《中华文化、工艺与艺术系列展》| S01 任建国水墨画
Organised by the Australian Chinese Cultural and Economic Federation Inc., the Chinese Culture, Crafts and Art Series Exhibition is honoured to invite Mr. Ren Jianguo, the renowned Chinese painter and art collector.
本次由 AUSTRALIAN CHINESE CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC FEDERATION INC. 即，澳大利亚中华文化 & 经贸联合总会主办的《中华文化、工艺与艺术系列展》，很荣幸的邀请到中国著名画家、收藏家任建国先生。
Ren Jianguo, born in Beijing in February 1957, is a renowned contemporary ink painter specialising in figure and landscape works, an art collector, and a member of the China Artists Association. He received rigorous academic training and graduated from the Department of Chinese Painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1982. During his studies, he learned from celebrated Chinese painting masters including Li Keran, Jiang Zhaohe, Li Kuchan, Ye Qianyu, Liu Lingcang, Lu Chen, Zhou Sicong and so on, mastering a full spectrum of artistic techniques covering figure painting, landscape painting, fine brushwork and freehand brushwork. He has achieved remarkable artistic accomplishments. In 1980, his work Who Is the Real Enemy won the Third Prize at the 2nd National Youth Art Exhibition, bringing him early fame and establishing his standing in China’s art circle. In 1985, Fine Arts, a core national art journal, launched a special column dedicated to him to publish his works and creative concepts. In the same year, he received an official commendation as an outstanding literary and art worker of Beijing. Many of his masterpieces have been permanently collected by authoritative institutions at home and abroad. Eight representative works including Our Restaurant and Twins are housed by the National Art Museum of China. Other institutions including Western American Museum, the Chinese Consulate General in Sydney, China Cultural Center in Sydney and Beijing Artists Association also collect his classic works, and his artistic value has earned wide official recognition at home and overseas.
任建国，1957 年 2 月生于北京，当代著名水墨人物、山水画家、艺术收藏家，中国美术家协会会员。他科班功底深厚，1982 年毕业于中央美术学院中国画系，求学期间师从李可染、蒋兆和、李苦禅、叶浅予、刘凌沧、卢沉、周思聪等一众国画大家，精通人物、山水、工笔、写意各类技法。他的艺术成就斐然。1980 年，其作品《到底谁是敌人》斩获第二届全国青年美展三等奖，年少成名，在国内美术界崭露头角。1985 年，国家级核心期刊《美术》杂志为其开设专栏，专题刊发其作品与创作理念，同年获评北京市文学艺术工作者表彰。其众多精品被国内外权威机构永久收藏，其中中国美术馆馆藏《我们开的饭店》《孪生》等 8 件代表作，美国西部博物馆、中国驻悉尼总领事馆、悉尼中国文化中心及北京市美术家协会等机构，均收藏其经典作品，艺术价值广受海内外官方认可。
Ren Jianguo keeps his creative style abreast of the times. In his early years, he pioneered innovative modern fine brushwork figure painting and possessed extraordinary modelling capabilities. In his middle age, he devoted himself to landscape sketching and integrated the brushwork characteristics of northern and southern Chinese painting schools. In recent years, he has created the new freehand series Re-seeking the Peach Blossom Spring, exploring the integration of Eastern and Western ink art and forming a unique artistic style blending ancient charm with contemporary vitality. He has resided in Australia for nearly 40 years and regularly travels between China and Australia for creation and life. From 2023 to 2025, Ren Jianguo held a large-scale nationwide touring exhibition, displaying decades of exquisite works at venues such as the National Art Museum of China, Ningbo Art Museum, Shanghai Art Museum and Zhejiang Provincial Museum. It ranks among the most influential solo ink painting exhibitions in China in recent years. In recent years, Ren Jianguo has continuously promoted Sino-Australian cultural exchanges. Taking ink art as a bond, he frequently carries out creation, exhibition and cultural exchange activities between the two countries, facilitating the global dissemination of Chinese ink culture.
