义，让人一看，就知道是在即时状态下完成的。
也就是说，张伟试图恢复真正的写生，让写生成为真正的审美，让审美具有现场的效果。在他看来，所有这些更符合青春这一主题的要求，也更让青春具有硬性的色彩。
所以他只选择学生群对模特，那些处于成长期中青少年。
我怀疑他在写生时，会时常想起自己的青少年，回想那种属于成长才有的情感与状态。
“恰同学少年，风华正茂，书生意气，挥斥方遒!”毛泽东年轻时这一豪迈自许，印合了张伟的价值观，也准确地道出了他的追求。同学少年，在张伟眼中，正是成长本身，青春现所当然是其中应有之义。2010-3-25-重庆
Zhangwei has grown up.
Do I mean that Zhangwei couldn' t grow up? Why does it matter whether he has grown up as he' s almost 50 year' s old?
"Zhangwei has grown up" , means he has got a great success in conducting his mature works, and acquring his unique thinking after decade' s hard efforts devoted to oil painting. His face is no longer young, gradually, wrinkled by ages. His expression is no longer rash, accompanied with sophisticated smile.
Zhangwei' s personal exhibition is a significant mark to manifest his growth.
Why there exists a problem to Zhang' s growth? This is almost concerned with his eternal theme of youth in his oil painting. Since he stepped into the circle of oil painting, he has been sticking to the theme of youth, including not only behavior and expressions of teenagers, but also restlessness and unease of adolescence, delight and abandon of youth, hope and eager of bloom. In a word, youth is the perpetual theme with which Zhangwei is concerned, and also, youth is the object to narrate, as well as the content to analyze.
At one time, Zhangwei expressed his will through thematic creation. Later, he began to sketch his students, one or several students, on big canvas. Once finished, the works will never be modified so that he could keep the feeling and vividness on the spot.
Sketch, which is always finished in class, from drawing to color, is the art basic of realism in academy. So, the so-called academism, in some sense, is a style based on the sketch class. And that' s why the sketch class is easy to become a mode, which both hinders the development of taste, and fixes the road to creation. Thus, for those who grow up only obeying the teaching rules in academy, their works, which affect the whole features directly, are full of intense sense of pedant, and can' t help but become stiff or even fixed. What' s worse, this kind of sketch is far away from the nature of itself, as repetitive ways of facing the objects.
But compared with the mode above, which is called academism, Zhangwei' s sketch is subversion. Its meanings are as follows: firstly, getting rid of the style of exercise-in-class. He manages it through maintaining the feeling of sketching on the spot. Secondly, emphasizing the sense of randomness or even incompleteness in composition. This makes the characters deviated, breaking the balance of composition. Thirdly, led by expressiveness, and highlighting the stylistic meaning of pictorial nature. This shows that the works are finished immediately.
In other words, Zhangwei tries to revival the real sketch, making it real aesthetic with prompt implication. In his view, all of these match the thematic requests of youth better, bringing the youth more rational colors.
Therefore, he chooses models from students only, who are in the period of adolescence.
I guess, while sketching, he may often recall his own life experience, like the emotion and situation belonging to that growing period.
"Young we were schoolmates, at life's full flowering; filled with student enthusiasm, boldly we cast all restraints aside. These words, said by Chairman Mao when he was young, are in accordance with Zhangwei' s values. And also, they point out his exact pursuit. Teenage students, in Zhangwei' s mind, is the essence of growth itself, and in it, youth is of course one of the meanings.March 25th, 2010
In Chongqin