左正尧是‘85新潮美术运动时期的“老哥萨克”。其作品在1986年的“湖北美术节”中脱颖而出。20世纪80年代中，左正尧多次来我北京家中做客。在我印象中，左正尧温文尔雅，话不多。左正尧的作品《生苹果、熟苹果——庄子·老子·妻子》以及《回归》给我印象深刻，不仅因为它们是水墨中少有的“理性绘画”，同时这种风格题材在两湖、南方是绝无仅有的。
时隔二十多年，再次看到左正尧，他已经是广州美术学院大学城美术馆的馆长了。虽然还保留着当年的文雅气质，但已不再是矜持少年，而是一个成熟的艺术家和意气风发的当代艺术推手了。
我欣赏左正尧能够把20世纪80年代的理想主义与今天的务实精神结合在一起的勇气和能力。今天的现实，远比20世纪80年代复杂，但是左正尧面对这些，不但游刃有余，而且仍旧那样乐天和沉着，同时多了一份冲劲儿。理想的“田园”与重复务实的“日常”因此也成为左正尧艺术的两个侧面。这些年，他埋头创作了很多作品，令我有点儿吃惊。我期待他的艺术厚积薄发，沿着自己的方法蓬勃发展。
See Zuo Zhengyao Again
Gao Minglu
Zuo Zhengyao was a well-known Cossack-style painter in the ’85 Art Movement and his works stood out prominently in “Hubei Arts Festival” in 1986. In the middle of 1980s, Zuo Zhengyao came to see me in Beijing for many times. What impressed me was that Zuo Zhengyao was elegant and reserved. Meanwhile, his paintings of Zhuangzi, Laozi and Wife and Return gave me an extraordinary impression. It is not only because they are “rational paintings” which were seldom seen in Chinese shui-mo hua, but also his styles and themes are unique in Hubei, Hunan Provinces, and southern China.
After over twenty years, Zuo Zhengyao was already the director of Art Museum of University Town -- Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts when I met him again. Though as elegant as before, he is not the reserved young man, but an accomplished artist and an enthusiastic promoter of the contemporary art.
I value Zuo Zhengyao’s great courage and ability to combine the idealism of the 1980s with today's pragmatism. The current reality is much more complicated than that of the 1980s, but Zuo Zhengyao, in confrontation of it, is not only able to handle it with ease, but also still remain optimistic and composed. Meanwhile, there is more vigor in him than before. Consequently, the idealistic “pastoral” and the repeated practical “daily” life become two sides of one coin within Zuo’s art. What I am most surprised at is that he continues buried in his creative works for all these many years. I expect that he, by exerting more of his great vitality towards artistic creations, will have more glorious progress by further developing his unique style.