任建国创作风格与时俱进，早年创新现代工笔人物画法，拥有极强的造型能力；中年深耕山水写生、融汇南北笔墨特色；近年打造 “再寻桃花源” 新写意系列，探索中西水墨融合之路，形成古意今趣的独特艺术风貌。他旅居澳大利亚近 40 年，常年往返中国、澳洲两国创作和生活。2023-2025 年，任建国开启全国大型巡展，在中国美术馆、宁波美术馆、上海美术馆、浙江省博物馆等多地展出数十年艺术精品，是近年国内极具影响力的个人水墨大展。近年任建国持续深耕中澳文化交流，以水墨艺术为纽带，频繁开展两地创作、展览与文化互通活动，助力中国水墨文化海外传播。
Any discussion about Ren Jianguo inevitably touches upon his series Re-seeking the Peach Blossom Spring. Developed over many years, this ambitious new freehand ink creation system serves as the overarching theme of his national touring exhibition and constitutes the core motif running through his landscape and genre works of recent years. Both Mountains Stretching for Miles and Awakening to Wind and Rain at Dawn belong to this series. The creation system is divided into five sections: Memory Reborn, Roaming with Nature, Listening to Wind amid Clouds, Peach Blossoms Remain and I Exist within All Things, fully presenting the artist’s artistic reflections and spiritual pursuit spanning half a lifetime.
提到任建国，就不得不提他的《再寻桃花源》系列。《再寻桃花源》是任建国耗时多年搭建的重磅新写意水墨创作体系，既是他全国巡回大展的总主题，也是贯穿近年山水、风俗作品的核心母题，《十里青山图》《晨醒静听风雨声》均隶属于这一系列。该创作体系分为「记忆重启」「乘物游心」「云海听风」「桃花依旧」「自有我在」五大板块，完整呈现艺术家跨越半生的艺术思考与精神求索。
The creative origin is rooted in Peach Blossom Spring, Tao Yuanming’s timeless classic symbol of Eastern culture. Nevertheless, Ren Jianguo thoroughly reconstructs the core connotation of the traditional Peach Blossom Spring. In Tao Yuanming’s writing, the Peach Blossom Spring was an isolated refuge where literati lived in seclusion amid turbulent times, bearing a passive undertone of escaping reality. By proposing the idea of “re-seeking”, Ren aims to break this tradition of seclusion. The utopia he depicts is no longer a remote mountain sanctuary cut off from humanity, but an ideal earthly homeland where landscapes coexist with mortal life and human beings live in harmony with nature.
创作源头根植于陶渊明《桃花源记》这一经典东方文化符号，但任建国彻底重构传统桃花源的内核。陶渊明笔下的桃花源，是乱世之中文人避世隐居、与世隔绝的避难之所，带有逃离现实的消极底色；而任建国提出 “再寻”，意在打破这种隐逸传统。他塑造的桃源不再是隔绝人间的空山秘境，而是山水与烟火共生、人与自然相融的现世理想家园。
This unique artistic perspective stems from the artist’s decades of experience travelling between China and Australia. Having lived overseas at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, his long transoceanic life has inspired constant reflection on the mountains and rivers of his homeland and the origin of Eastern culture. In the era of globalisation, countless people suffer from spiritual displacement and a lack of spiritual belonging. Through ink painting, Ren Jianguo offers a new interpretation of the Peach Blossom Spring: the utopia is not hidden in a distant otherworld, but lies within the peaceful daily life of ordinary people and harmonious nature, serving as a spiritual home accessible to modern people.
