文化交流特約作者 王一川
被喻為南太平洋「藍寶石」的島國斐濟，最近吹起一陣濃濃的「中國風」。來自嘉興的秀洲農民畫展「五色土的浪漫」亮相斐濟中國文化中心，40幅畫卷一一展現了插秧、養蠶、種桑、逛廟會、踏白船等鄉村場景，前來觀展的斐濟市民、當地藝術家以及華人仿佛一腳踏進了中國的秀麗江南。
開幕式上，隨行的秀洲農民畫家代表繆惠新，在現場支起畫架作畫。隨著他最後一筆落下，一位梳著麻花辮的淳樸姑娘躍然紙上。這幅名為《三姐》的畫作於2017年在中國美術館展出，這次來到斐濟辦展，他重現了這幅經典之作。
斐濟教育遺產藝術部部長羅西阿克巴女士觀看繆惠新現場作畫《三姐》。
繆惠新在現場作畫時，斐濟教育遺產藝術部部長羅西·阿克巴女士走到畫桌前，邀請繆惠新替她也畫一幅農民畫像，還打趣地說「要畫成中國女人的樣子」。
「秀洲風格」這樣形成
在中國的藝術史上，農民畫是最獨特的畫種之一。畫風自成一派，自由誇張、色彩豔麗、鄉土氣息濃厚，並且具有強烈的時代感和鮮明的地域色彩。農民畫可以說是一種在農村土生土長的民間藝術，它來自農村，完全由農民創作，以農村生活與農村風俗為主要題材，記錄著農民生活中的所見所聞。
嘉興秀洲區位於浙江省北部，地處杭嘉湖平原，河道縱橫，水草豐茂。歷史悠久的馬家浜文化和源遠流長的運河文化，豐富多彩的鄉風民俗和民間技藝，滋養著秀洲人民對美、對藝術的感知。
《犁田圖》 繆惠新
上世紀80年代，全國掀起一陣農民畫熱潮，各地湧現了不少優秀畫鄉，與嘉興秀洲鄰近的上海金山就是著名畫鄉之一。1983年，20多名來自秀洲農村的美術愛好者，前往上海金山參觀學習農民畫。在金山，他們不僅學習了農民畫的繪畫技巧，還萌發了無限的創作靈感。回到秀洲後，這些青年畫家立刻拿起畫筆，把秀洲的山山水水、農忙生活畫了下來。
雖然在發展初期受到了金山農民畫的影響，但秀洲農村的繪畫愛好者們在不斷探索中形成了獨特的「秀洲風格」。金山農民畫的主要創作群體是曾從事刺繡工作的女性，她們從剪紙、刺繡、漆繪、灶頭畫等民間藝術中錘鍊技巧，繪製的作品畫面清麗、線條流暢，獨具女性的柔和氣質和江南水鄉風韻。秀洲農民畫家以農村青年為主，並且受到藍印花布、雕花糕模、泥塑蠶貓等本地民間技藝的影響。秀洲區文化館副館長楊海萍說：「秀洲農民畫更有青年人的蓬勃朝氣，色彩運用更大膽，人物線條更誇張，情感表達更奔放。」
領軍人物原來是他
秀洲農民畫藝術之旅的啟航，離不開一個人——繆惠新。
繆惠新是秀洲農民畫的領軍人物。他自1983年開始創作農民畫，他的作品不僅是記錄農村生活的民間畫，也是闡述中國元素的現代藝術。他曾多次赴德國、澳大利亞、日本、瑞典等國家交流展出，近100幅作品被中國美術館、美國波特蘭博物館及中外友人、收藏家收藏。1998年，繆惠新被美國《時代周刊》雜誌（亞洲版）評為「亞洲十位藝術家」之一。
然而在正式拿起畫筆之前，繆惠新的手裡握著的是鐮刀和鋤頭。
1959年，繆惠新出生在嘉興秀洲油車港鎮棲真村的一戶農家，祖祖輩輩都是依水而生、靠天吃飯的農民。在日復一日的勞作中，繆惠新度過了少年時代，也在秀洲的綠水黑土間萌生了對繪畫的喜愛。他自己攢錢買來畫具、顏料，自學繪畫，白天在地裡忙活，晚上就在燈下創作，一有靈感就立刻下筆作畫，連舊報紙上都塗滿了顏料。
1983年，中國舉辦了首屆「中國農民畫畫展」，繆惠新憑藉農民畫作品《鄉情》一舉成名。從《鄉情》《七牛圖》開始，繆惠新筆耕不輟，每年至少創作30幅作品，家鄉的親友、山水、草木、動物都是他眼中最好的題材，他說「恨不得把眼前的生活，都入了畫中。」
《鄉情》繆惠新