这份独特的艺术观念，来自艺术家数十年往返中澳两地的人生体验。旅居海外多年，身处东西方文化交汇地带，长久的跨洋生活催生了他对故土山川、东方文化原乡的持续回望。在全球化时代，无数人面临精神漂泊、心灵缺少归宿的困境，任建国借水墨重新解读桃花源：桃源不在遥远世外，它藏在普通人安稳的日常、和谐的自然之间，是现代人可以追寻的精神栖居地。
In terms of brushwork techniques, this series embodies the full maturity of Ren Jianguo’s “New Freehand” artistic style. He integrates the essence of northern and southern landscape brushwork inherited from his mentors Li Keran and Jiang Zhaohe, combining splash ink, splash colour and delicate figure depiction. Meanwhile, he incorporates modern visual concepts, uniting the spontaneous freedom of traditional freehand brushwork and the intuitive expression of modern art. His works fall into two categories. Works such as Mountains Stretching for Miles are magnificent panoramic scrolls featuring rolling mountain ranges and bustling mortal scenes, depicting all living things in the world. Works including Awakening to Wind and Rain at Dawn are small-scale landscapes focusing on misty mountain dawns and tranquil mountain dwellings, guiding viewers inward to seek inner peace.
在笔墨技法层面，该系列是任建国 “新写意” 艺术风格成熟的集中体现。他融汇李可染、蒋兆和等师门传承的南北山水笔墨精髓，将泼墨、泼彩与精细人物刻画结合；同时融合现代视觉理念，把传统写意的即兴挥洒与现代艺术直觉表达融为一体。作品分为两种面貌：一类如《十里青山图》，是气势雄浑的巨幅全景长卷，群山连绵、市井喧嚣，写天地间人间万象；另一类类似《晨醒静听风雨声》，属于小景山水，侧重雾山晨境、山居静谧，向内探寻内心安宁。
A clear and unified creative thread runs through the whole series: breaking the inherent prejudice in traditional Chinese painting that landscapes without human figures embody elegance while bustling mortal scenes appear vulgar. Ancient landscape paintings often exclude human figures to pursue the serenity of empty mountains. In contrast, Ren Jianguo consistently places villages, ferries, travellers and all facets of mortal life amid mountain scenery. Vast nature is no longer separated from humanity; human beings become an inseparable part of the landscape, visually interpreting the contemporary connotation of the Eastern philosophy of “harmony between man and nature”.
纵观整个系列，存在清晰统一的创作主线：打破传统国画 “山水无人则雅，人世喧嚣则俗” 的固有偏见。古代山水画常常剥离人群，追求空山寂静；而任建国坚持把民居、渡口、行人、市井百态安置于群山之中。壮阔自然不再独立于人之外，人成为山水不可分割的组成部分，直观诠释东方哲学 “天人合一” 的当代内涵。
From the perspective of cultural exchange, this series also acts as a medium for spreading Eastern aesthetics overseas. Having long engaged in cultural exchange activities in Australia, Ren Jianguo reinterprets the Peach Blossom Spring with accessible, visually striking ink paintings. He helps overseas audiences break away from the stereotype that Eastern landscape art merely represents hermit culture, enabling them to understand the Chinese people’s love for life and aspiration for harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and building an ink art bridge for Sino-Australian cultural exchange.
从文化交流视角来看，这套系列也是面向海外传播东方美学的载体。常年在澳洲开展文化交流的任建国，以通俗易懂、兼具视觉冲击力的水墨画面重新演绎桃花源，让海外观者跳出 “东方山水只是隐士文化” 的刻板印象，理解中国人热爱生活、向往人与自然和平共处的美好追求，搭建起中澳文化交流的水墨桥梁。
This online exhibition showcases two monumental works from Ren Jianguo’s series Re-seeking the Peach Blossom Spring, namely Awakening to Wind and Rain at Dawn and Mountains Stretching for Miles.
本次线上展览，展示任建国先生《再寻桃花源》系列中的两幅巨作《晨醒静听风雨声》与《十里青山图》。
Awakening to Wind and Rain at Dawn is an exquisite ink painting on rice paper meticulously created by Ren Jianguo in 2018. Measuring 68cm × 136.5cm, it is a landmark small-format masterpiece within the artist’s new freehand landscape system. Boasting mature brush language, unique conception and a distinctive personal artistic style, this work was published in the 7th issue of the national core art journal Rong Bao Zhai in 2022. It is widely recognised within academic circles as the benchmark work that best interprets Ren Jianguo’s original aesthetic of “ancient charm with contemporary vitality”. Forming a perfect artistic counterpoint to the sweeping panoramic scroll Mountains Stretching for Miles, which depicts the full spectrum of human life, this painting delivers grand artistic conception within a small scene and expresses inner spirit through tranquil scenery. Centring on the serene morning wilderness south of the Yangtze River after rain, it embodies gentle, ethereal Eastern Zen aesthetics. It stands as a classic representative of Ren Jianguo’s exploration of contemporary new literati landscape painting and his reconstruction of artistic conception in modern ink art.
《晨醒静听风雨声》为任建国于 2018 年精心创作的纸本水墨精品，作品尺寸 68cm×136.5cm，是艺术家新写意山水体系中极具代表性的小幅殿堂级力作。该作品凭借成熟的笔墨语言、独特的意境表达与鲜明的个人艺术风格，成功刊载于国家级核心艺术期刊《荣宝斋》2022 年第 7 期，是学界公认的、最能诠释任建国 “古意今趣” 独创风格的标杆作品。与气势磅礴、承载人间万象的巨幅长卷《十里青山图》形成完美艺术互补，这幅作品以小景藏大境、以清景写本心，聚焦江南雨后山野的清幽晨景，主打静谧空灵、温润治愈的东方禅意美学，是任建国探索当代新文人山水、重构现代水墨意境的经典代表作。
The painting draws creative inspiration from the unique natural aura of the Jiangnan region, capturing the supremely poetic moment when morning rain subsides across southern wilderness. Landscapes south of the Yangtze River are veiled in misty drizzle, gentle and elegant, distinct from the rugged grandeur of northern Chinese mountains. Having dedicated decades to landscape sketching, the artist precisely captures subtle natural shifts: dawn breaking after rainfall, fading breezes and morning fog drifting across mountain ridges. He abandons overloaded compositions and bustling human scenes, stripping away all redundant elements to return to the essential soul of landscape art. The overall artistic conception is built with concise, refined brushwork, delicately depicting the clarity of empty mountains after rain, drifting mist across valleys, revitalised vegetation and rocks, and quiet mountain dwellings hidden deep in forests. Every blade of grass, wisp of mist and mountain ridge appears naturally formed. The work faithfully reproduces the moist, ethereal, tranquil primitive charm of Jiangnan mountain wilderness in early morning.
作品的创作灵感根植于江南地域独有的自然气韵，萃取江南山野晨雨初歇的极致诗意瞬间。江南山水烟雨氤氲、温润灵秀，不同于北方山水的雄峻壮阔，自带清雅柔和的自然禀赋。艺术家深耕山水写生数十年，精准捕捉雨霁天明、清风渐息、晨雾漫山的微妙自然动态，摒弃繁复堆砌的构图、喧嚣热闹的市井人文场景，剥离所有外在冗余元素，彻底回归山水艺术的本真内核。画面以极简洗练的笔墨架构整体意境，细腻勾勒雨后空山的澄澈通透、山间薄雾的流转缥缈、草木山石的水润新生，以及隐匿于山林间的清幽山居，一草一木、一雾一峦皆浑然天成，极致还原江南山野晨间湿润空灵、静谧安然的原生质感。
In terms of brush techniques, this painting condenses Ren Jianguo’s consummate skill integrating northern and southern Chinese painting traditions. The palette is soft, elegant and restrained, free of gaudy colours. He relies purely on the five tonal gradations of ink to shape forms and build atmosphere through layered washes. Light ink washes spread to depict rolling morning mist, creating layered, hazy ambience of mist-shrouded distant valleys. Dense ink is applied deliberately to render foreground woods, rocks and moss, with steady, subtle, moist brushstrokes. Alternating void and solid forms, balanced light and dark ink deliver distinct spatial depth and rhythmic layering across the landscape. With just a few strokes, he captures the vibrant vitality of wilderness after rain. The work inherits the ethereal grace and subtle brush essence of southern school landscape painting, while retaining the steady, profound foundation of northern school traditions. Every stroke serves a purpose, free of redundancy or carelessness, achieving profound meaning and lasting appeal within a minimalist composition.