上世紀90年代，繆惠新和他的作品第一次走出國門。令人頗為感動的是，繆惠新「海外首秀」之所以能夠得以舉辦，緣起於和一位英國友人長達八年的跨洋之約。1987年，繆惠新的首次個人畫展在北京舉辦。在那次畫展上，一位英國人主動找到繆惠新，要替他在國外辦展。1993年，兩人重遇，英國友人再一次提出了當初的約定，他說，「如果你相信我，就讓我帶走你的畫」。1995年，在這位英國朋友的努力下，繆惠新的作品帶著中國農村的泥土芬芳亮相法國。自此，繆惠新的海外之旅不斷增添新的目的地。
因頻繁的出訪與跨文化交流，繆惠新被不少海外媒體譽稱為「東方畢卡索」。對於這個盛名，繆惠新卻並不在意：「這是別人給我的『帽子』，但我不想做『東方畢卡索』，我想做『中國繆惠新』。」
《犁田圖》 繆惠新
繆惠新說自己不僅想做好傳承，更想突破傳統農民畫的框架，讓農民畫不再是單純地記錄農村生活，而是要向現代藝術靠近。中國美術家協會副主席、浙江省文聯主席許江評價道，繆惠新是東方現代繪畫中他最喜歡的畫家之一。
「金名片」走出國門
與陝西戶縣、上海金山、山東日照等傳統畫鄉相比，秀洲起步較晚，但幸運的是，秀洲抓住了改革開放這一前所未有的機遇，走到了中國農民畫梯隊的前列。繆惠新感慨道，「中國改革開放，讓農民從土地上解放出來。種地之餘，開始表達自己內心的喜好和情感。」
秀洲農民畫的草創，離不開繆惠新等第一代畫家的苦心經營；而農民畫的蓬勃發展，離不開源源不斷的新生力量。30多年的歲月流淌，秀洲農民畫家從最初的8人發展到如今的100多人，儲備畫鄉新秀2000餘人，個人畫室8個。越來越多的美術愛好者加入到農民畫的創作行列之中，隊伍不斷壯大，優秀作品也紛紛湧現。
據秀洲區文化館不完全統計，迄今為止，已有近1000幅作品先後斬獲國家級和省市級獎項，400多幅作品被中國美術館、中央美院等國家展館收藏。
《小豬的故事》徐有珍
2005年起，部分學校自編教材開設農民畫課程；2018年，《我學秀洲農民畫》編撰完成，農民畫課程正式走入校園，為農民畫的傳承注入了新鮮活力。
改革開放，為秀洲農民畫走出國門構築起了跨文化交流的橋梁。這次斐濟畫展並非秀洲農民畫的「國際首秀」，自誕生之日起，秀洲農民畫早就開始了環球之旅。
上世紀八九十年代，秀洲有將近100多位農民畫家、300多幅農民畫作品不斷走出國門，展出地遍及美國、德國、日本、瑞士、挪威等國家。農民畫儼然成了秀洲民間文化的「金名片」。
2004年，中法建交40周年之際，秀洲繪製的8件巨幅農民畫作品參加了在巴黎舉行的「中國文化年」彩車大遊行。2006年，英國倫敦舉辦了「尋夢浙江——中國浙江古鎮風情攝影圖片展、浙江秀洲農民畫展」。2009年，應德中友好協會邀請，「秀洲農民畫展」來到德國卡爾斯魯厄。2015年，「美麗浙江——浙江農風漁俗畫展」在捷克舉行。
今年7月初，應芬蘭伊馬特拉市市長羅斯萊卡·凱·尤哈尼邀請，30幅秀洲農民畫作品赴芬蘭舉辦「中國秀洲現代民間繪畫藝術展」。離開芬蘭後，秀洲農民畫繼續漂洋過海，橫跨歐亞大陸，來到了位於南太平洋上的斐濟。
《虎頭娃娃裹粽忙》孟玲娣
越是民族的，越是世界的。圍繞「一帶一路」倡議，秀洲農民畫迎來了跨文化交流的新契機。用生活作筆，以熱愛為墨，秀洲農民畫正記錄著這片土地上的故事，正記錄著人與自然的和諧，正向世界描繪著中國的「美麗新農村」。
Xiuzhou Farmers』 Paintings Portray Beautiful Life
Romance of the Five Colors of Earth: Xiuzhou Farmers』 Paintings, a 15-day exhibition commencing at the Chinese Culture Center of Fiji on July 24, 2019, brought the elegant beauty of a Chinese water town into the island country reputed as 「the sapphire of South Pacific」.