在笔墨技法层面，这幅作品高度凝练了任建国融汇南北的纯熟笔墨功底。整体色调清雅温润、素净雅致，无艳色堆砌，纯粹以水墨五色及石青层层晕染塑形、造境。淡墨轻扫晕散开漫天晨雾，虚实缥缈、层次通透，营造出远山含烟、空谷清幽的朦胧氛围感；浓墨精准点染近景林木、山石苔痕，笔触沉稳细腻、苍润有度，虚实相生、浓淡相宜，完美拿捏山水空间的远近层次与立体韵律。寥寥数笔便勾勒出雨后山野的鲜活气韵，既保留了南派山水空灵秀逸、温润细腻的笔墨精髓，又兼具北派山水沉稳扎实、气韵厚重的基底功底，极简笔墨间尽显大家修为，无一笔冗余、无一处敷衍，真正做到 “笔简意繁、境小韵远”。
In artistic expression and spiritual connotation, the work breaks away from the traditional melancholic, reclusive tone of classical literati landscape painting and reshapes the aesthetic landscape of contemporary ink art. Ancient landscape paintings often conveyed sentiments of seclusion, loneliness and escape from mortal life, carrying sombre, bleak undertones. By contrast, Ren Jianguo’s post-rain morning mountains transcend desolation, brimming with gentle vitality and peaceful calm after rainfall. The work inherits the Eastern cultural heritage of seeking spiritual enlightenment and self-cultivation amid nature, yet aligns closely with modern people’s spiritual pursuits. Centred on stillness, the tranquil imagery of mountain dwellings shrouded in morning mist interprets a life state free from worldly noise and impetuosity, returning to one’s authentic inner self. It creates a brand-new contemporary landscape aesthetic combining classical literary charm, modern taste and soothing spiritual power.
在艺术表达与精神内核上，作品彻底打破了传统文人山水固有的清冷、孤寂、避世的消极调性，重塑当代水墨的审美格局。传统古山水多借空山孤景抒发隐逸落寞、避世遁俗的心境，基调清冷萧瑟。而任建国笔下的雨后晨山，褪去孤寂悲凉，满是雨润新生的温润生机与安然松弛的自然气息。作品既承袭了传统文人画寄情山水、澄心悟道、修身养性的东方文脉底蕴，又深度贴合当代人的精神审美与生活追求，以 “静” 为核心灵魂，借晨雨山居、烟雨空山的清幽意境，诠释洗尽俗世喧嚣、褪去浮躁浮华、回归本心本真的人生境界，打造出兼具古典文韵、现代审美、治愈力量的全新当代山水意境。
As a model small-scale landscape work by the artist, Awakening to Wind and Rain at Dawn encapsulates Ren Jianguo’s lifelong brush mastery, aesthetic insight and life philosophy. In contrast to the grand, all-embracing narrative of Mountains Stretching for Miles, this piece turns inward towards self-reflection, focusing on spiritual contemplation and inner healing. The minimalist composition constructs an expansive, ethereal landscape space; translucent ink radiates gentle Eastern elegance, and the far-reaching artistic conception carries peaceful, moderate life philosophy. It perfectly interprets the beauty of simplicity, ethereality and Zen within contemporary new freehand landscape painting.
作为艺术家小幅精品山水的典范之作，《晨醒静听风雨声》是任建国毕生笔墨技法、审美认知与人生心境的高度浓缩。相较于《十里青山图》宏大壮阔、兼容人间烟火的宏大叙事，这幅作品偏向向内求索、静心观己，侧重精神层面的沉淀与自愈。极简的构图构架出悠远空灵的山水格局，通透的墨韵流淌出温润雅致的东方气质，悠远的意境承载着平和淡然的人生哲思，极致诠释了当代新写意山水的简约之美、空灵之美、禅意之美。
Furthermore, this painting reflects Ren Jianguo’s state of mind built over decades living overseas and travelling between China and Australia. Residing within a multicultural environment and enriched by years of travel and life experience, he has persistently preserved inner peace and poetic sentiment amid bustling modern life. This tranquil scene of mountain dwellings after rain serves as a genuine reflection of his spiritual world: tempered by time, he remains calm, pure and serene, retaining his true self amid mortal society and seeking quiet within chaos. The work distills his integrated northern-southern brush techniques and embodies his artistic accomplishment, life vision and Eastern spiritual sentiments. It holds immense academic research value, artistic aesthetic value and cultural significance.
同时，这幅作品也是任建国数十年旅居海外、往返中澳两地的心境缩影。常年身处多元文化交融的环境，历经山海奔波与世事沉淀，他始终坚守本心、静守诗意，在繁华尘世中寻得一方清幽心境。这幅清幽静谧的雨后山居图景，正是艺术家自身精神状态的真实写照：历经岁月沉淀，依旧淡然从容、澄澈纯粹，于烟火俗世中守本心，于喧嚣世间寻清宁。既是其南北笔墨融合技法的凝练精华，也是其个人艺术修养、人生格局与东方精神情怀的集中体现，兼具极高的学术研究价值、艺术审美价值与精神文化价值。
Mountains Stretching for Miles is an extra-large ink landscape scroll on rice paper completed in 2023 by Ren Jianguo, a master of contemporary ink art. Measuring 216cm × 547cm, the scroll boasts magnificent composition stretching across thousands of miles. It stands as a landmark magnum opus created in his recent artistic career with the largest scale, most refined artistic language and most complete ideological conception. It is also the centrepiece of his core academic creation series Re-seeking the Peach Blossom Spring. As a key exhibit, this scroll was displayed during Ren Jianguo’s nationwide large-scale touring art exhibition from 2023 to 2025 at top-tier national art venues including the National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum and Zhejiang Provincial Museum. Representing the pinnacle of contemporary new freehand landscape painting, it fully showcases Ren Jianguo’s mature ink art system cultivated over decades, integrating northern and southern painting traditions, ancient and modern techniques, as well as Eastern and Western artistic ideas.
《十里青山图》是当代著名水墨艺术大家任建国于 2023 年重磅完成的超大型纸本水墨山水长卷，作品尺寸达 216cm×547cm，画幅恢弘、气势横贯千里，是其近年艺术生涯中体量最大、语言最成熟、思想最完整的里程碑式标杆巨作，同时也是其核心学术创作体系「再寻桃花源」系列的压轴主景作品。该长卷曾作为核心展品亮相艺术家 2023–2025 全国大型巡回艺术大展，先后于中国美术馆、上海美术馆、浙江省博物馆等国家级艺术殿堂展出，代表了当代新写意山水创作的顶尖水准，完整呈现任建国深耕数十年、融贯南北、汇通古今、兼涉中西的成熟水墨艺术体系。
The realistic creative foundation of the work originates from the artist’s decades of continuous field sketching in mountainous regions of southwest China. Ren Jianguo has travelled extensively across core southern landscapes including the Li River in Guilin, Wuling in western Hunan, and karst landforms spanning Guizhou and Chongqing. Roaming countless mountains, he absorbed scenery into his mind. He deeply internalised the natural features unique to southern China: towering strange peaks, winding clear waters, layered forested summits and riverside villages. Instead of simply copying real landscapes, he highly refined, reconstructed and elevated natural scenery artistically, stripping superficial forms while preserving inner vitality. Ultimately, he built the grand landscape vision of endless layered green mountains within this scroll. Robust splash ink forms the backbone of the entire landscape with powerful, moist brushstrokes, layered with soft pale green washes. Distant mountains appear ethereal shrouded in mist, while foreground rocks display firm textures. Alternating void and solid forms create smooth spatial layers, perfectly embodying the diversified charm of southern landscapes: grace, grandeur, clarity and moisture.