At the opening ceremony, Miao Huixin, representing the rural painters from Xiuzhou in northern Zhejiang, wowed the visitors by reproducing his representative work, Elder Sister, first unveiled at an exhibition in the National Art Museum of China in 2017. Miao is from Xiuzhou, a 500-square-kilometer district of Jiaxing, a central city in northern Zhejiang. The district is sandwiched on two sides respectively by Shanghai to the east and Hangzhou to the west.
An interesting episode of the opening ceremony was contributed by Hon. Rosy Akbar, Minister for Education, Heritage, Arts of Fiji. She went up to the stage and invited Miao Huixin to make a portrait of her. She insisted that Miao should create her image that 「looks like a Chinese woman」.
《犁田圖》 繆惠新
The exhibition in Fiji repeated the success of an exhibition of 30 works by Xiuzhou artists in Imatra, a town and municipality in eastern Finland, in early July of this year.
Farmers』 painting is one of the most unique forms in the painting art family of China, standing out for its distinctive freestyle in 「local flavor」 motifs demonstrating strong regional features, and vibrant color schemes. Dating back to the mid-20th century, this vibrating variation of Chinese art is deeply rooted in the country’s rural lifestyle, invented and practiced actively by rural residents only. According to some scholars, the prototype of the art form falls into the 「wall painting」 category, more often than not improvised by laborers engaged in farm work. In its earlier stage, paintings were mostly created to motivate agricultural productivity against the scarcity caused by the so-called three-year-long Great Famine in the early 1960s.
《犁田圖》 繆惠新
The farmers』 painting gets inspiration from various traditional Chinese arts including paper-cutting, embroidery, shadow play, etc. Decades of exploratory practice has blossomed into a mature style characteristic of full, robust composition, and bold, flamboyant colors so strong that almost spill out of the frame. Such a style also reflects the straight-forward disposition of farmers, their fierce passion for life, and wild imagination that breaks all clichés of traditional Chinese painting.
That 「art originates from life」 precisely defines this down-to-earth art. The farmers』 painting of the 1970s demonstrated more realism than before. The style of farmers』 painting leaned toward politics from the 1970s to the early 1980s, but gradually broke away from political motifs towards the end of the 20th century, and developed into what it is today in the new Chinese social climate of reform and openness.
The farmers』 painting of Xiuzhou has its unique features derived from the region’s long-time prosperity and the Grand Canal culture that has nurtured the region for more than one thousand years. People in Xiuzhou are born with an eye for aesthetic beauty. The 1980s saw the rise of Xiuzhou’s first generation of painting enthusiasts. They visited and learned from their rural counterpart artists based in neighboring Jinshan, Shanghai. They came back with basic skills and the determination to create a unique 「Xiuzhou style」. Women with experiences in embroidery have played a big part in such innovation, and young art enthusiasts have brought youthful vigor into the vibrant scenes of Xiuzhou farmers』 painting.
《打年糕》張金泉
「Young people tend to be more imaginative and unrestrained when it comes to expressing their feelings,」 emphasizes Yang Haiping, Deputy Director of Xiuzhou Culture Center.
One cannot talk about Xiuzhou farmers』 painting without mentioning Miao Huixin, whose three decades of exploration has contributed a magnificent chapter to Xiuzhou farmers』 painting as a self-contained art form. His artworks have been displayed in a dozen countries including Japan and Sweden, and have found their way into private and public collections all over the world. He was rated in 1998 by TIME (Asia) magazine as one of the 「Top 10 Artists in Asia」 for his great achievements in such a unique art form.
Born in Qizhen Village in Youchegang Town, Xiuzhou in 1959, Miao Huixin never got a chance to hone his skills in a standard art school. The turning point came in 1983, when he shot to fame at the first China Farmers』 Painting Exhibition.
斐濟觀眾觀看畫作。
His works made their debut overseas in the 1990s. With the recommendation and arrangements by a British friend he made at a solo exhibition in Beijing in 1987, Miao Huixin landed in France with his works permeated with the fragrance of Chinese soil, in 1995. The debut opened up a whole new world to him, and the influence of Western art further enriched his creation.
「I was mentioned by the Western media as 『Picasso from China』. I never take such a title seriously, because I want only to be myself. I』d rather be called 『Miao Huixin from China』」, says the artist.