作品的实景创作根基，源自艺术家数十年持续不断的西南山水实地写生积累。任建国常年深入桂林漓江、湘西武陵、黔渝喀斯特等南方核心山水地貌，行走千山、目识心记，将南方独有的奇峰挺拔、碧水迂回、峰林叠嶂、江岸错落、村落临江的自然肌理深度沉淀于心。他并非简单复刻实景风景，而是对自然山水进行高度艺术提炼、解构重组与意境升华，剥离表象、留存气韵，最终在长卷中构筑出连绵无际、层峦叠翠、开合纵横的 “十里青山” 宏大山水格局。整卷山水以大面积雄健泼墨立骨，笔势沉厚、淋漓苍润，辅以清雅淡绿薄染层层铺罩，远山虚淡空灵、温润含烟，近山石质坚硬、纹理铿锵，虚实相生、远近有致，完美还原南方山水 “秀、雄、清、润” 的多元气质。
In terms of spiritual conception and cultural core, the work draws upon Tao Yuanming’s classic Eastern literary symbol Peach Blossom Spring, yet thoroughly breaks the established conventions and spiritual limitations of landscape painting lasting for over a thousand years. Ancient landscape paintings of successive dynasties advocated reclusive aesthetics featuring empty silent mountains, pursuing isolated, secluded realms away from mortal society. They served as spiritual refuge for ancient literati escaping turbulent times. By contrast, Mountains Stretching for Miles completely subverts this age-old aesthetic convention. The artist boldly integrates vibrant mortal vitality and residential scenes into the grand landscape. Within the scroll lie rolling towering mountains and vast surging rivers. Villages are neatly scattered among mountains, ferries along riverbanks brim with activity, pedestrians stroll and boats shuttle on water. The landscape is no longer a remote cold sanctuary separated from humanity, but an earthly homeland inhabited by people filled with daily warmth, presenting a vivid vision where nature and human civilisation coexist harmoniously.
在精神意境与文化内核上，作品根植于陶渊明《桃花源记》的东方经典人文意象，却彻底突破了千年来传统山水画的固有范式与精神局限。历代古山水多崇尚 “空山无人、幽静清寂” 的隐逸美学，追求避世、独处、远离人间的清冷意境，是古人乱世归隐、超脱现实的精神寄托。而任建国的《十里青山图》彻底颠覆这一千年审美定式，大胆将浓郁的人间烟火、世俗生机、人居业态完整融入宏大山水之中。画卷之中，群山巍峨绵延、江水浩渺吞吐，山间村落井然排布、屋舍错落雅致，江岸渡口动静相依，行人缓步、舟楫往来，山水不再是孤高冷寂的世外秘境，而是有人、有居、有烟火、有温度的现世山河，构建出自然与人文共生共存的鲜活桃源图景。
This monumental painting also serves as an artistic monologue reflecting Ren Jianguo’s state of mind after nearly forty years residing in Australia and regularly travelling between China and Australia. Living at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, his cross-continental life experience granted him deeper, more comprehensive reflection on his homeland’s landscapes and Eastern cultural heritage. Though far from his motherland, he grows increasingly attached to the profound cultural warmth of Chinese landscapes. Rather than following ancient literati’s pursuit of passive seclusion deep in mountains, he reconstructs a new-era Eastern ideal realm through brush and ink: magnificent gentle mountains, peaceful mortal life, and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature without estrangement. The work carries the artist’s profound love for his homeland and cultural identity. From a contemporary artistic perspective, it reinterprets the Eastern philosophy of “harmony between human and nature”, endowing traditional landscape aesthetics with brand-new contemporary spirit and value.
这幅巨作也是任建国旅居澳洲近四十年、常年往返中澳两国的心境写照与艺术独白。常年身处中西文化交融语境，跨越山海的生活经历，让他对故土山河、东方文脉拥有更为深沉、通透、立体的回望与自省。远离故土，却愈发眷恋华夏山水的温润底蕴与人文温度，他不再追随古人消极避世的山林隐逸，而是以笔墨重构新时代的东方理想境界：山河壮阔而温柔，人世烟火而安宁，人与自然互不疏离、彼此相融。作品寄托着艺术家深沉的家国情怀与文化归属感，更以当代艺术视角全新诠释东方 “天人合一” 的哲学思想，赋予传统山水美学全新的时代精神与当代价值。
In brush techniques and artistic language, Mountains Stretching for Miles embodies the culmination of everything Ren Jianguo has learned throughout his life, achieving the integration of northern and southern brush traditions as well as ancient and modern techniques. It absorbs the power, magnitude and grandeur of northern school landscape painting. Broad splash ink shapes mountain structures with overwhelming momentum and expansive composition. Meanwhile, it embraces the elegance, subtlety and ethereal charm of southern school painting, utilising diluted ink washes and overlapping layers to create translucent mist among distant mountains and hazy river surfaces. Brushwork shifts freely between bold and delicate, static and dynamic. Mountains, forests and trees are rendered in unrestrained freehand brushwork showcasing masterful skill; dwellings, boats and human figures are painted exquisitely and vividly with meticulous precision. The sweeping grand composition paired with delicate humanistic details enables the scroll to capture both the monumental aura of endless mountains and gentle poetic warmth of mortal life.
在笔墨技法与艺术语言上，《十里青山图》集任建国毕生所学之大成，真正实现南北笔墨合流、古今技法相融。作品吸纳北派山水的雄强沉厚、磅礴大气，以阔笔泼墨塑造山体骨架，气势雄浑、开合壮阔；又兼容南派山水的温润清雅、空灵秀逸，以淡墨晕染、层次叠压营造远山雾韵、江水空濛的通透质感。整体笔墨粗细有度、动静相生：山石林木肆意写意、洒脱苍劲，尽显大家气度；民居屋舍、舟船人物精微灵动、细致传神，分毫见功力。大开大合的宏大构图搭配细腻生动的人文细节，让整幅长卷既有千里江山的恢弘气象，又有烟火人间的温润诗意。
Unlike the single-layer artistic conception of traditional landscape paintings, this work constructs a three-dimensional artistic framework consisting of grand narrative, humanistic warmth and contemporary philosophy. It breaks free from outdated conventions of traditional ink art and overturns the thousand-year-old aesthetic prejudice that quiet empty landscapes represent elegance while mortal scenes are vulgar. Through his painting, Ren Jianguo illustrates that the genuine Eastern Peach Blossom Spring lies not in a remote otherworld, but within the mortal world: an ideal homeland of peaceful land and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. As the pinnacle masterpiece of contemporary new freehand landscape painting, Mountains Stretching for Miles inherits thousands of years of Chinese painting heritage while possessing striking modern visual appeal and internationally accessible artistic language. It stands as an iconic ink work suitable for cultural communication at home and overseas, balancing high academic standards with universal aesthetic appeal.
相较于传统山水的单一意境，这幅作品构建出宏大叙事 + 人文温度 + 当代哲思的三维艺术格局，跳出了传统水墨的陈旧范式，打破了 “山水必孤静、人世即俗态” 的千年审美偏见。任建国以笔墨证明：真正的东方桃源，不在世外、而在人间，是山河无恙、烟火安宁、人与自然和谐共生的理想家园。作为当代新写意山水的巅峰力作，《十里青山图》既承载着千年中华书画文脉，又极具现代视觉张力与国际审美语言，是适配海内外文化传播、兼具学术高度与大众美感的标志性水墨作品。